Iridescent Web

The Iridescent Web is a mysterious megastructure built by an unknown civilisation spanning multiple universes situated adjacent to the Dark Forest.

## Description

The Iridescent Web is an immense physical network of string-like megastructures that span an unknown length. The outside of the megastructure has areas of extreme luminosity, granting an illusion of iridescence. While the total length of the strings across its entirety is unknown, at its central nexus, the various protruding strings were measured at thicknesses of two million light years with lengths varying from thirty six to seventy billion light years before extending through large wormholes into other universes.

The megastructure itself is made of a completely unknown material, with scanning attempts by various Weave civilisations returning inconsistent results. Physical tests have revealed that the material is extremely resistant to damage from both space-time and physical weaponry, with what little damage being done immediately reverting themselves to an undamaged state. Conceptual weapons are moderately effective, but similarly the damage was reverted.The structure is also noted to be nearly immune to Tor's corruption; during an incident concerning an ill-fated trade expedition, several mobile galaxy-cities from an Einthithi research and trade fleet stumbled across an unexplored section of the megastructure. A greater fragment of Tor chasing after them arrived in the same universe shortly afterwards and attempted to consume the universe. While the space surrounding the structures were consumed, the structures themselves remained completely intact, purging the manifestation from itself. Most of the the cities present in the universe were consumed and their residents converted into blightlings, but a few escaped with the observations of the megastructures' resistance.

Information on the structure's makers is also extremely scarce, and much of the knowledge pertaining to them mainly comes from conjecture and extrapolation. What can be gathered through looking and travelling up and down the different timelines was that the structure had always existed in the universes it was present in since their birth, with occasional glimpses of mysterious translucent beings appearing at different temporal and spatial locations. After filtering out the various specters, attempts at contact with the beings in the various temporal and spatial locations they were spotted in had met with very limited success, with no response from the beings. After filtering out the spectres, what could be gained from the observations of the beings was that they were most definitely acausal in nature, though not Transcended nor any other kind of being known in the Weave. An attempt by a raiding party of Old Brethren and Shardbearers to attack one such translucent being ended with the sudden appearance of a plant like construct teleporting in and the disappearance of the party before they could strike the being.

## History

One of the many branches of the Iridescent Web was discovered two million years after the Second Aeon War, during the Weave's third era of expansion. Explorers from several different civilisations followed the branch back to what is believed to be its central nexus, and shortly after report their findings to the rest of the Weave.

Over the course of three hundred millennia, research expeditions were launched to find more information on the structure, with the results of most such ventures revealing precious little of the megastructure or its creators, with the entire web seemingly black boxed to hamper analysis and more detailed observation. Few intrusive tests were performed, in case the creators of the megastructure were still active and took offense at such measures. After this period of activity, interest in the megastructure tapered off until only a few organisations dedicated to the research of this mysterious web remained.

Interest in the Iridescent Web wouldn't rise again until after the Scourge of Tor, when it was discovered that the web could completely resist a Tor manifestation's attempt at consumption. Such information drew countless organisations, all of which intended to unravel the mysteries of the web. More destructive methods of study were employed, and this drew out strange plant-like constructs that caused the interlopers to disappear when the entities appeared in their proximity. In the following years, many research organisations would launch expeditions outfitted for immediate transit to relatively more distant universes at the first sign of such a construct's appearance. To this day, research expeditions are still launched on the Iridescent Web, with interest remaining strong amongst the denizens of the former Weave.