Warp (Unused)

The **Warp** (otherwise known as the **Realm of Chaos**, the **Immaterium**, the **Aethyr**, the **Warpspace**, and other assortment of names) is a place of dreams and nightmares, where effect need not follow cause; within its bounds anything is possible. Here there are no physical laws akin to those that dominate the mortal world. Within its confines hopes and fears become real, and reality is reborn as fevered hallucination. Gravity, shape, space and reason — all are in flux and utterly mutable to the will of the gods. Few mortals are capable of perceiving the Warp in its true splendour, for the living mind recoils from its otherworldly landscapes. Thus, no two visions of the Warp are exactly alike, and are often contradictory.

## Overview

Warpspace is a mirror dimension of random energy known as Chaos. Existing as a mirror in parallel to our own reality, it is the domain of the Gods of the Warp. The Warp's existence is fueled by the emotions and souls of all sentient beings in the physical reality. Warpspace is without form and the laws of time and space do not apply there, for both size and time are simultaneously infinite and irrelevant within The Warp. Its energies are in constant turmoil, subject to endless disturbances.

The common analogy used to describe Warpspace compares the Warp to a vast sea of energy, which is subject to constant movement, currents, undertows, etc. Although with its own reality, Warp and real space do bear a relationship as dimensions parallel to each other.

Those that are strong enough to maintain a level of control over their environment within the Warp may also carve their domains within it. These islands of horrific stability stand out within this chaotic wilderness with some only appearing for an instant whilst others are as old as the gods themselves. Each of these sub-realms is a small extension of the Immaterium that embodies the whims of its creator and occasionally has a shrine dedicated to their beliefs. Some are even populated by daemons born from the mind of the inhabitant(s), though these entities are usually short-lived as they tend to be consumed by the Daemons that populate the Realm of Chaos and are much weaker than the daemons of any one God.

## The Thin Veil

The barrier between reality and the Warp is not equally strong across the galaxy. In some places, the veil is thin, allowing the influence of the Warp to leech through. Such areas might be permanent or temporary, and could be of nearly any size, the result of random chance or the intentional acts of cults. Some are the result of experiments performed by the Endless, while others are a side effect of ESP activity or a great effusion of powerful emotion or death. In Evimeria, for example, the currents of the Warp constantly batter the shores of reality.

Various disturbing phenomena can manifest in areas where the veil is thin, for the Warp and its influence are never predictable or consistent. Such places are often considered haunted or ill-omened, for people might hear voices, glimpse movement out of the corners of their eyes, or experience nightmares or even waking visions. Time might run backwards, temperatures plummet or fluctuate, and scanners provide inconsistent or contradictory readings. Individuals might feel a sense of wrongness that they cannot describe, or strange and disturbing sensations, from tingling on the skin to the smell of burning flesh.

## Spiritual Realm

The Warp is a dimension of the spiritual; created, sustained and influenced by intelligent mortal emotions and actions in the material universe. The mind of every sentient being in the material universe save the Cannei and the Virtual Endless leaves an imprint within the Immaterium, and although the signature of one mind is almost insignificant in the energy or influence it generates, when the imprints of an entire intelligent race of millions upon billions of individuals are combined they have a huge impact on the very nature and shape of the Warp (implying that the Immaterium is not chaotic by nature, but has been made so by the chaos and war that defines so much of the material realm). When an emotion or faith in an entity or concept grows strong enough, it actually becomes one of the denizens of the Warp. Many of these beings vanish when the emotion or beliefs that create them pass, but the strongest and most archetypal can become self-perpetuating, spreading the thoughts and events that grant them form and power and even interacting with the material world in a way that further strengthens the beliefs and attitudes that give them existence. The strongest of these beings become the gods and daemons associated with a specific group or culture, and almost every single intelligent race or force of will has its universal concepts or religious figures personified in some way by the Warp, be they Craver, Aeon, Harbosi, or Interex.

### Espers

The extraordinary magical abilities of the gifted individuals known as Espers are powered by the energies of the Warp, and when such power is used, the daemons and creatures of the Immaterium are drawn to the esper's mind like moths to a flame. Those men and women trained in the use of the magical/psychic arts are able to resist such incursion to a degree, but one of the greatest fears of any race is the fact that an untrained esper of sufficient power can become the target of daemonic possession -- and a gateway for the intrusion of the daemonic servants of the Gods into the physical world.

## Realm of the Dead

Many cultures of the Endless Universe, maybe with the exception of the Yharh, believe that the Warp is the final resting place for the spirits of the dead. Certainly there is some truth to this notion. The Aeon believe that the treacherous upon their deaths, their souls travel into the "Abyss" where they are punished for all eternity. When they do follow the Way, these faithfuls become one with the Heart, thusly gaining eternal bliss. The Aeon also believed the "Ysaadi", unrestful spirits of the condemned, always try to consume the souls of the living in an attempt to resurrect themselves or bring forth their dark masters.

The devotees of many of the Interex's cults also believe that when a person dies, his soul is transported to the Warp. But a devout worshipper of their respective Gods holds that they protect their faithful within the Warp from all entities that might seek to harm them and gathers the souls of the faithful to themselves. Only someone who has not been faithful to their Gods is at risk of being devoured by daemons of the Warp or otherwise punished within the Immaterium. In this way, the devotees of the cults see the Warp as an analogue of the old Judeo-Christian concept of Heaven and Hell -- the Warp is Hell for those who have been unfaithful, but can become a form of Heaven for those who have been true to their will.

Meanwhile, the Cravers and the Cannei simply do not believe in the realm of the dead. The Cravers does not care for concepts such as death and afterlife, while the Cannei believed themselves to be beyond the binds of mortality thanks to the gifts of the Virtual Endless.

Whether there is any truth to these beliefs are unknown, but the psychic nature of the Warp means that the collective and strongly-held beliefs of mortals in real space tend to take on a reality of their own within the Warp.

## Warp Entities

The Warp, through a realm of pure psychic energy that is inimicably hostile to all forms of organic life from realspace, is home to its own forms of life, sentient and otherwise. Many of these creatures are not sentient but depend upon the absorption of psychic energies to survive and are thus naturally drawn to the psychic emanations of mortals in realspace whose psyches are the very wellspring of the Empyrean. Such creatures include the Vampsych, Psychneuin, Warp Spectre, Warp Hound, and the Enslavers.

But far worse than these creatures are the truly intelligent denizens of the Warp, the Daemons, as well as the immensely powerful dictators of the Warp themselves, the Gods of the Warp.

### Daemons

The Gods are not alone in Warpspace. They have created servants from their own essences -- the creatures that mortals have named daemons based on their ancient legends and religious mythologies -- who are not so closely bound to the Warp. Daemons are entities of a somewhat different nature to their masters, and are the most numerous of the creatures to be found in the Warp. A daemon is "born" when a god permanently expends a portion of its own power to create a separate being. This psychic power binds a collection of senses, thoughts and purposes together, creating a personality and consciousness that can move within the Warp. The God can reclaim the independence it has given to its daemon children at any time, thus ensuring their loyalty. It is only through the loss of this power that a daemon can truly be destroyed, its mind dissolving into the whirls and currents of Warpspace, other ways aside.

Daemons have no physical presence within the Warp. The Realm of Chaos is anathema to the laws of physics of reality. Instead of possessing a true physical form, daemons project a form conjured from raw psychic energy that is essentially a lesser interpretation of their master's fundamental nature. Hence, the bizarre and inhuman appearances projected by daemons indicate their presence, status and allegiance to one God of the Warp.

Though it may appear to be made of normal matter when it materialises in realspace, a daemon's form is no more physical than it is in the Realm of Chaos. In fact, they are beings of pure Aethyric energy given shape and depth. When manifested in the material universe, daemons have particular invulnerabilities and weaknesses, as well as many strange powers derived from their Warp-born nature as psychic beings. Slaying a daemon's physical projection does not kill it, but only severs its presence to reality; its core essence in the Warp remains unharmed.

When a daemon is "killed" in the material universe, it is banished back to the Warp. If not simply re-absorbed by its creator, it must remain there to regain its strength that it eventually might manifest itself again. Legend has it that a daemon banished in this way cannot return for a thousand years and a day, though it is of course impossible to prove such a belief, and the concept of time itself is meaningless within the Warp. The slight to a "slain" daemon's pride is considerable, however, and the daemon is forced to endure the mockery of its fellows until it can return to corporeal form and avenge itself. The most powerful daemons will call upon any servants and tributary lesser Daemons to help them achieve their revenge. If it has many allies, it may also request their aid, though all daemons are cautious in doing so. Such favours must inevitably be returned, and no daemon welcomes the dominion of another creature, be it mortal or daemonic.

## Daemonic Incursion

In order for a daemon to break through into the mortal universe, there must be a breach of the barriers between Warpspace and the material realm -- a Warp rift (see below). These are breaches in the fabric of reality that can vary in nature and size. Sometimes these occur randomly; at other times, either mortals or the Powers themselves bring about their creation by some supernatural act. The size of the breach can vary tremendously, from a slight thinning of the dimensional walls to immense wounds in reality that allow the daemonic legions to invade *en masse*.

At times a daemon can possess a mortal and turn him into a living portal through which whole hosts can pass for a time into the material universe. These daemonic incursions taints realspace severely, often twisting and reshaping whole planets until they are lost to the Warp, becoming a part of the Immaterium and thus transformed into Daemon Worlds. It does not come as a surprise that just about every races' daemon hunters are granted as much resources as needed to deal with such terrible threats to the continued existence of their own kin. Often, it is the tumultuous movements of the Warp itself that tore the material realm, allowing daemons to spill through the resulting breach. This might happen by chance; events such as the onset of Warp Storms or a rogue esper's mind suddenly exploding with raw power may cause a rift to appear into the Immaterium. At other times, the deliberate rituals and sacrifices of mortals can allow the teeming hordes of their gods to smash through into the material realm. Sometimes, simple mortal suffering, death and misery on a massive enough scale can form a Warp rift that a daemonic legion might use as a portal. Some Warp rifts last mere solar hours, or even moments, for the nature of Chaos is ever impermanent. A daemonic army that has passed through such a rift can become trapped in realspace and will very swiftly succumb to the constant leeching of the energy required to maintain its presence.

The invasion of a daemonic army is analogous to hell being unleashed. Free from the physical limitations of a mortal force, a daemonic legion can appear and disappear at will. On occasion, it will mass for a great attack; at other times, individual packs of daemons will hunt across the affected globe, terrorising the populace, randomly enslaving and killing. Those mortals with even the least ESP potential suffer first as the influx of Warp energy releases the latent power of their mind, immolating them with magical fire, turning them into rocky statues, or causing their brains to simply explode. Poltergeist activity and random bursts of pyrokinesis can ruin buildings in an instant. People hear deranged screams and lurid whispering whilst unnatural stenches taint the air.

A daemonic invasion is all but impossible to stop by conventional means, for the very act of warring against daemons feeds the psychic power keeping them in realspace with fear and hatred. Only the closing of the rift can deprive the daemons of their power. Often, there is nothing that can be done but fight against the incursion until the rift runs its course. Battles fought against a daemonic incursion are utterly different than those against mortals, for defensive structures and garrisons have zero effect. To wage war against invading daemonic hosts, an army must be ready to respond to the sudden appearances of its adversaries.

To compound matters, motivations behind daemonic incursions are unfathomable. Even the Cravers, who are so alien as to be beyond the ken of man, war for sustenance and survival. Instead of these base drives, the objectives of a daemon commander will often be completely obscure -- they might be to slay a million mortals, to aid their summoners, or to kill the grandchildren of those that once banished them back to the Warp. Other times, the daemons have no goal or plan at all, and the gibbering creatures of the Immaterium make decisions according to opportunity and their nature.

## Warp Rifts

On rare occasions, the Warp is able to break out into the physical universe in what is known as a Warp Rift. A Warp Rift is a tear in the barrier between realspace and the Aethyr, allowing its creatures to enter the material universe. Sometimes, Warp Rifts occur randomly, while other times, the Powers or mortals manufacture them. Some last mere minutes, others for days, years, or even for centuries. They can take many forms, often a whirlpool of raw power, other times as a terrifying window into the Realm of Chaos. They have also appeared as gates of blinding light, clouds of impenetrable shadow, boiling lakes of pus, and other visions capable of driving mortals mad.

A number of different factors can induce the formation of a Warp Rift in realspace, including the unpredictable movements of the Warp causing a break into realspace, the daemonic possession of a mortal, deliberate rituals carried out by cultists, a breach in between realspace and the Warp caused by the psychic focus of immense suffering and death following a great war or terrible atrocity, or as a result of the will of the gods.

## Warp Storms

The Warp is an extremely volatile medium. At times, disturbances can turn areas of the Warp into raging storms of incomprehensibly destructive fury that affects reality. These storms can last for days, months, or even decades. These "Warp Storms" can isolate star systems and entire sectors from each other, by making normal methods of interstellar travel and communication impossible as the Warp surrounding those regions becomes too chaotic for a starship to safely travel through or for comms to send or receive messages through the psychic "interference." These storms can last for any amount of time, ranging from weeks to centuries, and can occasionally break out into the material universe, creating a temporary Warp rift that can result in a daemonic incursion. Starships caught in these storms during FTL are likely to be driven far off-course and re-emerge thousands of light-years from their intended destination. At worst, vessels find themselves trapped within the Warp, a terrible fate for its passengers as they become playthings for the dark creatures that inhabit that malign realm or simply flayed into nothingness.

## Trivia

* The Warp is indeed the Warp from Warhammer 40,000 and the Realm of Chaos from Warhammer, only with minor changes here and there.