Source
r/40kLore•
MasterOfNap

By the 41st millennium, what would it take to “fix” the Warp or minimize its threat to the Materium?

Suppose you have unlimited power/technology/resources to shape the material world of 40k. You could eradicate all life in the galaxy, or turn the entire Imperium into an egalitarian utopia where everyone lives a nice life, or build Necron pylons all over Milky Way. You can do whatever you want, with the only limitation being you cannot delve into the Immaterium.

What would be the best way to remove or minimize the threat of Chaos? Is it even possible, by the 41st millennium, to fix the Warp and return it to the calm realm before the War in Heaven?

Posted Mar 22, 2022, 9:09 PM UTC

721
HobbyistAccountImperial Fists•

I mean... if you killed off every single living thing capable of feeling emotion and left things long enough like that (Long enough probably meaning such staggeringly long amounts of time that the human mind can't really comprehend it) it MIGHT smooth back out.

11
MasterOfNapOP•

While that sounds reasonable, some excerpts also talk about how Chaos is essentially self-sustaining at this point, and that “starving” them out via eradication of all life wouldn’t work. Not sure if that’s an exaggeration though given the vague nature of the Warp.

3
HobbyistAccountImperial Fists•

That is why I said "MIGHT."

3
appendixcellulase•

Sure, covering the whole galaxy with pylons would do the trick.

I have con–’ the Navigator began, before her words were cut short by a shout of panic. Warning sigils flared across the warp engine controls in front of Praxamedes and the servitors started barking in unison with dry voices.

‘Negative warp traction. Negative warp traction. Negative warp traction.’

Non-vocal alarms accompanied the warnings, blaring out across the vox-net until Praxamedes silenced them with a depressed button.

‘Cease,’ he told the servitors.

‘Kosa!’ barked Aeschelus, striding across to the warp engine controls. The displays bathed the attendants and servitors in red light. ‘Kosa, make your report!’

Other than the alerts from the console there was no sense of what was happening. Praxamedes could only approximate the situation from the readings, which were changing too rapidly to individually follow.

‘We’re sliding, captain,’ the lieutenant announced, fingers moving across the runepad to bring up a read-out of the last few seconds of data. ‘Fast.’

‘Captain, the warp effect…’ Kosa’s voice trailed off, replaced by half-heard muttering before the Navigator continued. ‘It is impossible! There is no warp here.’

‘Nonsense,’ growled the captain. ‘What do you mean, Navigator?’

‘We are beyond the Impossibility Boundary but I cannot see the Astronomican,’ whispered Kosa, her voice taut with awe. ‘The warp is flattened. Not even a mirror. Like vacuum. Empty.’

‘Rotational momentum detected. We are spinning, captain,’ said Praxamedes.

‘Geller field still nominal, brothers,’ said Nem etus, leaving his position to join them. ‘In fact, it is operating at one hundred and forty per cent efficiency.’

‘How’s that possible?’ said Praxa medes. ‘How can it be generating negative reality?’

‘No warp pressure,’ suggested Aeschelus, stepping back.

- Indomitus

It's explicitly enough to defeat Chaos.

The relentless expansion of the Pariah Nexus is the work of the Necrons. The ancient android-bodied xenos are enacting the first steps of a plan aeons in the making, driven by Szarekh, last of the Silent Kings. With the uneasy allegiance of an ancient conclave of Crypteks known as the Technomandrites, Szarekh is attempting to propagate a star-spanning weapon of such poteney that it could end the threat of Chaos altogether.

But it comes with side effects.

That this sea change in the galaxy’s fortunes would come at the cost of soul death for every non-Necron life form is simply an additional boon from the Silent King’s point of view.

- Warhammer 40,000 (9e)

10
Perpetual_DeclineInquisition•

Considering the Necrons miss their souls and want back into biological bodies, cutting the materium off from the sea of souls seems... unwise?

2
TerkmcIron Warriors•

Honnestly judging by blanks, whose hardship comes not from blankness itself but from other, souled, people reacting to blank, and are otherwise just normal people, it wouldnt even be that bad

1
appendixcellulase•

The Pariah Nexus doesn't turn humans into blanks. It turns them into vegetables.

‘What happened here?’ Osel-den hung timidly back.

Hiax walked further inside, Chul-Phi his violent shadow. The search beam shone right into living faces. Eyes stared back full into a light that should have caused immediate pain.

‘Intriguing,’ said Hiax. He holstered his pistol and lifted up the arm of one of the crew. Her uniform was filthy with urine and faeces, her hair caked in drool. He let the arm drop. It flopped down nervelessly. Her chest rose and fell with steady breathing, but she showed no other signs of life.

‘I have no sign of higher brain activity,’ said 89-7. She had taken out a more sensitive, closer-ranged bio-auspex and was playing it over the crew. They all appeared lifeless, whether living or dead. ‘They breathe, their hearts beat, but they are in a vegetative state.’

‘Brain parasites? Mind-wipe?’ said Osel-den nervously from the door.

‘There is no evidence of either,’ said 89-7. She moved around the room. Where she kicked or moved the occupants, they made no complaint, and nor did their steady breathing change. ‘Standard humans cannot survive longer than a few days without water, a week in optimal circumstances, two in certain sub-strains, but these people are in no way remarkable. Total baseline normal. Whatever happened to them did not happen long ago.’

‘How close are we to the anomaly’s edge?’ asked Osel-den. ‘Assuming they came from there.’

‘Two weeks,’ said Hiax. ‘Travelling at their speed of eighty per cent lux velocity.’

- Avenging Son

2
TobyLaroneChoclatier•

We don't know.

We don't even know if fixing the warp is possible anymore or if the chaos gods at this point are self sustaining or with access to enough alternate realities that whatever you do in 40k doesn't impact them anymore.

3
wferomega•

Isn't the warp multiversal? So killing of the inhabitants of this galaxy wouldn't help, nor would killing the inhabitants of the universe.

Also, the time dilation in the warp could maybe sustain it even if somehow all life in the universe were wiped out since the time may be different. I'm not sure if that's possible but the lore that Slaanesh, always was makes me believe that it's strong enough to keep it going for a while at least.

I'd be curious to see some ideas of how to stop it

3
longbeastTyranids•

The only true answer is "nobody knows" but we can speculate.

I like to believe that humanity is largely to blame for the current state of Chaos, just because it is supposed to be a satirical setting, and having the imperium be its own worst enemy fits that pattern perfectly. If the imperium somehow reformed into a utopia, it wouldn't completely eliminate the ruinous powers, but it might weaken them to the point where they can be driven back and lose their influence over the material world.

I like to think the grimdark theme hangs together better if there is hope in sight, but nobody ever reaches it due to their own malice and incompetence.

3
Alundra828•

I personally don't think there is any fixing the galaxy as it is. What could be more grimdark than the chronicles of how mankind dies? But seriously though...

I think most of the existential threat factions like chaos, orks, and nids have all reached a critical mass, and cannot be stopped short of purging all life in the galaxy. Which I think might be the plan. I mean, what feeds these factions...? Life. Chaos wants to possess life, Orks want to fight life, nids want to eat life. Remove life, and you remove the enemy.

Obviously though, humanity is not going to mass suicide... But maybe the Emperor was conscious of this eventuality. When the emperor wanted to give humanity a webway, he either intended for humanity to dwell there forever, or he planned for humanity to one day return.

So either the human webway project was meant to be an Eden/heaven for humanity. Or it is a bunker that humanity hides inside while some serious purging in the galaxy takes place. And once the galaxy is burned clean, humanity will emerge from the webway and recolonise.

All the unbeatable threats will have burnt out. The warp would likely return to normal as their biggest benefactor vanishes from view. And a vastly technologically superior humanity will emerge (sort of like the Necrons) into a galaxy in its infancy once again.

3
Pm7I3•

It's very simple. Remove anything and everything that feels emotion or might do soon. Eventually Chaos starves and dies out. Job done.

2
Lasombria•

I am so there for Equilibrium. Ready for gun bolter and melta katas.

2
jenniferWAR6•

Great question and interesting idea. If you take the presented option of an egalitarian utopia ( = Star Trek, we’re profoundly rational and everything you need can be created) and expand it across the solar system for example - making it truly worth living in rather than the grinding misery of the Imperium - then the need to warp travel becomes superfluous…right?

Of course, if we have to translate it to the whole ‘current’ Imperium, you’d need to have this utopia in each disparate system, but the point would still stand - is your system desirable and productive enough that you don’t need to cross the warp?

How many Imperial citizens actually travel distances involving warp? It’s got to be a tiny amount. With suitably high-tech defence, can humans not stay put where they are? (Not sure about you but I haven’t personally left Earth yet and it’s fine. )

2
MasterOfNapOP•

That's a good point! I was thinking of something similar to the Federation as well (though probably a bit better).

But even assuming your system is good enough that you don't ever need to cross the Warp, either because you have other kinds of FTL or because your solar system is self-sustaining enough that no one ever needs to leave their own system, does that mean the threat of Chaos is eliminated? Would people still get corrupted, or cults still spring up in those utopias whenever you look away?

1
jenniferWAR6•

If I understand correctly the numbers of demonic incursions (considered possessions, witches etc) before the days of discovering the immaterium was minimal and no threat to civilization as a whole. Which makes me wonder - if a mainly non-psychic race like humans was to cease to use the warp and gradually ‘forget’ it, would brushes with Chaos simmer down to those early history levels? Or is the genie out of the bottle for good?

(I have to remind myself also that almost all humans are totally unaware of chaos anyway.)

4
PowergenItaliaAlpha Legion•

The problem is that Chaos still finds ways to snare the ignorant. But let's imagine how your scenario could play out (because it is interesting!)

Let's imagine a small cluster of worlds that are mostly self-sufficient, and close enough in the stellar neighbourhood that one can use normal sublight engines to travel between them. Now, let's imagine that these humans hear the words of Saint JenniferWAR6, and decide to kill every astropath and psyker on each of those planets, and incinerate their bodies in sanctified flames just to be sure. They also scrap every warp-capable ship.

All jokes aside, this wouldn't be a bad way for the denizens of the Utopia Cluster to declare their independence from the Imperium--at least until someone in the Administratum notices that the cluster has gone silent. Moreover, let's assume that the Administratum has enough backlog and leaves them alone for, say, 500 years.

Well, just because they can't go into the Warp doesn't mean that Warp-capable agents of the Ruinous Powers (e.g. Chaos Space Marines) can't come to them. Considering how many Emperor-fearing individuals have accidentally found themselves worshipping the Ruinous Powers, or how often that charismatic demagogue turns out to be a powerful worshipper or even daemon of Tzeentch, there's no guarantee that cutting oneself off from all uses of the Warp will mean that Chaos won't pay them a social call.

After all, humans aren't non-psychic in the way that the Tau are. And the forces of the Ruinous Powers have paid the Tau visits before.

2
Nebuthor•

Spam pylons everywhere. Would be the best way to make it a non threat in the milkyway. Cant really fix it because of some retcons to how the warp works.

2
General_Hijalti•

Don't think it's possible

1
MyCarIsAGeoMetro•

Activate the Necron pylons galaxy wide. Close the eye of terror and fully contain the Warp.

1
Many_Rule_9280•

Work with the Necrons since the Black Stone creations they probably made and can use will be able to suppress the warp

1