Page 146
It is implied here that if Stalinvast was not already wiped out, the astorpath could still have sent a message and stopped the exterminatus in a very short period of time, giving us a very broad idea of how quick they are meant to be (Jaq is hundreds if not thousands of light years away)"Was it your impression," he asked Meh'Lindi, "that Carnelian was performing a lightning calculation as to whether we might stand any chance of still saving Stalinvast if we jumped back into normal space?"
"Huh, fat chance of saving the planet now," interrupted Grimm. "He shot our message service. Was that his idea?"
'It's my impression," said Meh'Lindi slowly, "he may have decided there was no hope whatever for Stalinvast. That we'd be too late." Her tone said that she still loathed the Harlequin man, yet she felt compelled to be accurate.
Page 147-148
The Hydra plan in full, at least as explained to Jaq. The Hydra cabal believe (or so they claim to Jaq) they are doing the Emperor's will, ,and that this is his plan, but this is never confirmed or denied in the series. Given what we learn later, hwoever, I consider it unlikely to be so.That cabal had created the hydra after long research in covert theological laboratories located on the frozen fringe of some barren solar system unclaimed by either the Imperium or by aliens.
Guided by the Emperor's own harsh wisdom and foresight, they had experimented on the very stuff of Chaos and upon slaves permanently immobilized in nutrient vats, and upon prisoners.
The result was a multiform entity against which normal weapons were useless.
However, the hydra's material manifestation was only the tip of the iceberg. When mature, each hydra—all part of the same hydra—would sporulate psychically, infesting human minds planet-wide, while all body traces would melt away. The hydra's psychic spores would remain dormant in human brains for untold generations, passed from parent to child.
"Our aim," Baal Firenze had explained, "is to seed the hydra on innumerable human worlds. On the majority. On all. We hope each hydra might escape detection during the period while it grows to maturity—or only be detected by riff-raff, whom no-one in power will heed. A vain hope, obviously! Yet let it be detected, let it! Nihil obstat, as we say. Eradication programmes by planetary governors or by ordinary Inquisitors will seem to succeed yet will simply enlarge the span and final influence of the hydra. Even Malleus men who aren't privy to our secret will only scatter the hydra in their zeal, and then subsequently lack all proof or comprehension of what occurred."
"Zeal short of exterminatus" Jaq had reminded the proctor.
"Agreed. If nothing remains alive on a world, why then, nothing can be controlled. I warrant there will be few such instances of exterminatus. A minuscule percentage."
Control was the watchword. The hydra would obey the thoughts of its makers. Ultimately the spores of the entity would pervade all of humanity, to which it vectored by design. Eventually the High Masters of the Ordo Hydra would activate those psychic spores. These would sprout: tiny hydras in the heads of trillions of people, all linked subtly through the medium of the warp.
Whereupon those High Masters—the self-proclaimed servants of the Emperor—could control the entire human species galaxy-wide, almost instantaneously.
Jaq had already witnessed, and Meh'Lindi had experienced, how the hydra could be used to invade the pleasure centres of the brain... The pain centres likewise.
"In chosen instances," Firenze had revealed, "the total human population of the galaxy will be compelled to function as one mighty mind. Its combined psychic power will be vast enough to scour away all alien life forms and to purge the warp of malign entities. If our Emperor's Astronomicon is a lighthouse shining through the warp, this new linked mind will be a flamethrower..."
A small cabal would control all the minds of men and women for ever more. Able to twist them, direct them, fill them with ecstasy, or torment them. But mainly: to focus them collectively, whithersoever the cabal chose.
"This," the proctor had concluded, "will be the Emperor's legacy and greatest achievement. No doubt you know he is failing—just as the Imperium is failing, slowly and haphazardly, but failing nonetheless. His Supremacy will leave behind him a cosmic creature which a group of utterly dedicated masters can operate.
"Farewell, then, to daemons when we tap all human psychic potential simultaneously. Farewell to the Powers of the warp.
"Farewell to vicious Genestealers and to sly Eldar and to quarrelsome pillaging Orks. Farewell to the ancient inscrutable Slann and the hordes of Tyranids like locusts.
"But most of all, farewell to all the excesses of
Chaos—flayed and tamed by the human multi-mind at last!"
What is also interesting are the parallels of the Hydra plan to the Astronomican, as this strongly implies the Emperor is already acting as a sort of pseudo-Hydra entity, at least on a smaller, less efficient scale. He;s partly linked (AStronomican, astropaths, etc) throughout the Imperium and presumably strengthened by the belief fostered by the Imperial cult, but he, unlike the Hydra, cannot Force people to believe, or to share their power with him (or he simply does not want to turn them into puppets). One may infer that the Emperor might have some qualities of the Hydra in lesser degree then (the ability to influence people on an individual who are "infected" with belief in him, at least to some degree), as well - but this would also give us an idea of what he might truly do if/when his belief strengthens too (and explain why Chaos is afraid of him) This may also be what he aims for with a psychic humanity - such a wellspring of power that he could topple Chaos once and for all.
It is also interesting that the Hydra "infections" can apparently be passed on in some form of heredity (from parent to child) this is probably some psychic "fissioning" (we know the hydra can grow/heal/repair/regrow itself, after all), but it does suggest some curious implications for other warp-based phenomena (like daemons.) OF course, we know daemons can possess people with a fraction of their power, and its often hinted that daemons of a particular Power aspect (like Khonre) are simply parts of the greater being as it is... so this may not be surprising.
Also note the "trillions" of people referenced as the populatio nof the Imperium.
Note that despite what the Hydra cabal believes, there is no real evidence that this plan would have succeeded, or even done as planned (indeed this forms a major part of the second book.)
Page 150
"dozens" of systems in the Eye.. this is almost certainly exaggeration though. Also note the Hydra is claimed to be partly "realspace" and partly "imateriaium" phenomenon, much like anything in the Eye itself.The Eye of Terror... That great dust-nebula hid within it dozens of hellish solar systems which witnessed no stars, but only rippling rainbow auroras forever a-dance.
The legions of those who betrayed the Emperor during the Horus Rebellion had fled to the Eye and thereafter... had mutated vilely. For the Eye was a zone where truespace and the warp actually overlapped, braiding together in nightmare distortions.
Where else could an entity composed of blended matter and immaterium really have been conceived and forged but in the Eye?
Page 156
- Meh'Lindi the assassin consumes part of the Hydra in order to immunize herself against its effects. This confirms that it probably has flesh-like properties/consistency (probably a high water content, given the "protoplasmic/ectoplasmic" nature and such.). It also indicates Assassins can, with Polymorphine, be used to immunize against body-altering phenomena (chemicals and poisons, but also the hydra's ability to influence/stimulate the brain, which may suggest some limited resilience to psychic attack.)
Page 159
15 days (in warp) time over 5000 LY is around 120,000 C, albeit time seems to past fifty times faster in realspace as a result (for an effective speed tere of 2500c) A rather extreme bit of dilation, as IIRC frrom the earliy sources it would only have been a matter of months in most respects, not years. (the dilation difference also seems to have been toned down a bit in later editions, though this also fudges the calcs some, but not dramatically so)The Eye was five thousand light years distant from the area of truespace corresponding ot that hulk adrift in the warp. Fifteen days warp-time, as it turned out.
Meanwhile, perhaps two years would have passed by in the real universe.
Stalinvast would long have been a scorched husk, its jungles rotted utterly by the life-eater, than cremated by firegas, only the plasteel skeletons of its empty cities hovering above the barren desolation, dead reefs above a dried-out sea. Many cities would most likely have collapsed into tangled, ,fused ruins when the firegas exploded planet-wide. There would not be an atom of oxygen left in the now poisonous atmosphere; that too would have burned.
Note also this one jump did not completely drain the engines either, and the ship made at least several multi thousand LY jumps, suggesting a range in the tens of thousands of light years (which meshes with other accounts like annihilation squad). Presumably pure warships have longer ranges (Hundreds of thousands of LY or more, given patrol routes and times of weeks or months)
Note that "cremating" Stalinvast suggests the surface temperatures ignited by the "firegas" would have been 1000+K, requiring at least teratons to petatons fo energy (for that) to occur, even if we assume it was highly efficient (which it wasn't) The oxygen either was consumed but the atmosphere remains, so this puts some limits (less than say, e29-e39 depending on time and inefficiencies and other variables) on the overall firepower, I think. though the oceans apparently were "removed" as in vaporized, so they probably went up into the atmosphere, assuming they didnt (in some manner) contribute to the firestorm)
We also know the Hives did not fully survive the firegas storms, though whether this was purely thermal or if there were "blast/shock" effects as well (which is likely) we aren't told. It does set an upper limit on what it takes to actually destroy a hive (but probably not too far off the mark, as they aren't vaporized or reduced to molten craters)
Page 160
Finally, as they entered the fringes of the Eye, the astronomican vanished utterly from Googol's awareness. But he had already fixed on the shadows of a dozen of the star systems that lurked within the grreat nebulosity, the imprint of the mass and enerrgy of those suns upon the shifting, bubbling warp. Fingers dancing over a console, he conjured the pattern of these images holographically.
Jaq matched these traces with a holo-chart from the records of his Ordo, as stored in the ship's brain. Periodically the Inquisition sent screened nullships bristling with sensors racing through the nebula, probeships bearing psyker adepts who could spy on the madness of those who roosted on the cursed worlds within. Even the most loyal, best trained psykers might crumble under the assault of daemonic imagery. Traitor Legionnaires could ambush such ships. OR the vessels would succumb to natural hazards. Yet some crumbs of information were retrieved.
"Holo charrts" mentioned for navigation purposes that are matched with holographic patterns that the Navigator locates/detects. This is an indication that very large masses (like stars and planets, at least) do influence the warm in some manner (even if its not in a tangible way) that is detectable - at least in the warp, and that this data can be translated into tangible imagery/data.
Logiclaly, though, all matter should influence the warp to SOME degree if planets and suns do, so everything should have an "imprint" and thus possibly be detectable. What makes it difficult is likely the turbulent nature of the warp itself - its too unpredictable to read clealry (hell thats why they need the astronomican to find PLANETS after all. IF they could precisely fix planets by these imprints in the warp, they likely would have an easier time emergging closer in-system to begin with.)
This could hint at possible means of FTL detection (although naturally its psychically based, ,so probably relies on psytkers or psyker abiliites in some way able to "read" the warp like that.) - we know powerful navigators can read the warp frfom realspacee (and vice versa) after all.
Page 162
- Jaq claims he is linked to his own Tarot and not being able to destroy it. This suggest sthat in some way (indirectly) even the powerful psykers are tied to the Emperor.
Page 163-164
Jaq's ship has mechanical and psychic stealth/countermeasures against detection (visual, sensor, and psychic.)Tormentum Malorum proceeded under full camouflage and psychic screening.
A sensor beeped; a display unit switched to farsight.
"Traitor legion raider." said Jaq, "Has to be."
The other ship was shaped like a crab. An armoured canopy of dingy brown above and below, dappled with daemonic emblems. Two jutting, arrticulated claws that could probably tear through adamantium. Jointed, armoured legs, hairy with aerials and sensors, moved to and fron in unison so that the raider seemed to scuttle through space in search of prey.
Also the bizarre nature of starships in the warp. Assuming it not a warp-constructed entity (we know they can be made in the warp)
Page 164
Jaq can bolster/augment his own physical/mechanical stealth capabiilities - this suggests he's an extremely powerful psyker (no duh) but it also suggests that other psykers may do something similar (IE astropaths on a warship, for example - if they are powerful enough)Eyes on stalks telescoped up frm the crab-like ship observation blisters. Jaq invoked an aura of protection. He willed their own ship not to be sensed. Pouring his own psychic power into the artificial shields until he sweated, he thought: invisibility.
Page 165
- Jaq notes that prolonged exposure to the Eye (or similar enviroments) would cause changes (mutations) in any living creature. A big "no duh" here, but worth noting regardless I think.
Page 169
Confirmation that the stealth systems on Jaq's ship include phyiscal/visual stealthing.The camouflage-screened Tormentum Malorum appeared to be but one more natural feature.
