Valkyrion Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Can someone please explain the fictional science and physics behind the idea of the webway as though I'm a ten year old? I get that it's a series of interconnected tunnels, but I don't really get how it speeds anything up..... N1SB 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Knight Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 It's a set of inter-connected tunnels that exist in a parallel dimension. The distance travelled in one of these tunnels does not directly correspond to the physical distance between the starting point and the destination in real space. It allows for faster-than-light travel this way. Iron Father Ferrum, Domhnall and Helias_Tancred 3 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Travel through the webway is far faster than travel through realspace or even through the Warp. The science behind this not elaborated on so basically treat it as "space magic". People on foot could cross from one side of the Galaxy to the other in a matter of days. Since the Fall of the Eldar, the Webway is in a poor state. Sections were destroyed during the Fall and what is left is rather fragmented. Certain sections have been sealed off by the Eldar to stop incursions from Daemons or other foes. This means some journeys that were once direct now require several criss-crossing journeys to reach the destination. Imagine a map of a large railway network then drop bombs on it. Depending on where you are going to and from, some journeys are as easy as they always were, others are difficult or even impossible. Even with these limitations, Webway travel is far faster and safer than sending fleets of ships through the Warp. This is why the Emperor returned to Terra and made Horus Warmaster near the end of the Great Crusade. He wanted to take control webway as that would guarantee humanity's military supremacy over the Galaxy while greatly reducing their reliance on Psykers and the Warp. Helias_Tancred 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrion Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Let's pretend you're in a webway tunnel and can smash your way through the wall next to you. What's there? Just normal space? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Knight Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Let's pretend you're in a webway tunnel and can smash your way through the wall next to you. What's there? Just normal space? No, you wound end up in the Warp and terrible things will happen. The Webway doesn't exist in what we call "real space" Also, parts of the Webway have collapsed or have been outright destroyed, so it can't take you to every destination anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlo Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 The warp layers over reality. The Webway is in the stable space "between", kind of. Entering the warp from realspace at coordinate X1:Y1 doesn't mean you enter the Warp at X1:Y1 there either, they don't directly marry up. And there is the possibility that the warp is shifting. This is also true for time, it can vary drastically. The Webway links many places across the galaxy, through the warp using stable tunnels where the distance can be vastly shortened between those two points compared to realspace. Imagine you have a piece of paper with a dot at each end. If you fold the paper and connect the dots, thats the webway :) Xenith, Helias_Tancred and Karhedron 3 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Let's pretend you're in a webway tunnel and can smash your way through the wall next to you. What's there? Just normal space? The Warp. Breaching the walls of the webway is incredibly difficult but not impossible. Magnus managed it at the start of the Horus Heresey and basically allowed a flood of daemons to pour into the Imperial section of the webway. The psychic feedback also fused the controls on the Golden Throne for good measure which effectively wedged the portal on Terra open. This is why the Emperor spent most of the Heresy stuck on the Golden Throne rather than going out to confront Horus. Only his psychic power could hold back the tide of daemons from swamping all of Terra. He was only able to leave on 2 occasions while others took his place. The first cost the lives of 1000 powerful psykers and the second killed Malcador the Sigilite when the Emperor went to confront Horus at the end of the Siege of Terra. The second occasion where the webway was breached was during the rise of the Ynnari when a Wraithknight sliced a hole in one of the walls, allowing the Yncarne to suck a group of Thousand Sons into the Warp. Interrogator Stobz and Helias_Tancred 2 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Neverborn Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 (edited) To a ten year old. The webway is a series of very old tunnels, some of them no-one knows where they go. The Tunnels allow you to travel safely through an ocean full of sharks and various other "gribblies" by taking massive short cuts. The short cuts mean that in 1 step you can cover 10, 100, 1000 or a 1,000,000 steps - it's magic. Some of these tunnels are big enough for a person to walk through, others are big enough to put New York City in 1000s of times. Some of the tunels are leaking and the sharks have got in. They were built by magic space frogs. They are used by Elves - in space. Some Elves live in there - so they sharks don't eat them. A human tried to open a series of tunels to earth, but he made a mistake. Now he has to keep it closed, even in death, at the bargain price of 1,000 "lucky" men, women and children every day. Edited October 20, 2021 by Battle Brother Abderus Dreagher, Dr. Clock, Sword Brother Adelard and 8 others 11 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firedrake Cordova Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 (edited) I thought the Webway was akin to "sci-fi magic wormholes"..? Edited October 20, 2021 by Firedrake Cordova Domhnall 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kastor Krieg Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Yeah, wormholes with walls, some of them full of daemons, Traitor Astartes, Space Elf Clowns and worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkaniss Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Surprised I haven't seen it referred to as a series of tubes It's definitely maze-like and very few (or maybe even no..?) people know all the routes. As to it's various destinations that is unknown as GW will never give us a Tube Map - so you never know where a Webway gate may crop up in the fluff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Father Ferrum Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 The Eldar do maintain maps of it, or at least of certain sections -- it'd be useless for travel if you were unable to determine where you were going and how to get there. Inquisitor Czevak got ahold of one such map in the novel Atlas Infernal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 There are certain points in the webway where time flows more slowly called Crossroads of Inertia. The Pheonix Lords sometimes pause here between battles until they are called to war again. There is a single legendary node where the flow of time can be reversed. The rogue Inquisitor Jaq Draco believed he had discovered it but was killed before he could pass on the location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarvis Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Okay I have a question too. I’m going to piggyback onto this thread unless the mods think it needs to be separate. In M.o.M., how did the traitor marines get into calastar? Is it shown or told anywhere in the previous books? When that part happened I was so confused, I get daemons being there I guess, but it seemed like the marines had been fully corrupted too so they must have gotten into the webeay really recently? Is there a canon explanation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Scout Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 (edited) Okay I have a question too. I’m going to piggyback onto this thread unless the mods think it needs to be separate. In M.o.M., how did the traitor marines get into calastar? Is it shown or told anywhere in the previous books? When that part happened I was so confused, I get daemons being there I guess, but it seemed like the marines had been fully corrupted too so they must have gotten into the webeay really recently? Is there a canon explanation? It's in Slaves to Darkness. Edited October 23, 2021 by Blood Angel Scout Angry Banana 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aramis K Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 HH novel Path of Heaven has some good chunks on the webway. Talks about the tunnels being deep in the warp, below where even Chaos is comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry Banana Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 It's in Slaves to Darkness. aye, and the direct inspiration for it came from the 'wormholes' in the Nemesis the 2000AD warlock comic strip :) Freakshow668 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emicus Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 It's like going through the warp. A mile in the warp is a light year in the real world, or something like that. Or nether portals in minecraft. As for what it's like it sounds like it was tunnels originally but it's been punctured in several places by the warp aka hell. It's also chock full of old, ancient and hidden races as well as barking mad Assassin elves. It's not very nice. Helias_Tancred and Domhnall 2 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domhnall Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 It's like going through the warp. A mile in the warp is a light year in the real world, or something like that. Or nether portals in minecraft. As for what it's like it sounds like it was tunnels originally but it's been punctured in several places by the warp aka hell. It's also chock full of old, ancient and hidden races as well as barking mad Assassin elves. It's not very nice. Ancient and hidden races. Dwarfs are both these. Tunnels. Dwarfs have a fondness for tunnels. Minecraft. Dwarfs like to mine (reeeally stretching this one). That's it, Squats are confirmed to come out of the webway It's all connected... Seriously though, it would be good to have the webway explored (pun intended) a bit more in the lore, as it's potentially far more interesting than the lore we have on it. Angry Banana 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 Seriously though, it would be good to have the webway explored (pun intended) a bit more in the lore, as it's potentially far more interesting than the lore we have on it. "Master of Mankind" and "Old Earth" both feature quite a lot of action in the webway and give a good look at what it is like. The abandoned Eldar city of Calastar is built in a hub of the Webway and described in some detail. Domhnall, Angry Banana and N1SB 3 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domhnall Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 Seriously though, it would be good to have the webway explored (pun intended) a bit more in the lore, as it's potentially far more interesting than the lore we have on it. "Master of Mankind" and "Old Earth" both feature quite a lot of action in the webway and give a good look at what it is like. The abandoned Eldar city of Calastar is built in a hub of the Webway and described in some detail. Thanks. I've read Master of Mankind, but not got to Old Earth yet, so really need to start back on the series... The discriptions in it were really cool, showing that it was everything from a tunnel, to a massive open space! Just imagine what could be done expanding on this! The possibilites of this for an RPG setting would be immense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenith Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 The Fabius Bile series also has a decent amount of action set in the Webway, and some musings on what it is. Domhnall 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gideon stargreave Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 My head cannon is so different! I don't read much back library so I've always imagined it as gates like in Portal, from craftwirlds in the darkness between the stars. You learn something every day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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