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Anomalies

Although most traveled space within the Heavy Weapons universe is stable, there are areas where-by the fabric of reality is frayed enough for errors to occur. These errors, known as “Anomalies” are broken into several categories for ease of remembrance but have further classifications that vary in importance.

Anomalies vary both in strength and type, from small disturbances to nightmarish visions to the creation of brand-new matter and energy.

Those who live within established areas of space may go their entire lives without ever witnessing an event, but those close to the outer rim of reality or near to a particularly unstable region of space may see them in a semi-regular basis.

To help people recall the generic anomaly types, the acronym “FWEEP” was established, which is also very similar to the noise made by Early Anomaly Warning Instruments (EAWIs) when they detect a disturbance.

Fabrication Event (FB)

Warp Event (WP)

Extrasensory Event (EX)

Erasure Event (ER)

Pulse Event (PL)

Scale Classifications

In addition to the types of anomalies, the Universal Council also uses a scale system to show the size of anomaly, primarily classified by the amount of people the anomaly can effect.

1 - Micro Scale

Limited to ten people or less, most micro events are only detected by the most sensitive equipment and are rarely witnessed despite them being the most common severity of anomaly. Most go completely unnoticed and although rare, can occur in relatively stable areas of space

Percentage of total occurrences: 84%

2 - Kilo Scale

This severity range can effect up to one thousand people before being designated into the next tier, anomalies in this severity range are capable of being deadly and should always be approached with care and caution, even if the anomaly in question appears harmless at first.

Percentage of total occurrences: 15.7%

3 - Giga Scale

Class three anomalies effect up to a million people and can only happen in areas experiencing high turbulence in their stability. Most inhabited areas of space will never see a class three anomaly and for good reason. Fabrication anomalies of this range are able to generate millions of tons of material, making for lucrative prospects, providing the material generated has value in the first place.

Percentage of total occurrences: <0.3%

4 - Peta Scale

Effecting entire planets at once, class four events are limited to the most unstable areas of space on the outer rims of the universe, and even then, are extremely rare. Rumours have floated of entire planets being warped into completely different sectors by class four warp events.

Percentage of total occurrences: <0.1%

5 - Zetta Scale

There is no upper limit on class five anomalous event, it could be just over a solar systems worth or effect an entire galaxy, but this scale of anomaly has never been recorded in modern history and only took place when the Legion assaulted the universe, whereby Zetta class warp events unfolded across the universe and allowed the legion to assault. Needless to say, the universe must be in terrible shape for these to occur.

Percentage of total occurrences: 0%

Fabrication events are the spontaneous generation of new matter within the universe. With micro scale events being as small as the generation of a few grams of nitrogen in the middle of cold space, to the extremely rare scenario of a Peta scale event generating planets out of nothing.

Generally, fabrication events are sorted into three categories:

Stable Matter Generation

The spontaneous generation of stable matter that adheres to the rules of the universe once generated

This type of Fabrication event is generally considered low risk

Anomalous Matter Generation

The spontaneous generation of anomalous matter that has properties considered impossible by the ruleset of the universe

This type of Fabrication event is considered of upmost importance, depending on what has been generated

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Artifact Generation

The spontaneous generation of unique items that can have both possible and impossible properties but vary greatly in their strength

This type of Fabrication event is generally considered low priority as many artifacts generated are functionally useless

Warp events are anomalies that displace energy or matter a certain distance instantaneously. Warp events do not damage or bisect whatever matter they displace, meaning the teleportation itself is always harmless. But there is no way of knowing their destination until they occur and there is no guarantee that the matter displaced will be able to survive its new location. There are two main types of Warp event:

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Instantaneous Teleportation

These are anomalies that will instantaneously teleport whatever is affected to another random location, the scale of the anomaly effects both the sheer quantity of matter and energy teleported, and the distance its moved. Micro-scale events may move a household object from one room to another, but giga-scale events can relocate entire cities for example.

Matter moved in this manner does not sustain any damage from the teleportation itself but may be ill-suited to its new location. Additionally, there has never been a recorded instance of an anomaly teleporting one object inside another. Living beings are also disfavoured as targets compared to inanimate objects but can still be displaced in more unstable areas of space.

Sustained Wormhole

These are anomalies often referred to as a “Wormhole” that is a sustained anomaly that acts as an instantaneous teleport between two fixed locations. Small scale wormholes are often worthless and annoying, but higher scale wormholes can sometimes be extremely valuable, cutting transport time between two solar systems to nothing. Wormholes are fundamentally unstable and will eventually close at random, with some wormholes lasting barely more than a day and others still on-going after being discovered several thousand years ago.

Wormhole teleportation is entirely harmless, including if the hole closes. As the teleportation is literally instantaneous, it’s impossible to get “trapped” within in a wormhole, despite stories that frequently echo through Nomad space.

Extrasensory events are a bizarre phenomenon that produces strange, often terrifying effects that do not effect physical matter and instead play with the sensory and neurological systems of living beings. Extrasensory events are one of the biggest reasons why populations often refuse to live next to anomaly hot-spots, even if those areas are often completely safe.

Extrasensory events are very rarely outright dangerous but their effects vary between advantageous and profoundly horrifying, usually effecting much larger areas than the other anomalies and also more likely to be sustained rather than instantaneous, effecting large areas of space for several weeks, months or years at a time.

These anomalies exist in a weird juxtaposition where they the usually the most physically harmless but easily the most disruptive to living populations should their effects be mentally taxing to endure. Their actual effects vary tremendously and as such, they are once again, difficult to quantify. The recorded effects of Extrasensory events such extreme variance that any new occurrences should be immediately reported for review as their effects aren’t always apparent, current examples include:

Erasure events pertain to the “deletion” of energy and/or matter from the universe. The rarest type of anomaly by far, these events can only happen in extremely unstable areas of space.

Their effect is as described, the subject in question will simply vanish, but there are two forms of deletion. Although by far the most outright dangerous anomalous event, the unstable conditions required for their generation are thankfully limited. Erasure events also produce substantial warnings, detectable via EAWIs which makes their fatalities practically non-existent. That said, should one begin to manifest, the advice is clear. Leave the area. Warn everyone. Nothing can “survive” an Erasure event.

Cease Point

Cease Point is the most common type of erasure event, with practically all references of “Erasure events” referring to them. When a Cease Point event occurs, the subjects it effects will simply cease to exist from that point onwards. Those who knew of the subject will continue to remember it/them and for all intents and purposes, the subject no longer exists physically, but can exist in memory (in all its forms.)

Cease Point events appear unable to delete anomalous matter, only being able to erase matter and energy that is "native" to the reality.

The instantaneous nature of the deletion makes surviving them impossible, but the likelihood of dying to an Erasure event is extraordinarily low due to the completely random nature of the event and the level of reality degradation required for them to occur in the first place.

So although they are a terrifying presence to contend with, the reality of Erasure events is that the vast majority of the population through-out the universe will never encounter even someone who knows of someone else effected.

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Meta-haemorrhage

A Meta-hemorrhage is a far more intrusive and dangerous type of Erasure event, with the subject ceasing to exist as per a Cease Point event, but the Meta-hemorrhage directly effects the memories of others and any data recordings of the subject, with the scale of the event changing how much of the “evidence of the subjects existing” is destroyed/lost/erased. Small scale Meta-hemorrhage events may fragment the memories of those close to the person/item, making it difficult or “fuzzy” to remember. Large scale events may completely wipe a person and all their memories from existence, including damaging physical evidence.

Although Meta-hemorrhage events are extremely rare, there has been evidence of their occurrence in the furthest reaches of space. A particular family had pictures of a child erased and their own memories scrubbed, the family pictures merely had pieces missing where their child used to be, the subject family never questioned why their family portraits were burned and became increasing upset when asked, possibly showing that fragments of their child's memories may still exist.

Pulse events refer to the spontaneous generation of energy. Separate from fabrication events that generate matter, low level pulse events are the most common type of anomaly, usually taking the form of a small burst of low energy EM waves, such as radio waves.

These low level Pulse Events are generally completely ignored and will contribute only static fuzz and weird signals to surveillance equipment not designed to filter them out.
Stronger Pulse Events can present a serious hazard, often releasing a sudden explosion of light and heat but these will typically manifest in unoccupied areas and with significant warning via EAWIs, but their threat to life shouldn't be ignored.

Rarely, Pulse events will produce forms of energy not possible within reality typically, such as “Anti-heat” which appears to cool matter down but can cool them past the point of absolute zero, which shouldn't be possible, these PL events should be refereed to the Universal Council with great urgency as anomalous energy may present a sustained and serious threat to existence.

There are continued rumours that the low level random radio waves generated by PL events on the rim of reality have encoded messages or secrets hidden within them. These rumours are completely false and dangerous. There is nothing to decode within these bursts, they are genuinely random, but following the results any pattern produced by them may lead to significant risk of personal harm.