Hello everyone!
Last week we took a quick look at the Shroud UI coming in Shadows of the Shroud. Today we’re going to talk about the various entities of the Shroud, find out what Psionic Auras are, and then revisit the Cevantian Sovereignty now that they’ve gotten a third civic - Experimental Sentencing.
Let’s get to it!
Entities of the Shroud
The four Major Patrons - the Instrument of Desire, the Composer of Strands, the Eater of Worlds and the Cradle of Souls are dominant in the Shroud, and navigating their domains is a major part of Psionic gameplay.
The Instrument of Desire: A boundless urge to possess and indulge.
The Composer of Strands: A primal connection to the natural world.
The Eater of Worlds: An unending hunger that cannot be sated.
The Cradle of Souls: A welcoming vessel for communication and exchange.
They’re not the only denizens of the Shroud though - in each playthrough you may meet four of eight Minor Patrons.
A Sculpting Presence, a Sorrowed Entity, a Fathomless Being, an Insurmountable One, a Luxurious Being, an Irenic Entity, an Unyielding One, and a Restless Presence await you. Each has their place between two domains, though the being you encounter may differ from game to game.
The Minor Patrons have Accords for those they meet, and should you encounter them again may grant you a portion of their power in the form of a Zro-consuming Edict.
There are also two Great Patrons.
One will be the focus of next Tuesday’s dev diary, and the other…
At the center of the Shroud spins the Whisperers, an ever-shifting amalgam of all Patrons with knowledge of all things.
The Shroud is no fixed realm. It bends to the psyche of those who enter, reflecting their nature, desires, and fears. What one empire encounters within may differ wildly from another’s experience. The Shroud reveals, and conceals, in equal measure. Most mysterious.
Psionic Auras
An empire that has achieved a certain level of accord with a domain unlocks Accords, but also gains access to the Psionic Auras technology. This will allow some of the Shroud’s power to leak back into corporeal reality, emitted from where your psionic population is concentrated. These Auras provide passive benefits to you and your allies, and hinder your enemies.
If you haven’t made a Covenant with an entity, your Aura will reflect the nature of the domain with which you have the greatest accord - though if you’re actively moving about the Shroud it won’t change more than once a month.
Upon forming a Covenant or rejecting all Covenants to forge your own path, Psionic Aura Intensification becomes available to research.
Oops, it looks like I didn’t crop that image correctly.
This allows your Aura to grow and even spread into other systems. When two Auras collide, the stronger Aura will eat away at the weaker one until it can take over.
Psionic Auras can be seen on the Galaxy Map similar to cosmic storms:
Wait, that’s not one of the ones you listed before.
Experimental Sentencing
Last dev diary the Cevantian Sovereignty rejected the shackles of a Covenant.
Their neighbors, the Maggar, aren’t quite so lucky. They found themselves in Cevantian shackles, as the Cevanti took Experimental Sentencing as their third civic.
The Experimental Testing situation lets you choose a branch of research to focus on - Physics, Society, or Engineering, and when completed will provide progress on a technology upon completion. Some of the Test Subjects will be lost, but it’s easy enough to acquire more.
Slaves set to the Orderlies Slavery Type will assist your researchers if they do not have any other worker job to take, providing a small number of Amenities and increasing Researcher Output.
Psionic Shipset
One of the two playable shipsets coming in Shadows of the Shroud is the Psionic shipset. I posted some in-game images in last week’s thread, but Abrakam created this image for those who need a nice desktop background.
What’s Next?
Last week we weren’t able to stream due to technical difficulties, so join us today at 16:00 CEST and peer into the Shroud with us!
Thursday’s dev diary will be “Mindwardens and Machines”. We’ll show off the Mindwarden Enclave, the Mindwarden Origin, the Mindwarden Shipset, and the Shroud-Forged and Tankbound.
See you then!