The Veil

The Veil

The Veil is a paracausal entity or artifact connected to the Traveler. Located deep below the surface of Neomuna, it is used by the Neomuni as a power source for the city, and the paracausal energy field it projects forms the basis of Neomuna's CloudArk.

Overview

The Veil somewhat resembles a plant or jellyfish, with a bulbous, cup-shaped main body, branching root-like tendrils that can rapidly grow and generate an indestructible dome, and an opening on its underside that emits a bright white light. Its upper surface has a large circular opening, within which is what appears to be an energy field decorated with intricate blue and purple patterns.

According to Rasputin, the Veil is connected to the Traveler, and upon entering close proximity to the Veil, Ghost mentions that it gives him a feeling which reminds him of the Traveler. However, it is elsewhere described as an "artifact of Darkness", and its presence in Neomuna suffuses the city with Strand energy - Strand being an elemental manifestation of the Darkness. Furthermore, the Radial Mast is stated by Ghost to resonate with Light, and Ghost himself is later used by the Witness to interface with the Veil. Collectively, these facts indicate that the Veil is closely tied to the Darkness, but that it may also have some relationship to the Light and the Traveler.

According to audio logs left by Chioma Esi, the Veil registers as an "electromagnetic anomaly," possessing no mass while having a tangible physical surface; she once described it as "like a thesis statement to the Von Neumann-Wigner Hypothesis," seemingly suggesting that its nature points to an interaction between consciousness and quantum mechanics.

History

The Ancient Past

Season of the Deep Spoilers

According to the creature known as Ahsa, the Veil has existed for billions of years. At some point, it was discovered by an ancient humanoid civilization, who had previously found the Traveler half-buried on their homeworld and had since enjoyed a golden age that had lasted for eons. In their studies of the Traveler, the civilization had determined that it had a counterpart entity in a distant star system. They named this entity "the Veil," and discovered that it was associated with a force opposite to that emanating from the Traveler, one linked to the mind and consciousness rather than the physical universe. The civilization further determined that the Veil and the Traveler were connected in some way, and that by bringing them into close proximity, this connection would be strengthened, and in so doing grant the power to alter the nature of reality. Seeking to obtain this power so as to convert the universe into an eternal, perfected form they called the "Final Shape", the civilization traveled to the Veil's location and brought it back to their homeworld. However, upon attempting to link the Veil and the Traveler, the Traveler left the planet and fled into the far reaches of space. Unwilling to abandon their quest, the civilization used the Darkness to bind their consciousnesses together and merge into a singular entity, the Witness, and departed their homeworld with the goal of finding the Traveler and uniting it with the Veil by force. Although not explicitly stated, it can be presumed the Witness carried the Veil with it on its journey.

The Collapse

During the Collapse, the Disciple of the Witness known as Nezarec led the Black Fleet's assault on Earth, and managed to secure the Veil aboard his Pyramid. However, he was betrayed by Savathûn, who killed him, cursed his remains and spirited the Veil away to Neptune. Osiris speculated that Savathûn may have done this with the express intent of having the Ishtar Collective find the Veil when they subsequently visited the planet.

It is implied that after the Collapse, the Sol Divisive created the Black Heart at the behest of the Witness, as it hoped to use the Black Heart for the same purpose as the Veil. However, the Black Heart was seemingly a failed replica.

Discovery by the Ishtar Collective

The Veil was later discovered by Ishtar Collective researchers who had traveled to Neptune aboard the Exodus Indigo during the Collapse. According to audio logs left by Chioma Esi, every researcher on the initial survey team died after making physical contact with the Veil, instantly entering a state of brain death. Exos present on the colony mission experienced psychological disturbances due to the electromagnetic signals emitted by the object, hallucinating and in some cases entering a state of "billboarding" similar to that which had occurred in early exominds prior to Clovis Bray I's invention of the Alkahest. When examining the object, Maya Sundaresh heard her own voice in her head speaking to her, telling her that the artifact was called "the Veil," and became convinced that it would be their "salvation".

Some time after the Ishtar Collective's arrival, Vex forces began making incursions into the colonists' territory, but were apparently repelled by the Veil's influence, preventing them from simply dropping into the midst of the Ishtar Collective's habitat and forcing them to engage the colonists' defenses.

Founding of Neomuna

The Veil would go on to play a central role in the founding of Neomuna, serving as the main power source for the city and the basis of its CloudArk infrastructure. An Ishtar Collective facility, the Irkalla Complex, was constructed around it to study it and keep it safe. During the early history of Neomuna, an atmospheric spectrometer was developed which displayed unexpected properties, which Maya Sundaresh speculated to be a result of the Veil's influence.

Lightfall

The Veil's existence was revealed to the Guardian by Rasputin in his final message, revealing that it resides in a hidden Neptunian city and that it is of immense paracausal power.

After the Witness communed with the Traveler and received a vision of the Veil on Neptune, Calus and his Shadow Legion invaded Neomuna and attempted to use the Radial Mast to create a link between the Veil and the Traveler. They were ultimately unsuccessful as the Mast was destroyed, but following Calus' defeat the Witness was able to create the link by taking control of the Guardian's Ghost. This caused the Veil to emit an energy beam that allowed the Witness to open a portal on the surface of the Traveler.

Asher Mir discovered information on the Veil independent of the Guardians and the Witness while traveling through the Vex Network, and devoted an unknown amount of time after the Arrival of the Black Fleet to researching and manually simulating it. He was able to achieve a full simulation of the Veil and send the data to Earth, though doing so cost his life as he was forced to resume his integration into the Vex Network to gain access to the necessary resources.

Gallery

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  The Veil's upper surface

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  The Veil's bulbous body inside of it's containment room

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  The walls of the dome The Veil is able to create using its tendrils

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  Concept art of the Veil

Trivia

• A number of pre-Lightfall Lore entries make reference to a mysterious "veil", which may or may not refer to the Veil itself:
  • The Lore entry 'Reextinction' contains a dialogue between the Nine in which they make reference to "laying themselves bare before the veil".
  • The Lore entry "Irrealis" contains the phrase "somewhere, a veil is always lifting" in reference to the timeless nature of the Black Garden.
  • The Lore entry "The Witch" describes a "falling veil" that will soon snuff out the Light of Guardians.
• Bungie have stated that information about the true nature of the Veil will be revealed in Season of the Deep.
• The Veil bears some resemblance to the Tree of Silver Wings encountered on Io, specifically in having a branching root system and a hollow, cup-shaped "canopy". What significance this resemblance has, if any, is unknown.
• In a tweet by Bungie lead concept artist Dima Goryainov, the Veil is described as a "physical manifestation of incomprehensible cosmic energy. Window into the mind and memory of the universe". To what degree this description applies to in-game canon is unknown.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2
  • Season of the Seraph (First mentioned)
  • Lightfall (First appearance)
  • Season of Defiance (simulated)
  • Season of the Deep