Murex

“You're not supposed to be in here! You're going to ruin the surprise!”

The following article/section contains spoilers.

Murex

"That... Thing. Sentient. I saw them during the Old War. Board immediately. Sterilize to prevent the Grineer from exploiting it."

—Cephalon Cy

Murex, formerly known as Sentient Anomalies, is both a Sentient Tile Set and  Sentient warships introduced in Update 27.0 (2019-12-13) which acts as a Point-of-Interest and is encountered in Veil Proxima missions on Empyrean and Operation: Scarlet Spear. They can also be encountered in Break Narmer, labled as a Prison Break mission. The player instead controls Kahl-175, and raids a Murex in search of any prisoners.

It is a Sentient troop transport ship notable for its alien interior and incredible size. Inside of it almost all existing Sentient units can be encountered.

The inside of a Murex

Murex ships are relevant to three game modes: Skirmish Railjack missions, Murex Raid missions, and the Prison Break mission of Break Narmer.

Skirmish

A Murex will occupy a Grineer-controlled node on the Veil for 30 minutes, indicated by a red flashing  Sentient symbol, after which it will rotate to a different node. The Murex will not appear in Void Storm missions.

While active, a Murex will constitute a mission objective in the Railjack mission (similar to a Pulse Turbine or Shipkiller Platform). Cephalon Cy will request that the Tenno investigate the Sentient presence in the area at the beginning of the mission. Once the Tenno enter the Murex, Cephalon Cy instructs them to "sterilize" it of Sentient life as a means to prevent Grineer exploitation. Once 20 Sentient enemies are destroyed, Cy deems the objective complete.

The red crystal

The Tile Set features high level Sentient enemies, and is the first area to house the Brachiolyst and Symbilyst. After killing 20 Sentient enemies in this Point of Interest, all players within the squad will receive an Anomaly Shard, which can be traded to Little Duck for exotic Sentient goods, such as the Tenebrous Ephemera and Sentient Ship Captura scenes.

Originally, destroying a red crystal within the Murex, which required the  Paracesis, would start the Erra Quest. This is no longer accurate and the Quest can be accessed directly from the Codex upon completion of the Chimera Prologue Quest.

Murex Raid

Main article: Operation: Scarlet Spear

The Murex Raid mission has two distinct phases: transporting the OpLink Satellite and deploying Kill Codes.

The mission starts with the Railjack carrying an OpLink Satellite, which must be brought in front of the Murex. While carrying the satellite, the forward turrets are disabled, though Munitions may still be fired. Sentient Gyrix and Ionyx will attempt to destroy the satellite, along with Splintrix delivering boarding parties. The most notable of these troops is the Anu Mantalysts which will deposit Anu Interference Drones to disrupt the Railjack's systems, preventing the use of Tactical and Battle Avionics, and reduce its speed. Later in the mission, Grineer Exo fighters and crewships will spawn. Once the satellite has been delivered, it will become invulnerable and players no longer need to defend it.

The squad must then board the Murex and place their OpLinks, which will upload Kill Codes that are obtained and automatically transmitted by the Ground Assault teams. 9 Kill Codes are needed for Murex Raid players to successfully fend off a Murex ship. Sentient forces will come in waves to attempt to destroy the OpLinks.

Players may extract at any time by using the Railjack's navigation terminal. Up to a maximum of 5 Murex can be fended off in a single run. If the Satellite or all OpLinks are destroyed after fending off one Murex, players cannot continue uploading and are forced to extract.

Prison Break

Main article: Break Narmer

Kahl, you know how you asked me to let you know when that prison Murex came back? Well, it's back. If you really want to do this, call me.

—In-Game Description

Boarding a prison Murex emerging above Deimos, Kahl seeks to rescue any captives onboard.

This mission is largely the same as in the Veilbreaker quest: Kahl fights off Sentient forces, stands in dissipation fields to free brothers, orders brothers to destroy debris and Immunodes as needed, frees a Tusk Bolkor and then crash-lands it while acquiring its  Grattler, and reach the Railjack at evacuation. Beware that any missed objectives may not be returned to after boarding the Bolkor.

As the group nears extraction, Daughter intercepts an abnormal Grineer signal, stating that "it's as if he was connected to a Sentient mind" before the Narmer Empire, to which Kahl adds that he heard of that one. After Kahl and the captives reach the hangar, Daughter expresses genuine shock on the Grineer being still alive, despite his mental trauma, Amalgam rejection, and chemical hypersaturation. Kahl states that he will do what must be done as the Grineer was suffering, but Daughter tells him that he cannot save everyone.

Kahl agrees and instead plans to kill the Grineer, which is then revealed to be none other than the Wolf of Saturn Six, now under Narmer service. The Wolf focuses his attacks solely on Kahl, using melee, long-ranged charges, ground shockwaves, and throwing his hammer; stay moving at all times and hover as needed to avoid the danger. After ending the Wolf's suffering, Kahl and the captives board the Railjack and escape.

Lore

Murex are Sentient vessels created as a mobile settlement or outpost of sorts. They may also be used as places of worship, as the Murex are filled with prayer altars and statues. The Murex have suffered damage due to the many eons spent drifting in space. However, they are able to rebuild themselves by using repurposed debris, similar to the Sentient Mothership, Praghasa.

Sentient prayer altar

Sentient coffin

Physiology

The Murex are not mere spaceships, instead they are massive Sentient organisms. Their various chambers and rooms are connected via orifice-like doors, that bear a similar resemblance to a digestive tract or vocal cords. It's immune system also appears as various hazardous defenses, such as Immunodes and Occular Walls.

Additionally, numerous pools of Sentient biofluid can be found scattered throughout the body of the Murex. The exact function of these pits are unknown, however, numerous Sentients can be seen being formed within them. From this, it can be inferred that these pools may act as birthing pits for smaller Sentients.

Features

Immunode concept

Immunode Altars

Immunodes are altar-like constructs with a glowing orb of Sentient biofluid in the middle. They can occasionally spawn within the tileset, granting nearby Sentients temporary damage immunity. The immunity can be removed by destroying the Immunode, and only one Sentient at a time can receive the damage immunity.

Spawn Altar concept

Vomvalysts Spawn Altars

These pod-like altars have a similar appearance to the Immunodes altars. Upon being approached by players, the main part will turn invisible, and release a Vomvalyst drone.

Each altar will only release one Vomvalyst, after which the altar will remain transparent for the rest of the mission.

Red Death Orbs

In some tilesets, there are floating red energy orbs that slowly travel around the room. They have a preset path, however they will attack the player if they get too close, seemingly bypassing armor with  True damage. These orbs can only be attacked with the Operator Void Beam, but has no health bar and is therefore invincible. It also bypasses  Limbo's Rift Plane. However, going into Operator Void Mode does make the player immune to its attacks.

Medusalyst Towers

Medusalyst Towers are stationary Sentient constructs that act as turrets. Upon spotting the player, they will lock on, and begin to slowly fire energy blasts.

Ocular Walls

Scattered around the Murex are swarms of Sentient-like eyes that reside on the surface of the walls. Upon detecting a player, they will begin to glow red. If the player gets too close, the orbs will detach themselves from the wall and detonate, staggering the player while causing a small Blast proc.

Transport Conduits

The entrance of these gate-like conduits will form when the player gets close to it, allowing it to be entered by walking inside. Doing so will cause the player to go through a tunnel-like pathway at high-speeds, bringing them to the next section of the map. They can be re-entered from both sides.

Sentient "Loot Fairies" concept

Sentient Resource Creatures

Instead of normal Resources containers, Murex ships contain smaller stationary Sentient Membroids that act as resource containers.

These Sentients appear as sack-like creatures with a single horn on their head. They are able to store various resources in their bulbous abdomen, which splits open when they are struck.

Secret Rooms

Within the Murex, certain walls can be destroyed with  Void damage, revealing small rooms with loot inside. They are distinguished by having a weaker and thinner appearance than the surrounding wall. Bug: clients can use any damage type to break the wall.

• Some doors are resistant to damage. Instead, use Void damage repeatedly to open them. They will close quickly if the number of attacks used was insufficient, and also will close automatically after some time.
  • For fast runs, any AOE damage abilities/weapons with enough range may break containers inside and can be collected remotely with the use of  Vacuum/ Fetch

Trivia

• Murex is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. Imperial purple is a secretion produced by several species in the family Muricidae, originally known by the name Murex.

Media

Front view

Rear view

Skybox

Concept art

Gauss in the outdoor starting tile

An indoor starting tile.

See Also

•  Anomaly Shard - A Sentient shard acquired after exploring a Murex.

Patch History

Update 31.5 (2022-04-27)

• Adjusted fog in Sentient tilesets.
• Made updates to Murex floor FX in the New War Quest.
• Added ambient FX to Sentient Murex tileset.

Update 31.1 (2022-02-09)

• Fixed missing Sentient Anomaly objective if the Public mission was started from the Liset.

Hotfix 31.0.3 (2021-12-17)

• Fixed a crash that could occur aboard a Murex.

Update 30.9 (2021-11-11)

• Fixed a part of the background overlapping on top of an asteroid in the Sentient Anomaly Murex tileset.

Update 27.4 (2020-05-01)

• The Sentient Anomaly in the Veil Proxima now has no downtime - it rotates every 30 minutes to a different node with no downtime in between.

Hotfix 27.0.12 (2020-01-23)

Anomaly Shards

For every Sentient Anomaly POI that you complete you’ll earn a new Anomaly Shard; a shard ripped from a Sentient Anomaly in the Veil Proxima!

• As mentioned in 27.0.11, we wanted to implement a more token based system to obtain the Tenebrous Ephemera that we removed from the drop table. An Anomaly Shard is 100% guaranteed at End of Mission for every Sentient Anomaly POI you complete.

Little Duck + Exotic Goods

Little Duck is no stranger to Exotic goods - an Amp assembler and Toroid master, the strong and the strange are what she makes her business on. Her interest in Anomaly shards allows you to access new Exotic Goods:

• Tenebrous Ephemera
• ALL Sentient Captura Scenes
  • Sentient Captura Scenes have also been removed from the drop table and will be purchasable from Little Duck exclusively.

Hotfix 27.0.11 (2020-01-16)

Tenebrous Ephemera Removal and Future Acquisition

TEMPORARILY removed the Tenebrous Ephemera as a drop from Reinforced Sentient Containers aboard the Sentient Anomaly in Veil Proxima. The drop method is causing numerous issues in terms of connectivity stability and player frustration. We’re going to be changing the acquisition method that won’t involve a direct drop rate in a near future Hotfix/Update, and will instead be closer to a token system (complete X Anomaly missions to buy Ephemera from a vendor).

• The Tenebrous Ephemera will be coming back as soon as possible in a better acquisition method

Update 27.0 (2019-12-13)

• Introduced.