Earth AD
Table of Contents
Earth AD (Aether Drive)
Other Appellations:
Drak World (Universe 161, Alpha), Universe 61719 (W Series)
A Fox echo of Earth AD exists in Universe 161 and Alpha as the Drak Show, a television show about an eyesaur kaiju named Drak and its always amusing, sometimes violent misadventures with its pal Gurk, the one and only sludgehog.
Fans of the Drak Show are sharply divided on which version is best. The 161 version is animated while the Alpha version is made with puppets.
(Ours is better. Just saying.)
Fox Harmonic:
Theta-Alef-Delta
Astral Connection:
L3, D3
Caution Rating:
3
Earth AD is a relatively peaceful world, though the occasional multiverse crime does occur. Common crimes include aether drive smuggling, sells of Cannonfodder drones to BOL members, identity theft (No Weft officer, I’m Tom from Theta-Alef-Delta, you’re looking for Tom from Delta-Theta-Alef. You can tell the difference by my facial hair and glasses), and bootleg Drak merchandise (Pro tip–real Drak figures have blue eyes. Bootleg Draks have brown eyes).
Multiverse criminals best hope that our Weft Authority catches them before Earth AD prosecutes them. Their kaiju lawyers are absolutely merciless.
There’s also controversy over certain Earth State businesses outsourcing aether-based manufacturing to CyKEA, which isn’t beholden to our regulations (and to be honest, isn’t beholden to Earth AD’s regulations either).
But all this pales to the real reason Earth AD has a Caution Rating of 3–it’s a rather wild universe outside Earth. The Goreya Empire, the Frost Jyants, the Deceiveons, and the Mobilebots have devastated galaxies. In the grim darkness of deep space, there is only war. While these factions haven’t accessed the multiverse, it is likely within their power to do so. There have been reports that the terrestrial supervillain Dr. Double-Negative has been sighted creating “negatives” of inhabitants from other universes. If he can figure out how the multiverse works, it’s very likely more dangerous threats from Universe AD can as well.
Multiverse Activity:
Occasional
Keywords:
Quantum, Analog, Calendar Analog, Historic Partner
Description:
A universe’s climacteric is often in the form of a superhuman or a superscientific breakthrough that directly leads to a flourishing of secondary hyperstasis–but not always. Animals can undergo hyperstasis just like humans, and it was hyperstatic animals–kaiju–that started Earth AD’s climacteric.
Note that though kaiju tend to be giant, superpowered animals, the term as used by the inhabitants of Earth AD to refer to anything superpowered and super-tall. The Space Vikings, for instance, are classed as kaiju though they’re giant humans.
Throughout the 1950’s, animals were transformed into kaiju by radiation, pollution, strangely glowing meteorites, occult energies, the misplaced wishes of children, etc. Mankind responded with the creation of the aether drive, a device that pulled near-limitless amounts of ambient energy from the air. Aether drives allowed mankind to fight back against the kaiju by creating giant mecha. The first of these mecha was Warrior One, and while Warrior One was a huge success in his time, he was quickly outdated. Kaiju grew in number and in power in a similar pattern to the proliferation of superhumans in our world. The Kaiju situation quickly grew beyond Warrior One, and newer, larger, and stronger mecha were created. Unfortunately, this new generation of mecha revealed a fundamental flaw of the aether drives. Newer mecha were made larger with more weapons and thicker armor and required larger aether drives. But the larger an aether drive got, the more dangerous it became. At a certain size, it began to pull energy not only from aether, but from any nearby source. It would sap a mecha’s systems, or worse, the electricity from a pilot’s nervous system.
While mankind grappled with aether drives, nature stepped in to ameliorate the kaiju threat. Kaiju began to grow more intelligent, less impulsive, and more gentle around 1965. Some even integrated into human society. Today, the kaiju Destroyastein is part of the Law Offices of Ketchem Cheatum and Destroyastein, and the blue and benevolent Hooklion Sinkpurr sells fish by the shore of Tower City and protects it from dangerous kaiju. But though ameliorated, the kaiju threat did not end, and humanity scrambled for a solution to the aether drive scale problem.
An answer came from Professor Winslow Peek in the form of combiner mechas with the first being Fight City, named because pilots had to live inside each component of the mecha to acclimate themselves to the several aether drives it contained.
Professor Peek discovered that several aether drives could be made to run in concert to produce a net increase in power while drawing power from themselves and not additional systems or the pilot. But pilots placed within multi-aether drive mecha still suffered adverse effects. The multiple engines drew less from the pilots, but it still drew from them. Professor Peek then discovered that the solution was simple–one drive per pilot. By pairing pilots to aether drives within the same mecha, adverse effects became virtually nil. What was more, by observing successful combiner teams in action, Professor Peek discovered the principle of aether drive overclocking.
Because aether drives tapped into the bioelectricity of the human brain, they also tapped into psychokinetic and Astral principles. The human brain produces about 20 watts. That’s not a lot of energy. For comparison, a lightbulb produces about 60 watts. But through the psychokinetic principles of the Astral light, the human brain in the right circumstances can produce a lot more than 20 watts–a lottttttt more. A pilot with a strong will can force an aether drive to overclock and pull energy from out of nothing. A strong enough will can even force a mecha to perform the impossible–wounds close, superweapons are pulled inexplicably out of the air, and brand-new supertechniques are created just in time to save the day. And this effect is even greater when the feelings of multiple pilots work in tandem.
When several hearts beat as one, the true power of an aether drive is revealed.
Professor Peek revolutionized mechas, and his company CyKEA (Cybernetic Kaiju Eradication Armaments) remains a leader in the mecha industry. Combiner mechas became a common feature of life on Earth alongside related supertechnologies like robot drones and necromantic skeletron robots. Power shifted from the kaiju to man, but who can say whether or not it was for the best? Earth AD has fought a startling and impressive number of world wars after their second in the 1940’s for a total of 12 as of 2021, and it is likely mecha technology played a role in these conflicts. Perhaps mankind was the true monster all along?
Or maybe everything is a monster. Let’s not pretend the multiverse is all milk and cookies when we have to maintain a database of caution ratings.
Earth AD is very deregulated when it comes to its supertechnology, which helps them get along culturally with the America and Japan of our world. Government sponsored combiner teams exist like the Cryptid Crew who pilot the stealth combiner REDACTED, but most combiner teams are private like the Saurus Squad who pilot the Justisaurus (defunct), the Agrirangers who pilot the Combine County Co-Op, and the Roaring Rangers who pilot the Roaring Tiger (defunct after it was discovered that the Roaring Rangers were really a Roaring Ranger in violation of combiner safety protocols). The NMA (National Mecha Associations) and various related organizations protect the rights of private combiner teams.
There are also several businesses and entrepreneurs that service combiner teams, prominent among them is Tad Danger, substitute ranger, a man who uses a mecha known as the Manipod which can take the form of whatever combiner component needs to be substituted–an arm, a leg, hips, it’s even been a sword.
Supervillains have also made use of supertechnology such as Dr. Cannonfodder, who uses a near-endless supply of cannonball robots (a popular item on BOL wishlists), Dr. Double-Negative, who can create “nega” clones of individuals made of a photite-like substance, Dead Baron, a WW1 veteran with a legion of necromantic kaiju (he reformed and changed his name to Dead Barren), and the Sky High Sentai who pose as a combiner team to pull off cons, often in the form of beating up and robbing retired supervillains under the cover of superhero work. Cole, leader of the Sky High Sentai, has had altercations with Pearl “Percy” Adams, a member of the Fishermen multiverse security group.
Our universe first came into contact with Earth AD in the 1970’s, and their aether drives and experience in combating kaiju allowed them to greatly assist Japan during the Demon War of 1973. Since then, our two worlds have worked closely together, and our mecha communities have a strong overlap. Several of their mecha are honored at Ishikori-dome, the “valhalla” shrine of mecha, or as they’re called in our universe, guardian giants. The heroic kaiju Hooklion Sinkpurr is also an honorary member of the Fishermen and friend of Percy Adams. She sometimes visits Joyous Harbor to say hi to the Fishermen and fish in the waters.
Extraterrestrial powers in Universe AD unfortunately tend toward the bellicose side. The Great Converter war between Deceiveons and Mobilebots has devastated countless planets. They either fall to slavery at the hands of the Deceiveons or extinction at the hands of the Mobilebots as the Mobilebots believe that the Decieveons must be stopped–not matter the cost. However, after being repelled by Tad Danger, their activities may have been curbed. The Frost Jyants have frozen several planets to death, but their activities may have been stymied as well by Tad Danger who assisted their rivals, the Space Vikings (who are indeed vikings from Earth that somehow found their way into space and mutated into strong, but rather dim, giants), in slaying their leader. And the Goreya Empire remains perhaps the largest threat to the universe. Aeons ago, they destroyed the one being with enough power to stand against them–Skulltron, the privateer of the universe. WIth Skulltron out of the way, the Goreya Empire expanded across the universe unchecked. But as he died, Skulltron created a curse and divided his power among five robotic parakeets possessed by the souls of his crew. When they come together, Skulltron is reborn as the universe’s greatest hope for freedom…and piracy.
Tad Danger may be considered little more than a substitute ranger and delinquent debtor on Earth, but on the universal scale he’s a shockingly effective agent of peace and order. ARGO is very interested in seeing just how effective he can be.
Individuals of Note
Tad’s Crew
Tad Danger, substitute ranger–now with crew! A proud supporter (its either that or he forgot to unsubscribe from our patron program) of ARGO research, Tad Danger provides prompt, professional, and most of all pragmatic service to combiner teams in need of a quick hand–or foot, or whatever part they happen to be missing.
Call 1-800-Ranger1!
Tad Danger, substitute ranger–now with a crew!
Please forward all legal notices and complaints to the Law Offices of Ketchem Cheatum and Destroyastein.
Tad Danger
The substitute ranger himself. Rude, crude, and financially irresponsible, Tad is nonetheless a professional at his job with a wealth of practical experience and knowledge. If you want service that won’t cost you an arm or a leg, call Tad Danger!
He’s ready to give you a hand!
Raw Power 5
Durability 8
Speed 2
Sanity 4
Intelligence 4
Skill 10
Rex
Formerly a member of the combiner team Saurus Squad, Rex had a falling out with his teammates after they hired Tad. Feeling somewhat responsible for Rex being out of a job and having bonded with him (they did a cool move together), Tad let him crash on his couch for the night. A week later, he hired him as his factotum sidekick so he could start pulling his weight. Rex is a meek, hapless young man, but he can be counted on when the chips are down. Mostly. Rex is the operator and best friend of his giant robot T-rex.
There are rumors that Rex was involved in some sort of violent corporate dispute involving a flight to Panama, but these are only rumors.
I mean come on. This is Rex. How much trouble can he get into?
Raw Power: 1
Durability: 2
Speed: 3
Sanity: 3
Intelligence: 6
Skill: 6
Edge
Edge is a member of the Skulltron pirates, the pilot of the green parrot, and met Tad to abduct him to sub in for her crew. It was lust at first abduction. After several adventures with Tad, his contract finished with the return of the red parrot, and Edge was apparently sad to see him go because recently she’s been spotted back on Earth. We hope she’s not trying to get Tad to do anything foolish like enter an illegal underground mecha fighting tournament.
Edge lives up to her name. She is quiet, aloof, and dangerous. Not the kind of girl you bring to mother–which makes Tad like her all the more.
Her past is shrouded in mystery, but we do know that, for some reason, ARGO probes return strange readings when they scan her. There seems to be more to Edge than meets the eye.
Raw Power 7
Durability 7
Speed 9
Sanity 3
Intelligence 7
Skill 10
Squisher
Formerly a soldier in the Decieveon army, Squisher was late to the invasion of Earth and left behind which gave him a bad case of separation anxiety and very few prospects on a world where everything was so small…and squishy . As a combining robot without a combining team, Squisher was taken in by Tad.
Squisher is a nice guy–a little clumsy due to being trapped on a world not built for beings his size–but a nice guy just trying to get by on a world of small squishy people. And he became a celebrated hero of Tower City by taking down wanted terrorist Murdering Murray.
He has a thing for cats. He finds them a bright spot in the hopelessly bleak hellhole that is Earth and has recently adopted a pet mountain lion. He wanted a cat that was to scale with him, you see.
Raw Power 10
Durability 12
Speed 10
Sanity 2
Intelligence 3
Skill 2
The Manipod
Tad’s handy mech which he came about through unknown means. It is through the manipod that Tad is able to operate as a “substitute ranger” and take the place of combiner team members. Does a giant gestalt robot need a hand? The manipod can be a hand. Does it need a foot? The manipod can be a foot. It can even turn into a sword!
The manipod can also assume a humanoid form which ARGO has dubbed the “mani-man.”
Raw Power (Varies by configuration)
Durability (Varies by configuration)
Speed (Varies by configuration)
Sanity (Varies by operator)
Intelligence (Varies by operator)
Skill (Varies by operator)
Various Antagonists, Nuisances and No-Gooders
Drak
The much beloved, even if occasionally bellicose, mascot of Tower City and known to our universe and Universe 161 through the Drak Show. Drak is an eyesaur, a race of monoculuar saurians with one eye that can be transpositioned between their tail-mouths and head-mouths. While naturally docile, they can be driven to a state of rage if disturbed. Drak is most often seen with his little buddy, the sludgehog Gurk. Drak is ultimately an animal that just wants to live in peace, a fact owing to his lasting popularity and Drak Shack merchandise.
Drak is severely claustrophobic, meaning he’s likely to wig out and go all Beast from 20000 Fathoms in tight, confined spaces…such as cities.
Raw Power 10
Durability 13
Speed 7
Sanity-2
Intelligence-2
Skill-2
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