Capeworld Comics

Universes

The Soul of Eternity

 

Other Appellations: The Cosmic Core (Universe 161), Metaspace (W Series), the Catanation of All Realities (P Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Omega

 

Astral Connection: N/A

 

As far as modern science is concerned, it’s impossible for any place within the interactable multiverse to have a better astral connection than the Soul of Eternity. It’s connectivity is omnipresent and incalculable. If you know how, you can get to anywhere from the Soul of Eternity.

 

Caution Rating: 20

 

The Soul of Eternity features one of the highest caution ratings ever recorded for fairly obvious reasons. It leads anywhere, and that includes some very bad places. This is why universes with manifestations of the Soul of Eternity typically have a powerful god, wizard, or superhero protecting it. Without mighty champions like Mr. Stranger and Captain Marvel, the entire multiverse would be in peril.

 

Multiverse Activity: Frequent

 

Keywords: Covalent

 

Description:

 

The great fantasist Jorge Borges once conceived of an anomaly he called an aleph, a point that once observed allows one to observe all other points. He also conceived of an aleph in the form of sound, a noise that once heard allows one to hear all other sounds. With this understanding, the Soul of Eternity can be thought of as a spatial aleph. It is a location that when one travels to, one can travel to every other location. But the Soul of Eternity extends well beyond space. Any time, any place, any dreamworld, any metaphysical reality, can be accessed from the Soul of Eternity. It’s only a matter of knowing how to traverse the misting light that permeates and surrounds the Soul.

 

Several schools of Constellation Mappers have put forward different explanations for the Soul of Eternity. The Gnosis School believes that the multiverse is formed in such a way so that the multiverse gains self-knowledge. The Eye of Light is the multiverse understanding itself as an individual with a hard distinction between itself as entity (the Eye of Light) and its thoughts (the rest of the multiverse), the Heart of Darkness is the multiverse understanding itself as the culmination of its thoughts, and the Soul of Eternity is the multiverse understanding itself as the linkage between its thoughts. The Vision School believes that the multiverse is formed around the act of observation. The Eye of Light is the observer, the Soul of Eternity is the observed, and the Heart of Darkness is the memory of the observed. And the Organelle School believes that the multiverse is a massive superorganism composed of three organs. The Eye of Light gives the multiverse the ability to see, not inwardly as many believe, but outwardly into the great unknown, the Soul of Eternity gives the multiverse the ability to feel itself, and the Heart of Darkness generates and animates the substance of the multiverse.

 

Whatever the ultimate reason is for the Soul of Eternity, it remains a keystone of the multiverse, a sensitive location that must be protected from evil forces at all cost. It remains a house of heroes, a seat of power, and a source of wisdom.

 

The Soul of Eternity as a discrete location is theorized to exist in all realities in some form or another, though it only has been confirmed in a handful of realities. In one reality, it takes the form of a skull-faced castle, aeons-old on an even older planet at the heart of its universe. In another reality, it takes the form of a living being known as the Supreme Archetype, and one of its lesser emanations is known as Yog-Sothoth, the Key and the Gate. The P-series knows the Soul of Eternity as the Catanation of All Realities, and it is located in the swamps of the Florida Everglades and protected by a green colored analog of the Heap. The W-series knows the Soul of Eternity as Metaspace, an intelligent white void in which moments are suspended like panels in a comic book. Universe 161 knows the Soul of Eternity as the Cosmic Core, a furnace of universal creation and source of Mr. Stranger’s power.

 

In our reality, the Soul of Eternity was first discovered by the First Sapiens who looked at the incalculable potential in front of them and passed over it. They were already concerned about the influence they exerted on the portion of the multiverse they could access through aeternums and feared what they would do with access to all reality. It was later found by the great wizard Shazam who erected a magical castle upon it. This castle became the seat of his power. Through it, he was able to reach deep into the Astral dark and summon the powers of all the pantheons known to man. Six powers in particular he found useful and bound them to the letters of his name. Through his name, he created the magical being known as Captain Marvel, protector of all of reality.

 

Shazam used the power of the Soul of Eternity to protect our world and others and found it useful both as a vantage point from which to observe the multiverse (the library of Shazam is always open to ARGO researchers) and a prison for cosmic evil. 

 

One might be concerned to hear that cosmic evil is imprisoned at the nexus of all reality, but it’s truly the safest place to bind cosmic evil as it allows their evil powers to be diffused throughout the multiverse. Think of it like dropping a glass of poison into the ocean. A homeopathic evil is a toothless evil. Even nigh-omnipotent creatures find themselves weakened when stretched beyond infinity through the godhood-exclusion principle of Fox harmonics. A being can be nigh-omnipotent and capable of juggling infinities like balls in their hands, but their power is limited to the Fox harmonics they’re familiar with. You can’t control what you don’t know, and the multiverse at large is unknowable. A being diffused through the Soul of Eternity will find at least a portion of itself trapped within a universe it can’t conceive of and thus can’t control. This creates a fundamental flaw within what would ordinarily be perfect power.

 

It’s an interesting fact about the multiverse. Accessing all the power leaves one powerless.

 

An important fact to remember about the manifestations of the Soul of Eternity is that they’re keyed to individual Fox harmonics. If you harmonize Omega on our world, you’ll go to the Soul of Eternity, provided you’re actually native to our world. But if you’re, for instance, a native of Universe 161, you’ll instead encounter the “phantom” effect and pass through a ghostly version of the Soul of Eternity before ending up at the Cosmic Core–and given that the Cosmic Core is a massive glut of energy and not a fairy tale castle with a kindly old ghost caretaker, this is very bad for you. This is why ARGO has a strict policy of never having natives of newly discovered universes harmonize Omega. Say someone from Willow-Wells harmonizes Omega. Maybe they end up in a fancy Victorian mansion. But maybe they end up in a ball of fire.

 

This phantom effect is, through design or fortunate happenstance, a natural defense against cosmic evil. Say a big cosmic monster invades their universe’s version of the Soul of Eternity (it’s happened an embarrassingly number of times to the Catanation of All Realities and Metaspace). They’d be able to go anywhere in the multiverse…except another version of the Soul of Eternity. This allows all other versions of the Soul of Eternity to sense what is happening and move to counter the big cosmic monster.

 

It’s an interesting paradox–the Soul of Eternity links to everywhere…except itself.

 

Shazam has added to his original castle at the Soul of Eternity throughout his long life. The Soul of Eternity is now filled with structures influenced by all of mankind’s cultures. There are wooden Japanese shiro with angular roofs, stone Spanish castillos with arabesque tiles like honeycombs, and metal American skyscrapers in the art deco style of the 1920’s. The central castle, a prime example of medieval architecture, was modeled on Mont Saint-Michel which Shazam loved not only for its beauty but because of its incredibly large omelette. 

 

The central castle is where Shazam keeps his throne room with the brasier that summons his spirit, rooms for Billy, Freddy, and Mary, a reception hall to entertain guests be they fairies, gods, aliens, humans, or talking tigers, a self-ran kitchen (as in the pots and utensils are alive and posses certificates from Le Cordon Bleu) which specializes in Billy’s favorite pancakes, omelette de la mere Poulard, and Mary’s favorite banana bread all stamped with a thunderbolt proving that they’re the world’s tastiest treats.

 

The library of Shazam is built inside a silver pyramid with a large golden thunderbolt above the entrance. It is filled with tablets, scrolls, and books recording Shazam’s aeons of multiversal observations. Each record can hold an infinite amount of information. Tablets always have more room at the bottom. Scrolls always have more parchment to unroll. Books always have another page. The words are also nice enough to move to where they need to be. It would have been possible for Shazam to have put the entire library in a single book, but he liked the aesthetics of a large library, and so enchanted words written in one book to “jump” to the correct book in the library. This allows Shazam to keep his observations organized. Notes on one of Justice 8’s adventures will jump to the Justice 8 Adventures book even if Shazam writes them in the Captain Marvel Adventures book. ARGO keeps a base within the library and treats it as a redundant database. MS’s work around the clock to copy data into the library and copy data from the library. The Circled Square also uses the library as a base. Originally, they met in the central castle, but Shazam started to complain about the smell from Diamond Jack’s cigars.

 

The Captain Marvel museum is built inside an art deco skyscraper and contains mementos and trophies of the Marvel Family’s adventures. It’s maintained by the non-profit Shazam, Inc and ran by the famous Uncle Dudley. Admission is free for children and superheroes!

 

The pantheon of pantheons is an ever-changing location (Shazam doesn’t want any of the gods to think he has favorites, though he is kind of partial to the Classical gods) where the homo fabula of our various mystic shadows meet to converse, combine, and diverge. It’s a divine neutral ground.

 

The Soul of Eternity is always accepting of visitors. The traditional way to reach it is to first exceed the speed of light by a significant but imprecise degree and then to traverse several metaphysical dimensions in a certain order instinctively know to the Marvel Family, but it can also be reached by harmonizing Omega which is the common means of travel to and from the Soul of Eternity in the modern period as it doesn’t involve jumping through several metaphysical hoops. Martin’s School organizes field trips to the Soul of Eternity and Mrs. Freeman, the head of their multiverse studies department, loves showing the kids her old stomping grounds.

 

Alizam

 

Other Appellations: Talking Animal World (Alpha), Universe-122542 (W-Series)

 

Please do not use the old appellation “funny animal world.” Several representatives of Alizam have taken offense to the name. They are not funny. There is nothing funny about a pink rabbit that transforms into a superhero to protect a world of brightly colored anthropomorphic critters. There’s nothing funny at all about their world.

 

Fox Harmonic: Hev-Omicron-Pi

 

Astral Connection: L1 D10

 

Alizam has a relatively strong connection to the Astral dark which explains how Hoppy the Marvel bunny was able to use the sexa-god power of the holy word SHAZAM (he learned it by reading an issue of Captain Marvel Adventures…Fox echoes, go figure…) and how rather…interesting…versions of homo fabula have come to this world. 

 

Ever since Hoppy borrowed Billy Batson’s magic word in 1942, Alizam has grown closer to the Astral dark. The mythologies of Alizam maintain a solid presence on their planet, and given the indestructibility and irascibility of cartoons, they’re very argumentative and competitive. Hoppy and his fellow superheroes in GOSH (Grand Order of Super Heroes) often have to struggle to keep the peace between Alizam’s various factions from the Holy Choir of songbirds to the human-headed gods of Egypt.

 

Caution Rating: 2

 

Alizam is a peaceful, happy universe. Barring its brief war with Alfagon in the 1970’s, which, due to the indestructibility of both universes, looked a lot worse than it actually was, Alizam has been a quiet and well-behaved member of the multiversal community. You could even say they’ve been…as quiet as a mouse?

 

Hey, they make jokes about us. How many times do you think they’ve offered us bananas?

 

The only point of caution ARGO notes about Alizam is the same point they raise about all cartoons–that its inhabitants are virtually indestructible and may forget that other races are not as indestructible as they are in their interactions.

 

Multiverse Activity: Occasional

 

Keywords: Aeternum, Cartoon, Historic Partner, 

 

Description:

 

Do they seem weird? Well, just remember that we seem as weird to them as they do to us.

 

Alizam’s climacteric occurred in 1942. Hoppy the Bunny (a pink bunny) was reading the latest issue of Captain Marvel Adventures when he decided to see if he could, like his favorite superhero, transform into a stronger version of himself by shouting SHAZAM!

 

He could.

 

Hoppy the Bunny became Marvel Bunny with the wisdom of Solomon the sloth (wisdom is slow, don’t cha know?), the strength of Hercules the lion (who, just like our version, killed and wore the skin of the Nemean lion…but is that really any more disturbing than other episodes of Greek myth?), the courage of Achilles the honey badger (but of course), the power of Zeus (sometimes a bull, a goose, a swan, a serpent, or strangest of all, a human), the endurance of Atlas the turtle (who has an easier time than our Atlas since he doesn’t have to do anything but sleep while his shell holds up the world), and the speed of Mercury the roadrunner (you know good and well why he’s a roadrunner).

 

Alizam is a universe where Fox echoes of various superheroes from our universe manifest as comic books. The people of Alizam are crazy about “human books.” They think our physical vulnerability makes us fascinating characters, especially when we show courage in spite of it. Human visitors are given the VIP treatment on Alizam where the prevailing stereotype is that all humans are courageous (if rather puny) individuals.

 

In Alizam, Captain Marvel Adventures is an ironically titled book. The star isn’t Captain Marvel, but Billy Batson, and stories focus on how he gets along without calling on Captain Marvel.

 

Alizam’s Fox echoes also mean that the secret identities of our greatest superheroes are publicly known to a world of chatty cartoon characters. Win some, lose some.

 

Hoppy’s first act as Marvel Bunny, and perhaps the very reason he was able to become Marvel Bunny in the first place if you subscribe to Charles Fort’s theory that the rate of hypercrisis increases as a response to global danger, was to fight off invading Axis soldiers from our world looking to gain a multiverse outpost in the Worlds War and their Alizam converts.

 

Just imagine leaving our world with your arch-foes Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Mary Marvey left far behind just to run right into a giant pink rabbit that calls himself Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

 

The Axis, to no surprise, skedaddled. They saw Hoppy feed their Alizam converts to an industrial mixer that turned them into sausages–talking sausages. 

 

There was war, and then there was this.

 

But they probably wouldn’t have stayed on Alizam too long even if Hoppy wasn’t there. Remember, never declare war against a cartoon universe. You will lose.

 

Now that Alizam knew Earth was real, they threw their support behind Captain Marvel and the Allies. During the 1940’s, war with the Axis complicated initial contact with other worlds to the point that ARGO indefinitely suspended operations, but Alizam provided the rare example of a world that didn’t mind at all being dragged into Earth’s conflict. Hoppy even organized scrap drives for the war benefit.

 

For the most part, Hoppy was a boon to his universe. He was Alizam’s principle pink protector. But he wasn’t a Billy Batson, just a Billy Batson fanboy. Hoppy was a neurotic little nerd (it’s not easy being a comic book nerd, let alone one that’s also pastel pink) and often forgot his magic word in times of stress. He also wanted to prove himself to his girlfriend Millie Bunny (no relation) and emulate his idol Billy Batson, which meant he often put off saying his magic word far longer than was prudent. His word also functioned differently than Billy’s. Hoppy had to say SHAZAM under a clear sky or he couldn’t transform as when he was trapped inside a giant monster’s pocket watch. He also had a complicated ban on his power. If he ever told someone he was Marvel Bunny, he would lose his power. This didn’t extend to someone finding out if he was Marvel Bunny, such as when a big not-very-good wolf saw Hoppy transform back from Marvel Bunny and decided to stop Marvel Bunny by eating Hoppy.

 

Hoppy survived because, you know, cartoon universe.

 

How Hoppy knew about this limitation on his power is a mystery. But how do Alizamian’s know to wear shirts but not pants? Some mysteries of the multiverse are never going to be solved.

 

In 1943, the Marvel family visited Alizam, and the signed photo Hoppy took with Billy, Freddy, and Mary remains one of his most prized possessions hanging in the meeting room of GOSH. The Marvels have always been close to Alizam, and Hoppy is an honorary member of their family.

 

I mean, if Uncle Dudley counts, why not a pink rabbit fanboy from another universe?

 

In the decades following the Worlds War, the homo fabula sett up shop on the planet. Various pantheons began to compete with each other for the attention of mortals (well, mortals in the Alizam sense…) You know how “high school” gods in our universe can be? Just look at Pele’s history. Now imagine that they’re cartoons.

 

The Olympians, led by Zeus the whatever-he-decides-to-be-that-day, are currently at the top of the charts thanks to Hoppy being a walking advertisement for them (and Solomon the sloth). Hoppy for his part doesn’t approve of the divine squabbles that rock his world (often literally) and wishes people would stop giving the gods attention. Hoppy believes human heroes, with their vulnerabilities and courage, make far better role models.

 

Are we good role models?

 

Just remember, no matter where you are, a pink rabbit is hopping that you’ll be a hero.

 

Hoping. I mean he’s hoping that you’ll be a hero.

 

Though they’re the Beetles of the dueling pantheons (though not actually beetles, except sometimes Zeus), the Olympians face stiff competition from other groups who have empowered their own champions to act as counters to Hoppy. 

 

The Aesir, led by Odin the one-eyed raven, empowered cowardly Throckmorton the turtle with a magic shell made from one of Thor the boar’s spare hammers to prove that they could make a champion out of anyone. Thortle is rather cowardly, but that’s alright as his shell does all the fighting for him. All he has to do is withdraw into his shell and let it do all the work. You’d be amazed at the lengths supervillains will go to get through his shell only to blow themselves up and collapse on the still-untarnished shell. It seems that once someone starts fighting Thortle, they can’t stop until they defeat themselves. Sunk-cost fallacy is a weakness for humans and cartoons alike.

 

The colorful school of the Kuaihelani reef had Pele the humuhumunukunukuapua’a (wherever there’s a Pele, there’s ostentation) empower hula champion Pōpoki Hana (A cat…called cat. Very common on this world) with the power to summon floating schools of fish made out of fire. As the Fishbowl Fireball, she protects Alizam with style and grace.

 

And the human-headed sphinx gods of Egypt are represented by the champions of Sekmet…who seems virtually the same as the Sekmet of our reality down to the attitude. The champions of Sekmet all transform into shining cats endowed with the power of the sun…who occasionally comes down from the sky to help them out. Despite being a cat goddess, Sekmet is very unpopular among cats who see her as culturally appropriating their race.

 

Despite the pantheons constantly trying to get Hoppy to fight their champions, Hoppy befriended each and every one of them.

 

That a boy, Hoppy!

 

In 1955, Hoppy shared his power with his brother Happy Bunny just as Billy Batson shared his power with Freddy Freeman. By saying Marvel Bunny, Happy Bunny transformed into Magic Bunny. Together, the two formed the Glorious Order of Superpowered Heroes (GOSH). From their treehouse on the moon (it was built on the moon because it has very little godly activity besides Chang’e the rabbit and Selene the lioness playing cards in the corner over who gets which craters) GOSH watches over the planet and intervenes in squabbles between gods. 

 

Other members of GOSH included the champions of other pantheons, Dr. Mascarpone, a mouse of magic who alchemically transmutes superpower-granting cheeses in search of the ultimate golden cheddar, Aleister Owley, shrewd attorney of the gods, and Captain Cabbage, a super-rabbit like Hoppy and Happy who came to Alizam from W-26 after getting fed up with how many times W-26 got destroyed by W-series supervillains.

 

In 1972, Alizam encountered the cartoon universe Alfagon under…less than ideal circumstances. Happy and Alfagon’s Atomic Rabbit were both traveling the worldtunnels to visit our universe and ran smack-dab into each other. That led to a heated exchange of words followed by a heated exchange of worlds, as in they started throwing planets at each other. Then they started throwing stars, then galaxies, then galaxy clusters, then galaxy filaments. Eventually, they started hitting each other with Alfagon and Alizam, rolling the universes up like newspapers and using them like bats.

 

That’s when the superhero communities of both universes got involved and things got really wild.

 

Fortunately, the Marvel family were able to intervene and calm things down. Happy and Atomic Rabbit were both ashamed of their comedically cosmic catastrophe, though neither could recall what they actually said to each other that caused them to brawl. 

 

Hoppy has a suspicion that the brawl was orchestrated by the gods of Alizam for the sake of providing entertaining fireworks. That means Happy and Atomic Rabbit might have had a multiverse brawl over nothing. They fought just for the cheap spectacle for cynical popularity chasers.

 

That kind of thing happens a lot with superhero types…

 

Alfagon has remained on mostly-friendly-rival terms with Alizam since the war, though disputes and brawls between the two universes aren’t too uncommon. There’s a lot of differences between Alizam and Alfagon that prevent the two worlds from seeing eye-to-eye. Alizam leans to magic, Alfagon leans to superscience. Alizam has an active population of gods, Alfagon does not. Alizam’s stereotype of humans is that they’re courageous heroes due to the popularity of Captain Marvel Avengers, Alfagon’s stereotype is that humans are fragile nuisances. If you ever see a cartoon with an atomic symbol on his chest at a multiverse gathering, keep him away from any cartoons surrounded by magic sparkles.

 

Still, Alfagon tension aside, Alizam remains a stable, productive member of the multiverse community. If you’re ever in need of an invincible pink rabbit and his heroic friends, just pay them a visit.

 

Just be sure you carry a force screen. Falling anvils and pianos have been known to come out of nowhere.

 

The Mighty Universe

 

Other Appellations: The Mighty Mosaic (Alpha), Universe 140 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Mu-Lambda-Nu

 

Astral Connection: Varies by planet.

 

Caution Rating: 1

 

The Mighty Universe’s strict policy of multiverse isolation means that it’s very peaceful, multiversally speaking, even as the Earth chain struggles with turmoil between the various Earths.

 

Multiverse Activity: Seldom

 

The Mighty Universe engages with the multiverse as little as possible. Several of its Earths first learned about the multiverse through the cosmic trauma that was the Merger and are understandably leery of anything from another universe. ARGO, however, is extremely interested in the Mighty Universe because of the many multiverse analogs and Fox echoes that exist in relative proximity to each other. The Mighty Guard have allowed ARGO to observe the universe, provided they stay at least one stellar distance away from the Earth chain.

 

Keywords: Mosaic, Reef

 

Description:

 

For a comprehensive description of the Mighty Universe, click here.

 

This universe formed when a freak reef induction known by the inhabitants as the Merger absorbed not only elements from adjacent universes, but those universes in their entirety. The Earths of these respective universes were nearly destroyed by their suns merging together to form a supermassive black hole, but the mightiest heroes of these Earths banded together to save them all by arranging the Earths in a chain around the black hole like a band in an orrery. The worlds in this Earth chain tend to keep to themselves, but several inter-Earth groups have formed to promote the common good–the Mighty Guard, which protects the Earth chain from external threats (you’ll be seeing them if you visit unannounced), the Shield Army, which protects the Earth chain from internal threats while being as neutral as possible in social and political affairs, the Ribbon, which oversees the smooth operation of the Earth chain as a construct, and the Spectrum of Heroes, which works to promote the peaceful exchange of knowledge and culture throughout the Earth chain.

 

Mice and Magic

 

Other Appellations: Universe 519 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Mu-Omicron

 

Astral Connection: L1 D0

 

Caution Rating: 0

 

Multiverse Activity: Inactive

 

Keywords: Astral, Dreamworld, Observe Only, Prima Materia, Sleeping

 

Description:

 

For a comprehensive description of Mice and Magic, click here.

 

Within a dream of magic and heroes and gods and dragons, lies a wizard’s tower and the humble mice that make a living within the shadow of strange objects they don’t understand.

This world was dreamed into existence by archmage Continent Walker of Croatoan who wished to rediscover the simple joy of magic he lost when he ascended to cosmic heights. During the 1940’s, a baku was stopped by Spectro from consuming this dream, but not before it did damage to its underlying substructure. It has been placed on the observe only list as it heals.

 

The Scary World

 

Other Appellations: Wendy’s World (Alpha), The Anti-telepath World (Alpha)

 

The Scary World gets its name from young Wendy Crow, so far the only inhabitant of the Scary World to enter the multiverse. She was taken by Mr. Blue with the promise of seeing a better world, a promise that wasn’t hard to fulfill at all. 

 

When asked why called her homeworld the Scary World, Wendy explained her decision as such: “It was scary living there. Mom, dad, and I, we always had to watch out because the bad people were always after us. Mom and dad were always tired. Only one of them could sleep at a time. The whole world was scary. It never stopped being scary. Even when we could watch cartoons or play board games, it was still scary, like a big monster was always hiding in the other room. That’s why I call it the Scary World. And when I come back, it’s going to be my turn to scare them.”

 

Fox Harmonic: Iota-Aleph-Theta

 

Astral Connection: L7 D1

 

The Scary World fits the profile of a “high telepathy, low divinity” world.

 

Caution Rating: 8

 

Why the high caution rating for a relatively low-powered universe 

 

Because we can’t find it.

 

Our inability to observe or access the Scary World is highly concerning. It’s not that something is blocking the universe like how the Dagdan’s coire forms a wall around the Kingdom, it’s that we can’t find it. It’s a missing universe. The Fox harmonic is dialed in, but everything routes to the neighboring universe Iota-Aleph-Gamma, a peaceful universe just as confused about Iota-Aleph-Theta’s disappearance as we are.

 

We think Mr. Blue might have sold the universe. To whom, we don’t know, but this has the markings of a classic “bad guy sold the universe to space gods from the Astral” scenario. Recall the time Dr. Warlock of Universe 161 wagered his personal universe Warlockia against the cosmic gambler Croupier and then tried to pass Universe 161 off as Warlockia when he lost. Mr. Stranger had to, once again, save Dr. Warlock from his own machinations.

 

ARGO is going through the list of usual suspects. Someone has this universe, but as disturbing as its absence is, what’s even more potentially disturbing is what Mr. Blue could have gotten in exchange for it.

 

Multiverse Activity: Inactive

 

Keywords: Sleeping. Sealed, Analog, Calendar Analog

 

Description:

 

We often take it for granted how much a climacteric changes a world. We’re so used to our reality of noosphere communication and interway travel that it’s often difficult for us to understand how disruptive superpowers can be for a culture. For all the trials and tribulations we had to overcome as a race to make our peace with superpowers, we were fortunate in many respects. Our climacteric came in the form of a man reaching into the slumbering mind of a dead corpse. Superpowers began as an occult force observed and explored only by the willing. Superpowers and superhumans were first discovered by philosophers, and mankind could have done worse than lovers of wisdom for their early mirabolists, much worse.

 

Imagine if superpowers were first discovered by politicians.

 

Case in point, this universe.

 

Our knowledge of the Scary World is very limited as all of it comes from its only inhabitant to interact with the multiverse, Wendy Thompson Crow. Wendy and her family were hunted down by the authorities of her world, so understandably her view of her homeworld is slanted in the extreme. She believes her homeworld is the worst universe in the multiverse, and cannot be persuaded otherwise.

 

According to Wendy, her world’s climacteric occurred in the year 2005. A man in Kentucky spontaneously developed telepathy without warning or reason. He found that he could listen to thoughts within one-hundred and fifty yards and after some soul searching determined that the best thing he could do was listen in on the federal government and publish his findings to the world’s electronic noosphere called the internet. He kept close to the capitol as an anti-surveillance protestor while doing surveillance of his own. At first he was ignored as a crank, but then he started posting how the legislator would vote before they would vote and broke it down by names with 100% accuracy. That got people to listen–and also the government.

 

His name was Horace Whipple, but the world would come to know him as the Black Swan after the term “black swan event,” a random and unpredictable event that people attempt to rationalize as predictable after the fact. After Whipple, people tried to argue that telepaths had always been a part of their world. The Oracle at Delphi must have been a kind of telepath as well as the Biblical prophets. The mediums of the late 19th century may not have touched on the thoughts of the dead, but they must have touched on the thoughts of the living. Such rationalizations were untrue. Unlike in our world, Aleister Crowley and Madame Blavatsky never crossed into the Astral. Horace Whipple was truly the first telepath, and if his name Black Swan was tied only to his surveillance of Washington, Wendy’s world would have been better off. But his surveillance was followed by something much, much worse.

 

When the capillaries of his brain exploded while being held in DC’s Central Detention Facility, the Black Swan unleashed a wave of telepathic energy that would come to be known as “static.” This static swept through parts of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York and caused neurological degeneration. Thousands perished as their capillaries erupted in sympathy and many thousands more suffered seizures, amnesia, impaired cognitive functioning, and drastic changes in personality.

 

Here is where it gets tricky talking about their world. Wendy is willing to tell us everything she can about her world, but she’s ten. How keen were you on politics when you were ten? From Wendy, we have a list of events and actions but little on motives or reasoning. Wendy explains that their are two narratives for what happened after the Black Swan–one her parents believe and one the government tells people to believe.

 

The government claims that Horace approached them with an offer to help root out corruption in their ranks. He was held at the DC Central Detention Facility because officials were unsure how to verify his claims of psychic powers. It seemed more likely he was a spy, and at any rate he knew things he shouldn’t have known, so he was imprisoned until it could be decided what to do with him. Eventually a team of neurologists and psychologists examined Horace and found that his claims of superpowers were true–but they also discovered that the blood vessels in his brain were dangerously thin and getting thinner. He likely didn’t have long to live and they told him to make use of the time he had by using his gift for the betterment of all mankind. But the stress of the revelation got to him, and he hemorrhaged. When agents from an alphabet soup of government agencies retrieved his body from the remains of Washington, an autopsy determined that his powers, which began a few months back judging by his journal entries, gradually eroded his brain until the vessels were thin and swollen, ready to burst.

 

Many politicians perished in the “Black Swan Event.” An emergency federal government was established from state legislatures. Their first act was to use all the power of the federal government to search for anyone else with powers like the Black Swan, first in America, then all NATO countries, then the entire world. They found them, examined them, and came to the horrible realization: the powers were tied to neurodegeneration. Every telepath was a ticking time bomb. The “static” energy that built up inside a telepath’s brain thinned vessel walls. Telepaths, once empowered, did not have long to live, and when they died they detonated like a bomb.

 

Euthanasia was the only humane solution for those with Whipple syndrome. Time bombs were usually dealt with by controlled explosions. Sufferers of Whipple syndrome were taken out to the deserted places of the world and “detonated” as the euphemism became. The static explosions and bodies were carefully studied for future research into the syndrome.

 

At first, telepaths were asked to turn themselves. That was all that could be done. But eventually a static detector was developed that could determine with 100% accuracy who was and who wasn’t a telepath within 100 yards. The detector was soon modified to not only pinpoint telepaths but kill them through a static jammer. This resulted in a death without a detonation as electrical activity within the brain stopped cold in a second before a build-up of static could occur.

 

It was tragic what the world had become. No one had wanted nor had they foreseen men in black masks, modernized executioners’ hoods to protect their identity, killing telepaths in the streets. But these demolitionists performed a necessary labor in today’s frightening, uncertain world, because unfortunately, there will always be those that put their own wellbeing before others. There will always be those that would rather live a year or two longer by putting others at deadly risk. There will always be, unfortunately, a need for the demolitionists.

 

Wendy’s parents tell a different story. 

 

Horace had humiliated the government. They couldn’t figure out who was posting the names of everyone that who took money from the CCP and paid to have a billionaire pedophile strangled in prison before he could rat out his accomplices. They thought it had to be someone inside the star chamber and turned on each other like feral dogs after a slab of meat. When they found out it was some random nothing of a man with superpowers from a comic book movie, they were furious. Someone pulled the same strings that got pulled to kill the pedophile while he was under around-the-clock surveillance and sent a large man with a small bat to put the fear of Uncle Sam into Horace. But they hit Horace too hard. The rest was history and the largest loss of life to have ever occurred in under a minute.

 

The government formed out of Washington’s collapse was twice as corrupt and twice as scared. If there were more people like Horace, people that could expose them while being untouchable, the world as they knew it would end. But they were politicians. They knew how to turn tragedy into opportunity. All it took was a single fabricated autopsy report corroborated by a handful of fabricated CAT scans of willing volunteers. Who was going to question the narrative? “How did you find out we cooked the books? Did you read our minds?”

 

Telepathy was not a superpower. It was a disorder. It was a time bomb. It was a pandemic and terrorists rolled into one. It was God’s gift to politicians. The people would never vote them out. The people would never even let their approval numbers drop. They would kiss their civil liberties good-bye in the name of safety.

 

The times, they were good! It was a golden era for political rats. You needed someone gone? Anyone at all? You made the little static detectors go ping when pointed in their direction. Worried about someone in one of the three letter agencies growing a heart and leaking all the dirty deals? They found out through telepathy, obviously. The people didn’t care what they leaked if it was from a telepath’s mouth.

 

And it was a global crisis. Any person, of any race, of any country, could become a telepath…or be made to look like a telepath. People used to be bothered by politicians taking money from hostile governments and putting their personal financial stakes in totalitarian rivals instead of America, but no one cared anymore. The governments and cultures of the world had to come together to fight Whipple disorder, and if that meant the United States had to alter its culture, then surely it meant others would alter their own culture. Mankind would unite as a stronger, more loving global family blah blah blah here’s this social credit system we imported from China, it helps keep the telepaths away.

 

The world was on track for a globalist federation by 2030. The world was going to be one throat with one hand placed firmly around it. And all it took was the sacrifice of a couple 1-in-a-million randoms. The old “foreign wars to bring democracy to cultures that didn’t want it” trick was far messier and worked far slower in building up globalist clout.

 

It was probably for the best the telepaths had to go. If normal people understood how bad things truly were, they’d probably wouldn’t want to live anyway.

 

The truth about this world is perhaps a combination of the two scenarios strongly leaning toward the events as described by Wendy’s parents. Historical evidence suggests that this world’s America would turn a hyperstatic crisis to its advantage. Even if they aren’t as malevolent as Wendy’s account would suggest, the America of this world is a strong state, and force is the reflexive response of strong states.

 

This world had a 20th century markedly different from our own. In both worlds, the 20th century was a time of expanding state powers. Socialism, communism, fascism, all the forms of statist control grew by leaps and bounds. But in our world, the existence of superhumans and superheroes pushed back against state power. In our world, FDR was voted out of office after Gold Star and the American public turned on his anti-superhuman policies in 1936. In this world, he had three terms.

 

It is thus of little surprise the United States of this world responded to telepaths with force. When faced with a danger, the state will use force, because the state is founded upon and maintained by force. Taxes are collected by force. Armies are levied by force. Laws are supported by force. When all you have is a hammer, all your problems look like nails, and when all you have is force, all your problems look like they can be solved with force. Even before the Black Swan Event, this world was already showing the fruits of a strong state. Horace Whipple didn’t go to Washington because people trusted their government. Serial numbers were missing off several ballots from the presidential election that put an Alzheimer’s patient puppeted by lobbyists and interest groups into the Whitehouse and the death of a child trafficker with known political associations was deemed a suicide even with two bullets in his skull. There were perfunctory investigations so that they could say they investigated, but they were careful not to dig too deeply less the world lose confidence in the United States. The strong state cannot be weak. It cannot even be seen as weak, and so any corruption within the state is swept under the rug by the state, for the state.

 

Based on Wendy’s testimony and records of similar worlds within the multiverse library, ARGO believes that the Scary World owes its sorry state of affairs to statist face-saving spiraling out of control.

 

Horace probably wasn’t beaten, but it is very likely he was interrogated and threatened with punishments legal and otherwise for rocking the boat of politics. He probably did have thin vessels in his head, and they probably popped under the stress he was placed under. We know from scans of Wendy that while Whipple syndrome does cause an abnormal thinning of blood vessels, this thinning was nothing like the “dead within a year” diagnosis given by the state. It’s very likely that Horace had a preexisting condition exacerbated by Whipple syndrome. But when Horace’s autopsy came back, the state panicked. There could be living time bombs moving around the planet. 

 

When telepaths were found to have slightly thinner blood vessels than the average person, that was enough to convince the state to form the demolitionists. There was no time to worry about maybes. “Maybe it’s not so bad in some telepaths, maybe it’s only a concern in 0.2 percent of them, maybe it’s not a concern until they reach a certain age, maybe it could be treated with medication…” With thinner blood vessels there was a chance of another Black Swan Event. It could have been the tiniest fraction of a chance, but that was enough…for the state. They knew it wouldn’t be enough for the people. They knew they would have to lie to sell the demolitionists. If they told the truth, if they said “We don’t know much about this phenomena, we think there’s a small chance some telepaths may be a danger to others.” people wouldn’t do what needed to be done. They’d drag their feet, and trust in people, and before long there would be another Black Swan Event somewhere. They’d try something foolish like propose puting telepaths on an island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Who would maintain such an island? Who would rule it? Who would pay for it? More chaos. More chances for something to go wrong. Absolutely not.

 

What was complex could not be controlled, so the state made it simple–Whipple syndrome was 100 percent fatal 100 percent of the time and always created a telepathic death-storm. Us or them.

 

It’s likely they only intended to lie about Whipple syndrome until the crisis was resolved, but when states acquire power through a crisis, they are loath to give it back. An animal would be more likely to give up its blood. And they realized that no one would ever trust a government again if the truth came out. They’d sooner return to feudalism than vote in another election.

 

But ultimately, the reason the lie was upheld was that no one wanted to fall on their sword, because that’s what it meant to tell the truth now that the lie had the momentum of several years and countless bodies behind it. Who would be brave enough to tell the whole world that telepaths were rounded up and killed because of a fear-born lie? Who would be brave enough to have an army of mind-readers angry at them?

They probably told themselves that the lie continued to keep the telepaths from taking vengeance on humanity at large. The cowards. They probably felt noble about it to, like the lie was a shield placed in front of humanity. That’s the true evil of the politically minded. They don’t just think they’re right, they think they’re heroic.

 

It is interesting to speculate on the state of the Scary World after Wendy’s departure. Before she left, she showed the world a stronger force than the government and the demolitionists–herself. The demolitionists found her family and opened fire with their static jammers–but Wendy did not fall. She likely would have wrecked biblical vengeance upon the human race then and there if a blue hand didn’t break through the multiverse and touch her shoulder, for she was to the common telepaths of her world what a nuclear weapon was to an atlatl. She was proof of Stone’s Law–any attempt to defeat and control superpowers will fail because eventually a superpower will arise that cannot be controlled.

 

She left her world with the knowledge that there were telepaths that could not be killed, telepaths that could end the world with a thought. Perhaps now that they know force is a useless answer to their problem, they’ll try negotiation and trust. Or, with force and obedience to force being what they’re used to, it’s possible that they’ve elevated telepaths to the level of gods and now worship them. We’ll just have to see as soon as we locate the universe.

 

The Star Prosperity

 

Other Appellations: Starshot’s World (Alpha)

 

This Appellation comes from the Star Prosperity being the home of the Star Servant Starshot, who fled the Prosperity in search of Freedom and now resides in our universe as a student enrolled in Martin’s non-assessment course.

 

Fox Harmonic: Sigma-Tau

 

Astral Connection: L1 D1

 

In seeking to isolate their universe from the multiverse, the Star Prosperity has limited the Astral connection of its universe as much as it is able.

 

Caution Rating: 1

 

Restrictive? Manipulative? Totalitarian? Yes. But the Prosperity prides itself on being an extremely safe universe. Each star system is a carefully cultivated ecosystem under the authority of an ageless, living star. Each star system is blockaded from its neighbors by the “Grand Game,” and the Prosperity extends this isolationist philosophy to the multiverse. It doesn’t interact with the multiverse, and the multiverse doesn’t interact with it.

 

In light of recent events involving Baron Huelogg and Mr. Blue, it is likely that the caution rating might rise a point or two next ARGO evaluation, which bothers the Prosperity to no end. A flaw was discover in their network where a Star Servant could influence the whole of the Prosperity through his or her innate connection. This would not have been a cause for concern as Star Servants are fervently loyal to the Prosperity, but it was discovered that Mr. Blue had copied the connection of the Star Servant Starshot.

 

The Prosperity may not like it, but being at-risk for a supervillain takeover means they aren’t’ going to hold onto that 1 for long.

 

Multiverse Activity: Seldom

 

The Star Prosperity does not interact with universes any more than it deems necessary. It has has had limited contact with Mr. Stranger of Universe 161 who befriended the Prosperity, as much as anyone can befriend the Prosperity, when he protected the prosperity from his arch foe Dr. Warlock who sought to absorb the Prosperity into Warlockia, his personal universe.

 

Keywords: Quantum, Analog, Sealed, Forbidden

 

Though often considered a living universe due to the Prosperity linking every star in its universe in a shared network, the Prosperity is not, in technical terms, a living universe. It is simply a massive super-organism within a universe. The living universe keyword is for universes that are entirely alive such as Mahorela. The name “Star Prosperity” is simply used as a synecdoche for the wider universe it inhabits.

 

The common keyword confusion is, perhaps, revealing about the Prosperity’s problems. It speaks as if it were its universe when in fact it is simply an inhabitant, in this way no different from the “dependants” it rules over.

 

Description:

 

Universe Sigma-Tau is a world where the stars are alive. Our own universe has the occasional living star in the form of manifested deities like Amaterasu, naturally-occurring cosmic fauna like the hydrogen minds, or strange creations like the hoshi collective of 1945, but in Sigma-Tau, every star is alive. Aeons ago, when the stars were blue and hot, an unknown intelligence, possibly a Void Spinner or Form Master, created a lifeform that could imprint intelligence and will upon basic molecules, namely hydrogen and helium, and let it take root in a star. This lifeform spread itself across the universe after growing the necessary faster-than-light projection equipment in scales on the surface of its star. It replicated itself across galaxies, superclusters, filaments, until its kind inhabited every star in the infinite, expanding universe. Every star, be it young and blue or red and swollen with age, be it collapsed into a white furnace or a black abyss, belongs to a single constellation spanning the universe. And the first star became the center of an interlinked intelligence that cradled the void between with gentle arms of sunlight.

 

The constellation looked upon the strange things growing on the cold rocks with fearful fascination. Life, intelligent life with thoughts and feelings the like of which the constellation thought could only be had by itself.

In knowing the ephemeral life that clung to the dust hovering in the shadow of its solar atoms, the constellation knew love.

 

The constellation would protect this life. It would ensure it would survive as long as flesh would survive. It would be protected from the nature from which it arose. 

 

It would be protected from itself.

 

The constellation called itself the Star Prosperity, for prosperity for all sapient life beneath the stars was its purpose.

 

The Prosperity saw how intelligent life competed over niches. What was most like itself it competed with the most. Hominids competed species against species and then race against race, and sometimes this competition threatened entire planets. The Prosperity saw this pattern repeated many times and moved to end it. If even a single planet could be brought close to an end by the warring of a single species, then it was simply too dangerous for races of different stars to meet and interact.

 

The Prosperity decided that each race would be kept to their own star, bound forever to the light that facilitated their evolution. 

 

The Prosperity locked down the solar systems not by force of arms and not by limiting technology, for they saw how happy it made the hominids to discover things, but by a lie, a great conspiracy of peace and prosperity known among the stars of the Prosperity as the Grand Game.

 

This is how the Grand Game is played: each star allows for the evolution of life into sapience, interfering only to prevent a potential strain from terminating. Once sapience is achieved, the nascent species becomes what the Prosperity calls a dependent. The Prosperity holds the wellbeing of their dependents in the highest regards. The stars of the Prosperity would sooner snuff themselves out than see their dependents come to harm. But they hold the self-determination of their dependents in much less esteem. 

 

Dependents are introduced to their life-star through Star Servants, mechanical beings created by the stars of the Prosperity to serve as guides and guardians for the dependents. Throughout the development of the dependents, the Star Servants guide, but do not lead. They intervene only as a last resort and leave the creation of government, culture, and philosophy to the dependents themselves. When it comes time for the dependents to explore the other planets of their star system, the Star Servants continue to guide them in the form of starship fleets which often form the model for the dependents’ own fleets. Throughout their journey across the solar system, the dependents are never told that their life-star is but one of many, that all the stars in the sky are alive and care for dependents just like themselves, that their exploration is part of a careful pantomime. The Prosperity has found that it makes the dependents happier when they think their actions aren’t the results of aeons of calculations, and the Prosperity holds the happiness of its dependents in high regard, though not nearly as high as survival.

 

When dependents reach the outer limits of the solar system, they are allowed to travel a little ways in the void. The Prosperity wants them to think that space isn’t as known and organized as squares on a board game. Then they come–the Vastator. The ultimate boogeyman. The appearance of their race is derived from the deepest fears of the dependents. Sometimes they’re bio-organic zombies with metal plated over rotten flesh. Sometimes they’re lizards with cold skin and red eyes. Sometimes they don’t have a face, they don’t have anything to convey emotion or thought, they’re just a malevolent, incomprehensible will.

 

But whatever they look like, they aren’t. They’re props, false sensor data, and holograms. Sometimes to really sell the illusion, the Prosperity will evacuate a star’s consciousness and allow it to go supernova to simulate a “star attack.”

 

The story behind the Vastator is that they’re at war with the first race of the universe, the living stars. Early stories had the Vastator be the first race of the universe and the living stars their rebellious creations. Perhaps the Prosperity was projecting their own dissatisfaction with their absent creator? But the story was changed when dependents became depressed from knowing that the Vastator were the first race. It made them seem too powerful, too in-control of the universe.

 

The Vastator have been at war with the living stars for aeons. The stars create life, and the Vastator destroy life. They are life and death, the simplest, most primal, ultimate forces. To stay near the life-star is to choose life. To journey out into the unknown darkness away from the light is to choose death.

 

The Vastator are always on the losing end of the war to help the dependents feel safe and hopeful, but if dependents start getting too curious about the outside, they take a galaxy to remind the dependents that the outside universe is not a safe place.

 

That their life-star has been ignorant of the Vastator all this time is explained by the life-star being a sort of “cosmic orphan” that became separated from the group. This is told so that the dependents feel accomplished in exploring. They uncovered a danger, but also the solution to the danger through the “cosmic community.” It also makes their civilization and the life-star young compared to the cosmic community. They don’t know the Vastator. They barely know what’s beyond their solar system. Of course they would listen when the “elder stars” ask them to cling to their life-star and venture no further into “Vastator occupied space.”

 

The Prosperity is aware that curiosity will always win out over fear given enough time. To mitigate the curiosity of their dependents, they bring in the occasional anomaly from the outside–a comet containing the remains of a lost civilization, a destroyed Vastator warship, a capsule containing shared technology and culture from the “federation of life-stars.” The Prosperity drops these things into solar systems like people place sunken castles and pirate chests in aquariums. Recently, a few stars have even sent Star Servants disguised as envoys and diplomats from the “federation” to their dependents, though the Prosperity is ambivalent on the whole as to the practice. It is one of the few things in which the stars of the Prosperity are not in perfect alignment as some fear such puppet diplomacy is too close to the real deal.

 

While the Prosperity is an incredibly peaceful universe, it is peace maintained by trapping their dependents in a state of endless ignorance. They will never know worlds outside their star system. They will never know the multiverse. They will never even know that a multiverse exists. It’s existence is a carefully guarded secret just like the Grand Game.

 

If any of you multiverse explorers get the idea of playing missionary to the dependents, don’t. It won’t go like you think it will. You won’t be some great hero opening their eyes to reality. You’ll be caught by the Prosperity before you can even crack the language barrier. Every star in their universe is an eye. The most paranoid police states couldn’t envision this kind of surveillance in their wildest dreams. And when you’re busted, the Prosperity is going to call ARGO, and they’ll be even more upset with you than the Prosperity because you were warned.

 

Even if by some miracle you avoid detection, you aren’t going to make any converts. Starshot tried to convince a group of stargazers on FarFarFarOut to follow him into “Vastator territory,” but they reported him to their life-star as potentially mind-controlled by the Vastator. He was so disappointed in them that he left the universe and vowed never to return. Let that be a lesson to you–the dependents have relied on their life-stars since they prayed to them for bountiful harvests and had their prayers answered.

 

They will trust their mother stars and their lies before ever believing the word of an otherworlder.

 

Guest Universes

 

Yue Kingdom

 

Other Appellations: Oni World (Alpha), Universe 121818 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Resh-Ayin-Upsilon

 

Astral Connection: L0 D3

 

Caution Rating: 1

 

Though this world is inactive, a handful of spontaneous, temporary crossovers (STCs, commonly pronounced “sticks”) have been reported from the Fishermen. This combined with the potential cross-universe infectability of Douma’s curse gives the Yue Kingdom a caution rating even in light of its relative inaccessibility.

 

Multiverse Activity: Inactive

 

Keywords: Sleeping, Observe only

 

The Yue Kingdom is one of many worlds that due to little-understood differences in structure appears as a “phantom” to us. We can observe it, but we cannot interact with it. However, STCs have occurred with the Fishermen reporting encounters with the oni of the Yue Kingdom.

 

Description:

 

(The Yue Kingdom is the setting of A Story of Fire by Ardi. Click here to check it out!)

 

It’s not always a good thing to make contact with your mystic shadow. Sometimes you contact angels, but sometimes you contact demons. Case in point, this world, where powerful, violent demons roam the land and dramatically influence the course of human events. Mankind has adapted to the presence of demons. 

 

The Rus kingdom practices a policy of merciless extermination against demons and maintains an organization of holy warriors to hunt down and exterminate demons with holy weapons that overcome the natural regenerative capabilities of demons and esoteric muscular training that allows them to briefly match the superhuman strength of demons. So successful are these warriors that they’ve expanded to neighboring countries to do what they do best.

 

The Yang Empire maintains a regulated army of ostensibly loyal demons which ensures them dominance throughout their continent at the cost of giving their neighbors plenty of reason to be on guard.

 

And the Yue Kingdom, which serves as a synecdoche for this universe, inadvertently created Douma’s curse.

 

In exchange for King Abe granting his people better treatment, the sorcerer Ashiya Douma agreed to take in the thousands of demons that roamed the Yue Kingdom into himself. But Abe was not true to his word. He used Douma as a pretense for disbanding the demon hunters of the Yue Kingdom and then executed the old man. With his dying breath, Douma cursed Abe’s kingdom. Whenever a person experienced inhuman suffering, they would be transformed into a new kind of demon–an oni. Robbed of their identity and memories and cursed with an insatiable hunger for human flesh, oni became a huge threat to the Yue Kingdom. Though violent and impulsive, oni are not stupid, and have formed their own bands. One prominent band was led by Shuten, son of Douma.

 

Complicating the oni plague is a breakdown of royal leadership. King Abe snubbed his son Sutak by remarrying and fathering two daughters, Rau and Azu, who stood before him in the line of succession. Enraged, Sutak had the princesses and their mother killed in a fire. But though they burned, the sisters did not die, and were reborn as oni under the curse of Douma.

 

Rau and Azu wandered the countryside satisfying their hunger and fell in with Shuten’s group. The sisters were then separated during a battle and regained their memories. Rau, having been adopted by a loving family that looked past her curse, suppressed her hunger even though it caused her great pains. Azu, on the other hand, embraced her nature and consumed Shuten to increase her power and become leader of his group.

 

Remembering what Sutak did to her and her sister, Azu leads her band of oni on an attack against the Yue capital. Meanwhile, Rau enlists the (unwilling) aid of a demon hunter to find her sister.

 

ARGO is very interested in seeing what happens when the two sisters meet again…

 

The Empire

 

Other Appellations: Universe 92320 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Sigma-Alef-Iota-Nu-Theta

 

Astral Connection: L0 D0

 

Caution Rating: 1

 

The Empire’s connection to the multiverse appears limited to the Narrator, which means they pose little danger to the multiverse at large. However, internally the Empire is facing a challenge to its decade of peace from the Fourth Collective terrorist organization. Their caution rating may increase based upon how that plays out. Let’s hope it doesn’t.

 

Multiverse Activity: Seldom

 

Keywords: Quantum

 

Description:

 

(The Empire is the setting of SAiNT by RJ BonArt. Check it out by clicking here!)

 

In a world that has moved on from myth and magic, a new age is dawning from the darkness of ages past…

 

A decade ago, the Empire, with the help of its Elthanian Allies, emerged victorious from the 8th Imperial Civil War. It was a controversial war, and though the conflict was resolved, embers of resentment remained. In the present, the Fourth Collective terrorist organization seeks to fan those embers into the flames of another war.

 

The Fourth Collective, who count among their number the brilliant roboticist Dr. Yo-Yo and his right-hand man Kenji Yamikaze, uses giant robots to commit acts of destruction, industrial sabotage, and kidnapping (the preferred target being Patrician heiress Katherine “Kat” Tujor). But the Empire is protected by a team of crack agents that stand ready to battle the Fourth Collective, prominent among them being Baronet “Barry” Valorous, age 16, the D’elf Ar’Thgurzen “Arthur” Atheron, age 87, Ruth Nemorino, the 7th Scarlet Sparrow and age 14, and Sorento “Soren” Santos, age 14 and partner to the giant robot Centurion.

Centurion was created by Dr. Yo-Yo to be his greatest creation, but Barry and Soren intervened during Centurion’s activation and Centurion appears to have bonded to the young Soren. Through a special watch, Soren is able to communicate with Centurion and advise him during combat. Their relationship goes well beyond that of a boy and his weapon. The two empathize with each other. Soren never asked to have the huge responsibility of the worlds’ mightiest weapon at his beck and call and Centurion never asked to be given life just to fight and destroy his “brother” robots.

 

Centurion appeared to live up to being Dr. Yo-Yo’s greatest creation besting Fourth Collective robots like the Mauler, XC V8, Harrow, and Tailheads, but Dr. Yo-Yo recently finished construction on a new model intended to be an improvement on Centurion–K45K, also known as Kask.

 

Whether Soren and Centurion will be able to defeat this new robot remains to be seen…

 

Knowledge of the Empire comes to us from the Narrator, a mysterious but charming individual who is capable of observing events throughout the multiverse. Is he a god? A Form Master? A Void Spinner? His origins are shrouded in mystery, but he seems to be one of the good guys and has been fully cooperative with ARGO. He likes to tell stories, and is very good at it.

 

It is rumored, but so far unconfirmed, that the superhero known as Elven Archer in our universe originally came from the Empire as an Elthanian superhero known as the Masked Archer. The Weft Authority has been unable to reach the Masked/Elven Archer for comment.

 

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 it’s 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 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

 

(Earth AD Is the setting of the webcomic Tad Danger, Substitute Ranger by Smacky Jackson. Check it out by clicking here!)

 

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 the aether drives tapped into the bioelectricity of the human brain, they also tapped into psychokinetic 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.

 

Midsommer 

 

Other Appellations: Universe 22718 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Chi-Omicron

 

Astral Connection: L2 D0

 

Caution Rating: 0

 

Multiverse Activity: Inactive

 

Keywords: Quantum, Sleeping, Analog

 

Description:

 

(Midsommer is the setting of the interactive webcomic Colony Corps by Edspear. Check it out and start adventuring by clicking here!)

 

The Earth of this universe is the State, and the State is Earth. The State is not the kindest monoculture Earth we’ve come across, not by a longshot. It’s very likely that if they had the ability to travel the multiverse, they’d earn their universe the belligerent keyword. The State is a centralized, martial, crony-capitalist, expansionist, and xenophobic hedgemon. By all means, tease Earth State about the obvious comparison, but they aren’t anywhere near as bad as THE State.

 

Mankind isn’t solely to blame for the State. When they took their first steps out into the stars, they ran into the fiercely territorial Szere, and there’s nothing quite like a traumatic first contact to encourage aggressive expansionism in the name of homeworld defense. 

 

Following the destructive war with the Szere, mankind began to rebuild their ruined colonies and settle new ones. One such colony was built on the mysterious planet Midsommer, the 5th moon of Tempest, and when contact was lost with the Midsommer colony, the Colony Corps, a corporate military subsidized by the State to defend Earth’s colonies, was sent to investigate.

 

But something went wrong during the drop–very wrong. Guidance systems failed and pods landed widely off course killing or stranding their passengers. The planet-wide ansible communication array was severed. Colony Corps came to rescue the colonists, but quickly found themselves in need of a rescue.

 

Was it malfunction? Sabotage? A new kind of enemy weapon? We ourselves aren’t sure because whatever is on Midsommer that disrupted their ansible is also disrupting our multiverse probes. We can only see glimpses of what’s happening on Midsommer, but what we have been able to record is very interesting. We’ve seen technological marvels overgrown with aeons of vegetation. We’ve seen receptacles of black goo that turn into wads of circuitry, metal, and wire when placed on certain plates. We’ve seen machinery lit by a purple light that seems to possess intelligence. We’ve seen lizard-birds with winged membranes that are instinctively drawn to fill their nests with bits of technological junk–or perhaps, salvage.

 

Most interestingly, we’ve seen a native sapient race–the Oyani, a race of scavengers who live among the many ruins of Midsommer and seem to know how to get the most out of what few processes they possess. The Midsommer colonists have a positive relation with the Oyani, and Colony Corps is willing to tolerate their presence given the disastrous circumstance of their arrival and the fact that the Oyani seem peaceful–even helpful in some respects.

 

Are the Oyani the heirs of the technological culture that once flourished on Midsommer? It seems likely. 

 

Humanity isn’t the only race interested in Midsommer. The Szere’s presence on the world has recently been upgraded from suspected to incredibly frikken’ likely. Conflict with the Szere seems inevitable.

 

Of the humans on Midsommer, the most interesting seems to be Private M. Carver, homeworld Warsaw. Carver is an enthusiastic but rather scatterbrained and overly-inquisitive recruit. We have him tagged as a possible hyperstatic owing to the way the mysterious purple light inside certain machinery seems to be protective of him and his incredible resilience. He’s able to recover in a short time from large falls and large explosives. He’s remarkably friendly for a Colony Corp recruit having not only befriended fellow Colony Corp survivor James “Slim” Pickings but the Oyani “Me-Singarr” Dividi.

 

The Labyrinth

 

Other Appellations: Universe 122818 (W-Series)

 

Fox Harmonic: Mu-Phi

 

Astral Connection: L1 D2

 

Caution Rating: 0

 

Multiverse Activity: Inactive

 

Keywords: Sleeping

 

Description:

 

(The Labyrinth is the setting for Strawdud’s webcomic Merchant and Pike. Check it out by clicking here!)

 

Within a world of theriomorphic hominids, there is a sprawling, subterranean structure made of stone and filled with danger called the Labyrinth. This structure is the universe’s synecdoche and ARGO’s observation point. 

 

Something draws the beings of this world to risk life and limb to plumb the uncharted depths of the Labyrinth, and it drew our probe as well. There’s an energy structure within the Labyrinth, and it seemingly grows stronger the deeper the Labyrinth goes. This energy structure seems to be related to the construction of the Labyrinth through crystals that harness its power, and it seems to concentrate within “well” structures, but beyond this, our probe tells us very little.

 

The adventurers that delve into the Labyrinth, through legends and the perilous accounts of trailblazers, know something of its nature. The top layer of the Labyrinth appears as a series of stone corridors. Crystals can be found on this layer, though nowhere in the amount as in other layers, and they’re often diluted by the surrounding earth and masonry. The top layer is mappable, unlike the lower layers where shifting walls and chambers makes any map worthless. 

 

Danger in the top layer commonly comes in the form of brutal monsters–eyeballs with two arms, massive, legless tadpole-like beasts, horned quadrupeds, and all sorts of vicious creatures nest in the top layers. We’ve even seen a minotaur, which is appropriate given the structure’s name.

 

What causes monsters to nest in the Labyrinth isn’t known. Could they be drawn to the energy structure like animals to a supersonic signal? Could they somehow be created by the Labyrinth? It’s not unlikely. The Labyrinth is filled with traps, some of which are activated or deactivated by wall mounted puzzles. The energy structure may have created the Labyrinth as a defensive mechanism, though another theory states that the Labyrinth is a kind of test. If the energy structure truly wanted to secure itself, it would have arranged the Labyrinth into an enormous shell structure without passages or stairs. The Labyrinth seems to filter, but not wholly eliminate, trespassers.

 

The middle layers of the Labyrinth are very different from the top layers. The narrow stone corridors of the top layers give way to surreal, wide-open areas filled with strange gravitational effects and staircases like something from an Escher painting. Constructs made from the stone of the Labyrinth itself replace biological monsters. These constructs assemble themselves around crystals, which supports the theory that the energy structure has intelligence and a motive for the Labyrinth.

 

We don’t have much information on what lies below the middle layers. Adventurers talk of the lowest layers in hushed tones. Death is there, but also great rewards.

 

The Labyrinth attracts the adventurous and the enterprising, not only with its energy-laced crystals and cryptic promises of power, but with the valuable equipment and weaponry of fallen adventurers. We’ve even seen a merchant set up a shop in the top layers to sell medical supplies and assistance to adventurers. Business is good.

 

Little is known about the world outside the Labyrinth. Judging by the technology adventurers bring with them into the Labyrinth (crossbows, plate armor) we can assume a technological level around that of the late medieval period, though of course, this is only an assumption. Given how many adventurers throw themselves into the Labyrinth, the outside world seems to be stable. If there was anything like a war outside, it’s very unlikely we’d be seeing so many take a risk on the Labyrinth.

 

It is interesting that the word the inhabitants of the universe use for “Labyrinth” translates to Labyrinth. True, we must always take the translation programs of ARGO probes with a grain of salt. We all remember when a probe accidentally misfired, manifested in New York City, and sent back reports on “Man-men” living in “Neo City of the York.” But the Labyrinth, from what we understand, seems to function more like a maze than a labyrinth. A labyrinth has a single continuous path to and back from the center while a maze has multiple paths that may or not lead to the center. Maze seems to describe the Labyrinth better than labyrinth, but then again, perhaps the name refers to the function rather than the form of the Labyrinth. Perhaps the various trials of the Labyrinth work like a single path that if an adventurer follows through perseverance and skill will lead them to some kind of control center for the energy structure?