The Forever Tree/M&M2e

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Hoid
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The Forever Tree/M&M2e

Post by Hoid »

All my Forever Tree stuff will be transplanted, here. To prevent clutter, my Earth-G stuff will also be in this thread.

Thanks, Ares! You're awesome!
Last edited by Hoid on Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hoid
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
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Re: The Forever Tree/The rebirth!

Post by Hoid »

As a stop-gap measure:

The Forever Tree (everything but Earth-G).

The Forever Tree (Earth-G, only).

This link will be deleted upon successful transfer of my Forever Tree material over to here.
Hoid
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

Table of Contents

Post by Hoid »

The Forever Tree is for use with Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition.

Table of Contents (the entire multiverse): Sunward.
[The entire multiverse]a listing. The grand 'scheme of things'.
[The entire multiverse]templates. Some useful information.
[The entire multiverse]flashpoints in history. Some of the most important events in the Forever Tree.
[The entire multiverse]Multi-dimension religions! Five examples.
[The entire multiverse]The Red Sons! Vile counterparts of the Star Corps.
[The entire multiverse]multiverse-ending threats. Bad guys, amped up to 11.
[The entire multiverse]the Court of Hod and The Pact. The two biggest super villain conspiracies of the entirety of the Forever Tree!
[The entire multiverse]thoughtforms. 'Spirits'.
[The entire multiverse]Degenerate and ascendant thoughtforms. Evolved and devolved 'spirits'.
[The entire multiverse]nephilim. 'Spirits-made-flesh'.
[The entire multiverse]Exotics!
[The entire multiverse]The Dreamingborn. Incarnations of individual parallel-Earths!
[The entire multiverse]cosmic entities ('normal' cosmic entities). The 'gods'.
[The entire multiverse]cosmic entities (higher-order intelligences). 2nd-highest on the multiversal totempole.
[The entire multiverse]the Star Corps. The superhero team.
[The entire multiverse]the Worlds’ Henge. A multiversal gossip-network.
[The entire multiverse]the Apkallu. 'Hellspawn'.
[The entire multiverse]Apkallu technology (part 1). 'Hellspawn' machines.
[The entire multiverse]The Tlolkku Observer-Generals. Part I of III.
[The entire multiverse]The Tlolkku Observer-Generals. Part II of III.
[The entire multiverse]Tlolkku technology (part 1). Tlolkku Demimachinery.
[The entire multiverse]greater undead (Starvampires). The twisted fruit of Tlolkku superscience.
[The entire multiverse]lesser undead. Foul, ungodly aberrations.
[The entire multiverse]The Qimrri. A tragic species from beyond the Beyond!
[The entire multiverse]The greatest scientific minds from each universe. Like so.
[The entire multiverse]technology (Carapaces). The suits of powered-armor.

-

Table of Contents (the parallel-Earths):
[All parallel-Earths]a listing. A smaller 'scheme of things'.
[All parallel-Earths]technology (weaponry). Weaponry!
[All parallel-Earths]greatest heroes and heroines. Good guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (part 1). Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (part 2). Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (part 3). Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (part 4). Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (part 5). Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All parallel-Earths]The Red Men, the Red Mantle and the Red Eyed King. A cosmic thorn in everyone’s side.
[All parallel-Earths]the imperiex. Part 1 of 6. Highest on the multiversal totempole.
[All parallel-Earths]The imperiex. Part 2 of 6. The Four Rights of the Imperiex.

[Earth-A]aliens. Xenos!

[Earth-B]currently existing countries. The various polities.
[Earth-B]Leafgardentown. The world's only Leaf metropolis.
[Earth-B]superhumans (mutants). Heroes, villains and those who stand between.
[Earth-B]superhumans (non-mutants). Heroes, villains and those who stand between.
[Earth-B]the Dream Moth’s nameless superhero team. THE superhero team of Earth-B!
[Earth-B]five iconic NPCs!
[Earth-B]aliens. Xenos!
[Earth-B]a message and a reply, concerning The Purity. part one.
[Earth-B]A message and a reply, concerning The Purity. Part two.

[Earth-C]gods, demigods, monsters and questors. Superhumans!, part one of two.
[Earth-C]other types of superhumans. Superhumans!, part two of two.

[Earth-E]superhumans (the spawn of the Old Giants). Superhumans powered by Old Giant DNA.
[Earth-E]the Godorb. Earth-E’s premiere Demimachine ur-weapon.

[Earth-F]Machine-Deities. Superhumans---part one of three.
[Earth-F]Machine-Titans. Superhumans---part two of three.
[Earth-F]Other superhumans. Superhumans---part three of three.

[Earth-G]a listing. A listing for Earth-G, only.
[Earth-G]cosmic timeline. The Six Ages, some yet to come!
[Earth-G]cosmic entities (part 1). The top of the Earth-G totempole.
[Earth-G]cosmic entities (part 2). The top of the Earth-G totempole.
[Earth-G]Dreamingborn and Elementals. Sentient fundamental forces!
[Earth-G]aliens. Xenos!
[Earth-G]unique superhumans (part 1). Superhumans unrelated to the Green Star.
[Earth-G]unique superhumans (part 2). Superhumans unrelated to the Green Star.
[Earth-G]Lemuria. The last, mad outpost of fabled At-Lan-Tuu.
[Earth-G]Mu. The First City of the Starborn.
[Earth-G]the Ancient Staggod. Heroic NPC background writeups.
[Earth-G]Lord Luther’s School for Extraordinary Gentlefolk. Yes, this is a Marvel pastiche.
[Earth-G]the Angel of Wolves, Brutus and the Kinfolk. The Starborn who seeks to topple feudal Europe and his followers and cultists!
[Earth-G]the Sun Lion. Egypt’s greatest supervillain!
[Earth-G]the Bearer of the Holy Gift and the Eternal Gift. Two beings who grant powers!
[Earth-G]John Dee and Toad-eating-the-sky. The genius and the creature!
[Earth-G]Mallocchio the Tempest and the Hound of Hell’s Fire. Water and fire!
[Earth-G]the Beast of Sherwood and the Dreaming Childe. Dreams and unreality!
[Earth-G]Velya and Dog. A man and his best friend.
[Earth-G]Danse Macabre and Gate of Seven Swords. Villains-by-necessity.
[Earth-G]The Nightmare-Carnival. Something wicked this way comes....
[Earth-G]Steiner, the Many-Winged Devil. A villainous NPC background writeup.
[Earth-G]Hamblin, England. A Vanished town!
[Earth-G]Witchlands. Part one!
[Earth-G]Witchlands. Part two!
[Earth-G]Witchlands. Part three!
[Earth-G]Witchlands. Part four!

[Earth-H]Arhats and gorgons. Superhumans!, part one of two.

[Earth-I]Superhumanity! Part one of three.
[Earth-I]Superhumanity! Part two of three.
[Earth-I]Superhumanity! Part three of three.

[Earth-J]Setting! Part one of three: a general overview.

[Earth-K]Manifold Giants. Evil, incarnate.
[Earth-K]Half-Giants. The hybrid superpowered offspring of human and Voidgiant!

[Earth-L]A setting-overview. Part one.
[Earth-L]Ogres. 'Blind idiot gods'.
[Earth-L]superhumans (spawn of Ogres). Those who are no longer completely human.
[Earth-L]the Swimmer of Deepnothing and his companions. Three superbeings affected by the power of KORE.
[Earth-L]The Tomorrow-Herald and the New Garden of Eden. A cult that endangers the whole world.
[Earth-L]The Griffon Mythology. The groundling frontline in the war against the Ogres and their Demiogre spawn.

[Earth-M]Faerie Courts, Elfcourts and the Three Great Elfcourts. The governing bodies of Dreamerkind.
[Earth-M]five iconic NPCs! Five NPCs of great importance to the Earth-M universe!

[Earth-N]aliens! Extraterrestrials, part one—-the surtr and the ymir.
[Earth-N]superhumans—-aesir and vanir! Superhumans!, part one.
[Earth-N]superhumans—-spiritwolves! Superhumans!, part two.
[Earth-N]superhumans—-Amplified, ghosts and qlippoths! Superhumans!, part three.

[Earth-O]superhumans. Those who wield powers.

[Earth-Q]A general overview. Part one of four. Archons, Epochs and Fish.
[Earth-Q]A general overview. Part two of four. Society.
[Earth-Q]A general overview. Part three of four. The Hellinger Academy.
[Earth-Q]A general overview. Part four of four. Fish, both on Earth and among the stars.

[Earth-S]A setting-overview. Earth-S, in a nutshell.
[Earth-S]superhumans (spawn of He Who Strides). Giants and psychics.
[Earth-S]He Who Strides. The progenitor of the superhumans of Earth-S.

[Earth-T]Superhumanity! Part one of two.

[Earth-U]superhumans! The costumed heroes and villains of Earth-U!

[Earth-V]Terminology. Commonly used terms.
[Earth-V]Rustdeity. The state of the world. Part one of five. The Blocs of Rustdeity.
[Earth-V]Rustdeity. The state of the world. Part two of five. Locations of extreme importance, on Rustdeity.
[Earth-V]Rustdeity. The state of the world. Part three of five. Various sentient species found on Rustdeity.
[Earth-V]Rustdeity. The state of the world. Part four of five. The wider solar system.
[Earth-V]Ten successive proclamations of Emperor Jax I. A countdown to Armageddon. The Fall, part One of three!

[Earth-W]five iconic NPCs! What it says on the tin.

[Earth-X]a setting overview! Part one!, superhumanity.

[Earth-Z]a setting overview! Part one!, superhumans and earthhaunts!

-

Table of Contents (the Perpendiculars):
[All six Perpendiculars]a listing. The smaller 'scheme of things'.
[All six Perpendiculars]technology (weaponry). Weaponry!
[All six Perpendiculars]crossovers.
[All six Perpendiculars]the Black Coven. An NPC super villain team.
[All six Perpendiculars]the Duo Dreamers. Twin cosmic entities embodying sleeping and dreaming!
[All six Perpendiculars]world-ending threats. Bad guys, amped-up to 11.
[All six Perpendiculars]greatest heroes and heroines. Good guys, amped-up to 11.

[Perpendicular-1]Lulultulul. A brief overview.

[Perpendicular-2]a listing. The world of Linntuuu.
[Perpendicular-2]iconic NPCs. Heroes and villains, alike!

[Perpendicular-3]a setting overview. Welrul!

[Perpendicular-4]a listing. The Great and Deceased Corpulence.

[Perpendicular-6]the Sunsphinx (part 1). 3rd-highest on the multiversal totempole.
[Perpendicular-6]the Sunsphinx (part 2). The world of Aeion.
[Perpendicular-6]the Sunsphinx (part 3). The Sungods and the Timewardens.
[Perpendicular-6]a coded missive from Retrieval GAMMA! A report from a Sunsphinx survey-team in the Beyond to the Solar Lion.
[Perpendicular-6]a coded missive from Divine Intelligence! Concerning the return and debriefing of Scout-EPSILON.

-

Table of Contents (Resonances):
[Multiverse-Wide Resonances]a listing. A much smaller 'scheme of things'. Placeholder.
[Multiverse-Wide Resonances]the dreamlands, part 1 of 3. An overview.
[Multiverse-Wide Resonances]the dreamlands, part 2 of 3. The individual primary dream-Resonances of each parallel-Earth and each Perpendicular.
[Earth-N Resonances]The House of the Wolves. THE spiritwolf arsenal-Resonance!
[Resonances]The Overworldlabyrinth. A Jungian collective subconsciousness of Hell-in-a-bottle!

-

Table of Contents (the Rootthrone):
[The Rootthrone]destiny and the Weavery. The will of a long-dead god.
[The Rootthrone]the Lamassu! Protectors of destiny, embodied!
[The Rootthrone]The Red Men, the Red Mantle and the Red Eyed King. A cosmic thorn in everyone’s side.

-

Table of Contents (the Primordial Deeps):
[The Primordial Deeps]the afterlife. The mysteries of death, partially explained.
[The Primordial Deeps]Ferrymen. Grim psychopomps. Placeholder.

-

Table of Contents (the Outer Shell):
[The Outer Shell]Antimatterbodies. Guardians of the exterior of the whole multiverse.

-

Table of Contents (the Beyond):
[The Beyond]a listing. A listing for the Beyond, as a whole.
[The Beyond]the Cthulhu Mythos. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhthaghn! Placeholder.
[The Beyond]The Voice. A supervillain asks a very important question to a most singular ghost.

- - -//:-)>_-

Table of Contents (the Infinite Roots):
The Infinite Roots (As a Whole).
A message. Part I.
A message. Part II.
Degenerate and ascendant thoughtforms. Compressed and crippled or expanded and enhanced.

The Core Darkness.

The Inner Darkness.

The Outer Darkness.
Last edited by Hoid on Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:28 pm, edited 203 times in total.
Hoid
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[Earth-G]a listing

Post by Hoid »

Canonical Green Star universe games begin in 1555 CE, in Europe.
The Green Star universe is Earth-G of the Forever Tree multiverse

Table o' Contents:
Characters:
The Angel of Wolves.
The Bearer of the Holy Gift.
The Briar-King and Kerberus.
Brutus.
Charybdis.
Danse Macabre.
Dog.
Dr. John Dee.
The Eleven-in-One.
The Eternal Gift.
The Gate of Seven Swords.
The Great Beast.
Gyre.
Jennie Faun.
Mallocchio the Tempest.
The Obsidian Man and the Obsidian Woman.
The Pillar of the Falls.
Re-Atum.
Seigfried the Beasttamer.
Steiner, the Many-Winged Devil.
Toad-eating-the-Sky.
Velya Barovich.
Cosmic Matters:
Dimensions deeply entwined with the Green Star universe.
The Ebon System.
The Forever Tree (the multiverse, as a whole).
The Green Star universe.
Aliens (Starvampires).
Aliens (the Great Imperium and the Stonebuilders).
Three examples of evil cosmic entities in the Green Star universe.
Three examples of good cosmic entities in the Green Star universe.
Three examples of neutral cosmic entities in the Green Star universe.
Earth-G's four elementals.
Locations:
Witchlands! Part 1!
Witchlands! Part 2!
Witchlands! Part 3!
Witchlands! Part 4!
Hamblin, England.
Lemuria, the Lost Godcolony (part 1).
Lemuria, the Lost Godcolony (part 2).
Mu and Atlantis.
Teams:
Various major, big-time factions.
The Red Rose.
Events:
The Six Ages of Human and Superhuman.

Superhuman matters:
The GREEN STAR:
A comet, colored a sickly green, brushed over most of Europe nearly 2 years ago, casting off huge volumes of green dust onto the landscape below. The Green Star terrified millions...but, in the two weeks that followed, ten thousand or more people had...changed. Some mutated out of control then died in horrific agony. Some turned to stone and've never stirred since. Some devolved into mundane animals.

But nearly 2 thousand lucky souls changed for the better. The Green Star's dust enhanced half of them, physically and mentally "augmenting them", without actually making them superhuman; the other half...are the Starborn. Starborn have superpowers, many of which flagrantly defy the laws of nature; others are simply beyond the medieval mindset to understand. Some Starborn deformed as they evolved, but most "merely" gained phenomenal powers.

Furthermore, not all those affected by the Green Star have yet to change, a fact currently known only to an antediluvian creature known as the Ancient Staggod. Over time, more Entombed, Starbeasts and Starborn will appear---slowly at first, then more and more often as time goes by. Several thousand more potential superhumans exist.

Nature of the Starborn:
Though it's only been 2 years since the passage of the Green Star, many facts on the Starborn're still unclear. As medieval Europe has no possible understanding of genetics, they CANNOT truly understand the Starborn. Nevertheless, certain facts ARE well known:

Starborn powers are truly all over the place. Theoretically any non-tech/non-magical power may appear in Starborn. This incredible variety of abilities is seen by many as God's hand at work...or the Devil's sorcery working its will on Christendom.

Starborn have yet to reproduce; meaning, no one knows if Starborn abilities are hereditary.

Most Starborn are as vulnerable to the slings and arrows of mortality as anyone else. Exceptions, however---such as the PCs---obviously exist, but this is rare.

Some people were devolved by the Green Star into mundane, non-sentient animals. Frighteningly, however, these "Starbeasts" retain a human inventiveness---meaning Starbeast wolves are dangerous.

Some people were transformed by the Green Star into immobile, silent statues. These sessile wonders are utterly indestructible---at least, "indestructible" by medieval standards. Legends have already accumulated around these silent enigmas.

Some people just...vanished upon being hit by the Green Star's dust. Telepathic Starborn sometimes "hear" faint echoes of voices when no one else is around; thus, belief in ghosts is now rampant.

The STARBEASTS:
Not all those affected by the Green Star became superhuman; nay, they devolved into animals, mundane animals. Known as Starbeasts, these unfortunate creatures have lost their sentience...but they HAVE retained their very human imagination and problem-solving skills. Starbeast prey animals are nearly impossible to hunt; Starbeast predators are unholy terrors to the peasantry and nobility alike.

But...there is another kind of Starbeast that few know of. You see, several hundred mundane animals were transformed by the Green Star into sentient humanoids. They have no powers, but are far more dangerous than normal Starbeasts---as they are fully sentient.

This problem is made worse by the fact that some Starborn gained animal forms or animal/man hybrid forms in addition to their superpowers, yet retain full sentient. These faux-"Starbeasts" have genuine superpowers. Thus, many serfs easily conflate Starbeasts with Starborn and vice versa.

The ENTOMBED:
Not all those affected by the Green Star profited by it, and this is most obvious with the Entombed. Turned into sessile, torpid, utterly non-responsive and indestructible stone statues, the Entombed are grim reminders of the Green Star's seeming capriciousness.

By medieval standards, the Entombed are indestructible. They register as normal statues to mundane senses and mundane examinations, but...psychics detect a glimmer, a strange something, within each Entombed, as if asleep. No attempt to communicate with an Entombed has ever been successful, or even partially successful.

Many myths and legends've sprung up around these silent enigmas. Ghost stories and fairy tales of the Entombed run rampant, leading Mother Church to declare the Entombed Satanic.

The VANISHED.
Not all exposed to the Green Star gained anything remotely useful---indeed, some just...disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. Though no catchy title defines these lost souls, some facts ARE known:

These vanished people disappeared, but took only themselves; clothes dropped empty to the ground, items fell untended and so on. Only the person in their birthday suit vanished.

People who vanished seem to have nothing in common.

Telepaths and other psychics sometimes register wordless voices when all alone. It feels as if someone is trying to communicate with them. But comprehensible communiques have never occurred; not even a single intelligible word has yet to be discerned. Furthermore, there is no guarantee this phenomenon is even connected to the disappeared at all.

Attempts to locate the lost people, even via Starborn powers, consistently fails. It doesn't even seem to indicate the vanished are dead, just...gone.

As a result, belief in ghosts in skyrocketing, a tendency Mother Church is trying its best to wipe out, with little success.

The Elohim:
The Elohim were the inhabitants of Mu, the FIRST superhuman civilization. Only a single Elohim has survived, and he has forgotten himself...

The Anunnaki:
The Anunnaki were the inhabitants of At-Lan-Tuu, the SECOND superhuman civilization. Only three Anunnaki yet survive, as most were exterminated a great number of millennia ago by the Many.

The WEIRD and the BIZARRE:
Not everything can be neatly categorized. Weird, unclassifiable entities, things and phenomena exist throughout Christendom, strange things even the most learned scholar finds hard to define.

You see, the Green Star not only affected humans and animals, it also, to a MUCH lesser extent, altered the landscape. Called "witchlands" by the common folk, these altered terrains carry strange properties.

In the Black Forest, there stands an ancient tree that may, if offered animal's blood, carve into its own bark the face of the next mundane human to die by poisoning or disease. Near Kiev, a river has become endless---but only while along its banks. Leave the river, and space returns to normal. Stonehenge now gives strange, prophetic dreams to those who pray there---be they of ANY religion...or NONE! And so on.

Witchlands are feared, but're also coveted. They represent a resource theoretically ANYONE can tap.

Michael Archangel:
The very first Starborn and blessed with power beyond all human imaginings, not much is known of Michael Archangel's pre-Green Star life; even his real name is uncertain. For many months, Michael's incredible power help all of Christendom is fear and awe. But, eventually, Michael's conflicting views on the Starborn ("Are they of God? Or the Devil?") led him to ascend into the sky, to question God directly. It's been nearly a year and he's yet to return with God's answer.

Week by week, month by month, it becomes clearer and clearer the so-called "Archangel" is not returning. Many claim God smote him for his presumption as Apollo smote Icarus for flying too high; others, meanwhile, claim Michael will return soon with an army of angels.

-//-\\-

Spiritual matters:
The "Spirit Realm":
There is an "astral plane", but despite the beliefs of many Starborn, it is not a realm of spirits, angels and demons. Instead, it is "merely" what Carl Jung termed "the collective unconscious". It exists within all animals---sentient or non-sentient---and is purely phantasmal. Entities found within aren't real...they're merely reflections of and mirrors to the Starborn beholding them, nothing more.

ANGELS and DEMONS:
Some Starborn may summon what appear to be angels and demons with their powers, something Mother Church considers highly blasphemous---the first is seen as a challenge to God's authority, while the second is the advancement of Satan's evil schemes.

When summoned, angels and demons act as medieval Christians expect them to act: angels are virtuous, shining and stern; demons are sly, cunning manipulators, ever eager for Man to sin. In fact, they act exactly as medieval people expect them to...thus inadvertently revealing the truth, a truth only a bare few Starborn have even begun to contemplate:

These aren't genuine angels and genuine demons, but rather "idealizations" of such concepts pulled from Man's collective unconscious. These entities may seem wise and all-knowing, but the truth they are only as knowledgable as the people who conjure them. They are reflections of those who call them, nothing more.

The AFTERLIFE:
Is there a soul? Is that soul immortal? Is there a Heaven for saints and a Hell for sinners? Yes. Yes. Aaaaannnnd...possibly and possibly. The truth of the matter, you see, is less than clear.

There are 7 Starborn with the power to raise the dead; they have done so on many occasions. When asked about Heaven (or Hell), the resurrected cannot give very clear answers, much to the frustration of everyone, as they experienced something human language is incapable of fully expressing.

Does the soul exist, and is it eternal? Yes. The resurrected all agree on this. They clearly recall surviving their corporeal deaths and moving to a...place...that is not an Earthly locale.

Is there a Heaven, and is there a Hell? Potentially. You see, details on this "other place" vary so much that even the most pious of men have a very hard time agreeing that it's the same place at all. Some report vast, primeval, fog-shrouded forests inhabited by great, slow-moving behemoths; others reported vast necropoli under a slate-grey, stormwracked sky, with flesh-eating ghouls running to and fro. Still others described a never-ending stone labyrinth full of mechanical wonders and mechanical horrors.

Is there a God? Even the resurrected cannot say. If He exists, they lay no claim to having met Him OR His Son.

The Church has decried these resurrections as demonic.

-//-\\-

Human matters:
The RED HAND:
Founded only two months before the Green Star's arrival, to hunt "the very worst of Satan's witches", the Red Hand suddenly found themselves tasked with killing the most egregious Starborn---a task they were woefully unprepared for.

Mother Church has yet to make a final declaration on Starborn, but already the Red Hand roots out and burns at the stake both the most physically monstrous AND the very weakest Starborn. Michael Archangel terrified them, but his departure has convinced many the Red Hand has divine favor.

-//-\\-

Alien matters:
The Ancients: They who rose up the Many and made them stewards of humanity, the Ancients are the ruling caste of the Great Imperium. Ancients and Stonebuilders were the very worst of enemies.

Ancients physically are very close to human, with the exception of perfectly bald head and dark orange blood flowing visibly through their veins.

The Ancients are strangely unable to develop OR acquire superpowers, though their technology is rather godlike in scope. This utter lack of native superbeings is one of the countless reasons Ancients hated and feared Stonebuilders.

Mother Church will, upon discovering the Ancients, likely label them as "demons of the air" and thusly condemn them. Considering the Ancients' slothful malevolence, this may not be an entirely incorrect assumption.

However, the Ancients themselves live in abject terror of...something else. In the Ebon System, where no ship dares go, where no probe may investigate, the Ancients make a yearly pilgrimage, to cower at the feet of a civilization nearly as old as the entire universe...

The Compassionists: A subject species of the Great Imperium, Compassionists are semi-aquatic humanoids with minor psionic empathy and vaguely fish-like characteristics. Compassionists are all addicted from birth to ninng, a drug they soon become utterly dependent on; without it, their powers fade and they go irrevocably insane. (Ironically, this has saved their entire psi-active species from being Purged.) Compassionists are doctors, therapists, counsellors and medical researchers, equaled only by the Ancients in this regard.

dzun: THE greatest creators of the fearsome synthbeast Wyldmachines, the dzun are not part of the Great Imperium. Placeholder.

The Great Imperium: The Great Imperim is THE galaxy-spanning empire, consisting on nearly a thousand habitable worlds, millions of uninhabitable "resource planets" and nearly a dozen sentient species.

The Great Imperium is divided by member species:
>-The Ancients rule the Great Imperium. It is the Ancients who've decreed superpowered beings are foul and undeserving of life.
>-The Compassionists are the doctors and physicians of the Great Imperium.
>-The Machinists are the teachers, instructors and secret police of the Great Imperium.
>-The Many defend the Great Imperium.
>-The Monastics perform religious rites and tend to the Great Imperium's spirit. (The Monastics and the Purists often work hand-in-hand.)
>-The People make up the majority of the Great Imperium, its citizenry and its workforce.
>-The Proletariat are the slaves and serfs of the Great Imperium.
>-The Purists keep the Great Imperium healthy and organize Purges of foreign planets of any and all genetic "flaws" (such as superpowers). (The Purists and the Monastics often work hand-in-hand.)
>-The Sages devise new technologies for the Great Imperium.
>-The Scouts, long-lived and lethargic in the extreme, constantly work to expand the Great Imperium.

However, despite all this, the Great Imperium is but a placating attempt at calming horrors nearly as old as time, itself. Every 100 years, the Great Imperium sends a massive tribute-fleet to the mysterious and normally off-limits Ebon System, to offer up unbelievable resources to...something to buy the Milky Way Galaxy another century of continued existence.

The Great Wanderer: A unique female entity, created by the Ancient to be their ultimate weapon, the Great Wanderer is genetically engineered to naturally channel gargantuan amounts of cosmic energy, for the purposes of simulating nearly all forms of psychic phenomena.

In her youth, the Great Wanderer would meditate in the alien Godgardens; later, she'd study under the infinite gaze of Sifu Starchilde. She later rebelled against her makers, and has visited Earth before. Feeling pity for primitive man, she gave them hybrid children that, bearing a tiny piece of her, could guide humanity forward. Unfortunately, the Great Wanderer miscalculated, and her immortal, serially reincarnating grandchildren now manipulate things from the shadows. Furthermore, a human thief stole her psi-amplification rod and has worked who knows what evils with it.

For her part, the Great Wanderer has not given Earth a single thought in millennia.

The Machinists: A subject species of the Great Imperium, the heavily-cyborged Machinists were once much like humanity, but gave up most of their biologist in order to sever themselves from any potential chance of superpowers. Coming in a gargantuan number of varying bodywork sand technological functions, the Machinists are the ones who keep the machinery and technology of the Great Imperium running smoothly.

The Many: Humans from the mid-Stone Age who were abducted by alien "Ancients" and set to the task of keeping the human genome "clean". And yet, the Many are forbidden from harming, altering or even analyzing the Green Star. The Many have launched two separate Purges of Earthly superbeings; they prepare, even now, for a third Purge. The Many are the fearsome soldier caste of the Great Imperium; they themselves are forbidden to acquire superpowers, as this would allow the Many to stand on equal footing with the Ancients.

Genetically identical to Earthly humans, the Many are nevertheless equipped with frighteningly potent technologies.

The Monastics: A subject species of the Great Imperium, Monastics are a hulking non-humanoid species, vaguely resembling eighteen-legged mega-scale turtles. Slow and with lifespans measuring in millennia, Monastics are a deeply spiritual people, eager to explore the Faith's of every species in the universe. Monastics have a rare few superbeings, but they fiercely hide such things from the rest of the Great Imperium.

The People: A subject species of the Great Imperium, the People have been under Ancient control for so long they've become trusted implicitly in all things. Placeholder.

The Proleteriat: A subject species of the Great Imperium. Placeholder.

The Purists: A "lessened" clone-species of the Ancients, the Purists are a subject species of the Great Imperium. Placeholder.

The Sages: A "species" of highly sapient robots, Sages are a subject people of the Great Imperium. Created long ago by Machinist sunforges, Sages are hardwired with absolute loyal to the Machinists (in general) and the Ancient-Supreme (specifically). Sages, therefore, have no free will.

The Scouts: A subject species of the Great Imperium. Placeholder.

The Stonebuilders: The old enemies of both the Ancients and the Many, the Stonebuilders long ago ascended to something resembling true godhood. Still, remnants of the Stonebuilders persist, even on a backwater like Earth. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Some questions:
"What is the Green Star, really?"
A comet coated in a mutagenic substance. Maybe I'll eventually get around to exploring the Green Star in greater detail, but for now, THIS'll suffice.

"Do Starborn exist outside of Europe?"
Yes, though in very small numbers. Europe got the majority of Green Star "dust", but winds carried some of it VERY far afield. Only in Europe, however, do the Starborn exist in any real numbers.

"Is there a Supermanalogue?"
Yes, though he left Earth a year before the canonical start of a campaign begins. Believing himself to be the archangel Michael, this paragon left quite a stir in his wake.

"Are there aliens?"
Yes, though it's not really all that relevant, at least for a good long while. Maybe, waaaaaaay down the road, I'll have alien visitors or an alien invasion or whathaveyou, but for quite some time action will be entirely Earthbound and nemeses will be strictly human and/or superhuman.

"Is there magic?"
No. But there APE psionics, and the presence of "Dumbo Syndrome" means many Starborn might easily mistake psychic might for genuine sorcery.

"Is there a wider multiverse?"
Yes, though, like aliens, it will be a loooooong time before it gets brought in.
Last edited by Hoid on Sat Jan 06, 2018 6:42 pm, edited 10 times in total.
Hoid
Posts: 3556
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[parallel-Earths]a listing

Post by Hoid »

Earths of the Forever Tree: In more detail.
What are Exemplars?
As Vampiremasters are to Starvampires, so too are Exemplars to superhumanity. Every 'type' of superhuman has a 'perfected' specimen---an Exemplar. This is a natural psionic accumulation of energy, and if an Exemplar dies, a new Exemplar will spontaneously arise from the ranks.

With only three exceptions, almost all Exemplars are totally human, having no 'Otherness' in their DNA. This is a quality of the human genome, and's found nearly nowhere else.

Who are the Masked Magi?
The Masked Magi are an enigma wrapped in a riddle hid inside a mystery. Masked and robed, with nary an inch of skin showing, the Masked Ones are only 77 in number. In terms of raw power, the Masked Magi aren't QUITE bcosmic entities, but they certainly come close. Masked Magi never speak and they are completely immune to all forms and variations of telepathy. Each wields a Totemic---a Demimachine staff capable of warping reality to the Masked Magi's will, on, sometimes Es, a PLANETARY scale!

Who are the Masked Magi? No one knows. What do they want? No one knows. They communicate with no one; they just show up, perform some epic but totally surreal feat of powers---then: disappear into the mists.

What is an imperiex?
Imperiex are not Exemplars! Without any imperiex---now that the Worldfather is dead---the Forever Tree would catch fire and burn and burn and burn 'til it burnt away to oblivion. Placeholder.

Who were the iron dreamers?
Long before the rise of the Tlolkku, spanning the multiverse was the strangely musical and aetherial empire of the iron dreamers. A species so advanced even the Tlolkku cannot fully comprehend, the iron dreamers were the first race to master Demimachinery.

Originally from Earth-X, iron dreamers spread throughout the multiverse, creating life as they went. For reasons still unclear, however, the iron dreamers fell into a genocidal war with Earth-E's Old Giants. The chthonic Old Giants unleashed a plague that wiped out every iron dreamer in existence, leaving only stark, incomprehensible ruins behind.

Who are the Tlolkku?
Though originating in Earth-A, the Tlolkku are a vastly advanced alien civilization that has spread throughout the multiverse in an effort to expand their knowledge-base---no matter the cost to other beings and socities. Amoral lore-seekers, the Tlolkku will happily let entire universes burn if it means they learn something extremely significant from it.

A large minority of the Tlolkku have, however, become Starvampires, and're now actively diabolically-minded.

-//-\\-

Earth-A: The Deathcoven universe.
The current year is 1812 CE.

Earth-A's elementals embody hurricanes (air), gravedirt (earth), the sun (fire) and the sea (water).

Terminology: The local undead.
the Blood Lords: The 'aristocracy' of Earth-A Starvampires.
Blood Lords are the Vampirecommoner pseudo-tyrants of Starvampire-dominated Europe. The Blood Lords are horrifically politically divided; as Sargon the Reborn Death reasserts his old control, Blood Lord after Blood Lord is slowly suborned.

Moonwolves:
'Werewolves'...kinda. Moonwolves are another type of Earth-A superhuman, but, unlike Sunwitches, nothing remotely wholesome empowers Moonwolves. The result of Starvampires' Vampiremasters' tinkering with human DNA, Moonwolves are highly infectious pseudo-lycanthropes capable of shifting between a fully human shape and the shape of a very large wolf. (Moonwolves have no 'hybrid'-forms.)

Starvampires:
The greatest menace Earth-A has ever faced, Starvampires (in general!) are dealt with elsewhere. On Earth-A, Sargon the Reborn Death struggles mightily with the Blood Lords of Europe for control of this universe's Starvampires. All 25 Night Houses vie for control over Earth-A, with no single Night House unique to this particular dimension.

Sunwitches:
Perhaps a cosmic immune system reflex, Sunwitches, Earth-A's native superhumans, are ALL powered directly by the sun. Sunwitch-powers can be just about anything---except for darkness-generation. Without regular sunlight, a Sunwitch's powers slowly dwindle away to nothing, and must thenceforth be 'recharged'.

Kingdoms amongst the utterly damned:
the Blood Lords' Domiciles:
The continent of Europe and the entirety of the Mediterranean region are part of the loosely allied coalition of Starvampire microcountries known as 'the Blood Lords' Domiciles'. Ruled by a feuding mob of Vampirecommoner warlords and overseen by higher-powered agents of the Night Houses, from elsewhere in the Forever Tree.

-//-\\-

Earth-A has no native Supermanalogue, but an extradimensional Supermanalogue does live here. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Religions:
the Church of All Life:
A shining beacon of light in a world beset by the undead, the Church of All Life is a panreligious order made up of Earth's original religions. Dogmatic clashes ceased to have meaning centuries ago, in the face of unliving horrors.

Gnostic Vitae Spiritus ("Wisdom of Blood in the Spirit"):
Gnostic Vitae Spiritus is a horribly corrupted perversion of Christianity, a false faith used by Europe's Blood Lords to prop up their hideous reign.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms:
Placeholder.

nephilim:
Earth-A's nephilim are only rare human. Instead, most are aliens---to be specific, Apkallu-nephilim and Tlolkku-nephilim...and, by extension, Starvampire-nephilim! Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Earth-A's Tlolkku watch Europe's Blood Lords like hawks...and will use massdrivers to wipe out all life on Earth, if necessary!

-//-\\-

Cosmic misc.:
The Outer Shell connects to the Forever Tree both here and at Earth-Z.
A superhero setting as filtered through a horror lens.
/-

Earth-B: The Dreaming Moth universe.
The current year is 2200 CE.

Earth-B's elementals embody solar wind (air), plutonium (earth), solar flares (fire) and asteroid ice (water).

Brief Overview
In 1997 CE, in the American city of Echolake, an alien traveler carefully deposited 4 alien Devices and subtly prompted a human man to find them. Merely intending to study the effects of introduced tech to a primitive culture, this nameless man's latent psychic talents exploded upon picking up all four Devices. Thrumming with power---too much power!---this newborne "Dream Moth" vented 99% of his energy into Echolake at large, turning all 12 million inhabitants into the first mutants.

Panic led to overreaction led to fighting, which led to a nuclear strike on Echolake. As the misses approached, the Dream Moth evacuated the city through timeportals. At the last moment, however, just when the Dream Moth himself was leaving, the nukes hit...and every single mutant, instead of merely going a few years into the future they were catapulted all throughout the next three hundred years. As for the Dream Moth, he himself was tossed millions of years into the future; it would take him 2 centuries to make his way back.
This explains why America has such a huge preponderance of superpeople and why North America is the location of the Hegemony.

Furthermore, some time-displaced mutants are still showing up, even to this very day. Nearly a million mutants of all subspecies have yet to re-emerge from the timestream. Many mutants believe in a 'Resurgence', a date in which their lost kin will return en masse. Such an event would easily be the salvation of the mutant race...
-//-\\-

Religions:
Dreaming Shamanism:
After the Mutation Wars, Earth became fully aware of just how powerful the Dream Moth really was. As might be expected, a religion grew up out of this realization, an offshoot of neo-paganism known as Dreaming Shamanism.

the Orthodox and True Catholic Church:
Headquartered in the Alps' proto-city of New Eden and funded heavily by the Hegemony, the Orthodox and True Catholic Church is fervently pro-mutant and anti-Purity. Placeholder.

the Roman Catholic Church:
Holy Mother Church is in shambles following the Mutation Wars, as bitter divisions have rent it asunder. Originally firmly anti-mutant, revelations of mutant extermination camps caused the Church to implode. Countless clergymen left the Church in droves, and formed an 'Orthodox and True Catholic Church', which vehemently spoke out against anti-mutant persecution.

Turning Over Anew Ministeries:
A punfully-named evangelical Christian organization founded by Leafs for Leafs, Turning Over Anew Ministries is a joyous group of Leafs worshipping in peaceful union. Turning Over the New will take in non-Leaf converts, but as TOaNM churches are exceedingly and literally small, actually attending a worship-service may be a rather serious problem for non-Leaf converts.

The head of TOaNM is Senior Pastor Big John (PL0/6pp; male daffodil-Leaf).

-//-\\-

Species of Mutants
There are multiple species of mutants; though all were hit heavily by the genocidal Mutation Wars, none were exterminated. Here is a full list of the various kinds of mutant:

Atlanteans: The placid dreaming 'colonies' of the open sea.
Angelic and bizarre, like something dreamt up by H.R. Giger, Atlanteans are designed for an entirely aquatic existence. They are gelatinous and smooth and disturbing to behold---but they are also quite fragile. Apsu Atlanteans breathe freshwater; Tiamat Alanteans breathe saltwater. All-in-all, Atlanteans are very low-powered and're quite fragile.

There are only a few thousand Atlanteans. Prior to the Mutation Wars half a million lived; but Atlantean powerless and fragility led to their near extinction.

the Divided: Most stabilized of all mutants.
These mutants have external mutations, in the form of so-called "pet monsters", known as Steeds. (Despite the name, not all Steeds can be ridden.)

Only a few hundred Divided currently remain; most were killed in the Mutation Wars.

Giants: The winners of the mutant 'genetic lottery' and strongest of the mutant breeds.
Beautiful, gigantic and monstrously strong, and blessed with an extremely long lifespan, Giants are very very powerful. Giants, in fact, suffered only 3 casualties in the Mutation Wars. Less than 700 Giants exist, as their ability to conceive is less-than-stellar. Giants, for the most part, live in the isolated city-state of Giantsteading.

Geister: 'Ghosts'?
Immaterial "spirits", Geister may possess corporeal beings. Though ageless, Geister are sterile and can be slain---meaning, at some point in the future, Geister will go extinct.

The exact population of Geister are hard to pin down---for obvious reasons.

Heavenshadows: Fire and stone and winged fury.
Winged angels, hideous gargoyles, streamlined bird-people---all these are kinds of Heavenshadows. However, unlike winged Tumors, Heavenshadows are hot...literally! Heavenshadows glow a dull red, as they generate extreme amounts of searing heat.

Out of originally a quarter million, after the horrors of war only three thousand or so Heavenshadows survive.

Hulkbeasts: Bestial monsters.
These unfortunates are mutants that've lost their sentience and become animalistic. They are also physically imposing and possess enormous strength and agility.

Nearly half a million Hulkbeasts live and roam the shattered ruins of the American East Coast, living like bestial kings amidst the ruins of former human greatness...

Leafs: Tiny little 'saints'.
Tiny plant-mutants, no Leaf is more than 9" tall; some are nigh-microscopic. A gentle, peaceful, happy people, Leafs are compassionate and well-known for their humanitarian work. Of note, Leafs each have six Seeds: by planting one or more Seeds, a Leaf may literally cause a miracle. The size of the "miracle" depends on how many Seeds are planted. Once planted, Seeds are gone forever; furthermore, six Seeds are all any Leaf individually will ever have.

There are roughly three million Leafs, post-Mutation Wars.

Mentats: Mentally ill but highly psychic.
Though they look perfectly human and have all the normal human frailties, Mentats, a species of highly telekinetic mutants, all suffer from deep mental illness of one sort or another. Despite the reputation this generates, most Mentats, like most mundane mentally ill people, are not a threat to anyone. The stigma, unfortunately, remains, despite this...

Six thousand or so Mentats live today; 90% are citizens of the Hegemony.

Monolithic: Only a step below the Dream Moth in terms of raw power.
Singular is Monolith; plural is Monolithic. During the Mutation Wars, the city of Las Vegas had a q-Flower detonated; millions died instantly. 12 Tumors, however, absorbed vast quantities of q-energy and evolved. Becoming gigantic, immobile black slabs of sentient stone, these Monolithic were now immobile but possessed truly epic psychic powers. The ruins of Las Vegas are now the Silent Columns of the Monolithic.

New Kaiju: RAAAAARRRRRGH!
Gigantic mutant monsters, thankfully New Kaiju tend to be extremely lethargic. Some New Kaiju are sentient; some New Kaiju ad not sentient. Each New Kaiju is an entity unique to itself.

There were originally 12 New Kaiju, but three died in the Mutation Wars.

Olympians: Imprisoned gods.
Immortal-but-sterile reality-warpers, Olympians are trapped in the Echolake Containment Zone. Even their astonishing powers cannot get them past these boundaries.

Oneirics: Dream-beings, literally.
Immaterial mutants, Oneirics are permanently trapped in the Oneirosphere, the realm of dreams and nightmares.

Giving firm numbers to the Oneiric population is, as you might imagine, a difficult feat.

Tumors: Deformed but diverse.
THE most common type of mutants, Tumors all possess extremely prominent physical mutations. Benign Tumors sport mutations that do not make them hideous. They are very rare. Cyst Tumors are crippled by their mutations and thus're pitied by many. Malignant Tumors are hideous. And Metastasized Tumors have warped so severely they now actually violate the very laws of nature.

Tumors can have any sort of powers, from physical to energy to psionics and more.

Nearly 3 million Tumors live and work in the Hegemony; 4 million other Tumors make much harsher livings outside Hegemonic protections.

-//-\\-

non-mutant superhumans:
Though most superhumans are mutants, not all superhumans are mutants. These two types of superhuman are unknown to the majority, however; most are simply falsely labeled as mutants. A third---the nephilim---are so rare as to be numbered at around 6 or so of them.

Evolved:
Human/alien hybrids, born of ifriti aliens mating with human beings. The Evolved are highly photokinetic (i.e., they psionically manipulate light, itself); some few elites are also pyrokinetic. As the ifrit visited Earth during the height of the ancient Roman Republic, all Evolved today are utterly ignorant of their alien blood.

It is unknown what progeny would result from a mutant and a Evolved.

Maze-folk:
Human/alien hybrids, born of imwid aliens mating with human beings, Maze-people possess enormous latent psychic potential, but they require imwid tools---Foci---to fully actualize these abilities. Maze-folk dwell in the hidden citadel of Labyrinth, carefully analyzing the flow of events. It is unknown what would result from an imwid/mutant mating; it never happened before.

Maze-folk've always been led by a cabal of AIs known as "Maze-immortals". Carried within masks, Maze-immortals're worn by a secret quasi-priesthood known as They who Wear the Black. In this way, Maze-folk have come to believe their leaders are serially reincarnating immortals---with the truth being much less supernatural.

the Suntitan: The original Earth-A superhuman.
Though now dead and gone forever (having died preventing Nazi Germany from using its only A-Bomb on the American Midwest), the Suntitan was, for countless centuries, Earth-B's only superhuman and superhero. Being empowered in 1288 CE in medieval China by a passing cosmic entity, the Suntitan clearly fit his universe's role of "Supermanalogue".

Keeping himself hidden for centuries and fighting evil from the shadows, the Suntitan came out into the open only during the end days of World War II, and he died in the process. Nowadays, most folks simply assume (erroneously) the Suntitan was "merely" another mutant.

-//-\\-

machine-based entities:
Robots and cyborgs are commonplace, but only amongst the xenophobes of The Purity; elsewhere, they tend to be much rarer.

cyborgs: The fusion of flesh and steel...!
Cybernetic implants have a strong social stigma for their users, save for those with genuine medical needs. Purposefully hacked off bits of yourself to plug in machinery is frowned upon, even in The Purity. Sentries are THE most famous kind of cyborg, but they are by no means the most prevalent.

robots: Artificial people...!
Though commonplace, sentient robots are incredibly rare: a mere handful exist. Many nation-states've actually outlawed robots entirely out of fear of an AI uprising!

Sentries: Anti-mutant killing machines.
Cyborg soldiers, Sentries were designed during the Mutation Wars to fight against superhumans. Nowadays most Sentries are no more, but out of the million or so originals, less that 1,000 battle scarred veterans now protect The Purity.

Thralls: The ugliest, most horrific weapons The Purity possesses.
A horrific result of Purity experimentation, a Thrall is a captured mutant, surgically mutilated, brainwashed through torture and chemicals, then encased in a heavy sheath of cybernetics, and then unleashed as weapons against mutantkind. Thralls are the product of evil minds, and are one reason why a Second Mutation War may be inevitable.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms:
Placeholder.

nephilim:
Human/thoughtform hybrids. Nephilim number in the low thousands, and most of them mistakenly believe themselves to be 'merely' mutants. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Thankfully, the Suntitan wiped out Starvampires on Earth-B centuries ago in a great and violent undead purge. Unfortunately, The Purity has a captured cabal of ghouls, and is performing VERY dark experimentation!

-//-\\-

Aliens:
ifrit:
Singular, ifriti; plural ifrit. A race of pyrokinetic winged half-energy beings, ifrit have gone and visited thousands of planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Ifriti civilization, however, is in decline, and has been for countless centuries.

The ifriti homeworld is Ifreeti, found in the Alpha Centauri solar system. Ifreeti is a crystal-laced planet highly conductive to nearly all forms of energy. Regular biological life would find inhabiting Ifreeti next to impossible...

imwidaan:
Singular, imwid; plural, imwidaan. Imwidaan are meddlers and love to interfere with less advanced species. Imwidaan use robots and AIs the way humans use TVs and microwaves; i.e., they're household appliances and're ubitquitous to nearly every household.

Imwidaan have superbeings, but these are rare and rather low-tier in terms of raw power; psychic powers predominate.

The imwid homeworld is Nnithuu, found near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. Without massive antigravity-pylons Nnithuu would've fallen into the maw of gravimetric oblivion long, long LONG time ago.

-//-\\-

post-Mutation Wars nation-states:
After the horrors of the Mutation Wars, none of the old nation-states survived; instead, new ones rose up to replace what once was.

Giantsteading:
A "city" of merely 699 citizens, Giantsteading is where almost all Giants live in splendor. Able to work for weeks without sleep or food or drink, genius intellects and godlike strength, Giantsteading is far grander a place than most would expect.

A few thousand non-Giant mutants dwell here, too; they are, however, clearly socially inferior to Giantsteading's founders.

the Hegemony:
The largest of these new states is the mutant-dominated Hegemony. (No fancy title; just "the Hegemony".) Consisting of seven "polities" or loosely-defined member-states, the Hegemony rules much of what is left of North America. Though the Dream Moth is the Hegemony's King, the role is largely ceremonial and symbolic. In reality, each Hegemony polity governs itself, with its own individual political structures/chains of authority.

The Hegemony, however, is fiercely prepared for renewed human aggression. Should The Purity launch a second Mutation War, the Dream Moth would theoretically be handed direct-but-temporary unified con mans of the Hegemony's combined militaries.

The polities of the Hegemony are:

the Bordering Polity:
The Bordering Polity is entirely off-planet, and consists of hardscrabble mutant orbiting space stations, lunar colonies and LaGrange Point habitats. Each station is governed by a captain chosen via direct democracy by the crew; these captains all belong to the Starfarers' Committee, which decides polity-wide decisions via majority vote.

The Bordering Polity is charged with maintaining and protecting the Geosynchronous Orbital Defense System ("G.O.D.S."), a network of nuclear-weapon-equipped sattelites.

the Central Polity:
The Capitol of the entire Hegemony, the Central Polity owns the vast majority of the American Midwest. The Dream Moth is King of the Central Polity; however in truth the Central Polity is governed by a democratically elected Planning Committee.

Leafgardentown, the largest community of Leafs on Earth, is part of the Central Polity, and is widely regarded as the happiest community in the entire world. Nearly a million Leafs live in Leafgardentown.

the Deepbelow Polity:
Located entirely underground and on the ocean floor immediately surrounding North America, the Deepbelow Polity is literally run by mutant-owned megacorporations. The Deepbelow Polity is a major player in the slowly recovering global economy.

the Farmers' Polity:
Given the devastation inflicted on poor planet Earth in the Mutation Wars, arable soil is a luxury few possess. Luckily, the Farmers' Polity has risen to solve the understandably nerve-wracking issue of feeding the masses.

Found in what was once the American Bible Belt, the Farmers' Polity is run by a series of genetics corporations; these corporations boast MASSIVE facilities for the sole purpose of food-production. Cloning and genetic engineering are key to this mission statement.

And it works. The Farmers' Polity is able to feed nearly the entirety of the whole of the Hegemony, with plenty left over to export to non-Hegemonic nation-states.

the Guardwalls Polity:
Found entirely in the Rocky Mountains of the former United States of America, the Guardwalls Polity is a nation obsessed with protecting the entire Hegemony. Founded by survivors rescued from extermination camps, the Guardwalls Polity is extremely militant in its views. The Guardwalls Polity has the largest military in the Hegemony, and is extremely vocal about its desire to crush The Purity.

the Oldgods Polity:
Located entirely within the old American state of Washington, the Oldgods Polity is built around the rather nebulous teachings of neo-pagan movements (such as Wicca). Though magic doesn't genuinely exist, the citizens of the Oldgods Polity believe it exists, and that is enough for them.

The Oldgods Polity's Capitol is Seattle; it is ruled by Forestmother, a Giantess high priestess of the Triple Goddess and her husband, Forestfather, a Malignant Tumor telepath and high priest of the Horned God.

the Titans Polity (Polity Zero):
Officially called Polity Zero and found in what was once Mexico, the Titans Polity is the industrial base upon which the Hegemony rests.

the Imperial Collective:
Once known as China, the Imperial Collective is a Neo-Confucian oligarchy of different-and-constantly-feuding totalitarian warlords and greedy 'robber barons'. Chaos grips much of the Imperial Collective; it's much-vaunted 'Unity from Many' doctrine is so much smoke'n'mirrors.

Labyrinth:
The hidden city-state of the Maze-folk, Labyrinth has so far evaded mutant detection.

New Eden:
Found in the Italian Alps, New Eden is a precious beacon of light right in the midst of The Purity's madness. Led by and founded by the Orthodox and True Catholic Church, New Eden is a city-in-the-making. European mutants that choose not to flee the safety of the Hegemony often brave many MANY dangers to come to New Eden, instead. Placeholder.

The Purity:
The last holdout of anti-mutant, pro-human supremacy, The Purity is a vaguely theocratic dictatorship led by "Our Father", a Sentry with a psychotic and irrational and berserk hatred of mutants. The Purity dominates much of the Mediterranean Sea, with its stronghold in Rome, Italy.

the Rising Sun Protectorate:
As Japan was rabidly pro-mutant, it suffered horrifically at human hands during the Mutation Wars. The islands of Japan were ruined, ecologically; its cities were smashed; its technological wealth taken by anti-mutant forces.

But, despite it all, the Japanese spirit refused to cave in. They rallied around the kami (Japanese mutants) and began to rebuild. They recreated their country from the ground up, making use of mutant superpowers to undo decades of ruthless, brutal warfare. They were now the Rising Sun Protectorate, and they were the first nation to recognize the legitimacy of the North American Hegemony.

the Silent Columns of the Monolithic:
All Monolithic dwell in the Silent Columns of the Monolithic, along with their ever-grimly-silent Murmer Priesthood of various kinds of mutant. Despite having less than 50 "citizens", the Silent Columns of the Megalithic is universally considered a sovereign nation-state.

-//-\\-

Timeline of Earth-B-specific events:
Placeholder.
Earth-B is actually the first parallel-Earth I designed for the Forever Tree. I have an enormous amount of material not yet posted, but I will...given time.
/-

Earth-C: The Horned Titan universe.
The current year is 1212 BCE; the place is ancient Egypt, ancient Mespotamia and much of ancient Africa.

Earth-C's elementals embody breath (air), obsidian (earth), bronze (fire) and freshwater (water).

anunnaki:
Time-travelers from the year 6 Billion CE, anunnaki are gods. Anunnaki came back 6 billion years into their past, in order to create the first gods. (This eternal timeloop, the Circular Genesis, renders time-travel a tricky proposition, even for Tinewarden.) Anunnaki currently dwell on Mars' twin moons, observing the result of their audacious temporal/genetic experiment.

demigods:
The offspring of gods and mortals, demigods are exactly the same as gods---even in terms of raw power!---save for one thing: demigods are not ageless and do grow old and feeble.

Otherwise, demigods and gods are exactly the same.

The offspring of a demigod and another demigod is always another demigod; the offspring of a demigod and a mortal is either a demigod (50%) or a mortal (50%).

gods:
Superhumans, gods are Mesopotamians elevated to superpowered status by the time-traveling anunnaki; mortals worship gods as almighty deities. The sad truth, however, is that gods are 'merely' superhumans, and not omnipotent entities. Gods are ageless, but are not unkillable.

When gods breed with other gods (or anunnaki), god-offspring are always the result. When gods mate with mortals, demigods are produced.

The Horned Titan is a young god, but he is powerful, as the Solar Lion gave the youthful deity an imperiex-essence.

mortals:
Regular, non-powered human beings.

Pillar of Ba:
An anunnaki timedoor, meant for bulk transport of non-living supplies, allowing the Elder Deities acess to Mesopotamian time-periods. The Pillar of Ka has its own robot Pillar-Guardian.

Pillar of Ka:
An anunnaki timedoor, meant for bulk transport of living entities, allowing the Elder Deities access to Mesopotamian time-periods. The Pillar of Ka has access to its own robot Pillar-Guardian.
-//-\\-

thoughtforms:
Placeholder.

nephilim:
Found exclusively among the Canaanites, nephilim on Earth-C know exactly what they are. They help defend Canaan from aggressive powers to both the north AND the south and're honored as great heroes. One, Samson, is known throughout the world... Placeholder.

-//-\\-

The Horned Titan, himself, is the closest thing Earth-C has to a Supermanalogue. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Nox. The Night House of Nox is led by Lugalbanda the Pale (PL10/155pp OR PL15/312pp; male Vampiremaster reality-manipulator). Placeholder.

/-

Earth-D: The Ghost.ways universe.
Unknown.

Earth-D's four elementals embody Desert Eagle firearms (air), katanas (water), knives (earth) and mirrorshade sunglasses (fire). They're, like, totally kewl, man!

Earth-D has two Superman analogues:
Earth-D's first Superman analogue is Creed, Warrior from Beyond (a '90s-style exxxxxtreeeeeeeemmmeeee!!! character, very Liefeldian in nature).

Omnipotence, who is totally kewl and rippin! is the other...despite having neither ankles nor wrists.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of th' Claw!!!!!! (which is extreeeeeeeme and is amusingly Liefeldian in nature). Placeholder.

/-

Earth-E: The SurgerVerse.
The current year is 2016 CE.

Earth-E's four elementals embody evil (fire), good (water), soul (earth) and thought (air).

The SurgerVerse has no Supermanalogue.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

mutants:
NOT the same as Earth-B mutants AT ALL, Earth-E mutants do not come in specific varieties and subspecies, being more akin to Marvel's mutants in that regard. Mutants, on Earth-E, are the offspring of seedlings and humans. Though many mutants can be quite powerful, very few mutants ever grow strong enough to seriously rival their seedling sires.

Old Giants:
Cosmic entities native to the Earth-E universe, the Old Giants ascended long ago to join the ranks of Azathoth's flautists. They, however, left behind the wildlings, to watch over things for them.

seedlings:
The demigod-offspring of wildlings and humans, seedlings are not themselves cosmic entities, but're nevertheless extraordinarily powerful---and eternally young, too! When seedlings have children with humans, mutants are the result.

Surgers:
The ultimate war-robots---all them Demimachinery---built a billion years ago by the now-long-gone Old Giants. Dormant and still, the Surgers merely await the proper codes to reawaken.

wildlings:
Cosmic entities, wildlings are the results of human beings being injected with Old Giant DNA. Wildlings, in turn, later took human mates, producing the demigod seedlings; superhumans are the grandchildren of wildlings.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead: The high priests of the mar cults.
The Night House of Chaos, these Starvampires lead the blood-soaked mar cults. The Night House of Chaos is led by Hecate, the Three-fold Maiden (PL9/150pp OR PL15/330pp; female Vampiremaster bat-feral 'giantess'). Placeholder.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms: The 'gods' of the mar cults.
Placeholder.

nephilim: The 'demigods' of the mar cults.
Most Earth-E nephilim are descendants of Duat thoughtforms and mar cultists, and as such are reared in a highly zealous religious environment. Like the mar cults who sire them, Earth-E's nephilim worship death, the dead and the Ferrymen, and can be classified as a dangerously crazed ancestor-cult. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-F: The Machine-Gods/Machine-Goddesses universe.
The current year is 1112 CE, and the place is medieval Europe and medieval Asia. Placeholder.

The four elementals of Earth-E embody hydrolics (water), petroleum (fire), steam (air) and steel (earth).

Earth-F has no Supermanalogue, but there is a Green Lantern pastiche filling much the same roll (Galactic Guardian Wotan, to be precise!).

-//-\\-

Machine-Deities: Humans bonded with ifpiwarr skin-machinery, transforming them into superpowered combat-cyborgs!
Machine-Gods: Male Machine-Deities, Machine-Gods are, for the most part, tooled for brute force and hardcore combat.
Machine-Goddesses: Female Machine-Deities, Machine-Goddesses are, for the most part, tooled for great dexterity and recon missions.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms:
Placeholder.

nephilim:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Invictus. The Night House of Invictus is led by Luna Invictus ("the moon Unconquered"; either PL5/100pp OR PL14/328pp Vampiremaster; no especial abilities), one of the eldest of her fetid 'species'. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-G: The Green Star universe.
Here you go...

/-

Earth-H: The universe of The Sky Is Burning.
The current year is 2016 CE.

Earth-H's four elementals embody blindness (air), illness (water), pain (fire) and starvation (earth). Unknown.

arhats:
Via extreme asceticism, human beings of Earth-H have the potential to unlock pyrokinetic abilities. These fiery psychics are referred to as arhats, as it was the earliest Buddhists who discovered this possibility.

Earth-H's Supermanalogue is Fire-in-the-Corpse (PL16/264pp; male arhat paragon), an arhat with such mastery over pyrokinesis he is able to simulate most paragon abilities!

gorgons:
By subjecting themselves to rigorous meditation and then ritually blinding themselves, human beings of Earth-H have the potential to unlock the 'godforms' of an Earth-H Resonance, known as the Mythspheres. Though they've lost their sight for all eternity, these 'gorgons' more than make up for that lack of vision by gaining other senses.

Gorgons have the ability to assume a godform, or a shape of a beast from mythology. Gorgons can be virtually any mythical monster: centaurs, rocs, satyrs, daityas and so forth.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms:
Placeholder.

nephilim:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Oblivion. The Night House of Oblivion is led by Apep, the Nightserpent (either PL9/145pp OR PL12/330pp 'wereserpent' Vampiremaster), the YOUNGEST of the current crop of Vampiremasters! Placeholder.

/-

Earth-I: The Five Incarnae universe.
The current year is 2016 CE

This Earth has five godlike superhumans, each armed with/empowered by Demimachinery called "Immortal Staves"; plus a huge host of extremely low-powered "Disciples". Placeholder.

Terminology: The Chosen of Urut-nnil.
Living superbeings:
Disciples:
Placeholder.

Incarnae:
Singular, Incarna; plural, Incarnae. Each Incarna found and mastered an Immortal Staff, a construct-generating staff with additional powers unique to each staff. This makes them Incarnae. Immortal Staves cannot be taken away, and thus are treated as direct powers, rather than Devices and/or Gadgets---nevertheless, cosmetically an Immortal Staff appears to be a discernible object separate from the wielder.

Each Incarna also possesses fifty 'Immortal Brands', living 'tattoos' that can be given only to willing hosts. This turns the candidate into a Disciple of said Incarna.

Urut-nnil:
Primordial entity that birthed all life within the Earth-I universe. NOT sentient, Urut-nnil is more a location than a being. Urut-nnil lurks at the very core of Earth's sun.

-//-\\-

thoughtforms: Rebellious musings of Urut-nnil.
Placeholder.

nephilim: Renegade musings-turned-flesh of Urut-nnil.
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Only a pair of immensely powerful Starvampires and a single godlike ex-Incarna-turned-ghost comprise the undead population of Earth-I.

/-

Earth-J: The Fallingsun universe.
Unknown.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Fear. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-K: The Great and Mighty Monoliths universe.
Earth-K's elementals embody shouting (air), punching (earth), fire-as-a-weapon (fire) and alcohol (water).

Placeholder.

the Giants: Invading behemoths.
Godgiants:
Another term for Manifold Giants.

Manifold Giants:
Gargantuan alien humanoids, the Manifold Giants are so named because of their unique natures: you see, each Manifold Giant is able to pull up Mirrors, 'What if?' versions of themselves where things turned out differently. Thus, the abilities of Manifold Giants are literally impossible to quantify!

Void Giants and the Ogres of Earth-L share an origin, as both species are directly related to some unknowable root-'species'. Both are not genuinely native to their respective, instead coming from...somewhere else.

Manifold Giants find is easiest to draw up Mirrors reminiscent of human folktales---hence, Russian Manifold Giants might become Baba Yaga or Kostchie the Deathless; whereas Irish Manifold Giants might Mirror themselves as Balor of the One Eye. Placeholder.

Manifold Gianthold:
Placeholder.

Mirrors: Alternate 'What if?' incarnations of individual Void Giants; the process of summoning a Mirror is known as Wishing.

Void Giants:
Another name for Manifold Giants. Placeholder.

Wishing:
An ability unique to Void Giants, Wishing is the act of bringing up a Mirror.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Blood. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-L: The Ogrestructures universe.
The current year is 2099 CE.

Earth-L's elementals embody lungs (air), bones (earth), speech (fire) and blood (water).

Earth-L has no Supermanalogue.

Terminology:
Living superbeings:
magi:
Singular 'magus'; plural, 'magi'. Psychics, magi gain their powers by prolonged habitation within an Ogre. Placeholder.

nephilim:
Earth-L nephilim are referred to as 'Ogreborn', and're falsely believed to have Ogre DNA inside them. Placeholder.

Ogres:
Humungous non-sentient, hollow kaiju, Ogres came from deep space and're now busily terraforming a shattered planet Earth. Uniquely, however, humanity survives inside these Ogres, in huge city-sized "empty organs". There they can "farm" strange-but-edible plants and "mine" the Ogres' bones for various kinds of ore.

Ogres are the same species as Earth-K's Manifold Giants, separated by less than 0.0001% DNA-difference. Both Ogres and Void Giants are from the same mysterious otherdimensional source; Ogres' and Godgiants' point of origin is a total mystery.
Ogreleviathans:
Placeholder.
Ogreorbitals:
Placeholder.
Ogrestructures:
Placeholder.

Ogre Dolls:
Placeholder.

Ogremagi:
Placeholder.

Ogresymbionts:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Religions:
R'lyitists:
R'lyitism is the religion of Ogre-worship, and it is a fast-growing faith. But Ogres are not sentient and most seem barely aware of their surroundings, definitely putting them into the Lovecraftian category of 'blind idiot gods". Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of the Hundred-handed, the native Starvampire clan, is violently opposed to the Sunsphinx Hundred-Handed Gods; savage wars are waged between the two groupings of immortals.

Believe it or not, but there is a vampire remnant Ogreleviathan: the Unholy Harbinger, perhaps the largest undead entity in the entire multiverse. The Unholy Harbinger is populated solely by ghosts and human vampire remnants, and is commanded by a 'necromagus' called Life's End. The Unholy Harbinger's deathfather is the Vampireroyal P'o. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-M: The Oneirofauna/Oneiroflora universe.
The current year is 2016 CE.

Terminology:
Living superbeings:
Dreamers:
"Faeries", Dreamers are generated by the collective subconscious psychic might of humanity. Despite this, Dreamers are NOT thoughtforms, as they've a physical substance to themselves no thoughtform can match. Dreamers come in two types: oneirofauna ("Dreamer animals") and oneiroflora ("Dreamer plants"); more conventional superhumans are the hybrid descendants of Dreamers and humans. Dreamers may have a wide array of powers, but ALL such superpowers MUST have the "Illusion" descriptor.

lunar maidens of the shield:
Female mundane humans, deliberately empowered by the Sun's Court; the 'footsoldiers of tradition', so to speak. Placeholder.

Moonbound:
Human/Dreamer hybrids; superhumans, basically. Though Moonbound may have any sort of power, powers with the "Illusion" descriptor predominate.

nephilim:
Earth-M's nephilim are commonly mistaken for Moonbound. Placeholder.

oneirofauna:
A type of Dreamer. Animal-like "faerie spirits", found in hidden natural Glen's throughout the world, oneirofauna are beautiful, powerful but extremely fragile. Most Moonbound are of oneirofaun descent.

oneiroflora:
A type of Dreamer. Plant-like "faerie spirits", oneiroflora are found in hidden natural glens throughout the world. Oneiroflora are ugly and slow and dimwitted, but are incredibly hardy. Almost no Moonbound descend from oneirofloral lineage.

solar knights of the spear:
Male mundane humans deliberately empowered by the Sun's Court; the 'footsoldiers of progress', so to speak, the solar knights of the spear are each given a sunspear and sunarmor: the sunspear is basically a laser-weapon; the sunarmor is basically low-scale power-armor.

Some few Moonbound are made into solar knights of the spear, but this is rare.

Sunbound:
Though it is very very VERY rare, some few humans directly awaken psychic power, rather than indirectly assisting the 'birthing' of new Dreamers. Called 'Sunbound', these rare psychics are much weaker than either Dreamers OR Moonbound---but have a versatility neither above-mentioned beings can match.

-//-\\-

Earth-M has no Supermanalogue, but it does have a Hulk pastiche known as the Furious Earthson.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Wicca:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of the Silent Dead. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-N: The Aesirdoom universe.
The current year is 1949 CE. Earth is a blasted wasteland and is torn apart by ceaseless warfare between the triumphant spiritwolves, the extradimensional invading Starvampires and humanity's last hope, the aesir.

aesir:
Superhumans, aesir are humans empowered by the surgical implantation of a Valhala Stone right next to their hearts. Aesir have a huge variety powers, save one: no aesir has ever demonstrated telepathy of any kind. (The reasons for this are still unclear.)

nephilim:
Placeholder.

spiritwolves:
Werewolves, albeit generated by alien nanites than the supernatural. Spiritwolves are highly infectious and're driven by a primordial need to assume control of everything they see.
Lords of Ice:
The original spiritwolves, Lords of Ice slept for millennia under ice in the Arctic Circle, before being awoken by Thule Society occultists/archeologists in 1927 CE. Lords of Ice are few in number, but are considerably more powerful than the much more modern Lords of Iron. Their weakness, however, is utter technological ineptitude. Placeholder.
Lords of Iron:
Modern spiritwolves, the Lords of Iron are much weaker than their Ice Age progenitors, but in return are technologically savvy. Placeholder.
Tribes of the Moon:
Moon spiritwolves. The Tribes of the Moon are the 'original' breed of spiritwolves. They are hideous, brutish monstrosities and have only a dim sentience. They're considerably physical stronger than Sun spiritwolves, but are far slower and far more dimwitted. Placeholder.
Tribes of the Sun:
Sun spiritwolves. The Tribes of the Sun are a mutant offshoot of the Tribes of the Moon. Sun spiritwolves are beautiful, elegant and extremely intelligent, which makes this breed of spiritwolves the dominant player in harsh spiritwolf pseudo-culture. Placeholder.

Valhala Stones:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Bats. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-O: The Brotherly Serpents universe.
The current year is 1942 CE, and the places are the European Theatre and the Pacific Theatre! The Allies are supported by the Celestial Light. Meanwhile, the Axis is propped up and aided by the Abysmal Darkness...

Brotherly Serpents:
The Abysmal Darkness and the Celestial Light are two cosmic entity 'dragons' that've waged war one upon the other for a billion years, and now've decided to do so indirectly by way of Earthly proxies.

/-

Earth-P: The Foreverlife universe.
Death, itself, is no more; life reigns supreme. Starting on Earth but eventually spreading through the entire universe, this nanite-generated immortality has led to the complete and utter breakdown of civilization. Unknown.

Religions:
Religion ceased to exist, when death ceased to exist. ("With no fear of Hell or hope for Heaven, why pray at all?", the logic goes.) Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Gluttony. Placeholder.

/-

Earh-Q:
Unknown.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Devils. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-R: The Gods of Symbols and Metaphors universe.
Unknown.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of the Apocalypse. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-S: The Skytower Giants universe.
The current year is 128 CE, and the place is the early Roman Empire. Emperor Hadrian is the most powerful monarch in the world, as the Skytower Giants pledge allegiance to him, and him alone.

superhumanity: The two Kindreds.
cloudspirits: A type of Skytower Giant.
Cloudspirits are incorporeal, gigantic, ephemeral elemental superhumans, a variant offshoot of the more populous skytreader 'species'. As they are incorporeal behemoths, cloudspirits' elemental powers are more metaphorical than literal: 'fire' controls emotion, 'earth' is highly visible tactile telekinesis, and so on.

Cloudspirits are loners, and shun most human contact.

Cloudspirits are smaller than and weaker than skytreaders.

cyclopes: A type of Skytower Magus.
Cyclopes are hideously crippled with deformity, being the most physically twisted Skytower Magi---but in return, they are 'all-purpose psychics' of immense versatility. Though MUCH weaker than any Skytower Giant, cyclopes are nevertheless Parthia's 'heavy-hitters'.

Kindreds: Of which two exist.
Kindreds are Earth-S superhumans. Two different Kindreds exist, and both only appeared 20 years ago, during the Day of Fiftyfive Suns.
Kindred of the Earth: An incredibly rare Kindred.
Skytower Magi. The Kindred of the Earth are of unknown origin, but are clearly caused in some manner by the Day of Fiftyfive Suns.
Kindred of the Sky: A somewhat-less-rare Kindred.
Skytower Giants. The Kindred of the Sky are of unknown origin, but are clearly caused in some manner by the Day of Fiftyfive Suns.

minotaurs: A type of Skytower Magus.
Minotaurs May psionically control beasts of all kinds, and may even possess them for long periods of time! Placeholder.

nephilim:
Found exclusively in the Roman provinces of Israel and Judah. Placeholder.

seers: A type of Skytower Magus.
Seers are highly telepathic. Placeholder.

Skytower Giants: The offspring of the Hundred-Handed Gods.
One of two Kindreds. The dominant form of superhumanity on Earth. Born normal size, Skytower Giants become absurdly large upon adolescence. Unlike giants of other parallel-Earths, Skytower Giants are very unusual. They come in three varieties: cloudspirits, skytreaders and stormbulls.

Currently, all Skytower Giants are loyal supporters of the Roman Empire.

Skytower Magi: Psychics!
One of two Kindreds. Utterly unrelated to the Hundred-Handed Gods, Skytower Magi are normal-sized psychics, often of great power. Skytower Magi, however, are often severely physically disabled, referred to by Romans as 'Jupiter's Price'. Skytower Magi come in three varieties: cyclopes, minotaurs and seers.

Currently, all Sktower Magi are loyal supporters of Parthia.

skytreaders: A type of Skytower Giant.
Skytreaders are the dominant branch of Skytower Giant; born as normal humans, upon puberty a skytreader grows to epic size, yet retaining a fragile, delicate beauty. Nowhere near as strong as they should be, and far more vulnerable than they appear, skytreaders are psychics, not bricks.

Skytreaders are worshipped as gods; many are Roman senators; meanwhile still others serve as priests of the more traditional Roman deities.

Skytreaders are larger than and overall more powerful than cloudspirits.

stormbulls: A type of Skytower Giant.
A type of offshoot of the skytreaders, and the smallest and weakest of the three varieties of Skytower Giants, stormbulls are squat and immensely physically powerful, unlike the insubstantial cloudspirits and the delicate skytreaders. Ugly and brutish, stormbulls revel in carnage.

Stormbulls are used in the Roman Legions as moving artillery.

/-

Earth-T: The Avatars and Inheritors universe.
Set in the year 1881 CE; the place is the Wild Wild West.

Avatars:
A type of Embodiment; Avatars represent a concept or a type of energy.

Embodiments:
Unique to Earth-T, Embodiments are a fusion of psychic human with shar thoughtforms. This creates a powerful fusion, the resulting being stronger than its individual components. The two known types of Embodiment are Avatars and Inheritors.

Espers:
Psychic humans not yet merged with a shar thoughtform are known as Espers. Espers are weaker than Embodiments.

Inheritors:
A type of Embodiment; Inheritors represent a feature of the landscape---this, by the way, also includes the wider universe.
Unknown.

/-

Earth-U: The Reign of all Relics universe.
The current year is 2016 CE. Unknown.

/-

Earth-V: The Rustdeity universe.
The current year is 88990 CE (yes, really).

A rough overview:
The future was magnificent. Humanity spread to the stars; they built cosmic-scale wonders; they met (and conquered!) countless, very strange alien species---and then...it all caught fire. Galactic civilization imploded, and the Empire of Humanity effectively ceased to exist.

Earth-V has no Supermanalogue. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Religions:
the Stormbringers:
Delusional in the extreme, the illiterate Stormbringers worship Tempestineers as deities. Tempestineers have tried for decades to educate Stormbringers otherwise, but the belief is too entrenched. Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Lexicon: Superhumanity.
Arcanauts: The mad gods of the misshapen.
Arcanauts are the warped 'progeny' of the eldritch Arcanengine, a machine whose original function is now long forgotten. Placeholder.

beastmen: The ravening hordes at the doorstep of Man.
Animals uplifted to humanoid form, and sentience. Originally used as soldiers, ever since the Catastrophe beastmen've run totally wild and're now a colossal menace. Placeholder.

bioelites:
Purestrain humans, bioelites grow rarer every year, as pollutants, mutagens and warfare take their grisly toll.

cybermagi:
Cyborgs, cybermagi, themselves, rarely understand the very machines they work with, viewing them as a kind of 'sorcery' only the 'enlightened' can bend to their will.

Garden:
Earth, after the Starrising, but predating the Catastrophe. Placeholder.

mutants:
Heinously deformed monsters, mutants of Earth-V are very distinct from mutants elsewhere---they're all deformed, crippled to some extent and barely coherent, they have no superpowers, and cannot become either Arcanauts OR Tempestineers.

Rustdeity:
Earth, post-Catastrophe.

Tempestineers: The Riders on the Storm.
Tempestineers are the last remaining bioelites and're the lords and ladies of Tempest, the remaining gene crèche. Technically, beastmen and many xenogen could become Tempestineers, too, but this has only ever happened a couple of times over the last 600-some years.

Using technology found at Tempest (and nowhere else!), a Tempestineer has three Organisms grown from their own bodies: a Mount (a giant rideable creature), a Sphere (a tiny familiar; not necessarily spherical) and a Weapon (a living weapon, handheld, of some sort). With these three Organisms, Tempestineers are the mightiest superhumans on Rustdeity.

xenogen:
Aliens. Pre-Catastrophe, Garden had a healthy population of xenogen immigrants.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Iron. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-W: The Abundant Darkness universe.
The current year is 2000 CE. Placeholder.

Brood-born:
Brood-born are giants that're permanently stuck in giant form.

giants:
The majority of superhumans are giants---animal-headed bricks of immense strength. Giants may interbreed with each other and with mortals; gianthood is a hereditary condition, though it comes in two very different lineages: Brood-born (giants born with their powers) or Skinchanger-born (who may swift from an unpowered human shape to a superpowered giant shape).

mortals:
Regular humans. Non-mortals aren't actually immortal; 'mortal' merely refers to the person's utter mundanity.

Skinchanger-born:
Those giants who're capable of 'depowerimg' temporarily into mortal form.

trolls:
Aliens. Trolls are the subject of incredible racism, and're forced to live in ghettos and reservations.

witches:
Psychics are called 'witches'. Witches're quite quite rare, and're the frequent subject of crazy conspiracy theories. Witchhood is hereditary, but only with other witches.

-//-\\-

Religions:
Totemic Christianity:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Wolves. Placeholder.

/-

Earth-X:
Placeholder.

/-

Earth-Y: The CrystalVerse.
AEsir:
Placeholder.

hearth thorns:
Placeholder.

Jotuns:
The primary superhumans of Earth-Y, Jotuns are swollen up to gigantic obesity or ridiculously over-muscled towering height by implantation of a hearth thorn by AEsir. No Jotun has ever had this done willingly! Placeholder.

/-

Earth-Z: The Descent universe.
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Starvampires and other undead:
The Night House of Symbolism. Placeholder.

cosmic misc.:
The Outer Shell connects to both here and to Earth-A.

/-
Last edited by Hoid on Fri Nov 04, 2016 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hoid
Posts: 3556
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[Multiverse-wide]a listing

Post by Hoid »

The Forever Tree: Sunward.

This thread deals exclusively with Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition!!!
It is constantly being updated, so check back often! Further, things listed as 'Placeholder' or 'Unknown' will themselves be filled in at a later, so, updates need not necessarily be concerning totally new posts!

Table of Contents: The multiverse, as a whole.
Multiversal terminology. A generic lexicon.
Exotics. Unique superhumans.
The Red Sons. 'Protectors' of the multiverse.
The Star Corps. Protectors of the multiverse.
Entity templates.
Higher-order intelligences.
A sampling of cosmic entities by reality.
Thoughtforms.
Nephilim.
The Dreamingborn.
Religions that span multiple dimensions.
Starvampires!
'Lesser' undead!
Apkallu: "demons"! (Part one [introduction].)
Apkallu: "demons"! (Part two [technolgy].)
Tlolkku technology.
Multiverse-wide menaces.
Multiverse-wide technologies: part one (Carapaces).
Multiverse-wide technologies: weaponry (part 1 of 2).
Multiverse-wide technologies: weaponry (part 2 of 2).

Table of Contents: Individual parallel-Earths.
A brief summation of all the parallel-Earths.
Crossovers! Parallel-Earths, only!
The Gathering of the Most High.
The greatest heroes and heroines of the entire Forever Tree (Earth's-A through Z).
Earth-A through Earth-E: world-ending threats.
Earth-A: aliens!
Earth-B: a dissertation on native superhumanity! (Part one: mutants!)
Earth-B: a dissertation on native superhumanity! (Part two: non-mutants!)
Earth-B: five iconic NPCs!
Earth-B: currently existing countries.
Earth-B: aliens!
Earth-E: a dissertation on native superhumanity!
Earth-E: the Godorb.
Earth-F through Earth-J: world-ending threats.
Earth-F: a dissertation on native superhumanity: part 1 of 2 Machine-Deities!
Earth-F: a dissertation on native superhumanity: part 2 of 2. Machine-Titans!
Earth-H: a dissertation on native superhumanity.
Earth-K through Earth-O: world-ending threats.
Earth-L (part one of two): A dissertation on Ogres.
Earth-L (part two of two): A dissertation on superhumanity.
Earth-M: five iconic NPCs!
Earth-O: a dissertation on the Brotherly Serpents and superhumanity.
Earth-P through Earth-T: world-ending threats.
Earth-S: a dissertation on native superhumanity.
Earth-S: Rome, Parthia and Israel.
Earth-U through Earth-Z: world-ending threats.
Earth-W: five iconic NPCs.
Earth-X and Earth-Z: a forward...
Earth-X: a primer!
Earth-Z: a primer!

Table of Contents: Individual Perpendiculars.
A brief summation of all six Perpendiculars.
Cosmic entities: the Duo Dreamers.
Crossovers! Perpendiculars-only!
The Black Coven.
Perpendicular-2 ("five" iconic NPCs).
Perpendicular-3 ("the Skyengines").
Perpendicular-4: five iconic NPCs!
Perpendicular-6 ("Aeion"): an intercepted Sunsphinx codex.

Table of Contents: Resonances.
Resonances, part 1: a generic overview.

Table of Contents: The Rootthrone.
Destiny...
The Meister and the Lamassu!

Table of Contents: The Primordial Deep.
The Primordial Deep: Ferrymen (part 1 of 2).
The Primordial Deep: the afterlife, itself (part 2 of 2).

Table of Contents: The Outer Shell.
Antimattebodies!

Table of Contents: The Beyond.
The Beyond: an overview (part 1 of 2).
The Beyond: an overview (part 2 of 2).
Matterbodies!
The Cthulhu Mythos! Ia! Ia!

Table of Contents: The Alien Shores.
An introduction. Other multiverses---part 1 of 2.

Table of Contents: The End of Infinity.
An introduction. Other multiverses---part 2 of 2.
World-and-Maze. High fantasy as seen through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos!

-//-\\-

the afterlife:
There is an afterlife, but it is strange and distinctly not conforming to any Earthly religion, let alone monotheisms like Christianity.

Upon death, souls are drawn to the Outer Shell, where the Ferrymen wait. Together, soul and Ferryman go into the Primordial Deeps, a place beyond human comprehension, a place where perception shapes reality and intention is the same as action. In the Primordial Deeps, one's mortal limitations fall away and one becomes...more...than they were in life.

Is there eternal reward? Is there eternal punishment?

No one knows.
What about God, you ask? Well...

There is no answer. No one knows. Perhaps no one can know. Is He-who-is-now-Dead God? If so then God is dead. Was he just a vessel through which something else acted? Perhaps, but if so, such a Being has yet to announce itself.
aliens:
Humans are not the only sentient species in the multiverse. Every single universe, all six Perpendiculars and a great many Resonances harbor lifeforms utterly unrelated to either humanity OR superhumanity.

However, with the twin exceptions of the Apkallu and the Tlolkku, no alien species has dominions in more than one reality.
What are superhero comics without aliens?
the Beyond:
'The Beyond' is a catch-all term for every reality not of the Forever Tree. Due to the unique characteristics of the Forever Tree, the Beyond has corrosive effects on reality; therefore, the Worldfather constructed the Outer Shell to keep the Beyond out.

The only natives of the Forever Tree to really understand the Forever Tree are the enigmatic Antimatterbodies...and theyre not talking!
The Beyond is basically a codephrase for every reality beyond the Forever Tree.
cosmic entities:
Sentient beings of unfathomable powers on a galactic and/or universal scale, cosmic entities have a huge variety of origins---some are descendants of He-who-is-now-Dead (once called 'the Worldfather'); some are mortals that long ago ascended; and some are machines so advanced they might as well be cosmic entities.

When cosmic entities die, they fall through the multiverse---including the Primordial Deeps!---and go to an afterlife all their own. This includes cosmic entities, higher-order intelligences and imperiex.

Such deaths are catastrophic, however, resulting in massive dimensional 'trauma' to the Forever Tree as a whole.
EVERY supers setting needs a few of these types!
Cthulhu Mythos:
NOT native to the Forever Tree, the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos partially invaded immediately following the death of the Worldfather, as he no longer kept Perpendicular-5's Azathoth-gate shut. The invasion was partially halted, by all the imperiex, with the assistance of time-traveling superheroes drawn from Earth-B, Earth-E, Earth-L and Earth-N. Only when The Stars Are Right may the Outer Gods and their Great Old One priestgods continue their dread cosmic genocidal feast.

Deities of the Cthulhu Mythos cannot die, though they can both be defeated and imprisoned.
Yes, Cthulhu has definitive stats, and, yes, theoretically powerful enough and/or clever enough heroes could lay the smack down on the venerable lord of R'lyeh.
elementals:
Each parallel-Earth AND each Resonance has four unique thoughtforms known as elementals. Each world has a totally unique set of elementals, which're all some highly specified vaersion of air, earth, fire or water. Each elemental is PL10/150pp, and can only die if the universe they derive from dies also.

Elementals and Dreamingborn are always associated with each other, despite their very different 'types'.

the Ferrymen:
Strange, robed and skeletal and always seen piloting their strange, non-Euclidean watercraft, the Ferrymen cannot be affected by the living at all. Furthermore, only the dead may hear a Ferryman's voice; they are otherwise inaudible to the living.

Fighting Ferrymen is a bad idea. The living cannot affect them in the slightest, and the Ferrymen have absolute power over souls that come to them. They are the finality of death and the beginning of eternity.

The origins of the Ferrymen are highly unclear. Those few beings genuinely resurrected report the Ferrymen claim to "have always been here".
Discussing cosmic truths with a Ferryman is a waste of time, as they themselves may not know. Ferrymen are a strange incurious breed seemingly content to never ask 'big questions'.
firewyld:
The very energies of creation, itself. Incredibly rare in superhuman powers, firewyld is the strange fuel that powers all Demimachinery. Even the Sunsphinx have only a dim understanding of firewyld.

the Firstborn:
After creating the Forever Tree, the Worldfather symbolically/psionically mated with his creation, producing 17 higher-order intelligence offspring. Over time, these entities weakened and died, until the last (the Solar Lion) figured out how to reinforce his Essence by melding his destiny to that of the Forever Tree. He taught this procedure to the 2nd and 3rd generation higher-order intelligences, who in turn now make up the "Ur-pantheon" of the whole multiverse.
The deaths of the Firstborn are still not completely played out, as psychic shockwaves still resound from their deaths, so long ago...
the Forever Tree:
The multiverse, as created by He-who-is-now-Dead. The Forever Tree consists of parallel Earths A-Z, as well as six non-Earth dimensions known as Perpendiculars. The Green Star universe, by the way, is officially catalogued in Sunsphinx records as "Earth-G".
List of Forever Tree universes:
Earth-A:
The Deathcoven universe; home of Starvampires, Moonwolves and Sunwitches. Resonances include the Within-the-Without and the Garden of Miniature Lions. It's imperiex is Earthstone, a Sunwitch fighter-ace pilot. [{A horror setting filtered through a superheroic lens.}]
Earth-B:
The Dreaming Moth universe. According to the Sunsphinx, it's imperiex is the Dream Moth, himself. Resonances include Occult Silenis (the dreamworld), the Echolake Containment Zone and the Room Without Doors. [{A world wherein human fought mutant, and the mutants won...albeit at great and dear price!}]
Earth-C:
The Horned Titan universe. Earth-C's only Resonance is An, or "Heaven". According to the Sunsphinx, the imperiex of Earth-C is the Bull of Heaven. [{A world in which the gods of Mesopotamia are revealed to "merely" being immortal superhumans.}]
Earth-D:
The Ghost.ways universe. The Sunsphinx list Earth-D's imperiex as Wylde. [{A parallel-Earth governed by a strange mixture of steampunk science and fairytale illogic.}]
Earth-E:
The SurgerVerse. The Earth-E imperiex is the Spiralhorns. [{The Cthulhu Mythos mixed with Iron Age superheroics and Silver Age non-Mythos cosmic entities.}]
Earth-F:
The Machine-Gods/Machine-Goddesses universe. Earth-F's imperiex is the Overlord, the universe's only non-cybernetic psychic. [{A world in which alien cybernetics and more generalized cutting-edge human tech turn normal people into psychic titans...sometimes. Other times, they turn you into a monster.}]
Earth-G:
Here be the answers Ye seek, O traveler!
Earth-H:
The universe of The Sky Is Burning. It's imperiex is the Dancer at the Gate. [{A world wherein extreme asceticism unlocks powerful pyrokinetic abilities in some people, while others can blind themselves to gain the ability to shapeshift into various mythological creatures.}]
Earth-I:
The Five Incarnae universe. The Sunsphinx list the Ir/Maker as Earth-I's meddlesome imperiex.
Earth-J:
The Fallingsun universe. It's imperiex is unknown, causing the Sunsphinx great concern. [{A world wherein alien organisms've bonded to human hosts, creating SUPERPOWERED hybrids all built around Alternate Form arrays or Battle Form array.}]
Earth-K:
The Great and Mighty Monoliths universe. Earth-K's imperiex is the Ogrefather. Earth-K is one of only three parallel-Earths with no Resonances, whatsoever. [{A race of superpowered giants've taken over Earth and instituted a horrific regime.}]
Earth-L:
The Ogrestructures universe. The imperiex of Earth-L is, by Sunsphinx accounting, the Horror that Walks on Teeth. [{Kaiju "mobile cities" slowly terraform Earth; the humans within each kaiju slowly awaken psionic abilities.}]
Earth-M:
The Oneirofauna/Oneiroflora universe. Unknown. Earth-M is one of only three parallel-Earths with NO Resonances, at all.
Earth-N:
The Aesirdoom universe. The Aesirdoom universe's imperiex is Lelitth, the world-famous and much-storied 'Brain in a Jar'. [{Werewolves, vampires and supercyborg humans fight a seemingly neverending war to claim dominion over mankind. Earth-N vampires are, indeed, Starvampires, though they've so far successfully hid their alien origins.}]
Earth-O:
The Brotherly Serpents universe. Two cosmic 'dragons'---the Abysmal Darkness and the Celestial Light---are waging war by way of mortal proxies in war-torn WWII. Pulp heroes and mad scientists abound---but so do deformed monstrosities, hidden conspiracies and psychic masterminds! [{A world in the midst of WWII!}]
Earth-P:
the Foreverlife universe. Earth-P has no Resonances at all, being only one of three parallel-Earths with such a distinction. Furthermore, the Sunsphinx have never successfully discovered who Earth-P's imperiex is. [{A world wherein a nano-cloud has rendered death impossible; society has shattered as no one bothers to restrain themselves anymore. Heroes seek to ironically bring death back to reign in the madness.}]
Earth-Q:
The Wreckage of Fascism universe. Earth-Q's imperiex is the Man Encased in Jade, according to Sunsphinx archival reports. A bombed-out hell only slowly recovering from an apocalyptic WWII, heroes and villains are 'patriotic'. [{Nationalistic heroes and nationalistic villains are the norm. Superhumans're rare, but 'pulp'-style caped crusaders are the norm.}]
Earth-R:
The Gods of Symbols and Metaphors universe. Earth-R's imperiex is, by Sunsphinx accounting scandal, Shiva-and-Kali. In this reality, human beings are spontaneously imbued with 'mythic' power, coming to incarnate the qualities and powers of gods from mythology. (In reality, Earth-R's Incarnations [superhumans] are merely the psychic conduits through which certain memes, stories and myths may be made manifest"---no genuine gods are actually involved!) [{An Earth where mythology has become commonplace.}]
Earth-S:
The Skytower Giants universe. The Roman Empire and its Skytower Giants wage eternal war upon the Parthian Empire and its Skytower Magi. Heroics and villainy are on EPIC display! [{Set during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian.}]
Earth-T:
The Avatars and Inheritors universe. On this parallel-Earth, superhumans've bonded with thoughtforms to either become Avatars (embodying a concept) or an Inheritor (embodying a feature of the 'landscape'). [{Set in the 1880s.}]
Unknown.
Earth-U:
The Reign of all Relics universe. The Sunsphinx record the Earth-U imperiex as Enginseer Ka. Earth-U was, in distant, primordial prehistory, a staging-ground for a warlike alien race. Though those aliens've been dead for millions of years, humans are now discovering caches of these aliens' superweapons. Unknown.
Earth-V:
The Rustdeity universe. The Rustdeity imperiex is Jax the Slumbering Emperor. It's only Resonance is the Spiritworld (a dimension accessible via virtual reality). [{A post-apocalypse transhumanist future-Earth.}]
Earth-W:
The Abundant Darkness universe. The Sunsphinx claim Earth-W's imperiex is the Vast Glutton that Devours the Sky. [{An Earth wherein animal-themed bricks are the ONLY form of superhumans.}]
Earth-X:
The Runes of Heaven universe. Here, monotheism never formed, and the ancient Greek city-states slowly formed an alliance that eventually conquered Europe and Asia Minor. Here, superhumans are people able to 'draw down' symbols representing various celestial Truths to, for brief periods of time, become the mighty Runetitans!
Earth-Y:
The CrystalVerse. Here, seven apocalyptic superhuman-on-superhuman World Wars've ravaged Earth to a mere cinder. Mad Max-style universe, albeit with superhumans. Earth-Y's imperiex is Jotun Mountainsunderer. [{Superhumans gain their powers from mysterious alien crystals surgically implanted against the hosts' wills.}]
Earth-Z:
The Descent universe.
List of Forever Tree Perpendiculars:
Perpendicular-1:
The world of the Stormlord and His Stormblooded. As a perpendicular, Perpendicular 1 has no imperiex. It's lesser godforge, obviously, is held jealously by the Stormlord. [{Steampunk "fantasy".}]
Perpendicular-2:
The world of Linntuuu, full of living gods and decadent civilizations. As a Perpendicular, Perpendicular-2 has no imperiex. It's lesser godforge is held by Pachydermis. [{"fantasy."}]
Perpendicular-3:
The universe of the Skyengines. A single solar system, surrounded by no stars and infinite nothingness, Welrul is full of seven planets all orbiting their sun at the same distance, on the same orbital track---but kept from colliding by the mysterious, all-powerful Skyengines! [{Seven planets, each associated with a single planet-wide terrain-type, where humanity huddles in the shadows of gargantuan, silent 'robotgods'.}]
Perpendicular-4:
The Great and Deceased Corpulent. As a perpendicular, Perpendicular 4 has no imperiex. It's lesser godforge is held by the Flowering Beast. [{A whole universe inside the largest carcass the Forever Tree has ever sen!}]
Perpendicular-5:
The Unknown Deeps within the Void. The Unknown Deeps within the Void are the location of the sanity-shattering artifact/doorway called the Azathoth-gate. As a perpendicular, Perpendicular 5 has no imperiex. [{The realm of the Cthulhu Mythos.}]
Perpendicular-6:
The world of the Sunsphinx. Perpendicular 6 is unique, in that it, alone, of all the perpendiculars, has an imperiex---in this case, the Solar Lion, leader of the Sunsphinx. [{A world of wonders, this Perpendicular is an uneven mix of Marvel Inhuman pastiches and DC New God pastiches.}]

the Gathering of the Most High:
A poetic way to refer to the twenty-six imperiex as a whole. The Solar Lion is the closest thing the Gathering of the Most High has to a leader---but even then it's more of a "First-Amongst-Equals" than "Most High of the Most High". The Sunsphinx are sworn to serve the imperiex (in general) and the Solar Lion (specifically). Also, imperiex, as a whole, are served by special homunculi, created by the Solar Lion, known as Mandragora.
The Gathering of the Most High is also the superteam, though it's inaccurate to call them either 'heroes' or 'villains'!
godsmiths:
The being who holds a lesser godforge is referred to as a 'godsmith'. To be a godsmith, one must be a genuine native of one of the Perpendiculars.

the Great Grey Reading Room:
A location available only to higher-order intelligences, imperiex and universe-specific cosmic entities, the Great Grey Reading Room is where gods go to hang out and socialize safely. An image only is projected into the room, and safety mechanisms eject any entity attempting to use powers on any other entity.
A VR messageboard for the gods...
He-who-is-now-Dead/the Worldfather:
An indescribably powerful higher-order intelligence, beyond even the imperiex, and physically larger than an entire universe, He-who-is-now-Dead died under mysterious circumstances; his corpse settled into the perpendiculars and became Perpendicular-4. An entire cosmos was born inside the corpse, a strange, ghoulish, quasi-necromantic universe of bizarre physical laws and even stranger inhabitants.

While alive, the Worldfather was literally composed of fleshy firewyld---but, in death, He-who-is-now-Dead's necrotic tissue is now festering icewyld.
For the curious, the Worldfather was once ust a regular guy from a very mundane parallel-Earth. He accidentally became omnipotent...

What killed him? Now, that would be telling!
higher-order intelligences:
Cosmic entities that traverse the entire Forever Tree are called "higher-order intelligences". Imperiex are the greatest kind of higher-order intelligence.
Higher-order intelligences are NOT more powerful than cosmic entities! Cosmic entities stick to one parallel-Earth; higher-order intelligences roam the multiverse. That is the ONLY distinction betwixt the two categories.
imperiex:
An imperiex (singular AND plural!) is a "fulcrum being", a living foundation to a particular reality. Alone among all entities in the whole multiverse the imperiex are PLX. Imperiex are also perfect examples of higher-order intelligences, as they interact with each other quite regularly. All other entities have game stats [even if some of those stats are well into the absurdly, ludicrously high range.) The most powerful imperiex is not the Solar Lion; instead, it's the Dream Moth of Earth-B. The weakest imperiex is Jax the Slumbering Emperor of Earth-V.

Imperiex are served by Mandragora and Sunsphinx.

lanes:
"Holes" in the Outer Shell, lanes, in the cosmic sense, connect the Forever Tree to very strange places---destination depending on the type of lane. There are four types of lanes:
Lunar lanes:
Lunar lanes lead to places in the Beyond where evil holds sway. Lunar lanes are savagely watched over by Blue Antimatterbodies.
Solar lanes:
Solar lanes lead to places in the Beyond where good reigns supreme. Solar lanes are protected by Orange Antimatterbodies.
Star lanes:
The rarest kind of lane, Star lanes lead to places in the Beyond that're simply extremely alien to the human condition, where 'good' or 'evil' both no longer make sense. Star lanes are protected by Yellow Antimatterbodies.
Void lanes:
Void lanes do not lead to the Beyond. Instead, they lead solely to the afterlife of the Forever Tree---the Primordial Deeps! Ferrymen guard Void lanes.
World lanes:
World lanes lead to places in the Beyond where evil and good are in rough equilibrium. World lanes are patrolled by Green Antimatterbodies.
Lanes are the cosmic mystery.
lesser godforges:
Found only in the Perpendiculars, lesser godforges are primitive, much-weaker faulty reverse-engineered versions of imperiex. Outside a Perpendicular, lesser godforges cease working.

There're 3 kinds of lesser godforge: protean lesser godforges, quantum lesser godforges and redshift lesser godforges.
Pale imitations of imperiex-essence.
Mandragora:
Mandragora are bits of the Beyond merged with random thoughtforms to create a caste of 'servitor-beings' for each imperiex. Theoretically infinite in number, each imperiex may 'store' Mandragora in their subconsciousness, 'releasing' them into corporeal materiality at whim. Each imperiex has a unique 'race' of Mandragora serving them. All Mandragora, without exception, are PL6/66pp.

the Outer Shell:
Beyond all other realities lies the Outer Shell, a massively thick membrane separating the Forever Tree from the infinite potentiality of the Beyond. The Worldfather made the Outer Shell to be impermeable, however, as He-who-is-now-Dead, he can no longer enforce this edict, and "Solar lanes" and "Lunar lanes" now connect to the wildness of the Beyond.

Also at the Outer Shell're the Ferrymen, boatmen to the afterlife. Ferrymen do not sail Solar lanes or Lunar lanes, instead following Void lanes too and from the Primordial Deeps.

The Outer Shell connects to the Forever Tree cosmology at Earth-A, Earth-Z, Perpendicular-1 and Perpendicular-6.

the Primordial Deeps:
The afterlife, connected to the main bulk of the Forever Tree by the Void lanes, the Prinordial Deeps may only be entered by the guidance of the enigmatic, ever-silent Ferrymen.

In the Primordial Deeps one's true nature is fully realized---and magnified!---'til one is either completely celestial or completely bestial. Thought controls reality and impulse moves whole worlds. The longer a soul is in the afterlife, the less human it becomes...until---it can no longer return to the land of the living.

The Primordial Deeps do not contain a Heaven or a Hell, and no higher authority seems to exist. The Primordial Deeps just...is.

Resonances:
A sort of "Mini-Perpendicular", a Resonance is a non-parallel-Earth reality that tied to a specific parallel and can be reached solely from said parallel-Earth. Resonances have no imperiex (obviously); nor do they have lesser godforges.

the Solar Lion:
PLX/2344pp. A higher-order intelligence, an imperiex, holder of a redshift lesser godforge and sole surviving offspring of He-who-is-Dead, the Solar Lion is a Sunsphinx lion-feral with galaxy-scale control over the Five Fundamental Forces of the multiverse. As leader of the Sunsphinx, it was the Solar Lion who both chose AND empowered ALL the other imperiex. The Solar Lion is beyond such notions of good and evil, being concerned solely with the dimensional integrity of his father's prize creation. Uniquely, while within the Great and Deceased Corpulent, the Solar Lion's powers drizzle away to nothing, and he becomes merely human. His powers surge back to full effectiveness but moments later upon leaving Perpendicular-4.

space gods:
A term that refers to cosmic entities, higher-order intelligences, imperiex and Sunsphinx.

the Sunsphinx::
Based out of Perpendicular-6, the Sunsphinx (singular AND plural!) are a race of immortal superhumans and superscientists, united by the desire to maintain the Forever Tree's dimensional integrity. The Sunsphinx are led by the Solar Lion, who is the only surviving offspring of He-who-is-now-Dead.

the Weavery:
Destiny, as spun out into space/time according to the automated designs of the dead progenitor the Worldfather. Superheroes, supervillains and cosmic entities make their own destinies, however, due to a loophole found a billion years ago by the Solar Lion (god of the Sunsphinx).

Nevertheless, cosmic entities, higher-order intelligences and imperiex are plugged into the Weavery for both immortality and; if the Weavery dies, so too die the gods...

yeodomes:
An odd-sounding name, but yeodomes are the most abundant Device in Tlolkku society---so abundant, in fact, millions of planets in each universe have tons and tons of them...though parallel-Earths, themselves, rarely do.

In short, a yeodome is a spherical machine able to copy sentient minds, hold them indefinitely in 'cold storage', then download them to another system.

-//-\\-

A Brief Summation of Cosmic History:
In the beginning, there was Earth. An Earth without superbeings; a mundane Earth with nothing paranormal therein. Superbeings were the subjects of comics, movies and TV shows...they had no genuine existence save as fictions to amuse and entertain.

The Worldfather was one such exemplar of mundanity, a normal guy with normal dreams and normal aspirations. But, one day, an entire alternate universe collapsed in on itself and fell
through the Worldfather on its way to oblivion. In an apocalyptic moment, the Worldfather became omnipotent...

...but, his mundane world could not tolerate such power, and the Worldfather's omnipotence started to fade. In order to preserve his newly-acquired omnipotence, the Worldfather
leapt into interdimensional space and created a place where his powers COULD endure! Gathering Useful Oblivion to his hands, the Worldfather intoned, "LET'S GET SOME LIGHT GOING ON IN HERE! IT'S TOO FRICKING DARK!", and lo, there was light...

Gazing about himself, the nascent Worldfather chanted the alphabet of his native language---English!--and watched as each letter blossomed into an entire cosmos, with its own symbology, sciences and superbeings. He could not help himself and so he also made deliberate changes to each parallel-Earth, and thus, the timelines began to radically diverge.

But omnipotence was lonely, and so the Worldfather cut his thumb and bled out a pair of drops of his own blood; from this creative Ichor came the Firstborn cosmic entities and higher-order intelligence; pleased, he put them into a loose hierarchy, that conflicts might be minimized... But of course, this agenda was doomed from the very start.
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

The Sunsphinx and the Solar Lion:
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Magic??!
There is no magic in the Forever Tree, though many certainly believe magic exists. No, comic book pseudo-science, psionics, physical mutation and tech on the level of "It may as well be magic" accounts for all superbeings, cosmic entities and higher-order intelligences.
Last edited by Hoid on Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Hoid
Posts: 3556
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[Perpendiculars]a listing

Post by Hoid »

Perpendiculars in the Forever Tree: In more detail.
What is the Azathoth-gate?
Of unknown origin, but found at the very bottommost region of Perpendicular-5, the Azathoth-gate was once held closed by He-who-is-now-Dead; nowadays, however, it lies untended. Eventually, it will explode open and the Cthulhu Mythos will seep into the Forever Tree like a tide of sewage.

What's on the other side of the Azathoth-gate? Another Earth, though this one is not in the Forever Tree. On this Earth, a technologically advanced humanity, along with strange, obsidian-skinned alien allies, fight a never-ending battle against the endless mi-go hordes. Humanity here has taken the adage "Fight fire with fire" to heart, and in their desperation are using technologies almost as horrific as the very enemies they fight...
Why yes, this is a direct reference to CthulhuTech.
What is the Transhuman-gate?
Found in Perpendicular-6's Final-tomb, where the Solar Lion himself will one day be interred, lies a dimensional portal sealed up behind the very best locks Sunsphinx technology has to afford. Shut up by multiple layers of magnetically sealed singularities, quantum-entangled "binding gels" and psychic wards of ungodly power, this 'Transhuman-gate' is a source of great fear to the Sunsphinx as a race.

What lies on the other side of the Transhuman-gate, you ask? A universe where death has been conquered, men may wear new bodies the way humans wear clothes and humanity is beginning to spread to the stars...
Yes, this is a direct reference to Eclipse Phase.
What is a lesser godforge?
When the Tlolkku beheld the very first Demimachines they desired some of their own. After a century of gruesome trial-and-error research, the Tlolkku unveiled six Demimachines of their own---the lesser godforges. Meant to simulate the powers of imperiex, these six machines would supposedly elevate the Tlolkku to cosmic entity status---or even higher!

Instead, when turned on, the six lesser godforges imploded, and jettisoned out the dimensional stack, spiraling into the Perpendiculars. Natives found them and bonded to them, becoming godsmiths. Meanwhile, the rise of the Starvampire menace meant the Tlolkku could again repeat these particular experiments.

There're three types of lesser godforge:
What is a protean lesser godforge?
A type of lesser godforge, protean lesser godforges (of which only 1 exists) may control the weather and the four Classical Greek elements.
What is a quantum lesser godforge?
Placeholder.
What is a redshift lesser godforge?
Placeholder.

What is a greater godforge?
Placeholder.

Who are the Sunsphinx? Who are the Sungods that serve the Sunsphinx?
The Sunsphinx are the sons and daughters of the Solar Lion, who is himself the last-surviving son of He-who-is-now-Dead. An entirely immortal, superpowered race of ur-humans, the Sunsphinx are an uneven mix of Marvel Inhuman pastiches and DC New Gods pastiches.

They are, however, much more than that, and are united by a king (a benevolent uber-telepath/uber-pyrokinetic) and a queen (a malign uber-telepath/uber-cryokinetic). The Sunsphinx embrace both good and evil, viewing both as necessary for the Forever Tree's continued good functioning.

The 'Sungods' are not Sunsphinx at all; instead, they are 26 superheroes, one drawn from each parallel-Earth in the multiverse, brought into one massive team to the 'troubleshooters' handling the worst crises facing the Forever Tree. Placeholder.

What is a Perpendicular?
A Perpendicular is a non-parallel-Earth universe that connects to all Earths in the Forever Tree; basically, a Resonance on steroids. Perpendiculars were originally created by He-who-is-now-Dead to be the "understructure" holding the Forever Tree up; over time, however, life emerged in these places. Humans wandered here through dimensional appetures and decided to settle there.

What is a Resonance?
A Resonance is a non-parallel-Earth universe that connects to a single parallel-Earth in the Forever Tree. Each Resonance only connects to one specific Earth; to enter the Resonance, you must be on that Earth---and to leave the Resonance, you must go solely to the Earth it connects to.

-//-\\-

Perpendiculars:
Perpendicular-1:
Perpendicular-1 is a planet named Lullultulul. On Lullultulul, a godlike steampunk cyborg ("the Stormlord"), with his steampunk cyborg soldiers ("the Stormblooded") fight to slowly conquer the entire planet.

The Stormlord is Lullultulul's godsmith. He wields a protean lesser godforge.

No cosmic entities exist in Perpendicular-1. There are nephilim, however. The Outer Shell directly connects to Lullultulul.

Lullultulul has no Supermanalogue.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
There are quite a few varieties of undeath here on Lullultulul that exist nowhere else in the whole Forever Tree multiverse; Starvampires're quite active here: the Stormblooded, however, keep undead numbers well in check.

Starvampires of Lullultulul are loyal to the Night House of Cold Nothingness; the Night House of Cold Nothingness is led by Zvaroodiina (PL2/30pp OR PL12/200pp female Starvampire Vampiremaster)---she is either feeble to the point of incapacitation, or, when actively leading her house, an unstoppable undead menace. Unlike many Vampiremasters, Zvaroodiina has only the 'normal' Starvampiric power-set.
The Hyborean Age, as seen as a steampunk setting.
/-

Perpendicular-2:
Perpendicular-2 is a planet named Linntuuu. On Linntuuu, only three regions, or 'Oceans', have the capacity to sustain life.

In the Ocean of the Bowl of Uruku, humans are ruled over by a race of gigantic animal/human hybrids known as 'gods'. While not gods in the traditional sense (as they age and can die by human hands), centuries of religious indoctrination have ingrained this idea deeply both into humans and the 'gods', themselves.

Ironically, aside from the physical attributes and sentience of these 'gods', no superbeings actually exist, here. Linntuuu is a 'sword'n'sorcery' setting, minus the sorcery!

Civilization in the Bowl of Uruku is very similar to ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia and Classical Greece.

It is the Second Age, and civilization is new and still quite rough around the edges. Gods live in idle luxury, but must maintain their dominance through vicious contests of strength with other deities. Humans have always chafed at their bondage, but now, with bronze arms and armor, man may finally decide to test the gods' divinity...

In the Ocean named the World of Stone, only one god exists---Stone, wearer of the Five Accoutrements. The gods of the Bowl of Uruku are regarded as strange monsters, to be hunted or killed. Here, it is humans who are tyrants over humans.

Pachydermis is Linntuuu's godsmith. She has a redshift lesser godforge.

Linntuuu has only a small handful of space-based cosmic entities. Linntuu has only two or three nephilim.

Linntuuu has no Supermanalogue.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Linntuuu's undead consist solely of ghosts---'spirits' and 'deadgods', as the locals call them. Starvampires, believe it or not, have never entered Linntuuu...though one night, perhaps soon, they will do so...!
The Hyborean Age, except without sorcery and filled with humanoid animals.
/-

Perpendicular-3:
Perpendicular-3 is a single solar system---Welrul!---with seven monoterrain planets each orbiting the sun on the same orbital track and at the same distance---but, they do not collide because of unbelievably vast machines known as 'Skyengines'.

Skyengines are vast, sanity-breakingly-huge robotic 'arms' that end in 'pincers' large enough to grasp each planet via ungodly telekinesis at the north and south poles. These orbits regulate each planet's orbit. These arms all connect to the sun, which is itself surrounded by an equally vast artificial structure---a furnace to end all furnaces.

On each planet, a single terrain type dominates, and medieval-levels humans creep carefully in the shadow of the Skyengines' maintenance-crew...'godrobots', each half-a-mile tall.

Mazeriih the Swordbinder is Welrul's godsmith, with a redshift lesser godforge in his keeping.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Undead are not a menace, here; instead, they were defeated long ago in the Corpsewars, and now are corralled into filthy ghettos and slums on each planet. The Welrul 'Night House of Bloody Tears and Wicked Sorrows' is a shambles of its former self, and has no Vampiremaster.

/-

Perpendicular-4:
Perpendicular-4 is literally inside the universe-sized corpse of He-who-is-now-Dead; his organs are planets, suns are inflamed boils in the tissue and outer space is a soupy and necrotic medium. Space travel is possible here.

The Corpulence has a very peculiar kind of cosmic entities: called worldgutworms, these 'blind idiot gods' are very Lovecraftian in tone and feel, and can drive men and women mad by merely being beheld.

The Corpulence has a huge number of native thoughtforms, so the population density of nephilim is also exceptionally high.

The Flowering Beast is the Corpulence's Supermanalogue, but is also a pastiche of Wolverine and the Phoenix Force. The Flowering Beast is, in fact, the second most powerful paragon in the entire Forever Tree! He is also the Corpulence's godsmith as he owns a quantum lesser godforge.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Starvampires and other undead positively infest the Corpulence! Here, all 27 Night House have MASSIVE bases, and they feast like wild animals on all the viscera all around themselves!
This Perpendicular is a literal corpse, and is a necromantic space opera-type setting.
/-

Perpendicular-5:
Perpendicular-5 is named the Unknown Deeps within the Void, and is a nightmarish realm of ruins, black skies and unholy abominations, aberrations and anomalies. The Azathoth-gate is here; once held shut by He-who-is-now-Dead, this 'gate is now untended.

Dagon, a deep one AND a high priest of Cthulhu, is both the spiritual leader AND the godsmith of Llenng; Dagon has a quantum lesser godforge.

Perpendicular-5 has no Supermanalogue, but it does have a Hulk analogue, in the form of Galactaur, Bull of the Inky Abyss.
...here...only here...THE STARS ARE RIGHT!
-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Starvampires are suborned telepathically to the psychic will of Dagon, ur-deep one high priest of Cthulhu and have begun to turn aquatic. They belong to the Night House of the Vortex. It's Vampiremaster is Wululf Deesu. Placeholder.

/-

Perpendicular-6:
Perpendicular-6 is a planet named Aeion. It's home to the order of immortal superhuman "gods" known as the Sunsphinx. Here lies the Transhuman-gate, which by Sunsphinx law must be kept shut for all eternity, for reasons that're never really explained to outsiders...

Only one cosmic entity---the Solar Lion, a higher-order intelligence---lives in Aeion. He is both an imperiex AND the Sunsphinx Exemplar AND a godsmith---the only such being in existence! The Solar Lion boasts as his prize a redshift lesser godforge.

There is a huge and ever-growing population of thoughtform-citizens and nephilim-citizens, as well as Apkallu and undead. Tlolkku, however, cannot enter Aeion, on pain of death!.

Aeion is a point of meeting between the Outer Shell AND the multiverse, as a whole!.

Perpendicular-6 has nearly an astonishing two dozen Supermanalogues, though most are significantly weaker than other paragons elsewhere.

-//-\\-

Tlolkku presence/activities:
Placeholder.

Starvampires and other undead:
Undead are strictly confined to within the Moongrounds, a section of Aeion reserved solely for them and then alone.
DC's New Genesis and Marvel's Attilan rolled into one.
/-
Hoid
Posts: 3556
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[Multiverse-wide]higher-order intelligences (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

Higher-order intelligences: The greatest of cosmic entities!
Placeholder.

-//-\\-

Is there an 'Ultimate Evil'?
No. There are multiverse-spanning villains of incalculable power, so vast as to defy sanity or mortal comprehension, but---they all Work at cross-odds. This lack of unity and infighting is one of many reason why, even after 13 billion years, evil has yet to truly triumph on a cosmic scale.

-//-\\-

the Cthulhu Mythos: Invader-gods.
Thankfully, only four Mythos-deities've deigned to take note of the Forever Tree... Still, four is far too many, as far as the Sunsphinx're concerned...!
Azathoth: The axis mundi: in brief detail.
Crunch writeup:
PL28/6670pp. The Daemon Sultan of the Universe. Azathoth is utterly nonsentient, despite his vast and nigh-omnipotent powers. Azathoth is the greatest brick to've ever lived, beyond anyone found in the Forever Tree. Co-ruler of the Outer Gods. Placeholder.

Azathoth's flautists: ...and the band played on, and on, and on...
Crunch writeups:
PL10/145pp. Billions of Azathoth's flautists exist, an amoebic ocean of discordant un-music. Just as mindless and blind as their master, Azathoth's flautists endlessly play their charnel flutes for Azathoth's infinite amusement. Placeholder.

Cthulhu: The Dead-But-Dreaming: in brief detail.
Crunch writeup:
PL20/666pp. Actually a Great Old One, Cthulhu is Nyarlathotep's chief godpriest, and slumbers on the distant planet of R'lyeh, somewhere in the chaos of the Beyond. Cthulhu is the much-contested 'king' of the Great Old Ones. He is a monstrously powerful octopus-feral and possesses unfathomable degree of telepathy.

deep ones: The spawn of Dagon and Hydra!
Crunch writeups:
PL9/140pp. Hideous minions of Cthulhu. They serve the Dead-But-Dreaming via Dagon, a godpriest deep one of enormous personal power. Placeholder.

Nyarlathotep: The Crawling Chaos: in brief detail.
Crunch writeup:
PL16/616pp. The messenger of the Outer God, Nyarlathotep is perhaps the greatest shapeshifter to've ever lived. Unlike many Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep is fully sentient and, in fact, is very smart. Placeholder.

mi-go: The fungi from Yuggoth...
Crunch writeups:
The alien, fungus-based mi-go have only just begun to arrive in the Forever Tree; thus, most superheroes're unaware the mi-go even exist. Mi-go revere and serve Nyarlathotep who communes with them in self-induced psychotic episodes or during the intake of MASSIVE amounts of hallucinogens. Placeholder.

Yog-Sothoth: The lesser axis mundi: in brief detail.
Crunch writeup:
PL22/6000pp. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate, Yog-Sothoth is the Key to the Gate. Co-ruler of the Outer Gods, Yog-Sothoth's sentience is questionable, at best. He is both space AND time AND is separate from these things, also. Placeholder.

Spawn of Yog-Sothoth: Pale imitations of their unholy father...
These've yet to appear...but they will...oh, they will...

-//-\\-

other higher-order intelligences: Lords and ladies of infinity.
The Forever Tree, as a whole, boasts 29 higher-order entities. Unlike more "normal" cosmic entities (where restrain their activities to a single parallel-Earth and said Earth's Resonances, higher-order intelligences travel throughout the multiverse and are truly cosmic in scope.

He-who-is-now-Dead/the Worldfather: The supreme being.
The Unborn, the only such higher-order intelligence to've ever been. Once a normal man from a perfectly mundane version of Earth, the Worldfather accidentally absorbed the dying energies of a multiverse of shadows, fear and hidden occult conspiracies---and was elevated to what's essentially omnipotence.

the Solar Lion: Partial inheritor of the Worldfather's titles and powers.
The Solar Lion is both an imperiex and a godsmith; he is also the eldest surviving higher-order intelligence, making a Firstborn space god. Placeholder.

Sol Invictus: The paragon.
PL21/1000pp. The Sumermanalogue, Sol Invictus is originally from Earth-Q. He is an ancient foe of the Vampiredeities of a timeline that is now obliterated, and now spends much of his time in the Earth-A universe.

Once a regular mid-tier paragon, Sol Invictus donned one of the seven surviving Enigma Carapaces, a suit of skin-tight power-armor that vastly increases the wearer's abilities. Decades later, Sol Invictus switched out the Enigma Carapace's regular powercell for a fully-empowered Distort. With this, he became a higher-order intelligence.
Yes, he's only a higher-order intelligence due to his suped-up power-armor, but he nevertheless counts as one. He's the Forever Tree Supermanalogue, being on par with DC's Superboy-Prime---only without the utterly pathetic whining and undeserved self-pity...!
-//-\\-

the imperiex: The Gathering of the Most High.
The highest of higher-order entities, each imperiex, out of all beings in the Forever Tree, are PLX. Even so, imperiex are not truly omnipotent, and only have X ranks for highly specific portions of their game stats.

An imperiex, to be precise, is an energy field that elevates the host to PLX status. Only on the death an existing imperiex can this this energy be reassigned. Once assigned, only death (and sometimes not even then!) frees up the energy once more. The Solar Lion determines who the next imperiex is, and he always chooses a mundane human being to take the post.

Imperiex are "fulcrum"-beings and're absolutely essential to the health and continued functioning of the multiverse. Just by existing, imperiex uphold the nature of their home realities.

Though they are tied to specific universes, imperiex may wander the multiverse---and many do so. Physical locality is not a prerequisite to being an imperiex.

Perpendiculars and Resonances neither have nor require imperiex, as they are supported by the metaphysical "weight" of 26 parallel-Earths.
The Gathering of the Most High are the mightiest of the mighty.
Perpendicular-6 is the sole exception, however, as the Solar Lion possesses both a lesser godforge and an imperiex!

/-

Demimachinery: Technology on a cosmic scale.
Created originally by He-who-is-now-Dead, Demimachinery is technology taken to the uttermost limit. Imperiex-essence was generated via Demimachines; lesser godforges're a pale imitation of Demimachines.

Distorts: Fuel cells to end all fuel cells..
Supercharged with firewyld, a Distort is a tangible, visible 'tear' in space/time, caught and magnetically sealed within a Demimachine 'glass bottle'. Used to power other Demimachines, a Distort vastly increases said other Demimachine's power by a factor unimaginable to human comprehension.

lesser godforges:
Lesser godforges are the pinnacle of Tlolkku 'divine science', and're intimately tied to the Perpendiclars---in the same way imperiex-essence is tied to the many parallel-Earths.

protean lesser godforges: 'Witchcraft' machines.
Perpendicular-1 has a single protean lesser godforge. Protean lesser godforges allow the wielder to control the primeval elements of nature; a "shamanic"-type of machinery.
The Protean Lesser Godforge: Device 22 (cube-shaped Demimachine; easy to lose; Feats: Restricted 1 [must be a native of a Perpendicular]). (67pp.)
Powers:
Elemental Communion: Communicate 4 (mental; the four Classical Greek elements). (5pp.)
Elemental Invulnerability: Immunity 20 (weather effects). (20pp.)
Elemental Mastery, 1st Sphere: Air Control 10. (20pp.) --- (23pp.)
AP: Elemental Mastery, 2nd Sphere: Earth Control 10. (1pp.)
AP: Elemental Mastery, 3rd Sphere: Fire Control 10. (1pp.)
AP: Elemental Mastery, 4th Sphere: Water Control 10. (1pp.)
Weather-Mastery: Weather Control 20 (Extras: Area [burst], Progression 22 [the entire Perpendicular]; Flaws: Full Power). (62pp.)
---/::This is a completed protean lesser godforge build.

quantum lesser godforges: 'Wish' machines.
Perpendicular-4 and Perpendicular-5 have a single quantum lesser godforge, each. Quantum lesser godforges are extremely powerful, as they allow the wielder to rewrite space/time as he/she/it desires.
Quantum Lesser Godforges: Device 22 (sphere-shaped Demimachine; easy to lose; Feats: Restricted 1 [must be a native of a Perpendicular]). (67pp.)
Powers:
Chronal Anchoring: Features 1 (temporal inertia; Flaws: Linked [to Chronal Anchoring Immovable]). (1pp.) Immovable 2 (Flaws: Linked [to Chronal Anchoring Features]). (2pp.) --- (3pp.)
Gravitic Manipulations: Gravity Control 5 (Extras: Area [burst], Aura). (25pp.)
AP: Editing the Perceptions of Others via the Lensing of Light: Illusion 5 (all 5 senses; Extras: Area [cloud]). (1pp.)
Rewriting Matter and Energy: Transform 10 (any to any). (80pp.)
AP: Rewriting the Minds of Others: Mental Transform 10 (any to any). (1pp.)
---/::This is a completed quantum lesser godforge build.

redshift lesser godforges: 'Sorcerous' machines.
Perpendicular-2, Perpendiclar-3 and Perpendicular-6 each have a single redshift lesser godforge, each. Redshift lesser godforges weave psychic illusions so strong they may as well be real...but only if biological lifeforms're around to witness them. This mean redshift lesser godforges are the weakest type of lesser godforge, and face many obstacles the other two types of lesser godforges do not.
Redshift Lesser Godforge: Device 22 (ring-shaped, wearable Demimachine; hard to lose; Feats: Restricted 1 [must be a native of a Perpendicular]; Drawbacks: Power Loss [-3pp; Device shuts down when no other biological beings than the wielder is in the vicinity]). (63pp.)
Powers:
Lesser Illusions: Color Control 4 (4pp.) Dazzle 2 (sight, only). (2pp.) Illusion 3 (all 5 senses). (12pp.) --- (18pp.)
Vast, Reality-'Altering' Illusions: Shapeshift 8 (Flaws: Phantasmal). (46pp.) Transform 8 (any to any; Flaws: Phantasmal). (46pp.) --- (92pp.)
---/::This is a completed redshift lesser godforge build.

greater godforges:
Placeholder.
Hoid
Posts: 3556
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:52 pm
Location: The Forever Tree

[Multiverse-wide]Starvampires (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

The Starvampires:
The Starvampires, a cabal of entities responsible for undeath throughout the multiverse, have made numerous attempts to seize control of the whole Forever Tree. Once, they even succeeded; but that timeline was erased, and it's remnants coalesced into a cosmic entity 'imprisoned' in the Earth-G universe.

Starvampires are originally native to Earth-A, but now may be found on every Earth, every Perpendicular and every Resonance in the expanse of the multiverse. Starvampires come in a variety of forms, some of which no longer exist in any meaningful fashion.

Starvampires, in general:
Alien vampires, Starvampires are the most powerful undead---in theory!---in the entirety of the Forever Tree. (This claim is somewhat dubious, considering that Starvampires, themselves, are the ones promulgating it.) Gamewise, Starvampires are identical to the vampires from the corebook, with the following caveats:

-_--/Starvampires MUST layer on the 'generic Tlolkku template' found later on in this very thread.

-_--/Starvampires have no access to either the Artificer feat or the Ritualist feat.

-_--/Starvampires never have Magic as a power, nor Sorcery or "Sorcery" descriptor Variable Power, and so on.

-_--/All other vampire traits should be ok, but---in the Forever Tree, these traits are based in nanites and psionics, not the occult!

-_--/Starvampires always have several Devices of bloodtechnology; some few even have bloodtechnology Gadgets. Starvampires are aliens, remember, and're SIGNIFICANTLY more advanced than humanity.

-_--/Starvampires can only genuinely infect their own "root-species"---the dimension-hopping Tlolkku---and, whenever they infect non-Tlolkku, 'vampire remnants' are always the result.

-_--/A Starvampire or vampire remnant's creator is referred to as its 'deathfather' or 'deathmother'.

the Vampirebrutes:
Starvampires are both an infection and a species, as they can both infect Tlolkku via their bite, or they can reproduce the old-fashioned way.

This is not a good idea, however, as, without stable Tlolkku DNA to 'buoy' them up, Starvampires-born-as-Starvampires mutate horrifically in the womb, becoming hulking and deformed and stupid. More powerful than vampire remnants and more intelligent (though that isn't saying much!), most of these 'Vampirebrutes' now solely reproduce from amongst their own numbers.

Vampirebrutes cannot infect others, be they Tlolkku or non-Tlolkku.

the Vampirecommoners:
The Vampirecommoners are the 'average' Starvampires, i.e., regular Tlolkku transformed into a standard and run-of-the-mill Starvampire. Most Starvampires are Vampirecommoners.

the Vampiredeities:
In a timeline that no longer Is, twelve Starvampires entered into and successfully activated all twelve Genesis Pods---upon emergence, these twelve undead were now higher-order intelligences. Their lesser kin venerated them as gods, and the Vampiredeities rose up and conquered the multiverse.

Though the exact tale is long and convoluted and best saved for a later day, suffice it to say, heroes from several Earth's managed to travel back in time and expose the Vampiredeities to sunlight just as they were exiting the Genesis Pods. All twelve died, and eleven fell down the dimensional stack. Their fate is detailed elsewhere.

The twelfth...well, his story isn't done yet, thanks to the Regenesis Pods. Sargon, the twelfth Vampiredeity, was resurrected thanks to aid from a mysterious interdimensional band of "traditional", human vampires. Sargon has reaffirmed his existence via a Regenesis Pod, but, "sadly", he will never become a multiverse-wide threat. But conquering Earth-A? That is most DEFINITELY still a possibility!

the Vampiremasters:
Each of the 27 Night Houses of the Starvampires is led by a powerful individual known as a Vampiremaster---a Starvampire 'Exemplar', if you will. Able to channel the collective psychic might of their entire House---but only while actively leading said Night House---Vampiremasters are extraordinarily powerful.

When not actively leading, a Vampiremaster is no stronger than a Vampirecommoner. When actively leading the Night House, however, a Vampiremaster swells up to temporarily exceed even the Vagmpireroyals in raw might!

the Vampirepriests:
As the Vampiredeities died, small fragments of their escaped to find new hosts; 12 Starvampires were thus transformed, becoming avatars of dead gods. Known as Vampirepriests, these 12 accidentally-elevated undead juggernauts stand equal to the Vampireroyals---in fact, the Vampirepriests form the backbone of an opposing force to uncontested Vampireroyal reign.

For obvious reasons, Sargon the Reborn Death has no Vampirepriest. Furthermore, the 12 existing Vampirepriests viciously deny Sargon's claim that the souls of the dead Vampiredeities dwell within his stone knives, calling it "heresy of the worst sort".

The 12 Vampirepriests are:
Amunra, Priest of Dead Anthelios. PL10/198pp. Currently found on Earth-S, in the Roman colony of Londinium, in the British Isles. Amunra can shapeshift into a bull and a falcon, instead of a wolf and a bat.
Azruti, Priestess of Dead Shal Haddad. PL10/200pp. Currently found on Earth-G. She is masquerading as a 'wise-woman' living in Germany's Black Forest. Azruti is a skilled combat-precog/martial artist.
Baar-u Halavvu, Priest of Dead Ifru. PL12/199pp. Currently found in the Alpha Centauri system in the Earth-G universe.
Ceresgen, Priestess of Dead Alkuothi. PL9/199pp. Currently found on Earth-H. Alone among all Vampirepriests, Ceresgen may generate and control fire and light with his mind.
Daobessulut, Priest of Dead Ve. PL7/190pp. Currently found on Perpendicular-5. Daobessulut has a psi-charged Tlolkku warhammer capable of instantly transforming any non-Tlolkku it slays into a vampire remnant under his control.
Daokuvvu, Priest of Dead Balukkhu. PL10/200pp. Currently found on Earth-A. No special or unusual powers; he's 'just' an exceptionally powerful Starvampire.
Erburath, Priest of Dead Vishk, PL12/199pp. Currently found on Earth-K.
Eishriffi, PriestPriestess of Dead Da Ka Lu Na Re, PL14/210pp. Eishriffi is a hermaphrodite and is monstrously powerful at shapeshifting. Hiding in the Lunar colony of Earth-E's American Colonial Outriders Assembly.
Faarruu, Beastfallen-prince, Priest of Dead Quluru, PL16/300pp. Faarruu is the unquestioned Heirophant of all Vampirepriests and he lairs in a palatial estate full of mortal fear, on Earth-A. The other Vampirepriests hate Faarruu, but NONE dare move against him.
Mesek, Priestess of Dead Walkyru, PL10/199pp. Currently wandering the entire Forever Tree. She is a noted enemy of groups like the Star Corps and the Sungods. Mesek is a rather powerful electrokinetic (though she requires large amounts of metal to focus this ability through---henceforth, Mesek wears fullplate medieval European armor.)
Ongmung, Priest of Dead Groaruur, PL3/190pp. Currently found on Earth-H. Ongmung is massively obese, to the point where he can no longer even walk on his own. Ongmung is a 'standard' Starvampire, albeit one with lots of very powerful allies.
Ubolo-Samravva, Priest of Dead Loqi. PL14/208pp. Currently on Perpendicular-2.

vampire remnants:
Whenever Starvampires infect non-Tlolkku, these bestial abominations are always the result. Vampire remnants are zombies, but with three massive modifications:

-_--/Vampire remnants have the feat Rage 5. (Yes, really.)

-_--/Vampire remnants have Immortality (Drawbacks: Power Loss [-4; during the day]).

-_--/Vampires remnants are thankfully unable to produce Vampirebrutes (for which the entirety of the Forever Tree breathes a huge sigh of relief!).

-_--/When vampire remnants infect Tlolkku, 'regular' Starvampires are always the result.

-_--/When vampire remnants infect non-Tlolkku, the results are regular zombies, not more vampire remnants.

the Vampireroyals:
In the chaotic nights following the destruction of the Vampiredeities, turmoil gripped Starvampire society, multiverse-wide, and civil war soon followed. It threatened all the Starvampires'd so carefully and delicately built.

But out of the madness came a new caste of Starvampires: the Vampireroyals! A cabal of five, the Vampireroyals had each feasted off the still-cooling corpse of He-who-is-now-Dead; though still lesser than Vampiredeities---and even much-reduced Sargon!---Vampireroyals rejuvenated undead society and brought some semblance of order back into being.

Four Vampireroyals remain; one was slain on Earth-G by a band of Starborn superhumans:
Akyau, the Whisperer from the Abyss. PL12/300pp. Akyau is a powerful telepath, and is currently posing as a superhero on Earth-Q.
Khu, the One with a Million Faces. PL12/300pp. Khu was a Vampireroyal able to assume the forms and powers of any superhuman he drank the blood of, albeit only temporarily. Slain by Starborn, Khu had been hiding out on Earth-G. He was sold out by his fellow Vampireroyal, Zaer-lu.
Klolkkutyu, She Who is Mother to us All. PL14/300pp. Klolkkutyu is a powerful flesh-warper, and is a feared Blood Lord on Earth-A.
P'o, the Shadows Within. PL12/300pp. P'o is extremely skilled with stealth and possesses a frighteningly effective mist-body form. He is hiding out in an orbital station on Earth-L.
And Zaer-lu, He Who is Complete unto Himself. PL15/300pp. Zaer-lu is a top-tier brick. He is posing as a Starborn warlord on Earth-G.

/-

bloodtechnology:
Made of necrotic tissue and powered by the psionic energies inherent in death itself, bloodtechnology is the gruesome undead science developed (and perfected!) by the Starvampire 'race'.

Genesis Pods:
Genesis Pods were the cutting-edge of bloodtechnology, and they almost doomed the entire multiverse. Built to give Starvampires the power to directly feed on space/time directly, these 12 Devices worked their magic...not that it mattered.

All were slagged by the Four Lights; the wreckage was then tossed into the Earth-A sun by Photonic. Swami, one of the Four Lights, erased all knowledge of the Genesis Pods' construction from existence in a feat of telepathy so vast it actually killed him, to do it.

Infusion Pods:
Loaded with Starvampire formula, Infusion Pods transform Tlolkku into Starvampires and non-Tlolkku into vampire remnants via technology, rather than by the gruesome practice of 'infection by way of exsanguination'.

Infusion Pods abound, wherever there are Starvampires, and they may be the most common piece of bloodtechnology.

Regenesis Pods:
Only one Regenesis Pod exists, and it is the sole property of Sargon the Vampiredeity! Placeholder.

/-

other breeds of undead.
Placeholder.

ghosts:
Actually a type of thoughtform, not all ghosts are legitimately the souls of the Restless Dead; some merely believe they are. Placeholder.

ghouls:
Ghouls were created in a bloodtechnology gene-lab, in an attempt to create human Starvampires. Instead, this "intermediate" species of undead were the result. Withered and bestial, but still sentient, the first ghouls, instead of hungering for blood, hungered from brains and lungs, instead.

Superior to vampire remnants but inferior to Starvampires, ghouls form an "officer-caste" in the Legions of Night. However, unlike Starvampires, ghouls've not spread yet to every Earth and Perpendicular.

liches:
Liches are psychics that've displaced their memetic cores into objects---rendering them into unkillable undead horrors. These 'phylacteries' render liches nearly invulnerable...but with a caveat: should the phylactery ever be destroyed so too shall the lich be destroyed.

Only psychics of human origin may become liches, meaning lichdom is one of the only forms of undeath that does NOT trace foul roots back to the Starvampires!

mummies:
When the Starvampires attempted to turn Tlolkku captives into liches, mummies were the horrifying result. Basically becoming highly sentient zombies, the original mummies do NOT have phylacteries.

Any progeny sired by a mummy are zombies, not more mummies.

Only Tlolkku may become mummies. The Night Houses've considered the mummy project to be a dismal failure, so new mummies are made only on special demand.

zombies:
Zombies are created when vampire remnants infect non-Tlolkku. Ah, zombies: generic infectious mindless brain-eating undead hordes; what more need be said?

-//-\\-

The Tlolkku:
Tlolkku are the "root species" from which all Starvampires issue forth from. Tlolkku are the second-oldest sentient species in the multiverse and've mastered a great many forms of Demimachinery. Full information on the Tlolkku is found elsewhere.
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[Parallel-Earths]world-ending menaces (A-E)

Post by Hoid »

Earth-A world-ending threats: The undead.
Sargon the Reborn Death: The last undead god.
Crunch writeup:
PL17/550pp. The last remaining Vampiredeity, vastly reduced in power, Sargon illnieij Rgurugur was a young Starvampire when he entered his Genesis Pod. Upon emerging, however, Earth-A time travelers---the Four Lights!---poured on raw solar power. Of the 13 newly pupated undead gods, only Sargon survived...and even then, only barely.

Crawling away to a cave to finish dying, instead Sargon found salvation, in a most unexpected form. A so-called "traditional" vampire---from a world of shadows and supernatural conspiracies---saved Sargon's unlife and nursed him back to "health".

However, recovery was rough,and Sargon's infinite potential withered considerably. Again, despair might've overcome him, but Sargon's strange savior again came to the Vampiredeity's rescue. Binding the willing souls of the 12 dead Vampiredeities into twelve ritually-prepared stone knives, this dark voyager from another reality gave Sargon back a faded remnant of his lost potential.

But Vampiremasters, Vampirepriests and Vampireroyals arrogantly dismiss Sargon as a failure; thus, Sargon is unable to menace more than Earth-A...but only for now...

/-

Earth-B world-ending threats: Alien menaces and domestic apocalypses.
Our Father: Cybersoldier driven mad by the horrors of war.
Crunch writeup: Here!!!
PL13/262pp. Our Father is the uber-Sentry warlord of The Purity; Our Father went mad decades ago and now is more machine than human (explaining his vastly increased lifespan, among other things). Devoted to wiping out mutantkind---no matter the cost---Our Father also suffers from extreme delusions of grandeur.

Our Father was a janitor at a home for the mentally disabled and honestly enjoyed the work. After the institute was destroyed during the opening salvos of the Mutation Wars, Our Father signed up for active duty.

What he saw out there was barbarity on such a scope as to render any man speechless, most of it perpetrated by mundane humanity. His mind snapped, and Our Father became a fervent believer in the newly-developing 'philosophy' of Purity-through-Faith. Placeholder.

Phoenix-Praetorian Lil: The alien bountyhunter.
Crunch writeup:
A male imwid cybernetic soldier/intergalactic bounty-hunter. Dedicated to hunting THE greatest of game, Lil has come to Earth to bag some mutants...

Armed to the teeth with cutting edge imwid ultra weaponry and outfitted with cybernetics more advanced than any such to be found on Earth, Lil's greatest threat actually comes from position as Phoenix-Praetorian of the Beastguild. With nearly a million minions, ALL skilled in battle and armed just as well as he, Lil could personally order the death of every living thing on Earth...

/-

Earth-C world-ending threats:
Ereshkigal: Goddess of death.
Placeholder.

Nergal: God of disease.
Placeholder.

/-

Earth-D world-ending menaces:
Placeholder.

/-

Earth-E world-ending menaces:
Placeholder.

/-
Last edited by Hoid on Sat Nov 28, 2020 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hoid
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[Multiverse-wide]the Apkallu (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

Demons, Devils and Djinn: Spawn of the human psyche, unleashed on an unsuspecting multiverse.
There are no demons...or devils..or any "evil spirits" of any kind. However---a species of "transhumanist" psionic cybernetic ("psibernetic") aliens have taken up these images for their own sinister purposes.

"Evil spirits" are actually called the Apkallu, and're nearly as ancient as the Tlolkku. They learned how to fuse psionics and machinery and came to rule a small multiverse-wide empire. They and the Tlolkku were engaged in a millennia-long Cold War.

But...human imagination drew the Apkallu to investigate, and the psiborgs became infatuated with what they saw. They gleefully took up the mantle of "evil spirits", thinking it a grand game---

---then the stories they'd cloaked themselves in took over and, in a strange way, possessed them. Such was humanity's psychic potential that the Apkallu were now proverbial slaves to the mythology of demons and devils and djinn. The story they'd cloaked themselves in had consumed the Apkallu.

Apkallu, like Tlolkku and Starvampires, are originally from Earth-A. Now, however, they may be found just about everywhere!

-//-\\-

the Apkallu: The seed from which all deviltry springs.
Apkallu are winged, flight-capable humanoid aliens, with strength enough to rend stone. Apkallu themselves have no superpowers biologically, but via psychic cybernetics ("Psibernetics"), Apkallu have overcome this limitation. (In many ways this makes the Apkallu superior to their Tlolkku rivals.)

demons: Emotion run out of control.
Demon Apkallu have been seized by psychosis and hyperviolence, transformed into cosmic berserkers and wild savages. Placeholder.

Shaitan: Much-contested 'king' of the demon Apkallu 'faction'.
Crunch writeup:
PL12/191pp. Shaitan is the Apkallu-demon. Once an expert on fuelcell repair, after absorbing the memetic 'ideal' of the Christian Satan, Shaitan became a raging pyromaniac. He lives to set anything end everything aflame, and is covered in heinously awful burns as a result of this utter fire-mania.

Shaitan lives on Earth-C, posing as a death-god, in the prosperous (and ancient!) city of Catalhuyuk. Placeholder.

devils: Obsessive hierarchical dominance.
Devil Apkallu are consumed by the need to impose order, no matter the cost. This obsessive drive is really just another form of chaos, as it's always inconsistently enforced, wildly unfair and full of favoritism and tyrannical whimsy.

Iblis: Much-contested 'emperor' of the devil Apkallu 'faction'.
Crunch writeup:
PL9/120pp. Iblis is the Apkallu-devil. But, thanks to Timewardens interference, he suddenly is quite elderly, and now the vultures swirl, ready to pounce when the Old One finally dies...or so they think. Actually an insanely elaborate plot to lure out seditionists and malefactors from their places of power, conniving Iblis will, perhaps very soon, drown himself in the blood of his scheming underlings...!

Iblis lairs deep under the Antarctic iceshelf, on Earth-Z. Placeholder.

djinn: Cruelty, embodied.
For djinn-Apkallu, sadism is an artform and the infliction of pain a transcendent religious ecstasy. Subjecting both themselves AND others to horrifying mutilations, djinn-Apkallu are alien, implacable and without pity or remorse. Placeholder.

the Adversary: Uncontested 'prince' of the small-but-powerful djinn Apkallu 'faction'.
Crunch writeup:
PL12/199pp. The Adversary is the Apkallu-djinni. A flayed horror the Adversary no longer possesses the capacity for language. Silent as the grave, the Adversary only understands agony and the symphony of screams. It is implacable, literally feeding psychically off the suffering of others.... Placeholder.
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[Multiverse-wide]destiny and the Weavery (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

The Weavery: Destiny?
Most beings' lived were planned out long ago, according to the ancient schema known as the Weavery. This 'Weavery' is, for lack of a better term, 'destiny' and 'fate'. Most beings, sentient or otherwise, merely have the ILLUSION of free will, as it's all been planned out beforehand.

However...after 13 billion years, the Weavery has become dangerously unstable.

Who decides how the Weavery turns out?
He-who-is-now-Dead, of course! However, he's dead, NOT undead, and so no one is at the wheel. In life, the Worldfather was truly PLX; there was nothing he could not see or accomplish...so long as it was inside of his Forever Tree.

Though the truth may never be known, something delivered a fatal killing blow to the Worldfather, turning him into He-who-is-now-Dead. Now that he is a vast, cosmos-sized stinking corpse, no one is dictating how the Weavery turns out.

It's been running on autopilot, basically, for over 10 billion years...

How is the Weavery produced?
The Weavery, despite the name, is not some sort of divine fabric: indeed, it has no physical substance whatsoever. It is the subtlest of energies, so light as to be nonexistent, but so heavy as to be crushing.

But where does it come from? It comes from the Roothrone, a vast throne "underneath" the multiverse where the Worldfather once sat. Next to that Roothrone is a blind, deaf and dumb cosmic entity, chained and wordlessly singing out tomorrow. Lobotomized by the Worldfather and operating according to her last set of instructions, this nameless weaver is the stereotypical "blind idiot God".

What would happen if the Weavery stopped being sung forth?
Cause and effect would cease to exist; time would warp out of control; everything would slowly fall into a primordial soup.

Am I a slave to a predestined future?
No. A loophole in the Weavery (found and first exploited by the Solar Lion) states that imperiex, higher-order intelligences, cosmic beings and superheroes AND supervillains can make their own choices, irregardless of what the Weavery has in mind. Even "bad-ass normals" superheroes and supervillains possess this unique and potent feature. This unique ability forces the Weavery to readjust itself constantly, ever futilely searching for a way to hem in constant change.

/-

The Rootthrone: From here issues forth tomorrow and ever after...
What is the Rootthrone?
The former throne of He-who-is-now-Dead, the Rootthrone has been unoccupied for BILLIONS of years! Placeholder.

What lives down here?
The nameless cosmic entity that sings destiny out in an atonal drone is here, obviously, but so too are the Lamassu! Placeholder.

Who is The Meister? What are the Lamassu?
Placeholder.

/-

Time-related higher-order intelligences: Timewardens on steroids.
Placeholder.

Ouranous: The direction, the text and the illumination.
Originally from Earth-Z, Ouranous is the direction--- the arrow that unerringly leads time down one path---past, to present, to future.

A vast set of cosmic symbols in a vaguely serpentine outline, Ouranous is the text---by reading and somehow comprehending him, one may predict the future with absolute certainty.

A hungry living star as his brain makes Ouranous the illumination. To those standing in his radiance, thoughts may be heard and dreams may be physically entered and/or exited. Placeholder.

/-

Time-related cosmic entities: Localized time-gods...

the Frozen God: Time, brought to a sudden halt.
Native to Earth-N. Placeholder.

/-

Time Travel: Unmaking destiny?
Time travel is certainly possible and's been done many times on all 26 parallel-Earth's and all six Perpendiculars. However...it's not easy, and has MANY unintended consequences. The Weavery does not like time travel you see. Placeholder.

Marauders: Omnitemporal mercenaries.
Marauders are not a group so much as a generic classification: Marauders are time-traveling mercenaries, pure and simple. Going whenever and wherever they wish, these Marauders happily muck time up, for the right amount of money.

the Timewardens: Self-proclaimed 'guardians of time'."
The Timewardens are based out of Perpendicular-6, but are not themselves full-blooded Sunsphinx, rather being half-human hybrids. The Timewardns serve the Sunsphinx, albeit quasi-independently. The Timewardens are dealt with in considerably more detail elsewhere in this very thread...!
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[Multiverse-wide]Tlolkku technologies (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

Here are some of the day-to-day machines used by the Tlolkku, along with dark and sinister technologies traditionally forbidden from usage long ago:

Manysuns Adapter: Device 8 (Tlolkku power-ring; hard to lose; Feats: Variable Descriptor [varies by parallel-Earth {see below}]).
A typical item used by Tlolkku scout missionaries.
Powers:
Defensive Shapeshifting: Enhanced Combat: Defense +2. (4pp.) --- (5pp.)
AP: Adaptive Shapeshifting: Morph 4 (one male animal shape, one male humanoid shape, one female animal shape, one female humanoid shape). (1pp.)
Sealed Systems: Features 1 (user is immune to the deleterious effects of low-term zero-G exposure on biological bodies). (1pp.) Immunity 9 (full lifesupport). (9pp.) Sensory Shield 8 (sight, only). (8pp.) --- (18pp.)
A manysuns adapter is a Tlolkku-made power-ring that's powers vary depending on which parallel-Earth the wearer is currently in, and is a very diverse weapon for them.
Solar Wand: Device 6 (wand-shaped Tlolkku energy-manipulation weapon; easy to lose). (16pp.)
A commonplace Tlolkku 'firearm'.
Powers:
Concentrated Solaric Blade: Strike 4 (Flaws: Limited [lethal damage, only]). (4pp.)
Concentrated Solaric Blast: Blast 4 (Extras: Area [line]; Flaws: Limited [lethal damage, only]). (8pp.)
Distributed Solaric Blade: Strike 4 (Feats: Split-Attack; Flaws: Limited [non-lethal damage, only]). (5pp.)
Distributed Solaric Blast: Blast 4 (Extras: Area [line]; Feats: Split-Attack; Flaws: Limited [non-lethal damage, only]). (5pp.)
Solaric Shield: Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 6). (8pp.)
---/::This is a completed solar wand build.
A standard-issue Tlolkku weapon.
Starvampiric Formula:
A tincture made via the Inventor feat, this formula is outlawed throughout Tlolkku society, on pain of immediate execution...!
Powers:
Sunvampirism: Transform 10 (Tlolkku to generic Starvampire; Extras: Duration [continuous]; Flaws: Permanent). (61pp.)
---/::This is a completed Starvampirism formula build.
This Formula is the original bloodtechnology.
Sunmaul: Device 16 (solar-powered Tlolkku heavy-grade weapon; easy to lose; Feats: Restricted 2 [Tlolkku Juggernaut Corps], Summonable). (51pp.)
A big f*****g gun, indeed!
Powers:
Cosmic Gun: Blast 10 (kinetic railgun; Extras: Area [cone], Penetrating 5). (35pp.)
Cosmic Hammer: Strike 10 (Extras: Area [burst], Penetrating 5). (35pp.)
A big effing hammer! It IS, however, restricted to the Juggernaut Corps, a faction within the Tlolkku's small military devoted to the concept of 'maximum damage=maximum effectiveness.'
Sunplasmic Ring: Device 4 (light-manipulating Tlolkku power-ring; hard to use). (16pp.)
Tlolkku long ago learnt to channel raw sunplasm, a kind of dark matter that is what really fuels stars, galaxies---the entire universe!---and built things like this model of power-ring to safely access it, for a variety of purposes.
Powers:
Sunplasmbody, v1: Energy Aura 1 (solar luminosity/radiation). (4pp.)
Sunplasmbody, v2: Alternate Form 1 (miniature, living sun). (5pp.)
Sunplasm-Generation: Dazzle 1 (sight, only; Extras: Area [burst]). (3pp.) Features 1 (can act as a flashlight). (1pp.) Immunity 1 (solar radiation). (1pp.) --- (8pp.)
---/::This is a completed Sunplasm Ring build.
(Sunplasmbody, v2 build:
(Powers:
(A Deathly Star: Radiation Control 5 [Flaws: Tiring]. [5pp.]
(---/::This is a completed Sunplasmbody, v2 build.)
A standard-issue defensive weapon.
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[Multiverse-wide]Apkallu technologies (part 1)

Post by Hoid »

Here are just some of the horrifying technologies available to the twisted Apkallu:

Demonbinder Amulet: Device 1 (thoughtform-storing Apkallu pendant; easy to lose). (3pp.)
A demonbinder amulet is a very commonplace Device amongst the Apkallu-demons.
Powers:
Thoughtform Storage: Features 5 (can safely "store" up to five willing thoughtforms). (5pp.)
---/::This is a completed demonbinder amulet build.

Devilbinder Ring: Functionally identical to a demonbinder amulet, save in the shape of a low-tier power-ring. Apkallu-devils love these horrid witcheries.

Djinnbinder Lamp: Functionally identical to a demonbinder amulet, save in the shape of a stereotypical oil lamp from Arab folktales. Djinnbinder lamps are used pretty much solely by Apkallu-djinn.
These three Devices are basically evil-thoughtform-traps, and may be used to give enemies an EXTREMELY unpleasant surprise in battle.
a Gentlemanly and Civil Contractural Arrangement: Device 2 (a memetic 'contract' between one Apkallu and one non-Apkallu; hard to lose; Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 2 [only useable by one Apkallu and one non-Apkallu]). (11pp.)
These memetic documents are used solely by devil-Apkallu!
Powers:
Terms of the Contract: Mind Control 5 (Extras: No Saves; Flaws: Limited [one command: 'Obey and uphold the terms of this Contract'], Limited [only those who sign the Contract are bound]). (10pp.)
---/::This is a completed Gentlemanly and Civil Contractural Arrangement build.
A literal 'deal with the Devil'.
Hellscape-Generator: Device 5 (strangely reflective Apkallu glass sphere; easy to lose). (15pp.)
A hellscape-generator is one of the nastier 'toys' in the Apkallu arsenal...and it is also rare in that it's use transcends the three main Apkallu Courts.
Powers:
Helldiving: Super-Movement 2 (dimensional movement 2 [the Endless Road of Everfears]; Extras: Affects Others, Damaging; Flaws: Must Leave Physical Body Behind, Only Affects Others). (4pp.)
Hellscaping: Illusion 5 (all 5 senses; Flaws: Limited [horrific imagery, only]). (15pp.)
Hellsinging: Confuse 10 (Flaws: Check Required [Perform {singing}]). (5pp.)
AP: Hellwailing: Nauseate 10 (Flaws: Check Required [Perform {singing}]). (1pp.)
---/::This is a completed hellscape-generator build.
The Endless Road of Everfears is not a Resonance, per se, but a artificially-generated 'pocket-cosmos' spun out as needed by hellscape-generators---a world 'in potential'. The Endless Road of Everfears varies from hellscape-generator to hellscape-generator, but is always a terrifying quasi-realm that preys upon the weak points in others' psyches.

Apkallu of all three factions just love hellscape-generators!
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[Multiverse-wide]templates

Post by Hoid »

Multiversal Templates:
These templates are for entities that are multiversal in scope: dimensional travelers, certain alien races, higher-order intelligences, the Sunsphinx, and so on.

Generic Apkallu Template: Demons! And devils! Oh, my!
Though actually aliens, in a very real way Apkallu have become the celestial fiends of human mythology.
Attributes: (Demon-Apkallu, only) Strength +1. (1pp.)
Attributes: (Devil-Apkallu, only) Charisma +1. (1pp.)
Attributes: (Djinn-Apkallu, only) Dexterity +1. (1pp.)
Combat: (All three Apkallu-factions) n/a. (0pp.)
Saves: (All three Apkallu-factions) Toughness +2, Fortitude +1. (3pp.)
Feats: (All three Apkally-factions) Equipment 6 (various pieces of Apkallu technology [varying from Apkallu to Apkallu] 6), Fearsome Presence 3. (9pp.)
Skills: n/a. (0pp.)
Powers: (All three types of Apkallu.) (8pp.)
Genetically Engineered: Features 4 (can sleep standing up [Super-Senses 1 {danger-sense}], cast-iron stomach, gives off a faint glow, longevity). (4pp.) Immunity 4 (disease, toxins). (4pp.) --- (8pp.)
Powers: (Demon-Apkallu, only.)
All demon-Apkallu powers have the 'Telepathic' descriptor.
Powered by Hatred: Adrenal Surge 6 (Flaws: Medium [must be feeling intense hatred]). (3pp.)
Powers: (Devil-Apkallu, only.)
All devil-Apkallu powers have the 'Electromagnetism' descriptor.
Powered by Hubris: Mind Control 6 (Flaws: Limited [mundane humans, only], Sense-Dependent [hearing]). (3pp.)
Powers: (Djinn-Apkallu, only.)
All djinn-Apkallu powers have the 'Telepathic' descriptor.
Powered by Pain: Adrenal Surge 6 (Flaws: Medium [must be nearby to intense suffering]). (3pp.)
Drawbacks:
Total Template Cost (generic Apkallu): 21pp.
Total Template Cost (demon-Apkallu): 24pp.
Total Template Cost (devil-Apkallu): 24pp.
Total Template Cost (djinn-Apkallu): 24pp.
---/::These are completed generic Apkallu template builds.

/-

Generic Higher-Order Intelligence Template: The "average" multiversal cosmic entity.
Higher-order intelligences tend to have ridiculously high PLs and usually built on gigantic absurd numbers of points.
Attributes: Wisdom +12. (12pp.)
Combat: n/a. (0pp.)
Saves: Will +15. (15pp.)
Feats: Power Proxy (their designated Herald). (1pp.)
Skills: n/a. (0pp.)
Powers:
Cosmic Entity: Immortality. (5pp.) Immunity 17 (fatigue, full lifesupport, sleep). (17pp.)
Creating a Herald: Features 1 (can designate a single mortal as their Herald). (1pp.)
"Membership Card": Super-Movement 1 (dimensional movement 1 [the Great Grey Reading Room]). (2pp.)
Sublime Powers: Cosmic Energy Control 22 (choose at least 12 APs for an array; Feats: Variable Descriptor [any 'Energy']). (56pp.) Variable Power 6 (any number of powers at once of the 'Sublime Cosmic Might' descriptor; Feats: Variable Descriptor [any 'Energy']). (38pp.) --- (94pp.)
Drawbacks: n/a. (-0pp.)
Total Template Cost: 152pp.
Note: 'Power Proxy' is a feat from Mecha & Manga.
---/::This is a completed generic higher-order entity template build.

/-

Generic Human Nephilim Template: Seeing as how most nephilim come from human origins...!
Attributes: Strength +3, Dexterity +1, Constitution +2, Intelligence +1, Wisdom +2, Charisma +4. (13pp.)
Combat: n/a. (0pp.)
Saves: Fortitude +4, Will +1. (5pp.)
Feats: Attractive 1. (1pp.)
Skills: n/a. (0pp.)
Powers: (11pp.)
Divine Words and Holy Speech: Enhanced Feats: Animal Empathy, Machine Empathy, Plant Empathy, Thoughtform Empathy (Flaws: Noticeable [manifests as an aura of illegible script], Sense-Dependent [hearing]). (1pp.)
Nephilim: Density 2 (Feats: Innate; Flaws: Permanent). (5pp.) Growth 2 (Feats: Innate; Flaws: Permanent). (5pp.) --- (10pp.)
Drawbacks:
Total Template Cost: 30pp.
---/::This is a completed generic human nephilim template.

/-

Generic Sunsphinx Template: The "average" Space God.
Sunsphinx must be at least PL10, if not much much higher. Furthermore, 99% of all Sunsphinx have superpowers distinct from this template; the 1% that don't always have Devices and Gadgets to make up the slack.
Attributes: Charisma +2. (2pp.)
Combat: n/a. (0pp.)
Saves: Wil +2. (2pp.)
Feats: Eidetic Memory, Well-Informed. (2pp.)
Skills: n/a. (0pp.)
Powers: (48pp.)
Space God: Features 1 (temporal inertia). (1pp.) Immunity 10 (aging, full lifesupport). (10pp.) Immutable. (10pp.) --- (21pp.)
Your Prayers are Heard: Mind Reading 20 (Extras: Dimensional 26 [every single parallel-Earth]; Flaws: Medium [can only listen in on prayers made to Sunsphinx as a whole or THAT Sunsphinx, specifically]). (26pp.)
Drawbacks: n/a. (-0pp.)
Total Template Cost: 54pp.
---/::This is a completed generic Sunsphinx template build.

-//-\\-

Generic Sunsphinx Wargod Template: Cosmic soldiers.
The Wargods are Sunsphinx soldiers, and each possesses a 'signature weapon' of immense power unique to that particular soldier.

Take the generic Sunsphinx template and layer on the following:
Attributes: Strength +1, Dexterity +2, Constitution +2, Intelligence +2, Charisma +2. (+9.)
Combat: BAB melee +2/ranged +2, Defense +2. (+8.)
Saves:
Feats: Equipment 7 (comm badge 1, extensive suite of 'low-tech' [by Sunsphinx-standards!] combat-gear 5, medical kit 1), Teamwork. (+8.)
Skills:
Powers:
Signature Divine Weapon: Device 6 (unique weapon, totally different for each Wargod; easy to lose; Feats: Summonable). (19pp.)
Drawbacks:
Total Template Cost:

-//-\\-

Generic Sunsphinx Hundred-Handed One Template:
The Hundred-Handed Ones are not actually possessed of 100 arms; instead, it is a reference to this Sunsphinx sect's self-imposed mission: the creation of and maintenance of new breeds of superhuman.

This is a complex task requiring fully-equipped genelabs and artificial 'birthingtanks' to gestate cloned superhuman babies in. The Hundred-Handed Ones grow copies of individual supers of exceptional note and rear them to adulthood on Aeion, in Perpendicular-6. Should these clones' root-stock be destroyed, the clones can theoretically 'jumpstart' their brand of superhumanity back to life!

Take the generic Sunsphinx template, and layer on the following:
Attributes:
Combat:
Saves:
Feats:
Skills:
Powers:
DNA-Sculpting: Life Control 4. (+4pp.) Shapeshift 1 (Extras: Affects Others; Flaws: Additional Save [Will], Only Affects Others). (+8pp.)
Drawbacks:
Total Template Cost:

/-

Generic Tlolkku Template: Space-manipulators and science-crazed knowledge-seekers.
Tlolkku never have 'superpower'-superpowers, instead, they have cybernetics, Devices, Gadgets and genegineered Minions/Sidekicks.
Attributes: Intelligence +8, Wisdom +2, Charisma -2. (8pp.)
Combat: n/a. (0pp.)
Saves: Reflex +1, Will +1. (2pp.)
Feats: Dedicated 1 (to the acquisition of knowledge), Eidetic Memory, Equipment 10 (laboratory-on-starsails 10 [HQ/vehicle]), Improvised Tools, Inventor. (14pp.)
Skills: n/a. (0pp.)
Powers:
Agile Tails: Additional Limbs 2 (3 prehensile tails). (2pp.)
Genetically "Perfected": Features 1 (will ALWAYS be tip-top physical condition, irregardless of diet, excercise and so on). (1pp.) Immunity 3 (aging, cold temperatures, hot temperatures). (3pp.) --- (4pp.)
Omnitool Swarm: Gadgets 2 (nano-assembler clouds; easy to lose; Extras: Area [burst]). (14pp.)
Winged and Able to Fly: Flight 2 (Drawbacks: Power Loss [-1pp; if wings're bound]). (3pp.)
Drawbacks:
Total Template Cost: 47pp.
Notes: "Dedicated" is a feat from Mecha & Manga.
---/::This is a completed generic Tlolkku template build.

/-
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