The Dimensional Federation

In the beginning, the very beginning, there was only chaos. Time and existence had no meaning, for there was no one - no thing - to perceive them.

And then, after an eternity that lasted an instant, across a nowhere that was everywhere, there was Concept.

Concept was, at first, unaware that anything had changed. It had no awareness. It was nothing more than an idea - the idea that there could be ideas.

But Concept could not perceive ideas. There was no concept except Concept. Had there been anyone capable of observing, they would notice no change for the next immediate eternity.

Then Concept reproduced.

Its first children were Identity, Awareness, Consciousness, Knowledge, Time, and Existence. Now Concept knew what it was, knew that it was.

It also knew that there was nowhere for it to be.

Another infinite moment passed, and there was a new child.

Its name was Universe.

---

Eternities had passed since then. Countless universes had formed from the chaos. Concept and its children flowed through them all, and between them all. In their wake, they left passages through the boundless chaos, pathways from one universe to another.

And now, again, something had changed. Something as imperceptible and significant as the genesis of Concept itself.

Life had found the pathways. Life had discovered that there was more than one Universe.

---

Generations had passed since the Pathways were discovered. Pathwalking was now more common, and more dangerous, than ever.

The Pathways were used to wage war, to find underdeveloped worlds and claim their resources; in some cases, the Pathwalkers simply visited a new world, unprepared for them, to cause chaos.

All were unchecked, until the Federation was formed.

Representatives of thousands of worlds cooperated to create its headquarters. Worlds of magic, of high technology, worlds unremarkable in either practice, even worlds of gods.

Working together, they created a universe. One that could attach itself to any Pathway, or block itself off. They began training agents to subdue abusive Pathfinders, investigate anomalies, and learn more about the nature of the Multiverse that surrounded all the Universes.

They are the Dimensional Federation. And they are hiring.

SpoilerShow

So the basic idea for this is like the Lifter's Paradox: other people provide characters and settings, and I do the actual writing. However, rather than a battle, this is going to be more along the lines of Gemgark or Santinal; it's a small group venturing out into the unknown.

So basically, toss me characters and settings; go into detail if you want, but you can also give me a vague description and let me do whatever with them. And, of course, your characters could turn out to be antagonists or have other roles in the story. Nothing concrete is planned yet regarding the plot, I'll work with whatever ideas I get from everyone's submissions.

I think that's about it; let me know if you have any questions.

Truthspring 4K8
(Serial No. TS4K8100018)

Marketing Blurb: Truthspring units are renowned the worlds over for spreading the Word of Concept, and the 4K8s are the best version yet. With 40% more computational capacity, they can interpret the Word better than ever, interpreting in seconds passages that used to take monks years just to comprehend. The Truthspring 4K8: Spread the Word.

Unit History:
- 4008: Purchased by government of Matchbook Colony.
- 4009: Rescued by fire brigade from Matchbook Colony Town Chambers. Determined not to be cause of colony-wide fire.
- 4010: Repaired in accordance with church warranty policy, resold to Marinos Undersea Laboratory.
- 4013: Rescued by fire brigade from Marinos Undersea Laboratory. Determined not to be cause of laboratory fire.
- 4014: Repaired in accordance with church warranty policy, resold to Dimensional Federation.
- 4017: Rescued by diplomats from Dimensional Federation policy meeting. Determined to have only minor impact on Federation inefficiency.
- 4017: Tuned up, returned to Dimensional Federation.

Maintenance Notes:
- 4010 (Smith-Thomson, hardware): The unit's essential systems were repaired or replaced (the warranty does not cover upgrades to 4K10-model parts, so stored 4K8 parts were used), the minor fire damage to its chassis was not covered by warranty. The minor disruption in its vocal systems did not prevent the unit from working, so it was therefore not covered by the warranty.
- 4010 (Venna, software): The unit shows a distinct preference for the earlier, more... fatalistic passages of the Word. It's not the most tactful unit around, but since it never disagrees with or violates the Word, there's officially no breach of acceptable personality variation there. Only routine cache-clearing was performed.
- 4014 (Smith-Thomson, hardware): The unit's essential systems were repaired or replaced (the warranty does not cover upgrades to 4K14-model parts, so necessary replacements were re-fabricated to 4K8 specifications). Because the fire damage to the unit's chassis couldn't be distinguished from previously-present fire damage, the warranty could not be applied. The unit's vocal unit was scratchy at best, but it was still understandable (though it could've been re-used to narrate Noir films, since it sounded like someone who'd smoked four packs a day for years on end), so the warranty did not apply.
- 4014 (Venna, software): The unit's set a new benchmark for the cynicism section of the personality analysis, and its logs indicate that its sarcasm subroutines are among its most accessed. It's got practically no restraint as far as speaking its mind goes, but I haven't been able to catch it out on violating the Word. It'll go so far as to take two seemingly-conflicting passages to within centimeters of contradiction, but it won't ever actually cross the line.
- 4017 (Al-Coolidge, hardware): Strictly speaking, there were no in-warranty tasks to perform (and even if there were, we don't exactly keep parts around for models this old). The client was heavily recommended to get the nearly-malfunctioning vocal systems replaced, but they didn't want to pay.
- 4017 (Venna, software): The unit's slightly more cheery than the last time I saw it, but it seems that that's all at the expense of the people it's advising. It characterizes them mostly as "bureaucratic damned politicians" and seems to derive great satisfaction from annoying them solely by operating within its bounds. It seems to have taken a liking to me, explaining that it doesn't mind "decent, hardworking people". It is, evidently, the "presumptuous jackasses" irritate it and deserve endless sarcasm.

YOU ARE INVITED

To Jack Jared Jayscones Fun-Time Birthday Picnic!!!

REMINDER: JJJ IS NOT A SUPERHERO AND IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY SUPERHEROS OR SUPERVILLAINS. HE IS A COMPLETELY NORMAL HUMAN WHO ASSOCIATES WITH NORMAL HUMANS ONLY0

The Fun-Time Birthday Picnic will be ALL DAY, THIS SATURDAY, at Hydiopro City Park!

THERE WILL BE FUN!!! AWESOME THINGS!!! AND NO SUPERHEROS!

SpoilerShow

round idea: picnic where virtually everyone is secretly a super hero/villain

Chapter #411010
The Iconoclast
The Destroyer. The Corruptor. The Saint.

A man of an incredibly suspicious nature. He dresses formally and monochromatically - suspenders, tie, dress shirt. His arms are covered in watches of various shapes, size, and material. Each watch tells a different time from another but never the correct one. From his arms, strings with baubles hang in various lengths and loops. The baubles are made of cheap silver. They serve no purpose or have no value. His voice is quiet. His movement is rigid, almost robotic but not a robot.

He wears a fairly substantial trenchcoat like a cloak. The coat is tattered and covered in papers of propaganda nature. The coat is worn in such a way that the face is obscured no matter which angle and distance. What remains exposed is the mouth. The mouth is small. The mouth is remarkably insidious.

He is shrewd but venomous. He is polite but foul-mouthed - though he retains the latter in spirit of the former. He is indifferent to beings but will speak when spoken to. He is indifferent for a goal consumes his mind and life. He is on a single-man and single-minded quest to deliver justice. To set right what was wrong. For eternity is sullied by the marks of corruption - every inorganic atom, every biological follicle, every fiber of existence. Reality is sick and he must cure it by all means necessary. Especially by all means necessary.

So he goes on his holy crusade. Despite his noble intentions, his actions pervert the ideal he stands for. He foments strife. He organizes violence. He purges order from people's hearts and in the void, he sows chaos. His closemindedness and carelessness guarantees his plans to fail more than they succeed but not before making kingdoms fall and cities decay.

He brings great change for he is the Iconoclast. None shall stand in his way. For those who stand in his way are even more corrupt than those who shun his presence. As such, he shall purge them from these folly. His methods are not by sword or hand, but rather by rope, the strings hanging from his very arms. He shall tie them, strangle them. Releasing their life and breath from others is the only method he deems fit for their purification.

His plans are often resisted for he brings change, but never the change people wants. He had been mortally wounded many times. His anatomy rend to pieces. His frail body containing not flesh and blood. He is filled with liquid that is black and foul-smelling, reminding and having properties of petroleum. He is filled with intestines - emaciated and stringy like dead plants. He is filled with metal-pieces are same as the metal baubles that hang from his arms though stained with the filth of his vital fluids. Despite each injury, each end. Despite being a mere man, he somehow manages to recover.

Just in time for another revolution.