The Dimensional Federation
03-05-2013, 04:09 AM
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.
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.
Spoiler