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Apr 27, 2012 8:14:36 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on Apr 27, 2012 8:14:36 GMT -5
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May 5, 2012 16:39:25 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on May 5, 2012 16:39:25 GMT -5
THE PROTECTORS
The second oldest metahuman team, the Protectors were founded in New York the late 1960s due to concern that the Argonauts were too concerned with battling world-spanning threats and not with protecting the ordinary people of their city. The Protectors have evolved in a number of different directions over the years, from “non-team” to formally structured group, from independent operators to government agents, and everywhere in between. They have often strayed from their founding concept of defending the ordinary people of New York, and just as often re-founded and re-dedicated the team for that end. It is currently operating as a loosely organized but coherent group, with decent informal relations with the government, and primarily dedicated to protecting New York but also branching out to occasionally take on larger scale menaces.
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May 12, 2012 23:08:25 GMT -5
Post by gamedave on May 12, 2012 23:08:25 GMT -5
PARALLEL WORLDS
An infinite number of worlds exist in parallel to our own, each with its own history and physical laws. Some are quite similar to our own, others...not so much. The average person in the Edge!verse has probably heard of the idea of parallel worlds (Champion claims to be from one), but doesn't known anything about them. In fact, most people don't really believe in such things - but members of the metahuman community tend to know better.
Among those who are knowledgeable in such matters, the following terms are commonly used.
EARTH PRIME "Earth Prime" is the term used to refer to the "mainstream" world of the Edge!verse.
EARTH X "Earth X" is a term used to refer generically to an alternate reality which is basically similar to "Earth Prime", but with some difference that has created an alternate history. These are also often referred to as alternate Earths and "the Infinite Earths." Some "Earths X" are virtually indistinguishable from Earth Prime, but others have wildly variant histories. Earths X which have been encountered include one ruled by victorious Nazis and their Nordic gods, one ruled by an immortal Ghengis Khan and his Golden Horde using alien technology, and one populated by intelligent, semi-humanoid talking ducks.
THE NIGHTSIDE Originally thought to be a particularly odd "Earth X", the Nightside is now thought to be a parallel with an undetermined relationship to Earth Prime. The Nightside appears to be a world that exists in eternal twilight, with no indication that it is a planet in a universe as natives of Earth Prime would understand it. It is a mix of vast wastelands, and dystopian megalopolises.
The natives are similar to Earth Prime humans, but tend to be taller and more slender, with uniformly black hair and skin tones ranging from stark white to dark gray. Their civilization consists of what a native of Earth Prime might consider a mixture of Gothic, steam-punk, noir, and Art Deco elements.
The Nightside seems to "overlap" Earth Prime in some way, such that it is possible, under the right conditions, to wander from Earth Prime to the Nightside without realizing it. Most famously, in 1998, Nightside's largest city, Night City, permanently overlapped a region of central Kansas. After tense negotiations, the area is now treated by the U.S. government as a foreign, sovereign state. Although travel is tightly controlled, a limited tourist trade has sprung up in both directions.
THE REALM The Realm is a parallel world in which many of Earth Prime's myths, legends, and fairy tales are real. It has a culture which resembles a mix of elements from European history and folklore, particularly the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Knights in gleaming armor quest against evil wizards and foul dragons, elves cavort in the forests, faeries flit about in the glens, and trolls lurk under every bridge.
THE SEA OF DREAMS As the name implies, the parallel world known as the Sea of Dreams seems to in some way overlap with the dreams of the inhabitants of Earth Prime. A few talented individuals are able to dream themselves into this world, while others have actually physically crossed over. The Sea of Dreams is also sometimes known as "Mirror World", as it in some ways resembles a distorted mirror reflection of Earth Prime, and has been accessed by some travelers by passing through a mirror.
The Sea of Dreams is as difficult to describe in words as a particularly strange and beautiful dream would be. It seems to consist of relatively sold pockets of "land" amid an endless pearl-bright sea. The inhabitants range from the seemingly human to bizarre phantasmagoria that strain human imagination. The natives seem to exist in a permanent emotional state ranging from languor to torpor. The material culture seems to consist mainly of unearthly and ephemeral crystalline substances with a marked tendency to effervesce and sublimate.
Unlike many parallel worlds, the Sea of Dreams does seem to exist in a planetary system similar to Earth's solar system. However, it is somehow possible to sail the interplanetary void as if it were an extension of the sea, and reach the Sea of Dreams equivalents of the Moon, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and possibly other celestial bodies. These other "planets" resemble their Prime equivalents in some respects, but are utterly different in others. "Dream Mars", for example, is a barren, red desert world. But is also has an extensive canal network serving a decadent, dying civilization of humanoids.
THE WILDERVERSE The Wilderverse is a parallel world which includes flora and fauna from various periods in Earth's past. It is a wild and seemingly ecologically impossible mix of Pleistocene megafauna, Mesozoic dinosaurs, Paleozoic oddities, and creatures not known to have ever existed on Earth.
Portals to the Wilderverse, which open intermittently, have been found in isolated plateaus in South America and Central Africa, in a hidden valley in the Himalayas, near both poles, on several remote Pacific islands, and in several deep cavern systems. It is only recently that it has been realized that the Wilderverse is actually a parallel world. Previously, it was believed by those who had passed through the portals that the bizarre ecosystems they encountered were actually physically in those locations, isolated by simple geographic remoteness.
It is known as the Wilderverse both due to the fact that it is an archetypal wilderness, and that its most famous explorers have been members of the Wilder family.
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