Idea at a glance:
The story centers around a group of teenage heroes and villains who have been kidnapped from different universes by forces loyal to the Beyonder, an extra-dimensional entity who is hunting for someone known as the Cosmic Traveler. This person is said to have the power to cross the Multiverse without a Quantum Shift Drive, and it is theorized that the Beyonder must seek to use this ability to reach some location he can’t get to otherwise.
The Cosmic Traveler has unknowingly left behind remnants of their Traveler Aura upon people they were in close contact with, marked as Traveler Candidates by the Beyonder. Furthermore, when the Traveler first manifested their powers, it sent ripples through the Spacetime Continuum, an event which was detected by the Beyonder. Through this, he was able to deduce it was a young child tampering with the barriers between universes, and once he finally managed to gain corporeal form years later, he concluded the Traveler must now be in their late teens.
A variant of Ultron and his assimilated Sentinels loyal to the Beyonder have been commanded to seek out Candidates across the Multiverse within the specified age group (teenagers 15-19). They are captured and placed in cryogenic stasis aboard various prison ships made from the remnants of dead Celestials until an Inquisitor can perform a Soulgaze upon the Candidates.
Traveler Candidates who are discovered but fall outside the designated age group - or those who have been Soulgazed and shown to NOT be the Cosmic Traveler - are no longer considered Candidates and are sent to a place called Battleworld. Here, they are forced to participate in constant warfare while drones absorb Life Energy shed during the conflicts, which the Beyonder requires to maintain physical form in the Material Plane. It is theorized that the location he seeks has the key to attaining a permanent corporeal body.
A deeper dive:
So, to start, our teenage characters are aboard the Arishem-Exar (one of the prison ships made from remnants of dead Celestials), and they are released from cryogenic stasis to be ushered before one of the Beyonder's Inquisitors, who is arriving shortly. Then a variant of Doctor Strange (similar to Defender Strange from Multiverse of Madness) breaks into the ship and frees them, and they flee on a modified Quinjet equipped with a Quantum Shift Drive.
Strange explains the full scope of the situation to the confused teens, who only remember being pursued and captured by Sentinels before everything went dark. They hop to a distant universe and hide on a Dungeons & Dragons-like fantasy version of Earth, as the potent magical energies in the atmosphere will help mask their Traveler Auras. Unbeknownst to most of them, however, the actual Cosmic Traveler - America Chavez - is among their group. She suppressed her Aura to match the other Candidates when she was captured, and was hoping to fool the Inquisitor as well. She holds a deep-seeded guilt for everything her existence has wrought, but is terrified to reveal her true identity. For simplicity's sake, we'll say people were only touched by her Aura when she was younger, before she learned to properly control her powers. Thus, it's been a considerable amount of time since our characters encountered her, and at first glance they likely won't recognize some random girl they passed by a few years ago.
Doctor Strange discovers the truth relatively quickly and reveals it to our characters, and they pledge to defend America until the Beyonder can be defeated. They embark on a number of quests on this fantasy Earth to gather magical artifacts that can cloak their Auras off-world, with the ultimate goal of sneaking onto Battleworld. But, of course, events rarely go according to plan.
I’m not planning a rock-solid narrative for what happens, but rather going with the flow and seeing where it takes us. The road to Battleworld will be a long one, with many stops along the way. Once the characters have arrived there, the RP will enter its endgame, with a definitive conclusion following the final confrontation with the Beyonder. If there is interest and we’re still having fun, we could prolong the RP beyond the Secret Wars saga, but I don’t want to think about anything beyond it until we get close to the end.
I’d love to hear your ideas!
Characters Claimed
Doctor Strange: Played by me, as an NPC of sorts. He is pulled into the conflict when his apprentice is kidnapped by the Sentinels.
Teddy Altman/Kid Hulk: Played by me, a variant who is the son of Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers and received Skrull DNA from a blood magic healing spell when he was a toddler. His powers first appeared when he was 13, causing his skin, hair, and eyes to turn permanently green (similar to Beast Boy from Young Justice). He went to train with Doctor Strange, becoming his apprentice in the hopes of learning to control his powers. Upon pestering his mentor, he was given a glamour ring to look normal again when desired.
America Chavez: Played by me, very similar to her MCU counterpart.
Loki Laufeyson: Played by me, a teenage variant who aged like a human and thought he was one until very recently, when his sealed powers were released for the first time. He was raised in London but kept his birth name.
Wiccan: Played by Crimson Flame, details and images not yet solidified.
Speed: Played by Crimson Flame, details and images not yet solidified.
(Will update roster as new people join)
We’ll use colors for various character dialogues, with Khaki designated for all NPCs, including Doctor Strange. I'm claiming LimeGreen for Teddy, LightSteelBlue for America, and YellowGreen for Loki.
