"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." --Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Here's the CS for you to use!
I also made a faction skeleton for those of you who want to go freelance!
Search For The Multiverse is a semi-serious crossover RP based around three massive factions (plus a lot of smaller ones) competing against one another to control the multiverse.
I'll play the part of the world around you and a number of NPCs. If you so choose, you can play as both a major player character and any NPCs you want. For the most part, I won't push a storyline, but the RP does have a major objective. The story is driven by you!
The Background
The multiverse. Composed of an infinite amount of infinitely-large spaces known as 'universes', even the logically impossible is within the realm of reason. Stacked like tins of sardines, the barrier between each universe and its neighbor was thin as gossamer but stronger than any material known to man. For billions of years, contact between universes was strictly theoretical-- that is, until the multiverse rather suddenly opened itself up. This event is known as The Unveiling.
The Players
Three major factions formed in the aftermath of The Unveiling, each based entirely around how they choose to interact with the multiverse. You can feel free to make your own!
The Dunkelzahn Institute
An organization centered largely around peaceful observation and manipulation, agents of the Dunkelzahn Institute spend most of their time in primitive societies, happily guiding them to a better future. Once they have developed the necessary culture and technology to survive in the wild blue yonder of the greater Multiverse. Once this point is reached, the Institute reveals itself to them, and warmly welcomes them into their extensive empire.
Agents of the Institute are notorious for their exceptional adaptability.
The Sentient Milieu
Unlike the Institute, the Sentient Milieu has no qualms about revealing themselves to other universes. Instead, the Sentient Milieu firmly believes that the path to true happiness lies in taking and propagating any useful resources and technologies as soon as they're found. The Milieu will gladly share what they've found-- for the right price.
Agents of the Sentient Milieu are notorious for their nigh-on inexhaustible resources.
The Order of Imacculate Reality
A bizarre cross between The Institute's protectiveness and The Milieu's refusal to hide themselves, The Order is dedicated to ensuring the sanctity of each universe's narrative. It is well known to all multiversal travelers that other universes are clearly represented through works of "fiction". The Order believes that what is depicted in these works is what every universe it depicts should be. To The Order, 'canon' is the ultimate state of being, and anything that deviates from it (be they outside forces or the effects alternate realities) must be carefully excised. The Order is both the most militant and the most helpful of all factions, and happily consider themselves to be the custodians of all causality.
Agents of The Order are notorious for their extensive knowledge of the universe they are working in.
The Plot
The ultimate goal of all these factions is to find and reach the single most valuable treasure in the multiverse: The Set Of All Sets.
In an infinitely long procession of random variables, anything is possible. A universe comprised entirely of hydrogen is astronomically unlikely, but in the Set Of All Sets, it is practically guaranteed. The Set Of All Sets is the commonly-accepted name amongst multiversal travelers for a theoretical cluster of universes, each one made entirely out of a single object. Hydrogen, Gold, Ununpentium, Water, Steel, Promethium, even abstract concepts could be found in literally infinite amounts, waiting to be harvested. Control over even one of these universes would afford the faction controlling it unlimited power, and control over all of them would be greater still. Perhaps there's something even more valuable at the center of the Set Of All Sets... perhaps it's the center of the multiverse, the key to controlling all reality.
Despite clear evidence to the existence of the Set Of All Sets, no one has ever managed to breach the intense barrier protecting it. It appears that the Set Of All Sets is protected by, as luck would have it, a sheer wall of universes comprised of nothing but antimatter. Even a split second of exposure to one of these universes would spell doom for any would-be explorers and their home base, planet, and solar system. For this exact reason, any attempts to breach the Set Of All Sets are treated as capital offenses, and only done in extremely special circumstances.
There is a way to bypass the antimatter barrier, but it will take significant effort. Anyone interested in reaching the center of the Set Of All Sets will need a vessel equipped with barriers strong enough to block all foreign matter that the subatomic level, a transportation method strong enough to mimic a Stepper Box twice over, and an onboard intelligence smart enough to navigate through expanses of solid matter packed atom-to-atom.
Though The Institute, The Milieu, and The Order are interested in their own battles, they are each feverishly pursuing a way to breach the Set Of All Sets. The race to the core of the Set Of All Sets is about to begin.
Too Long, Didn't Read?
- The multiverse is friggin' huge, and the only way to travel between universes is via small, simple gewgaws known as Stepper Boxes.
- At the supposed center of the multiverse is a cluster of universes made of nothing but one type of matter. At the center of that may be the key to controlling all of reality.
- There are three factions. One likes to subtly guide people into the multiverse, one likes to improve the lives of everyone within their control, and one seeks to preserve the original, ideal state of each universe.
