Operation of Parallel Worlds
The Torus
is a spiral of infinite iterations of the planet Earth, set in such a
way within the multiverse that these worlds cannot interact with each
other, let alone allow their inhabitants any awareness of parallel
counterparts, or the Torus even existing. The distinct barriers between
worlds is what provides the Torus both order and stability, but at
some point a godlike being actually breached the divide, threatening a
domino effect that could topple the whole spiral, starting with a
single event: the societal and material collapse of one particular
Earth.
With this potential disaster looming close at hand, a supremely powerful, near omniscient force known as Pyranoscope
arrived to intervene, either drawn by the collapsing timeline or
birthed by the Torus itself. Since Pyranoscope is an incoporeal being
with no physical bearing on the worlds, it made use of its "heart"—an
endlessly burning core of ether, or the energy of everything—to create the first Liminal Room. This vessel,
in the guise of a plain white twelve-by-twelve foot space, was used to
take someone capable of stopping the catastrophe from an entirely
different world and bring them over to the one at stake. The transport
caused some friction in the rift of awareness, but the only alternative
option would have been altering the problem Earth's population of their
imminent doom, likely expediting the process in doing so.
However,
despite working hard alongside the man who caused these problems,
Pyranoscope failed to rescue his world, and the extinction of its
denizens did indeed resound and shake the Torus in every way possible.
Rather than abandon the endangered worlds altogether, Pyranoscope
constructed even more Rooms and trapped the souls of dead sinners
inside them for use as maintenance workers, or Chamberlains. The
first official Chamberlain was the man who caused his world's
downfall, being forced to repair billions of unstable worlds in the
Torus to atone for indirectly killing off the planet's billions of
inhabitants.
As
of now, hundreds upon thousands of Liminal Rooms have entered
existence, using both the Chamberlains, who cannot directly manipulate
timelines, and foreigners from different worlds as "anchors", called Missionaries,
to prevent the collapse of these other worlds. The instability spreads
like a virus across the innumerable Earths, but there's no other
choice but to act, since the collapse of the Torus may very well tear a
hole in the fabric of reality, altering the entire multiverse for the
worst. And no one wants that to happen.
Liminal Rooms
The Rooms are essentially vessels of transport between the parallel worlds, each maintained by a Chamberlain–the soul of a “sinner” forced into service as penitence. This is where new Missionaries will find themselves before arriving in the world they must save.Known Rooms: Room One (Chamberlain - Samson Aster); Room Zero (Chamberlain - Remiel Bain)Because the Chamberlains have been removed so long from the flow of time, the worlds no longer recognize them as "human", and any changes they attempt to make are gradually undone. Missionaries are required to stay in the world long enough to become a fixture in its society, ensuring their actions become fully solidified in history even after leaving.
Pyranoscope
The closest known being to that which humans call "God", Pyranoscope is the omnipotent, omniscient driving force behind the Liminal Rooms, working to salvage the unstable parallel worlds created by a thoughtless Godtype. It employs “Missionaries” from other worlds and assigns them tasks calculated to prevent each world’s destruction. May or may not fuel its power by burning the souls of the damned for all eternity.Human Categories
Godtypes
Godtypes, commonly regarded as a race of ascended humans, or perhaps otherworld beings in mortal guise, are in short “gods on earth.” They are effectively ageless, impervious to injury, and often the possessors of miraculous powers. Despite being almost completely invulnerable to physical attack, a clash between Godtypes wielding soul-forged weapons inevitably leads to bloodshed. Due to the divine nature of this conflict, any god slain by another god is able to regenerate within roughly the span of a month, perhaps even a week based on the animosity between combatants.The only known way to humanly kill a Godtype for good is to break them mentally and cause them to wish for death, before dealing a decisive strike through any of the body’s usual vital points (head, chest, viscera and so on). And though they can live for hundreds upon thousands of years, Godtypes may willingly depart permanently if they fade too far into obscurity, or find themselves with no further purpose on Earth.
Notable Godtypes
Ricia Fraga (domain: resurrection), Fulcanelli Paramirum (alchemy), Veer Thakur (warfare), Ark Townsend, Remiel Bain (second sight), Samael Bain (formerly healing)
Remnants
When the world faced a possible extinction of the gods, a small faction of Godtypes aided humanity in finding a way to replace them. A team led by Godtype Ark Townsend found a solution with the creation of Remnants, a hybrid between god and man, named for the manner of its conception, which involved combining eight fragments of power from different gods into one being.Thaumaturge / "Thauma"
[thaw-muh-turge; thaw-muh]A Thaumaturge is a mortal capable of using magic, or Thaumaturgy as it’s called—the making of miracles. Only those with the purest intentions among otherwise ordinary people are granted the capacity to channel ether (divine air) from the atmosphere and thus make wishes to the world, and then see them answered. It is far more likely for Thaumas to appear in worlds inhabited by Godtypes, who basically generate ether with their bodies.
Notable Thaumas
Eon Harken, Thanatas Kraisorn, Mercy Mendoza (alternate worlds only), Hugo Lôi, Reynaud de Vaux
Dead Ringer
A term used for people who share the same appearance across parallel worlds, originally coined by a Chamberlain and used almost exclusively by agents of Pyranoscope. Past observations suggest that faces are often recycled across time and space, although Dead Ringers are not considered to be the same individual.Notable Dead Ringers
Sovran de Vaux and Sachiel Bain; Eon Harken and Eden Harper
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