The Paradox War

Posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2017 at 19:27

This page is background and source material for T13. As such it will contain information that includes Spoilers, especially of my books, and the adventures there in.

The Omniverse of T13 was created by a Chronoclysmic time paradox that was the end result of the Paradox War (see Chronoclysm). The war itself was fought between universes and along timestreams by the Norridus Network and the Rebel Eusaiveans. Both sides recruited Agents and Warriors from every historical era and across multiple timelines. Following the creation of the Omniverse the Paradox War was preserved within the fabric of the Omniverse, overseen by an aspect of the Prime Anomaly. A reasonably complete record of the original Paradox War can be found in my Paradox War trilogy (and the forth-coming Paradox Warriors series).

Wyrd

Wyrd is an aspect of the Prime Anomaly compounded with the Secondary and Tertiary Anomalies and one instance of Norridi, the Eusaivean Machine-God. Wyrd oversees history, determines what is, or is not, the history of the Omniverse. However, the Prime Anomaly has made this task impossible, by design. She grants free-will and luck (combined in the Facet of Liberty) to all sentients in the Omniverse, including her own servants and aspects.

This keeps the Wyrd very busy, watching history, the present and future to constantly balance and adjust the Omniverse. The universe that was designated Terminal Thirteen during the Paradox War is considered the keystone universe of the Omniverse. As long as its history remains intact the Omniverse remains intact.

The Fae

The Fae are the dreams and servants of Wyrd. They have the Parliament of Time where sit the Lords Temporal, who decide history (or at least interpret Wyrd’s will into Orders to their footsoldiers and agents).

The Fae use all manners of troops and beings to keep history on track, including having set up SCAM (before it was hijacked).

Lords (and Ladies) Temporal

While they meet in the Parliament of Time (The Court Eternal and The Court Ephemeral), each Lord Temporal has a personal era that they oversee and an army they keep there. These armies are usually lead by a Fae Noble (although commoners have risen to the task — and at least once a mortal). The Fae are still found to be Seelie and Unseelie, and the two courts exist in a state of tension or heightened aggression, depending upon recent politics. Lords Temporal often battle for control of their era between courts, but usually without significant disruption to the time-line. The Fae are most likely to alter the world in people’s memories and perceptions to maintain the order of the Omniverse. They use magic and illusions as often as Yarn to achieve their goals, and enjoy most when they can achieve their goals with nothing more than a few well chosen words.

Special Committee for Aoristic Management

SCAM was set up as a mortal quango of the Parliament of Time. They were tasked to manage mortal history (to ensure the existence of the Eelafin initially). The Committee quickly went rogue (during their first millenia), and was removed from the Parliament of Time’s power structure. They serve their own goals in history, which are mainly regarding the preservation of mortal knowledge and access to magic (or the Nullite systems of the Prime Anomaly).

They recruit Eelafin and powerful Mages throughout time to further the committee’s goals and act as their eyes and ears through time. Although active in the Terminal Thirteen time-line SCAM has long since based their operations in worlds with more obvious magic, with their current HQ being in the “Regina Venefica” universe. SCAM records indicate that they periodically create these magickal worlds to act as a focal point for their recruitment.

Terminal Thirteen

For the most part the Paradox War does not affect Terminal Thirteen and its history directly, but instead plays around the edges, altering the histories of nearby worlds. But occasionally universes that are similar enough will merge, perhaps just leaving a few Mercari who dimly remember what is now a false history. 

These changes are policed by a number of agencies within Terminal Thirteen.

The Eusaivean Temporal Navy

Various Operations in history using technology tracking vessels (so the vessel only reveals technologies and abilities a few decades in advance of human technology of the era) or advanced Femite or Nullite technologies.

Dinosaiveans

The Dinosaiveans reside in Deep Eusaiph, far below the Earth’s surface. They do engage in temporal operations, but largely concern themselves only with Global threats and their own historical preservation and investigation. Dinosaivean protocols appear to be that any temporal agent is accompanied by a local agent. Both agents are from the same agency (that has a 200 million year history by the time it’s records were handed to the Council of Kronos.

Project Bootstrap

Used to accelerate progress of Eusaivean technology by using looped development manhours, usually by altering history through UFO crashes. Officially the Project has been terminated, but because of previous active missions and temporal mechanics it is actually active.

Occasionally Project Bootstrap and the Temporal Protection Service run into each other directly. TPS has override authority, but Project Bootstrap has seniority and priority in some cases. This can lead to inter-departmental temporal conflicts and ret-con memos.

Temporal Protection Service

Most of the Temporal Navy is pressed into service with the TPS. They are tasked with preserving the history of the world to secure the creation of Eusaiph and the Machine-God Norridi. TPS also investigate Paradox and Glitch events in the timeline, to make sure they are not Temporal incursions. The TPS use advanced Femite technologies, Eusaivean Nanotech and even some Nullite technologies.

The TPS usually refers to the troops as Paradox Warriors, they are usually Femite Toons that resemble their original body. Only the Paradox Warriors mind is recruited to serve usually, although a few are recruited mind and body due to unique circumstances.

Rebel Eusaiveans

There are several groups of Eusaiveans (& Dinosaiveans) who refuse to submit to Norridi’s leadership (for a number of reasons). These groups usually create adjunct universes that they can operate out of. The Norridus Network usually uses the TPS to shutdown these adjunct time-lines, but it is often a losing battle trying to shut them all down. Rebels usually have access to similar technologies to the TPS, but often have radically different social organisations and training.

The Aryan Star Brotherhood

These Rebel Eusaiveans have altered their genetic structure to remove elements that they see as ‘sub-optimal’. Due to the nature of their particular ‘infection’ they favour certain mutations that favour light skin, blond hair and blue eyes. To humans with similar traits they claim universal brotherhood, those that do not sharethese traits are, at best, ignored or overlooked, at worst they are destroyed on sight.

Headhackers

These Rebels believe that Eusaiveans are part of the system, and that they have as much right to hack and alter the data found there as any other data in a computer. Their unique beliefs are actually little more than a society based on the dubious tactics used by Project Bootstrap during the war. They tend to be the least organised of all the Rebel groups, often having little more communications than some convenient dropboxes that they use to pass messages (which are often the minds of specific, but unimportant people). The dropboxes aren’t usually aware of these messages or the people that leave or retrieve them. Although, they may notice episodes of missing time, amnesia, hallucinations, false or dual memories, or dissociative personality disorders.

The Red

The Red are a group of Rebels that believe in removing their individual intellects and instead sharing their experiences between their collective. All experiences are owned (and remebered) by the collective with a memory sharing system that extends out of Eusaivean Social Media protocols. Philosophically and politically the Red are effectively communistic. All the Red are The Red, and call each other Comrade-sibling. They do maintain individual personalities somewhat, but they share so much it makes them all very similar. Meeting one of the Red is a lot like meeting another, they are not very unique creatures. But are focused on collective survival rather than individual egos. The Red believe that they can perfect a group Ego that they will all share, that will be able to control and replace individual Norridi within the Norridus Network.

The Council of Kronos

Operating from a distant future that still includes Norridi in Temporal decision-making regarding ‘True’ History. Little is known about the Council earlier in the time-line but they rarely conflict with either the TPS or Dinosaveans. They generally use a single agent to investigate or rectify a situation. These agents are usually Grand Mercari or Solos.

The Chronomasters

Little is known about the group, but they are recognised by a distinctive temporal footprint. They create fortress eras. Solidified, armoured periods of time and space, that they don’t allow time-travel into. When this era ends the location is left with little history from within the era. Although occasionally artifacts will be left that point towards a more sophisticated technology than would be expected in that time.

This activity while occasionally disruptive to an individual mission usually has no lasting impact upon the time-line. Although it is believed that Chronomasters and SCAM have some on going conflicts in peripheral worlds.

Vorgue Monopoly

A self-perpetuating corporate universe, that seems to branch from the T13 universe sometime in the period of the Prime Anomaly’s initial mortal existence. Sometime in the late Twentieth century, or early Twenty-first, the Vorgue Industrial Corporate is created. They go on to dominate all aspects of that universe. Creating a dystopian corporate hegemony that exemplifies capitalist bureaucracy and purchased control.

Every aspect of life in the Monopoly is controlled by the corporation. From Birth™ to Death® almost every citizen is an employee. There are a few pockets of freedom, a few planets that are considered to worthless for the Corporation to exploit. It is there that you find , clinging to existence, a few individuals, or small societies, that live off the grid from the Corporation’s control.

Within the Monopoly competition stems from different branches and divisions of the Corporation. Research and Development might hold the balance of power on their laboratory worlds, elsewhere they are lucky to hold offices on a Manufacturing world. The Monopoly has a Temporal Engineering Department who participate in the Paradox War, their plan seems to be to schism off a divergent stream from their history and then merge that divergent stream into T13 to establish a presence in that reality. The problem being that the Monopoly and the Nihonese Empire are not truly compatible, which would reduce the Monopoly to just another Corporation in the T13 universe.

Kirk Of Death

Part of the Vorgue Monopoly Universe, the Kirk is actually more active in the T13 universe than the Monopoly itself. They had already established themselves by the time the TPS even identified their existence. Their simplistic religion worships the idea of a “Good Death” which is attended by the Personification of Death to act as a Psychopomp taking the soul on to it’s final destination. 

The Kirk does not concern itself with the nature of the final destination or whether souls are reborn (since they are actually taken to Shades to make Mot more powerful, holding together his great Castle of Obsidian and Bone). Mot, the Demon Prince sends at least a Death Goblin to every Kirk members death to take the soul and bring it across to Shades. The ‘victim’ is usually the only one who can see the Death, although that is something the Deaths learnt later, early on they showed themselves to everyone present.