8FOLD/META: Your Guide to the Pulse War, v 1.2 - June 2023 (1/2)
From
Amabel Holland@21:1/5 to
All on Mon Jun 5 13:29:16 2023
YOUR GUIDE TO THE PULSE WAR
v. 1.2 – June 2023
Revisions since 1.1
III.1, III.5, IV.3, V.1-8, VI
- Added details from Daylighters # 7-12
- Added details from Mancers # 9-14
- Added details from Brave New World
0. A NOTE ON SPOILERS
This document contains spoilers throughout for Pulse War Era stories
in the Eightfold Universe up until the date of posting.
I. EIGHTFOLD CHRONOLOGY
Unlike many superhero shared universes, Eightfold does not utilize a
sliding timescale. Without having to worry about sales and
merchandising, we hobbyists have the freedom to allow our characters
to age, change, retire, and die. That doesn't mean that they
necessarily do this "in real time" - with rare exceptions, almost all
Eightfold stories take place in the recent past, sometimes several
years before the publication of the story. Nowhere is this more
apparent than the arc comprised by JOLT CITY # 18 - 23, which all took
place in 2008, but was published sporadically from 2009 through 2015.
At that rate of course I would have chronicled story year 2009 by the
end of 2021, 2010 by 2027, and so on - no longer writing stories of
the recent past, but full-blown period pieces. My solution was to jump
ahead, and to cluster stories together into eras. The stories that
began in 2005 (both in-story and publication-wise) and ended in 2008 (story-wise) make up the first era. The first stories of the second
era - the Pulse War era - take place in 2013, and then stretch into
2014, 2015, and 2016. When the story of that conflict is concluded,
I'll likely jump ahead again to somewhen closer to whenever it is in
real time that I'm writing.
This isn't an exact science of course - there are plenty of stories
that take place before 2005 (which for the sake of brevity I will
refer to as "first era" stories), and a handful that take place
between the two eras. And the label of "era" to the 2005-2008 stories
is retroactive and haphazard, encompassing a number of unrelated
plotlines and characters, with nothing like the relative cohesiveness
of the ongoing Pulse War storyline.
I say "relative" because many of these plot threads have yet to tie
into the larger conflict, and some of them, quite deliberately, will
remain tangential to the "main" storyline. In that way, while there's
one big story, it's not just one big story, but several stories that
can also stand more-or-less on their own, with different tones,
themes, twists, and characters.
The purpose of this document is to lay out the chronology of the
conflict and the era, so as to orient new and returning readers, and
to place the various stories and their peoples into context. It will
also assist me in keeping things organized, so as to avoid as much as
possible the dropping of threads. This is an evolving document, which
will be updated and posted sporadically - usually before a new series
or story arc.
II. ANTEBELLUM
Though the Pulse War is a distinct era of continuity, it does build on
concepts and storylines that predate it - that is, on stories from the
first era. This section summarizes those concepts, and refers the
reader to first era stories that may be of interest.
II.1 Dread Venus and the Lullaby
The planet Venus is home to eldritch abominations, feared throughout
the cosmos. Earth's proximity to Venus puts it on a multiversal
fault-line - it's the point in the Eightfold Universe where the
barriers between alternate realities is its weakest, and the only
place where passing through the boundaries between one universe and
another can be done reliably. These walls are their weakest during the
Transit of Venus - when Venus can be seen from Earth crossing the sun.
As revealed during the Pulse War era, "in time before time" Earth's
proximity of Venus allowed certain individuals to be conduits for
Venus's eldritch forces, and to use magic. A complex weave of spells
called "The Lullaby" was cast to put Venus to sleep, greatly thinning
the ranks of magic users. Venus remains asleep until the Pulse War
begins.
The First Era stories that most directly reference Venus are the two
ORPHANS OF MARS miniseries. This is also the place that introduces the
sword Thirteen, an important mystical artifact that begins the Pulse
War era disguised as an umbrella in the possession of Rainshade.
II.2 The Dyzen'thari Invasion
The Dyzen'thari are extra-dimensional many-tentacled beings that
vibrate empathically. In late 2008, a worldwide panic instigated by
the body terrorist organization FEVER caused the Dyzen'thari of Fear
to break through the walls of space and time, attacking all points of
the timestream simultaneously. The invasion was halted through the
combined efforts of Knockout Mouse and Dr. Metronome II, but in the
process the city of Las Vegas was destroyed, with appalling
casualties. [JOLT CITY # 22-23, MIGHTY MEDLEY # 1]
The invasion of the Dyzen'thari fatally weakened the walls of reality
- this would have devastating effects in the pages of MANCERS and the
RED HART, and would serve as the real impetus for the Pulse's
declaration of war against the Earth.
II.3 FEVER
FEVER is a decentralized terrorist organization without any apparent
political goals or ethos. During the First Era, their modus operandi
was to covertly install "body control" devices in seemingly random
people. When switched on, these implants allowed members of FEVER to
control the bodies of their victims. Because the technology rerouted
the body's functions remotely to another person's brain, it took a
toll on the bodies, resulting in death within hours or days. Many of
these implants were installed years in advance, and it was the
revelation that potentially hundreds of people across the globe might
be unwitting sleeper agents that contributed to the worldwide fear
event that FEVER instituted with the explicit goal of allowing the
Dyzen'thari into our universe. [JOLT CITY # 21 - 23]
The leader of FEVER, Caracalla, is secretly Anders Cradle, the head of
Cradle Industries (later Cradle Tech) and the son of the original
Green Knight. This is especially problematic because Cradle Tech
provides much of the funding and technological support for the
Daylighters, a superhero "team" that was founded specifically to
defeat FEVER.
II.4 The Daylighters
During the First Era, superheroes in America were tolerated,
sanctioned, or disavowed on a case-by-case basis, with some teams -
such as the Seven Wonders - being funded by (and in some ways
answerable to) the United States government. These official teams were
often underfunded, as the increasingly cosmic threats to the earth
began to require bigger and bigger budgets. Political and
inter-departmental rivalries often prevented effective coordination,
resulting in avoidable tragedies such as the destruction of much of
Jolt City [JOLT CITY # 19].
The brainchild of Derek Mason (Blue Boxer), the Daylighters is a
decentralized superhero team - a loose and international "social
network" of adventurers meant to be more flexible and less expensive
than a traditional fixed-roster team.
III. CHRONOLOGY
III.1 Timeline
There are two ways to organize the individual stories that make up the
Pulse War era - publication order and timeline order. "Publication
order" refers to the order in which the stories were published, while
"timeline order" refers to the order in which those stories take
place.
The publication order - indicated by the "PW" suffix appended to each
issue and listed in section VI - is the intended reading order for
these stories. Plot elements and "twists" are sometimes introduced in
one story or arc, and then expanded upon in a subsequent publication
that, chronologically-speaking, takes place before the introductory
story, thus providing additional context. For example, in the
DARKHORSE miniseries, Rainshade makes her initial heel turn; in the
first MANCERS arc, which largely takes place before the DARKHORSE
mini, we get a somewhat deeper understanding of her motives. Some
events in MANCERS are given additional context in DAYLIGHTERS, which
happens somewhat concurrently. Reading the stories in "timeline order"
inverts this - it explains the twist before the reader has a chance to experience it.
The purpose of providing this timeline is to allow the reader to more
readily see how the pieces fit together, and to place each piece in
the proper context.
NOV 2013
Red Hart # 1-9
- The god-flood is unleashed
- Return & defeat of the Never-Lord
- Birth of Monad
- The Pulse Collective plans for war
APR 2014
Journey Into # 18
- The Pulse declares war on Earth
- Seven Wonders disbands
MAY 2014
Nonfiction # 3
- "The Last Story" meme goes viral
AUG 2014
Mighty Medley # 16
- First attack on earth
- Kate Morgan lost between worlds
- Gorgon destroyed
- Birth of Medusa
- Venus awakens
- Galadriel throws meteor at Venus
- Kaiju emerge
- Magic returns to earth
OCT 2014
Nonfiction # 5
- Julie Ann Justice blamed for the war
Journey Into # 24-25
- Earth allies itself with Kyklokos
- Knockout Mouse becomes the vessel
for the Paradox Heart
Pulse War Special # 1
- [reserved]
DEC 2014
Mancers # 1-5
- Maile Akaka joins the secret circle
Darkhorse # 1-9
- Kate Morgan rescued
- Cal Morgan becomes the Mighty Inch
- Kate Morgan mind-wiped by Rainshade
- Darkhorse gathers allies from multiverse
Mancers # 6-7
- Sarah Avery joins the secret circle
- The Liekes von Rijn are separated
Daylighters # 1-5
- Pam Bierce (Loop) reemerges
- Death of Microdot
- Creation of splinter-Medusa
- Discovery of the Broken Earth
- Awareness of a "Paradox Heart"
- Rainshade acquires the second Thirteen
JAN 2015
Mancers # 8
- Lydia Black killed
- Rainshade head of HR for The Company
- David Collins regains his memories
- David Collins given the original Thirteen
- Trevor Jeffries revealed as robot
Daylighters # 6
- FEVER gains access to Medusa network
- Darkhorse quits the Daylighters
Mancers # 9-11
- Messages passed through the Liekes
- David Collins resurrects the necromancer
FEB 2015
Pulse War Special # 1
- [reserved]
Mancers # 12
- Circle reunites with David Collins
Daylighters # 7-10
- Kate Morgan trapped in mirror, learns magic
- Rainshade impersonates Kate
- Cal Morgan learns of FEVER's Medusa backdoor
- False military intel "leaked" to Pulse
Mancers # 13/Daylighters # 11
- Cal Morgan assists the secret circle
Daylighters # 12/Brave New World
- Daylighters and secret circle join forces
- Death of Anders Cradle
- End of FEVER
Mancers # 14
- Temporary truce between circle & The Company
MAR 2015
Pulse War Special # 2
- [reserved]
APR 2015
Cal Plus Raidne # 1-4
- [reserved]
Reign Morgana # 1-5
- [reserved]
Pulse War Special # 3
- [reserved]
MAY 2015
Cal Plus Raidne # 5
- [reserved]
JUNE 2015
Necromancer Saga #1-5
- [reserved]
Pulse War Special # 4
- [reserved]
JULY 2015
Cal Plus Raidne # 5
- [reserved]
III.2 Casus Belli
The god-flood - also called the god-sea - is a cosmic force of pure annihilation that not only destroys matter, but wipes it completely
from the timestream. Since the dawn of time, it has been held at bay
by a "cosmic dam". The Dyzen'thari invasion of 2008 sufficiently
weakened the walls of space-time to open a crack in the dam five years
later, allowing the god-flood to escape.
The god-flood poses an existential threat to the universe. One ancient
prophecy suggested that the god-flood could be defeated by awakening
Awides, a ravenous and sentient death-moon, and another foretold the
return of the Red Hart, an ancient and wild forest god, and his evil
uncle, the Never-Lord. Each of these "saviors" could themselves result
in the end of all existence. The gods of algebra - Octonion and his
son Sedenion - each preferred a different prophecy, and so heaped
"doom upon doom". All of these threats save one were defeated in turn
- until only the question of the god-flood remained unanswered.
The Pulse Collective has its own solution: divert the flow of the
god-flood into another universe through the fault-lines in reality
that exist on earth. This would necessitate the conquest of the earth,
and not entirely incidentally, this would then give the Pulse access
to the multiverse, allowing them to build an endless empire spanning
all realities. Those are the twin goals of the Pulse: to save the
universe, and to conquer the universes that are parallel to this one.
But this second motive in particular would not be well-received by
other space civilizations, nor by many of the literally hundreds of
planets and species that make up the Pulse Collective - the Pulse
needed some pretext, however flimsy, to justify a declaration of war.
To that end, they contrive to make contact with Tina Wazowie, an
uncouth earth musician, and invited her to attend and address a
quasi-sacred ceremony - the Celestial Council of the Countless, held
once every ten thousand years - as earth's official representative.
The expectation is that she would cause some kind of incident. Through
a series of mishaps, her place was taken by Max Lang (Human Zeppelin),
who was an even less appropriate candidate, and who managed to gravely
insult the assembly, giving the Pulse the pretext they needed to
declare a sacred war.
III.3 "The Last Story"
Prior to the official declaration, the Pulse through its agents on
earth planted an idea and manufactured its meme-like spread. This
idea, called "The Last Story", noted that existential threats to
earth, such as alien invasions, were becoming more frequent, and the
earth's escapes from destruction increasingly desperate and
hard-fought. Eventually, several existential crises would occur
simultaneously, overwhelming the earth, and that would be its last
story.
On August 25, 2014, that theory seemed to be coming true. The body
terrorist group FEVER unleashed a virus that made those it infected
insanely violent; the Gorgon took down communications across the
globe; the reality warper Gregory Dingham had returned to earth; alien paratroopers landed in Beijing; a group of mancers finally unraveled
the Lullaby, awakening Venus; giant monsters emerged from the ocean,
ravaging the coasts and moving inland.
In reality, these were not separate existential threats - not a
perfect storm - but coordinated assaults engineered by the Pulse
through an alien psionic network. The Daylighters realized that "The
Last Story" meme had been planted by the Pulse to prevent the earth
from connecting the dots. But once Derek Mason (Blue Boxer) connected
them, the earth was able to disrupt the alien psionic network and to
survive the Pulse's first attack despite taking heavy casualties
around the globe.
III.4 The Lull
Previous alien invasions of the earth had been conducted by "universal
locusts" - species that move from planet to planet after exhausting
all available resources, and that put everything into a single attack.
The Pulse was different: a sophisticated and technologically-advanced
imperial power with seemingly unlimited resources and patience. During
"The Last Story", they displayed only a fraction of their power. Earth
began preparing its defense for a second attack, and looked for a way
to launch a counter-offensive.
It also had to deal with a world that was radically changed. Giant
monsters still roamed the earth, though now at least they seemed to be
fighting each other. With the destruction of the Lullaby, there was an exponential explosion in the world's population of "mancers" - human
conduits for dangerous Venusian magic. The eldritch gods of Venus had
been gravely wounded during "The Last Story" in battle with the
psionic hero Galadriel, but even so they began to gather their
strength. The Pulse's ground forces, seemingly abandoned by their
masters, still held territory in China. The terrorist organization
FEVER was still at large, and apparently they were in the employ of
The Pulse, leaving the question of who else might be acting as their
agents.
Meanwhile, traveling in space, Julie Ann Justice and Bethany Clayton
(Knockout Mouse) went on a months-long diplomatic mission, attempting
to win allies for the earth. Only one such power would dare to oppose
the Pulse - the despotic hellscape of Kyklokos, the system that
circles the Vampire Sun. This empire, ruled by the cosmic war-god
Maledux, were the ones responsible for the destruction of Julie Ann's
homeworld of Vanirron, but could provide the earth with the
space-faring technology it would need to fight back. Maledux attempted
to corrupt Bethany, but this corruption was mitigated by the
intervention of Monad, resulting in Bethany becoming the vessel for
the Paradox Heart - all of which Bethany was unaware. From Monad,
Julie Ann and Bethany would discover the true motivations behind the
Pulse's declaration of war. Armed with this knowledge, Melody Mapp
(Darkhorse) convinced various peoples throughout the multiverse of the
threat posed to all of them by the Pulse, forming a coalition.
The Earth built two "defense station" satellites in space, the Prolix
and the Alpen, armed with dangerous solar cannons. Before these bases
were fully operational, the Pulse infiltrated the Prolix via a species
of parasitic alien wasps, resulting in the death of the heroine
Microdot. A mission to retake the Prolix was launched. Initially, this
mission was a failure, and the Prolix was destroyed - with the
mission's team aboard - by the Alpen's solar cannons.
This tragedy led to a series of events that resulted in a 2017 where
most of the earth's population has died, the rest living in
catastrophic misery. Realizing that this "broken future" could not be
fixed, the Rainshade of 2017 sent herself briefly back in time to warn
the 2014 Rainshade, leaving behind a copy of the ancient Martian sword
Thirteen and a cryptic warning about a "Paradox Heart". Instead of
destroying the Prolix, Rainshade used the magical power of the two
Thirteens to turn the tide of the battle for the Prolix in earth's
favor.
In the aftermath of this, Rainshade pushed to install a secret
backdoor for the Medusa network – which she knew gave access to Medusa
to FEVER, a terrorist subsidiary of The Company. Cal Morgan's instance
of Medusa – later called Raidne - was cut off from the network during
the battle for the Prolix, and becomes aware of the backdoor. She and
Cal begin to secretly investigate the backdoor and its suspected links
to FEVER.
III.5 Brave New World
Kate Morgan investigated the disappearance of Trinity Tran, coming
dangerously close to revealing the existence of The Company. Rainshade intercepted her, trapping Kate in a mirror and impersonating her while apparently furthering the goals of FEVER and The Company. Kate spends
two years behind the mirror, though only a few weeks passes in
reality; during this time, she teaches herself magic so that she can
learn to free herself.
Cal's investigation brings her into contact with the secret circle, a
group of anti-Company mancers who are independently looking into the
links between Cradle Tech and The Company. FEVER uses the Medusa
backdoor to give bodily control of the Medusa-linked Daylighters to
the insane A.I. Hotspur, in a bid to wipe out the world's costumed
adventurers. Kate Morgan uses magic to reach out to the secret circle,
and they join forces with a small team of non-controlled Daylighters
to defeat this threat.
FEVER is ended, and its leader, Anders Cradle, is killed by Maile
Akaka of the secret circle. Rainshade's ally Trinity Tran uses this to discredit FEVER's backers within The Company, consolidating power
under her own faction.
The conflict leaves the Daylighters reeling from casualties and
without funding. Founder Derek Mason is grievously injured and steps
down, yielding leadership to Bethany Clayton (Knockout Mouse).
III.6 Belden's Betrayal
[reserved]
IV. A WAR ON MULTIPLE FRONTS
IV.1 The War in Space
Perhaps the biggest logistical challenge facing our small blue planet
is the persecution of a war in outer space against a vast and ancient
empire that spans hundreds of planets and several star systems, and to defending against attacks from the same.
IV.2 The Midnight War (TRUCE)
The midnight war is a secret magical war that has been fought on earth
for countless generations. One side, now called The Company, worships
the great old ones of Venus, and wishes the earth to be subjugated,
scoured, and ultimately destroyed by their eldritch overlords. They
are opposed by the secret circle, who seek to end the threat of Venus,
and with it, their own magical abilities. Playing against these two
factions is "the blue lady", whose agents work to ensure that the
midnight war will never end - a dangerous balancing act. One of these
agents, Claire Belden (Rainshade) has been placed with The Company,
and in her superheroic identity hides the existence of the midnight
war and The Company from the Daylighters.
Complicating things is the necromancer – an existential threat not
only to life on Earth, but to the gods of Venus as well. A temporary
truce is called between the circle and The Company while the
necromancer remains.
IV.3 The War on Body Terror [WON]
The dreaded terrorist organization FEVER is now known to have been
working for the Pulse. It was funded by Cradle Tech, which itself was
owned by The Company.
Cradle Tech also provided much of the funding and tech support for the Daylighters, who were unaware of the corporation's ties to FEVER, and
who dismissed the existence of The Company as a fringe conspiracy
theory. Both areas of ignorance are maintained in part due to the
efforts of Claire Belden (Rainshade), as part of complicated
maneuvering to bring the Daylighters and the secret circle together so
that they could end FEVER.
IV.4 War of the Monsters
Beasts the size of skyscrapers attack earth's cities seemingly at
random. They are fought by smaller monsters whose allegiances and
motives are unknown.
IV.5 The War to Save the Universe
Slowly and inexorably, the god-sea spreads throughout the universe,
erasing matter from time, space, and memory - threatening to sweep
over the entire universe.
IV.6 The War to Save the Future
An event in the near future - involving something called the Paradox
Heart - will result in a "broken future": a dystopian hellscape beyond
repair with billions dead. No one knows that this Paradox Heart beats
within Bethany Clayton (Knockout Mouse). The only way to save the
future is to prevent it from happening in the first place. A future
version of Rainshade jumped briefly into the past to warn herself of
the coming crisis, leaving behind that future's version of the sword
Thirteen. Once that Thirteen disappears, the dark future will have
been averted.
The Daylighters believe that Julie Ann Justice - who first encountered
a Paradox Heart decades before - is the key to saving the future, but
in actuality it is Cal Morgan, the Mighty Inch. Complicating matters
is the fact that time itself doesn't much care for being changed, and
takes aggressive steps to course-correct.
V. DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Within each category, entries are arranged alphabetically by surname,
except for those individuals who have a costumed alias.
V.1 The Daylighters
The Daylighters' "roster" encompasses a large number of
loosely-connected individuals - many more than just those listed here.
Some of these connections are looser than others; for example, retired
hero turned educator John Danisee probably wouldn't identify himself
as a "member" of the Daylighters, but he helped facilitate
communication and coordination during The Last Story, and so is placed
in this group.
Blue Boxer (Derek Mason)
BORN: 1989 SPECIES: Human
Accident-prone gadgeteer who has largely retired from field work to
concentrate on logistics, management, and big picture solutions. The
founder of the Daylighters, now disgraced.
Carronade (Quincy Gorman)
BORN: 2008 SPECIES: A.I.
Heavily-armed and armored machine body housing a child's consciousness.
Cascade (Kumari Starshell)
BORN: 1985 SPECIES: Lemurian/Human
Aquamancer. Half-human Queen of Lemuria. Secretly allied with
RAINSHADE and the "blue lady".
Darkhorse (Melody Mapp)
BORN: 1994 SPECIES: Human
Super-competent super-speedster and multiversal tourist. The third to
use the name. Good friends with SHIMMER and KNOCKOUT MOUSE. Dating
SIMON MORGAN.
Fahrenheit Man (Peter Sampson)
BORN: 1982 SPECIES: Human
Generates and controls flames, which also allows him to fly for
reasons? Square jaw. Former member of the Seven Wonders. Engaged to
TINA WAZOWIE.
Featherweight (Kelly Chen)
BORN: 1986 SPECIES: Human
Makes objects weightless with a touch. Professor of quantum
linguistics. Female civilian identity, male superhero.
Galadriel (Muriel Muunokhoi)
BORN: 1961 SPECIES: Human
Possesses psionic, telepathic, and psychokinetic abilities at powerful
levels and interplanetary range, able to go toe-to-toe with the elder
gods of Venus. Retired from active heroing. Teaches psionics at
Burlington College. Dating LIGHT EAGLE.
Human Zeppelin (Max Lang)
BORN: 1982 SPECIES: Human
Able to inflate his body, becoming lighter than air and invulnerable.
Former member of the Seven Wonders. Married to JULIE ANN JUSTICE.
Julie Ann Justice
BORN: 1978 SPECIES: Vanirron
Last survivor of her home planet. Super-strong, able to fly and to
withstand the vacuum of space, nigh-invulnerable. One of the most
experienced heroines still active, she led the Seven Wonders in its
last and greatest incarnation. Married to HUMAN ZEPPELIN.
Klutz (Jonah Jacobs)
BORN: 1989 SPECIES: Human
Catastrophic probability manipulation (bad luck). Boyfriend of SHIMMER.
Knockout Mouse (Bethany Clayton)
BORN: 1983 SPECIES: Human
Possesses the Singularity Gauntlet, which allows her to control the
density of her fist. Popular heroine, uncomfortable with her level of celebrity. Good at leading teams in the field. Best friends with
SHIMMER. Used to date BLUE BOXER. Host of the Paradox Heart.
Light Eagle (John Danisee)
BORN: 1965 SPECIES: Human
Mid-level psionic and retired hero. Counselor and fill-in psionics
teacher at Burlington College. Dating GALADRIEL.
Lobsterman
BORN: 1970 SPECIES: Monster
Super-strong monster. Ex-villain serving time in prison, assisting the Daylighters on work release.
Loop (Pam Bierce)
BORN: 1984 SPECIES: Human
Chronomancer. Presumed dead in the 2008 Dyzen'thari attack, reemerged
in late 2014.
Medusa (network)
BORN: 2014 SPECIES: A.I.
Benevolent artificial intelligence network made up of separate
self-evolving instances. Radical offshoot of the homicidal GORGON.
Microdot (Dorothy Jones)
BORN: 1986 SPECIES: Human
Deceased. Shrinking superheroine and film buff. Sacrificed herself
after being infected with an alien parasite.
Mighty Inch (Cal Morgan)
BORN: 1997 SPECIES: Human
Permanently miniaturized. Has a strained relationship with their
siblings, SHIMMER and SIMON MORGAN. Romantically involved with RAIDNE.
Raidne
BORN: 2014 SPECIES: A.I.
An instance of Medusa assigned to THE MIGHTY INCH that is disconnected
from the larger network. The INCH's lover.
Rainshade (Claire Belden)
BORN: 1984 SPECIES: Human
Metamancer. The team's resident mystical expert, she used this
position to hide the existence of The Company. Was romantically
involved with BLUE BOXER. Sister of DAVID COLLINS. Her betrayals
revealed, she has disappeared.
Shimmer (Kate Morgan)
BORN: 1985 SPECIES: Human
Able to phase through solid matter, and recently began to learn some
sorcery. Best friends with KNOCKOUT MOUSE. Sister of SIMON MORGAN and
THE MIGHTY INCH, who she raised.
Strikeout (Dan Washburn)
BORN: 1988 SPECIES: Human
Throws objects with great speed, force, and accuracy. Baseball-themed
hero who doesn't particularly like baseball.
Tina Wazowie
BORN: 1983 SPECIES: Human
Ice powers. The "Polish Princess of Punk Rock", for whom superheroics
is a lark. Engaged to FAHRENHEIT MAN.
Violinista (Rosa Rojas)
BORN: 1995 SPECIES: Human
Sonic manipulation. Musical prodigy and concert violinist.
Virginia Creeper (Mark Sandrine)
BORN: 1992 SPECIES: Plant
Prehensile vines. Photosynthetic herbaceous lifeform.
Zip (Ghedi Dirie)
BORN: 1998 SPECIES: Human
Teleporter and word-traveler. Often gathers together and transports
teams assembled for specific missions.
V.2 The secret circle
Maile Akaka
BORN: 1995 SPECIES: Human
Aeromancer. Formerly the Company's best and most ruthless assassin,
her memories were wiped and she was captured by the enemy, who sought
to convince her that she was in actuality a member of the secret
circle. The truth is that she wanted to defect and had her own
memories wiped so that she could do so without them getting
suspicious. Romantically involved with PILL GARCIA.
Sarah Avery
BORN: 1990 SPECIES: Human
Evocamancer and engineer, uncomfortable with her demon-summoning
abilities and reluctant to take part in the midnight war. Allied with
the circle as a matter of circumstance.
Azabeth Collins
BORN: 1978 SPECIES: Human
Oneiromancer. Wife of DAVID COLLINS and true leader of the circle, who communicates with its members through dreams.
David Collins
BORN: 1984 SPECIES: Human
Mnemonomancer. Husband of AZABETH COLLINS, he went deep undercover
within The Company, wiping even his own memories, where he had a
relationship with TRINITY TRAN. After The Company discovered his true
identity, his sister RAINSHADE faked his death and gave him the sword
Thirteen. In the process of regaining his memories, he inadvertently resurrected the necromancer.
Pilar "Pill" Garcia
BORN: 1981 SPECIES: Human
Collector of mystical artifacts, temporarily aligned with the circle
while they fight the necromancer. Romantically involved with MAILE
AKAKA.
Trevor Jeffries
BORN: ???? SPECIES: Robot
Robot masquerading as a human and mekhanomancer. His true identity has
recently been discovered, as well as his manufacturer - Cradle Tech, a subsidiary of The Company.
June Lash
BORN: 1968 SPECIES: Human
Ailuromancer; spymaster and chef for the circle. Prefers the company
of books to people, and of cats to books.
Lieke van Rijn
BORN: 1998 SPECIES: Human
Doppelmancer, split into two autonomous bodies. Functionally immortal.
One of these remains with the secret circle, while the other, called
"Angel", was mind-wiped by The Company. The two Liekes, desperately in
love with one another, have left the circle to find their missing
younger sister.
V.3 reserved for future use
V.4 reserved for future use
V.5 Assorted Aliens & Cosmic Deities
Jamy Lo
BORN: 1970 SPECIES: Car-lo-lox-gar-car
Alien scientist and silicone-based lifeform who assisted the Seven
Wonders and the RED HART in their struggle against the NEVER-LORD.
Briefly had a dalliance with the earth man Derek Mason (BLUE BOXER),
and an ally of the earth in general.
Maledux
BORN: ???? SPECIES: Space god
Dark overlord of the Kyklokos system who feeds the ravenous Vampire
Sun by perpetual wars of conquest, genocide, and destruction.
Responsible for Knockout Mouse becoming host to the Paradox Heart.
Allied with earth against the Pulse, so I'm sure that's going to turn
out well.
Monad (Vanessa Morrison)
BORN: 2013 SPECIES: Space robot
A dead earth woman resurrected by the goddess NOX, now a being of
indescribable power who roams the stars, free from all obligation.
Never-Lord (Sedenion)
BORN: ???? SPECIES: Space god
Deceased. Ancient god dedicated to the end of free will. Unleashed by
Sedenion, god of sixteenth-dimensional algebra, with whom the essence
of the original Never-Lord bonded. Sedenion was corrupted by and
subsumed to the Never-Lord before being destroyed by the RED HART.
Nox
BORN: ???? SPECIES: Space god
A goddess of light and creation, and also darkness and destruction,
she was imprisoned by the Never-Lord at the dawn of time. Freed by the
earth woman Vanessa Morrison (MONAD), she was able to give Matthew
Sharp a measure of control over the RED HART, allowing him to defeat
the NEVER-LORD.
Octonion
BORN: ???? SPECIES: Space god
Deceased. God of eighth-dimensional algebra who unleashed the sentient death-moon Awides in an attempt to destroy the god-flood.
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