Eternal Sun'iverse
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
The Eternal Sun'iverse is intended to be the basis for the backstory of a character played by @RadiationHazard. As of yet, the character has not been properly made ingame, and no stories have been written about it as of yet(though they will be in time.) This is mostly a collection of ideas for the sake of my purposes and your interest.
This article about a character is a stub -- a small, but growing, work in progress. If you're the creator of this character, why not consider expanding it?
Contents |
Synopsis
Dimension Omicron Alpha 22 is an alternate reality where the Kheldian race never suffered civil war upon birth of the Nictus subrace. In fact the circumstances of the Nictus' creation are themselves considerably different than in Primal Earth's dimension. Here, the Kheldian race remained united an became a universe-spanning Shadow Empire, controlling numerous worlds through subversion, and sometimes in the face of Omicron Alpha 22 Earth, through Orwellian Socialism. Having acted as an Illuminati-like organization on Earth for millenia, they took active and public control in 1965 after the end of the Second Great War. Though masked by enlightenment and peace, the Luminous Elders are a brutal regime controlling everything with an iron fist, even their much more noble Nictus allies the Twilight Judges, furthering their control and oppression by numerous means, including an entirely fabricated war with the Paramilitary criminal organization Arachnos, which "controls" South America, and much of Europe, in addition to the Etoile Isles. Of course, Arachnos is also a puppet of the Luminous Elders, and soon to be phased out. The Ultimate testament of their control is not the mighty white spires, great while flame monuments, or anything else of that sort. It is the altering of the very atmosphere itself to create Eternal Daylight the world over. The Shining Planet. The World of the Eternal Sun.
Brief History
To be added later.
The moment this world Diverges from Primal Earth, is traced back to 3600 B.C. Before the First Dynasty in Egypt. The Conspiracy had not been formulated this early, and there is little of note in this time period, other than records of "The First Traitor," Eternal Sun's counterpart to Shadowstar. Both the Kheldians and Nictus, who had adverted coming to Civil War for as of yet unexplained reasons, arrived on Earth with the original intention of living peacefully with the very large supply of very compatible human hosts.
However, with the Kheldian population not decimated by war in this reality, there were many amoung the race of energy beings with an interesting hunger. Hunger for Power. Eventually convincing their brethren of their overall superiority over all other forms of life, the Conspiracy was formed. The Kheldians, now ruled by the "Cadre of Luminous Elders," began to spread themselves across the world, assessing the situation and determining how easy it would be to conquer the planet. However, while still in the primitive state(Circa the Early Roman Empire,) one of the Elders found that his host possessed powerful prophetic abilities. With their mastery over matter and reality, this Elder was able to quickly master prophecy. He was shocked to learn that humans of great power would eventually discover them and cause the Conspiracy to fail, leaving the Kheldian Race nearly extinct. Convening with the rest of the Cadre, they began make new plans and schemes.
Firstly, they discovered the situation on Cimerora, realizing the significance of the struggle between good and evil. Rather than assist Romulus Agustus and implant him with a Nictus, they captured and implanted Imperious with a Kheldian, making him the First Peacebringer. Romulus was later approached and implanted with a Nictus, making him the first Twilight Judge, and right hand to Imperious. With both of these mighty individuals in their pockets, they decided to test a theory. If there were other such beings of immense power on this world, what would be the best way to draw them out? Having witnessed numerous wars before this point, they decided that was the best catalyst. War would be their tool. Imperious and Romulus were sent with their mighty Cimeroran army to attack the mainland. After several years of conflict, their efforts finally payed off in the form of Early heroes coming to face them. There WERE more Metahumans, and at the same time, the best way to eliminate them was war.
The second plan was the acquire more Precognitives. While other metahumans were singled out and either killed or enslaved, prophets and seers were kidnapped and joined. Their plan was to widen the range of their view of the future, with the secondary effect of preventing any non-Kheldian seers from tracking their movements and thwarting them.
These methods remained effective for centuries. However, maybe of the wars you read about in history books on Primal Earth were often much longer here, or restarted. Most Infamously, the four separate American Civil Wars that dominated much of the 19th Century. Despicably so, this extended period of conflict was meant to draw out and eliminate several groups that had discovered the machinations of the Cadre. A Prussian toymaker turned General amoung them. The third of these wars gave rise to Lord Nemesis. It was also his Downfall. One of the greatest of American Myths was "Machine-Man Versus the Angel of Death." The Prussian Prince's many machines were left intact and regarded with fear by Union Soldiers in the area(and outright destroy by Confederates) due to fear that they touched by Satan. A reappearance by the Angel informed them that the Man was evil, but not the machines.
And so both armies upgraded to heavy Steamworks. Though neither Confederate or Union engineers were any match for Nemesis himself, their ingenious weapons of war were enough to start the Fourth Civil War... that finally reunited the nation in the end.
However, even by this time, after thousands of years of work, the Kheldians did not control everything. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ignited Europe into an uncontrolled flash fire war the Kheldians had not planned and failed to prevent. The First Great World War was pretty much identical to that of Primal Earth... only with 1940s era technology. From this conflict, and events that followed The Free Man, and Lord Recluse were born. However, during the 1930s, The Conspiracy had leapt leaps and bounds. Due to their machinations, the Freedom Phalanx was never formed, leaving Masked and Costumed metahuman heroes working from the shadows, met with suspicion and often outright hostility. Many of the more powerful ones were assassinated. There are no public records of heroes such as Team Vambrace, The Dark Watcher, Elementar, or the like. The Mutant phenomena was also directly targeted. Secret breeding programs were in place to subvert the mutant population and remove these miraculous traits from the population, as well as create home grown precognitives to chart the course of the Conspiracy.
In 1937, the final phase of the Conspiracy began. A young Artist named Adolf Hitler has been elevated into power by Kheldian influence, as well as suffering even greater tragedy than his Primal counterpart. While still the same Charismatic speaker, this variant was far more unhinged and warlike. Plunging the world into The Second Great War in 1938, he nearly took all of Europe, and much of Africa. However, his alliance with the U.S.S.R.'s Josef Stalin deteriorated when Stalin ordered his own armies deep into German controlled territory. The Japanese shortly there-after, after much warfare in Asia, turned on the United States of America, using a Microwave-based Death Ray to literally Fry the inhabitants of Hawaii, taking part of Pacific Fleet intact. For nearly 30 more years, Territory changed hands daily. Weapons of all kinds, including nuclear weapons, were used extensively, and a former priest turned Newspaperman named Ridolfo Uzzano discovered a book named "The Cadre of Light," deep within the Vatican.
With this alarming information in hand, Ridolfo saw the influence of the Cadre everywhere he saw, including the very great war that raged around him. And so this world's 5th Column was born. Originally organization consisted of Mr. Uzzano(now calling himself Freedom's Requiem, after being joined with a dissident Nictus assigned to him by this world's Arakhn,) The Renegade Twilight Judge Arakhn, and several aides living and working in Uzzano's basement with nothing but a single printing press and a few cots. Expanding over time, they began include terrorism and kidnapping to spread their message, and even included the enigmatic Free Man in their ranks. However, their fight was over before it began.
In 1965, the world was torn to shreds by war, the overall population had been decimated, with all documented metahumans dead, leaving the non-Kheldian metahuman population nearly extinct. Still there were plenty enough viable hosts to go around. In one might sweeping attack on all battlefields around the world, the Kheldians, both Luminous Elder, and Twilight Judge, struck and ended the conflict. Seeing themselves entirely outmatched and undermanned from almost three decades of war, Earth, in it's entirety, surrendered. Offered peace, and friendship, Humanity found itself preferring anything but the ever present wars they had endured. The Final victory of the Cadre was the defeat and enslavement of The Free Man. Now calling himself Highlord Marcus Cole, he chooses to try to reform the cadre from within, still having control of his mind.
With The Luminous Elders at the reins, the world was quickly rebuild in their image. Shining White spires, and imposing black obelisks shot up, serving as both symbols of oppression, and homes for the joined Elders. Thanks to Kheldian technology even the Sky itself was changed. Omicron Alpha 22 Earth no long experiences Night, only having a mere absence of the sun. At the same time, Many Twilight Judges began to realize that they themselves were also slaves to the elders, used as tools to enforce their will. With this, some left to join the 5th Column, relaying all they knew to Freedom's Requiem. Across the seas, the Criminal Empire Aracjnos stood in opposition to the Elders. However, despite promising peace and prosperity, the Elders realized they still needed war. According to plan, the leader of this empire, Lord Recluse, was nothing more than a joined mind-slave leading an entirely fabricated war, with Arachnos attacks on Elder-controlled cities as a tool for population control and removing dissidents.
However, the Elder's plans were once against sent spiraling out of control in 2004 with the Rikti War. A Warlike alternate version of the Rikti launched and unprovoked, merciless attack on dimension Omicron Alpha 22. However, the Twilight Judges Alone proved too much for the aliens and after 2 years of war, they were thrown back. Much of their technology was taken and reverse engineered, thrusting the world that much forward. Then, in retaliation, the Twilight Judges were sent to this Alternate Rikti homeworld. Genocide on a planetary scale to be left as a reminder to the rest of the Multiverse to not attack Eternal Sun Earth.
Things continued to worsen with the veteran Judges of the Rikti War, having lost their faith in the system after the destruction of War-Rikti Earth. Searching for a new purpose, many affiliated themselves with The 5th Column. With this new resurgence of members, the organization was reformed in a faked internal conflict into The Free Council, lead by a Triumverant of Freedom's Requiem, Arakhn, and a new enigma, named "The Center." Many of the Twilight Judges that joined the Council were amoung the eldest of the order, having had a long string of hosts to each of them, many knowing all of the Cadre's best tricks. With this renewed life and experience, The Free Council went to work trying to bring down Cadre and at long last destroy the Conspiracy. Gaining many allies within the still loyal order, a large civil war erupted, forcing many Elders into combat themselves. Unfortunately, the Free Council ultimately lost after the 4 year long Shadow War. Even Freedom's Requiem himself fell in battle. The few ragged survivors launched a last ditch effort to find help elsewhere in the multiverse. Attacking the Temple of Doors, Omicron Alpha 22's counterpart to Primal Earth's Portal Corporation, they made an effort to spread their survivors with order to come back with allies.
As far as it is known, only one of these rebels escaped alive, arriving on Primal Earth...
Notable Factions
The 5th Column/Free Council: The original 5th Column of Eternal Sun Earth was a radically different organization. Instead of being the fascist military organization we all know and hate, it was a small underground News service that was created after it's leader, Eternal Sun's Requiem (Known by the Pseudonym "Freedom's Requiem") discovered the truth about the Conspiracy for control of Earth. Attempting to alert the masses, he created the 5th Column, naming it after the strange, often maligned habit influenced by the Kheldians that all newspapers were restricted to only Four editorial columns per printing, an arbitrary ruling to test their control over the media. As it gained backing, The 5th Column became a Freedom Fighter organization, operating terrorist activity in opposition to Kheldian interests. Following the Rikti War in 2004, the organization reworked itself into one known as "The Free Council." This version of The Council found itself comprised of many renegade Twilight Judges who had learned the truth, and were tired of being kept in the dark. It was Crushed last month.
Notable Characters
Highlord Marcus Cole: Eternal Sun's version of Statesman. His origin is pretty much the same. He went off to find the Well of Furies with his companions and returned. However, he became aware of the Shadow War, and was recruited into the 5th Column by Freedom's Requiem, calling himself "The Free Man." Fighting on for a long time against the Kheldians, he eventually found himself defeated during the takeover in 1965. Offered a choice, Marcus gave in and allowed himself to be joined with a Kheldian. Unfortunately, with the powers of Zeus, he was unable to be completely subdued. However, he still relented, agreeing to act as their greatest hero, possessing both his old powers, and the might that came with a fully ascended merged. Thrust into a figurehead position as Highlord of the Elders, Marcus does his best to influence them from the inside, favouring the teeming unjoined masses. Some think that one day, he will give up and attempt to wage his old war for freedom once again, but here, the once proud Marcus Cole is broken and cowed.
Lord Nemesis: While Dead here, he is worth mentioning. The Kheldians realized the threat the Prussian Prince of Automatons posed very early on. Shortly after his first sightings in the Americas during the American Civil Wars, plans were enacted to remove him as quickly as possible. This culminated at the Third Battle of Gettysburg, where Nemesis advanced on the Union force gathered there. While regarded as myth and legend, it's said that Nemesis was attacked by a glowing Angel flying on wings of pure light. The two did battle for nearly a day straight. Nemesis fell in the end, and was torn to bloody shreds in full view on the streets. It's said that his armor was peeled open by several Crab-men(suspected to be White Dwarfs) shepherded by the "Angel."
Lord Recluse: The origins of Marcus Cole and Stefan Richter are identical. The first Great World War, was identical to ours as well, and both men fought together. However, as a result of the Second Great World War, Recluse came into control of Arachnos earlier. Masked under an invasion force lead by the Germans, he gained control of the Etoile Isles in 1959. However, in 1961 while still consolidating his control over the Isles, he was attacked by a large group of Kheldians and human co-conspirators. He was captured and implanted. This new enslaved form had all the powers Stefan gained from the Well of Furies, as well as those of a fully ascended joined Peacebringer. Despite having the same Incarnate origin as his old friend, Lord Recluse was more easily dominated. Arachnos' operations continued as they had been according to Recluse's plans, and the Rogue Isles remained defiant, faced with the submission of the rest of the world in 1965. He has since then gained backing from numerous factions within Europe and Africa, waging open war on the rest of the world... All according to the Elder's plans.
