The Willworld
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
The Willworld
An extra-planar realm of psionic energy that is used by certain psychics as a blank slate, or a powerful tool. Accessing this realm without the proper experience, attunement, or technology can be amazingly dangerous.
Contents |
History
The first humans to document and discover the "Plane of will" also known as the "Sea of Possibility Made Flesh" were the early Oranbegans, long before they fell into their demonic taint. The realm's particularly uncontrollable interaction with reality and blatant defiance of magical rules made it completely unsuitable for their uses. Unfortunately, the out of control portal ended up wiping out a large portion of their city and swept away hundreds of people.
The first human to successfully create a stable link to the Willworld was Nemesis in the late 1980s. Using esoteric technology, he created a crystal lattice that could link to the realm using the little know Carbon Law linking human thought to carbon isotopic resonances. The barren and dangerous nature of the real quickly snuffed his interest, and he rarely used the "Carbon Bridge" except to occasionally trade with the psionic beings that inhabited the realm at the time.
Thankfully, there is indication that the Rikti will never discover a means of travel to the Willworld.
Geotemporal Properties
The realm is not only disjointed from common reality by physical location, but by a chaotic temporal connection. An entity without some kind of coordinated anchor could accidentally leave the realm in a completely different time that they entered. Portals created to the Willworld are likewise chaotic. Rather than static doorways, they become short-lived whirlwinds of uncontrollable energy.
Concequences of Geotemporal Flux
With only magical or psionic control, A gateway to the Willworld leads to a completely random location within, not only in space but in time as well. As a result, the traveller can easily get caught in a disasterous paradox loop that violently erases itself through the most direct and simple means, by erasing memories that can be used to bring the paradox about. Once the vicious psionic storm passes the traveller finds themselves in an ocean of randomly oriented water, air and earth.
If they retain sanity and free will, they are able to shape the features of their entry point to their whims. Unfortunately, this applies to both time and space. Careless manipulation of time can cause more paradoxes and psionic storms until the traveller's own will erases him or her from the realm. This hazard is circumvented by understanding before going in that the traveller must use their first thoughts to will time to flow consistantly forward.
The Carbon Bridge was created as a way to fix a region of the Willworld to a default time and space, and synchronize that region to physical reality, thereby eleminating the possibility for a time paradox backlash. Before giving up on the technology, Nemesis theorized that if a secondary Carbon Bridge could be created back to physical reality, linking a traveller in a sort of dimensional arc, that controllable time travel could be established across multiple timestreams.
Sub-Locations
Ka'Tiel is an island of burning crystal, though there are several smaller islands of varying materials where individual wisps have made their homes, it is possible to find Ka'Tiel from anywhere in the realm by following the sunset. Though it is easy to find, the fortress is very well guarded. Thousands of Echo beings from hundreds of realities have congregated to the place, where they are swiftly brought into the collective will of the Forsaken Empire.
More recently, there has appeared a large and ornate golden airship, Unlike Ka'Tiel, it is difficult to find. Also the powerful carbon tether has been established to it keeps other realities from intersecting with it. This makes it near-impossible for native inhabitants and travelers to the plane to even approach it. It is possible to access it through through it's teather to reality or through a technology that can tap into that tether. This sub-zone is known by heroes as Ouroboros
Flora and Fauna
Aside from what a traveller creates upon entry, the native flora of the Willworld is nonexistant.
As for native inhabitants, there are sometimes remains of travellers who have lost their free will before erasing themselves out of the local reality completely. These "echoes" are eerily similar to the Reflections found in the Shadow Shard. Though they lack free will, they can interact with others on an instinctual level, and whole colonies of Echoes have gathered in the formlessness between the personal realities of more fortunate arrivals.
Another level of inhabitant are similar to the Wisps that currently serve Rularuu. One theory is that they are evolutionary ancestors, decendants, or cousins of the more aggressive and dangerous wisps with which many dimention-hopping heroes are familiar.
Factions
The Forsaken Empire is a powerful group descended from the first Oranbegans who were pulled into the realm accidentally and narrowly escaped their own destruction eventually found each other and joined their wills to create the Ka'Tiel, the fortress of Ice and Flame. The Forsaken have been part of the Willworld for so long that they are almost unidentifiable as humans. Though they never inherited the demonic blood of their earthbound cousins, the will of magic itself has supplanted their own and over the generations has turned them into avatars of a pre-corruption Ermeeth.
The Rularuu also have a presence here. Fortunately, the natural hazards of the realm have kept most of them at bay. A few lucky and powerful minions of Rularuu have created anchor regions that closely resemble the Shadow Shard, and are slowly expanding them. Though Rularuu himself is strangely uninterested in the place, these ambitious minions are still pose a threat and are constantly fighting with the Forsaken.
The Menders are the most well known group amongst general humanity, they are a rapidly growing organization both in size and power. Though their airship is technically contained in the Willworld, the power of the Pillar of Ice and Flame has solidified the area to the point of making Ouroboros effectively a tiny dimension of its own. The Pillar of Ice and Flame itself seems to be a much more refined iteration of the old Carbon Bridge technology, rather than a Forsaken -made Burning Crystal.
Notable Inhabitants
Shekinah of the Forsaken - The adopted daughter of one of Feign's instances and high-ranking member of the Forsaken. Shekinah is a mutant born in Paragon City with the power to enforce her will on prime reality. Compared to her powers on Earth and in the presence of the Oroboros Carbon Tether, her ability in the lesser realms of the Willworld are near-godlike. She is the only willworlder capable of freely travelling to Oroboros and the physical world. Because of this, she acts as a liason between the Forsaken and the Menders.
Feign of the Forsaken/Elrich Jericho - Feign is one of the more transient members of the Forsaken Empire, having traveled back to Earth on several occasions in times of crisis, and having lost lifetimes worth of memories along the way. He exists in at least four confirmed instances across the same time stream. Though he is constantly careful to keep from causing paradox, he is occasionally hit by minor memory erasures. The Forsaken believe he will inevitably become an echo, though it is a small price to pay if his cryptic goals are achieved.
Mender Silos - Leader of the Menders, Silos uses the properties of the Willworld to his advantage, and remains one of the only humans who lives in the realm without ill effects.
