What The Hell Is Going On Here?

This project originally started as an http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... -Multivers]alternate history of Fenspace. However, after careful consideration, the project as it developed in my mind had very little to do with Fenspace beyond borrowing some loose character concepts and a few names, at which point continuing it in the Fenspace forum seemed a bit silly.

Which brings us to here. Welcome to (The Unnamed Multiverse Project), a crosstime saga about dangerous geeks doing what they do best across the Multiverse: killing people, taking their stuff and (occasionally) saving the day. The goal here isn’t to recreate Fenspace. We’ve done that, twice even. TUMP is… something else. I’m not sure what it is exactly, not yet, but if you’re interested we might be able to figure it out together.

The original thread isn't required reading, JSYK. Though it does have exploding sparklepires in it. That's always cool.

Okay Kid, This Is Where It Gets Complicated – The Backstory

The late twentieth and twenty-first centuries saw a brief and terrible flowering of mad science, sort of like one of those incredibly rare jungle plants that flowers once every 5,000 years and smells like month-old rotten meat when it does. The whole thing can be traced back to an unknown, nameless engineer who managed to tap into something the world eventually called telluric energies before his or her device exploded and rendered them unable to publish (hence, nameless). Telluric fallout spread out across the globe, causing minor mutations in more than a few people and inspiring these people to start meddling with forces previously unknown to humanity. One of these was a woman named Deidre Griest, a postgrad student at Cornell whose exploration of telluric energy changed the world forever.

Deidre’s Inspired device allowed her to scan beyond the boundaries of the Universe and see what was on the other side. Her next Inspired device allowed her and a small group of close friends to explore the worlds they found out there. Eventually she brought in outsiders: with the help of financier Noah Anderson and fixer Tanith Curtis Deidre leveraged her creations into the Mobius Group, the largest and most powerful NGO ever created.

Mobius was the first group from their world to start traveling the Multiverse. They weren’t the last.

{short notes to be developed upon discussion: Mobius has not-quite 100% lock on mv travel, not as tightly-controlled as Infinity but not anarchy either; Griest & Curtis set up the Guild, a sort of part-Facebook part-Wikipedia part-Shadowland org for white-hat / gray-hat freelancers to chat, bitch & get contracts; basic assumption is main characters are white-hat freelancers working for Mobius or other white-hat orgs in various capacities; Mobius kept relatively vague in terms of structure, more the shadowy cabal back home; black-hats from home include the usual bugbears (nations, corps, criminals, terrorists) but also black-hat freelancers playing conquistador, etc.}

Travel To Exotic Places, Meet New And Interesting People

It should come as no surprise that Mobius wasn’t the first group in the Multiverse to poke around in timelines that weren’t their own (and if it did come as a surprise, then shame on you). At last count Mobius and the Guild were in diplomatic “it’s complicated” relationships with the following groups:

Infinity Unlimited is the (redundant) name of an NGO much like Mobius that travels the Multiverse for their own profit. Infinity keeps a very low profile at all times and really doesn’t like newcomers blundering into their affairs.

The one-world government called Centrum is Infinity Unlimited’s nemesis, a stable, conservative, parochial system with a complex about keeping the Multiverse “orderly.” Not fond of Mobius, really not fond of the Guild.

The Time-Space Administration Bureau hails from a very distant timeline rich in telluric energies and technology capable of utilizing it. They’re a sort of Time-British Empire (though not actually British: Guild members have seen signs of an actual Time-British Empire out there, so be careful) with a very British view towards their lessers. Have strained politeness relations with Mobius; many Guildies are on the TSAB’s most-wanted list.

The Domination of the Draka, a world of arrogant slave-owning quasi-transhumans who’ve taken to traveling the Multiverse to sate their genetic need to conquer. Not liked by anybody.

Mobius, through connections with Infinity and Guild reports, has run into three or four discrete groups of Time Nazis using occult methods and telluric superpowers to build their Thousand-Universe Reich. This would be a more distressing issue if it didn’t turn out that Time Nazis from different universes hate each other more than they hate everybody else, which keeps their numbers down.

On top of this, there’s various species of god, angel, demon, wizard, alien, superhuman, artificial intelligence, shambling horror etc. doing their things without realizing they’ve got company. And there’s natural hazards: universes shift and merge and vaporize and coalesce according to the actions of the inmates and just because fuck you, that’s why. The Multiverse is something of a dangerous place, if you hadn’t picked up on that.

Buzzwords, Buzzwords, Buzzwords - A Quick Glossary

Anything involving science, SCIENCE! and nerds will inevitably develop its own jargon. A few of the key words are listed here:

Telluric energy - Mysterious energy fields that seem to be endemic to the Multiverse. Generally assumed to be the source of supernatural and paranatural powers.

Inspired - General term for people who have been exposed to telluric energy and been changed by it.

Sidestep - To jump between universes.

Zero-Zero - Common term for the home universe of Mobius/the Guild, sourced from the Griest Multiversal Coordinate System (coordinates 0-0-0-0-0-0).

Looper - Slang for an agent/employee of the Mobius Group, as opposed to a Guild member.

Guildie - Slang for a member of the Guild.

Snakes - Slang for anything relating to the Draka.

Morrison’s Paradox - “One world’s reality is another world’s fiction.” The most annoying existential angst generator in the Multiverse. Source: comic book writer/Inspired shaman Grant Morrison.

Beebee - (sometimes "babby") Guildie/Looper slang for TSAB agents/soldiers, refers to annoying stinging attacks and/or TSAB tendencies for younger field operatives.

Magpies - Infinity slang for Mobius agents, due to their tendency to grab shiny objects before Infinity can get their hands on them.

{more to come as things develop, naturally}
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

I thought I'd start a thread for cover music vids, to separate them from "oh fun cat video!" and "Awesome Movie Trailerz!"
So, here's an excellently produced Hatsune Miku cover of "Let It Go."

And to make the OP make sense: Hendrix:

''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Artifice Suave, somehow still resplendent even though garbed in a rhinestone leisure suit, affected a uncharacteristically sober mien as he addressed the band seated upon the scarred stage in the basement hall of the Church of Christ Monolith.  

“Ladies, I’ve got wholesome and unwholesome press for you.” 

“Nani, Art Sama?” Suki2 often had difficulty with Suave’s stilt. 

Asada rolled her eyes at Suave : “Good news, bad news, Su Su.”  

“wakarimashita!” Bad news first, please!”

The manager frowned mightily : “I couldn’t secure any opening act gigs....”

The band slumped. 

“...so I had to settle for finding you an opening act!” The general frown turned upside down. 

“Art, do you always have to be the most melodramatic person in the room?”

Suave grinned a toothy grin that almost out-sparkled his blazer.

Asada heaved a theatrical sigh ; Art’s smile widened almost beyond his chiseled cheekbones. 

“Details, Elton Effing Liberace : de-tai-ils!” Dazzle Ardent was only truly offensive with those she cared about : with the general public she was merely rude. 

“Well...Artifice drawled out his best Alabama twang--his native accent was Cantonese inflected English--”...the venue’s the upscale brewpub, The Ale Blue Dot. 

Aerial Cypher’s smile straightened out. “I know the place. It’s all Jazz Funk mellowness : mellow’s not really our thing. 

The collective smile wavered. Artifice played another trump : “It’d like to be all ambient cool all of the time but there simply aren’t enough likeminded acts in Fenspace to accommodate this desideratum : until there are, the proprietor is willing to make some musical concessions.”

Strangelove probed. “What does some mean?” 

“You understand that I had to dicker...”

“You did what?!” Su Su flushed.

Asada and Artifice answered in perfect sync : “Negotiate, Suki2.” 

Ardent grabbed dual fistfuls of her spiky hairdo ; vociferated, “Goddamn it Suave, spill!” 

Artifice took the prerequisite pause to straighten his string tie : “Three of your seven numbers have to be...jazzish.” 

Cypher, Ardent & Chang began to bristle ; Suki Suki looked relived ; Strangelove took charge. 

“We accept.”

“We do?!” Cypher’s normally cool facade couldn’t stand up to her current incredulity. 

“A little chill’s well worth the price of having someone else open for us.”

A skeptical, swearing  Dazzle Ardent spouted, “Can we even come anywhere near to pulling  mother fucking dulcet tones out of our collective assholes?”

“You weren’t listening, Dazz : all we have to do is try.” Chang laughed quietly. “We’ll probably end up inventing a whole new musical form of jazz metal fusion, and then be stuck with trying to come up with a memorable name for it!”

“That’d be supa-sugoi!” 

Aerial Cypher, affected by a combination of Asada’s argument & Suki Suki’s charm, ruffled Suki2’s hair into yet another adorably asymmetrical dual-wired-pigtail shambles. 

 “It sure would, Su Su.”

Dazzle watched the rapid conversion of her bandmates with a scowl that stealthily snaked into a grudging smile : “Well shit, mellow’s got to be easier to play than metal!”

*****

Two hours into the next day’s morning practice, Dazzle exclaimed, “Jesus titty-fucking Christ, this improvisational shit’s harder than scoring the high school quarterback!”

“House of God, Dazz!”

“Well then, Sucks, call his ass down to the basement : we need three mother fucking musical miracles to pull this gig off!” 

...if I worked at it, but, ah, the hell with it.  It's good enough as is:
http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/updat ... ians-wall/]Roman toilet seat unearthed near Hadrian's Wall
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Right.  Back from vacation, and almost done clearing up the myriad of issues that vacations always cause.  Done enough to write, anyway.
Since we were pretty close to the limit (and nobody was commenting any more), I thought we'd move to a new thread.
**********
Fortunately for my patience, the false door- some sort of illusion, over a force-field, I reckoned- was the last of them.  Behind it was a(nother) cavernous open space; as I looked around it, taking in the sights, I was struck by the familiarity of the room.  Are all the storage rooms in the 'verse huge, cavernous caves full of boxes?
And why am I two for two on them having cars in them?
Sitting out in an open space in the front of the room, directly in front of the door that'd just opened, were the four Syndicate trucks Uno'd teleported out.  The nine people that went with said trucks were laid out in a neat row, grouped into three sets of three, between us and the trucks- still unconscious.
Before Uno could walk into the room, I stopped her with a tap on her shoulder, and then waved my other arm, Fencer's Blade charged and ready, towards the men laying there.  "Want me to..."Uno cocked her head at me in confusion- for all of half a second- and then shook her head, smiling fondly.  "I appreciate the thoughtfulness, Imma, but it's not necessary.  They've all been sedated."
I shrugged, letting the spell dissipate.  "...oh.
So what is it we're here for?  Not interrogation, obviously... so are we here to search the trucks for useful items?"
Uno blinked.  "...yes.  Yes, we are.  Once that task is complete, though, I require your assistance moving the prisoners."
I sighed at that.  Why do I get the feeling that Uno wasn't actually here to search the trucks?

"Hey, Uno?  You'd better take a look at this."
The two of us had split up to search the four Syndicate trucks.  It quickly became boring.  The first truck I'd gone into had been basically what I'd expected out of a space-Mafia soldier-carrier; comfy seats for four, a small armory in the back, space (and restraints) for two prisoners... and a few random credits, here and there, which went straight into my pockets.
The second one looked the same from outside.  One look in the back, though, and I was yelling for Uno.
"Yes, Imma?  What did you need?"
I simply pointed into my truck, grinning like a madman, and waited.
"You want me to look inside?"
I nodded.  Thankfully, Uno did as requested, and looked into the back compartment of the truck, where the three inactive, mint-condition Mark I M-Drones (and associated launch cradles, interface, and maintenance kit) sat waiting.
"...oh.  Oh, my.  The Doctor must know of this.  Go ahead and move the prisoners to the primary lab, Imma- I'll finish matters here."
Still grinning, I walked off to comply.  Best.  Raid.  Ever.

EDIT: Retitling thread to reflect changes to the setup - this thread will be for commentary alone from this point on.
EDIT2: Going through the thread and removing actual story prose from the posts - just seems to redundant to leave it there.  Please forgive me for the spurious New Post alerts.

So, I'm kinda-sorta taking a bit of time between story arcs of my Being You Is...  It's gonna take me some time to hash out all the details for the plot there, and a lot of it is gonna involve simply sitting down, watching every single freaking episode of MLP:FiM, and thinking, "What would I do here if I was Garrick Grimm?"
That said, I've been messing around with the idea of rebooting Dear Sweet Kami-sama, and I think that the time is about right.
That said, I know that some of you guys are thinking, "Why a reboot?"
Well, for one thing I feel that the quality of my writing has come a very long way since when I started writing DSKS.  (In fact, I think I have that in particular to thank in large regard... that, and Fenspace.)  Also, it will give me a chance to shift some things around and maybe even add in a few new things I've come across.  For example, with what I've learned about Tenchi Muyo lately, Earth is firmly in the control of the Juraians, which would make the Oni staking a claim there look utterly suicidal.
Finally, this will let me give this the much gentler touch that I've given Being You Is... in regards to the main character's powering up.
One thing I would like to add to DSKS is a little gem called Umi Monogatari.  Zeke helping to resolve the issue they have in that story would go a good ways towards furthering his development... and net him a few more entanglements.    And I'm also tempted to throw in Bakemonogatari if, for nothing else, the sheer amount of snarkage involved.  Oh, and Zeke would be able to see and hear Mayoi.  Mayoi, being classified as a Wandering Spirit, would have a pretty hilarious reaction upon meeting Zeke, I think.  (This because Zeke is the Avatar of a God of Life and Death.)  The only trouble is going to be topping all those ridiculous puns!  They'd give the Punday Night Crew at Callahan's a run for their money!
So anyhow, anybody else got any thoughts and/or ideas?

I've been fecking around for the last week or so (With some semi-examples of what I was looking for on a few talk pages....)

I redid the wiki article for the JF-21 in a similar format, and I was wondering what people's opinion was on doing the same for other parts of the wiki. At the very least, it's not as dry and sterile as a wiki article - and gives more an in-universe opinion on what people think or what these things are actually like.

The idea being the a character profile is written in-character by someone in-universe - and then it's possible to add alternative opinions as 'comments' in sidebars and the like. The profile can be positive, negative, or mixed.... and comments can be contrary, supporting or offer separate viewpoints. And won't necessarily have to be cleared with the author if they represent another in-universe opinion. There's a lot of comments given to new articles and characters and the like, and it seems like it'd be an easy way to capture that detail.

Okay, so it's a fair bit of work. But at the same time, it's a little easier to do I found than generating dry wiki content. It's easier to write in a few minutes. And easier for others to expand upon independently.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

And now, for the other Ravenclaws...

One flies in to case the joint,

boldly struts around.

Two fly in to make it three,

laugh a while and knock each other down.

Four flies in with a frowning walk

gains a laugh from out a squawk

but it's five who owns the place

and proves it with a look, stopping

six and seven in their tracks from

smuggling a book.

Words within our grasp--do we let go?

Do we fly heavily with the weight of what we know?

My friend bids me come and see

the ravens in the library

setting quiet pages free.

One for fiction, two for truth,

three for bikes and bathing suits

four for scifi/fantasy

five loves art and ancient skulls

six eats periodicals

seven lives in poetry

(One for sorrow, two for joy,

three for girls and four for boys,

five for silver, six for gold,

seven for a secret never told!)

One hangs out on the drama shelves

but keeps the monologues to herself

two and three are studying jewels

Four reads all about the Huns

five won't share the shiny ones

six and seven label molecules

(One crow sorrow, two crows mirth

three a wedding, four a birth

five crows silver, six crows gold,

seven ravens, curious and bold!)

Words within our grasp--do we let go?

Do we fly heavily with the weight of what we know?

hours of study flying by

words soaked up by beady eyes

long debates into the night

pages flying everywhere

seek the language word by word

like the black and clever bird

never let it bring you down

all the things we haven't figured out

My friend bids me come and see

the ravens in the library

setting quiet pages free

(knitting up the 'raveled sleeve of care

pages flying everywhere)

Seven reads about the gods,

chuckles to herself;

to the rest, she never lets on.

Try to catch a glimpse of them

bickering like mortal men-

feathers on the sidewalk.

If you heard a raven say such horrible words

as the ones you may have heard in your day to day,

would it make you choose your own more carefully

around the ones you love?

my friend bids me come and see

the ravens in the library

setting quiet pages free.

(Knitting up the sleeve of care

pages flying everywhere.)
-- S. J. Tucker, "Ravens in the Library"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

What, did you think I was speaking metaphorically? And yes, that is me, in all my scraggly neckbeard lack-of-glory. It's quite possibly the most personal information available obout me online, so all my obsessed fans out there, this one's for you. Just stay downrange, 'cause if you pass the quarter mile marker I'm firin' it.

Look down at your hand, now back to me.



HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT!?

Headcannon Creepy Mask Style (in unmodified primer white) - soon to feature in an amateur horror movie coming to a YouTube account near you. Probably. Maybe.

Incidentally, this mask actually has really good visibility even in the peripheral vision due to the deep curve and the way the eyeslots are cut. I would have no reservations about running through the woods holding a sharp object while wearing it, if not for the fact that I can't wear my glasses at the same time.

It's on a hat!



Because the barrel is an oatmeal tube held on by a set of screws in the pop-top, the barrel can be removed and added again easily - Creepy Mask style with it on is sort of a steampunk cyborg-head with a smokestack, I guess. Barrel off and reversed (or tipping the creepy mask up like a welding helmet, it amounts to the same thing) also looks a little odd, but in a sci-fi-space-wierdo-futuristic kind of way.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

"This is 'Dust'?" Lisa asked, turning the red, soda-can-sized crystal over and over in her hands.

Next to her, Weiss rolled her eyes.  "Of course.  Haven't you ever seen Dust before?"

"Nope," Lisa replied absently.  "Hey, Dee, c'mere and check this out."

The olive-skinned girl in the white doeskin tunic and trews excused herself from the conversation she and Sana were having with Blake and Ruby, and stepped over to the other two girls.  "What have you got?" she asked.

Lisa brandished the glowing crystal.  "Check this out!  It's mana -- in a mineral form!"

One dark eyebrow raised.  "Really?"

"Yeah!  Watch!"  Lisa closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. To her shock and surprise, Weiss watched all the color and light leech out of the crystal, until all that remained was a dull grey prism that began to collapse into a powder.  Lisa let it dribble out between her fingers, then brushed her hand off on her short blue skirt.

"What did..." Weiss began to ask, only to stop short when Lisa opened her eyes, which were now glowing exactly the same shade that the Dust had only a few moments earlier.

"Oh, yeah.  What a rush!" Lisa declared, her voice suddenly deeper and strangely resonant.  She turned her glowing gaze back to Weiss.  "We're going to want a lot of this stuff."

Unimpressed with the exchange, Son Wukong sidled up to Peggy, eyeing the sword and revolvers she carried with a frank interest. "So," he said with a little smile.  "I'm gathering you four aren't from around here."

The vaguely exotic blonde looked him up and down.  "It's not our damn planet, monkey boy," she replied with a faint smirk.

Spoiler

RWBY