Мастер Исандер
Verse and Dimensions: Stories
Oblivious Entities
The term "Oblivious Entities" refers to the race of beings which originated from the omniversal Primordial Chaos known as Oblivion. In its etymology, the "oblivious" part of the name is intended to mean "of or relating to Oblivion", rather than the dictionary definition of the word "oblivious".
History
Once, rather than being individual aspects, all the Oblivious Entities were unified as a collective whole, embodying Primordial Chaos in their union. For an extended interval of metatime, the Oblivious Entities simply "were", unaware of the existence of each-other nor themselves. However, Oblivion eventually became self-aware and turned on itself. A war among the Oblivious Entities followed, a struggle of wills as they all collectively sought to annihilate each-other and themselves. The ultimate result was Oblivion's self-destruction. Oblivion collapsed on itself and imploded, giving way to mass of Interdimensional Voids between itself. As Oblivion tore itself apart, all the Oblivious Entities were expelled into an infinite set of self-contained archversal voids throughout their omniverse. Due to this, each individual Oblivious Entity believed themself to have been the only survivor of Oblivion's demise, unaware of the others' survival as they went on to create their own -verse within their void.
Biology
The Oblivious Entities' essence is comprised entirely of Alom, a material considered to be immensely powerful and highly coveted by all lifeforms below Omnipotent^1. Alom is the same material which is used by The Supergod Council to create said Monocosmic Gods, such as Creators and Destroyers.
Cosmic Eggs
At the core of an Oblivious Entity is a spherical object known as a Cosmic Egg. Cosmic Eggs contain the Oblivious Entity's essence, its "yolk" being pure Alom. They serve purpose of generating -verses. Cosmic Eggs function similarly to bombs, which can be detonated by an Oblivious Entity. However, rather than destroying things, these "explosions" instead create things, like a controlled Big Bang. While this process in itself does not directly kill an Oblivious Entity, it could mentally and physically strain them to the point of death, similarly to childbirth. Additionally, if a Cosmic Egg is torn from an Oblivious Entity or is otherwise destroyed, the trauma caused by this will directly kill them (though not always immediately).
Powers
While the abilities of Oblivious Entities can vary from the individual, every Oblivious Entity at least possesses biological immortality. Should an Oblivious Entity choose to create their own -verse, they will also possess this standard set of powers exclusively within their -verse:
-Versal Embodiment: Oblivious Entities are the embodiment of their -verse, and therefore have absolute control over everything inside of it – time, space, reality, causality, probability and everything else – without limits.
Local Omnipresence: Oblivious Entities are present in every aspect of their -verse, being related to the concept of ubiquity; the ability to be everywhere and nowhere at once.
Local Omniscience: Oblivious Entities' minds are opened to the entirety of their -verse. There is nothing within their -verse which they do not know and understand, and therefore they know every answer to every question, past and present, of every universe and their inhabitants. However, Oblivious Entities do not have the power to see beyond their -verse, nor do they have the power to see the future within it.
Local Omnipotence: Oblivious Entities have complete power within their -verse, including things which considered to be conceptually and logically impossible within their -verse. They possess all powers achievable within their -verse, existing on level inconceivably beyond any other entity within their -verse.
Classes
Clouds, also known as Floaters, are the least formed of Oblivious Entities. They appear to mortals as vaporous "clouds" of Alom, ever-changing in shape and structure. Clouds are barely living, roughly possessing as much consciousness compared to a standard Oblivious Entity as a jellyfish would to a human. They lack much of the anatomy of a standard Oblivious Entity, such as a Cosmic Egg. Besides this, they still possess all the other standard abilities of an Oblivious Entity.
Amalgams
Occasionally, when some Oblivious Entities are midway through their formation, multiple Oblivious Entities can fuse together just as they finish forming, becoming amalgams. The number of entities comprising an amalgam typically ranges from 2 to 10. Amalgams possess all the standard powers of an Oblivious Entity, but are more chaotic due to multiple consciousnesses simultaneously controlling a single form.
The Ascended
"The Ascended" are a small collection of Oblivious Entities who achieved greater power than their original status. Typically, such ascensions were accomplished through the absorption of more Alom. These Oblivious Entities are among the most relatively powerful and influential of the group, within both Oblivion and The Barrel. Very few of these "ascended" Oblivious Entities have been recorded, leading many to doubt their existence. Only one known is known so far, although there may be many others yet unrecorded.
Additional Notes
It is possible for a non-Oblivious Entity to become an Oblivious Entity themselves. Beings can accomplish this by absorbing such large amounts of Alom from an already-existing Oblivious Entity, to the point of it physically constituting their anatomy.
Known Oblivious Entities
1. The Architect:
The Architect is a powerful Oblivious Entity, and is suspected to possibly be in the Ascended class. He is the creator and embodiment of The Architecture. Currently, the Architect is comatose, after the inhabitants of His -verse rebelled and defeated Him when He attempted to destroy it.
2. The Aberration:
Higher-Densities-2
While every Oblivious Entity possesses individuality and at least a certain degree of sentience/intelligence, not all of them seem to have "formed" the right way. The Aberration is one such example of this.
The Aberration is an Oblivious Entity who was not as well-developed as the others, and so they are a chaotic, unpredictable and destructive entity among the group. The Aberration's multiverse also reflects this, with it being chaotic and not possessing a fully concrete identity or physics to regulate it. The Aberration possesses a powerful mastery over their own system of mysticism and magic, which they invented for their multiverse.
3. The Authority:
The Authority
The Authority was one of the first Oblivious Entities to have had awareness independent of Oblivion. Near-instantly, she knew that something was very wrong about the situation she found herself in. She foresaw the constant overwhelming chaos occurring in Oblivion inevitably leading to Oblivion's own demise, and believed that the only way to prevent this fate was by turning that chaos into order. She sought out whatever other Oblivious Entities that became self-aware, and attempted to recruit them to form a group dedicated to the stabilization and ordering of Oblivion. Not many agreed, some finding The Authority's concerns to have been irrelevant to their own priorities, while others simply did not take it seriously. Those who did heed her warnings, however, joined with her. At first, this group of Oblivious Entities seemed to have had an actual chance of rectifying their problem and preserving Oblivion. However, the situation downward-spiraled very quickly. The Authority's goal of perfect order and discipline became an unhealthy obsession, and she turned zealous in her ideals. Furthermore, the large of amount of followers to her cause fed into her ego, and she became arrogant in a belief of being superior to most other Oblivious Entities. Eventually, those under her command had enough, and revolted against her. Incidentally, it was during this that Oblivion also destabilized, unleashing the full force of its chaos. Thus, The Authority was ripped into the void in Oblivion's implosion, failing to prevent this catastrophe as the result of her own downfall. The status of her survival is currently unknown
Alom
Alom is the material which The Supergod Council utilizes to create Monocosmic Gods such as Creators and Destroyers. A rarity within the known Omniverse, Alom is coveted by many entities and organizations across the omniversal Archverse Chain, all of which wishing to harness/utilize its power for their own personal interests.
Properties
Alom is a compound formed from the combination of two Trosinic Elements, Al and Om. The Supergod Council possesses infinitely more quantities of Alom than what "naturally" occurs in The Omniverse, which is how they are able to efficiently produce many Creators and Destroyers within a small given interval of metatime. There is theorized to be some type of semi-sentience that inherently lies within Alom, likely as a consequence of the conceptual unification of Logic and Emotion; meaning that it is possibly capable of thought. However, the degree of this sentience isn't fully known.
Alom can be likened to clay in terms of its use. It can be molded and sculpted into whatever purpose is intended for it. After a certain interval of (meta)time, however, the clay will logically solidify, permanently remaining in its most recent logically soft state. After this point, the Alom is virtually useless for any other purpose besides the one it had been molded for. It is impossible for Entities of any quantity below Omnipotent^3 to manually destroy or damage Alom without some form of artificial assistance (as in technological, magical, etc). While it is possible for Omnipotent^3 entities to manually destroy Alom, doing so is considered too tedious and inconvenient of a process for it to be worth it. Therefore, Alom was typically disposed of rather than destroyed in the metage of the Old Council, which had no access to any artificial means of destroying the Alom. A new method of creating monocosmic gods is being utilized by the current Supergod Council, one which leaves behind no excess Alom and therefore provides no need to destroy or dispose of Alom in Beyond.
Symbolic Significance
As with many materials, Alom represents certain philosophical and alchemical ideas to various civilizations. This is most especially true of Transcendental cultures. Alom is perceived as representing the unification of opposites, and the achievement of Non-Duality resulting from this unification. Alom’s component aspects – Al and Om – are conceptual opposites of each-other. What one element represents completely contradicts the other. Al is typically depicted as representing Logic, Light, Heat and Rigidity. Meanwhile, Om is depicted as representing Emotion, Dark, Cold and Malleability. While one could easily draw the conclusion that these two elements would be completely incompatible, the Al and Om somehow successfully join together, achieving a full fusion and transmuting into an entirely new state: Alom. Since Alom is perceived as the primary progenitor of lifeforms within Transcendentem, many cultures posit the belief that the union between opposing forces is the origin behind any form of life or consciousness.
Uses
Alom so far is known to have a few practical uses. These uses include, but are not limited to:
Creating sentient beings, which can at most be just as powerful as their creator.
Naturally forming lifeforms.
Merging with already-existing beings, and granting them greater power.
Utilizing and/or weaponizing into Magic.
"Powers"
As previously stated, along with being able to create entities, Alom can also be bonded to already-existing beings. Assuming that the being in question is strong(-willed) enough to survive this, and successfully forms a symbiosis with Alom without being painfully destroyed, this grants them immense power. This is most especially effective on mortals, although gods and cosmic entities can also see a significant boost from Alom. It even is speculated that Hyperman may have somehow utilized Alom in his ascension to Godhood. Such abilities that are gained by the symbiosis with Alom include, but are by no means limited to:
Increase in power
Further enhancement of pre-existing abilities
Healing oneself and others
Creating and/or restoring life
Reality warping
The Beasts of Burden
The Beasts of Burden are a monstrous horde under the command of The Overseer. The Trickster Gods gifted these creatures to The Overseer to assist him in conquering, overthrowing and kill the rest of The Pantheon. The Beasts presently continue to plague the Omniverse. The Beasts are employed to hunt down targets whenever The Overseer so desires. This force is comprised of the Hounds, Sentinels, Shamans, and its representative The Huntsman.
History
The origins of the Beasts of Burden are thought by some to have first begun in "a Time before Time" within The Omniverse, however there is no actual evidence to support this myth, leading many to consider it a mere fiction spun by the Trickster Gods. The Beasts are primordial manifestations of the forces of Nature itself, in all its aspects. Life, Death, Creation, Destruction, Growth, Decay and many more are all forces that comprise the spectrum of Nature. Many magical traditions throughout the Omniverse consider Nature a sacred force deserving of respect and reverence, and view attempts to bend it to one's will as a taboo at best and a high sin at worst. The shunning of such practices forced the Trickster Gods, remaining loyal to their "blasphemous" ways, to be driven from The Pantheon and into hiding where they continued their work in secrecy, taking refuge in the remotest region of their multiverse where they could avoid persecution.
The Trickster gods were relatively quiet and isolated for a long time, until they had a chance encounter with the "prince" of the pantheon which had cast them out. The Tricksters at first mistook the prince for being there to hunt them down, and attempted to kill him as an act of self-preservation. However, the prince stopped them, revealing to the Trickster Gods that he in fact sought them out for help. The prince explained to them the plan that he and his sister formulated to conquer and overthrow the rest of his pantheon, and if the Trickster Gods were to help him, they would have a place in his new Pantheon as well. The Trickster gods agreed to help him, secretly seeing an opportunity to later murder the prince and his sister to usurp all The Pantheon's power for themselves. They set out to fulfill the prince's task of raising up an army to fight for him, And the best creatures for this role were the Beasts of Burden.
The Trickster Gods began their ritual with the employment of a Green Flame, called "the Emerald Embers", which they claimed held the power and essence of Nature itself and would allow them to bend it to their desires. The prince silently did not believe this, thinking the Flame to be nothing more than mere symbolic flare for the ritual, but he nonetheless decided to indulge the Trickster Gods and continue watching their work. Next, the Trickster Gods, strictly adhering to their traditions, arranged a grid of symbols holding great magical power, stationing themselves at different points of the grid. They called out chants in a form of communication that was incomprehenisble to the prince, as the Green Fire spread throughout the grid's outline in a seemingly intelligent manner. The Flame enveloped the Trickster Gods, yet they remained unscathed. The Trickster Gods entranced themselves as the veils between the Multiverse's planes began thinning. The prince was able to peer past the veil, and caught a glimpse of what lay beyond that which he could naturally perceive. He bore witness to an ancient primordial chaos that existed everywhere around him, yet was not visible to those without the capability to see it. It was the dark side of Nature, and the horrors it was capable of manifesting – Death, Rot, Plague, and all that caused suffering. The prince could now see why The Pantheon objected to these such practices, and how it was considered so unholy. Nature was, of course, natural, and this was the exact opposite of natural. The creation of these beasts was finally initiated by the Trickster Gods, who unnaturally bent the forces of Nature to remove the barrier between Life and Death, forming beings from the primordial chaos who were neither living nor dead. And thus, the Beasts of Burden were born.
With this ruthless army, The prince, or rather The Overseer, slew his entire Pantheon over the course of a single "night", save for his sister who escaped into hiding. Unsurprisingly, the subjects of the empire which The Overseer had conquered willingly yielded, fearing the same fate as those which the Gods suffered. As for the Trickster Gods, they were all murdered by their own creations at the behest of The Overseer, who anticipated their ulterior motives from the beginning and no longer had use for them.
Despite all the resources which The Overseer has acquired and absorbed into his empire, very few have made for an army as good as his Beasts of Burden. And for good reason…
Members
The Beasts of Burden are divided into groups of "packs", with each member serving a specific purpose:
The Hounds
Warhammer Dire Wolves
The Hounds serve to track the prey that the pack is assigned to hunt. Possessing heightened extrasensory perceptions, they can perceive things that many others cannot. They can efficiently track the signature of given prey not only across vast spans of -Verses, but they can even trace their signatures through the paths of timelines as well. This allows the hounds to hone in on their target quickly and efficiently. They are relentless predators, possessing only one key instinct: to pursue and kill. No force can stop or divert the hounds from this goal, and no matter what damage is sustained to their physical forms, they relentlessly continue the pursuit of their goal until they are either physically incapable or completely destroyed. The remains of any being who had met their fate at the fangs of the hounds are practically impossible to identify – that is, if any remains are actually left behind at all.
The Sentinels
Sentinal
The Sentinels are avatars of Nature's darkest primordial aspects, vengeful and relentless beings given physical form to reside among the packs of the Beasts. They relentlessly stalk targets even when there are countless Archverses separating them. The Sentinels command and direct the Hounds, occasionally dispersing them to cover greater space in shorter time when pursuing targets. The Sentinels can remotely send telepathic commands to the Hounds if they are not physically in each-other's presence, making separation a non-issue. The Sentinels possess high-level reality warping or "nature manipulation", allowing them to perform feats beyond the capability and comprehension of many other entities. As such, Sentinels are powerful enough to face up against Idea Breakers and low-level Mevalkagna with a probability of winning every 1 of 2 scenarios. The deadliest weapon of the Sentinels is considered to be their infohazardous shriek, capable of inducing fatal damage to one's mind.
Elder Sentinels
Elder Sentinels are a rarer variant of the standard Sentinels. These titans were standard Sentinels who have existed and survived the longest in the group. As such, the Elder Sentinels are more experienced, and their forms reflect this. They are significantly larger than standard Sentinels, as a reflection of their infinitely older age and all the time they have been able to grow and gain mass. Typically, standard Sentinels will often be directed by Elder Sentinels in hunts due to the Elder Sentinel having a greater understanding of what to do and how to do those things. Elder Sentinels are a greater threat than standard Sentinels due to their honed strategies from longer experience as well as their larger and more formidable stature. Due to this, they require a greater amount of opponents and time to defeat them compared to a standard Sentinel faced by the same beings.
Shamans
Shaman
Shamans are beings who were once naturally existing mortals, but became members of the Beasts of Burden through ritualistic initiation. If the initiation ritual rejects the being, they suffer a horrible fate worse than death. But if it instead finds the being "worthy", they become one of the Beasts, and are granted powerful abilities. Shamans are in tune with Nature, and have an almost psychic connection to it. The more they are connected to Nature, the greater their powers are. Shamans serve the role of repairing damaged beasts, or creating entirely new ones through rituals similar to that of the trickster gods. As these rituals involve the Green flames, the Shamans also happen to be wielders of the Emerald Embers as well.
The Damned
The Damned are the result of failed rituals to transform mortals into Shamans. Rather than gain powers and boons, the failed shamans are instead horrifically bound to configurations of the primordial chaos from which the Beasts of Burden originated. The Damned are trapped in these forms, losing all self-control and free will. The minds of the mortals remain intact and can think independently of their forms, but the form of the beast they are trapped within controls their movements and overrides the will of the mortal. This means that the Damned act on the instincts of the Beasts, no matter whether the mortal host truly wishes to commit these acts.
The Huntsman
There is only but one of this enigmatic being, yet he can be in many locations at once. The Huntsman, also known as The Shepard of The Beasts, is a spirit who represents and embodies the collective will of the Beasts of Burden, from which he is manifested. As such, he typically serves as the ambassador between them and The Overseer. He dedicates his entire existence to The Hunt, living and dying and reforming over and over again for just its thrills, to which nothing else can compare for him. The Overseer reserves The Huntsman for only the most ambitious and highest profile of conquests, or else the Huntsman would be displeased by the lack of "tension" in his "hunts". Just about every type of creature that one could think of in The Omniverse has been slain by The Huntsman. And yet, even after all of it, he still remains unsatisfied. The Hunstman longs for the time when he will take on his greatest and most worthy prey, in his "Wild Hunt". In such an event, he would rally the greatest of The Beasts of Burden in an apocalyptic Omniverse-spanning pursuit, bringing destruction to all in his path. But he has yet to find the perfect prey for it…