THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

[modormenace]

 

A

rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

F

or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

A

nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."

The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.

"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

THE WHITE TOWER SANCTUM AURORAE KRAKOA HOUSE OF M EMPIRE OF LIGHT EQUALITY BEFORE LAW THE TWIN CITIES OLIN VALE EDEN SEEKERS OF THE NEW DAWN NORTHWESTERN IMPERIUM GREEN PIECE MAD BURNISH LUMINARY

Comments

[eightfoldlight]

[ Yenh just continues grinning through the mild insult. ]

Her? She's your Director General. Second-in-command, of sorts. A nice enough woman, by all accounts.

[hellufacade]

...Am I an idiot? That woman has usurper all over her—

Unless that is my plan. [He presses his palm to his forehead]

I cannot believe I have to do this. To- to try to discern my own threads in roughly a three-thousandth of the time.

...Not that I don't believe in myself, mind you. I couldn't have changed too much in ten years...

[He stares at her, promptingly.]

[eightfoldlight]

[ Yenh shakes her head, and shrugs. ]

Not that much, no. You've had it well in hand, given all the external forces at play.

[ She hums thoughtfully. ]

Usurper or not, I doubt she'll make her move today. And since we don't have that much time, why don't we stick to the basics? This is the time when new imPorts arrive, and there's often some sort of festival or party to encourage people to bite your imperial bullet. First thing's first... what is the state of the USA on the Earth you're, uh, visiting from?

[hellufacade]

The state of it? You heard that I was a community theater director, yes? It is fine, well. Mostly. There is the odd robot attack or self-styled supervillian.

[He has a not so great feeling about this world if he's stuck himself into this role, though...]

I can make some extrapolations, then. I suppose I'm guarding people and their resources in as stable and low-effort manner as possible to divert resources towards my ends. Something about my approach seems... Sloppy, perhaps? ...What is the state of this one? And how large is my territor-

[He catches a glimpse of a map on his wall as he asks and approaches it.]

Ah, nevermind that. I see my territory... And apparently a dozen other territories. Hmmm. This looks quite bad.

...So what have you been doing?

[eightfoldlight]

Quite bad, indeed. Those're all imPort-run territories. Ten years ago, there was a revolt against the government. I wasn't there for it, but by all accounts, a lot of people died. The natives aren't well-treated by a number of the resulting factions.

That's been part of the appeal you've made with your empire—promising native-born Earth folk that they can maintain their way of life.

[ It's weird to explain this to Emet-Selch, since he had been there for the incident and did all of this, but here we are. ]

As to your other question, a handful of the Scions and I founded a neutral organization—the Keepers of the New Dawn. We call our little city-state 'Glimmershire,' in the region once known by all as California. Our members assist with negotiations, infrastructure works, information gathering, research, and defense against anomalous threats.

[ Normal Scion stuff. ]

I travel the world and lend my hand in direct aid.

[hellufacade]

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Mm. Since I haven’t solved this myself already, I have to assume that there are some tricky stumbling blocks.

Some reason I haven’t sent that fleet of magitek outside directly into their bases.

[ He stares out the window for a moment. ]

The conflict must be unwinnable, or they must have some sort of weapon that would debilitate me even in my true form.

[ He rubs his temples. ]

I’ll just have to trust myself. ... Now to get into character.

What is my public persona? Am I a little more iron-fisted—- have I reprised my role as Solus Zos Galvus, or is he more of a firm-yet-kind sort? Is it moral authority that I lead with?

[eightfoldlight]

Firm but fair, moral authority, aye. You talk pretty to people about uniting under one banner. You may even be able to find a recording of one of your speeches.

[ Yenh wonders how exactly to describe the state of the rest of the factions. ]

There are enough highly-powered imPorts that victory really can't be assured without enormous bloodshed—even with magitech and the might of the Underworld at your command. There are various Resistance movements against imPort supremacists, but they're all in disagreement about how to proceed. A few particularly dangerous ones even want to destroy the original Porter.

[ Her expression darkens at that last part. ]

[hellufacade]

... Right. I suppose I could find some newspaper or some memos. Even if both will be highly saturated in propaganda.

[This was a truly terrible circumstance that had been handed down to the natives. Even if this could have been avoided by not sucking otherworlders in. Annihilated by their hubris, as they should have been.

And yet.

He was here too.]

Did I seem... close? To my objective, I mean.

[eightfoldlight]

Not yet. [ She's rather casual about that. ] You've kept me in the dark on some of the finer points, but I believe you were planning on taking additional actions after the annual...

[ Yenh cringes. ]

Oh, no. The Synod is this month. ...well... we have time to prepare you. Presuming you and my Hades haven't been set back to rights in time.

[hellufacade]

[Of course he couldn’t have walked into the “inevitability” stage of one of his plots. ]

Pray explain. With haste.

[ And makes half an attempt to shuck the weary cast from his features. ]

[eightfoldlight]

The Synod is a meeting of faction leaders, taking place at the original Porter. It's a political event wherein everyone discusses and negotiates the business of the year. It's generally nonviolent, but there's always drama.

[ She checks the date and further grimaces. ]

... we have a week to get you up to speed. At least the Dawnseekers have records on previous years' proceedings.