Aberrant RPG - What is... "TERMINAL"...?

[Mental_Floss]

Yes indeed... that spoiler was only the beginning. Or, perhaps you could say that this spoiler is the beginning. For everyone who was wondering what on earth Terminal is, and even for those of you who weren't (I promise you, you'll be at least vaguely interested by the time you're done)... here's the log of last night's "developer chat" on the EON Chat with Defender, Jackson, CHILL, Aninemity, and others... and of course, yours truly as the guest of honor.

As some of you may have noticed, there is now a Terminal forum. All further Terminal business will be conducted there, including but not limited to:

-Recruiting writers, artists, etc

-Planning, brainstorming, and filling out the details left open

-Discussion regarding the story of Terminal

-Any questions you may have for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man... er... developer

-Excited hooting noises (I thank Exalted developer GCG for that term)

-And of course, RAMPANT SPECULATION AND INSANE THEORIES!

I hope you people enjoy this as much as I did... and I hope you're going to continue enjoying what comes in the future as much as I plan to. Particularly my development team, whoever that ends up being... I promise I won't be a slavedriver...

...much... ::devil

[Mental_Floss]

"TERMINAL" - AN INSIDE LOOK FROM THE DEVELOPER

Latest Terminal news: new, massive spoiler planned for sometime next week. History of the Supremacy War. The Supremacy War is the main event that sets the stage for the "modern world" of Terminal, my upcoming Aberrant alternate-world project.

In a functional sense, Terminal is my upcoming e-Book to be hosted on EON. I've got most of the ideas set out, but details are still flexible. I'd be the "developer" sort, and most likely the primary writer... but I'd still need others.

In a story sense, Terminal is completely separate from Aberrant. The only similarity is in the abilities exhibited by the characters.

There are no "novas"... only Conduits and Hackers (the latter term may change, but it's suitably appropriate, and there's no such thing as "computer hackers" in Terminal, since communications networks don't exist). The former are "reincarnations" of one-thousand people who were strong enough (or lucky enough, who knows?) to be able to survive the Absolute Consciousness Event (more details in a moment) and use the power provided by the Absolute Consciousness planet-mind. The latter are post-AC Event humans who have learned to use the power of human will to harness the Absolute Consciousness. Their abilities are less intuitive, automatic, and powerful than the Conduits... but far more varied.

Now, backing up several steps... the Absolute Consciousness Event is what happened when the number of fully-developed human minds on Earth reached the same number as the neurons in the human brain -- around 100 billion. Through the medium of the Schumann Resonance (an electromagnetic field around Earth resonating at 8hz -- the same resonance as is used by communicating neurons), these 100 billion humans were joined in "Absolute Consciousness" -- what one perceived, all perceived. What one knew, all could access.

Obviously, the human brain isn't designed to handle this, and most of these people were... fried, to put it lightly. Of them, 1000 managed to "survive" the AC Event... either by force of will, dumb luck, or some act of the nascent planet-mind... nobody knows. The others became the "Information-Blasted", or IBs... the force of their minds became little more than neural parallel processors, capable of manipulating the basic elements of reality through electromagnetic force. But who would direct that force? That's right... the 1000 who "survived". They were called "Conduits", and each of them had access to 1/1000th of the full power of the Absolute Consciousness -- or more if they worked together, as they would find later.

These Conduits quickly found that by concentrating on a certain "aspect" of reality-manipulation, they could greatly increase their capability... and in fact, it was almost impossible for them to operate without specializing. Thus, they came to be categorized by "Masks"... the aspects of reality which they could manipulate. The Mask of Thought, Mask of Velocity, Mask of Fire... so on and so forth.

(Mechanics-wise, a Conduit has no limit to the dots in a power which fits in his/her Mask, but is limited to 1 dot in any power outside of it. Harsh, but makes for well-defined power sets.)

They went on to do great things... but eventually, by old age or other causes, one of the Conduits died. With the death of the first, all the others felt... stronger. That Conduit's mind was set adrift to await reincarnation, and the power it controlled was divided amongst the survivors. This led a number of the Conduits to wonder how powerful they could become, if more were to die... if *all* the others were to die...

It started out small, but escalated rapidly... with each death, the amount of power involved in each battle grew larger. The innocent fought for their lives, and the greedy fought for power. Some would band together, and rough groups would be formed along ideological lines. Eventually, the conflict of these varied groups came to be known as the "Supremacy War". It lasted for a hundred years, and inflicted countless wounds on the Earth itself, scarring the landscape beyond recognition.

Eventually, as all wars must, the Supremacy War came to an end. The Conduits, and humanity itself, were destroyed... or, as those who have read the mini-spoiler know, there was one left.

The one, the "Last", was Jaya, Mask of Connection. Truly, the meek had inherited the Earth... Jaya was the foremost opponent of the war itself, and her grief upon seeing the destruction was immeasurable. It is theorized that she survived only because she was "hiding" -- still working hard on her underground complex, where she had moved the Information-Blasted for safekeeping and study almost a hundred years before. There, the IBs were preserved... not that it mattered, as she would find later. Their minds were absorbed by the Earth planet-mind, and were forged into the Absolute Consciousness. But what would Jaya do with the power of the Last, the supreme power of the Absolute Consciousness? She would withdraw. That's right... for a thousand years, she remained in a stasis of her own making, allowing the Earth to heal its grievous wounds. At some point, somehow, humanity reappeared... not the humanity of the Conduits, or the IBs, but pure, untouched humanity. Among them, however, were the Conduits... though they knew nothing of what came before. These Conduits led humanity to build a great empire with their power.

Things from the past would return, but not in the form they were once known. Words, terms, phrases... but all applied to new things. The massive continent on which humanity reappeared was named Lemuria -- for comparison, it's something around the size of Africa plus the Eurasian continent.

Empires rose apart from each other, and distinct cultures emerged, bearing marks of the past in a synthesis of the future. Eventually, humanity was whole again, as the various cultures came into contact with each other. War was surprisingly

rare... perhaps as a result of the deep, unknown sorrow in the hearts of the Conduits, left over pieces of fragmented memories from the Supremacy War.

In this time, Jaya is unknown, and the concept of a "Mask of Connection" is unheard of. This is, of course, Jaya's work. She subtly discourages the creation of communication technology via her power, mixed as it is through the whole of the planet-mind.

And why? Because she wants to avoid another Absolute Consciousness Event... she believes that the initial AC Event was not solely due to the Schumann Resonance, but also due to its synthesis and absorption of humanity's worldwide communication network. In preventing a second AC Event, she believes she will prevent a second, more terrible Supremacy War.

Unaware of Jaya's subtle, subconscious influence, humanity continues... sometimes in ways far beyond what we know today. Communication technology is limited, but many other aspects are highly advanced. Another thing which seems to be neglected is sea or air transportation. Those ships which have traveled far from Lemuria have found a sort of "barrier" -- different in each description -- which prevents them from going further. It corresponds roughly to the Prime Meridian, with Lemuria evenly situated in the center of one "side" of the Earth. Lemurian physicists -- though discouraged from such theories by the Mahayana Foundation (more on that shortly) -- theorize that due to the mass of Lemuria, there must be another similarly large continent on the opposite side of the world, or the Earth would spin out of orbit. But for now, and until someone can pierce the "barrier" (needs a name...), that remains only theory. This is most likely where Jaya's underground facility is, housing both herself and the IBs in suspended animation. But what else does the "other continent" hold? Who knows...

On to the Mahayana. As humanity grew and expanded, Conduits came into contact with each other more and more often, and quickly realized a common bond... and they all realized the potential they had to aid humanity. The Mahayana Foundation is a paramilitary organization dedicated to peacekeeping and aiding the development of humanity. It has a vaguely religious feel, where the Conduits are venerated as the "directors" of the natural order... but for the most part, it's more like a lawmaking organization.

It is believed that the highest ranks of the Mahayana have access to some sort of technology or power which allows them to communicate instantly... telephones held as religious icons? Perhaps. But humanity at large, and even most Conduits, have no idea what a "telephone" is.

So, back to Mahayana. Besides their duties as defenders and guiders of humanity, they also have another, somewhat darker duty.

This duty is to uphold the natural order, by discouraging "Hackers"... non-Conduits who have learned to use the strength of their will to create effects similar to those of the Conduits. They are clearly less powerful than the Conduits, but more

versatile... and impossible to spot, because they don't "resonate" like Conduits do, which allows Conduits to always sense each other.

Mahayana publicly states that Hackers weaken the power of the Absolute Consciousness, by "usurping" the divine right of the Conduits... but there may be a darker reason, spoken of only in private. Many possibilities exist, and I plan to include them all.

And then we come to the crux of our story, the event that sets off the "modern era" of Terminal...

Throughout "new" human history, the Conduits had reincarnated quickly upon death... though "reincarnation" is rather like in Exalted, wherein the power is passed on, along with some possible memories, but not the personality or anything else.

But... recently, Conduits have been taking longer and longer to reincarnate. Eventually, it seems that they just... stopped. One had died, and the others felt the loss.

The Conduits felt the stirring of old memories, the Supremacy War looming darkly in the back of their minds... it was just like this, and yet entirely unlike it. This time, the consciousness of the dead Conduits couldn't even be felt in the Absolute

Consciousness... it was as if they had disappeared entirely. Were they being snuffed out by some other power? Or was the Earth planet-mind, the Absolute Consciousness itself, coming full-circle by absorbing the Conduits into itself, finally preparing itself to awaken to full consciousness? Or perhaps something else, something more terrifying than even the Supremacy War and the finality of Absolute Consciousness?

And thus begins our story... the story of Terminal... and soon, your story.