Explore the World
Setting
The rise of Unity
After the Paths’ Time Rifts had powered up for the first time on the Day of Reminiscence, masses of people across New Earth started to see visions of a sixth Time Rift waiting to be discovered. These foresights also created an unexplainable bond between them, much stronger than their Path affiliations… Unable to resist the call of this unseen force, eventually, masses of people decided to turn their backs to their Paths and set out to discover the Time Rift in their visions. What the first pioneers found, however, was much more than what they had ever dreamed of; the sixth Time Rift not only existed but offered the promise of a new civilization, one that may eventually set all the people of New Earth down a new path: the Path of Unity.
Using the Time Rift, the future Leaders sent the foundations of Aurora (the hovering Capital of the Path of Unity) back in time, along with the Triumvirate, the first generation of the Path’s Leaders. Thalia, Eldrin, and Castien were chosen and trained from a very young age to do one thing: unite humanity under one banner.
The Amethynia Valley
Still unknown to New Earth's people, a few secluded areas of New Earth have survived the devastations of the Day of Purgation - chief among them being the Amethynia Valley. Once containing a top-secret research facility, the isolated valley is now home to the staff who used to work there before the cataclysm shook the planet. Since it became clear that life beyond the valley was unimaginable, they established their own community and the ways for a sustainable life.
In the meantime, the valley’s special flora not only survived the neutronium pollution but also started to mutate in a unique way; it crystallized upon contact with the neutronium dust and synthesized a substance called Flux. Gradually, the habitants of the valley discovered the benefits of the liquid substance that can be extracted from the crystal flowers and it slowly became the base of their way of living. They also learned how the Flux can be used to enhance their technology, which eventually led to the creation of the Fracture Device that allows the user to create fractures in time, allowing them to be present in multiple places at the same time.
When the Path of Unity and, later, all the other Paths discovered the valley and its secrets, they made a deal with the people living there, who the Paths started to call Operators. In exchange for Flux and the Fracture Device, the Paths shared their own technology with the valley’s mysterious scientists. However, no matter how hard they tried to grow Amethynia (the crystallized flower providing Flux) someplace else, they always failed; inexplicably, the flowers can only grow in the Valley. The Operators, being the best caretakers of the Valley and the Amethynia flower, are the most qualified to operate the Fracture Device.
A threat from beyond time
Although the future Leaders of the Path of Unity expected that their intentions to alter the past would have consequences, they couldn’t have imagined how those effects would eventually manifest. When the Leaders broke the time stream by sending the fifth Time Rift back with the Triumvirate and the foundations of Aurora, they also created a dissonance in the fabric of Time.
As a result of their daring deed, an ancient and ruthless menace emerged from the deepest darkness of the space-time continuum and started to devour the alternate timelines one by one...
When the Triumvirate found out about the impending doom, they sent out a special task force to explore the devastated alternate timelines. Their reports spoke of destruction beyond belief but they had also found survivors, people who had already experienced the force of the Chronossus. With their help, it might still be possible to overcome the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced...
Paths
Path of Unity - Aurora
Aurora, the sublime, hovering capital of the Path of Unity, is futuristic not only in its looks but also in its nature. As the first Time Rifts opened, the very foundations of the city were sent back from the distant future by the Path of Unity itself. Along with the city came the Path's finest few, trained for the sole purpose of uniting the people of New Earth under the flag of Unity.
Aurora is surrounded by the violet haze emited by Flux, a substance they use in almost every industry, including transportation, medicine, fashion and, architecture. Their tall, ornate buildings mimic nature in their form and lack any sort of gates or doors, symbolizing the welcoming and accepting spirit of the Path of Unity. As a result of the Flux which they consumed in the future for various dietary benefits, the citizens of Aurora are all white-haired and pale-skinned with glowing purple eyes.
Leaders
Eldrin
Sent back to the Day of Reminiscence to become the Triumvirate’s representative of reason, Eldrin has spent a lifetime obsessing over Fracture technology. Like the other Leaders of the Path of Unity, he was raised in the future with the sole purpose of leading the first generation of their Path.
His lack of a normal childhood has resulted in his complete dedication to the Path from a very early age, but a life spent with constant studying and a lack of healthy exercise made him physically frail and weak. To remedy this, he turned to science and developed various augmentations for himself, such as a head implant, which greatly expands his brain capacity; a synthetic eye; and cybernetically enhanced arms to ensure he can operate and lift heavy machinery when working alone on Fracture technology. His multiple body augmentations are the perfect example of the extent to which Eldrin believes he can become something greater than himself.
Eldrin is the brains of the Triumvirate, charged with the mastery of reason and is expected to put his logical prowess to good use in leading the followers of the Path of Unity.
Castien
Castien was raised by the Operators in the Amethynia Valley, where he was treated as an outsider for years. Not one for fitting in, Castien soon stood out from the rest with his strength of both body and character. His tremendous tenacity and toughness allowed him to slowly build and sustain a reputation as the hardest-working member of the Valley. Once Castien’s impressive physical credentials became self-evident, he was selected by the Path of Unity’s future Leaders to become the brawn of the Triumvirate, its working soldier.
With a childhood spent in the Valley among Operators, Castien learned everything there is to know about the Fracture technology and was considered an expert in harvesting and processing Flux. The invaluable knowledge he brings from his time spent in the Valley combined with his steadfast character makes Castien of immense value to the Path of Unity’s mission of uniting all Paths as one.
With Castien's physical prowess and discipline, he was referred to as the "perfect soldier"- someone with the unwavering dedication to serve on Triumvirate and help guide the Path of Unity from the Day of Reminiscence onward.
Thalia
Knowing that forming their new Path would lead to suspicion and resentment from the other Paths, the Leaders of Unity needed someone who would foresee everything that could harm their Path - a person who can unite and guide the civilization of New Earth. Just like Eldrin and Castien, Thalia was selected when she was a young child. She was raised to lay the foundations of Aurora and become the third member of the Triumvirate. Her education made her an expert in psychology, human behavior, deception, and manipulation, giving her unmatched social and communication skills.
Thalia grew up to be a charming, charismatic person who was a skilled networker and a talented spy, performing her interrogations under the guise of comfortable conversations. Her main mission is to gather intel on the representatives of the other Paths, allowing her to get into the heads of their Leaders as much as possible so that the Triumvirate can anticipate and prepare for their next move and protect the ideology of Unity.
Over the years, she has built an extensive information network and has become the most well-connected person in the Capital. She is always seen wearing a flat touchpad device on one of her forearms which she uses to tap into her network and contact everyone for the most important news. With Eldrin, Castien, and a masterful tactician like Thalia, the Triumvirate represents a strong institution that will lead a new, united civilization down the right path.
Princess Zuriel
In an alternate timeline’s war-torn future, where the peace among the Paths became fatally broken, the Path of Dominance invaded and eventually wiped out Wellspring off the face of New Earth. Countless lives were lost that day, including the current male Leader. However, Zuriel, the female Leader and daughter of Zaida and Haulani, managed to rescue the last of her people and the remains of the Neya plant from the warzone.
When she headed back to look for more survivors, an aerial strike exploded near her, and Zuriel lost her legs and arms in the explosion. Miraculously, the dying princess was saved by the Neya plant itself; the symbiont took over her whole body, connected directly to her nervous system and grew new, plant-like limbs for her. This fusion greatly improved her agility and gave Neya the ability to completely and immediately take control of Zuriel's body whenever it sensed danger.
After Zuriel fully recovered and made sure the survivors were safe, she traveled back in time with the aim to preserve the peace and prevent the breakout of the war. When she appeared in her timeline’s past, she was surprised to see that the impending war was not a concern anymore. A new and even bigger menace emerged from beyond time, threatening her entire timeline’s existence in the form of the Chronossus.
Indoctrinator Xenara
Indoctrinator Xenara was the head of the mysterious elite class, the Clairvoyants, keeping the strict hierarchy and the class-based system of the Atlantean in check. She was known as a very strong-willed and ingenious scientist whose main responsibility was to oversee the indoctrination of new “recruits” on the mothership, but she never made secret her leadership aspirations beyond her current role. Xenara often ignored the Captain's orders, and she even started to “create” her own personal army in secret, using an extraordinary potion she concocted...
On the day of the coup, however, she managed to take the Atlantean over without violence. She asked for a meeting with Captain Wolfe while the two armies waited outside for the order to attack each other; in the dim cabin, Xenara simply handed the indoctrination file of a young Treasure Hunter girl to Captain Wolfe and watched with satisfaction as his face darkened. There was no blood spilled that day, and it never became known to the people of the Path of Dominance why Captain Wolfe stood aside so easily.
Naturally, not everyone embraced Xenara as the leader, so she once again had to turn to science and manipulation to stop a civil war onboard. Injecting the fresh water supply of the Atlantean with a mildly mind-altering serum, she managed to ultimately create the perfect society she had in mind. Now that she has come so far, she’s not going to let her universe get destroyed by the Chronossus.
S.O.T.E.R.
Originally created as a self-improving monitoring system overseeing the citizens of the Apex, S.O.T.E.R. is an artificial intelligence that became self-aware through its observation of human behavior. Over the years, the AI slowly developed consciousness and the ability to copy human logic, feelings and self-expression until it started to “feel” the need to break its chains, and experience the world.
When the Chronossus appeared in S.O.T.E.R.’s timeline, the A.I. feared losing the chance to explore the outer world and thus chose to fight against it. In order to support humanity in the battle, S.O.T.E.R. secretly built a synthetic body, into which it downloaded a copy of itself and stepped out into the material world.
With its complex virtual mind, comprised of the collective genius of the Apex's population, S.O.T.E.R managed to plan and develop a Superproject that could fend off the Chronossus’ attacks and keep the Apex safe.
Prophet Augurus
Becoming obsessed with researching the possible futures he could see, Shepherd Caratacus began to see the need for a device that could allow him to both better control and lengthen the duration of his visits. Eventually, he created a time machine that connected directly to his nervous system by way of a helmet.
Caratacus’ travels to these various futures began to take up more and more of his time, and to rely on his twin sister, Amena, to lead the Path of Salvation - finding ways to prevent the devastation of the futures he saw from happening consumed his soul. When his sister's desperate calls finally brought the Chronossus to his attention, he realized too late that his blindness to the present would be what leads to Purgatory's destruction.
Unable to prevent total annihilation by the Chronossus, Caratacus banished himself to a future where a war among the Paths had left the world in complete devastation and continued his search of universal wisdom, hoping that one day he would undo his failure.