Chronicles Of Fate (Took me AWHILE to realize site had moved)

[Manowater989]

Interesting Races/Creatures- It rarely gets more interesting than the Revs. You could maybe call them chaotic bio-engineering elves from the future, but that would absolutely not do them justice. They're immortal, they personalize their lives and their bodies to their own specifications, can control their own emotions, and are free to do anything they wish, are bonded for life to artificial bio-constructs called synths that can do nearly any task from growing food to communicating with other systems (such as ENP) for them, many are powerful psions called Teleks or have other adaptations like glands that prevent them from freezing or enhanced strength, some are great hulking armored paladins of chaos, some are winged angels, some barely look human at all. Their bioneers can create Trueform creatures of nearly any type. The Socs are no slouches in the uniqueness department either, many are interesting types of cyborgs, wired into communal computer systems or slowly becoming infected with nanomechanical lattice cells as their whole race becomes more and more monolithic, even Garns may develop some unique survival mechanisms.

Organizations - The organizations are the backbone of the world, they represent the philosophies that fuel its' conflict and basically make it go 'round. They are obviously organized along the two main axes of law (represented by the Socs) and chaos (represented by the Revs), with a third, neutrality (represented by the Garns). Good and evil are regarded as more subjective, shades-of-grey, with the Socs somewhat leaning more towards evil and the Revs perhaps leaning more towards good in certain ways, even though they are fanatical zealots who killed billions in a single unbelievable counter-strike. Thrown into the mix are smaller sub-categories within each overfaction, (Gia-Revs, Memeticists) and some that even span 2 of the 3 or all of them, but these, for the most part, are just groupings of certain types of people and not actual organizations with any ties together (Seekers).

Magic - "Magic" in this setting, like in that famous quote, is all sufficiently advanced technology. Most of it falls into the categories of either psionics (called in-setting "telemanipulative abilities/ powers"), which are a result of extremely advanced genetic alterations and are almost exclusively the purview of the Revs, or the actions of molecular or even atomic-scale (much smaller than in much other science fiction, thanks to similarly advanced breakthroughs in single-electron-scale manipulation) constructs (controlled by a cybernetic link in one's brain), which are mastered by the Socs, Revs only being capable of building much larger and cruder cell-sized nanos, only useful primarily for tasks within the bodies of organisms, guiding environmental growth and while they can grow structures and objects from molecular models, the Revs' nanos are incapable of magic-like supermanipulation. There are also some "magic items"- physical matter can be imbued with psychic energy for indefinite amounts of time and can function in accordance with whatever power the Telek may have "poured into" the item (may have charges or not) and automatic use nanoclouds that even a Rev could activate manually and other similarly advanced technological items, such as PosEn regeneration crystals used by Rev healers. In fact, crystals in general. Lots of crystals used by Revs.

Locations - The most iconic locations are Core City and Geneva, respective capitals of Great Heavens (or Celestia); the Rev "empire" or nation, and the WSA; the Soc "empire" or nation.

Other - One more time, I'm going to steal something the esteemed 77IM said: Well, there's actually a whole ton of other! Check it out!

P.S. I have been thinking quite a bit about this setting here and there, so this most likely will contain some new info or at least clarifications of things not seen in the main text. I guess it's a little weird to have the overview go into more detail on some aspects than the actual work, but, oh well. In fact, looking at this tells me that the whole thing really needs a rewrite and this should actually be an overview for a Second Edition of CoF incorporating all my new ideas but I'm too lazy so, as they say, meh. :nonono:

[Manowater989]

Here
Ok. This is my re-edited version of everything. Some of this stuff was originally mine, some of it was 77IM's. Credit was given where due. Most of this is redundant (i.e. the same as what is already posted here and other places) but a lot of things are subtly different and a few things are entirely new. Think of it as the CoF Special Edition DVD, with added bonus material â˺

The Last Revolution: Revolution has been a constant throughout human history. It is inevitable that some day a group of people will revolt against the idea of society itself, in what amounts to the final revolution. This is the story of that day.

This was really designed with d20 modern and perhaps even the upcoming d20 Future in mind. For a short description, it is a Post-Apocalyptic, Bizzarro Wartime Scifi about a near-future Earth consumed by brutal war between chaotic and technologically advanced rebels and lawful, high-population traditionalists.

This is just the basic backstory, all fluff and no crunch, because I am bad at crunch. I provide the fluff, but I need others to convert into crunch for me. More rules and specifics to come later. I am looking for any feedback, input, or suggestions. Most of all, I am looking for collaborators to 1. help me get up-and-running a website, 2. help me get it published (or whatever), or 3. submit ideas and help be a classes-and-rules consultant so I don't have to do all the work myself. Let me know what you think!

Chronicles Of Fate
War Of The Fates

(Note: The following is a compilation of different materials taken from disparate sources. Itsâ,¬,,¢ aim is not to present a unified account as a coherent whole, but instead to chronicle the conditions leading up to, involving, and determining the history and current conditions of the Earth Civil War from many different points of view.)

â,¬Å"And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain.â,¬Â
-The Christian Bible, Revelation 13:6-13:8

â,¬Å"And there came at last, among the many myriad shrouds of despair and oppressive sins of the dark and hopeless Old World a new God, our true God who made the very world unto which He was born, and who would make it again, even in the futurepast, and He hated with wrath the evil subjugation of His world by Society, and it was known that He would not suffer it to last.â,¬Â
-The Divinist Ordne, Origin Cycle, Verse 2

â,¬Å"Why am I siding with them now? Because I think they can win. Those who truly believe in him have absolute devotion- they do not fear death. And now I hear that he can conjure soldiers from nothing. Yes, this war will be over soon now. They say that no one can rule forever, but there is always an exception, and this time, heâ,¬,,¢s it. Nothing will ever defeat that man- that God, for I now believe that must be what he is. What else could explain the things that he can do?â,¬Â


â,¬Å"Those filthy animals, theyâ,¬,,¢re just some vicious rebels. Theyâ,¬,,¢re terrorists, cowards, mass-murderers, beasts! They themselves admit they arenâ,¬,,¢t human, so weâ,¬,,¢ll exterminate the vermin. They think theyâ,¬,,¢re better than us, they live in floating castles above us and call themselves angels? Theyâ,¬,,¢re monsters! There is an order to mankind that they cannot destroy with fire or with war, and we have little to truly fear: for in the end, they cannot win.â,¬Â

The Socs Vs. The Revs:
World To War
2002: The modern world. Cast in plastic and in sheetrock, in the skies can be seen airplanes and helicopters. Fast food restaurants, schools, and malls. Everything is made out of cubes: people spend their lives in concrete boxes. And of course, there is always Society. What must people do? What must they say? How must they act? They must conform, be like everyone else. What happens to those who refuse to conform? It is rarely a pretty picture. But to those who live in this world, it seldom strikes them as such a dreary and monotonous image- they have their own things to consider: a girl they like, or a promotion they want, or the chasing of the next temporary high. And they have more important worries: there are wars, evil forces, people are afraid. There is politics, business, religion. All of these things kept people busy in the modern world. But there was at least one person who was largely unconcerned with all these things: it was Society that worried this boy. He spent the year of 2002 at a school for people who didnâ,¬,,¢t conform. It was here that he finally awakened, finally saw. He was to become very important.

2003: The modern world continues. But this boy is getting more and more ideas. Society worries him more and more now, and, elsewhere, others start having the same kinds of thoughts. Eventually, there would be so many of them as to worry Society. The boy, his name being Josh, became their leader. And the modern world became The World That Was. What happened?

[Manowater989]

Socs- S-O-C. The first 3 letters of words like â,¬Å"Socialâ,¬Â and â,¬Å"Societyâ,¬Â. These sorts of things are very important to these people. Socs believe in the neat order of rules and laws, and the power of conformity to keep people getting along. Some Socs are good, others are bad. The good ones think rules and social norms can keep people from getting hurt and facilitate more peaceful human interaction. The bad ones want to use laws to control and imprison people, bending them to their will.

Revs- R-E-V. The first 3 letters of words like â,¬Å"Revolutionâ,¬Â and â,¬Å"Revoltâ,¬Â. These sorts of things are very important to these people. Revs believe in freedom, individuality, chaos, and trusting people to make their own decisions. Some Revs are good, others are bad. The good ones think that people should always be left alone to do what they want, believing this to be essential to human happiness and fulfillment. The bad ones want to use freedom and randomness as a tool to be vicious and capricious, hurting and tormenting as they please.

Escalation To War: Unbeknownst to the Socs or not, there was a war brewing between the Socs and the Revs. As Josh lived on, he gathered many more Revs to his side, and it became a secret organization. As a scientist, he also received worldwide recognition for his many incredible inventions. He founded a huge corporation, using most of the proceeds to fund the growth of his private organization. Among his most prominent inventions were the Lifters, a nearly 75-year-old technology, created but never perfected by the Socs, which he used to create a fleet of antigravity airships called Lifter Ships, and accompanying Lifter Colonies, suspended high above the ground, for them to fly to, and humanoid artificial life forms designed to serve humans, predictably named Synths. Nearly all of this technology, that would become the hallmark of Rev design, incorporated natural shapes and wood as a material. His final, and, for a long time, lost, invention was the fountain of youth: an irreproducible strain of the telomerase enzyme that halted aging and granted eternal life and youth. Josh used the enzyme on himself and his wife, Jennifer, then, in 2021, at the ages of 35 and 36, they faked their own deaths, and then disappeared into the shadows. For the next 200 years, while the civilization of the world grew closer and closer to the brink of catastrophe, he continued to grow his secret organizations, which took control of a web of businesses, churches, other organizations, and even governments. Continued to watch, and wait, still biding his time. During this period, The Revs founded their first official outlet: the Freedomist political party in the United States, which eventually replaced the failing Democratic Party as one of the two major parties. Josh also founded within the Revs an even more devoted inner circle: the Divine Order, a religion that worships him as God. And all the while, other major events continued to transpire: great natural disasters, outbreaks of plague and political shiftings and machinations. New nations were born: South Africa grew into a new superpower, while Middle Eastern nations consolidated and a large new country emerged with former Ethiopia as itsâ,¬,,¢ center. Wars never ceased either, and even as the day approached when all Socs would have to band together against their common enemy, they never stopped fighting one another. There was even a small (comparatively) nuclear war called the Atsief Conflict, but all of this paled in comparison with the true threat of the coming storm. By 2221, the Revs had even stockpiled a vast store of weapons, many of which were powerful new types invented by Josh that the Socs did not have.

In 2224, Josh revealed himself again. Many more came to join his cause and worship him. By this time, there were Lifter Ship docks, all made of wood, in all major cities, everyone recognized the distinctive, wooden â,¬Å"Rev part of townâ,¬Â built down onto the water, where just about anything someone wanted to do was tolerated and even encouraged. There were great depressurized tunnels, suspended by Lifters with their bottoms in the upper atmosphere and their tops in space, so the wooden Lifter Ships could enter and exit the atmosphere without fear of burning up, and the first Lifter Colonies in space: not flat and island-like as the ones in the air, but iron spheres with many holes for Lifter Ships to fly into and out of, spinning so as to keep their air. The following year marked the start of the Exodus. Revs began to migrate en masse to the Lifter Colonies, leaving the surface behind, and forming a new nation named Great Heavens. At the same time, they elected to be altered in many ways, including genetic engineering, which set the Revs well on their way to evolving into a new species, genetically independent from the human Socs dwelling on the surface. With their fantastic and superior technology, the Rev Celestians (people of Great Heavens, also called Celestia) joined the United States, China, and South Africa as world superpowers. The Socs still living on the ground became fearful and jealous of Great Heavens, and as their own imbalance intensified, came to blame the Revs for all their problems.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Just for curiosity's sake (and I ask this because I read "The Outsiders" growing up), is SOCs pronounced "socks," or "sow-ches?"

How does religion work in this campaign with the way Josh functions as somewhat of a deity or avatar?

[Manowater989]

[ic=Out Of Character]Socks. Always lol. And there's a whole section on religions in with the Factions, the two main ones and the others as well.[/ic]

[Manowater989]

The Revs had started out hating the Socs, but, now that they could live free of their enforced conformity, they were content to live in peace with them. As the Socs became more and more envious of what the Revs had and stood for, the Revs petitioned for there to be peace. At the same time, however, they secretly braced for war, developing their most dreadful weapons ever: the CinderStar, and the Negadyne. Finally, the world of the Socs began to collapse. The WSA (World Societalist Assembly) was formed to unite all Soc nations against the â,¬Å"looming threatâ,¬Â of the Revs, and, at that point, it could have been any little thing that finally ignited all the barely-suppressed conflicts just waiting to flare all at once and end the world as they knew it: it just so happened to be learning that Great Heavens held the secret of immortality that turned out to be the final straw, in their minds, a justification to attack, demanding it be given to them. When Josh refused, it was underway: at 4:22 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on Saturday, November 24th, 2246, 18 nations launched 33 atomic warheads at the Sector Capital Lifter Colony of Independent Act, destroying it- over 12 million people were killed.

The Socs could have done more damage. They could, perhaps, have taken Celestia somewhat by surprise, although they really were pretty sure what was coming. Still, the Socs, in their arrogance, thought they could frighten Great Heavens, which they greatly underestimated, into surrendering with a show of force. They were greatly mistaken. The newsfeeds on the surface had just enough time to get out their headlines â,¬Å"WAR!â,¬Â before the Revs deployed their CinderStar and Negadyne Bombers, engulfing much of the world in the twin blooms of solar flame and negative force. The Socs had their own destructive spread to add to the conflagration, unleashing their full store of atomic bombs and many other varied weapons and detonations besides. To view the world from space that day, it was surely a beautiful and colorful fireworks display. There is no knowing how furious Josh must have been, sealed inside his Divine Palace on the Celestian capital of Core City, but one thing was for sure: The Earth Civil War had begun.

Dawn Of The New World: From space, the firestorm that marked the First Day Of Fire may have been both beautiful and colorful, but to those a little closer, it was hell on Earth. Whatever illusion of organization and structure mankind might have convinced itself it built in itsâ,¬,,¢ life on this planet was reduced to ash and molten earth on that day. The fire that the CinderStars rained down was devastating enough: it covered the land in great sheets of liquid plasma, melting mountains and valleys alike into white-hot magma. But the radii of pure annihilation spewed forth by the Negadyne Bombs was worse: negative energy that breaks down all matter on a sub-atomic level, and drains all life from anything it touches, great craters where nothing shall ever grow again, and storms of darkness that level all in their path. The electron bombs, numbering in the thousands, added their radioactive flame to spill out across the already dying lands, and millions of smaller bombs, missiles, and even potentially more devastating nanotech disassemblers contributed to The World That Was being reduced to the nightmarish New World.

And yet, it was not over. 24 hours passed, the world still burned, and the Second Day Of Fire began. Not content in their destruction of all things, both sides refused to relent, and continued to either pour down or propel up their weapons. Eventually, however, the Socs could withstand no more. The surface burned, but try as they might, they could not ignite the heavens. The seas of shadow and flame that spread over the lands overwhelmed them, and they decided to cut their losses and run. After the 9th Day, the Days Of Fire were over. There were 9 Days Of Fire in all, and in that short span, the world was ruined. And yet, still, not as much of the Earthâ,¬,,¢s surface was destroyed as most expected: even then, there were lands that were still not wastes. It was to these places that the surviving Socs then migrated. The Revs, believing their victory was at hand, descended in wrath with more bombs, and Lifter Ships armed to the hilt, and many soldiers, ready to enact their righteous vengeance. But the Socs greatly surprised them with just how much of their great forces remained. The Revs were the rebels remember, and although they destroyed much of the old order with their ingenious and horrifying weapons, the Socs were still the ones who had been controlling all of mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, and their numbers were still far greater, despite the billions that The 9 Days Of Fire had killed.

And so began The Civil War in earnest. The Lifter Ships and great hosts of the Revs, including many Synth soldiers, descended, but the Socs, fortifying their positions and aiming weapons skyward, were prepared. They clashed, and the horrific Battle Of Sonates began.

The War: The Battle Of Sonates, the opening battle of The War, included all of the bombs and weapons that were used in The 9 Days Of Fire, though in much lesser quantities, in addition to massive contingents of soldiers and vehicles. The Revs were able to do more damage while they were still airborne- once they landed, it became a drawn-out bloodbath that raged on to the sound of roaring explosions, weapons fire, and the tortured screams of the dying. Both sides raged with all their hatred, and tore one another to shreds. Josh was there, leading his armies, and so was his counterpart, Allan Fisher, elected president of the WSA before the war began, former U.S. President and uber-Soc, not leading his armies but issuing orders from a base, and just as angry. The battle eventually ended when nearly all were dead. None can say for sure which side the Battle Of Sonates was a victory for, both lost nearly all who fought in it, although unsurprisingly, neither Josh nor Allan Fisher were killed or even injured in the battle. Most agree it was probably the Revs who won, since they tend to never stop fighting unless theyâ,¬,,¢re all dead. By the time Fisher called for a retreat of his decimated forces and Josh ascended back up to Core City to replenish his armies, many more Rev forces had descended to attack, many more Soc forces prepared to defend and counterattack, many other vicious battles broken out all over the world, and it was clear this nightmarish war would not be over any time soon.

The Front Lines: During The 9 Days Of Fire, both the Socs and Revs exhausted most of their supplies of Weapons Of Mass Destruction. The Revs used theirs first, and continued to use more as The 9 Days went on, many of which were intended to intercept hails of Soc weapons being aimed up at them and create a generalized barrier of firepower to protect their Colonies. Many Colonies were destroyed nonetheless, but nowhere near the level of devastation that surface settlements suffered. Furthermore, the Revsâ,¬,,¢ weapons had a much larger blast radius than those of the Socs, so they had to use less to produce more destructive effects. On the flipside, however, the Socs did fire all of their nuclear weapons, including hydrogen bombs, at the Revs. However you look at it, once the bombs started flying, most of the weapons both sides deployed were needed simply to survive. Though, the Revs did end up using more of their weapons, in all, (although still a far lower number) than the Socs in order to (debatably) emerge the â,¬Å"victorsâ,¬Â of The 9 Days Of Fire.

[CYMRO]

The above post is the best yet.  I like the political/historical backstory.
That post should be the intro to your work.  Even if one does not know what a Rev or Soc is or who Josh is, it is a more compelling read and a sounder springboard from which to dive into the other elements.
It contains enough reference points to allow someone to travel farther into the more unusual aspects of the setting's story/set-up.

 :clap:  :hooray:  :cheer:  :drunk:  :band:

[Manowater989]

[ic=Out Of Character]Well, thank you. I'll consider using it as the setting opener in future postings/iterations....[/ic]

[Manowater989]

The point of all this is that by the time that actual combat began, both sides had few remaining weapons of mass destruction and thus, as they began to war in the still-burning wastelands they had just created, had to rely mostly on their troops and units to ensure victory, they could not afford wasteful use of their few remaining bombs. As this hellish combat progressed and even intensified, however, both sides used the opportunity to try and quickly manufacture more bombs. After The Battle Of Sonates was over, a series of long and intense airborne firefights between Lifter Ships and Soc aircraft was accompanied by another relentless volley of Soc weapons fired up and Rev weapons dropped down. The descending Rev invasion forces continued to be greeted with ascending defense fleets. Eventually, after months of savage war, both sides, unable to make any further progress up or down, had unwillingly settled into an unwanted gridlock, and at last the Front Lines were established: the Lower Atmosphere. Above that was the Rev space, below it, the Socsâ,¬,,¢ zone, and it was at the border that the War raged at its most deadly.

The King & Queen: As Revs began to migrate to the Lifter Colonies, they finally got the chance to test their idea of utopia: a world where people can live together without needing a society to bind them or inform their lifestyles. Due at least in part to their genetic modifications, some theorize, it worked far better than any Socs anticipated. The very concept seemed antithical: how could any group of people remain viable as a group without a society to give it some structure and meaning? And yet, this question rung hollow as it was clearly working- confounding the Socs, but the Revs themselves were not in the least bit surprised. All of the hallmarks of society were absent: no order or hierarchy, no social classes or class system, no consensus of opinion, no norms or traditions and certainly no demands to conform, not even any rules except the necessary stricture on causing others harm. The vast numbers of Synth slaves that performed everything the humans didnâ,¬,,¢t want to do, fulfilling their every desire and ensuring they never had to work again further contributed to this hedonistic, epicurean vision of a non-society.

The Revs varied wildly, so great was their diversity that indeed no real connection could be drawn between them except a shared desire to do whatever the hell they wanted come hell nor high water. They could even communicate without rules: they talked when they had something to say, in any order, and even when other people were talking, and yet they could always understand all that was being said and it never seemed to bother them. They carried on conversations, and, indeed, did just about everything in this random, impulsive fashion. And yet, to say there was no hierarchy at all would be untrue: there were two people whom the Revs did consider their leaders, with the right to actually tell them what to do, should they ever choose to (a right they afforded no others). These two people were Joshua and Jennifer Zmijewski. Now, from the time that the Revs were merely an organization, (or disorganization, as many jokingly called it) Josh & Jen were already the Supreme Director and Co-Director, respectively, and when Great Heavens declared itself as an independent nation, they were unanimously appointed Divine Emperor and Divine
Empress. As the Revsâ,¬,,¢ situation grew more and more dire, more of them converted to Divinists (followers of The Divine Order). Not all Revs were ever Divinists, but as they were looking for something to hope for and believe in, it was not a difficult transition to take comfort in and start praying to and worshipping the â,¬Å"infallibleâ,¬Â leaders they already looked to to bring them salvation. Of course, a complete list of all the titles of honor that Celestians afforded them could comprise itsâ,¬,,¢ own book, but among the most common were The Holy Ones, The High Lords, His/Her Holiness, King Above Kings and Queen Of Angels, or simply The King & Queen. In fact, anywhere you went in the world, among the lands of the Socs or Revs, to refer to â,¬Å"The Kingâ,¬Â or â,¬Å"The Emperorâ,¬Â, anyone would know you were talking about Josh.

[Manowater989]

Both Joshua and Jennifer had many forms and mantles that they wore for their varied different roles. Divinists believed Josh was The supreme god, creator and ruler of all that is, and true savior of humanity. That was his purest form, God Supreme. God Of Victories, they also named him, and in war he led all the forces of the Revs, and at their utmost front he marched or flew. When he emerged, he appearing surrounded by floating stars, his armor, solidified radiance, spikes and rays of light that shone and was the sun, and he glowed with glorious and terrible darkness and light, casting everything before him, the whole of the firmament personified, and when he spoke, it was a sound like every thunder that had ever been, all at once, and it was the music of the spheres itself. In his left hand he wielded a second gigantic sun, a great thing of brilliance that may have been a hammer or a mace, none could look upon it, for it smashed apart everything that dared to stand against him, and in his right was a colossal, ever-burning broadsword, heavier and than 10 of the Socsâ,¬,,¢ jet planes, and forged of the densest nano-engineered carbon. A thousand ordinary people could not have lifted these weapons, but with his divine telekinesis, Josh wielded them as if they were made of air. Jen, they named The Holy Queen, gentle healer of those in pain and a shining light of hope to all those in despair. On her other side, though, was the fearsome lord of warriors, descending in wrath and rage and vengeance, full of righteous scorn. This was the Queen Of Angels, her divine fury was feared by all Socs, especially when she swooped down for the attack at the forefront of her bands of Angels. She felt responsible to avenge all those who had been harmed by the Socsâ,¬,,¢ rapacious callousness, but her greatest rages were fueled by her fierce and endless love for Josh, and her maternal instinct to repay any real or perceived attack on her beloved with the most savage of reprisals. When she emerged, she appeared in a column of silvery light, and all around her, shimmering radiances fell slowly like snowflakes, and her lustrous armor of congealed brilliance shone and she was the moon, and glowed with the white radiance of the flowing of time itself, her voice was the voice of all life speaking in union, and whenever a mere mortal heard itsâ,¬,,¢ clarion boom, they knew instantly that it was the first and last sound they had ever heard, and could think of nothing else for all their days, and her boundlessly pure, perfect beauty, indescribable beyond any vision or magnitude, blinded forever any who could even stand to look upon such flawlessness for even a Planck instant. Her weapons were a gargantuan staff, which she wielded with mighty power, and a thing that was a great arc of light, a bow and a gun that cast beams of shining silver which struck true and always, laying low any who would raise arms against her, no matter where in heaven or earth they stood. Both also had their peaceful mantles as leaders, King & Queen they were, utterly confident, serene, and working in complete connection, always reassuring the people and charting their course safely through all trials and crises. Lastly, they retained always their personal and very private forms, for all their power, always shockingly human and fragile, and in this mantle they were together and lovers in the purest way possible, and also in this guise alone could they know fear and even doubt the things they themselves had done while wearing their mantles of glory and power, but never did they show these, true selves to any save one another.

Teleks, Angels, and other Rev marvels: From the days when Josh was simply a man like any other and a scientist, he had always been fascinated by all fields of technology, and, he seems to have believed, perhaps no field offered a greater immediate opportunity to humankind than genetics. Although there were many genetic biologists in the world, Joshâ,¬,,¢s brazen willingness to push the envelope farther than good sense would allow and sheer creative genius established him as a sort of scientific celebrity that the world had never known before. Even the Watsons & Cricks, the Einsteins and Hawkings of that world had not received such immediate and widespread attention during the very period when their discoveries were actually being made. â,¬Å"Zmijewski cracks this or that genetic codeâ,¬Â was a constant headline, in addition to all the other breakthroughs he was pioneering, like â,¬Å"patents efficient and sustainable antigravity technologyâ,¬Â. Many thought they smelled some sort of conspiracy and doubted that one man was really inventing all these things, as his companyâ,¬,,¢s stock continued to rise.

Finally, he had done it. He established the sequence of chemical modifications that ultimately allowed for the spontaneous generation of genetic material carrying any and all desired traits. The entire world quite literally went nuts- scientists and governments proclaimed the beginning of a new age, where humans would be as gods, able to create any type of life they imagined. It would be the end of hunger, disease, and all human suffering. Religious groups proclaimed it was the end of the world, and the Vatican issued an official statement branding Josh the antichrist and warning that Armageddon was now imminent. The technology was so incendiary that they couldnâ,¬,,¢t even trust the patent office of any country with it. Josh first applied it to the growth of synthetic life-like systems: carbon-based, organic circuitry composed of interlocking protein networks, but not truly alive. Thus the Synths were born. At first he started selling animal-like models as a curiosity, pets, and for experimentation, but it wasnâ,¬,,¢t long before he patented his first several series of humanoid models, marketing them as a slave race to serve humanity. Seeing them as containing the sought-after protein sequence, all the major countries and corporations of the world bought the first, exorbitantly-priced models, but alas, they could not unravel anything unique in their organic circuitry, in fact, they couldnâ,¬,,¢t even tell what was making them work at all: they clearly werenâ,¬,,¢t living, and seemed to be just protein soup animated by some mysterious force.