timeless_hope | Entries tagged with canon information

Kain Rogers
Founder of the Eternity Foundation. Developed the Eternity System as a last-ditch effort to keep the Foundation's credibility and funding from going down the tubes. A bit of a workaholic, but loves his children, especially after the death of his wife Diana in 5 AI. Oversees the End of Eternity backend system, and isn't too proud to use it to check in on his kids from time to time. All business where the Foundation's work is concerned, to the point of addressing his own children by their title rather than by name. Horrified by the disaster in 15 AI and is working around the clock to help those he's cursed with a flawed life via Eternity. Feels like the incident with Iris is his fault for being too absorbed in work to truly understand her.

Iris Rogers
Aspect: Pride
The eldest of the four siblings at 24 years of age, and the most powerful of the Timeless. Iris took it hardest when her mother Diana died; they'd been very close, and she never really was the same after the attack; she spoke of making the world a better place in her mother's name when she thought nobody was listening. While all four of the children grew powerful quickly, Iris' lust for power to accomplish her goal drove her to spend as much time as possible learning every possible trick to the Eternity System, in the hopes of using it to become stronger than anyone else. She became drunk on the power as she grew ever stronger, and it started to consume her, making her something less than her old, caring self. Now Iris is bitter at the world that took her mother from her, and as her revenge - her last gift to her mother - she's using it to try and take command of all life, starting with End of Eternity. It's not going to be pretty if she succeeds... and it won't be an easy fight to stop her, either.

Pride is a powerful Aspect; many details about its loadout remain unknown, except that it mounts a variable manathrower, capable of spitting out a breath of fire, ice, electricity, acid, or any of a number of elements. It's rumored that her unit's Attribute is time control, but almost nobody that's seen it has lived to tell the tale.

Zane Rogers
Aspect: Wrath
The second son, 22 years old. Zane took a bit of a different approach: he realized early on that Eternity would spawn a number of crazies. And so he made his job to keep his siblings safe. Iris never needed much protecting, but Aria and Will would need some help to make sure nothing happened to them. He dedicated himself to protecting them, and maybe went a little to far. Eventually it stopped being about making sure they were safe from threats he could detect, and started to be about finding possible future threats and shutting them down before they could become an issue. He's blamed for the genocide of an entire village of organized criminals in a single night, among other things. But it's all for his family, for the Timeless. He's above being judged by mere humans.

There is no element of subtlety in Wrath. All that exists is weaponry, power, and the ability to make anything nearby very, very dead. Guns everywhere. Melee weapons for emergencies. Explosives. If it's highly destructive, it's aboard Wrath. To make matters worse, its Attribute is super speed, making it able to get almost anywhere in a flash, which in turn means it's a beast in combat. It's hard to defend against a machine gun at 50 yards when it's actually pressed against your head.

Aria Rogers
Aspect: Envy
The third daughter, 20 years old. While her older siblings were more fierce, Aria was always very laid-back. Even after Second Impact she didn't really concern herself too much with the state of the world. All she cared about was her image. Among the friends she had at the Foundation's facility, she was the most popular, and she worked hard to cultivate and keep that image. Eternity taught her that she could extend that image further and make herself someone that was popular and loved around the world, and she longed for that attention. She lost touch with the others because she was spending too much time figuring out how to use Eternity to better her image in the worst possible ways - glamers, compulsions on others, spreading propaganda. Even before Aria became skilled in manipulation, she swore never to use her talents on her siblings. But the Timeless are not what they once were. Nor is Aria. And her oath means little in the wake of Iris' betrayal.

The design of Envy is a little different. It's a small unit and isn't well-armed, but it instead works on illusions and reality-bending. Her favorite trick is to present an illusion of herself as some kind of pop idol (or something a little less tasteful, in some cases), and while the target is distracted, hack away with her favorite knife. Eternity makes the illusion even easier to perform while in Envy, complete with a larger, sharper rendition of her knife for dealing with well-armored targets Of course, if she's in trouble she certainly has options, not the least of which is using her unit's Attribute, stealth, to get out of trouble, or take out the threat.

Will Rogers (

timeless_hope)
Aspect: Hope
Read about Will in his application.

Users of an Eternity System enjoy a number of benefits. The lowest-level of these, and the most common, is having access at all times to your vital stats - being able to actually quantify your life energy, spellcasting power, stamina, and so on, and view them in a visual form. The rest of a common gaming HUD is also present: map, news ticker formed from locally-gathered information, waypoints, information display on nearby people, and similar displays, plus the ability to modify these outputs both visually and to display new information. In short, Eternity keeps a user informed on their immediate surroundings through colecting information and organizing it readily.

Beyond this, Eternity gives the user access to new abilities through the power of their mind. Laymen refer to this as "magic", but it takes any number of names for the user; the most common is to just refer to it as a Skill. Skills run the gamut from the "mundane" (high jumps, running, darkvision) all the way on up to things that border on real magic (conjuring fire, water, and so on; flight; mind reading). Skills use the same energy, mana, that is used to pilot an Aspect. While an Aspect is being piloted, its pilot can't use Skills except through the Aspect, and not all Skills work the same for an Aspect as they do for an Esper - in short, Aspects have a different Skill set than their pilots, though not totally different.

Eternity Systems can link between each other readily; they feature a robust permissions system and a friends feature, along with a series of related features that rival the average modern MMO. Together, these let the average person communicate with their friends at a distance, share information and objects, and even set up things like teleportation magic to be centered on such a friend. This can also be tied into a mecha's FoF identification system (and is automatically used in an Aspect) for ease of target acquisition in an otherwise-rich environment. All of these services are made possible through what remains of End of Eternity.

Traditionally, Eternity receives messages and updates from a home base location; originally, this was the End of Eternity mainframe. EoE was severely damaged when it was hacked, and so while it can still transmit messages and updates, its other useful functions - remote diagnostics, remote shutdown, and detailed remote data display, among others - are not functioning. Instead, a number of those functions are replicated by another server, somewhere in the world, with the notable exception of the remote shutdown feature. The downside to this is that, somewhere in the world, someone is watching over all Eternity, waiting to make a move.

Eternity was discovered in 15 AI to have significant mental side-effects; anyone suffering from such effects that still has a hold on their sanity can access the tangential benefits of Eternity - increased memory, awareness of their own physical state, and so on - but cannot readily manifest the Skills that characterize the System, nor can they manifest an Aspect at all. It's said that a patch is in the works, but those who have already lost the power of Eternity will likely be unable to recover it, and the new Systems with the patch fixed will likely have drastically reduced power - Skills may not work the same way, if at all, and Aspects will likely be impossible to manifest except by those with the strongest minds.

A device, known as Black Canvas, exists that can suppress Eternity Systems within an optimal range of about a mile. The Timeless carry a few each as a means to help those whose Systems are hurting them; normally, they aren't affected by Black Canvas, though a physical switch on the device can make it so the four of them will lose their abilities, too; the switch also has another setting that only affects the Timeless. While a Black Canvas is disabling an Eternity System, only life-support and vital functions (for example, translation) are available, and Skills are unavailable in their entirety. Aspects cannot be manifest, and an Esper can't move into an Aspect within the area of effect.

An Eternity System unlocks the power of the mind. While there's a lot to harness out of that power, it takes a strong imagination and a lot of will to get truly useful effects. Elemental manifestation, flight, communication from across the world; all of these are possible with Eternity. The greatest power, however, is the manifestation of an Aspect, a huge construct formed from the user's thoughts, dreams, fears, and beliefs. Aspects look as different from each other as people do, but there are a few shared characteristics, partly because the low-level design documents for Aspects were shared by the Timeless shortly after the general availability of Eternity. The average size of an Aspect is about 28 meters tall (about 30-40% larger than the average Gundam); the units are generally just a little bulky, and at a glance are fairly well-armored for their design. "Small" units bottom out at around 24 meters; "large" units cap around 35 meters. Aspects can be anywhere on the real/super scale with respect to each other; however, all Aspects will be slightly closer to super robots compared to a more normal robot of similar build.

All Aspects feature a similar face: large glowing eyes in a variety of colors, a mouth that mirrors the pilot's expression, and the pilot's personal symbol, in the form of a tattoo on the left side of the face. The design of the rest of the unit is largely up to the Esper it belongs to, though almost all Aspects are composed of soft curves and graceful limbs. An Aspect's design also reflects the pilot's mental state; a hotheaded Esper might have an Aspect with powerful arms, even if it's not intended for melee combat, while an Esper whose forte is sniping may find their Aspect presents a smaller profile than most.

Aspect weaponry runs the gamut from the normal (machine guns, rifles, bazookas, physical or beam blades) to the high-end (energy weaponry, railguns, beam boomerangs) to the exotic (heavy bolters, sustained beam weaponry, energy whips) and straight into the impossible. The balance to all this power is that Aspects only have limited energy, pulled from the user. Stronger weaponry exhausts more of this energy than weaker weapons; similarly, things physics can't support are more expensive to manifest. When the energy runs out, the entire Aspect is useless. Even movement requires (small amounts of) energy. Aspects feature exceptional shielding that protects them from damage, but this too consumes the same energy that powers the rest of the unit; it can be voluntarily suppressed for invididual hits or turned off entirely to converve power. Heavily-armored units consume less energy to defend themselves, but high-speed movement consumes a fair amount in and of itself for such a unit. Lightly-armored units need lots of energy to defend against large hits, but are mobile and have long active times even at high speed.

Average Aspects have solidly powerful attacks; a weak Aspect can keep up with a mass-produced mobile suit while more than holding its own. A "decent" Aspect is a good match for an ace in a mass-produced suit. The truly strong Aspects, however, have one more trick up their sleeves: along with the varied weaponry available, they also have an elemental affinity, called an Attribute, and abilities tied to it. "Element" is a wide term here, too: anything from recognizable elements such as ice and fire, to less obvious ones like gravity, and even things like time. Anything that could feasibly be taken as something to manipulate, can be used as an Aspect's Attribute. The unimaginative use common elements; the Timeless all have unique and powerful Attributes at their disposal.

Aspects have three "modes": active, dormant, and dispelled. An active Aspect is being piloted; the pilot is inside it, in an imaginary space inside the unit. Hits to the Aspect cannot pierce through to the Esper controlling it; however, as an Aspect is damaged, the Esper inside takes sympathetic damage to match, though the pilot of a destroyed Aspect is merely knocked unconscious, not killed, and the majority of wounds from Aspect combat are not lethal. Damage to an Aspect is repaired over time via the pilot's will and energy, but takes a while; mundane repairs can speed the process along, and Aspects accept parts from many mecha, internalizing them and adapting them for their own systems so long as the part is relatively similar. If an Aspect's head is destroyed, the pilot is blinded, and will find their vision severely hampered for a time upon their exit from the unit; if the cockpit would be destroyed, the Esper is ejected first, to a location Eternity sees as safe (according to the particular pilot).

A dormant Aspect is not being used and is sitting somewhere. While in this state, the pilot can move from anywhere relatively nearby (within a mile or so) into the cockpit with a thought, though it's a strain on energy the further apart they are. Damage to a dormant Aspect isn't reflected on its owner. Dormant Aspects repair any damage they have (slowly) while dormant, and the pilot can sense the Aspect's surroundings as if they were inside it, though the Aspect can't move without being boarded first. The pilot can, however, speak through the Aspect without being inside it.

A dispelled Aspect is one that's not present in the physical plane; it's returned to its pilot's consciousness. While dispelled, an Aspect's loadout can be customized, its coloring changed, and so on; its overall design can also be changed, but this takes some time. An Aspect that is damaged cannot be dispelled until it's been completely repaired; the exception is an Aspect whose cockpit block is destroyed, which repairs slowly while dispelled, cockpit first. It takes time to summon an Aspect, though the pilot can move around while he's waiting for it. The further downside to summoning a dispelled Aspect, one which drives many pilots to just leave their Aspects dormant when not in use, is that the Aspect's senses are severely dulled for some time (usually five to thirty minutes) after it's summoned. Piloting experience can reduce, but not eliminate, this downtime; it's said Iris is at full sensory capacity in just five seconds.

"The endless power of the human mind," they said. The studies that show the average human only uses 30% of their brain. Everything pointed to some way to harness more of that power... but what was it? The Eternity Foundation was formed by Kain Rogers to research this and develop a solution, some way to harness the mind's energy. While it initially got strong support from various investors and firms, as the Foundation's research failed to turn out anything decisive (and marketable), the funding started to dry up, and with it Kain's hopes for the future. Everything lay in one last breakthrough: a way to make the mind open itself up and become something more than itself. It seemed crazy, but there wasn't a whole lot left to bank on, and if they didn't hit on something soon, the Foundation would be disbanded. So, with everything on the line, Kain showed his team, and his children, the prototype of the Canvas System.

The Canvas System, he explained, made the mind into a computer, endlessly reprogrammable, and capable of feats no normal human could match. Super speed, he claimed, flight, magic. He didn't actually know what the limits were. And so he wanted volunteers before he tried to present this to the public, lest the Foundation go down in shame. The first volunteers he got were unexpected: his four children. Each, for different reasons, was enamored by the idea. Iris, the eldest, saw a way to gain power in the newly post-Impact world. Zane, the second, saw a way to protect his family. Aria, the third, saw a way to stand out and make a name for herself. And Will, the youngest, wasn't even looking at the project itself - it was something his father had made, surely it would work and be amazing.

As much as he resisted, all four of the kids were stubborn and trusted their father's work; eventually, Kain allowed his children to participate in the experiment. In 8 AI, the first trial of the Canvas System began, with the four Rogers children as the subjects, by their insistence. The installation was successful in all four cases, and it was quickly discovered that he'd underestimated Canvas' power. Within an hour all four children were zooming about the room, accessing the facility's intranet on screens displayed before their eyes, outputting their vision to screens so people in the entire facility could watch. Canvas was a total success, and as the Foundation revealed this test's results, its popularity and influence went through the roof. The Foundation's board changed the system's name to match its own: the Eternity System. And research on a more general distribution began.

Kain quickly discovered that the System worked best when installed into children and teens; anyone over 20 had a hard time using it, and anyone over 30 may as well have not done it at all. Development forked in 10 AI into a different release for older users that is still under development to this day, but the release for the younger set continued to be popular. The Rogers children taught themselves how to reprogram Eternity, and became capable of things nobody thought possible. Eternity made it easy to access information; computers, the minimal remains of the Internet, books, everything became part of the knowledge of a user of the System, and could be referenced freely without needing to have the information at hand. All four changed their appearances (repeatedly), figured out how to make miracles out of the "magic" the System made possible, and generally became demigods. Kain needed a name for the user, and eventually hit on "Esper". His four children, the first four Espers, didn't see a problem with it.

In their newfound boredom, the four began to develop ways of truly setting themselves apart: giants made of thought, not unlike the giant mecha that became popular, but different in their own way. They called them "Aspects", and it became their pasttime to duel each other. The Aspects were powerful, though at first all four were clumsy at piloting them. Over the next several months, though, they became proficient at it, and the Aspects quickly became tools of war, if only amongst each other, and not to the death. The occasional bandit attack on the Foundation's facility was repulsed with amazing efficiency and power; the rare survivor told of giant mecha that wielded weapons that pushed the bounds of reason. The children decided that they needed a name for themselves, the beta group, those with the strongest Aspects. And in 13 AI, they chose their name, becoming "the Timeless".

Over the next several years, the Foundation made great strides in bring the System to a point it could be released, and in September of 14 AI, it was finally made available to the public, though it was expensive. Anyone 18 or younger, to a theoretical minimum age of six, needed only to grip the crystal and follow the simple instructions. Strict registration requirements were introduced, as it would be important to track who had an Eternity System, in case of emergency (or more likely, abuse). The backend system that managed all Espers was known internally as End of Eternity, as aside from being able to track the location of all Eternity users, it had the power to disable or even snuff out the System from someone deemed to be using it for evil. The Foundation had tens, even hundreds of thousands of people wanting access to Eternity, but they were only able to serve small numbers; in six months, ten thousand people were able to access Eternity and wield its power. The scientific community was impressed, and plans were put into place to speed up production and give access to the whole world.

The Timeless, meanwhile, spread rumors about the Aspects. That only the strong could manifest them. That those who were unworthy would have to fight for the right to keep their Aspect. Several hundred children were able to manifest an Aspect of their own design; the Timeless fought them all, and fewer than a hundred retained their Aspects afterward. They began to grow apart, too; Iris wanted more power than even the Foundation could give her, Zane wanted to fight off the aliens and evil organizations that threatened the Timeless' safety, Aria wanted to be someone girls across the world looked up to (whatever the stakes). Will, however, was undecided. He watched his siblings go crazy for their goals, unsure how to help them.

March, 15 AI. A year after the original release of Eternity to the public, reports come in to what remains of the news wires about horrible, undiscovered side effects of the mass-produced Eternity crystal. Some 70% of Espers talk of severe side effects: migraines; spontaneous unconsciousness; various mental disorders; bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and ears; sensory disruption or even permanent loss; even permanent disability or death. Those that have attempted (or succeeded) manifesting an Aspect are affected hardest. All affected users report that their ability to use an Eternity System is severely hampered or that the System has stoppped responding entirely. Sales drop to a rock-bottom level; only the hardcore and those with nothing to lose continue to attempt it, and among these new users, the side effect rate is still more than 40%.

Oddly, blame is not placed on the Foundation; experts insist that all the required research was done and Canvas was safe by anyone's measure. The cause of the new side-effects is unknown, but Kain's working theory is that trust in power of the System was low, and that somehow the System detected that the user didn't trust it, and responded in kind; basically, the brain attacked itself for safety's sake, and wound up causing serious issues as it destroyed itself to protect the would-be Esper from Eternity's power. The theory isn't largely shared outside the Foundation, since it sounds like even more fantastic logic than Eternity itself.

Amid public outcry, Eternity is pulled from sale in April of 15 AI; after significant research and additional testing, the Foundation is unable to pinpoint the cause, and a very limited number of Systems again become available for sale in March of 16 AI, with a significant number of warnings. Some 50 Systems are sold a month; of these, perhaps one manifests an Aspect. The side-effects remain disturbingly common. The Timeless, strangely, are unaffected, beyond perhaps an occasional headache; they're not entirely sure why, but they conclude it's probably because of all the changes they've made to their Systems over the years, in addition to their unconditional trust in their father's project. All but Will, however, descend a little deeper into their own personal madnesses. Iris blames the Foundation.

Mid-September, 16 AI. Fifteen thousand have purchased and installed Eternity Systems; fewer than three thousand Espers remain, some two hundred can reliably access Skills, and somewhere between thirty and forty have functional Aspects. One day, End of Eternity is hacked by an unknown assailant. The function to remotely disable Eternity is utterly destroyed and code is pushed to all Systems that makes it impossible to make a similar function without physical contact. And every single person with an Eternity System, working or not, hears a message: "I am Iris Rogers, the leader of the Timeless. All of you are, from this moment, subject to my will. Resist, and be deleted. Fight back, and be destroyed. I am she who will rule this world. Follow me, or end."

As the announcement ended, Zane stormed out the door swearing to bring his sister to justice; Aria left to seek her sister for a reason she didn't reveal. Will watched his brother and sister leave, wondering what to do about them all, and when an answer didn't reveal itself right away, started to search for assistance. Even the Timeless didn't dare try to fight Iris on even footing. His only hope would be to find others that would assist his cause. Will's search eventually brought him to the White Chalice, a ship that traveled the world to defend the innocent...