Summary

Terminus Nation as a concept, while encompasses an entire universe, its focal point in space and time is obviously toned down to an understandable and comprehensible extent. The huge majority of the articles on this site (including this one) is about this limited scope.

Major differences from our world

Rules of physics in Terminus Nation Universe have very few difference from that of within our world; yet, the introduction of a handful of small divergencies resulted in a difference of cosmic magnitudes. Said divergences are listed and explained below.

Ethereal Energy

The most notable difference between the two worlds is the presence of Ethereal Energy (EE for short), a mysterious extra energy source bonded to true physical matter - and in some cases, to exotic fundamental particles, as well. EE can be utilized by any life form obtaining sufficient intelligence to recognize, comprehend, understand and memorize a series of runes associated with this usage. By concentration to these runes, beings are capable of initializing a sequence of processes referred as channeling that alters surrounding (or in rare occasions, remotely accessible) materials in a way so that become capable of possessing supernatural or anomalous properties.

EE is not accessible with any other methods, being completely "invisible" for regular principles of science defined by humans (or any other races, in fact). Even the main set of tools to utilize it was initially invented or discovered (exact origins are disputed) by the Shapers (detailed below) and rediscovered by other races before humans emerged.

While originated from an otherwise limited toolset, the potential in Ethereal Energy for practical usage far exceeds that of ordinary science can provide. Countless applications in warfare, economy, industry and culture appeared during the vast history of the world.

Because of its supernatural nature, EEC is also referred as magic, but scientific circles are not on consensus, whether it is an anomalous process.

Non-temporal people

Partially originating the nature of Ethereal Energy, Terminus Nation Universe is subject to an additional major anomaly, with the result of that it essentially functions in a way "underworld" is defined by several major beliefs. While TNU possesses an alternate timeline for the human origin, and consequently, a community of "indigenous" human population, a significant proportion of "dead people" is present besides them, too. Science refer to the latter as non-temporal people.

Non-temporal people are essentially indistinguishable from regular human beings, in terms of obtaining nearly identical biological traits. Mayor differences come up related to the concept of death:

  1. These people never age. This phenomenon is the result of a series of physical, chemical and a few biological differences, which are all anomalous in nature, and are not fully understood by researchers. The exact boundaries of this nature are not known, but non-temporals with an age of thousands of years are not uncommon.
  2. When these people are subject to a fatal health condition (as a result of injuries, diseases or other reasons), a special sequence of anomalous events occur. After brain death, the corpse of the individual dissipates by a physically not understood, yet quantitatively valid thermodynamic conversion into energy, instantly followed by the process of the formation of a new body, and then, a living instance of the original individual, at a spontaneous planet nearby, where said individual can stay alive. This process is considered resurrection, and essentially keeps non-temporal people trapped within the galaxy they were resurrected in.

Non-temporal people are all between the age 9 and 99 biologically, by unknown reasons, and all of them originates from various alternate timelines, causing an extremely wide cultural diversity among them.

Shaper heritage

Until 100 millions of year before what is generally considered the "present" of the TNU, an extremely advanced and unusually unified monolithic race ruled it. Succeeding cultures call them the Shapers as their final empire was responsible for the introduction of countless technological and cultural artifacts that often could neither be understood nor reverse-engineered.

In a way or another, their concept explicitly appears in the history or culture of every race possessing sufficient development level. Notable example are the Cloudan race, being nearly exterminated by the impact of a Shaper artifact; the Aurost race, directly created by them through presumably bio-engineering methods; and the Sun Serpent race that claims to be the descendants of the lowest group in their society.

In the focal point of the world, Beacon World and the connected Planet Monument Web are the most significant Shaper creations.

Miscellaneous

Though the major differences are explainable by any of the three concepts above, certain unusual phenomena are additionally present.

Extraterrestrial life

Life in TNU has radically different forms, based on various fundamental principles not known the current science. It is a combined result of Shaper presence, exotic (often anomalous) minerals and compounds, and the divergence of usually known coal-based life under various environmental effects.

Language anomaly

Through unknown means, Beacon World induces and amplifies a sequence of neurobiological anomalies in both newborn infants and "arriving" non-temporal instances of the human race. This is presumably a result of Ethereal Energy Channeling on a cosmic scale that though irreversible, poses no threat to human health.

The only consequence of the phenomena is a perception anomaly, which involves every human being, regardless of divergence in the DNA structure or the sensory organs, speaking a single common language. The way is this single language was initially chosen or defined is unknown, and the Shapers' involvement in it is also heavily disputed - the most accepted (though unproven) theory is that someone or something within the Beacon World, being aware of the nature and the presence of humanity, has installed the necessary infrastructure and attached it to the long-range amplification devices originally built by the Shapers.

It is unknown, though, what races or beings are capable or both knowing human behavior, Shaper technology and the access to the interior of BW, while also being physically capable of implementing the sufficient machinery.

Superhuman "culture"

Human dissatisfaction, various form of oppression and the alien terror all contributed to the emergence of the concept of superhumans and supernatural humans at the corresponding parts of the TNU.

Either utilizing EEC or finding scientific methods to improve one's abilities and extend body functionality, several abandoned individuals (including a numerous non-temporals) started living an outlaw life style. These people soon become a major threat for the major superpowers, human and alien alike.

Extermination war between these groups and larger states are very frequent - the concept of which serves as one of the central themes of the stories of the Terminus Nation project.

The Cosmic Disk and its background

Terminus Nation focuses mostly on the Cosmic Disk as the main location of events. Getting its name from its ring-shaped structure, with Beacon World keeping it together, this "galaxy" contains about 16 million planets and moons within 900 thousand solar systems. With these number, it is considered a very small galaxy, given place for various theories about the Shapers' involvement in the creation of this mass.

What is known is that Beacon World, the center of the galaxy is most likely a very small type of a quasar, producing an anomalous pillar of light visible from every part of the galaxy. A huge portion of its produced heat, light and radiation is absorbed by a "filter", installed by the Shapers that provides energy supply for a set of complex machinery residing somewhere beyond the event horizon of the central black hole.

The short-term functionality of the Beacon World is to operate a network of biomechanical computers placed on every planet or moon in the Cosmic Disk. These are the Planet Monuments and host a small amount of space distortion gates, connecting each other in space, regardless of physical distance. While some of these distortions are unstable, randomly changing destination or closing, because of their involvement in interstellar travel and the unfeasible nature of using it through conventional means of transport, they are very frequently used as a dominant alternative for such travels.

The long-term functionality of the central superstructure is to gather data from Planet Monuments to calculate ideal moments for EE channeling. The excess energy gained this way is used to power another superstructure out in the intergalactic void. This structure is usually referred as Ezbekuar's Gate or the Gate for short. The last of the Shapers used the Gate's very long-range space distortion effect to travel billions of light years in an instant.

Beacon World takes 670 thousand years to fill and activate the Gate, entirely depleting itself - it renders its "filter" inactive, with the resulting increased radiation destroying a huge portion of lifeforms in the Cosmic Disk.

The "present" of the TNU is barely years apart from the second activation, what is very anticipated by several groups of non-temporal people, who sees the Gate as their only chance to escape the galaxy and all its terror. Rumors say the destination of the Gate renders non-temporals mortal by an EE anomaly.

It also should be noted that the Cosmic Disk is inhabited by seven major and countless major human, and three major alien factions.

History

History, in a cultural meaning, has three major periods in the TNU.

Shaper Domination

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History of the TNU is rarely ever been detailed before the appearance of the Shaper race, as their activity may have introduced changes that may have altered properties of age estimation - therefore, it is currently impossible to determine the age of the TNU itself. The only fix point of reference for scientists is the history of the Shaper culture - which started approximate 10 billion years ago, according to the oldest artifacts.

Beacon World Activation

The youngest Planet Monument in the Cosmic Disk is estimated to be 700 thousand years old, after which it took a comparably small time of the Gate to be activated. By this event, the Shapers have ultimately disappeared forever from the vicinity of the galaxy, and the history of the remaining races have begun.

With approximately 660 thousand years, this period covers more than 99% of the history of this "epoch" of the galaxy and witnessed countless wars between the Cloudan, the Aurost and the Sun Serpent races - and on some occasion, the involvement of races of a smaller population.

Human emergence

The most recent period in history is usually considered to be started with the arrival of the first and only colonization ship with humans in cryosleep on its deck to the Cosmic Disk. It happened cc. 10 thousand years ago, with humans being the youngest, yet one of the most successful races of the galaxy - in terms of survive and population.

Four significant sub-periods are differentiated in this era:

  • Resistance Rise era was the emergence of a second superpower after the Republic.
  • TechWar Age similarly brought new, but this time, comparably small, yet technologically advanced superpowers to the global politics.
  • Terminus Nation Invasion begins at the "present".
  • Aftermath is the general name of the events after the Gate Incident.

Story of the Gate Hunter Division

The main focus of my efforts is on the adventurous quest for the Gate of a pair of non-temporal people. Drifter is a badly socialized, criminalized punk teenager from a decaying multi-levelled city; while Amazon is an aggressive but charming shaman from a world of tribes and rainforests.

During their quest for the Gate, they visit several superpowers within the Cosmic Disk, and even form a team from other superhumans and non-temporal ones, who desire to leave.

Related articles

Terminus Nation Wiki has (or is going to have :P) countless other articles on general topics regarding the world. Some of those are listed here.


Categories: Basics

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