Chapter 1
Once upon a space-time – and mind you, Paradox space has several, A guardian was created who, unfortunately, was a puppet. Not only of paradox space, mind you, but of a Time-Lord, one “English”.
To accommodate his Lord’s creation and rise, he stole three things – the lab where the gods would be created, an un-ascended god, and a “horror-terror” filled with fear.
The first two were easy, as they were things contained by more than just paradox space. The last, the horror-terror, quickly would learn the song of war, to dominate it’s planet, which he called “Alternia”, and then planets of the stars surrounding – but it required a few attempts before his Lord appeared as expected.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, these attempts were forever to be found in paradox space. In the one we concern ourselves with, Gl’bgolyb, as the horror-terror came to be know by the trolls, was as described, a terror, but also a hug-er. They searched the seas and lands for one to comfort themselves with, destroying, destroying. Eventually, the “trolls” of this planet, due to receive un-acended gods experimented on themselves, on their very genetic code, to make a class that could appease her, to stand up to the horrible hugs.
It almost worked. This new class, a female troll race of Tyrian blood, appeased her, but then subjugated the trolls as well.
It was one of the un-acended gods that subjugated the Queens. Though the trolls did not realize this, for see, too, had Tyrian blood. She comforted the horror-terror, her body yielding to what it counted as affection. She conquered the stars of the sky under its influence, as she did in all the timelines that puppet, The Doctor of the Scratch, had sought to influence.
She was known to her subjects as Her Imperious Condescension, and she lived unfathomably long.
However, as the last of the un-acended gods were prepared for their awakening, Gl’bgolyb screamed, their fate of death not avoided. The worlds died at the scream, some partially, some entirely. For 612 maddening “sweeps”, Her Imperious Condescension ship crawled back to its home port, to see what had happened.
She killed the stolen god. While the the other gods were ascended, she had not.
The Time Lord gave her a chance for a new universe to rule, while in his service. An un-doctored one. Where refusal or betrayal would mean her death.
But, she would have to work her way up.
~
She was cast to the human world, this troll – to the realm of another guardian. To it’s wilds, a monster – but through the Doctor’s machinations and her own skill, she seemed less of a monster than she truly was. She was merely a grayed giant who could fold in twain.
The warlord who had conquered planets, the Empress, now took residence for a short while – for years are shorter than sweeps – with freaks of human kind, earning money for her unusual displays. She learned their fears and joys, not because she wished to, but because she had no tools of war. She schemed. She saved.
And quite accidentally, for a moment of her long life, she came to know compassion… and love. A love that liberated her from being a freak. That showed her more of that world. A love that she could love back.
One of the human gods – she had ended up collecting two – un-acended, and unintentionally – killed her love. She trapped the god in her house, tried to make her pay – while trying to survive in that human world. Publishing her love’s works – and a memorial of her own feats, even if she could not properly claim them. Building up the empire she could – one not of iron rule, but of commerce. To earn the coin she needed to proceed. And it grew. She tried to domesticate the world she found herself on into her own.
And once she had planned and waited and accumulated enough, she conquered it. Flooded it. Made it her own – even stepping into the realm where the gods would ascend and stealing their servants.
These servants found her book, and recognized it for what it was. Not just a spectacle. A guide.
She did not realize this.
Chapter 2
[Not sure how the “Play video game music” instruction would be replicated in future reproductions. Or even this one. Not sure about the images, either, but Jane has assured me those will be easy to include at the moment. Some drift would be expected.]
On the conquered, flood-wrought world of Earth, the last pair of un-ascended gods were cast, hundreds of years after the original intent. One of these, The Prince of Heart, clung to the remnants of the one he knew as ancestor, and lived cloistered among them. The other, The Rogue of Void, was raised and lived among the Empress’ servants, the Carapaces.
From a young age the carapaces trained her with the teachings of the Empress’ text, and the ways of subtlety – lessons she accepted, but did not always take to heart, having her own ambitions and desires; to fly in space, to ride the waves, to “haxor the planet”. But still, through repetition, she gained a minor mastery of her physical limits.
Eventually she found the home of her ancestor, who lived centuries before, while the Empress was yet conquering her world. Her ancestors’ home, her ancestors’ words, her ancestors’ preparations for the one who would come – Roxy. She adopted ways that other humans would have found more human – including a fondness of alcohol which not many would have approved of. She came upon methods to make friends – in the world she knew, and in the past – the world of her ancestor. She learned of the Empress and what she had done to Earth – but not all her past friends believed her.
[How to pad this more? Seems to be a lot of image to text.]
And then the preparations for her awakening came. She and her home were snatched away from the human world – yet the Empress, usurping Queen of the dark world of Derse, one of the native homes of Carapaces, had machinations. That land had provided for one great mistake, but this renewed life was forced upon her as the old was stolen from her.
Chapter Management
Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Quickly, the four would-be gods were gathered by the Prince of Heart; the Rogue of Void, the Maid of Life and the Page of Hope consorted, but with no guides they languished in exploring dead lands, while under the watchful eye of the Empress, who had deposed the Black Queen of Derse. Through her psychic powers – distributed through the different bloodlines of the trolls, but honed through her long trip through the void of space – she controlled the guardian of the domain, known to those who did not know they were gods as the God Cat. The same was her spy.
[Note: I’ll accept I don’t appear here because it’s Roxy’s story and not Jane’s]
It was after a long period, when the squabbles and boredom common to humankind made themselves apparent, thinking themselves alone, the Rogue displayed her skills to the Maid, and unknowingly to the Empress. Knowing the uncommonness of the trait among humans, the Empress suspected her own involvement.
Alas, the Empress’ reaction was the wrong one – she sent a dispatch to her past self, departed to Earth with carapace subjects, to encourage their study of the flexible arts, and moreover, such genetic manipulations as needed to make such possible. But her past self should never have received this message.
The timeline split. Those Heroes from the beyond the yellow yard [That’s what she said, no point of clarification, except one of them was a younger Poppop?] would never find the Nobels.
Thus the Empress found herself in a conundrum; was she free of the Time Lord English’s plans? Dare she return from the lands of ascension to conquer a new empire?
~
The Empress enacted a new plan. When the opportunity next showed itself, she commanded the God Cat to steal Roxy from Jane’s presence and to deliver her to rooms in her own ship, disguised as being in the kingdom of Derse. [Is this a rebuilt ship? Not according to what’s on the bridge. Did this Scratch guy get it to her somehow?] Proposing coincidence, she offered Roxy further training in the flexible arts she knew so well.
The Rogue of Void accepted, and made many clandestine visits over the next weeks, even months. Her amazement at her improving skills overcame the pain with which they were obtained.
But it wasn’t enough. The Empress was capable of impossible things – and it hung over Roxy.
Under the pretense of pity, the human was altered to make them the slightest bit more troll-like – ribs considered superfluous removed, medicines found through the research of horrors given.
The result, in the end, was not much. For the point was not to develop the unawoken god further, but to develop a reliance. A desperation. To measure up.
The Game that controlled the ascension, the Empress said, knew more about the human than the Empress did. And in fact, it would have provided some of these secrets, but for some regretted actions. They could be unlocked, given a proper vessel. So the human gathered the kernelsprites – the one meant for her, as well as those meant for the other players – and the body that housed her first life.
And, as the Condesce planned, Roxysprite^4 came to be.
However, the sprite was not complete – even if convinced that the Empress was not an enemy, if could not be convinced that one body was enough to prototype it. So a bit of deception was required.
The God Cat appeared.
And wow wouldn’t it be nice if those were among the sprites’ powerset. [Needs to be more formal, one of the few places Roxy really talked over the “sprite database’s” dictation.]
So Roxysprite^4 was asked to catch it – and as soon as she touched it, Roxysprite^4 was Roxycatsprite^4.
The last of the variables of the session were The Empress’ to wield – her powers over the cat’s mind now extending over the bulk of the session’s knowledge.
She could have destroyed the unawoken gods now, had that been her plan. But she wanted more power – in case the Time Lord was still a factor.
Roxy never knew just what The Empress learned from this sprite [Jane, Roxy, don’t worry, you handled it, this is for the story, not to be ominous] but it wasn’t too long until The Empress was preparing the human for her own ascension.
In the depths of Derse, a god arose.
One who would die only for the reasons of Justice or Sacrifice [I couldn’t get out any more details than you could], one who could learn their powers over The Void, yet sharing the Guardian’s connection to the Green Sun that shone over paradox space.
And, alas, one that could be controlled by The Empress.
Unhampered by Death, her body was trained past the point of it.
Unhampered by Earthly Pull, she explored the edges of Paradox Space.
Unhampered by Existence, she learned to pull things from the depths of thought into Reality.
Some of these were by her own will, come of these by the Empress’ assistance, some of these by the Empress’ mental command.
When her secondary tasks had been accomplished, The Empress dispatched the Rogue of Void to recruit the other unascended gods to her cause; The Maid of Life rose up on Prospit first, and was instructed in the ways of healing and death. Page of Hope rose on Prospit next, his powers bent to reinforcement of the Empress’ will upon the session.
The Prince of Heart was the last to arise, from Derse – he suspected the Empress’ schemes, but could not prove them beyond the initial deceptions. The Prince and Page kept the Rogue from killing on the Empress orders, ending that shame of killing the very carapaces she grew up with – instead, the Rogue now stole them away to the Green Sun’s rays.
The lands were ransacked at The Empress’ will, all things she found of value harvested, the sprites’ wisdom plumed again and again. And when the lands were bare, she at last turned her eye to the White throne.
It fell, easily, to the gods.
Then, freed of the responsibility of the Black throne, The Empress made her intentions clear: she would herself ascend before the session was abandoned.
Fearing what she would do to them and to the Earth, and the stars hung around it with this power, the gods
~
[What do I write here? That they destroyed the Empress?]
[Meenah was sitting on my lap just an hour ago. But the Condesce – some version of her – could be waiting for us on Earth.]
[Whatever we find, I’m sure you kids will make it through. But I’m here if you need me.]
____
Oh good, you caught up. Let’s just get you through a quick re-orientation. Watch for Quicktime Events (QTE). Absolutely unskippable.
Illustration assets by Jesseth and CosmicSynthetics. Illustrations actually assembled by Sudrien (SVG to GIF – annoying).
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16206455?view_full_work=true
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