Prologue
…oo00O00oo…
Many people wonder what would happen if they had made different decisions to the ones they have made, or others have made. If only a certain drunk driver had been prevented from driving in a car that killed a loved one. If only someone had not left a lottery syndicate just when the remaining ones won several million.
We can drive ourselves mad with thoughts like this.
There is a branch of physics that started with trying to link various fundamental forces to come up with string theory which lead to M theory, or Membrane theory. The idea is that our universe is just one among many. Some picture them as membranes rippling possibly minute fractions of a millimetre away from each other; sometimes the analogy is like foam, where each bubble is another universe. These universes can vary so some say, and that the rules of physics, and the values of various fundamental constants could vary from universe to universe so that some may not support life and some, like ours do.
Such an idea can be comforting to some, in that it deals with another item that came out of physics, the Cosmological Anthropic Principal, which states that the universe is in harmony with mankind and is uniquely
designed for life. Although this was devised by atheists, many did not like it as it implied that if there was design, there must be a designer. Critics called this argument, “fine tuning”, and the concept of multiple universes was comforting as the critics could claim there are other universe with different laws and values of constants and we exist only because our universe randomly has the right laws and values.
The idea of multiple universes can be disturbing, as it could imply, as some do that every time you make a decision, there is another you, in another universe that made a different decision. In which case, who is the real you?
What is known is that in our universe, humanity chose the route of science and rationality, leading to a technological revolution, and the world we have today.
On the Mystical Realms, a universe that was somehow formed from the human collective unconsciousness, the races there followed the path of magic to improve the lives of some. The main users of magic were elves, drow, leprechauns pixies and fairies.. A flirtation with technology was limited and short lived and then they returned to living in a semi feudal system, similar to medieval times, where the trolls were dominant, as they enforced law and order amongst the other many races. Although large creatures, these trolls were not brutish thugs like the bug-bears or even some orcs, they had a code of honour.
On that world, created again by the collective human unconsciousness were entities known as major spirits of vice, necessity and virtues. Those qualities which took on human form. Some of these entities travelled to our world in antiquity and were mistaken for the gods of primitive religions. If they ever had children with humans, the offspring were considered minor spirits, and during the détente with the human authorities efforts were successfully made to reach these minor spirits and convert them to being fully human.
But then these two worlds were separated, and the two worlds went their separate ways, Earth continued with technology and rationalism, the Mystical Realms continued with their feudal society where magic was real and supreme, all under the wise rule of the trolls.
But multiple universe did not stop with the Earth and the Mystical Realms, for there turned out to be two other worlds, the very antithesis of what had been known before.
There was a world where humans chose to continue with feudalism and developed magic instead of technology. There was also a world where the trolls and other races followed not magic, but technology and science, just like us.
These two worlds were at war with one another and then they found our world and the world of the Mystical Realms.
The magic using humans completely destroyed the headquarters of a new organisation set up by the British to deal with entities from the Mystical Realms, and from there killed the members of the British government and seized control of the UK, demanding it cease to use technology. Such was the power of their magical ability; resistance was efficiently crushed and expunged before it could get started.
Likewise the technological trolls seized the main hub of power on the Mystical Realms, Central City and from their asserted dominance over the Mystical Realms.
Those on the Mystical Realms were lucky for their conquerors only want to exploit them. The magic using humans wish to destroy all life from Earth, to serve as an example to the peasantry back on their home world, of what becomes of those who heretically flirt with technology instead of serving their magic using masters with unquestioning obedience.
With these two power blocks now in control of Earth and the Mystical Realms, it seemed another group had been waiting in the wings, using this as an ideal opportunity to further their own ends….