>>17316672
This is still alive? Holy crap, I thought everyone got tired of it.

What exactly are we taking from tg quest? I haven't been reading it.

>>17316753
Anything "technical." For example, in the latest two threads, a reality beam was fed back at the ship it was fired from. This caused the ship's systems, which were from a soft science fiction canon to shut down or malfunction.

That's where the 'Stabilisation Devices' entry in the mini-codex came from.

A beam of concentrated reality? Where would they even get that?

>>17316809
Ask the Metaquest OP

>>17316672
From what I read, stabilizers inject reality into a situation, right? But where does it come from? Everything in the Meta verse is Meta, including Meta Earth and it's inhabitants. Nothing is really real.

>>17316996
Who knows. The source of reality emitters and rewriter bombs are being kept a secret.

I've been considering making some writefaggotry for this setting, and this codex will help a good deal. Thank you.

Perhaps there could be a sort of timeline made for pre- and post-Crossover War. The War itself as said in the mini-codex would have had crazy warped reality from so many SUEs in one place, but the stages should maybe be laid out better. Like "X number of years before Crossover War, this theory happened" and "The Transpace Guard was formally established in the year XXXX" and so on?

Personally, I kinda see the difference between the Institute and the Guard being perhaps more of a civilian/military relationship, or maybe the Institute was founded and once the full extent of the potential problem was understood the Transpace Guard was formed as more of the 'hammer' to the Institute's 'scalpel'. Since in /tg/quest, we seem to be coming across big, military-grade Canon warpings and crossovers it makes sense that there'd be smaller things happening elsewhere that wouldn't require a fully armed warship armada and it's compliment of personnel to fix. The Institute could handle the little things like someone writing in a self-insert to seduce Edward from Twilight or something without requiring hordes of high-powered weaponry.

Also, there would be the issue about a potential Scout Corps to scope out reality distortions in the Canons. We were introduced to at least one crew's captain a number of /tg/quest threads back. Who would they answer to? What are their numbers across the setting? Are they authorized to take corrective actions, or come back/radio in to HQ to request support/a strike force?

Shippers, Fixers, Firemen, Rogue Editors, Purists.. We need some fluff love here, too; beyond just The Collector.

Reality emitters and rewriter bombs are made from the screaming carcass of a sacrificed universe.

That's why they're kept secret. We're betraying our own values in order to fulfill them.

>>17320059
How would that work? Destroying universes like that would *cause* disruptions, and set off every sensor across the setting capable of detecting it. Not to mention the fact that there's the question of "Where did those universes come from to begin with, and why is no one howling about their stuff vanishing into a screaming abyss?".

>>17316809
Science. Art science.

You've probably heard the saying "art holds up a mirror to reality", right? Well, some of the most talented engineers worked with the most brilliant DFAs to produce a design for a reflective expressive array--a precisely calibrated system of works that aligns reality particles into a straight line, like light concentrated into a laser.

Since reality is unobservable to us (meaning "deep reality" as opposed to observed reality), the beam is undetectable, except for the fact that the effects are exceptionally actual.

>>17320071
Who would be howling? People in a destroyed universe? Because those are difficult to come by.

>>17320197
I meant more the people who had made the destroyed universes. You make something, and then it vanishes from existence before your eyes? You'd be howling.

..Unless there's someone sitting down somewhere in this setting whose sole job is to make universes for the sole purpose of destroying them. Goddamnit, there's the fucking grimdark again. Let's hope this isn't the case.

>>17320224
You mean the Crumplers?

>>17320049
I think the Transspace Guard were the original 'organization' before the Crossover Wars. The current calamity in the TG Quest is the Corssover War. And in the end, after it's all stabilized, The Institute was created, learning from the mistakes of the Transspace Guard, and working to prevent another mega-meta-catastrophic event to happen.

>>17320259
Honestly, considering how ubiquitous Reality Emitters are in the Guard and possibly the Institute having it work like this would probably break something important somewhere. The Crumplers (nice name btw) would really only be called in to use this utterly dangerous power source for the most devastating weapon in the arsenal: the Rewriter Bomb.

The process of making the thing is probably so dangerous in and of itself that there's a reason it's only been used fourteen times (counting the one /tg/quest used) in the entire setting; maybe consisting of taking those Crumpled realities and shoving them into the housing of the Bomb so they work kinda like a souped-up version of an actual nuclear warhead. If you fuck up and let the parts touch the wrong way at the wrong time... BOOM. And not in the right way.

The process of creating the "reality nuke's 'fuel'" would be labor-intensive and probably emotionally/mentally damaging to the Crumpler. ..Perhaps this is what the Guard does with meta-aware prisoners like Shippers and Fixers and such if they're too particularly dangerous to allow to live, but in this way enough of a resource it justifies allowing them to live, even if only for a while. And yes, I realize the grimdark in this but the Editors *do* need a way to create their big bomb without sacrificing valuable members of their own staff.

Also, adopting name for this thread. Yay!

>>17320318
I'm not so sure of that order. Despite the fact there's a big fuckup in the quest-section, Holtz isn't exactly shitting bricks and implying that MetaEarth is getting it's ass torn out and handed to it by a concentration of SUEs, otherwise we'd have been ordered to go there and lend our dakka a long time ago in the quest.

Also, it's been stated that /tg/quest is taking place in a 'sector'. Sector implies that there's more groups like ours out there doing similar stuff. HQ; when pushed for something like the First Battle of Tokyo; has scrambled over themselves to get us pretty much everything we asked for. They couldn't do this if we're in the middle of the Crossover Wars, and this grand scale of Canon correction that we and our peers do wasn't implemented until AFTER the Wars, which was when MetaEarth realized "Fuck, we need to patrol this shit to keep ourselves from getting raped again."

>>17320377
Hmm... maybe, TG Quest is pre-Crossover Wars, and The Institute is post-Crossover Wars?
Because it's possible that the events in the Quest is just the beginning of greater 'shit hits the fan' event. One that merges Transspace Guard, TSAB, and any other meta-defense organizations into The Institute. It'd be cool that way, too.

>>17320318
But we've found information that pinpoints the Dimensional Century Orguss Canon as the source of the massive crossover, by detonating a S.T.O.B. How do we prevent a Crossover catalyst event, when it's Canon for such a thing to occur?

Also, /tg/ Meta Quest has been mostly concerned with large-scale crossovers, where the existence of an outside force can't be covered up, or that requires massive amounts of force to resolve. Admittedly, most campaigns will be involved in small-scale wetwork, but maybe a second codex should be created for large-scale engagements.

Finally, interactions with other Meta-capable organizations, such as the TSAB, Combine, Hyper-Athens, and the Closers. As well, Canons that have Meta-travel capability, or that are composed of stable Crossovers, such as the Super Robot Wars series.

Finally, what about the secondary divisions, such as TG Requisitions and TG Black Ops? Should they be included?

>>17320344
Or perhaps the universes to be destroyed are crafted on an assembly line. Nobody sees what their part of the plane connects to. Hence the name for such universes, made blindly as a medium for conceptual fission: Exquisite Corpses.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse

>>17320402
Well, if the Crossover is stable, the Institute may let it be (like SRW), and keeps it in check (so it doesn't 'bleed' into other Canons). And possibly a mega-meta-catastrophic event isn't limited to calamitous massive crossovers, either. Maybe in some Canons the laws of physics (or magic, or what have you) suddenly went haywire. This could be caused by a meta-troublemaker trying to jump from a Canon to another, but somehow destabilized the Canons he's passed through. Or maybe it was sabotage. Stuff like that. Maybe a Canon tries to invade Meta or something.

>>17320413
This would make the Crumplers specialists who enrich the universes like uranium, placing seeds for paradoxes that can cause an ontological chain reaction.

Paradox is the friction of self-reference. Russell's Paradox, the wrench in early set theory, occurred because of an idea that both did and didn't refer to itself. Same with the Cretan Paradox. Now, there is Xeno's Paradox, which arises from using units that only refer to each other and not to reality. That seems like less of a proper paradox and more a simple weaponized meme; the sort of idea that could immobilize a meta-aware person if it was implanted properly. Maybe a useful sidearm in a pinch, or part of a conditioned response. But I'm rambling.

Point is, the idea could be to create a fictional implosion, vacuuming the unreal into the dying universe, by using a paradox that grows until it consumes the 'verse.

Then Crumplers could serve a dual purpose, and their names could have a dual meaning: crumpling up universes to toss away and handling the "crumple zones" that minds have to guard against paradoxes and similar memetic agents.

>>17320413
I like this. Scrap my idea; let's go with this. Maybe have lawbreakers/prisoners working on these, though? Give them something to be useful with.

>>17320402
Include Requisitions and Black Ops? God, yes. We need people who get stuff that's needed for wetwork and large-scale engagements. Also, Black Ops are needed as an additional failsafe against Rogue Editors and others in the organization who would pose a Meta-breaching threat that can't be openly stopped or have specialized defenses against conventional methods (Magneto helmets or signal jammers or something, and awesome bodyguards).

Obviously, Black Ops isn't going to be publicly acknowledged but everyone will know it exists. Perhaps a euphemism or phrase for them? I've been toying with the idea in my head and I've come to like the phrase "Shadow Protocol" for Black Ops to kill the Editor's own for everyone's sakes.

The Scout Corps is another point that's caught my interest as a potential point for writefaggotry. Perhaps they're not just scout units for the big guns (TG Meta Quest) but are also wetwork/tweaking teams in their own right. The smaller units of the organization that go in and fix small distortions or get relevant data for dealing with bigger distortions.

>>17320501
If the Institute is the only show in town for Meta-Earth, as it were, then they'll need to pick up the slack for all of the necessary roles. Intelligence, wetwork and black ops, counter-intelligence, diplomatic channels, research and development.

Will the Institute still be handling large-scale hostile Crossover events, or police actions against forces of the Combine or other Meta-capable agencies?

>>17320501
Thanks. To be honest, I don't know much about the setting beyond what I've seen in this thread and what I remember from the thread where this idea started, though I should learn. I'm just playing with ideas.

For black ops, you could go in the opposite direction from "Shadow Protocol" and call them "whiteout agents". If you want an organization specifically trained to deal with rogue Editors, I suggest the name "STET".

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stet

>>17320575
>whiteout agents
>Stet

Oh, I like you.

Now, perhaps we can turn our attention to generating some Famous Antagonists for the setting. We already have The Collector; a dying Fixer-Sue from the Meta who's hoarding SUEs because he loves them. Basically a Second Crossover War waiting to happen.

We've got Shippers (multiversal smugglers and advocates of non-Canon romances of a squick-y nature), Fixers (people who have the powers and knowledge of Editors but choose to try and 'correct' Canons and make them better, regardless of the cost in stability and Meta-contamination), Firemen (real PURGE THE DANGEROUS FICTION UNIVERSES slash & burn folks. Act on the belief that some Canons are too dangerous to exist at all, even if they can be sealed off.), Purists (want to 'freeze' a Canon to preserve it as-is, stifling the developmental ability of that world), and Freewriters (hippy-types who believe the SUE should be allowed to roam free, and won't lift a finger to stop anyone unless someone comes in and tries to destroy that Canon or the SUEs therein).

These are fairly defining archetypes, but individuals should be made so that differences in the groups can be visually shown and drama/tension created to add to the setting's glorious fluff potential.

>>17320755
For groups:

Exporters, who slyly create crossover events by smuggling alternate versions of characters around under names like Buried Alien and Gideon Stargrave.

Porlock Men, who can freeze a writer dead with a touch.

The Unspeakable, harmless creatures who are greatly feared because the brain can't interpret them, making them impossible to descrobe except through vague and melodramatic bushbeating.

The Church of Tommy Westphall, a cult which seeks to unite all universes.

The Handwavers, a sort of cleanup crew of damage remaining after a plot crisis. They have a poor relationship with the Technobabblers, a bunch of Minority Report-like psychics who try to detect and smooth over plot crises before they start.

You said you wanted individuals, but individuals aren't as easy.

>>17320868
That's true. Perhaps I should work up/modify a roll chart from somewhere to make rough outlines for individuals. I'm liking the groups, though.

The Church and the Exporters are both good concepts for groups. The Porlock Men are something that would be more an assassin-type in the event of a MetaEarth crossover, but a pretty good idea for if that does happen.

The Unspeakable made me almost instantly think of some insanity-causing reverse version of Weeping Angels. Where you'd have to keep your eyes on an Angel, perhaps the Unspeakables can only be dealt with by looking away from them to help lessen the mental distortion... Perhaps they're created as residue from reality distortions.. Wait! Even better! Fallout from Rewriter Bombs.

Maybe that's another reason they hesitate at using the things....

>>17321048

>reverse weeping angels

Oh, hello there.

>>17320402
>>The Dimensional Century Orguss Canon as the source of the massive crossover, by detonating a S.T.O.B.

And in the SRW Z Canon, a STOB explodes about 3 more times there, thanks to the Orguss Canon

>>Black Ops

I'm interested in helping come up with a range of Black Ops hardware and troops.

So where does the TSAB come in?

>>17321312
They're a rival Meta agency. The players won't have jurisdiction on worlds under TSAB protection, and could cause a diplomatic incident if their involvement was discovered.
Neither the Institute/TG and TSAB would want a war, but they both hold very opposing ideals and beliefs.
Then there's the very aggressive Hyper-Athens, who are willing to do whatever it takes in order to contain and eventually destroy the threat that the Closers represent.

So I imagine relations would be similar to the United States and Soviet Russia during the latter years of the Cold War. A Meta Cold War, if you will.

>>17321063
Except the Silence are also most dangerous when you aren't looking at them, so it's not the best comparison. A reverse Weeping Angel would be more like a docile beast that goes into a vicious rage if someone sees its face.
>>17321048
Here, I'll generate a few.

Quix, the Fixer. He sees connections that were never intended, literary conspiracy theories that you get in a discussion thread at 3 am that make everyone go "Mind blown" before they disregard them. Then he enforces them. Imagine if it was canon that the Empire was brought down by the convoluted plans of R2 and Chewbacca. He probably did that, if it is.

A Technobabbler double agent known as The Butterfly. A rogue editor tips her off to minor altercations--things that aren't even worth tracing. Her "fixes", however, involve a new snarl that she has plotted out to cause major anomalies. The Handwavers are suspicious about a mole in her section, but haven't acted on it.

Timothy Tinople (rhymes with "panoply"), unlicensed Proofreader. Actually a meta-aware character who works with Exporters. Isn't afraid to break the fourth wall over someone's head.

The idea of the Unspeakable is that they're like those harmless flies colored like hornets. There's nothing beneath the gap in information, but that itself is damage enough to most. And there's always the chance that there's a real eldritch horror passing off as one.

By the way, are the references to Porlock and Westphall too obscure? I mean, did they register with you?

>>17321387
I had to engage my Wiki-fu, but I can see what you're getting at. The Westphall part in particular would be a good group to build around, seeing as it's supposed to be so universe-inclusive if it were brought about it might cause some sort of Meta-cascade and break everyone's shit. Their win scenario would be astronomically difficult to bring about but could be the trigger for a second Crossover War by itself; not even bringing SUEs into the equation.

I could see them maybe teaming up with Quix. He sets up the connections and event chains that would bring about the merger, and the Church runs interference for him; maybe even claims him in some way to keep people from doing away with him outright to not spark off a socio-political firestorm for "religious oppression" or some such. Most people would see them as mostly harmless crackpot cultists that need only be watched with half an eye, while secretly they're building up to a crescendo event that would bring about the Second Crossover Wars.

>>17321312
>>17321358

Relations between the TSAB and the TG/Institute are of the type where the Cold War analogy 17321358 put forth is pretty accurate. The generally accepted division is that the TSAB patrols the worlds of anime/manga, while the TG/Institute cover pretty much everything else. I'd imagine anime-based video games and JRPGs and such would probably be murky gray territory where there's a tense official stand-off. Individual groups of each can be fairly respectful and even bro-tier with one another, but the official party lines are thus:
TSAB - The SUE can be directed into a better use of their powers. They're hesitant to just arbitrarily kill, using it as a last resort in most cases.
TG/Institute - SUFFER NOT THE SUE TO LIVE. Quick, efficient, fatally violent, and stealthy-as-utterly-possible removal of Canon-corrupting influences.

The two can work together if need be, but it's generally a relationship of "You handle your shit, we'll handle ours."

>>17321558
Besides the doctrinal differences in their approach to S.U.E.'s, there's also the vast cultural divide.
The TSAB is a magic-centric culture, that views standard science and technology as things to be suppressed. They heavily set against mundane weapons technology, as they suffered horrific casualties in their early wars. Don't let their slick magical computers and Device-based wands fool you; they're as anti-Technology as a Death Eater, just that they hide it better.

The TG/Institute are the complete opposite, using SCIENCE! and technology far more than magic, and not afraid to mix the two.

>>17321558
Let's not forget the other Meta-capable factions.

Hyper-Athens is a real sore spot for both the TSAB and the TG/Institute, because of their extremely aggressive "farming" of timelines. But given that it's all going towards keeping the Closers contained, they are considered a necessary evil. Their infantry-scale weapons technology is considered some of the best in the business, and all current attempts to reverse-engineer their Seeking Hypersonic Ammunition Kinetic Kill or neural flechette technologies have met with failure.

The G-Man...no one knows what he's after, or the goals of his Employers. All Meta agencies and operatives are advised to steer well clear of any Canon or timeline that the G-Man is known to operate in.

On a more MetaEarth homefront, how aware/supportive do you guys think the populace are of the TG/Institute? Do they operate in near-complete openness, are they the mysterious paramilitary/mad SCIENCE! people, are they the forces in the shadows waging a war against the final darkness?

Like, if a TG/Institute ship or a ship from a Canon like Star Wars (for example) were to fly in and land, what would be the reaction? Do they have hordes of recruits and undergrad interns and such?

What would the MetaEarth itself be like since at least some of the populace has access to almost every toy and gadget in creation? Has any of the Canon tech leaked out into the populace? Is it black boxed? Grounds for incarceration? Would the Church of Tommy Westphall be able to practice in major cities, or would they have to be hidden away in compounds in the middle of nowhere?

>>17321923
I think, post-Crossover War, the TG/Institute would operate openly.
Now, that Star Wars ship landing? If it doesn't have the proper landing codes identifying it as a ship of MetaEarth affiliation, it'll either be blown to atoms before it can land, or it'll have a welcoming committee of armed locals who will never allow a second Crossover War from occurring on their backyard.

>>17316809
>>17316773
The Reality Stabilization Emitters were introduced as a field effect that could protect from non-canonical SUE abilities to a certain extent, with Capital Ship grade emitters producing a larger and stronger field, to the point that even canonical reality bending was dampened to an extent.
We've been researching into increasing their effectiveness, and have developed, but not yet built, a MkII Defensive Reality Emitter strong enough to serve as a Gellar Field should we encounter the Warp.
Since then we've been researching offensive emitter applications, which we saw a glimpse of when we applied some Treknobabble to focus the field into a concentrated beam of stabilization through the deflector array. Unfortunately it was untested (and we rolled low), so it seem the being we faced managed to redirect some of that energy back into the ship, which began to malfunction.
However, it seems that the beam still affected the being in question, allowing it to be damaged by weapons it may normally have ignored, so it seems the concept was sound, but our jury-rig wasn't enough to hold it together.

>>17320402
>But we've found information that pinpoints the Dimensional Century Orguss Canon as the source of the massive crossover, by detonating a S.T.O.B. How do we prevent a Crossover catalyst event, when it's Canon for such a thing to occur?
Well, it seems more that someone detonated a STOB in the Meta itself, instead of the normal in-canon detonation of such a device.
Which does leave a question of _who_ smuggled it out of the home canon and blew meta-reality in that sector to shit.

My experience with TG Quest has me thinking of the Transpace Guard as something like GURPS' Infinite Worlds setting's Infinity Patrol crossed with your various kinds of Time Police in their need to preserve stability and canon.

In fact I could draw a lot of parallels with Infinite Worlds spiced with time-travel interaction restraints.
Groups like the 'Miracle Workers' become illegal Fixers. ISWAT sounds a lots like what people imagine TG Black Ops would be like. The Survey Service and our Scouting division.
Good setting to give a read to mine for ideas.

>>17322054
It does seem that this is a possibility since we have so much crossing over over such a large area of the "Forest". There is the possibility that it's The Collector seeking to cause crossovers and generate SUEs for his menagerie. Or a wholly new threat.

We have nothing but crazy batshit theory to go on as to what such things would do in the long run. S.T.O.B. is a serious fucking weapon, and it was possibly enhanced or being in the Meta somehow removed a limiter or enhanced it (possibly by giving it a better angle on the barriers or whatever between dimensions so it crushed more of them, thus the present situation in Meta Quest.)

Also, I love myself for suggesting we research upgrading the Reality Emitters. Yes, that was me. *hogs spotlight*

The whole situation does go to show how easily things can get out of hand when they're not in their proper Canon. And thus an object lesson for why the Transpace Guard/Institute is so vital to the continuation of not-dying-horribly-as-reality-becomes-undone.

Man, when the hell did this all become so complex? Fleets of warships, reality fields, cold wars?

Whatever happened to agents being sent into a canon world with nothing but their skills and working within the canon to exorcize a sue or meta threat, preferably without any of the canon characters noticing?

All this just seems so unnecessary and bloated.

>>17322165
Indeed, I was responsible for several bits of technobabble along the way, including the 'fire it through the dish' idea.
Which, while it could have gone better, did seem to help out a lot. We got three round of missiles and heavy fire on that beast before it started to shrug off the effect. And we learned something of the effect of concentrated reality feedback on a Trek-vessel.

>>17322176
Because the original idea is only good for a small incursion, one where there is a single S.U.E. that has not had the chance to amass a large space-capable force yet, or which can be assassinated.

Also, what about other Meta-capable agencies?

Your limited perspective is good enough for a field operative in a relatively stable Canon with only one or two S.U.E. targets.
It is inadequate to deal with a Closer incursion attempting to forcibly create a Branch from a critical temporal juncture, or a full-scale Combine invasion force.

>>17322176
That is nominally what goes on, though there's always a cold war or conflict with other Meta-aware factions to worry about. TG Quest has been dealing with a sector of metaspace that went from nice and quiet and underfunded to OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED after someone detonated a STOB, possibly enhanced, within the Meta and triggered a cascade of reality disruptions and SUEs that threaten to tear the metaverse apart.
Certain worlds are linchpins, with reality distortions so hard that they are causing disruptions across several world on their own. These worlds have been very fucked, and have fucked us up something fierce.

>>17322176
Welcome to worldbuilding, brother Anonymous. You don't think you can just walk through a door, sneak-kill a petulant retard god-child while avoiding all notice, and exfiltrate yourself and the corpse of your latest victim without backup, do you?

You need resources. People to help you find the distortion, tools and equipment to help deal with it, travel arrangements, extra hands for when you need backup. This takes organization. Organizations invariably build up to gather unto themselves the stuff they need to do their work. This inevitably leads to conflict with other groups over resources, methods, ideology...

The more you go into the hows and whys of what and where you do things, the more complicated it gets. If it wasn't so rich and varied, so expansive and vast; all this would boil down to is "Roll dice, reach target number to win."

That's the whole thing behind it. If that's what this was about this whole board would consist of nothing but a dice roller javascript. It's not always about the system and the goal. It's also about the journey.

So let's talk about the Institute in relation to the Transpace Guard.
Do the two agencies exist alongside each other? Is the Transpace Guard the military arm of the Institute? Do the Guard and the Institute operate side-by-side, the Institute dictating policy and handling basic research, while the Guard executes the policies set by the Institute and MetaEarth's remaining governments/world government?

>>17322408
Maybe it's my own bias, but I've been picturing it as the blanket organization that the individual divisions operate under. Transpace Guard as the Starfleet to the Institute's Federation. Or the Infinity Patrol to their Infinity Corp. Etc.

>>17322439
As in, not quite a military arm, but if the primary arm for running around and handling things, with some R&D and Exploration of their own, which helps supplement the Bureau of Sciences and Scouting Corps.

Guys, I'm gonna turn in for a while. Sleep beckons. Someone do me a favor and like.. Archive this or something. I dunno how to do sup/tg/'s archive requester thing.

>>17322615
Archived.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17316672/

I really wish I could comment on this, but it would spoil half the plot twists in store. One of you has guessed correctly for at least one thing, however.

>>17322408
I guess we first have to set what shape MetaEarth is in, post-Crossover War. It's an even that made keeping the Meta and its dangers secret from the populace impossible. Up to now, we've all agreed that the War devastated MetaEarth; but to what extent? Did it get so bad that the remaining governments were forced to merge into a world government? Or did the nations stay sovereign, and they all contribute to the Institute and the Transpace Guard?
Just how bad was the Crossover War?

Side note:

Hmm hmm, what if we had melted the Antarctic ice cap back then?

Well, we would be facing the Terror From the Deep X-Com scenarios, and probably Perfect Chaos from Sonic Adventure, lol.

Gah, quest thread down!

>>17325908
TG Quest: The Extended Cut
>>17325929

>>17323814
There was never any attempt to cover up Meta and sues because no one on MetaEarth knew about them. The fact that MetaEarth got caught up in a crossover is what opened the whole worlds eyes to the fact that they were not the only world.

As for MetaEarth government, I think that being attacked by and extra-dimensional army headed by a godchild would be enough to mostly forge the nations of the world together. Perhaps the U.N has much more power, and the Institute would have a great deal of political sway.

>>17323814
You know that Sueworld that /tg/ made up? The crossover was worse than that by a fair margin because the strain was causing Metaearths canon to break down.

>>17325975
Same deal with the Horror Combo world they are dealing with now. Distortion so powerful it's causing distortions throughout metaspace.

>>17325975
Think about it this way: the canon distortions were so bad, most survivors didn't even know how long The Crossover actually lasted. There are those who claim it was a generation spanning war of attrition and an equal number that remember it lasting only a few hellish hours.

>>17325975
You know that wasn't made up right? The OP based it off an actual fanfiction someone made.

>>17326490
The one that was a grimdark, no hope, sues everywhere in the real world horrorshow from the Archives?

>>17326511
Was that the one that had STALKER-Sues, anti-SUE's, and small enclaves of normal humans fighting to survive in a SUE dominated world?

>>17328086
How does that even work?

>>17332122
STALKER-SUE's were a small specific subset of SUE, that acted like PC STALKERs in the wasteland that Earth had become.
Anti-SUE's were SUE's that realized that their existence was an abomination, and hunted down other SUE's. Still dangerous to be near, as normal humans could still unwittingly become their thralls.

You know, I wonder ...
This is a Fictional Setting, right?
What if the Shippers or the Furries or the Fixers create a Pime Taradox by invading this setting?
You may think it isn't possible, but there's evidence that the Grim are here.
The Grim?
Oh, the Grim. They're people who are just plain sick of how stories always have a happy ending. How the hero always wins. How the plot armor always holds, and how good always triumphs over evil. They're the ones that think a story is ruined by the knowledge that the protagonists are always predetermined to win, and live happily ever after.
The Grim, as their name implies, like to make stories more grim, and darker. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. They're the ones responsible for SatAM Sonic. They had a hand in Warhammer 40,000. You seen the fucked up shit that's happening in Alice's Wonderland lately? Yep, that'd be them.

And here I see stories of cold wars, active wars, of entire Canons being created, torn to pieces, filled with so many internal contradictions, and then stuffed screaming into a casing known as a "Rewriter Bomb" to be used as a weapon. A place of constant war, against a force more Blind and Stupid than malevolent. A story of pain.
You may wish to watch yourselves. You may have Grim agents in your ranks. Just to add a little to the Grimness.

>>17321923
Pre Crossover Wars, it's Earth, plain and simple, but with the Transpace Guard keeping things on the down low.
Post Crossover Wars, since the Meta Invasion, things are much more loose, and much more strict. Advanced technologies are commonplace, but there is a constant watch on un-approved technologies and magics.

Not certain though.

>>17333288
The Grim is not an agency or anything simple. It is a force of Meta, a projection from these minds in our reality altering things.

Generally it is considered a natural process, and noted as such, but there are times when the Grim can manifest itself forcibly into a Canon.

Bad Things ensue.

>>17333692
Well you know, that brings up an interesting theory.
I cannot remember who it was, but the theory went like this.
Somewhere deep in all of Existence, is the Prime-Verse.
Not linked to the Metaverse mind you, but theoretically this Primeverse is the reason for the existence of the Metaverse. The theory is that every individual in the Primeverse are something along the lines of creators of the metaverse, every canon spontaneously coming into existence as an individual concieves it. Likewise, each individual is capable of making another version of a canon merely by knowing of the canon itself. These spin-off canons are thus manipulated by the new individual, completely oblivious to the original. Sometimes the various Prime denizens may think up a Crossover. Depending on their ability in merging the two together, some may remain stable, becoming new canons in themselves. Others are so unrealistic, that their very existence threatens to collapse itself and others around it.

This theory also extends to the creation of the SUEs. Some believe that these Prime denizens, these creators, sometimes personify themselves in the canons of their creation. The ones that blend into the canon, do so with such skill that no one even notices them. Others, perhaps less mature individuals, create organisms that completely defy the laws of existence, and can be seen as one's means of self gratification. Indeed, some reports of the SUEs acting out of character before termination lead some to believe they are merely avatars to another being...

Unfortunately while they may be the creators, this does not make them gods. However there are those that believe they are.

>>17334756

Followers of The One True Su, actively try to find means of summoning a SUE into existence, believing they are summoning a divine being that can grant their every wish. And in some documented cases where they were successful, they indeed got their wishes. Power, wealth, immortality, they had it all...as long as the SUE survived...

OP here;
I have returned and am quite surprised to see this thread alive.
>>17320153
I like this. A LOT.

>>17320392
The codex is for the Editors (including Insititute) as they exist post-crossover wars.
I have confirmation from Metaquest OP that TG quest is pre-Institute. Not specifically pre-crossover or post-crossover. That was not covered.
>>17320868


>>17321387
>Timothy Tinople (rhymes with "panoply"), unlicensed Proofreader
Proofreader is partly a rank.

>>17321988
This.

Guys. The Green Legion exists. Video game characters compose most of it, but they are a faction that is (sometimes) under the command of the Editors.

>>17322154
You now realise that GURPS infinite worlds exists within the Meta.

>>17322176
This anon has a point.
Let's not forget the small scale side. Yeah, you can go in and attack the sues headon, but at that point you might as well send in the Green Legion; that's what they're there for. Attacking headon is nasty, it creates more work because it damages canon.

>>17322214
So what if a sue has amassed a warfleet?
You sign up to serve as crew on the command ship and assassinate her. The fleet will dissipate one the sue is dead. Of course, it can fail, see what Potential Writefag said here >>17322234
There are plans if the agents they sent in fail; but they send in agents FIRST.

>>1733328
>>17333737
I like this too.

Ok now.

EVERONE WHO IS WONDERING THE RELATION OF THE INSTITUDE TO THE TRANSPACE GUARD NEEDS TO READ THE FUCKING CODEX. UNDER HQ IT SAYS:
-Located in pocket universe near MetaEarth
-Science Divisions, Vehicle Bays, Armories, Medical Bays, etc.
-Originally known as The Transpace Guard

DO YOU SEE THAT? ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS THE TRANSPACE GUARD. THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE POST WAR OR WHATEVER.

That aside; time to get some shit done.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IbxQJuuW8bQqd3PyngKmDkKsrhqGnGorWqdUMvM7Plo/edit?hl=en_US

This is where we put ideas, written into a form for the codex. I will be rewriting parts of the codex so it's more than bullet points.

>>17335744
Almost forgot to say; that google doc that is linked there can be edited by anyone. Yes, I know that someone could come along and blank it; but that's why there's a revision history!
If I see it get blanked, I'll restore last revision.

If it gets defaced too many times, it'll change so only invited people can edit it. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT.

+++bump+++

>>17335744
Then does the Institute have any kind of standing military force to fight against Combine aggression, or as a show of force when a TSAB Dimensional Navy battlegroup shows up in the Super Robot War Zone, or to attack a forward operating base of the Closers?

>>17339289
I guess they'd have to.

>>17339289
>>17341182
Green Legion.
Also, remember that many Canons are quite resilient. The Combine just can't go wherever they wish.

Also, consider the following.
The G-Man is a rouge, slightly insane/warped agent who is manipulating Gordon Freeman and the combine against each other.

The insanity explains his strange speech; his mind isn't working along normal human lines.

>>17341905
G-Man seems to possess too much power to be a rogue agent.
Hm, could crewmen/agents be susceptible to SUE corruption?

>>17342886
Technically everyone is; it's just HOW susceptible they are.

Bump the 2nd.

>>17341905
So a group of barely controlled yahoos are the Institute's military arm?

>>17342886
>>17339289
Still trying to figure out how we're going to face down a SUEnhanced Dark Power in the quest thread.
I suppose post-war they'd have similar concerns from time to time, the need to stop reality-bending canonical powers that have gone meta-rogue.

>>17341905
The Green Legion sounds like a terrible choice when confronting not-enemies like the TSAB or Hyper-Athens, though.
I mean, it sounds like a Meta equivalent of the USS Liberty Incident just waiting to happen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

As for the G-Man, I thought that he was exactly what he appeared to be: a human intermediary for vast and unfathomable cosmic entities, who wields their power within this plane of existence, and because of his contact with such eldritch beings, his mind and mannerisms have become warped.

>>17350272
The green legion answer was more towards Combine.

As for a show of arms towards not enemies, I'm really not too sure. I mean, they might not even handle it. The Institute is part of Meta-Earth, so I believe that the Meta-Earth Military may defend it.

>>17353062
Does meta-earth have the capability to defend more than their own space without the Institute?

>>17354545
Do you think it should?

>>17356811
That comes down to what governments, if any, survived the Crossover War.
Did they all merge? Did they maintain independence?
Is the Institute an NGO with treaties ratified by member nations that it is officially neutral ground? Does the Institute have to deal with member nations sending in moles and agents, as well as black ops teams to steal Meta-technology and artifacts?
Do Institute officials move all family to the pocket dimension they have, so that they don't have to worry about family members being approached by non-descript men in dark sunglasses, or having their children picked up from school by men they don't know and driven around in a black SUV?
Humans will be humans; if the Institute has power, and it most certainly does, then people will want that power, and they will do whatever it takes to get it.

>>17357772
Imagine if G-Man is from the upper echelons of the institute.

>>17360420
The G-Man wormed his way into the Institute? Or the Institute invited him in?

>>17363750
What if he helped create the Institute?

>>17364937
Nah, not unless the people of MetaEarth allowed people from fiction to help; which I doubt.

Let's get back to the topic; I didn't mean to derail the thread like this.

>>17356811
>>17357772
>>17354545
This is what we should be talking about.

>>17364973
The major powers would have taken a beating, as their dependence on a stable infrastructure would have messed up every level of their society.

If the Crossover War was supposed to be such a devastating event, then the aftermath would likely have been similar to the results of a nuclear war.

We would likely see incorporations and mergers between smaller nations in order to pool resources, possibly even between former First World nations as well.
Vast areas likely depopulated as well, if we talking about an event that would have had this kind of effect. Either directly from the fights between S.U.E.'s, Crossover forces, and MetaEarth's own armies, as well as indirectly from the disruption of the worldwide supply distribution network.

Generally, I imagine the the people of MetaEarth immediately following the Crossover War would have been very hostile towards any Canon inhabitants and other Meta factions. Probably even after, they would hold a lot of hostility towards anything and anyone that could possibly cause a repeat of the Crossover War. Which means that the Institute would be in danger of having its budget cut, its supply networks shut down, and its officers summarily executed for treason against MetaEarth if they don't do their job of defending MetaEarth and its interests at any cost and with any methods necessary. Their families will be used as hostages if they were left on MetaEarth, and will likely be tortured and killed if the Institute doesn't work with the remaining nations to provide Meta technologies.

>>17365218
So it comes down to: Is the Institute essentially the World Government? Or is it still just an NGO, like the WHO or UNICEF?
If the former, then it takes a lot of pressure off of the Institute and its personnel.
If the latter, then the various nations WILL have a Meta military, and the Institute WILL be relegated to an advisory role if it knows what's good for it, unless it can somehow keep a stranglehold on Transit Drive technology. Then it will have to constantly contend with black ops teams and assassins kidnapping and killing its members and their families in order to acquire the technology.

>>17365227
Also, if the Institute is the only game in town, as it were, for MetaEarth, then it needs a way to maintain its monopoly.
It can't simply stay holed up in its pocket dimension; it needs infrastructure, support, supplies, new personnel. How does it maintain its monopoly, especially if stable Crossover Points still exist on MetaEarth allowing anyone to transit without a transit drive?

>>17367902
This is why I think the G-Man is in cahoots with the upper tiers of the Institute. It makes most sense this way. Probably also other beings like him are in cooperation/