Rather than a universe made up of very large balls of matter in various states, all revolving around one another in a nearly perfect airless vacuum, the Senshi were now in what was essentially an endless expanse of Flux studded here and there with Anchors of different sizes and types. Over a region some tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter, there were thousands of Anchors, each separated by a band of Flux some dozens (or occasionally a few hundred) kilometers wide. Most of these Anchors were inhabited by people from various versions of Earth all across the former Multiverse. Beyond this region, however, was an expanse of Flux that had never been penetrated. Perhaps it went on infinitely, or perhaps space curved back on itself, or perhaps there was even some great Barrier out there, far beyond where any known person had traveled. Perhaps there were other clusters of Anchors out there, inhabited by people from other worlds that had been torn asunder.
Travel through the Flux was governed by the same few rules that still held everywhere within this universe. Essentially, any sentient being had a certain quantity of Will. Will was what made a place habitable within the Flux. Those with the greatest amount of Will could create and maintain Anchors that were large enough to support a decent-sized city-state, covering the land for up to a few dozen kilometers from its center. However, anybody with at least an average will to survive and a decent sense of self-identity had enough Will to create a weak, small, temporary, portable version of an Anchor centered on him or herself.
What this essentially meant was that if a person with even an average level of Will were to venture into the Flux, his or her own desire to live and sense of self would be enough to create an atmosphere to breathe and a semblance of gravity and ground underfoot as well as enough basic physics to keep biology running. This effect remained centered on the individual and extended for a range that was proportional to the person's strength of Will, though for an average person this was only a few meters. Of course, one's own micro-Anchor would be overwhelmed by the Will of anybody who was greatly stronger, but it was enough to allow a person to walk the Flux.
For walking it was. A personal micro-Anchor provided enough structure for oneself and perhaps a beast to ride upon, and it would allow for purely mechanical contrivances such as bicycles, but only a Wizard, someone capable of maintaining a permanent Anchor could solidify physics enough to allow for the complex interactions needed to make powered machinery or vehicles function.
So it was that a number of people who had enough Will to survive the Flux yet not enough to become Wizards were constantly wandering between the existing Anchors, carrying what little news and trade and knowledge passed between them. Neighboring Anchors could interact enough to become friendly and even allies against external threats if their respective Wizards allowed it.
If they didn't allow it . . . well, anything that a Wizard believed to be true WAS true, at least within the region where his or her Will was the strongest. The Rules imposed by a Wizard had nothing to do with any sort of logic or consistency other than that of Will. An Anchor's sun shined because its Wizard expected sunlight of a certain type. A Wizard didn't need to understand physical laws to impose them--the Wizard expected certain events, and the Rules would take on an appropriate form to let them happen. Effect begat cause, not the other way around.
And so, it was in such a world as this that:
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(Posted Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:57)
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