The Basics

History Basics
=== '''WARNING: This info is REALLY unorganized! I'll sort it out better later, but for now it's a mind dump, just like the rest of this wiki. If you read this, you'll still get all the info you need, but I'll take the time to make it more navigate-able later.''' === OVERTIME takes place in the same universe as our real life one, with some fundamental differences. First of all, there is an assumed multiverse of thousands upon thousands of different worlds. These are commonly known as Iterations.

Every world is governed by two forces: the power of God, and the power of Satan. Neither of these are actual beings. There is no god in this universe, nor is there a devil. Rather, they are both mindless forces, with each one acting contrary to the other. They are commonly associated with "good" and "evil," yet these don't apply to the forces; God and Satan do what they do not out of morals, but just because they DO. Using this mentality, God isn't any more good than Satan, and the OVERTIME universe often reflects this.

Back to the Iterations. There are countless Iterations, an infinite number of them in fact. On each one, there will, without fail, exist two planets: Planet Y and Planet X. Each planet is affected by a certain amount of the forces. To put it in simpler but not totally accurate terms, Planet Y is affected by about 20% God and 80% Satan (which is almost always named Earth.) Planet X is affected by about 80% God and 20% Satan (which is almost always named Nibiru. More on Nibiru later... it's really important.) Humanity begins to develop on both; but the humans on Planet X are much more physically and mentally powerful. This is due to the effects of both God and Satan. I was initially tempted to say God is the "construction" force, but that's not true, because Satan constructs things too. It more has to do with each force's effect on humanity. A human whose divine composition (that's the term for the percentages thing I just did) is favored more to God than Satan will end up more powerful, and vice versa. Thanks to Planet X's divine composition, the humans that exist there exhibit greater physical capabilities which is simply due to stronger cells overall. Both X humans and Y humans have the same divine compositions as their respective planets. Note that a balance is basically required in order for the human to exist; being 100% God means you're just the essence of God. Not a being.

Y humans are usually just called "humans." X humans are usually called "angels."

Angels possessed many abilities which were unavailable to Y humans that they could use innately. (Such manipulations of the universe are known as magic in 2212.) With these, X humanity evolves extremely rapidly. It doesn't generally conform to our ideas of sci-fi, as they didn't really have laser guns and flying saucers. But they did have incredible architecture and perfect craftsmanship in anything they made. They also had one important trait- they knew the end result of the universe, the eventual apocalypse, was coming. Yet X humanity does nothing to resist this, and in fact protects the cycle; most X humans innately know that the cycle is pure and good and that there is no reason to resist it; doing so would have unforeseen consequences. Boom, foreshadowing.

Without fail, in every universe, some angels will desert from Planet X using their technology, finding their way to Earth. They will then meet prehistory Y humanity, and will help these less developed Y humans. Usually a council is selected to do this at the appropriate time, and it's done in every universe because that's the way the world works. These are usually called the "fallen" angels. (The Nephilim, creatures described in the Bible, match the description of X humans perfectly. On the other hand, the creatures known as "fallen angels" in the Bible are demons, and they are most likely not real preceding the apocalypse. The fact that many Biblical demons later appear as monsters supports this idea. Curiously, Nephilim also appear as monsters. Maybe the Nephilim described in the Bible are fictionalized enough to still become monsters?)

The fallen angels assist the Ys in anyway they can; knowledge about architecture, society, and survival. Yes, conspiracy theorists; here’s your pyramids, as well as why Y humans learn society and the idea of barter. The Xs soon return home, for the sole purpose of allowing the Ys to survive on their own. They do this without fail in every Iteration.

And with that, the BC to AD era we know and love begins. Societies grow and develop, eventually passing off the help of the Xs help as nothing more than a legend. From this point, everything happens as it normally happens in normal human history, up till December 21st, 2012. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Changing the real history of the world is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. If you want to adjust unimportant details of history [like, say, this pirate captain hid this treasure here while in the real world he hid it somewhere else], that's fine. Just be sparing. No rewriting history books- not even when they ruin all your favorite places like a certain superstorm. A good trick that I like for this is that if you need to fictionalize part of the real world history, make it a behind-the-scenes affair. For instance, in the case of Manhattan, Dr. Quintin Rockwell operated in secret and bribed key police departments to allow him to construct his rectangle. Try not to do this too often, though, please. Part of what initially interested me in this universe concept is the fact that it takes place in a world just like ours, but also unlike it entirely. Oh, and after December 21st, pretty much anything's fair game, so go wild.)

December 21st, 2012 is the day of Armageddon. The end of the world always occurs on this day, at exactly 7:45 AM. At this time, there is a sudden shift in divine composition- in an instant, all of the God that is innate to Planet Y suddenly shifts over to Planet X, and vice versa. This leaves Planet Y with a divine composition of 100% Satan, and Planet X with a divine composition of 100% God. Such planets could not exist, however, as nothing can be made purely of God or of Satan. Therefore, both Planet Y and Planet X simply cease to exist.

This has happened across the aforementioned infinite Iterations. Every time, the worlds are created, the two humanities play their course, and then the world is destroyed. There's no reason or moral behind it. It's almost scientific- a repeated procedure that one has to accept as just what happens.

Except... when it doesn't.

It just so happens that OVERTIME's world is a glitch in the system. An anomaly. It is different for one sole reason: Planet X and Planet Y didn't disappear. This is due to a mysterious substance’s presence in the world known as the Corpus. Present in no other Iteration, the Corpus is essentially the force of God distilled into a physical substance, usually bread (in which it is called the Eucharist.) It belongs to an Earth-specific religion known as Christianity, which aside from worshiping God, worships his “son,” Jesus. It is believed that Jesus is the cause of this anomaly. He proclaims the Corpus as “his body” and its first known usage is by Jesus himself.

Jesus is actually the son of an X man and a Y woman- their names are Gabriel and Mary. Gabriel fled from Nibiru and came to Earth, seeking out a Y woman. Eventually, he found an convinced Mary to have his baby. He told her that doing so would mean the end of a vicious cycle, one that has plagued Iteration after Iteration. Gabriel had decided to defy the cycle, a trait completely alien to most angels, and he desired to see what would happen if things didn't go as planned, no matter how predictably disastrous the consequences. A declaration of free will. In recorded knowledge, he was the first X to ever decide to procreate with a Y. Afterward, Gabriel is captured and brought back to Nibiru, where he is held in the deepest core of the planet known as the Inmost Cave, never to be allowed to escape. The subsequent couple of generations of angels are terrified of the possible effects of Gabriel's actions.

It turns out they were right to be scared: Jesus truly is born different. He has more God as part of his person, leading to his divine composition being more accurately described as 30% God, 70% Satan. This creates an imbalance, however small, in the amount of God and Satan on Planet Y.

His extra God gives Jesus X-like abilities. He discovers his ability to heal the sick and perform "miracles," which are simply acts of magic. Yet he gains a noticeable following. Of course, as everyone knows, he is hated by many of the Pharisees for this and they seek to have him killed. During the Last Supper, Jesus uses his abilities to lightly foresee the future (similar to an angel's ability) and sees that he is going to die. Panicking, he thinks that the powers he will be given will be lost. In a last-ditch effort, Jesus attempts to transfer his magical abilities into the bread and wine of his Passover meal. This, through Jesus' intense drive, occurs. He transfers the extra 10% of his God out into the universe, creating what can be best described as an aura around the galaxy. Through somewhat of a "looped spell", Jesus makes it so that anyone who performs the Eucharist rites on pieces of bread and wine can imbue them with God. The amount of God imbued into each piece of Eucharist is minuscule, but it's definitely there. This was the first creation of Corpus. (PS, it's unknown whether Jesus intended for his transfer wish to occur in such a manner. It's highly possible he had the foresight to set this up. After all, being Gabriel's son, we know that he intended to disrupt the natural cycle of the world.)

Jesus is then killed as normal; however, the Gospels don't report one important fact. When Jesus dies, this body composition is about 20% God, 70% Satan. This leaves him as 90% of a person, essentially. It also means that he is in a tough situation when it comes to dying. When either an X or a Y human dies, their God and Satan is "dissolved" into the universe and their flesh decomposes and whatnot. This happens when a person is at (or, as we soon discovered, exceeding) a 100% total for divine composition. Since Jesus is 90%, his divine essence, his 90%, cannot simply dissolve. It is trapped in the physical plane, unable to move. So, it bounces around and eventually finds a new place to settle, creating a new "person" to be the holder of the 90% divine composition.

This "person" is a new body, created by the universe as a way to reintroduce the soul into the world. Using effects similar to the ones seen in magic, the world warps around this new iteration (not capitalized) of Jesus. This new person, who is always male, but can be anything from a 70 year old white man to a 3 year old Asian boy, is immediately viewed by all around it as if it had always been there. Fake memories are created, social media accounts populated with pictures and followers, and entire family trees rewritten, yet it is impossible to tell when this has happened. Even legal documents across the world change. When this version of Jesus dies, the same thing happens again, and again, and again for eternity. It has been happening since Jesus' death, and it's actually believed Thomas Jefferson and Cheung Po Tsai were both iterations of Jesus.

No reincarnation of Jesus is aware that he is a reincarnation. They simply live out their life, and are then reincarnated.

Back to the effect of Jesus's sacrifice. His followers continue the tradition of the Eucharist, drawing God from the 10% in the atmosphere (which most researchers call the Pool) that Jesus made. As time progresses, the Christian church grows larger and larger, becoming the behemoth it is today. And the Eucharist rites are performed over and over again, creating more and more Corpus. What's interesting to note, though, is that people are also eating this Corpus, and therefore receiving divine composition imbalances. These aren't enough to throw off the universe like Jesus' did, and when a person dies the small amount of extra God simply floats off back into the "pool," but it's important for later.

By early December 2012, scientists estimate the amount of extra God in the Pool was probably more like 8%. Approximately 2% of God had been converted into Eucharist, of which the Church has vats and storage. Much Corpus was created simply for the sake of safekeeping.

Thanks to these events, when 7:45AM on December 21st, 2012 actually did roll around, something entirely different happened. Jesus was created with 30% God and 70% Satan. While his God levels did eventually drop to 20% before his death, his Satan levels never changed. And his soul, due to reincarnation, was still bouncing around Earth. Therefore, there was a minuscule amount of Satan simply missing in the universe, meaning Earth could not reach 100% Satan and disappear.

This leaves earth with something like 99.9999% Satan and a minuscule, TINY amount of God- the God that's present in the Pool and in Corpus. Just enough to stop Earth from just disappearing. The world didn't go on unharmed, though, thanks to the sudden appearance of monsters and anomalous objects. This is, perhaps, the greatest scientific mystery of them all. There is no accepted scientific or theoretical reason for the appearance of monsters at this time- it's generally agreed that it has something to do with the incredibly high Satan levels on Earth, but there is still active research going on in attempts to figure out why it happened.

Monsters themselves are creatures matching the new Earth's divine composition- with the 99.9999% Satan makeup and tiny bit of God. They resemble and exhibit qualities and activities similar to creatures or characters from mythology, folklore, or urban legends. Again, the reason for this similarity is unknown, though it is theorized that this is due to Satan essentially being the "anti-humanity" force, and therefore draws from humanity's ideas in order to destroy it. This is further supported by the fact that all monsters, despite individually having different characteristics, attitudes, levels of intelligence, and even ideals, all have one common drive: the destruction of human life (whether this destruction be immediate or gradual depends on the monster's preference. Many monsters are willing to cooperate with and negotiate with humans, but will almost never prioritize human survival. (In rare cases, some monsters may be able to overcome their drive and lose the desire to kill.) Such conditions, despite the fact that many monsters are intelligent, have led to a lack of human-monster communication. In fact, such an activity is looked down upon in society, as it is often done by necromancers and those looking to use monsters' powers for their own gain. Some monsters can speak human languages and even interact with humans easily, yet even the most friendly-seeming monsters have an ulterior motive behind it all; a drive, similar to the angels' drive to protect the natural cycle.

During and after Armageddon, strange objects and locations also began to appear. In addition, unexplainable phenomena began to appear and occur. While many of these objects and phenomena also seem to be lifted from mythology (such as the appearance of Golden Fleece,) some also seem to have no relevance to any one myth (such as the sudden reappearance and expansion of the Kowloon Walled City.) Many unexplainable objects posses powers, and these are usually classified as Foul Magic.

The anomalous, unexplainable quality of these objects and occurrences means that almost anything could happen at any time in this world. Yet people still live in relative peace, thanks to most governments' knacks for sealing off info to the public. Whether you think such info should be scared or ignorance is bliss, the simple fact is that there is no denying the magnitude of secrets governments keep. Don't think most people don't know about monsters or anomalies, though- everyone's very aware of how dangerous the world is beyond the effects of Corpus (more on Corpus's effects down below.) It's not uncommon to see armed mages enter a coffee shop and order a latte, and most grammar and high schools teach combat classes with basic weapons such as swords and assault rifles, just in case.

Nibiru also failed to meet the 100% God quota due to Planet Y's "pool" using up some of its God. As a result, the two forces began to "reconnect" the planets in an attempt to exchange the force and disappear. It took exactly 10 years after the original day of Armageddon for the two planets to connect, but on December 21st, 2022, Nibiru (which is noticeably smaller than Earth) crashed directly into the Pacific Ocean in between South America and New Zealand. This event is known as the Nibiru Cataclysm. (Interestingly, there were very few repercussions from the crash. Journals and audio logs report a sudden but light earthquake around the earth, and those in the area remember the planet moving, in the graceful words of a certain onlooker from Brazil who recorded the event with a camera, "so f***in' slow... like, the thing's takin' its f***in' time, man." There were light tsunamis on some nearby islands, and unavoidable damage was incurred to everything crushed by it, but other than that Planet X did not seem to be affected by Earth's gravity.

It seems that the re-connection effort between the two planets ended in failure, as neither planet has yet disappeared or has assumed a 100% God or Satan composition. Nibiru is currently lodged deep into the Earth, and still lies in the Pacific between New Zealand and South America. With their planet now stuck into the other and no hope in sight, the angels disappeared... or at least, were thought to.
 * In 2210, five people were killed outside of a church in the Vatican Empire. The attack was initially chalked up as a monster attack, but the monster involved was like none seen before... in fact, it looked like an angel, which at the time were believed to have all been killed in the Nibiru Cataclysm. When the info was leaked that the creature was, in fact, an angel, the public went wild. Advocates demanded immediate deployment of troops to all civilian areas, since the attack made it seem that the angels were out to kill humans. Riots and protests were held. Thousands left public office thanks to the bad rep almost all govt. officials were getting for not dealing with the problem. A few days later, a riot squad was deployed to the church of the attack, where the team found the angel. They insisted that they just wanted to talk, and the angel explained that he was helping collect all of the Corpus in the world, in order to restore Nibiru's perfect 100% balance. One of the team members wisely recorded the audio of this on his cellphone. The angel then killed the entire squad in a matter of seconds, and flew away.


 * A world conference was immediately held. All governments agreed to withhold the info from the public to avoid worse panic than usual. They dubbed the problem the Angel Crisis, and the 60 representatives present at this meeting- the only ones who received this info- all agreed to not speak a word of the problem to anyone, not even their superiors. Rather, this council, calling themselves the Final Ecumenical, were going to try and deal with this using their own (admittedly expansive) resources.
 * The rioting's slowed down a bit, but many still advocate for higher military presence, while others insist that there is nothing to worry about. The issue has split politics in the way slavery split Antebellum America; candidates choose one side or the other, and third parties are scarce. In addition, the desire for higher security has caused private military factions to go on the rise, aiding an already thriving war market.

Nibiru is currently swarmed with monsters, which initially makes no sense- how could monsters even hope to go onto a place that is almost completely God? Strangely, this seems to be because the planet's "atmosphere" has shifted; the makeup of most of Nibiru's surface levels and initial caves is now identical to Earth's. The 100% God part is now located near its core (right where Gabriel is entombed.) It's theorized that Earth has done the same, and that we have a density of Satan right at our core, which is supported by the more dangerous monsters found underground. It's believed this transfer of God and Satan levels is due to the two forces' attempts to reconnect in the Cataclysm. Anyway, this means that monsters have spread to Nibiru as well, and the lack of human life on Nibiru (as well as the lack of angelic activity on the planet in general) has led to it becoming overrun by some of the most powerful monsters out there. The surface is covered not only by angel architecture, but also by the structures of some more powerful or intelligent monsters.

It's also important to establish how humanity survived its new surroundings. The appearance of monsters took everyone by surprise; especially since everything all appeared at once, the minute 7:45AM hit. Lockdowns were called across the world, but there was no stopping the brutality of most monsters, and your average police unit didn't stand a chance against creatures that literally came from peoples' nightmares. For days, there was chaos, and many people survived by pure chance and ability to run. Then, place by place, across the world, people suddenly realized something- monsters never came near Christian churches. A little more experimentation found that the thing repelling them from the churches was the Eucharist. It seemed that, when placed in a Tabernacle (which is a box that holds the Eucharist in most Christian denominations,) the Corpus' effects would be boosted, creating somewhat of an invisible "barrier" in a circle encompassing the Tabernace. The size of the Tabernacle determines the size of this barrier, and the strength of the barrier is related to how much Corpus is put in the Tabernacle. Scientists actually have a commonly accepted reason for this- Gold, which most Tabernacles are made of, has a chemical makeup that almost perfectly binds to the energy of God, causing the effect of God to enlarge. The "barrier" created by Corpus is unseen and unfelt by humans. Its effects are felt only by monsters. A monster can cross into most barriers, but doing so causes the monsters' body to begin to shut down. Small monsters are usually easily killed in a few seconds. Since it affects the systems of living things only, anomalous objects can be brought into a Corpused area. However, it is not foolproof. A strong monster can effectively "power through" a weaker barrier with no ill effects if their physical capabilities are above the range that the Corpus effects. The way to solve this is by adding more Corpus, which gives the barrier more organ shutdown power. Corpus barriers are usually tripped by creatures with a signifigant amount of Satan in their system, usually above 85%. This means that certain high-powered necromancers, who sometimes infuse their bodies with monstrous abilities, are usually forced to live outside Corpused areas. (Most necromancers, however, can wield considerable power without tripping Corpus barriers.)
 * Important: Tabernacles must be STATIONARY. Movement disturbs the effect of the barrier, causing it to constantly realign itself without actually doing anything. This means that, no, you can't drop a giant Tabernacle in your car and drive out into South America risk-free. You can pick up Corpus, but it won't do anything just sitting in your pocket. It needs to be placed in a Tabernacle for any effect.

All cities have Tabernacles from which their (substantial) Corpus barriers arise. These are usually kept in underground facilities with very high security. A broken Tabernacle could topple a city like Miami, which has very dangerous surroundings, in days.

It's no exaggeration to say that this entire world runs on the Corpus trade. It's more important than food and water, in some cases. Yet it's also very limited. We only have Corpus in the form of Eucharist wafers made before Armageddon (the sudden transfer of divine constitution broke Jesus' spell over the rites, though attempts have been made to recreate it, with no success.) Some wars are held strictly to claim Corpus from enemy bases (that's what's caused the near-constant fighting in the No Man's Sands, Africa, and Australia) and what drives many mercenaries and independent military factions. Basically, whoever holds the Corpus holds the power, like the guy in ancient villages who owned all the farms. History loves to repeat itself.

Corpus doesn't just create barriers, by the way. The powers and abilities of God don't stop there. In an unspecified year before the Nibiru Cataclysm, around 2019, scientists in Mexico and Australia teamed up to study Corpus further. Mexico had a very high quantity of Corpus due to the amount of Catholic churches in the area. A few scientists experimented with it, and soon discovered many things about the substance. First and foremost, they developed Escaupils. These are described as "personal shielding devices;" they look like small cubes with pinpricks on one side. A user simply attaches the Escaupil to their body through the spikes. When a person is affected by an Escaupil (very commonly called "scauping" or "being scauped,") their body will quickly repair any damages done to it within an abnormally short amount of time. This means that a person can be shot clean through the heart, and the heart will reform near instantly, without any disruption to its ability to pump blood. Of course, every Escaupil has a limit to how much damage it can withstand without recharging. Taking more bodily damage than it can heal cases the scaup to "break," meaning the person is now exposed. Getting shot in that state is just like getting shot without a scaup.

Escaupils were mass-produced and shipped out across the world from Mexico, which at that point was pretty much the beta Mexican Empire. Before long, the blueprints were stolen and sold, and the remnants of every old world government (and opportunistic group of survivors) was making and distributing Escaupils.

The other thing they discovered was kept much more secret for years. The researchers, without intending to, discovered an ability to give humanity magical powers- and it was as simple as eating Corpus. It seemed the shift in the world to a 99.9999% Satan-controlled environment gave excess Corpus in ones body much more potency. Of course, eating one Corpus wafer wasn't enough to give someone superpowers. So the scientists began experimenting. They noted that Jesus was able to perform miracles simply through what seemed like his willpower. This inspired a controversial test in which agents were sent out to kidnap hundreds of babies from remote settlements and shelters. These babies were then injected with substantial amounts of Corpus, and then taught to think in certain ways. Some were raised to be extremely intelligent, while others were told to prioritize brute force. Sure enough, the children soon developed magical powers related to their upbringing. This experiment, known as Sangre de Cordero (Blood of the Lamb), is still debated morally, but its effects were a boon upon the world. These children were sold like slaves across the world as personality-less bodyguards, which was a role they filled perfectly. One by one, many were taught by their surroundings to open up, giving them real meanings in life beyond protecting others. As such, many had children, and to the shock and delight of the world, these children were born with the same amount of excess Corpus as their parent. The scientists were confused how this was possible, and stayed confused for years. Years later, scientists would study the Pool and discover that every new birth which had Corpus blood was siphoning off God from the Pool, while every death of a Corpus blood was adding God back into the pool.

Seeing that Sangre de Cordero worked, the Mexicans tried their experiment on adults, but very few developed significant powers. It seemed that the God in ones blood used ones goals and drive towards a certain moral as its fuel. Therefore, it was possible for these adults to develop powers, but few were able to manipulate the God in their bodies. Children, on the other hand, can shape the Corpus in their body as they grow, and therefore gain more control over it.

The individual spells one can use is highly based upon ones personal affinities, wishes, ideas, and upbringings. A chart, composed by a council around 2150, has created magical classes, which determine ones area of magical affinity. Some spells can be used and learned by anyone, while others are exclusive to certain class groups, and still others are unique to a single person and usable by only that one person. Classes don't determine everything, and it's very possible to have a cowardly Fighter or a bloodthirsty Scholar, or even an evil Holy- there's a ton of spells, and you can customize your character to allow endless possibility.

In most 1st world countries in 2212, magic is rarely used, simply because its practice is not promoted. Beyond that, it is commonly discouraged, as its use has proven to be destructive in the past. Governments patrol for magically apt people, and try to either recruit them or take them out, viewing them as threats to society. Many magic users operate in secret or behind peoples' backs.

But what about what happened in between 2012 and 2212?
See, this is the part where you can shine. I've created (most of) 2212, and its conditions and countries. I've also written some slight lore in between 2012 and 2212, if only to explain the existence of certain things (like the fallen Mexican Empire.) But there's tons to work with here, and tons of stories to be told. Feel free to create fallen empires, great battles, or terrible tragedies in the past and not just in the present. Or to create your own explanations for different countries or locations.

The state of 2212
I don't want to write too much here, but I'd like to give a brief overview of what life in 2212 is kinda like, so you have a better idea of the world you're in.

Much of the world's been reclaimed. Cities have been rebuilt, and life's been restored, thanks to the powers of Corpus. In first world countries, technology's modern but not that much better than what we had in 2012. School, work, family life, etc.

But in everything that hasn't been reclaimed, and even in the areas that have been reclaimed, things are different. An entire past civilization sits in ruins. Most old ruins are called predarks- this term refers to any old building, structure, or system that existed before the Second Dark Ages. Which is a post-2012 event that I need to explain. Of course, monsters are still a threat. And there's gangs, and bandits, and evil powerful people, and private armies, and corrupt politicians. Many countries are in anarchy, some use outdated systems and have magical councils. A fantasy world has taken over North Korea. And who knows what else? There's endless amounts of things out there for you to write about. Maybe have a Japanese god take over a tank and bomb Afghanistan.
 * Basically, at an unspecified point in time, most of the world's past nations fall, leading to all-out fall-of-Rome chaos. I'm talking bandits, raider tribes, etc. During this time there's the loss of a large amount of Internet data due to a certain conqueror who wanted to erase the past in order to lie to his subjects. We basically return to the feudal system over time, then work our way back up. I don't want to give too many specifics, because this is something I want other people to have a part in. But it starts around 2045 and ends around 2100.

...oooh, I actually like that a lot.