Editing MonarchEndless:Introduction (section)

=Summary=

The Universe is vast and, in truth, few people ever really think about what this implies. If space truly that big, surely there are other forms of life out there. And if there are, why haven’t we contacted them yet? The Fermi Paradox has eluded physicists and astronomers for ages. “Are we truly alone in the Universe?”

The answer is, quite unfortunately, no.

Outside, in a place far beyond what the greatest human inventions could ever hope to see, lies the Void, a place that the rules of nature, as we understand them, fail to describe. Stars are burning balls of helium that orbit cubic planets. Iron corrodes frozen oxygen crystals and water is a highly volatile compound that explodes when heated. Gravity and light bend in strange and seemingly illogical ways. It is in this place, where the rules of physics are unrecognizable to us, that the Endless arise from.

The Endless are a race defined not by a single universal form (like creatures of Earth), but a multitude of forms designed for specific purposes, all to serve a unified goal. Some are the size of elephants, others whales, and even greater still, though many remain nothing more than simple microbial lifeforms. Some have hundreds of limbs, some have none; skeletons are internal, external, both, or neither. Despite all these different shapes and sizes, the Endless are a single species, united by a single overarching and nigh omnipresent will. All are connected, parts of a greater whole.

Still, different Endless are created for different tasks. Many of these forms exist to serve as laborers, while others are the tools, and still others become the living space. Above them lies an obvious ruling caste: the Monarchs. Monarchs are built to rule and command the power of an entire Colony, acting as parent, guardian, and ruler all at once. Their purpose is to ensure the continued survival of the race of a whole. They rule through advanced genetic and psychic power, shaping their entire race by their whim.

And it is this inscrutable, alien will that has deemed a few individual humans worthy of being entrusted with leadership.  Since the end of the second World War, hundreds of humans each year are secretly abducted and converted into Monarchs, acting as leaders of earthbound colonies for unknown reasons. Moreover, these Monarchs bring within them the chaotic influence of human nature, chaos and free will outside of a coherent and unified essence. What purpose could they possibly serve?