INFINITY Compendium
(ALERT) You may encounter spoilers if you continue!! (ALERT)Amily Zoe
In the 2050s, Amily travelled to Mars as part of a company’s private security detail and became one of the first three DNA enhanced humans. Her blood is the most potent of the three, though its potency comes with a price. She shows herself as a mysterious woman who Orious finds and neglects and is the reason behind his quest. Her motivations are both selfish and selfless as she attempts to fight the KoZ in her own way.
Brother Dante
Brother’s name is a testament to his anonymity and homage to the clan of warriors who trained him. In the 2050s, he travelled to Mars as part of a company’s private security detail and became one of the first three DNA enhanced humans. As the strong-arm of HAWC, he has watched the KoZ defend Qgo Utomu for almost two decades and is resolved to provide intelligence to Laylee, but trains a chosen few behind her back to increase the odds of victory.
Commander LaRosa
In the 2050s, Laylee LaRosa traveled to Mars as part of a company’s private security detail and became one of the first three DNA enhanced humans. When she returned to Earth, the planet was in turmoil and she used her connections to reinvigorate her name while keeping Amily and Brother hidden from governments. After several accomplishments within the World Defense Force, she resigned in order to command the Herald’s of the Armor and Weapons Core.
Combat Tactical Gliders
At seventeen years old, Orious created the original patent for Covert Tactical Gliders, defeating the other RAT engineer concepts as a second year employee. The Covert Tactical Gliders were created for WDF and HAWC soldiers to perform low-observable encroachments on hostile territoires at night. Soldiers are transported in aircraft, perform a standard jump, activate the CTGs, and glide an average of ten miles to the target zone. After Orious’s initial concept was successfully tested, WDF and HAWC used his patented glider to tailor the equipment for specific military use. Patent updates were made in the year 2100.
Detective Tobias Divz
At age thirty-one, Divz received his promotion to detective at the Saint City WDF hub after successfully completing a yearly total of 5,329 arrests. Divz swallowed his pride to play the system perfectly and found a series of union workers who consistently performed minor infractions. His life goal required he obtain detective rank, which afforded him the ability to prioritize his own work. Only as a detective could he oversee the incident stuck in his memory. His sister had vanished ten years prior in a wisp of blue light. Ever since, he has followed every kidnapping case and every report about blue light taking people away. He’d often dream of the kidnappers taking him, affording him the chance to win back his sister and exact justice…if she still lived.
Double Tactical Goggles
At nineteen years old, Orious completed his third design patent for WDF and HAWC. The Doble Tactical Goggles perform as an augmented reality display for tactical mission objectives and tactical gear that overlays infrared heat signatures for night time missions. The goggles pair nicely with the Covert Tactical Gliders after the patent updates in the year 2100.
Dr. Graine
A thirty-four year old Dr. Graine was instructing medical students on the human body with a cadaver, during the Black Earth Event. While the students focused on the swaying lights above, Graine fixated on the dead heart in the open body that seemed to contract adne xpand. He watched the heart beat for seconds, but kept staring, squinting when it stopped. His students shook him, bade him to take cover in the hospital’s basement for fears of national contention as nuclear warning sirens sounded. Frantic, they left him. Satellite debris broke through a nearby wall and collapsed a staircase around the corner. He shook his head. Either he had gone crazy or something revived the long-dead cadaver’s heart. Harnessing that power became his life-long dream. No one would believe his story, so he’d research in secret and find funds elsewhere.
Captain (Dr.) Nijel Frayz
Dr. Nijel Frayz once saved a woman from seizing by shocking her with defilbrillator paddles because “there was no time and I had to act quickly,” he’d say. Though, turthfully, that never actually happened. His private medical office wa known for its humor and the nurses would always recite an interesting story before patients met with Dr. Frayz. Sometimes the nurses would leave saying, “I’m not actually sure he’s a doctor, but I’m told what he does works.” Not every patient could take the joke, but WDF funding had its perks and since he always got paid and did actually provide great care he never stopped. Commander LaRosa found his practice while searching for HAWC doctors. He was the first person to make her laugh since she had returned from Mars and is now the only person allowed to view her medical records.
DUKE
The Defense Utility and Knowledge Environment artificial intelligence of HAWC runs automated security and back-end facility operations. It is an altered version of the WDF AI. DUKE is allowed access to certain tiers of computers within the facility with a cap on its learning algorithms. It operates as a lower rank soldier and its coded allegiance to HAWC and Commander LaRosa is unyielding, as is its drive to protect human lives.
HAWC
The Hearlds of the Armor and Weapons Core is considered a mercenary military organization as it is privately owned by Commander LaRosa, though its funding comes only from the World Government. Soldiers undergo all of the necessary Tests of Creed (Honor, Action, Wisdom, and Courage) and Tests of Strength (Intelligence, Practical Combat, and Specialized Combat). HAWC’s only focus is to prevail against Qgo Utomu and the KoZ while retaining the positivity of humankind.
Hteomc the Guardian
The Zurdaekian Prince’s guardian, sworn into allegiance, sworn to give his life for his prince’s will. After the KoZ defeated the Prince of Zurdaek, Hteomc joined them as a double-agent, biding his time until he could recover what remained of the Zurdaekian prince. He is resolved toward the original goals of Zurdaekians: to fight against those who use the orb and its energy to conquer and to protect the unfortunate civilizations who live without Orbology from mass extinction.
Jadam Zemmy
Malo’s ten-year-old son, Jadam Zemmy, was captured by the black-cloaked KoZ to develop their military and act as Malo’s bait so she would follow them to Qgo Utomu. Jadam had chased after his father who had run down the street, chasing after his mistress. He watched as both his father and the woman he hadn’t known vanished through the blue light. Then the light and the black-cloaked figures came for him.
Jib Karnich
Television personality and recurring talk-show guest, Jib Karnich is the man who never jokes – which was the subject of many comic strips in his earlier career. Some still refer to him as the “JK man”, which further influenced his sternness and brashness. On television, he appears to have no remorse for anyone or anything, and acts as the thorn in the side of his viewers. They hate his harsh tone, but love his frank “I’ll say whatever the –beep– I want” attitude.
Keiko Shinji
Mariusumato Shinji’s wife and mother of his three children, Keiko Shinji is a moderately well-known fashion designer from Nihon with a substantial fan-base. Many World States know of her designs that embody vibrant colors with curving shapes that she says “promotes the feminine figure”. Her disappearance has definitely not gone unnoticed and her number-one-fan Marius Shinji, will do anything to get her back.
KoZian General
The KoZian Orbologist who accumulates energy in his muscles and wears the black energy cloak and black synthesized metal armor. He is the top soldier of the KoZian army and is the primary instructor on KoZian combat forms. He says little, has no remorse for outsiders, and follows orders without question. All KoZian foot soldiers wear black cloaks and black armor. The color makes it easy to categorize soldiers on the battle field, which they know is a double-edged sword.
KoZian Scientist
The KoZian Orbologist who accumulates energy in his spinning pincers and wears the blue energy cloak and blue synthesized metal armor, as do all science-based KoZ. He is the primary scientific investigator for the KoZian army and spends most of his energy developing technology to more quickly rebirth humans (or other races) and developing new KoZian energy-based weaponry. Overly excited by scientific research, he enjoys testing theories more than creating anything useful, which is dangerous for his experiments.
KoZian Strategist
The KoZian Orbologist who accumulates energy in his tails and wears the green energy cloak and green synthesized metal armor. This is also the color of the KoZian Vehicle Core who pilot KoZian vehicles. The Strategist is the master of shields and transportation, so all defensive abilities and tactical transportation are designed by him. As the calmest KoZ, Throne Bearer looks to him for plans of action.
KoZian Throne Bearer
The KoZian Orbologist who wears the red energy cloak and red, crimson-gold armor. With the orb in his possession for nearly one hundred years, accumulation is not necessary and none have seen him accumulate. During the Zurdaekian civil war, he banished both the KoZian King and Queen in a Pulsar – which either serves as their prison or their demise. His one focus: building an army and creating new Orbologists to fight a war that haunts his past.
Laser Pistol
The Laser Pistol is Orious’ most important invention, starting development for HAWC in 2101 and combining the most technologically ready R&D projects. Two ellipsoidal tanks stretch long-ways down both sides of the Laser Pistol barrel, half-filled with energized gas and water for cooling. Battery cells slide up into the hilt and a large rotating generator forms the barrel outlet. It fires an infrared continuous or charged blast that’s invisible to the naked human eye, but is scattered in a prismatic display of rainbow light when colliding against metal.
Little Luna
Little Luna’s lunar capture in 2031 brought space exploration back to the forefront of international news, paving the way for the 2040 Mars landings. Its massive stores of deuterium were mined and repurposed to power most vehicles and plants in the 2050s until the Black Earth Event. Little Luna missions reduced to nothing and in 2083 it crashed into the moon, ejecting a cloud of lunar regolith that took months to dissipate.
Malo Zemmy
Malo Zemmy, mother of Jadam Zemmy, is an Australian citizen of indigenous Australian heritage. She spent most of her childhood engrossed by Australia’s past and became a historian, teaching students enrolled in pre-university and higher. One night she received a phone call from a woman down the street, asking for her husband. Her husband, after hearing the frantic woman ran from the house. Her son, Jadam, chased after his dad and she chased after her son only to find him sitting alone in a dead-end alley. Happy to see her son was fine, she reached for him. Then a blue light and black-cloaked figure snatched him up. She chased the figure through the blue light, finding herself in the lush green Congo jungle.
Marius Shinji
Marius Shinji worked as a hired body-guard for Keiko Ikeda and developed a deep connection with her while guarding her door and travelling across the World States for fashion shows. Her dedication to her craft sparked feelings in him he never experienced. In 2091, she was captured for ransom by Rouge World State actors. After sleepless nights and negotiations with his employer, he sought out the capturers and saved Keiko. They shared tears of happiness when they locked eyes and started a new life together. Years passed. They had one child who has grown and stays in the care of their parents while they continue to travel and work abroad. On their last trip, returning from a tour of the world, Keiko was captured by a black-cloaked figure the moment she stepped from the plane. Marius followed the tail of the black cloak, sprinting and screaming, and followed it through the blue light.
Military Combat Health Monitor
The first item Orious helped design on a team that completed initial concepts at the start of his second year at RAT in 2094, and with them he earned the outstanding new employee award. The monitor is used to determine and maintain general health information across most World State hospitals. When used regularly, it can also notify patients and nurses of health changes. Several health plans offer rental versions of a similar device so citizens can develop a medical information history at home to better understand when they should visit their care provider.
Mr. Gribbs
He stares up when conversing over his business line and stares down when he receives a call from his mother. Mr. Gribbs, Orious’s, boss is a stickler for agendas and timeliness and achieved the title of RAT Management Lead, mere steps below RAT board member, by promising products and following through with them throughout his career. Unfortunately, his drive to succeed in the business realm has afforded him nothing except a twelve hour work-day and phone calls from his mother. He has no wife, no children, and after a day of work he returns home to an empty apartment, TV dinners, and unlimited cable. On the weekends, he bar hops, cycles through the women in his address book, hovers over one, heart beating strongly, then scrolls through randomly to find someone for the night.
Officer Birtiz
The first day Officer Birtiz guarded the door of RAT, a Unionist vehicle ramped up the incoming stairway and crashed through the window. This was the day the Penetrating Shock Batons hit the streets. The commercials were graphic, scary, as WDF soldiers strapped on their penetrating shock batons behind a short message “Keep The Peace”. The car was the battering ram as ten Unionists stormed in with homemade bombs and bullets. Birtiz tossed a stunning grenade and disarmed all ten Unionists before the WDF arrived. The next few weeks the WDF guarded RAT while the outer metal wall was built.
Orbology
The study of the Orb and its energy. Orbology is the only known study that can provide nearly infinite energy and interplanetary travel for any civilization. Studying the Orb carries strong dependencies on the strength and control of an Orbologists’ emotions.
Orious Solstess
(BOOK ONE) By day, Orious works as the top engineer at Royal Armed Technologies (RAT). By night, he struggles to contend with conflicts between how he feels and how he thinks. His quest to quell this contention leads him to relive and recall important events of his past to both his detriment and success. His parents provided him the means to excel quickly due to DNA enhancements through scientific mutation. The price of the DNA was nearly equal to the price of universities, though with them he was able to enroll for free and finish his degree early.
Penetrating Shock Baton
In 2098, Orious and Jaila Johnson worked together on a non-lethal, close-combat, incapacitating weapon for the WDF. They proposed combining an electroshock weapon and baton into one item that could both perform the job and reduce the number of items WDF employees were forced to equip. Their proposal won, Jaila earned new employee of the year, and they developed a close relationship as they prototyped their design. Two years later, over one million Penetrating Shock Batons sold and Orious and Jaila partied together for the first time. Intoxicated, the two of them had sex in the lab and were discovered by Mr. Gribbs who orchestrated Jaila’s resignation. Orious was later promoted, which caused him much distress thereafter.
Qgo Utomu
Qgo Utomu, the Arena, is a place surrounded by uncertainty, a place where rumors about its advanced technology lie hidden within a cave in the Congo jungle. Once a month thousands are kidnapped across Earth and brought there. Parents and lovers chase the black-cloaked kidnappers to find themselves stuck inside it, fighting for those they lost, fighting for their lives.
Rouge World States
The term used by World State government officials to distance itself from the nations that refused to be ruled over one holistic tri-president cabinet. Rouge World States comprise of every recognized nation state that do not recognize the World Government as legitimate. Because of this, not every state is as “rouge” as the world government wants its citizens to believe. Many of them may even be far more civilized than the World Government itself.
Royal Armed Technologies
The lead defense and security organization under World Government contracts. Royal Armed Technologies formed the day the World Government was created and positioned itself perfectly as the prime source of consultation and science and technology projects as it was an offshoot from several prominent pre-World Government companies. They have several facilities, but the Saint City facility is among the largest.
Saint City
The WDF describes Saint City as a well-organized hub with relatively minor crime near its center and anywhere beyond the center is too far out of jurisdiction to adequately man. While true, the minor crime near its center is so common that the constant WDF sirens and disorderly conduct make for a very devil-may-care atmosphere. The outer portions have low populations and less consistent disorder, but the crimes performed are far more punishable. The city itself is a no-win scenario, which provides the WDF with job security.
Soul Tree
One’s emotions are a series of extensions of the self. Those extensions fall under the ethical strategies or rhetorical appeals in a way to classify how one appeals to an audience. Ethos is the ethical or customary appeal, pathos is the appeal to emotions or the ability to sympathize and empathize with an audience, and logos represents the logical appeal. Kairos is urgency. Orious compares these ethical strategies to Commander LaRosa’s Soul Tree concept. To him, Logos represents the roots of the tree as if logic grounds us with reality. Ethos exemplifies the character of the tree, its symmetry and shape. Pathos symbolizes the trees color, its branches and leaves, as a means to attract others to gaze upon it or make a home there. Orious encounters two soul trees in his adventure, one beautiful and the other dying. Though both were keen on consuming whatever came near it.
The Bird’s Nest
HAWC’s base and staging ground for all missions and training is a sixteen story complex, originally modeled off of Royal Armed Technology’s facility, but repurposed to function as both a military barracks and mass deployment outfit with a small but comprehensive science and engineering laboratory. The Bird’s Nest is far north in northern America beyond the reach of the World Government – enabling HAWC to maintain its needs as a private military organization. Half the facility is underwater to allow land, sea, and air vehicle deployment. Guest recruit rooms are the lowest basement level and the Commander’s room is at the highest level, closest to the Central Command Center. The Bird’s Nest also offers medical and engineering facilities, laundry service, regular grocery delivery that is rationed out to soldiers depending on their health needs, and intense training facilities to both break-in new recruits or help seasoned soldiers retain their prowess.
The Black Earth Event
In 2064, a firestorm of space objects fell toward Earth after the sky flashed blue. All of manned space in near-Earth orbit came crashing down. Most remnants of space splashed down in Earth’s oceans, but the remaining space stations and large spacecraft filled with hydrazine propellant contaminated farms and damaged buildings. Citizens from areas hit by spacecraft hid in their basements, expecting more debris to fall. Others hid in their basements not knowing what to expect. Scientists pointed fingers at flawed arguments as to how the event was possible. Nations pointed fingers to further their own agendas, while the KoZ infiltrated unnoticed.
The Envoy
The Envoy, Qgo Omyaw, is a Zurdaekian interstellar-capable ship meant establish peaceful interstellar relations with other civilizations.
The KoZ
Hteomc describes rebirthed Zurdaekians as the Killers of Zurdaek due to their ruthlessness and lack of respect for who they once were. The Throne Bearer still calls himself a Zurdaekian, though he embodies little of the empathetic nature of his previous self. The KoZ hide in Qgo Utomu, and leave only when the next round of kidnappings start. They take people from their lives and throw them in an arena to show the Throne Bearer how strong they are and if they’re worth recruiting for their war.
The Orb
A conduit of infinite energy and the inner conscience of your soul, the Orb is a mysterious universal artifact with unknown origins and may be older than life itself. Some civilizations describe its actions as sentient while others see it as a tool. The Orb is both capable of giving energy and taking it away, and on occasion vanishes to another part of the universe to be found or sought by the lucky or the skilled.
The World Defense Force
The WDF is the military arm of the World Government. Their main duty is to keep an eye on Rouge Nation States, though most of the force is used for general policing within World Government States to assist the constant unrest that started around the Black Earth Event. Since Commander LaRosa left to lead HAWC, the WDF has shied away from any involvement with Qgo Utomu. Many government officials call Qgo Utomu an endless war.
The World Government
In 2071, 23 NATO members agreed to a World Government where all costs are shared. In 2080, the World Government Guidelines were completed as Mars and Little Luna were swept away and forgotten. In 2085, The First Primary World President (German), Vice World President (American), & Tertiary World President (Japanese) entered office after a series of worldwide votes. Each president moves up one tier while the highest president moves to the lowest tier every two years until each president has occupied each presidential tier. Nations who had an elected president cannot propose another for 6 years. In 2103, the Prime President is Chinese, the Vice President is American, and the Tertiary President is South African.
Zurdaek
The home world of the Zurdaekians and birth world of the KoZ.
Zurdaekian
An alien race whose home is the planet Zurdaek. The original form of the KoZ before rebirthing began.