The Multiverse: a never-ending array of worlds stretching forth into eternity. They were created under the auspices of a single axiom: infinite variety in infinite permutations. Each new universe found its own unique pattern. Each one bound itself to a singular identity that defined its worlds, its people and its history. One universe might appear as a fantasy kingdom, where magic and chivalry reigned and a mystical fog bound its borders. Another would be an intergalactic empire, where nation-worlds jockeyed for power using colossal space faring fleets. Anything that could be imagined any concept, any notion; any flight of fancy could find its perfect embodiment within the endless realities that comprised the Multiverse.
The Multiverse was created by a race of beings known as the Fates: powerful and godlike beings, who wished to see their creativity given tangible form. They discovered a mystic element known as Arcanum: an energy source that can create and sustain reality. From it, they crafted and shaped the whole of the Multiverse, succeeding beyond their wildest aspirations. The reminder of the Arcanum coalesced into a shimmering form known as the Pool of Destiny. Through its mystical energies, the Fates could view the Multiverse and control the destinies of the untold trillions of beings who dwelt there.
In time, an entire city sprung up around the Pool. The Fates called it Sanctuary: it existed outside the remainder of the Multiverse, allowing them to monitor Creation and guide it in a benevolent direction. Even more important, it gave the Fates the ability to study the nature of Arcanum. They became obsessed with unraveling its mysteries: using the Pool of Destiny to draw new samples from and delve deep into the very essence of nature. With studies into the Pool continuing and the Multiverse benefitting from their advances, it was only a matter of time before the Fates achieved unparalleled perfection.
Then something went wrong.
From among their ranks, a Fate known as the Dark Sister arose. She believed that the Fates had let Creation stagnate. The Multiverse was stultified and meaningless: an overgrown ant farm devoid of reason or purpose. She resolved to recreate the multiverse in her image, a new version of creation with a drive and a power that matched her desires.
Before she could bring about this new multiverse, however, she needed to dispose of the old and it was too powerful for her to destroy on her own. She needed to use stealth and guile to bring about the destruction of the Multiverse, undoing what had been done and wiping the slate clean.
The Fates themselves could spawn no children: their creative powers went solely into the Multiverse. But through her studies, the Dark Sister learned how to change that. She approached another Fate on the streets of Sanctuary and using technique gained by studying the denizens of the Multiverse seduced him. Her victim understood nothing of what was happening; he only knew that he wanted this bewitching figure and that their union resulted in pleasure such that he had never known. Once complete she killed the hapless victim, using dark magic to engineer the first murder ever committed among the Fates. Then she hid deep in the shadows of Sanctuary and waited—the baby would prove the weapon she needed. The other Fates wondered what became of their missing brethren, but none could conceive that he had died. Most assumed he was traveling the Multiverse to study its inhabitants. The rest simply ignored his status.
Soon enough, the infant was born: a Childe of Fate whose powers dwarfed even those of his mother. The Dark Sister then stole into the great chamber housing the Pool of Destiny, intending to throw the newborn in. She believed that when his form merged with the Arcanum in the Pool, the resulting change would trigger a cataclysm. The pattern of the Multiverse would be torn asunder, leaving nothing but swirling chaos in its wake. Then, the Dark Sister would be free to remake it as she saw fit.
But as she stood above the pool with the newborn child in her arms, feeling the power pulsing beneath its paper-thin skin, she failed to notice the gleam in his eyes. Even as a newborn, the Childe of Fate held a primitive understanding of his mother’s plans. When she flung the baby into the pool, he reached out and grasped the fabric of her robe…willing its already blossoming power to hold her tight. The Dark Sister felt her triumph turn to horror as she lost her footing, and plunged into the Pool of Destiny along with the Childe.
The resulting explosion spread Arcanum throughout the city. Sanctuary, and all the Fates within it, was engulfed in the living essence of Creation itself. When the detonation subsided, the city lay in ruin and the Fates had been absorbed into the Pool of Destiny along with the Dark Sister and her child. The mystic energy then expelled its essence across the Multiverse, which somehow survived the explosion (though now lacking the Fates to guide it). The Fates became infused in the bodies of newborn infants, echoing the form of the Childe of Fate who had created the explosion in the first place. The Fates had no memories of their former existence…at least not at first. But their essence remained, reflecting one of the Nine Houses from which they originally came, and filled with an intangible desire to correct the damage the Dark Sister had done.
These mortal men and women became a new form of Hero: beings endowed with the ability to perceive great wrongdoings and to correct them. They became the dragon slayers, the noble statesmen, and the soldiers who turn the tide of war for the better. They are the figures at the tipping point, whose actions can save a universe or destroy it. From primitive hunters to mystic oracles to superspies and far-flung aliens, they felt the stirrings of their former existence and (consciously or not) resolved to act on it.
This is where you step in. You are a character playing the role of a Fate, or one of The Lost…
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