I want to do a little public world building in today’s post.
I’m currently working on a new book set in the modern world. It’s a ‘world beneath the world’ concept with a hidden layer beneath our daily existence that we are protected from by our ignorance and the efforts of certain groups to protect us.
I’m approaching this as my homage to Lovecraftian mythology although with a lot less slime and frothing biology. Think of it, if you will, as Harry Dresden vs Cthulhu but not a magician like Harry, just a hero with some magical effects. I want to talk a bit about the centerpiece of my mythos: The Outsiders.
The Outsiders are creatures much like the Cthulhu creatures, vast and unknowable who don’t really care about humans, we’re inconsequential to them much like single celled organisms are inconsequential to us.
The Outsiders just happen to be fatal to us and the actions of their cultists make the outsiders dangerous when they channel their powers.
Imagine that the big bang WAS initiated by a force, a prime mover. This ‘god’ is not some sentient omniscient thing, it’s basically the equivalent of a bug that happened to set off the reaction that created this universe from its place outside of all the multiverses. These forces are the Outsiders.
They’re not actually bugs, that’s just a metaphor for an instinctual mindless creature which just kicked the universe into existence by, for example, rolling over in its burrow.
Outsiders are extradimensional beings who, much like the Cthulhu Mythos, are greater than us and consider us not at all. They are unknowable and untouchable. Even in defeat the actual Outsiders are never harmed, merely their vessels and constructs. There are groups of humans in existence trying to bring them through or at least access their dimension as a power source. These cultists have found a way to reach through the planes of the universe through ancient hidden knowledge.
The multiverse is composed of layers. The best known is our physical reality. Surrounding our reality, like an onion skin is the In-between. This area is much like the fluid in the disks in your spine. It acts like a cushion between realities and keeps them from crashing together and creating damage. The next layer beyond the In-between is the Outside.
On those rare occasions where through ritual or mad science (I want a lot of mad scientist, steampunk-like, feel to the cultists) the Outsiders manifest a portion of their being in our world they appear like writhing bluish-white tentacles of electricity. They appear as pure energy creatures to those in our dimension as we are incapable of properly perceiving their forms in our limited 3 dimensional universe. Of course what manifests is the merest portion of an Outsider’s being. They could never enter our universe fully without apocalyptic effect. The vast electrical manifestation that is an Outsider is basically the equivalent of their pinky toe peeking through.
Beside the cultists, the Outsiders power is brought to bear in our reality through the use of Abominations. The abominations are the tiniest portion of an Outsider which becomes attached to a cultist. This human has been taken over much like demonic possession and their goal becomes the fanatic need to merge once more with the powers of the Outside. This may mean they try to open the way to return or try to bring the Outside through into this reality. They have no logic behind their actions, it’s totally instinctual. They can’t grasp that the result would be the possible destruction of the universe and themselves.
The Abominations tend to become a mad scientist sort. They create machines powered by links to the Outside powers, channeled through the In-between usually via sacrifices and death. The machines are usually either automatons that do their bidding or engines trying to open the way for them. Both of these concepts threaten everyone near them.
There is a secret society called the Irin that hunts them down, and defeats their creations and minions to safeguard humanity.
