NOTES:
Anything marked with (*) is going to be renamed as soon as I can find a better name.
Anything marked with (/) is being considered for deletion.
Anything marked with (#) is being considered for merging as follows:
Winter Wonder and Wenceslas Walk may be merged.
Piranha Planet and Puzzling Pipeworks may be merged, with the replacement for Piranha Planet being moved to the City region.
Blooper Bay is under consideration for merging with another area, but I'm not certain what. It will not keep the name "Blooper Bay".
Eerie Lake and Banshee Boardwalk may be merged, keeping the name Eerie Lake.
Dead Man's Dive and Boo Man's Bluffs may be merged, or Dead Man's Dive and Screaming Sea may be merged, or all three may be merged.
Garble Gardens and Allergy Arboreum may be merged, or Garble Gardens may be deleted.
Anything marked with (@) (at this time only Wait Village) has multiple locations on the "map" which it will cycle between at semi-random intervals.
Anything marked with (&) (none marked at this time) is accessible from multiple locations at all times.
LIST OF BOSSES BY SPECIES
54 Lucky Shot Fleet Foot
Badback Long-Lost Kept Secret
Bellkel Scurvy Dog Trade-Off
Bz Gone Bananas Monk Around
Cobblers Dead Wall (*) Grave Danger
Geg Busy Work Tunnel Vision
Gorif Death Spiral Mind Wipeout
Lubax Killibuster Balancing Act
Mixi Black Witch (*) Blind Faith
Mok Forgone Conclusion Great Fall
Oilyn Sick Vined Oil Skill
Poccher Judgement Cloud Null and Void
Slartisfgh Dead Silence Mental Night
Underlow ? Deep Trouble
Vowo Mi Hacking Cough ?
13 Gold Crush Over-complications
Cat Clever Bastard ?
Blocks ? Assimilation (*)
Chirp Radio-Active Too Easy
Far Wandering Mind Eternal Sleep
Mall Bargain Bin Old Haggle
Mellohi Head Honcho Cold Blood
Stal Covered Up Censor-ship
Strad ? ?
Ward Got-Away Long John
11 Dreadnaught Stark Terror
Wait Shadow of a Doubt Worry Wart
Kraeus ? Mean to an End
Ghan Gave Up Head Down
Nbus All Alone Only One
Ebsus Closed Enough Split Difference
Giers ? ?
Other Bosses:
Super Zero
Dust Devil
The Superscape is a world that was built from scratch by an alien bioengineer, who I call "Inigox". Inigox found a nice asteroid field and had his gravity-bending friend mash a bunch of asteroids together, until something resembling a rather large but barren planet had been formed. Inigox then brought thirty three races from other places to help him build his world (the traveling of the races to this world is referred to as the "Journey"). The thirty-third race was Human, but they're almost all gone now. Basically, society was all going well until a couple of idiots from each race decided to start messing stuff up. The Humans all nuked each other off the planet. The Superscape itself orbits no star, instead having a miniature orbital "sun" and moon.
Note that Inigox built the Superscape for a very important reason:
When the original creator beings of existence tire of their creations, all of said creations will be wiped from existance, with no trace remaining. The exception is regions staked out as "lairs", and one creator being who walked among mortals for a time (and understands them far better than the others do) staked out this area as a "lair". So when all worlds end, various agents of a long-reaching secret society (of sorts) who are embedded in each world will pull their entire worlds through Worldlink into orbit around the Superscape, eventually allowing for a migration to the safety of the planet.
WORLDLINK EXPLAINED: Worldlink is the place that enables teleportation. Almost all teleportation relies upon Worldlink or a local relay world to connect them. If a world experiences an extremely intense/long-lasting/etc connection to Worldlink, it may inherit some of the properties of Worldlink and become a relay world. Xen from the Half-Life series is one such relay world, as is the Astral Plane of Dungeons and Dragons (Beaming technology from Star Trek uses energy to create a localized relay, and Mass Effect's Element Zero is a substance with it's own local relay. I know that's probably scientifically inaccurate but I have been unable to come up with a better idea that doesn't violate established canon). Teleport locks/dimensional lockdowns are things that temporarily cut off a section of Worldlink, preventing teleporting in the corresponding areas in the current world (usually around the one who puts it in place; the power needed to transmit a teleport lock over long distances is immense). There are, of course, exceptions. Beings which do not truly teleport (i.e. an entity with a combination of Density Control and Super Speed abilities who turns into a gaseous form then goes to his destination) are unaffected, but even most of these do not work over long ranges. The only reliable long-range teleportation independent from Worldlink is the racial ability of the Badback to spin black tapestries or walls which link together (this ability will be explained in detail further down).
Note that the term "worldlink" can be used to describe this teleport-enabling dimension of sorts OR can also refer to the Worldlink Center, the physical, euclidean manifestation of the dimension.
The Superscape is home to 32 "Architect" races, each following their own philosophy, as well as a few human stragglers who wised up and fled their cities before their destruction. In addition to the Superscape, each architect race has a colony of 30 individuals located in almost every other world (or collection of linked worlds, in galactic societies), as well as a group of 30 humans (usually recruited locally because they're freaking everywhere) who also serve as Architects. While theoretically one of the Superscape's human survivors could join one of these colonies/outposts, they are so few in number that none really do. The Architects got their name by helping Inigox build the Superscape, and they also tend to prevent disasters effecting the societies/worlds/whatever that their outposts are stationed around. The colonies/outposts are rather isolationist in nature, as secrecy is neccessary for reasons I can't elaborate upon yet, but they do occaisionally disguise themselves as other races (usually local humanoids) for various purposes.
There are a number of other races that live in and around the Superscape, and those will be detailed below as well.
Format:
NAME PHILOSOPHY
INFORMATION
NOTABLE QUOTE
54 Chance
The 54 are a race that is constantly mutating, leading to a lot of misclassifications until one was viewed over a long period of time. They inhabit modified asteroids in the field surrounding the Superscape. The 54 are constantly mutating on an individual level, in a manner more consistent with shapeshifters (their form is actually amorphous and alters based on unconscious thoughts). The alterations are accelerated under stress, leading to unpredictable combat tactics. The species's name for themselves, and further the entire language of the species, constantly changes on a collective level, and even those isolated from others of their kind have up-to-date knowledge of this language. Those who learn enough of the language fast enough (nobody knows what the exact qualifiers are) will automatically know what the "new" word/phrase is, and they won't even realize that it's changed unless it is pointed out to them (leading to considerable confusion). The name "54" comes from a few other alien biologists who got tired of updating the classifications, threw up their hands, marked them as "Miscallaneous sapient species #54", and moved on (and the 54 are just fine with being called that). The 54 place great emphasis on chance, and don't tend to prepare a lot ahead of time, relying on luck to see them through. The fact that the entire species hasn't died out by now is a testament to that luck. They also consider change to be inevitable, and are generally progressive on the rare occaision that a 54 takes the time to give a crap about politics. The 54 also inhabit sparse portions of the asteroid ring that formed around the Superscape as a result of a planetary gravity sheild malfunction early in the Superscape's construction, as well as a large pile-up of floating space debris. The 54's original contributions to the Superscape were the design of the miniature orbital sun and moon. The 54 are genderless and wear either no clothing or some sort of clothing capable of changing with them.
"Those who refuse to open their minds are a burden to themselves and everyone else."
Badback Secrets
The Badback are a hunched, spider-like humanoid race with limbs that [UNDECIDED: Either eight limbs or limbs that split at the elbow/knee joints], known for approaching problems in subtle, roundabout ways. The Badback have the unique racial ability to weave pitch-black tapestries (in some cases thick enough to be prettymuch unmoving; these are known as Teledoors. Not a coincidence). The Badback constructed an enormous maze of teledoors spanning the entire planet and then some. One notable corridor is situated in a flying passenger jet that appears to be perpetually suspended in midair, and nobody wants to risk a loss of cabin pressure, so nobody knows where it is. Badback have a tendency to never directly answer the questions asked <insert clever political commentary here>, and most will shy away from a fair fight. Badback language includes many words that cannot be translated to any other language <with the possible exception of the D'ni language from the Myst series, which itself has similar words>. These words describe incredibly complex ideas in a tiny amount of space, and are only written, never spoken. The Badbacks original contributions to the Superscape were the transportation network and the connecting of other worlds to the Superscape for immigration purposes.
Badback teledoors are the only type of long-distance teleportation that do not rely upon Worldlink. Since the Badback were originally discovered by Inigox in the Worldlink Center, it is theorized that they were its original maintainers, and lived there for so long that they took on the properties of Worldlink, each Badback effectively being its own local relay for the purposes of its teledoors. It is known that when a Badback dies, its teledoors seem to unweave and vanish unless linked to another teledoor of a different Badback.
Badback teledoors can be linked in several ways. First, one Badback can put down one teledoor at the time and then another teledoor later on, and key the second one identically to the first, establishing a link between the two. Second, two badback in different places can collaborate to simultaneously create a pair of teledoors that links together, so long as some method of communication exists between the two Badback during the creation of the Teledoors. Finally, a combination approach can be used, in which one Badback leaves a note for another detailing a teledoor's location and key, and the second creates a link to that on his own, but this method occaisionally fails and the resulting teledoors both wind up as one-way gates to completely different locations.
Ordinary, controlled one-way teledoors can be created if the Badback choose to apply a special property to either end. This does not work with accidental one-way teledoors, which must be re-keyed at their origin.
It is possible for more than two teledoors to be linked together. The result can be designed to either cycle the entrants throughout the network in a specified order (essentially a long circle of one-way doors) or to select a random destination; the latter has some risk as well because if the destination is the same as the origin, the subject walks out of the teledoor at the same time as he's going in, and the results tend to be pretty disgusting (and lethal). A few Badback have developed teledoors designed specifically to return the target to the origin, used as traps for pursuing foes. Others have developed a variant of the randomizer that prevents the destination from being the same as the origin.
A few other important things to note: a teledoor can only go to one other teledoor at a given time; one person can stand halfway inside a randomizer teledoor to keep it open to the target destination and allow others to pass through, thus keeping the group together. Finally, Telefragging is extremely difficult with teledoors because the teledoors teleport only whichever parts are inside them, meaning that as soon as an object begins to materialize on the other side, "stepping out of the gateway", it will be unable to continue moving forward, as it has run into the would-be telefragger. On the other hand, a sharp object placed immediately on the other side of a teledoor may be lethal to anyone who walks through (and thus impales themself in the process); some teledoors have built in "walls of force" which push obstructions out of the way to make room for the incoming teleporter.
"Of course he cheated, I just cheated better."
Bellkel Prosperity
The Bellkel are a bulky, powerful humanoid/canid race known for being prosperous traders and grand merchants. The Bellkel host a large number of odd diseases which they themselves are immune to, and are capable of releasing these plagues in the form of a breath weapon. They are among the most materially-oriented of the Architects, but are generally focused on keeping everyone happy and prosperous, which they believe can only be done through a grand economy (they admit that at times things do get a bit out of hand, however). Bellkel language is generally typical for one with a history of nautical navigation, though some dog- and wolf-like noises are included; in particular, the Bellkel have several different howls that mean several different things. Some Bellkel sail as pirates, and the Bellkel Beach (named for some notorious Bellkel pirates) is riddled with deep chasms in which the remains of a great many sunken ships lie. The Bellkel also do deep-water salvage work (though one would expect the aquatic Ebsus or the amphibious 13 to do this sort of thing, neither species has the long-term vitality of the Bellkel or the temperature and pressure resistance, so it falls mostly to the Bellkel divers in specially constructed suits). Some Bellkel salvagers have found an ally in a species of nearly-sapient plesiosaur-like beings which are insatiably curious, and such creatures sometimes assist companies of salvagers in locating and retrieving particularly worthwhile items. Bellkel tend to have a mercantile attitude, always making bargains and cutting deals whenever they can, but they generally keep things fair.
Bellkel do have differences in gender, insomuch that the females tend to be slightly smaller and less muscular, as well as the species being mammals (so you know what that means). Members of both genders generally have brown to brownish-gray fur with a gray underbelly, with a few exceptions. Some Bellkel have undergone cybernetic modifications with the assistance of the Vowo Mi; these Bellkel have blue-gray fur with a metallic sheen. The other difference introduced by the cybernetic augmentation is the replacement of the "Plague-breath" with a "Nano-breath"; cybernetic Bellkel are capable of using their breath weapon to unleash a swarm of nanobots which shred and generally devastate everything in their path before losing power and disintegrating. Cybernetic Bellkel must recharge periodically, most often done while sleeping, and must consume a small plate's-worth of metal to allow the "nanobuilders" (a different variety of nanobot which constructs their "swarming" bretherin) to recharge their nano-breath attack. The Bellkel's original contributions to the Superscape were microscopic life engineered from their disease breath to sustain a great many ecosystems.
"It costs whatever you're willing to pay that I'm willing to accept."
The rest is coming soon!
Bz Harmony
Pronounced "Bee-zee", the Bz are a monastic race of bipedal lamprey-like entities who have a difficult time suffering fools. The Bz are notorious for their incredible skill with highly uncovnetional or otherwise ineffective weaponry, sometimes defeating armored "dark knights" with nothing but a quarterstaff. The Bz are at times rather blunt, and may come off as rude, but this mostly occurs when someone has interfered with the Bz's meditation (which the Bz frown upon). They generally try to avoid violence if at all possible, but it isn't always easy, and fights do break out (mostly with idiotic outsiders). The Bz are willing to assist and respect those who assist and respect them, and all but the most rambunctious, foolish, evil, or otherwise unsuitable visitors are offered the chance to live the Bz way of life for a short time, and may stay if they find the lifestyle fulfilling. The Bz, blunt as they are, do their best to remain tolerant of other ways of life, as they believe there is not one single path to harmony, but many, and that doing what works for onesself is a basic right so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of any others.
The Bz inhabit various orbital space stations, as well as various temples and structures on the surface of the Superscape. Bz females are slightly smaller and more nimble than males and have softer voices, but both are equal in Bz society. Bz government is rather small and unintrusive, with an elder (male or female) providing wisdom and insights. Fights between Bz are almost nonexistant and as such are treated on a case-by-case basis, whereas fights between Bz and outsiders are somewhat more common and the Bz are authorized to act in self defense, and a swift, nonlethal incapacitation of the offender is usually sufficient to ensure future compliance. Bz language consists of an excessive number of synonyms, brown townogies, and poetry but is otherwise unremarkable. The Bz's original contributions to the Superscape were various astronomical calculations necessary for a free-floating planet.
"There is one mountain, but many paths."
Poll