Zero Angel Richardson's Blog, page 10

Spider-Man coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Wow! What a great week for my fandoms. First, Netflix announces a Legend of Zelda series, and now SPIDER-MAN IS SAVED . . .

ish.

Marvel has officially announced that Spidey will be making an appearance in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film before the next still-Sony-produced stand-alone Spider-Man film in 2017.

There's been no news about which film (although it's pretty obvious), no news about what actor or incarnation of Spider-Man it will be, and no news about future crossovers, although they have gone on record as saying they are exploring opportunities to integrate characters from Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) into future Spider-Man films.

So that's all the news there is to be had beyond some additional quotes. Let's start with some analysis.

As far as which film it will be, it's about 99.9% guaranteed to be Civil War.

Reasons: First, Kevin Feige, the god-like producer of the MCU, has stated that he wants Spider-Man for the Civil War storyline. We were having Black Panther set up to take the Spider-Man role in Civil War, and I'm sure there will still be some of that remaining, but now Feige gets Spider-Man.

There have been lots of talk about Spider-Man showing up in an end credits scene somewhere, and I'm not saying that won't happen, but the deal is for one crossover at the moment. An end credits scene still counts as a crossover. They would need to have an additional deal worked out for that. They're not going to blow the one crossover on an end credits scene.

So, then the question comes to why Civil War and not some other film? We have a time limit, the crossover has to happen between now and the July 2017 Spidey film. According to Marvel's slate, that means it could be Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (already finished), Ant-Man (also already finished), Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and possibly Thor: Ragnarok (depending on how they massage the release dates of Spidey/Thor).

Since it's not going to be Avengers 2 or Ant-Man (although if an end-credit scene will exist, then Ant-Man is the logical choice to lead into Civil War), it's not going to be Doctor Strange since that would steal the thunder of a new character and Spidey doesn't exactly mesh that strongly with Strange. It's not going to be GotG2 because of space, and it's not going to be Thor because of both the timing of the film and the fact that it's Thor, extra-dimensional/space alien Thor with half the film taking place off-Earth.

I'm not saying that Spidey doesn't go along with these other films, but for a first crossover film, it doesn't make sense. That leaves Civil War as the only likely choice.

So it's going to be Civil War and possibly having a very large role as he did in the comic Civil War. Spidey in the comic basically served as the reader, going back and forth between the sides of Stark and Rogers.

So then what about Andrew Garfield? There's been reports that it's "confirmed" he won't be playing Spider-Man again, but well, it hasn't been confirmed. It's a rumor at the moment. So far, people are saying the Wrap confirmed it, but the Wrap is not Marvel or Sony or Andrew Garfield.

Does it surprise me? No, not really. Marvel has stated they didn't want Andrew Garfield, even though Sony wants him. What gives me hesitation is the fact that the rights are not going back to Marvel. It's a collaboration, not a sell. This means that Sony is still going to be making Spider-Man films.

Now, the current state of the Amazing Spider-Man universe is a big hot mess, so I'm not surprised they want a clean slate. Honestly, it could go either way at the moment. If they reboot the Spider-Man franchise again, at least we can be 84% confident that it won't be another origin story and will start out with an established Spider-Man (since an established Spider-Man will be appearing in the MCU).

So my thoughts: Spidey will be appearing in Civil War, I place him being Andrew Garfield at 49%. If it's a new Spidey, then I'd say there's a 60% chance it will be Miles Morales instead of Peter Parker . . . although, the Sony execs were accused of being racist and this is the Civil War storyline, so let me change that prediction to 25% chance for Miles Morales. And the new Spidey film will most likely not be an origin story.



So what do you guys think? Agree with my predictions? Have some of your own? What are your thoughts on Andrew Garfield leaving vs. staying?

Here's the original story at Marvel. +1, subscribe, and comment below. Thanks for reading!

Value of Your Degree

This is a version of a lecture that I usually end up giving to the dead-eyed college students viewing math courses as nothing more than an obstacle to their eventual college degree-enabled successful life.

Education really isn't supposed to be about making more money, but no one cares about that. It is a fact that many people, possibly a majority, view a college degree as the barrier to entrance of their idea of a successful life.

To these people, the material they are asked to learn in college is nothing more than a series of hurdles that they need to bypass any which way they can. This is true for electives (where they usually at least have a choice between several classes), classes required by their major, and classes designed for their major.

But that's ignoring the entire purpose of a college degree. I'd argue that even more so than a high school diploma, a college degree is a school's promise to your future employer that you learned *all* of the material in *all* of your classes required for your degree. This is why employers don't ask to see your degree, they ask to see your transcripts.

Your transcripts are a record of every single class you took in college, and it is assumed at the college level that if you passed those classes, that means you learned the material in them.

And what separates the "prestigious" schools from the more run-of-the-mill schools is exactly the veracity of that statement.

Since the assumption is that college graduates have learned the material, when a college graduate enters a profession and they are ignorant of facts they should know or even incompetent, it lowers the value of every degree from the degree-awarding institution; its effect is largest on similar degrees, but is felt throughout the institution. I remember hearing professors question recommending students for particular graduate schools because if they recommend a student that isn't going to make it, then that graduate school won't accept any more of their students for 5-10 years.

This is why "easy" professors are not doing you any favors unless they are a very small minority of the professors at the college. Easy professors mean that students don't need to learn the material as well as they would otherwise, they enter the workforce and give a bad name to anyone else coming from their college. 

And this bad name applies to everyone from that college past, present, and future.


So what are your thoughts on the value of your degree? Note that I'm not talking about the value of your education here. Even at "bad" schools you can get a good education if you put in the work and effort yourself.

+1, subscribe, and comment below. Thanks for reading!

2014 Superhero Films in Review

So 2014 saw a great number of superhero films (although still not enough!); for fans of sci-fi or fantasy, superhero films are quickly becoming the highest-quality way to get your fix.

In my eyes, there are about 5 superhero films that you can talk about; in order of release: Captain America: the Winter Soldier, Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Hero 6.

Some people would include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I haven't seen it so it's off by default. 

So let's break down the best and the worst, best films, best acting, best heroes, best villains, etc.


Captain America: The Winter Soldier — A genre-transcending, Marvel Cinematic Universe-escalating, tour de force of a film. A political thriller disguised as a superhero film.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 — Revolting.


X-Men: Days of Future Past — Overhyped, but an enjoyable ride that successfully fuses the X-Men franchises and erases the bad taste X-Men 3 left with us.


Guardians of the Galaxy — Surprise smash hit with a soundtrack that doesn't quit. It's not Star Wars like some people are saying, but I can understand young children holding it as the first something similar of their generation.


Big Hero 6 —  Gorgeous animation with a heartfelt tale behind it. Really surprised me how much I enjoyed this movie.


OK, so let's get into a straight-up listing to begin with.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 doesn't even make the list. If you want to see why, you can check out some of my deep thoughts here (first review) and here (revisiting review).

Top 4
At #4, I have X-Men: Days of Future Past. For some reason, this movie really didn't strike very many chords with me. I don't know if I've been jaded by past X-Men movies, or maybe it's just the thought of starting over with characters we've already seen. I love Xavier, Magneto and Mystique, but what haven't we seen from these characters? Mystique isn't going to be redeemed in these films because she was the brainwashed soldier of Magneto throughout the modern day films. First Class was a little interesting in that we got to see her fall, but that's done now. It's sorta' nice seeing Beast, but he feels underutilized in this film.

At #3, Guardians of the Galaxy. Can you say fun? There was a certain point after the beginning exposition/set-up finished where I started smiling and I did not stop until the credits began rolling. Fun, funny, sincere, great chemistry between the characters, and such a great soundtrack. Wonderful.

At #2, duh duh duh duh! Big Hero 6. This movie was fantastic. The bumping fist stuff was so endearing, and the "Are you satisfied with your care?" The first half of the film is practically flawless and the last half was thoroughly good.

Aaaand finally, coming in at #1, and making a run for #1 all-time, is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I recently took the opportunity to rewatch this film again (having seen it three times in theater and when it first came out on DVD as well) and this last watching recaptured the amazement I felt during the first watching and really brought out the beats of the political thriller that this film was.

When reviewers started saying that the movie was a political thriller, I scoffed. I didn't feel that it was a political thriller in anything other than the most superficial ways, but with this last rewatching you can really see it, from the direction, the choice of shots they used, I mean, it was really flipping good. And the action was incredible. There's one sequence in particular that I would pick today as the #1 superhero action sequence I've ever seen.

When I watched it in the theater, I was literally breathless. I could not breathe from the amazing that I had just seen. I was covering my eyes, trying to distance myself from sheer awesome.

OK, so that's the top 4. Let's talk about best villains.

Actually, it might be more fruitful to talk about worse villains. Sheesh, do we have to wait until Avengers 2 to get some good villains? In nearly every film, the villains were a weak point. Guardians of the Galaxy with Nebula and Ronan was pretty cool. Both the Winter Soldier and the other two villains in Captain America were pretty good also, and served the film excellently. I was very pleased with it.

For Spider-Man, the villains were HUGE problems in the film. For the rest, they just weren't anything special.

Best Hero. Spider-Man was actually a pretty good hero, but ended up dropping the ball (or something) by the end of his film. Wolverine and Xavier were underwhelming in X-Men. Baymax was a really nice surprise. I was dreading this guy to be just comic relief, but he actually really brought it. Cap takes the cake though. He's the best.

Best Scenes. There were some really amazing scenes all-around this year. In Spider-Man, the Times Square scene was some of the best Spider-Man action we've ever seen, and if the Rhino fight hadn't been cut off, that was starting to be really epic. The intro to Guardians of the Galaxy as we see Star Lord dance his way through the ruins of some planet set the tone for the rest of the movie and this character perfectly. Some of the actions of Groot really impressed as well. When Baymax learns to fly in Big Hero 6 was excellent. In Captain America, the escape from the Triskelion goes down as one of the best things I've ever seen with my eyes.



So what were your thoughts on this last year of superhero films? What are you excited for coming up? #1, subscribe, and comment below. Thanks for reading!

PSA: OpenPaymentsdata.cms.gov

So John Oliver usually gives out a lot of good information in his weekly show.

This week, he brings the website openpaymentsdata.cms.gov to our attention, which tells you exactly how much your doctor has accepted from pharmaceutical companies and what it was for.

Hope you found it as enlightening as I did!

News: Legend of Zelda on Netflix

If you haven't heard, Zelda is on Netflix! Link to the scoop at the end.

To say that I am looking forward to a Netflix produced Zelda TV series is an understatement:

This is the dream.

Since the 1993 Mario disaster, Nintendo has been awfully protective of their properties, even going so far as to state that they would NEVER license Zelda.

There were some rumors a few months back that Nintendo may be going the route of Marvel in making their own cinematic studio, but apparently their research into this undertaking meant they decided to go ahead with the licensing.

Netflix is poised to be, if they aren't already, on top of the TV/home movie market along with HBO, and Zelda can help them get there. A Netflix representative has said they want this to be like Game of Thrones but family-friendly.

If it can capture a fraction of the heart of Zelda and the spectacle of what Game of Thrones is, then this could be the best show ever.

Here's hoping!



If you want to read other articles I've written on the Zelda franchise, check out the Zelda label, and if you want to watch the Zelda Wii U videos Nintendo has put out, check out my Zelda Playlist. Here's the original scoop from the Wall Street Journal.

So are you excited for a Zelda TV show? Or do you think it's going to be a hot mess? Who do you want to see in the cast of Zelda? +1, subscribe, and comment below. Thanks for reading.

Check Out: John Wick

John Wick is an interesting one. I never even heard of this film until about a month before its release, but as soon as I saw the trailer it piqued my interest. It looked like sheer awesome and early reviews were promising. So did it meet expectations?


The movie is just ridiculous fun from there on out. Great action, great character, Keanu Reeves is perfect for this role and I hope it sparks him getting more roles like this in the near future.

It contains lots of violence; as far as I recall, no nudity, although there was a bit of fan service at one point; and lots of swearing in (I think) Russian.

It's well worth the price of admission.


Thanks for reading. So have you seen John Wick? #1, subscribe, and comment below.

WotA Weekly: Enchanting

Hi guys!

This week I'm discussing the magick of enchanting.

If you want to catch up on WotA Weekly entries, please click here: WotA Weekly. Starting Friday the 13th, WotA Weekly will be posted every Friday. Thanks for reading!


If you didn't know, every race in WotA has at least one magick system that is unique to their kind. Humans have elemental magicks, high elves have force magicks, the ursa have a magick they call navigation which is based on Feng Shui, dwarves have natural antimagicks, galts have their probabilistic reality-warping magicks, and more. Different racial magicks may be able to accomplish similar effects, but they are at their heart, disparate. On the other hand, universal magicks can be learned by anyone of any race. They include things like, witchcraft, alchemy, prayer, enchanting, and other recipe/ritual magicks. Before the polarization and condensation of aether and nether discussed last week, there was the universal true magick which encompassed all of magick and can mimic any racial magick. In order to be granted the title of Magician, a magicker must display some ability to control universal true magick.

Within universal magicks there are racial specializations, and this is especially true for enchanters. Weapons and armor enchanted by humans are nearly always going to have elemental properties, while dwarves can create a pseudo-cold iron effect in their crafts.

As an adventurer, enchanters fall into two main camps similar to alchemists: preparers and disposables.

Enchanters that are the former spend most of their time between adventures fine-tuning and honing their equipment and the equipment of their friends that adventure with them. They are incredibly likely to come equipped with a variety of tools containing unique properties, whether that is a lightweight rope that stretches to any distance and can hold several tons without breaking, caltrops that spread out like a fireball and return when called, belts, girdles and masks that change appearance, or even boots that enable one to walk on the air, as well as a backpack of holding to contain it all. These enchanters usually have some skill as craftsmen (frequently craftsmen will look to enchanting to take their craft to the next level) and dabble with their racial magicks as well, although adventurers that are enchanters first will pay masters of craft and masters of magick to create the best items with the best magickal effects for their gear, and this is frequently one of their purposes in adventuring.

Enchanters with a focus on disposables do not care or need to prepare at all. They take whatever is at hand and enchant it on the fly to serve the purpose they need; by using short-term enchantments of limited utility, these enchanters can accomplish incredibly powerful effects. Rocks can change shape into bullets with the speed and force of a gun upon being thrown, blades of grass can interweave into a shield, a branch be enchanted into steel with the cutting quality of a sword. These enchanters work well with disposable equipment, and many become archers or gunners, enchanting their ammunition with each shot. These types of enchanters are less likely to become craftsmen and far more likely to have originally been magickers, so that they use enchanting in the same way that they've used their racial magicks.

Enchanters work with crafts, the higher quality an item is, the more power it can receive from an enchanter. All enchanters are able to increase the native purpose of an item (i.e. durability, sharpness, etc) without much required in the way of focus or external magicks. Enchanters like to work with focusing stones, gemstones they direct their magicks through in order to enchant items. These gemstones can be a keepsake that the enchanter keeps with them, or imbued into the item directly. They are frequently enchanted themselves, and it is not unheard of to use alternative foci than gems either, especially in poor areas.

For the most part, enchanters empower items through their own reservoir of magick, but they are capable of capturing magickal effects within items, either by working in concert with a magicker, providing the spell themselves, or by tapping into the natural magicks of a location. For instance, enchanters wishing to create items empowering necromancy will frequently go to areas involving the dead; places like graveyards, battlefields, or places of natural necromantic magicks like the Unthal Mountains.

There is a specialization of enchanter that develops this ability further and can actually steal magick. They are uniquely qualified as magick-hunters in that they can turn the spells and powers of creatures and beings back on the caster, but enchanters that make a living doing this usually attract the attention of creatures and magickers that are too powerful for them to defeat, so they rarely make a living doing this for long.

Enchanters are less common in frontier towns than alchemists, but most cities and places of trade are home to enchanters. A skilled enchanter is always welcome amongst craftsmen.



Thanks for reading! Remember to +1, subscribe, and comment below with your thoughts, opinions, and questions.

Thoughts on . . . Autism

Autism scares the crap out of me.

I doubt that I would be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome if I went in to be diagnosed for it, but then I listen or watch or read about people with Asperger's talking about it and I get physically sick. It is horrifying to hear their experiences and know them myself. The idea that what I've gone through isn't singular is in and of itself horrifying, but then the idea that it has a name, that it's a type of autism, that people have gone through this that are not as gifted or blessed as I am, that maybe some of my gifts are partly symptoms . . .

It scares the crap out of me.

Do I owe my ability to this? Do I owe my desire to learn to this? Is my obsession of knowing everything about whatever I am interested in due to this? Is it worth the failed relationships of my life? Is it worth not understanding how people act for an absurdly long amount of time? Is it worth not being able to trust what people say to this day? Is it worth always feeling like someone's last choice?

They should call it Algernon's Syndrome:

Choose a lifetime of talent or a lifetime of happiness.

Except you can't choose.

Whether it's something about myself that I enjoy or something about myself that I hate, the fact that it's on a list of symptoms is disturbing. Am I me? Am I less unique? Less special? Less self?

But I was never diagnosed. So is it all just a coincidence? Taking an autism spectrum quotient test, I am 3 standard deviations above normal, which is pretty unlikely except that it's right smack in the middle of normal for people diagnosed autistic.

There's so much I hate about myself that's practically a checklist for Asperger's.

I really want people to like me but I never choose to be around them and never really feel comfortable, no matter if those people are friends I've had for years or even if they're family.

And if I do somehow make an effort, I know I'm going to drop the ball when it comes to talking about things. I make an effort, put myself forth, but then retreat. At parties, I'll force myself to go up and talk to people, usually for all of about two lines. I scour my brain for anything to speak about that they're interested in. Then I go sit by myself and pretend that I'm more interested in nothing than something. That I have something really important on my phone that's occupying my attention. That I really care about the nothing that is on television. And if there is nothing to pretend? I just sit there. And then I'm accused of moping. What the flip do you want me to do? It's an act. It's just an act, and not one that I'm very good at for prolonged periods of time.

I like being nice. I like helping people. What's wrong with that? Why isn't it appreciated? Why does it feel like if I'm not nice to people that there will be nobody to be nice to? Why can't I trust anyone?

I don't think that I talk for hours on end about particular obsessive topics anymore, but looking back, I don't really talk much anymore. I rarely spend prolonged periods of time with just a single person where we would need to talk and when i think about times that I've had long conversations going back years, it was almost exclusively me talking about stuff. Like stuff people probably don't care about.

Even today, my primary form of communication is "did you know" type things. I am constantly learning stuff and then expelling it the first chance I get. I don't know how to have a conversation.

I don't memorize license plates anymore. Usually. I mean, if someone cuts me off or something I may take a gander. I don't know why I ever started doing that. It was just something to do. Driving is boring. I don't know. Why would I memorize license plates? What does that accomplish? Make me seem even more weird?

Everything needs to be planned. I don't like when people can't keep to a schedule. It upsets me. I'd like to use stronger words to describe just how bothersome it is. I have to stop myself from holding it against people. I can't help it. It's like I'm being attacked. It's like loud noises. I will frequently describe a place as having chaotic chi or bad vibes if people are behaving randomly and I usually try to make an exit strategy as quickly as possible from those places and situations. I feel under attack. That's the best description. The fire alarm, vacuums (unless I'm operating the vacuum becuase for some reason that makes it OK), not following the plan, being late, people yelling. It's all an attack. I'm under attack.

And I've gotten to the point where if I have to deal with it, then I can deal with it, but it's not pleasant.

At a fire alarm earlier this year I was white-knuckling it to keep it under control until I could get out of the building and away from the noise. I don't know how I made it through checking in at Pennsic this year.

I now know how to make a joke out of not getting something. "Oh, it's funny because such and such," applying a dry, explaining-the-joke-like-I-get-it-but-didn't-think-it's-funny way which is actually a type of joke itself. But I only realized this year that this is something I do as a defense mechanism. I really do understand jokes and innuendos sometimes . . . I guess I just don't understand why they make people laugh though.

I'm more comfortable at home alone, but I'm desperately lonely. I don't know if people were ever really my friends in truth or if it was always just a matter of convenience or I don't know. Does anyone actually like me? Do my family? Do the people that say they're my friends? Did they ever? Is everything really my fault? Is it because I'm too fucking retarded to tell? Can I ever get to the point where I can trust someone?

I just don't know.

But everything I've described is something that is considered characteristic for people with autism.

And then, for the most part, I really believe that most psychological "disorders" should be described as "conditions" instead of "disorders". I mean, ADHD for instance is not a disorder, it's just a description of a condition that a group of people have. It's like describing someone has black hair, except that this has behavioral ramifications in that they probably procrastinate, have a hard time staying on task, notice everything, and regularly bounce off the walls. Sometimes, those behaviors are difficult enough to keep within societal norms that medicine and treatment can help in the same way that hair dye can help change someone's characteristic hair color. You may prefer brunettes, but there are plenty of people out there that like those of us with black hair. It's not a bad thing to have black hair so long as you can manage it. I mean, don't have any bird nests in there. Wash it every once in a while. Except maybe you need the dye but you're allergic to it or it doesn't help you the way it helps others. . . . Is this metaphor going on too long?

I am lucky. Ridiculously so. I could overcome many issues I had in school through brute force and applying myself. I was never diagnosed with anything. I probably do not have Asperger's.

But then I watch a video on the symptoms of Asperger's or someone with it and it's just disgusterrifying. I don't know why I find it so jarring. Is it survivor guilt? Is it knowing that I could have very easily been too damaged to save? Or is it knowing that if I could have been diagnosed that there were probably steps that could have been taken that could have made some very dramatic changes in my life for the better. Graduating from Pitt comes to mind. Any of dozens of friendships that I messed up on my own and that I have little to no ill will towards the other now or even when it went to hell.

Does knowing the name make the behavior easier to deal with? Does knowing there are others out there make it easier to bear? It doesn't excuse anything, but it could explain a lot. Why am I simultaneously ashamed and horrified?

Am I ashamed of the diagnosis or of myself? Am I horrified for them or for me?



Thanks for reading. Probably won't promote this one, but please feel free to comment if you have something to share. 

Narrative: Hunger

When you don't know any better, hunger is a bad thing.

The ache is sickening. It's the ache of failure. It rises up and attacks your conscious mind, beating you about the head. You're too poor to eat every night, or maybe you're too busy, and going to the store hungry is a good way to miss a mortgage payment.

Going to bed hungry is failure.

When you don't know any better.
I'm not sure when it changes. When the ache of hunger, when the feeling a healthy body associates with sickness, changes into the ache of sore muscles after a workout. When it's the ache of accomplishment.

If you can make it to bed hungry then you've won. You can have 4 to 10 more hours before food is even an option for your body to fight back with.

Eventually, the hunger starts playing dirty and instead of just an ache in the hollow of your former stomach, it becomes weakness, dizziness. Sleep isn't a solace anymore when the pain wakes you up in the middle of night.

It's OK, the hunger can keep you company when you're lying awake. It's your constant friend now. It's constant reassurance that you are winning.

Everyone will congratulate you as you continue to win. They'll compliment you and tell you how great you look. They'll say things like, "You're half the person you used to be," and it will sound like music.

You won't need to exercise any more, which is good, because you won't have the energy to anyway. If you're careful, you'll know what times are safe to drive and do things like walk around a store. People will keep complimenting you, "You're so skinny." "Where did the rest of you go?" "Are you OK?"

Sometimes it will make you feel so good that you feel like eating, but by then you probably won't be able to keep down a full meal even if you want to, and why would you want to? Being full is for losers. Being hungry, feeling that ache, that's success. That's what it means to win. That's what it means to feel good about yourself for the first time in your life. That's what it means to look in the mirror and like what you see.

When you don't know any better.

Disclaimer: I'm obviously not recommending anorexia. It's a narrative.

Thanks for reading! Comment below.

WotA Weekly #3: The Creation of the Multiverse

The creation story for WotA parallels classic mythology that usually start something along the lines of "in the beginning, there was darkness". The WotA creation story starts something like,

Before the beginning of time, there was magick.
Magick is the stuff of existence, its matter and energy and the fabric of the cosmos itself. It's everywhere. If you read into the Big Bang/Inflaton Theory, you see that the four fundamental forces were once one force and split off shortly after the beginning of time. For WotA's history, magick behaved similarly:

Over the aeons, magick polarized and separated into the aether and the nether. 

Most people consider aether to be the "North" or "positive" pole of magick while nether is the "South" or "negative" pole.

The magicks began to precipitate and eventually the Aether Realms and Nether Realms coalesced.

Although this time is referred to by most scholars as the age of the biverse, in truth, the original universe encompassed both the Aether Realms and the Nether Realms; this origin universe came to be known as the Astral Realm and is the origin of true water.

In the Aether Realms, trillions of Dragon-Gods ruled over the Realms and the aether creatures that lived there peacefully, coexisting with one another.

In the Nether Realms, the singular Great Demon Lord abandoned the multitudes of creatures that revered it. Their anarchic freedom swiftly turned to violence.

The Dragon-Gods had their hands full ruling over the Aether Realms and so did not turn their attention elsewhere.

The Great Demon Lord of the Nether turned its gaze outwards.

Eventually, the Great Demon Lord was able to create the first Raemgis, a breach in the fabric of the cosmos enabling travel between the Realms.

The Demon Lord crossed over.

The first war is known as the Everlasting War. It lasted for billions of years and consisted of the sole Demon Lord fighting all of dragonkind.

Eventually, the Dragon-Gods realized they could not win.

They constructed an Apocalypse Engine; they would use the very fabric of their Realms as a weapon against the Great Demon Lord.

When it finally was completed, one instant's destruction rivaled billions of years of the Everlasting War.

The Great Demon Lord was destroyed on an atomic scale as the Aether Realms death knell rang across existence.

The newly Lessened creatures that would come to be known as dragons fled to their carefully crafted ark. The Apocalypse Engine was not just a destroyer of worlds, it was an unveiling of them. The fabric of the Aether Realms mixed through the subatomic particles of the demon erupted in the space between the Aether and Nether and the Multiverse came into existence.

Those dragons that survived fled across the multitude of realms, never suspecting that the subatomic particles of the Great Demon Lord would ever trouble them again, but creating a new Apocalypse Engine within the realm of Ao—the Last Sanctuary.

The Apocalypse Engine was bathed in molten adamantium and the planet Ao created to cradle it throughout time in case it was ever needed again.

The dragons in their arrogance summoned forth water from the Astral Realm. They lost control, water spread out across the multiverse, killing the native creatures of the Astral Realm and pulling the primordial beast, Leviathan, known to some as Cthulhu, to Ao.  Enraged and driven insane by the loss of her children and home, she pledged the destruction of all draconic creation, the destruction of the multiverse.

The Apocalypse Engine at the center of the planet of Ao, Wochan, created the beings known as titans out of the planet to serve and protect it. As dragons brought forth new life across the multiverse, Yggdrasil sprouted around Wochan, spreading throughout the world of Ao.



So that covers the beginning of time through the creation of the multiverse up to about 4.5 billion years ago. I left a lot out of course. Questions, thoughts and more in the comments below. Thanks for reading!