Look, I’m not gonna sugar coat it, normal life in the Empire is a pretty sweet gig …
Scarcity is just … not a thing anymore … for a long ass time actually …
Anything you want is free for the taking … if you want something, you can just download the information and make that shit yourself with any ‘matter-acembler’ you have available in your part of reality, magical or not …
Most people are more than happy to go about their days, doing what they like, spending time with friends and family … It’s nothing to scoff at, you can live a very long time just being ‘normal’ happy …
There is an entire online mindscape full of anything a quadrillions individuals can think of … there are endless possibilities to explore just there …
Wanna be part of a competition ? … What kind ? There are countless numbers of them …
… from eating competitions where the use of black holes contained in one’s stomach is banned for obvious reasons …
… To Real Time Strategy tournaments that let you quite literally control a part of the drone army fighting off the eldritch monsters and gods trying to invade our nice piece of paradise in one of the countless frontiers bordering the many realities folded into the Empire …
Hells, if you got the guts for it, you can just upload your mind and go first person with one of the mechas available, you can even make your own if you're one of the eggheads that like that type of thing …
For those that like ‘self-improvement’, you can join one of the many ‘martial schools’ and learn how to bend reality over the knee with some proper ‘powers’ …
… Do keep in mind that you will need to study a variety of them before you can develop your own ‘general’ approach …
I know, I know, it’s a lot of work and you can’t download that info to your brain like normal, you need to actually put in the work this time … Each reality has it’s own kinks over how to do ‘magic’ and you just have to deal with it …
Some realities you can’t even do on your own.
The more ‘Rigid’ realities, yes the ‘sciency’ ones … will require a time-looped quantum computer to manipulate the necessary quantum states to perform magic … Don’t leave yet, I’m not teaching you that bullshit, they have entire courses for it …
As I was saying, there is plenty to do with your life in the Empire, enough to be entertained for an eternity … Hells, you can just hook yourself into any old pod and hook some electrodes straight to your species pleasure center and experience pure Bliss …
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
So why would anyone want to leave ? …
Well … When you're dealing with a number of people as big as the Empire has … There are always some odd ones.
The ones that don’t quite ‘Like’ how ‘good’ everything is, how ‘easy’ it is … the ones that look for a bit more of a challenge that is not an actual game …
And sure, most of those people go on to fight ‘personally’ on the frontiers … but it doesn't take too long before they are back to craving something new, something ‘raw’ …
Well … if you're one of those ‘adventuring’ people, this is the program for you.
WE WANT YOU …
There is a new reality out there in the multiverse just waiting for you to bring the joys of the Empire in there …
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The propaganda piece always omits a few things …
Chief amongst those is … you will have to pass through a rigorous evaluation, to see if you are a good fit for the program …
At least the reason for it is solid … a few bad apples not following the basic manners required in the Empire needed to be ‘removed’ from the realities they were sent to … what they did is still a mark of shame for everyone involved … Thanks for fucking it up for the rest of us, bastards … Now they can’t let ‘anyone’ join …
But inconveniences aside, the program is quite simple …
Your soul will be tethered and then cast off towards the chaotic multiverse ‘ether’ beyond realities, right into the ‘grand mystery’ where you will now roll the dice.
… Yeah, did you think you got to choose ? Fuck no, this is the real deal.
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Simply put, the Empire does not condone ‘invading’ another reality.
A full scale invasion is hard to do, breaking the separation between realities with brute force tends to break more than just that ‘natural barrier’ … and no one is happy with that, most of all the people you just invaded … You just broke a piece of their universe and made everything more ‘fragile’, you brought in another set of ‘physics’ that might not be compatible with theirs … You think they will be glad for it ? … Yeah, they won’t … Even a tiny portal for a single person can cause quite a mess …
So the Empire only condones the ‘soft’ approach … Conquer those realities from the inside and then just open the door instead of blowing up the wall … like a normal person …
And how do you get inside ? … Well … Why do you think we only send your Soul and nothing else ? … Reincarnation is the way to go if you want a clean job.
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Now, how about the trip ? … Well … There are no two ways about it, the trip is awful …
Your perception of the beyond is non-existent … Your soul can’t perceive shit, there is a reason it is always connected to ‘something’ … on it’s own, a soul does nothing and perceives nothing … you’re on your own, just you and your own head for a random stretch of time …
The program is NOT for everyone …
First, you need to be able to endure the boredom from the travel, lucid dreaming is a required skill to have …
Second, you need to know your shit … You don’t know what reality you just ended up in … You need to know a LOT of things, and you need to actually know them, not just memory upload but actually truly experience having the skills needed … I’m talking about languages, sciences, different magics, culture, politics, fighting … There are so many things needed and you probably won’t know everything, so you need to be able to figure things out on your own …
Third, you need to be comfortable in different bodies … You never know what you will be reborn as … some forms might be very different from what you're used to … because as long as your soul can reasonably ‘fit’, it’s a possibility you have to be ready for … And there will be quite a few bad rolls …
Fourth, you need to know when to quit … Some realities are not worth it and you need to be able to judge that … How big is the reality you’re in ? Does it already have an owner ? What are the rules ? Is there war ? What civilizations are there ? Do they mess with the timeline ? What’s the general ‘power’ around ? Are they ‘alliance’ material or we better off leaving them to their devices ? … You will be the Empire's eyes on those matters because ‘infinite’ possibilities just means ‘random’, if you pass on a reality we probably won’t be seeing that one ever again … don’t be afraid of quitting.
Fifth, you need to know that you CAN die … Now, don’t be alarmed, your Soul is tethered … So you don’t need to worry about regular deaths when inside a new reality, unless you pull on the tether, you will just reincarnate in another available ‘shell’ close by … But nothing is perfect despite the Empire’s best efforts … Soul manipulation is not an exclusive skill, you need to be extra careful when dealing with that … one of the many reasons why a good background in magic and fighting is required for participation …
Now, I know this tutorial is already getting pretty long but I HATE the trip with a passion so … Wish me luck and a safe journey for you …
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