retrospec | (no subject)

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Posting from this network, you'd probably assume I got my job back. Hey users. For those of you who're new, my name is Zee. Sorry to say it, but you've been pulled into the Retrospec project now. Not sure what that is? Get someone else to explain it to you, there're plenty of people who've been around for way longer than deserved.

So…you'd probably assume I got my job back, and I kind of did. I kind of did, but there's a funny little thing about Retrospec and memories. Let me tell you a brief story.

Once upon a time, there were the four founders who came to this planet, founded the city of Recollé and started the Retrospec project. Yeah. Another planet. They're technically aliens, I might technically be an alien, some of YOU might be aliens, it's hard to say. So anyway you have the four founders: Spinnato, Cavendish, Mahoney and Vanderweele. These four created an ideal project to protect life on other planets, offer inhabitants a safe haven to recover from tragic events of their world that were being destroyed (as planets are wont to do) and "regrow" the place you once called home. The problem is that the four of them weren't entirely in agreement on what sort of people should be "worthy" of being saved, or who should be able to become part of the Retrospec project to preserve their souls and recreate what was lost. Souls are a tricky thing. I should know, given I think mine was floating around in the endless abyss for a few months while my body regenerated.

There was such a controversy amongst the founders that one of them, Vanderweele, ended up wiping out an entire family line. There are relatives left from the Spinnato family. Cavendish and Mahoney decided to spearhead the project themselves and sentenced Vanderweele to life in solitary confinement. Once that happened, they began changing how the project was one. They hired some of their own family members. They changed and became the "new" Retrospec.

Vanderweele's not dead though. And as a master of illusion, you can guess where this story is going. I'm not going to do this vague and hiding bullshit that the company's fond of: Vanderweele is out there and meddling with the affairs of this city to overthrow and regain control of the project. All of these weird storms that are happening, the things that mess with your soul? That's Vanderweele's work.

So why am I telling you this?

…Vanderweele got to Retrospec. A lot of you asked if Retrospec knew I was alive again and at the time I didn't know if they did or not, so when I got back to this layer (thank you, by the way. All of you.), I went to headquarters. Everyone inside doesn't even seem to remember that they were working on the project. I don't know WHAT he did, but their memories…everything's scrambled. The entire tech department resigned and I'm not sure if Maurice thinks he's working in a normal mailroom or what. They're almost on the same layer that you guys are before you wake up. Or that's how it seems anyway.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like it's just you and me.

We need to start moving and putting a stop to this to fix everything. I'm not saying you have to. If you want to sit this one out, fine, but I have a feeling most of you want to do something about this. Bring people back to themselves. That kind of thing. You're all pretty stubborn from what I've noticed and that's the good thing.

There are some things I need to check. I'm learning how everything works here and I'm trying to understand all of their notes, not to mention I need to retrieve a few things and wait for a field agent but you'll hear from me soon. I have an idea, but these things take time.

Stick together. Talk to each other. Keep focused.

Oh. I guess also I should mention I moved offices? I'll be staying at headquarters for a while but my remote office is easier to access. Head to the public library, you should be set to get past the scanners on the back of the building and the door will appear for you. I'll be reachable by text, too.

Good luck. Be in touch soon.

Zee Carlisle
Hiring Manager
Retr

spec Incorporated

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My Djinn was how I did the fire stuff you saw. It's gone stronger since then and I got other things.

Your creature reminded me of him, big blue guy in a gold palace, engulfed in flames, asking who will be king.

They made black ones...hard to describe them. Some were winged beasts, others were huge monstrosities far larger than skyscrapers.

Magnostadt, I believe was the name of the country and the city.

I think they were fighting another country named Leam.

Oh my, so after all the keys and what not, how much power was in there?

Al-Tharman is similar enough to the Arabic word for the eighth that I thought that maybe there was some correlation between the culture of that country and my family's own, Egypt -- especially if Djinn are going to be involved, but Magnostadt seems more like it would be European in origin to me...

And enough to plunge the world back into the primordial darkness from whence the ancient Egyptians claimed it had come, for the sleeping god was one of chaos and destruction...

Huh, maybe there might be some similarities still, lots of the buildings as far as I can tell might be Arabic in design. At least in Alibaba's home country called Balbadd.

I am not exactly sure what is the difference between the Djinns from the east and the western Genies.

I think I met my Djinn in a gold room, and he lit it on fire, looking down on me and some others asking who will be king.

Oh wow! That...that must have been A HELL of a lot of power.

Apophis? The snake that's the enemy of Ra?

Edited 2019-02-02 15:59 (UTC)

The very one and same, yes -- only in the world my soul was apparently rescued from, he was known as Zorc Necrophades.

It's not entirely clear to me why Apophis' name is different there just yet, but it could also simply be because Apophis was a god of many identities... and Zorc Necrophades was just another one of those many identities. Who knows...?

And Alibaba...? As in Alibaba and the Forty Thieves Alibaba? Or is that just a coincidence?

[ The details may not all be the same as in the original tale, but with all of the other Retrospec users who were regaining memories of being historical or mythological figures in their original worlds, the possibility is real. ]

I imagine if they were the primordial darkness that was from the beginning, I imagine they went by different names. Like, their teenaged goth years might be different from their anarchist ones.

I am not sure, I'm leaning toward coincidence. I ended up leading a group of thieves instead of them trying to kill me. Plus, Sherazadie's was a woodcutter, I think I was a travelling merchant at the worst. Some, sort of weird low-birth prince but born in the slums deal happened.

There is a Sinbad and an Alladin, so maybe if you sort of mash Sherazade's stories together and added several twists maybe?

There was a flying mermaid that flooded an island cause Sinbad egged her on to show her magic.

The world that I came from is like that, too... it's got an ancient Egypt that's a lot like the one in the world we're living in now, but its ancient Egypt had a few significant differences as well, not the least of which include the documented incidents of magic like the one I was just talking about, the names of certain gods, and even, perhaps, their appearances as well -- at least if the beasts I've seen in my memories are indeed supposed to be the gods of Osiris and Ra themselves and not merely their pets.

[ He's also, uh, been blasted into oblivion by both of said beasts in those memories, but that doesn't sound nearly as cool. ]

In fact, it's almost lending some credence to what our friend Zee here is saying... those differences suddenly become a lot more believable when they're on another world or even in another universe.

I knew aliens were involved in the Retrospec project somehow.

[ He's not saying it was aliens, but this time, it was actually aliens. ]

They had pets? Don't they just transform into animals? I know there is the Set animal, which I assume is Set's pet or maybe his other form.

At this point, I don't rule much out and try to just accept whatever the hell happens to pop up.

"talking cat, sure why not. A classmate turned into a T-rex and almost ate me once."

"Aliens? Well, I've been possessed by a ghost and got into fights with demons, plus I have magic so, are aliens really off the table? What are aliens if not people who happen to come from elsewhere?"

They did, yes... but these so-called "divine beasts" were all dragons except for one, the God of Obelisk, who was more humanoid, but with great, bulging muscles and blue in skin tone. And as far as I'm aware, the only god that was actively associated with dragons in ancient Egypt was none other than Apophis, not Osiris or Ra, after whom the dragons in question appear to be named... it's strange, but in the end, perhaps, merely an eerie coincidence like those between your world and the stories told by Scheherazade.

And that's more or less what Retrospec has been telling us over the last several months, isn't it? That our souls are the remnants of other worlds that they've been trying to save - at least until Vanderweele's recent takeover.

Obelisk kinda sounds Amon if he were in a bowflex commertial and shaved his white beard.

Did the Ra dragon have some association with the sun? I don't recall much, but that was kinda his entire deal right?

Maybe is all just a coincidence, or who knows, with all of these layers maybe they somehow touch each other, influencing each other with stories?

Think about it, for both our worlds, magic is real, in my case, black magic can be put in a bottle and experimented with.

In yours, the power of the gods is a literal magical power that can be wielded. If there was limited contact between the layers when the magical gods in your world interacted or influenced ancient Egyptians here, that could have affected the early representations of gods they already believed in.

Broken telephone effect after the layers no longer touched and we have the eerie similarities.

Edited 2019-02-04 04:18 (UTC)

It did, yes... its full name was the Sun of God Dragon, if I'm recalling correctly.

Osiris, on the other hand, had absolutely nothing to do with the Egyptian afterlife except for its brief attempt to send me there at the end of a duel, though even on that front, it appears to have failed, since it seems like my other self was eventually able to come back from that if my other memories are anything to go by... but perhaps its disconnect from its origins in this world - of which we have no real proof is the "correct" or even the "original" version of those similarly occurring events at this time - does have something to do with the layers that Carlisle was talking about just as you were saying.

[ It's almost like the parallel universe theory that people had been suggesting a while back, which is looking more and more plausible by the second -- what if these other worlds were in different universes? ]

Wait...so a god tried to put you six feet under and it didn't stick?

Freak, you must have been one tough cookie. I don't imagine that is something that is common in your world?

and holy shit this is what our lives have come to, casually talking about this and seriously considering it...

I remember a time when I listened to conspiracy theories for kicks.

Maybe it's not so much of "which is the original" cause if other layers can touch this one and influence it, maybe it works the other way round too and everyone is in a bigger neighbourhood then we thought it was.

Edited 2019-02-04 20:57 (UTC)

Make that two gods, actually.

[ Thanks for nothing, other Malik, even though the original Bakura was just as responsible for losing the duel as the original Malik was. ]

And like a multiple universes sort of thing? Only in this one we're calling them layers? That's something that a lot of people had thought was going on a while ago. Perhaps it has some merit after all, especially when we're talking about more than one world with too many details in common for the similarities to be a mere coincidence... and particularly if aliens are going to be involved.

Edited 2019-02-06 01:04 (UTC)

Okay, so they DEFINITELY put you six feet under...dare I ask, how you got out? Cause I'm assuming this is AFTER you opened up the seal, right?

Yeah, something like that. Especially if we are seriously considering that they touch and interact with each other.

Also, at this point, I am practically demanding aliens,because we might as well have the full package.

No, this was before the other me had opened up the seal... and much of his ability to survive situations like that could be attributed to the fact that he was able to seal his soul into inanimate objects, from dice to magical artifacts like the one that had granted him that power in the first place.

Unfortunately, that's not something that's been given back to me by Retrospec just yet, making my soul just as vulnerable as anyone else's to whatever it is that Vanderweele has in store for us in the coming months... so it looks like I'll have to fight, too.

And that's what I thought... it's the only thing that makes the most sense after putting together everything we've been told.

Figures they would keep the good stuff.

Although, how do you know? I have a memory of being tossed in a volcano and getting stomped on while floating in the magma, then flew out of there feeling all refreshed to fight.

But I'm not tossing myself into lava any day soon.

Who knows, maybe aliens crash landed after getting smashed and we accidentally discovered the layers.

Or maybe the likes of Vanderdick ARE alien.

[The lava thing made just as much sense in context, literally grabbed and suddenly shoved into a volcano without a word, thanks asshole.]

Edited 2019-02-06 01:52 (UTC)

I know because the keys in question were still in others' hands around the times of both of his "deaths"... meaning that the breaking of that seal had to have occurred sometime afterward, even if the hows and the whys haven't been exactly revealed to me just yet.

And I should imagine that you would be especially wary now that you know what it's like. How in the world was your other self able to survive something like that? More magic?

Fire doesn't hurt me anymore, hell, fire is a good thing for me. I can absorb fire and turn it into magical energy called Magoi, catch though if I run out of the stuff I die.

You could theoretically set me on fire while I'm asleep and I wouldn't notice, the clothes I wear don't even burn.

So I guess that same protection applies to lava, not that I am going to test that, even with my new form I got last month.

As entertaining as that might sound, you should put your life on the line for more worthwhile things in the very near future with a power like that.

And likewise, my Diabound - the ka monster you had seen back when we had fought those viruses together - has similar limitations... while he is certainly very powerful, he's also costing me ba, or Spirit Energy. And should all of that ba be expended while using him, then needless to say, I also die. That much about some of the magic in both of our worlds, at least, seems to be the same... not all, though.

Yeah...there are battles up ahead. Soon Vanderwheel...then who knows if others might just take his place.

How do you recharge your ba? For me, sleep or fire does the trick, gives me physical energy too.

How did you get your magic? maybe there might be a similarity there? Mine comes from my Djinn mostly.

That, unfortunately, is something that has yet to be revealed to me by my memories... and until it is, summoning Diabound is going to be something that I would prefer to limit unless it's absolutely necessary in case the same rules hold true in this world.

That being said, in my world, the kind of magic needed to summon ka like Diabound was inherent to everyone, at least before the king I was talking about earlier - an ancient Pharaoh - had locked it all away. After that, only people in possession of one of the seven keys, known as the Millennium Items, were able to harness that magic... but despite how powerful the Items had made them, even they no longer had direct access to their particular ka.

In a way, you could say that the ka back in the day were almost like your Djinn, if I'm understanding you correctly.

Huh, they do sound similar. As far as I know, everyone has Magoi which might be similar to your ba.

The city I was talking about earlier? They drain all the magoi out of the citizens who couldn't pay their taxes or are just poor and turn it into magic.

Apparently, that is fatal, so I think, theoretically give someone in my world a Djinn and they would have magic like mine.

As far as I know, my Djinn always stays inside the knife...unless my new transformation is me turning into a Djinn, but that's me guessing.

Edited 2019-02-08 03:11 (UTC)

...that sounds like something the Pharaoh's court would have done given the opportunity.

Fortunately for people such as my other self, however, their power was limited to extracting and sealing the ka of other people into stone tablets, much like the way your knife houses your Djinn... and so long as the tablet survived, then so, too, would their ka.

In fact, ka and the concept of these stone tablets is the origin of the Duel Monsters card game, which is originally from my world and was somehow brought here some time ago.

Wait, so the pharaoh sealed a god away, but would kill his citizens for magic?

Geez, doesn't so much better then the other guys, who used magic for freaking everything, so large demand of magoi.

Wait...duel monsters was from your world? and..what people would have these stone tablets and fight each other with monsters?

Looks like the magic in our worlds are similar, as far as I know, Djinns are the only way for someone like me to have magic.

I don't know about mages though...one person in my memories was a fire mage or something...

I don't suppose the words "Halhar Rasas" mean anything in either of your memories?

Yes.

Or rather, both his father and his uncle did... and then both they and the pharaoh who would later come to seal away the evil god tried to justify their actions as a greater good sort of deal, even though in doing so all they had taught one of my other selves is that is that "good" is simply a matter of perspective and that everyone is the hero of their own story. Even with some of the more reprehensible things that he did in his quest to illustrate the Pharaoh's flaws, my other self, the one that had lived through this period of history, makes it difficult for me to say that he was entirely in the wrong when he and his people were living under the rule of Pharaohs like that.

[ Cool motive, still murder on both sides of the fence as far as Bakhura is concerned. ]

And aside from being similar to the Arabic words of this world, no, I can't say they do.

What is it, exactly?

I can understand that, I led the thieves so people in Balbadd could eat. So chances are, I'm not going to be a big fan of my brother when I get my hands on him since he is deliberately starving them. I don't really have the whole picture, but in December I visited Balbadd...and I don't know why, but there were crates filled with paper money and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was evil somehow. As far as I can tell, markets usually run on gold, since I walked through one and was carrying gold to buy things.

I sort of wish I was getting these memories faster so I know what actually happened there, especially with Al-Tharman in the picture.

It's a spell, Alladin said those words and lots of fireballs came out of his staff. Not exactly sure if I really expected anything to come out of it. But it seems like there is a loose connection between Arabic and when someone in my world says something for magic.