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Collapse

Usu Seeds

During the final battle of the Fraternal Schism, garlic seeds of Usu were scattered across every world in the Susiverse. Wherever they land and take root, Usu energy grows and creates places of concentrated chaos. Where the presence of Usu is strong, the separation between worlds is weak and the parallel dimensions begin to overlap.

Converging Worlds

As the worlds of the Terranon gradually converged, similarities began occurring. Aspects of worlds in close proximity with one another began to align through a process called similarization. This would result in the concurrent development of events, locations, and beings comparable between worlds. For example, separate geological events may create a hill at the same latitude and longitude in both worlds, then two families in those worlds may decide to build a home upon those respective hills, then have a child who has a similar personality to the corresponding child in the other world.

Eventually, proximal worlds would overlap in certain areas. At this point, the intersecting worlds would struggle for preeminence resulting in a phenomenon called alternation. The being or location at the point of convergence would alternate its representation in one world and the other. This alternating might happen quickly, causing the subject to appear to flicker; or it might happen more slowly, creating extended periods of time where the subject has essentially swapped worlds before switching back. Locations experiencing alternation served as temporary portals from one world to another—though the switch back might strand a curious traveler in a foreign world. 

As the Collapse progressed, alternation would stop and only one representation would remain. When an aspect of one world was sustained, the other ceased to exist. This is referred to as domination. In rare circumstances, worlds may merge and blend elements of both. In this case, certain aspects of a location or being were sustained while others were replaced. This is called combination and could sometimes occur temporarily during alternation. Creatures subject to combination became the first mixies, beings with multiple Sus types.

Jankus Bocrankus

jHNkis bOkrHNkis
( JAY-ng-kiss bo-CRAYNK-iss )

Jankus Bocrankus is the Ato name given to the mixed-up world resulting from the Collapse. Beings and spaces from each world came to exist alongside those of the other worlds, sometimes blended together. Much was lost, but no single world disappeared in its entirety—except for the original world, Bojang Crank. When the Terranon finally collapsed, Bojang Crank was consumed beneath the surface of Jankus Bocrankus.

The entire Susiverse shook violently in its final moments before the Final Collapse. The Ato on Bojang Crank looked up into the Rift and watched as the stars disappeared one by one. The sky turned to earth and buried them all.

QUOTE

Every Ato turned their eye
Upward gazing to the sky
One star darkens, then all others
Nine worlds as one swallowed their mother
—Ato Aznatts

Impact on Ato

The spread of Usu across the Susiverse greatly concerned the Ato. The Ato’s sensitivity to Sus made them exceptionally vulnerable to Usu, draining their power and making them sick. Majick became increasingly more difficult for them and they became physically feeble. One by one, the immortal Ato began to die. Due to the uptick in sickness while the worlds progressively merged, they referred to this as merging sickness.

Visions

Many of the Ato elders had visions of the future, seeing monstrous beasts of chaos causing great destruction. They also saw terrible battles between their creations, bloodshed, violence, and more hatred. In preparation for their inevitable extinction, many Ato sought to bolster the inhabitants of the Terranon for what was to come.

Council of Schnozz

kRnsil uv Snaz
( council of sh-NAHZ )

Elder Ato from across the Susiverse were called together on several occasions to discuss the state of the Collapse and share various insights into what was happening. Ato majick was used to send telepathic messages and transport Ato to various meeting places.

After the Final Collapse, a final gathering took place with the few Ato who hadn’t died out or been crushed on their homeworld. One Ato named Bimiap (they/them) ( bEmEap ) gave their life using the last of their energy to teleport all Ato to an emergency gathering, held deep in the Rift within the left nostril of Old Gay Chutney’s corpse. There they deliberated about what to do to save the Susiverse from impending doom. They called this the Council of Schnozz.

The council decided their best course of action was to prepare for a war they would not be around to fight. They decided to find Sus beings of great potential to become champions of the Susiverse, to fight back the threat of Usu and its agents of chaos. They would call these brave souls the Knights of Sus. With deliberation, they used the last of their majick to identify these champions across time and space, imploring them to make preparations and fight for the Shish in the eventual battle for the Susiverse.

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