Though thing is, an idea can only work so well when it's only in one person's mind. As such I intend to share a few of the concepts with the Flood, in hopes those who can help or are curious will listen and respond. The major idea of the story is that it takes the idea of "what if those fictional stories we all know and love were just other universes that existed beyond our?" That chances are many of us have most likely wondered about at some point of our lives and runs with it, in a way. What do I mean by in a way? Well, there has to be a twist to make things interesting, right? Well in this case, that twist is that the universe is created by being written, and the story is the heart of that universe. Problem is, it's also partially affected by the universe that created it in terms of how others react to it. Good story? Perfectly stable Bad story? At risk of falling apart. Why does all of that matter? Well, the main characters in this story are from universes that unintentionally discovered at least the "we're fictional" part, and also developed a means to enter other stories. This story will mostly revolve around the interactions three factions of these story hoppers will have with one another as they go about doing whatever they had planned to do in a story that isn't theirs. These are the factions in Question: 1. The Frontiersmen of Creative Property (FCP) -Universe:[spoiler]Hailing from a novel that takes place in an Earthlike world, it's version of WW1 ended with it's version of Germany blowing itself up in a way of nuclear proportions while attempting to manufacture some form of chemical that could help turn the tide of the war. The chemical being tested at the time was noted to violently react with light. Cut to a decade or two later, mankind is at the start of a raygun gothic age after making numerous developments on weaker versions of the same chemical that ended their Great War, which is widely known as "Lumiscium." Sadly now a new war has broken out and it's up to our heroes Pvt. Kyle Taggart, Crp. Met Schulds and Sgt. Mark Richards to help lead the charge as members of Lt. Fodder's Finest![/spoiler] -Story: [spoiler]Having realized that they had existed purely for the sake of a Second World War, many of the nations now work to try and put that story into the past and work towards a lasting period of peace. In the meantime, the nation of ________ has managed to develop what might be a method to enter other fictions, if they're out there. To know for sure, they're going to need an expedition force into what will hopefully be a whole new world instead of complete oblivion (or worse). This team will need guards though, and who better to assist than the surviving members of Fodder's Finest?[/spoiler] -Gist: [spoiler]A mix of classic cartoons that allowed rayguns to be explosive and mostly tragic war dramas, the FCP sees the other fictional worlds as new frontiers ripe for exploration and potentially greater interaction (possibly even a bit of exploitation if situations back home call for it).[/spoiler] 2. Deus Dicto Denuo -Universe: [spoiler]It's the far future. Terraforming is commonplace, cybernetics even moreso, and just about everybody with cybernetic augmentations shares their body with an AI, everybody else is just paired up with one in some way (for the most part). There's also a rather common case of people being born with genetic modifications. Meanwhile Imperialism is back in action as the five empires mankind is split into work to claim more and more colonies, until they either run out of planet in this galaxy or something else brings this to the end. Two empires in particular are dominating in the matter of controlling the galaxy, becoming essentially a new Britain and France. Two other struggle to gain a footing in this race, one made the mistake of recolonizing Earth, breaking the one deal that United these nations and as such has been pushed back until Earth became the only planet they had control of. For the man who monopolized the tech required for quick and efficient terraforming, there was something terribly wrong with the two dominant empires, and he desired so much to try and reform them in a way that would fix that issue. Both empires proved too much for one man, but he ultimately had a trick up his sleeve. During his later years, he had 26 children made for him, whom he raised as his own. On his dying breath, he left them all a share of his vast fortunes and gave them all a request: To end this age of imperialism, and to bring these two empires to peace. They certainly have the means to fund this idea, but the connections and methods are something they'll all have to work out on their own...[/spoiler] -Story:[spoiler]The age of imperialism is long gone, the epiphany that started all this almost just as long ago. Over time mankind had found ways to break through into new fictions, and some of the 26 children seeked means to profit from these other realms. Deus Dicto Denuo is one such company, and thanks to years of experience, the nature of many of these universes are as easy to remember as your own birthday, and the fourth wall is putty to your average worker's hands.[/spoiler] -Gist:[spoiler]DDD does this purely for profit, but how might come by as interesting: They do so by fixing a bad story, and then using selling off whatever they find as the most valuable aspect of that universe (as long as it's morally acceptable). Most of their folks are eccentric, cybernetic (not that you'll notice clearly when they're on duty), and very understanding as to how things work[/spoiler] 3. Main Event: -Universe: [spoiler]It's the 50's (actual time can be changed)! Although in this case there's three kinds of people: normal folks, diviners and mages. Diviners were born with magical powers, but they can only use them by doing the appropriate rituals for what they want to do, whereas mages can do the rituals and case free form spells as well on a whimsy. Most governments have made it common to have Diviners and mages registered specially under them and are typically hired up by government organizations before any other company can even learn who they are. This story is about a crime syndicate, hoping to expand further and start batting for a bigger league. Problem is, in their attempts to do so they've gotten caught up in the mess of an unregistered mage...[/spoiler] -Story: [spoiler]Very little of the family remained when they discovered the truth. From there whatever was left in them quickly turned into a rage against the forces that put them on that path. The story made it seem like they doomed to reach a complete end soon after, but they fought back and made a return as a force to be reckoned with. Thing is, at that point they were no longer a crime syndicate, they were now rebels, rebels against uncaring authors and the system these fictional universes run on.[/spoiler] -Gist: [spoiler]Main Event wants to fight the system these fictional universes run on, or at the very least try and make sure no characters suffer as badly as the cast of their story did because of this system. They rely mostly on rituals to get some of their tougher work done.[/spoiler] So now that you know at least a majority of my idea, what do you all think of it? Think something needs cutting, that something needs more explaining? Think I should ditch one or two parts and just work on one to three of the Faction's stories specifically? I need feedback! I need criticism! I need some idea as to how to continue this!