The Ringleaders is a fictional setting created by The Neolanders. The primary purpose of the narrative is to foster a creative environment where each member can write a representation of themselves into a cast of characters and explore the resulting interactions.
In late 2018, Rustybot (the person, not the character) wrote a short story to give some fictional backstory for his visual design style. Since that document, dozens of others have contributed ideas, characters, information, and scenes to that ever-expanding narrative world.
The Ringleaders Multiverse is deliberately set up in such a way that a given timeline can have any rules the author desires and still be compatible with the rest of the story. At its core, the multiverse is intended to allow any character from any setting to interact with each other in a meaningful way.
Scenes
For access to the written Ringleaders narrative, please see the scene index.
Series Of Events
See The Narrative Chronology for a visualization of the following information. (As long as you have Obsidian to view the file, we’ll have an image for it soon!)
2135
The story begins on Earth with the birth of Toby Tsur.
2164
Earth develops Quantum Entangled Communication.
2168
Flow adopts QEC tech and releases The Datanet to the public.
2170
The Andromeda Transfer Incident.
2171
Rustybot emerges from his forced hibernation and makes planetfall on Quindlet.
2172
Rustybot founds Rusty Manufacturing.
2175
The Swarm finds Earth and begins assisting in recovery.
2194
First contact between Rustybot and The Swarm occurs.
2199
The Ring is constructed along with The Ring Steward.
2200
Jackson ‘Jack’ Jensen travels to The Primary Timeline and The Ringleaders are officially formed.
Lumina Valo is later introduced to the Ringleaders after Leena Tuonen forced her to do a job involving them.
2202
First contact between Zard and The Ringleaders.
Narrative Mechanics
True Magic
Also known as Chaos Force, True Magic is the raw power of Underspace being harnessed to bring a task to its least logical conclusion. Or at least, its most interesting conclusion.
True Magic is what allows abilities such as toonforce or fourth wall breaks to be entirely diegetic. It is an acknowledgement that The Ringleaders exist in fiction and that the rules can be broken for the sake of entertainment. As such, the real purpose of Chaos Force is to foster character development, important events and entertaining interactions.
Importantly, True Magic is not limited to timelines with arcane themes or permeable membranes. Despite being bound entirely by the laws of physics, Rustybot is technically a user of Chaos Force due to his development of Underspace Harvester Cores. While they may not have the same trappings as other magical devices, the cores fall under True Magic because they serve important narrative purposes. The first and most obvious is that access to an unlimited power supply allows Rustybot to create more interesting technology. The second and more important reason is that breaching the Primeline’s lower membrane caught the attention of Tavish Augmetitech, essentially kickstarting the rest of the story.