Universe
Earth-Z,
more affectionately known as Zearth had always been aware of other
universes, although for nearly two millennia they had no way to truly
express their knowledge. Cave drawings pointed to strange lights in the
sky, hieroglyphics showed rifts in the ocean, and the very first
photographs showed reflections of an alternate woman beyond a mirror.
Everything
changed however, when Komali rose from the Pacific Ocean.
Some thought he was a god and others the devil, but everyone agreed that
he was not of this world despite what he claimed. His appearance was
unlike anything else in the world, a strange amalgamation of
flesh and metal. With a stroke of his left hand he brought Earth's
mightiest warriors before him and with his right, erected golems that
could touch the moon.
"Will you help me reclaim what was stolen from me by the Grand Elders?"
Those
who weren't lured by the promise of power and wealth were drawn by the
protection these golems provided. All they had to do was fight once in a
while right? It was nothing new to them.
For
the first few years, Earth's technological advancements skyrocketed.
Where other worlds might have only been in the bronze age, these
warriors' newfound powers allowed them to create empires of iron and
gold. Unfortunately, even the strongest warrior was still a pawn under
Komali and once they were summoned they had no choice to obey.
Whether
that meant holding off an alternate dimension's army or "liberating"
(read: invading) another world they continued to fight, passing their
duty to their descendants. Decades passed and the global population
plummeted as more armies began invading Zearth, pitting their superior
technology to the golems that barely managed to stave off extinction.
So long as Komali's war continued, they would never be free.
Under
the consultation of Komali's then right hand, the remaining Pilots
(then known as Riders) journeyed into his castle...only to find him
ready with his own golem. After a hard fought battle, ten of the twenty
Riders stood tall with Komali's fortress in ruins and his severed head
in their hands.
Tossing the accursed flesh in a
funeral pyre, the ten remaining Riders resolved to retire their golems
and speak no more of their plight lest future generations be tempted to
recreate their mistakes.
For nearly two
millennia technological development staggered, only picking up towards
the tail end of the 18th century. Steam, metal, and petrol began
dominating cities and humans seemed to be entering a golden age. Towards
the 1960s, Parallelism reemerged as a niche within astrophysics.
Parallelists theorized the existence of alternate universes linked to
their earth by dimensional rifts in the sky and the sea, each leading to
a different world. The ideas were entertaining and had some scientific
backing, but funding was far and few between due to the lack of
practical application. Satoshi Kanada however, pushed for an expedition
to the Sahara Desert.
Spurred by papyrus
images of otherworldly golems, his team dug through the desert sands for
nearly ten years before finally hitting rock, or rather golem. One by
one, Satoshi excavated each golem, sketching their immeasurable beauty
and marking down their gargantuan proportions. By all historical
accounts nothing of those dimensions should have been built let alone
powered, yet here they were, each glowing a unique color.
Engineers,
archeologists, and Parallelists all gathered to study these strange
machines, poking and prodding to find some sort of opening. The only
hint was a strange symbol on each machine's breastplate, more akin to an
abstract painting than anything else. One of the team members,
Kazuki Morimoto, approached the golem, drawn by its green hues.
After
placing his right hand against the symbol, the entire golem jumped up,
breaking free of its restraints. All the sand and rust seemed to fall
away in favor of gazing at its new Rider. Though they had made a great
break through, they also ended a two thousand year slumber.
From the Atlantic Ocean rose a five thousand foot monster, her speech warbled from inactivity.
"I have returned to reclaim what is mine."
As she leaped into the air, the golem began whispering in Kazuki's ear just like it did to his ancestors before him.
He needed to protect this world no matter the cost.
Though
Kazuki fought valiantly, he eventually fell to the monster's
overwhelming strength and left nothing but a destroyed golem behind.
Satoshi's team managed to salvage the golem's core which, in addition to
energy, held recordings of every moment from when it rose to its final
flight. Using that core they learned the true purpose and identity of
the monster than attacked North America as well as the locations of the
other golems.
With the help of the United
Nations, he gathered the other golems and spearheaded the MEHCA program
in order to fight back against Komara. It turned
out that before Komali's death he had planted an egg at the bottom of
the Atlantic so that once his daughter was born, Komara could continue ruling
Earth-Z while he colonized other universes. Satoshi theorized that due
to the connection between Komali and the golems, Kazuki awakening the
green unit must have triggered her awakening as well.
Despite
all the bad news however, there was one good sign: if Kazuki could
awaken a golem, there was a chance that others could too.
The MEHCA Program
Using the destroyed golem's core, Satoshi tracked down the remaining nine golems and moved them to a facility in the heart of Mongolia where the world's best scientists worked tirelessly to upgrade these old relics into mechanical powerhouses that could stand up to not only Komara, but any extraterrestrial that dare enter Zearth's atmosphere.
Tracing the lineage of the last Riders to pilot their golems, Satoshi rounded up all the descendants who bore what he called the "Pilot's Mark", and convinced them to fly out to Mongolia under the guise that they need not commit to battling. That, of course, was a huge lie. As soon as the pilots arrived in the facility they were strapped into their suits and shuttled to their respective MEHCAs. Regardless of their experience, they all resonated with their units, even if most of them barely exercised control.
The Pilot's Mark, Marked Pilots, Sometimes just the Marked
Nowadays, families with the Pilot's Mark are taken care of (read: monitored) by the UN and those born with the mark are conscripted once they finish their country's mandatory schooling (e.g. in the United States, a Pilot Marked would not be conscripted until after they finish high school but a Pilot Marked in Japan would be conscripted once they finish middle school). Though their families are more than taken care of, pilots must live on facility grounds and cease contact with anyone who isn't a government official. Between physical education and piloting expertise, the Marked are required to learn the history behind the First Komali War (as well as the second) and how to combat each the enemies of each universe they encounter.
Terminology
Golems: These were the
creatures that Komali granted Earth's mightiest warriors (Riders).
Though nobody can figure out whether they are organic, machine, magic,
or some mixture of the three they have had a great impact on Zearth's
development. It appears that they are nigh indestructible so long as
their core remains intact. Golems can only be used by Riders.
Riders:
They were the warriors chosen by Komali to ride the golems and serve as
his army. Each had a mark not unlike the Pilot's Mark in modern day
MECHA pilots.
Earth-[letter]: Nomenclature used
to defer to Earths that are involved in Komara and Komali's plans for
interdimensional domination. Depending on the age at which they were
colonized they are lettered from A to Z and then numbered based on time
of discovery by Zearth's Parallelism Department.
MEHCA:
Mobile Electrical Human Controlled Automaton. This is the term used to
describe the units created from the cores of salvaged Golems.
Marked
Pilot: They are descendants of the original Riders who bear the Pilot's
Mark. Typically a descendant family will have one or two Marked;
however, there have been cases where there are multiple (particularly if
they are twins). They can control robots, computers, hardware, and
anything else under the
umbrella of technology. it is said that each Mark has a different, extra
ability but that has yet to be unlocked by any Marked Pilot.
Pilot:
Though usually this is as person who rides a MEHCA unit, the term
"pilot" can also be used to refer to soldiers who ride similar, smaller
robotic units.
Pilot's Mark: This is the
symbol of Riders and Marked Pilots. It reacts whenever near their unit
or when their bearer exercises their powers. Without the Mark Pilots
cannot access their MEHCA.
Biography
Mako
Mori gets jealous when she thinks about other worlds, the numbered
ones. She thinks about how Earth-646 schoolchildren have superheroes to
save the day, how Earth" teenagers only worry about getting into
college, and how Earth-67 had the pleasure of never dealing with any of
it again.
When she was old enough for school
they shoved her into a military academy and once middle school finished it was off to the MEHCA program. She was still allowed online courses
in her free time (a soldier had to be well rounded after all), but she
knows in another life she could have been more than a means to an end
(at least to the government).
She could have
explored toy making, architectural engineering, or even philosophy.
Instead she was the only one of two born with the Pilot's Mark in her
family. Some suggested that the "bloodline" was diluting while others
cited the curse of the Mori women, dying too young to bear children. She
considers it a blessing to never worry about bearing a Pilot.
It makes it easier to blame your world's failings on other people.
Mako
tries not to be one of those people though, the ones who absolve
themselves of blame (she just self-medicates) because she knows each of her wrongdoings falls on just as much on her shoulders as Zearth's. On her sixteenth birthday she took her first steps into
another dimension, usurping Earth-Z14 from a monarchy Komali installed. Not two months later she was slugging a reptilian beast with a
skyscraper because fuck waiting for evacuation protocol as long as these invaders were defeated.
The
rest of her piloting experience began blurring in a haze of forced naps, illegal drugs,
and escapist friendships. If she could stop herself from being alone,
she could stop herself from remembering.