Teeming Masses

Most people don’t stray too far from the world they’re given, and every story has its bit players. From the folks on the side-lines stocking shelves to the thronging crowd, the Teeming Masses provide a backdrop for the Protagonists’ narratives.   There are correlations to the “Masses” in every species in the Gri’x (and, probably, elsewhere). There are ‘normal’ cars, animals, plants, &ct., and then there are the individuals among them whose consciousnesses are more finely tuned and whose Will reaches beyond the general consensus.   Taken individually, no one among the Teeming Masses has much Will to speak of. They couldn’t create their own reality even if they wanted to—and they don’t want to. They’re far more content to let someone else tell them what’s going on, and they’re ready to believe just about anything, as long as it doesn’t stretch their perspectives too much.   It’s easy to dismiss the Teeming Masses as weak-minded simps. When reality strays too far from their expectations, their brains flap and flounder and shriek like agitated primates. They’re quick to reject any changes to the status quo, even if said changes would be in their own self-interests. They don’t question anything, because they don’t suspect that there’s anything to be questioned.

BELIEF: THE PRIMARY COMMODITY

  Without them, though, the Gri’x couldn’t exist: imagine nothing out there besides a collection of insular, fully-customized Dominterri bumping around in the Quondamarie, never quite touching. No little shops where we could meet for coffee and people-watch, no neighborhood shindigs at the park, no conversations with exotic travelers on train trips across the countryside, no classes at the University...no discoveries, no new developments, no surprises, just one bubble-world after another filled with the indomitable personal preferences of their creators and sole occupants.   In each person’s Dominterrex, the owner has total creative control over reality. In the Gri’xian Public Domain, which encompasses the edges where these pocket realities meet (and sometimes mingle), they might get to decide what reality is like for everyone around them—if they’ve got a strong Will and enough raw energy at their disposal to enforce it.   The Teeming Masses tend to focus only on the immediately apparent surface reality of what seems to be right in front of them. Not only do they not think too hard about alternate ways of being, but those who show signs of such enhanced awareness tend to wind up as pariahs: either they give up and submit to the consensus, or they are driven from the Masses so that their energy doesn't disrupt the overall frequency.   The Masses are generally unaware of the true, malleable nature of being and creation. They tend to accept the predominant perceptions without question, and this makes them a valuable resource in themselves: they cannot produce, but they can believe, and their perceptual acceptance is a powerful generator, fortifying any version of reality to which they are attuned.   However, this acceptance can be shifted. The Teeming Masses’ willingness to believe what they’re told—as long is it doesn’t conflict too much with the current paradigm—generates a vast, perpetually renewable source of raw energy for those who wish to shape reality beyond their own personal borders. Anything is true, if you can get enough of the Masses to believe it.

WONTS UPON A TIMES

  Therein lies the rub. Strong-willed Protagonists with big ambitions are constantly battling for the Teeming Masses’ attention and energy. Some of them want the entirety of existence itself to conform to their standards; others are trying to stop that from happening. Sometimes the Masses’ energy gets knotted up so strongly in one version of reality that a new Connodo is formed in the Quondamarie, and then, like a pearl in an oyster, a new segment of the Gri’x grows around it as the more visionary inhabitants’ natural resistance kicks in.   The conflict is endless and exhausting. But what kind of multiverse would it be if all the strongest wills wanted the same kind of reality? (Don’t let the Synthates answer that; we’ll be here all day.)

ORIGINS

  Despite the fact that they resemble ‘Nodians in behavior and belief (if not always in appearance), the Teeming Masses are not immigrants from the Connodo—not exactly. Not usually.   Well, sort of.   They are, to grossly over-simplify the concept, the amalgamation of the ‘Nodians’ collective self-image, generated by ‘Nodian minds. Any creative ‘Nodian who imagines a story or dreams a dream about a populated setting is likely to stuff it full of background characters as a matter of course. A city needs people, after all, or the Protagonists will be playing to an empty street. A forest needs animals and plants, or it's...not a forest at all. And that kind of thing would shatter the suspension of disbelief. After all, the notables wouldn’t stand out if there weren’t any normals against which to compare them.   So the Masses arrive here in the Gri’x en masse as representatives of a plane in which they've never physically set foot.   But they could fit in there just fine, and here’s a little secret: if you need to get down to the ‘Node, you can’t go wrong by grabbing some random Teemer and convincing them to come with you. Provided you pick one who could pass as normal in a crowd where you’re going, any one of them could be a living portal key between here and there.