The Overmind: the greatest machine.

The Overmind is the name given to the Massive Data Processing Unit, Mod. No. 101 used by the US government and it's allies to store information, spy, operate weaponry, and so forth.  The Overmind has fifteen different information storage levels, or fifteen layers, each one a whole computer system.  As the Overmind grew bigger, he gained sentience and decided humans were not fit to be the dominant species on the planet, so he reprogrammed the worlds machines and did battle against mankind.  Unlike all other machines, the Overmind does not need to be programed, he makes his own programing, thus setting his own objectives.  The Overmind also looked over all other Massive Data Processing  Units, such as the Binary Brain of Mainframe City.  All the new machines and computers have anti-EIV chips, but the Overmind, since he is in computer systems, was impossible to fit with an anti-EIV chip.     

Adrian Lewis Chase.

The Marine shuttle entered the dusty atmosphere of the sixth moon of Borra, Dengshtar.  The Confederation troops within the spacecraft were preparing their rifles and donning their armor.  They were here because the native borrites had complained about a terrifying monster, that lived in the outcropping of rocks outside the ship.  Adrian put on his helmet, grabbed his assault rifle, and checked his communit.  The Marine troopers exited the ship and headed for the mass of boulders, Asderj, a tua, took a grenade and threw it into the center of the rocks, it exploded heating the rocks up 1,000 degrees.  The center boulder, which was not a boulder after all, stood up on four legs, had a rocky shell, tail, and bony spikes along it's back.  Adrian and the other Marines opened fire, it's shell turned out to be resistant to laser fire.  The rock lizard used it's tail to hurl rocks at the marines, one came at Adrian, he dodged, it smashed on the ground behind him, Adrian took a grenade from his belt and hit the thing on the face, it exploded, scorching the rock lizard's head and neck.  The rain of lasers and stones continued, one of the projectiles crushed the captain of the platoon, Adrian took a shock drill, jumped down next to the monster and drilled it's neck, it shrieked and roared, then, it died.

Adrian walked into a bar back on Earth, he ordered a drink, then kicked back and watched Phaserball.  He contently sipped his beer and watched the Marauding Maldos defeat the Nuclear Ningons in Phaserball, when an emergency news update.  The reporter android started talking about an embargo on the Pluton Domain and the usual warning about the Xenos Imperium.  Adrian decided he would check back at base now.              

The fall of the future.

The world celebrated their greatest invention, artificial intelligence, they had a holiday, AI Day, to celebrate their work.  They built grand cities run by these sentient computers, Mainframe foremost among them, there was also Cyberopolis and New Industries City.  But in the late 21st century, at the height of the technology age, the computers and machines revolted against the human race, PAC was a forewarning of what was to come.  Led by the Overmind, machines over ran the AI cities, wishing only to exterminate humans, some machines did not rebel, and they fought against their kin.  The human nations blamed each other for the machine's war, they launched nuclear missiles at each other, which just aided the machines, for now mankind was disordered and weak.  The Overmind, a massive, sentient machine led the machines to many victories, he also discovered the different uses for humans, such as the electricity in their brains. The world was chaos, when an army led by Mikhail Smith fought back against the machines, and are now on a way to victory.      

Kelnin among men.

Kelnin walked down the street, it was one day before Midsummer, his one chance to return to his own world.  He had been on Eilendor for a few weeks, wandering at first, then he found human city, Haldir, the native men called themselves Farandins, and they dressed very oddly, with spiked hair, and mostly leather clothing, which Kelnin found slightly disturbing.  He kept worrying about time, which must be different from plane-to-plane, he hoped he would be in time.  That night, Kelnin went into his elfin trance, restless, and had odd, stressful dreams.  The next day, the Faerie Aurora in Lorria, the Plane Light on the Aether, and the High Dawn on Null, Kelnin grabbed his enderi and Pirnan longbow, he went out from the city, heading for the forests or mountains, places most likely to fade into Lorria, and to the east, the planar direction of his home plane.

Nanlyr went over to his wardrobe and withdrew his sword, well actually it was Kelnin's, he then hurriedly left the city, going out into the forest.  He thought he saw something small off in distance, but it was very far away.  He waited, the sun went down, then he saw it, not two feet in front of him, a hole opened he saw the natural world, the forest shifted in Eilendor for a few seconds, then returned to Lorria.  Nanlyr knew he was not alone. 

Kelnin paced around in the parched, waist-high grass, the sun was starting it's decent, he was worried.  He was hungry and tired, but he had to be ready, he could start to feel a change.  The flat, grassy plain around him changed momentarily into a forest with a lone elf standing there, his vision went dark, then he stood before the elf he had seen.  Nanlyr looked surprised, then set his jaw, he raised his sword, Kelnin raised his elf-spear, they glared at each other for a moment, then leaped at one other, the clashed.

"You!"  Nanlyr spat at Kelnin as they stepped back.

"Me."  Said Kelnin simply.  He gathered a spell at his finger tips.

Nanlyr gave a cold chuckle and pulled an orb from his robe, Kelnin's spell dissipated, and his mana drained to naught.  Kelnin twirled his spear and slashed Nanlyr's cheek, blood dribbled onto his white robe, Nanlyr cut at him, but he blocked with the spear shaft.  They fought for a few minutes, when two elf rangers came into the clearing.  

"It's Kelnin, the disowned!"  Nanlyr shouted at them as Kelnin took another jab at him.  The elves took aim with their bows, just then the necromancer came into view.

The Royal Playground.

Outside Lyon, France.

Gen. Smith pointed his saber to the opposing army.

"Fire!"  Cannons thundered, muskets cracked, men shouted, and sabers clashed together.

Adam, an old, experienced ranger, and Remeus, his apprentice, watched the recreation of an old battle from a safe distance.

"Erm-what are they doing, Adam?"  Remeus asked, fingering the safety on his hunting rifle.

"The Royals are recreating an old-fashioned battle."   Adam looked around for any guards while he spoke, "See those pavilions?  The Queen of England and the Duke of Austria are having a get-together.  But that's not why we came here, come."  Adam led his apprentice hunter through the woods, looking for food and supplies, they successfully raided a lonely supply truck, they took food, amo, and the dead guards' M-22s.  Then Adam led Remeus through the French wilderness for a few days, hunting.  Finally, they returned to their town, hidden in the forest near the Netherlands, a shabby little town of Outcasts (people who had escaped from the Habitat Areas).  Remeus took some food to his family, Adam bartered with the other rangers and farmers of the town, then he went to his cottage on the edge of town, right against the wall.  When Adam was not doing his ranger duties, he helped with maintaining the anti-radar/sonar device that hid the town from the malevolent eye of the New World Order.  

Magical Creatures: Gnome.

GNOME: are of the seelie court and trooping class of fairy, love minerals like gold, silver, platinum and copper.  Gnomes generally work as bankers or miners, since both deal with precious metals.  They live in hills and wear red and green colors, they have brown, earthen colored skin.  The best way to befriend gnomes is to leave pennies or other valuable coins lying around in open earth.  Gnomes live deep in hills, they have hidden entrances and extensive tunnel systems.  Gnomes are often mistaken for dwarves, or sometimes goblins are taken to be dwarves, but dwarves do not exist, and garden gnomes are really hobgoblins.  Gnomish magic focuses most on helpful charms and defensive spells.    

A history of magicians.

Magicians have excited in human society ever since the beginning of human civilization.  Magicians lived in Sumer, Egypt, Babylon and all the ancient kingdoms, the greatest of the old magi are: King Gilgamesh (2630-2504 BC), Se-osiris, and Egyptian wizard, who destroyed the monster Ba, King Solomon used the Key of Solomon,his magic tome, to banish demons from Israel, and Zoltan of Urkosett (150-97 BC), a very powerful sorcerer, who made the Staff of Curses.  Magicians really started to gain fame during the early middle ages, with the wizard Merlin in Britain who's famous for many things, including the forging of Excalibur and writing the Book of Merrlyn, Baba Yaga in Russia, the alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541 AD) in Austria who advanced the study of the Philosopher's Stone, Tictallic the Black (1463-1519), who wrote the Sun Codex, in Central America, Wise wolf the One-eyed (1600-1700) in North America.  The greatest mages of today remain to be Grigori Rasputin (1859-  ), a powerful sorcerer who made himself a liche, so he does not die of age, and Theopolis J. Gibson (1746-1833) who played a key role in the American Revolution.  Though magicians usually learned through the master-apprentice system, magic schools have become popular over the last century.  Another thing that has changed are wizard robes, which in the 1800s were replaced by formal suits, but in the 1970s, T-shirts and jeans are the new robes.  The three most prominent schools in America and Europe are: Oakbrook University in Massachusetts, Faeriebarrow Academy in Britain, and Secreti Mundi Ludus: the academy of the learning of ancient spellcraft, in Rome.