Overall idea of an epic..... (part 2)

Note: The "epic" storyline is, in many parts, fanfiction. A tribute to various authors and stories written by others. As such, I will give credit where credit is due....

And so the Rules and Agents went about the process of recruiting Champions from the ranks of the mortals. Like other Celestrials, they sometimes found it....counterproductive to go in and personally solve a problem or situation. It would cause ill will between Offices, and lead to serious inter-Office friction and fights. It was even worse for the Rules and Agents, because the other Offices were at this time, not aware of the changes in the Offices of Order and Chaos. If not handled softly, the Army of Light and Darkness could well see the Offices trying to horn into their territory! As such, in addition to the other reasons already given, the Rules and Agents utilized their Champions a LOT to secretly take care of issues. Any questions at who these Champions were never raised, for only if a Celestial would take a close look at the Champion. See, unlike the Champions of the Army of Light or Darkness, Champions of Order and Chaos were given no additional powers or abilities (besides the immortality shtick). The Army of Darkness put it off as bad luck when their dark plans were thwarted by one of these odd Champions. The Army of Light would attribute it to good luck, and nothing more.

So for a long time, this was the way things worked as things slowly developed. Over time the ordinary adulturation schemes were bringing diminishing returns, so more disruptive schemes were arranged (one just happening to leading up to the Enemy/Alliance War). Over time, the Rules and Agents were able to come upon a arrangement with their Champions which both sides were happy with (see, at first the relationship with Champions was like that seen with Elric (the Eternal Champion, and that's....not good). Then things came to a head when a foot soldier of the Army of Darkness (a Demon that was low on the "totem pole" named Randall Flagg) regained memories that he shouldn't have. More on that later.

Now, Champions are not always used to counteract the messes made by the Army of Darkness, but it has happened a lot all the same....and will continue to happen for a long time due to the special nature of the adulteration. See, there is an element of time travel involved, in addition to everything else!

Now, what happened next to bring things to a head was that perhaps due to prior adulterations to the Beam, there was induced a greed for power in some powerful beings who wished to become like the Celestrials (or more accurately....displace them in the Scheme of things). These power beings called themselves the Norns, and they needed allies to accomplish the destruction of the Beams and the Dark Tower, discrediting the Celestrials and in the process get the Higher Ups to replace the Celestrials with them (the Norns and their allies). They enlisted Flagg as an ally, gave him back memories lost from prior lives (making him a very dangerous customer indeed to those on the mortal planes), and all hell broke loose.

Long story short, before, with Flagg (like many of his ilk) constantly getting killed and brought back (as was standard procedure) kept them in check and from getting too ambitious, powerful. That no longer the case, and Flagg, being one of the kind of Demons who was very good at Beam sabotage, became even more dangerous than before. Only by the Rules and Agents coming forth and informing the other Celestrials of the danger was able to stop even more damage (very vast....including the complete destruction of at least one universe....and the Drone Rule and Drone Agent attached to that universe). So an unprecedented temporary alliance was struck between all the Celestrials and Flagg and his allies were hunted down....and destroyed. That done, the heads of the Armies then, fearful that the Rules and Agents were trying to horn into their territories, eventually lodged a Complaint with the "Higher Ups" to redress the issue. Oh, boy, the "Higher Ups" found the Head of the Armies negligent, basically, in the end, and then left the fate of these Armies in the hands of the Rules and Agents. Knowing well enough that they weren't up to handling the duties of the Armies, decided instead to take in the Army of Light into their ranks, letting them continue to operate as they had been....but in the end the Rules and Agents were ultimately in charge of them (an authority that the Rules and Agents don't feel like exercising....finding that the Army of Light knows it's business...despite everything). As for the Army of Darkness, the Rules and Agents thoroughly find them repulsive...wanting nothing to do with them....but knowing that this Army of Darkness was necessary in order for the scheme of things to work properly. Instead, they let them go....but now the Army of Darkness faces the combined forces of the Army of Light, the Office of Order, and the Army of Chaos. Mayhaps not officially, but.....

With the wrongs done them before, the Rules and Agents spent the points earned by that to bolster their ranks of Champions....and to fix problems that they usually wouldn't be allowed to fix personally. Then, even with all that, the Army of Darkness still tried to infringe on the Rules and Agents territory....and the "Higher Ups" then basically.....destroyed utterly the "upper management" of the Fiends for that. The newly promoted "lower" and "mid" management decided to not throw good money after bad, and will not make the same mistakes as their now defunct bosses had made....nor would they complain about the liberties being taken by the Rules and Agents in restitution for this and the other stuff.....

And that is the lay of the metaphysical land, as it were, behind the scenes.

Next, we explore what the idea is behind Terra Prime!

End of Part 2.....