Organization
Interdim is extremely careful with their recruitment and hiring policies...after all, giving people access to billions of universes is no small responsibility. Interestingly enough, most of the staff are recruited through the Deathline---
The Deathline
“It was strange...One moment I’m staring at the oncoming truck, grateful for having pushed that kid out of the way but wondering how the HELL I was going to get myself out of the way...the next I’m standing there watching the police bagging somebody...no...some BODY...while this other guy I assumed was another cop...she was wearing a blue uniform...is asking me to step aside so we could talk...I thought they were going to ask me about the accident...Only a little later, I was being told ABOUT the accident...
...And who was in that bodybag....”
“We learned that someone else was using something similar to the Deathline to recruit agents of their own....but they were training those folks to kill other interdimensional travellers...like us....They were racking up a real score across one of our more travelled phase-space routes when the agency sent some troubleshooters in to investigate....Kinda ironic when we began facing off in the na-shadows of that reality....two groups of dead folks not so different from each other originally slugging away at each other with high-tech weaponry...only we’d been given a choice in the matter...”
The ‘Deathline’ is the euphemistic name for the process of recruiting promising new members by taking them out of phase of a base time-space line where their senseless death is inevitable, in a technique similar to Quantum Immortality. For all intents and purposes, these people are dead, and their existance-line extinguished...but for the offer of continued, and more meaningful, life in the service of Interdim. Once signed, these people can never return to their home timeline. Though this seems heavyhanded, even cruel, those who Interdim selects invariably choose to join(though some, especially those with fundamentalist beliefs, elect to be memory-wiped and re-merged with their baseline selves and share their fate) ....why not life(and one meaningful and full of adventure?), when the alternative is rather more final(and fatal)?
Training
“You’d be surprised how easy to make and effective a slingshot is....I once put out the optics on a Kill-obot at ninety feet before it could cut me in half with a laser. Learning a new language and coming to appreciate the subtlties of home beer-making was even MORE useful in my experience...I once got into the Imperial Suite of Emperor Nero-Fabius the XXIII with my knowledge of Latin and a bottle of home-suds...After a lifetime of state dinners and sickly vintages, that poor guy was practically dying for some good hops-brew.”
While Interdim certainly has millions of specialists, the primary focus of training for field agents is flexibility; mental endurance and a certain pragmatic open-mindedness are valued qualities...Since Interdim agents may be called upon to travel through a dense alien jungle inhabited by hostile machine intelligences one day, traipse through Victorian Baghdad the next, make nice with proto-hominids on a glacier wasteland next day, and finish off the week skirting the authorities in an Aztec-dominated galactic empire, being able to cope with dramatic change is a must! Hypno-training, memory RNA quick-learn treatments, and data-implants with VR sim routines can go only so far in preparing employees for what could face them.......Interdim agents must learn through experience the best times and ways to bluff or bully, or turn and run away. Mental resilience is also taught; employees must never depend on ‘normality’ as a crutch....Interdim employees will routinely see in the course of their work the sort of things that would unhinge most people, or cause them to lose their nerve...And when eating live grubs and hot blood makes the difference between starving, getting the locals to help you on your mission...and a messy death...losing your nerve is NOT an option.
Basic Training for Interdim Couriers gives the following skills/Bonuses:
Language/Literacy
(4 of choice at +15%)
Disguise(+15%)
Intelligence(+10%)
Sociology(+15%)
Wilderness Survival(+10%)
Navigation: Land(+10%)
Pilot: Two vehicles of choice(+15%)
W.P.: (One ancient W.P. of choice)
W.P.
![Frown :(](./images/smilies/frown.gif)
One modern W.P. of choice)
Bonuses: +1d6 ME, +1d6 save versus Horror Factor, +1d6 save versus Mind Control/Torture, +12% save versus coma/death, +3 save vs poison/death/disease, +1 Dodge, +1 Initiative
Composition
“I need some guys with four arms and preferably blue fur for a package delivery in Zefun-2323B section....who we got on call tonight?”
The current face of Interdim is predominately Human(oid), though there is still a large percentage(45%) of non-humans, including a large number of species not encountered anywhere else at large in the Megaverse.
Couriers are charged with delivering sealed communiques to their destination with a minimum of interference in the world-line. Because of their survival experience, senior couriers are often graduated to Shaper Teams, responsible for intervening in dimensional events. Experienced agents and their teams are kept together, but are often rotated regularly to teaching and administration tasks, to share their experience with initiates and lower ranked employees.
The very top echelons of Interdim are rarely seen, but are most likely near-deity beings(‘bosses who really ARE gods’). On these lofty shoulders rests the responsibility to make decisions that can effect hundreds of world-lines and trillions of sentient beings.
Working for Interdim comes with its share of perks....good pay, excellent health care, interesting work, the support of an organization that cares, access to the Megaverse, and, because Interdim has a lot invested in its employees....Immortality.
Immortality
“I kinda lost track of how many times I’ve died in service....”
One of the perks of being an Interdim employee is the choice of personal immortality....Interdim offers employees a variety of options:
Physical----Genetic, chemical, and surgical alteration of the body itself to keep the body continually vigorous and active. This effectively augments the recipient with superhuman abilities like Regeneration and Longevity. However, as one Physical Immortal put it, it’s ‘immortality you feel in your bones’.
Sequential----Sequential means the creation of a succession of incarnations, typically using pre-recorded and stored persona-recordings or back-up ‘eternity chips’ implanted in the body of the employee themselves, and downloaded into new clone bodies. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages....Persona-recordings, unless constantly updated, may suffer from being ‘on the shelf’ too long when used, and miss large chunks of the person’s experiences. including knowledge of what last killed them. Personal ‘eternity chip’ implants may be lost or damaged by the same events that terminated the employee. Another downside is that many Sequentials come to feel that they are merely copies of the original person, and frequently have gaps in their chronological memories, depending on how frequently the biolog has been updated.
Virtual---Some employees elect to take Virtual Immortality, which works as a reverse form of Sequential Immortality....uploading themselves into a super-matrix and then downloading copies of themselves as needed into customized physical ‘shells’ as needed. These ‘avatars’ then re-load their surviving memories into the core matrix when their missions are completed, re-integrating the memories into a whole. Virtual Immortals tend to see their VR-state as their true state of consciousness, with their forays into ‘reality’ as the extensions of that existance. Rarely more than one avatar is active at the same time. Among the more pervasive disadvantages of Virtual Immortality is a certain sense of detachment with physicality, and sense of disorientation when avatars rejoin the collective consciousness....In some long-term avatars, a separate sense of identity may develop, with a resentment of the collective consciousness.
Quantum----This bizarre process actually clones the employee through the use of divergent space-time, creating two or more separate individuals. This is more of a ‘twinning’ process than a continual act of immortality, as each created individual is recognized as a separate person in their own right, and comes to be ever more divergent from the others as time passes. Some Quantum Immortals, however, do claim to have a telepathic or empathic feeling or connection to their quantum-clones, exchanging dreams or information in moments of great stress or at the time of death. Occasionally, Quantum Immortality may be reversed; two or more ‘quantum-clones’ voluntarily re-merging to form one individual, consolidating the separate sets of experiences in one person---however, this has its own share of problems; the sudden intensity of simultaneously experiencing two or more lives at once can badly disorient the volunteer, and can lead to stress and insanity without proper psychological support on hand.
Interestingly enough, not all employees take one of the immortality options, and many, after several hundred or thousand years of continual existance, elect to voluntarily terminate naturally, retiring from duty, tired of existance.
Technology
“This, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a CLUB....no moving parts, no power source, no jammable targeting system “
----Senior Agent Basco Drivets, Interdim Weapons Instructor
While Interdim possesses fairly incredible technology in its dimensional travel and monitoring network, the average employee rarely sees this sort of technological omnipotence....In fact, when operating in the field, Interdim prefers not to flash its technology around . Their primary goal in their day to day work is to get messages to the destination, and get the messangers back.
Whenever possible, Interdim tries to adapt and use familiar technologies, especially those indigenous to the regions where they are operating....However, most of their locally acquired gear is subsequently modified with special features, or simply used as a cover disguise for more advanced technology underneath. This means that the average Interdim operative will be found in the field with fairly mundane hardware at their disposal, with little hint of the incredible technological network behind them.
However, in those areas where Interdim can operate openly, they make use of some fairly sophisticated and distinctive gear of their own design. Interdim has mastered space/time technologies, such as zero-point energy sources and virtual singularity communications and transfer systems.
Most field gear has a rather drab commonplace appearance that is indicative of human-designed mass production, but which conceals its true sophistication.
Uniforms
“Your clothes should not be smarter than you are...The uniform doesn’t represent Interdim; YOU do...even if you have to finish your run stark-naked, people should know you for that professionalism, not because you wear a fancy outfit.”
Standard Issue Interdim uniform(where remaining inconspicious isn’t an issue) is a set of overalls, somewhat like battle fatigues, in a light blue color(think militant mailmen), with hiking boots and gloves, similar to a rescue worker’s. The uniform is actually made of tough non-allergenic, chemical-reistant megadamage fabric, with integral electronics inside the fabric, including bio-monitors, environmental sensors, and bio-comp medical kits, capable of injecting the wearer with a variety of anti-venoms, chelating chemicals, toxin-neutralizers, stimulants, anti-psychotics, allergen drugs, and other useful chemicals.
Depending on the situation, different dress and personal gear may be requested.....from loin cloth and bodypaint to full A-G-equipped power armor, but the ‘Interdim Blues’ are the standard dress for most assignments. The ‘blues’ are comfortable all-purpose outfits, but which have energy-disipation fibers woven into their fabric, rendering the wearer impervious to stun weapons and neural disruption. An active environmental monitoring system constantly checks the wearer’s immediate surroundings for hazards such as airborne contaminants, radiations, gases, and toxins.
Features Common to Interdim Uniforms:
*Megadamage Fabric(typically 15-40 MDC)
*Energy Disipation Fibers(energy stun weapons and nueral disruptors have NO effect)
*Sensor Jammers---This feature effectively cloaks the contents of the clothing(including the person) from security scanners, giving a false reading
* Biomonitor
*Pocket-Med---A set of basic medication ejectors and pull-tab hypos for applying coagulants, IRMSS and RMKs, pain-killers, and stimulants.
*Environmental Sensor---Alerts the wearer to radiation, toxins, and scans in their vicinity.
*Short Range Communicator---For regional communications and personal messaging between field agents; a cuff or collar short-range (80 miles) ‘spritespace’ communicator.
Portable Dimension-Com
“With the advent of portable dimensional communicators, the Megaverse just got a little smaller.”
This is a compact field-portable belt radio with handheld microphone that allows Interdim field operatives to communicate with other agents and with their out-dimension base facilities. Its exact means of operation is unknown, but the D-Com is rumored to use microscopic virtual singularities to ‘skip’ messages across interdimensional space.
Weight: 3 lbs
MDC: 80
Interdim Universal Energy Weapon(UEW-1)
“Your gun should be your LAST resort in a situation, NOT your first.”
A light, compact, multi-mode particle beam heavy pistol that has a passing resemblance to an Ingram, Calico, or Mini-Uzi SMG, the UEW-1 is the standard-issue sidearm of Couriers who expect trouble. The UEW-1 is modular in design; barrel extensions, stocks, and various sighting packages can be clamped on, making it into a long range rifle with sensor-scope capabilities. It can also be fitted to fire special rifle grenades, if necessary. The UEW-1 is light enough to use one-handed. It may not be the most powerful weapon available, but the UEW-1 is reliable, versatile, and has virtually unlimited magazine capacity. It’s designed to be used after being dragged through swamps, acid fog, hard vaccum, freezing rain, raging infernos, dips in the ocean, being buried underground, being embedded in ice, chewed on by acid-blooded aliens, hit with corrosion magic, and abused by klutzy operators, to name a few of the conditions Interdim agents regularly run into.
Weight: 4.5 lbs
MDC: 50
Range: 2,000 ft
(w/ barrel extension/Rifle Mode) 5,000 ft
Damage:(Pistol Mode) 3d6 SDC, 5d6 SDC, 2d6 MD, or 4d6 MD per shot
(Rifle Mode) 3d6 SDC, 6d6 SDC, 3d6 MD, 6d6 MD, or 1d4x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Regenerating power pack with 45 MD shots(450 SDC shots); regenerates at 1 shot every three minutes.
Special Features:
*Laser Rangefinder--+1 to strike
*Proofed Against Magical Disruption----Energy Disruption spells do NOT affect the UEW-1
*Non-Ferric Construction---Cannot be detected by metal detectors, nor is affected by magnetic fields.
*Scatter-Shot Muzzle Clip----Reduce weapon damage by 1/3 and range by HALF, but shot spreads to cover a 30-degree wide arc
Interdimensional Travel
“I don’t know who I pissed off in Dispatch....it seems every other time I get sent out via direct-Gate, they manage to flub the re-entry coordinates and I end up in some lady’s shower, or a bath house, or a nudist colony, or a dressing room....If it weren’t for the InternaDoc implant I got, I’d have been beaten to death about a dozen times by time...”
Interdim employs a variety of means to travel between universes, from wormholes and traditional Shifting, to d-space-hopping spacecraft and spacial-temporal conveyors.
The most commonly used d-porting means is a ‘Will-o-Wisp Probe’, a small virtual matter probe about the size of a basketball, made of semi-translucent semi-solid energy, that opens up a dimensional gateway beneath it. This allows Interdim to scout out a situation before risking personnel, as the Wisp is small, hard to see, and expendable. When the operators are satified that a landing zone is safe, the Wisp then deploys a grav-shaft and opens up a dimensional gate...the Couriers and their equipment simply drop through the gate and float down to the ground(this is referred to among Couriers as ‘the Jump’). Once it has gated personnel to the scene, the Wisp returns home for its next assignment, leaving the agents to continue the mission, until they are ultimately retrieved by another Wisp-gater. Chance observations of this mode of transportation in operation have often led to reports of ‘flying saucers’ and ‘beam-ups’.
Larger spacecraft are also used as a couriers and transport craft, but these are not regarded as appropriate for operations on ‘restricted’ worlds, where the products of obviously alien technology are less easy to conceal. However, larger craft also allow a greater degree of flexibility, and immediate support, not available to Wisp-gated personnel. Typically, Interdim operates nothing bigger than a courier or light freighter for their operations, souped up for speed and stealth.
Other means, more familiar to the average dimensional traveller, are also used; D-Gates, Wands of Transit, Wormhole Amulets, and the like, are often used by Interdim as back-ups or in regions where such devices are known(and less likley to attract attention...Even when Interdim’s existance is known, it is often wise not to flaunt umfamiliar technologies).
Even with all this technology, Interdim’s interdimensional travels are not always reliable; pertubations in the fabric of space/time sometimes throw teams off-course, forcing them to find circuituous routes to their true destinations. Interdim travellers are also all too familar with Rift Spiders and other monsters. When such happens, the incident, and its cause, are of great concern to Interdim, who will try to track it down and identify it. Rescue teams may have to be dispatched, and couriers may find a milk-run has turned into a gauntlet-run through hostile space...
Military Power
“Your gun is your friend...but it’s not your BEST friend...”
Interdim is not predominately a military power, and its employees tend to avoid the ‘dripping with weapons out the wazoo’ look, but one doesn’t stay around the Megaverse as long as they have without acquiring some serious firepower. Its operatives have access to some pretty exotic weaponry, and in a pinch, Interdim can outfit its ships and vehicles with fairly heavy weaponry. And, of course, there are the rumors of heavier weapons cached away.....weapons capable of collapsing universes....
Most operatives, however, carry only basic minimal weaponry for self-defense; usually a UEW-1, a hold-out non-lethal weapon, and a reserve melee weapon(typically one they are culturally familiar with). If an intervention is called for, Interdim typically assigns heavier weapons to a squad, or as many as a company of operatives, but the service tries to be precise and discrete in its use of force, rather than try to take on hostiles in an open slugging match. However, if a situation becomes too chaotic, or the stakes are critical(like a horde of xenomorphs taking over a major interdimensional transit hub or dimensional travel is attacked by concerted dimensional raider attacks across a dozen or more planes) Interdim may call a full-scale mobilization of reserve combat personnel, with the rest of the staff as second-line, or may simply discretely insert a shiva-bomb to sanitize the root of the problem.
Life Caches
“Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with my ride broke down, no food or water, no money, clothes worn to threads, my communicator hasn’t sqwuacked in over a month, gangrene’s creeping up my arm, and the air’s starting to smell funky....then I find this little cupboard of heaven waiting for me....bless the being who stuck this life cache here...”
Because of the relatively few numbers of Interdim agents available, the large areas to be covered, the extended nature of many mission assignments, and the fact that Interdim firmly believes that NOTHING ever goes according to plan, many agents find themselves in desperate need of support, when and where they are least likely to get it. Interdim can’t maintain fully-staffed offices of trouble-shooters and support personnel everywhere in the Megaverse, so they’ve kindly provided for their field agents by setting up life caches or life hutches---similar to the small supply depots set up by terrestrial Yankee whalers on desolate islands where shipwrecked mariners might wash up and seek shelter. Concealed about the Megaverse are supply caches to give Interdim agents much-needed shelter, supplies, and emergency aide---enough to give agents their second wind. Most supply caches offer little more than a cubbyhole, some changes of clothing, basic gear, and some local currency, but more elaborate caches may conceal heavy armament, interdimensional teleport gear, and heavy-duty transportation.
A typical example of a ‘life hutch’ is the Model 7 Survival Tower, a mass-produced, easily implaced, megadamage survival shelter that has become popular since Interdim became predominately human(oid) in composition. The Survival Tower is a short, squat, turret-like structure(900 MDC), fully environmentally-sealed(can even float in an emergency, and is impermeable even to Intangible beings), with both a basic nutrient synthesizer/recycler, and stored provisions adequate for sustaining twelve people up to 6 months. An external sensor suite provides surveillance-level monitoring and basic security coverage. Its interior holds basic furnishings(a work station, first aid bench, several fold-out cots, and floor padding) for up to twelve people. The Tower features a multi-channel communications suite, including long-range FTL radio, and dimensional communicator. The outside walls even feature a set of swing-out blast cannon(4,000 ft range, 6d6 MD per blast +2 strike, 6 shots per melee auto-mode) in the unwelcome event the shelter should come under seige. The Model 7 is (by Interdim standards) cheap, easy to produce, takes up little room in a D-Freighter’s hold, and can be readily dropped/situated all over the places Interdim agents are likely to need them most.
Relations:
“You can’t be around as long as we have without making a few friends...and more than a few enemies....”
Splugorth---- Interdim avoids all dealings with the Splugorth. The Splugorth have tried in the past to overwhelm and pry secrets out of Interdim employees, but Interdim has proven too slippery(or else the captives have shown a disturbing tendancy to suicide and vaporize) to hold onto. While Interdim has yet to overtly move against the Splugorth, they have on several occasions warned cultures in imminent danger of being conquered by the slavers, and have facilitated mass escapes or the transfer of defensive technologies. While not the top threat to interdimensional security, the Splugorth are regarded as thoroughly unpleasant troublemakers who Interdim would not be sorry to see go, and their empires divvied up.
(Note: The discovery of the GOOD SPLUGORTH alternities raises some questions, though....Does their existance also mean that there’s an EVIL Interdim out there intent on unraveling space/time? Interdim suspects so...they even have a name to go with it...Aerihman...)
Naruni Enterprises---Interdim finds the Naruni only marginally more palatable to deal with than the Splugorth...NE has tried hard in the past to acquire many Interdim technology secrets, and has relented only after Interdim threatened to stop making orders of weapons and equipment, and actively boycott the arms company. Since Interdim has often helped Naruni Enterprises in opposing their Splugorth rivals by facilitating their trade to threatened worlds, this threat actually has some weight behind it....threatening to hit the Naruni in their pride and their wallet. For now, Interdim tolerates the Naruni, doing business with them, but not letting them get past the lobby.
Cerebellus Demons----These arachnoid monsters are considered a scourge by Interdim, since one of them tried to infiltrate Interdim several centuries back. The creature was killed before it could penetrate too deeply into Interdim’s mysteries, but the organization found the whole experience too gruesome and worrisome for their peace of mind. Since then, Interdim, either through proxies or directly, has been hunting the foul beasts and eliminating them where ever they are found.
Mechanoids---Interdim recognizes the Mechanoids as a threat that MUST be stopped, but they lack the means to accomplish such a task with one decisive shot; the Mechanoids are spread over too many worldines to effectively contain without doing massive damage to the underlaying fabric of space/time. For now, Interdim assists Mechanoid-hunters in tracking down Mechanoid incursions into the Megaverse, and distributes information about the killer cyborgs to threatened cultures.
Prometheans---In the Three Galaxies, Interdim probably has the most traffic with the Prometheans of Phazeworld, and has a public office in Center, though the average 3G Interdim employee rarely, if ever comes in contact with these masters of space/time. Senior officials of Interdim appear to meet regularly with the elder Prometheans to discuss matters of Megaversal importance, however, and it is likely that the Prometheans play a major, if understated, role in directing and outfitting the agency, given the types of space-phasing technologies regularly used by Interdim.
United Worlds of Warlock---After the Prometheans, Interdim does the most business with the UWW, mostly due to the magicians’ knowledge of interdimensional travel.
The Cosmic Forge---Interdim doesn’t know where the Cosmic Forge is...or so they claim. Some outsiders who have learned some tantalizing information about Interdim’s operations have recently begun promoting the theory that Interdim knows the location of the Cosmic Forge...a rumor that Interdim would very much like to squelch before someone begins popping Interdim employees in search of the cosmic Holy Grail.
Rifts Earth---Interdim is keeping a close eye on Rits Earth, owing to all the convergent and divergent world-lines that have are revolving around it. Already, in less than a hundred years, Rifts Earth has spawned several divergent ‘shadow lines’ of different possibilities(including Splugorth Conquest Earth, NEMA Resurgence Earth, Coalition Victory Earth, 5ST Domination Earth, and Demonland Earth), as well as had a profound effect on several hundred nearby world-lines due to crossover and cross-contamination. Interdim has thus openned up a number of offices/observation posts on the various Rifts Earths, and keeps a constant eye on traffic and events around the dimensional nexus.
Time Patrol(s)----Interdim invariably runs into various temporal security or chrono-policing groups in the course of its missions. Most of these organizations tend to be narrow-focus groups, dedicated to policing the time-lines, temporal integrity, and timestream flow of an individual planet, culture, or galaxy, while Interdim concerns itself with the Megaverse as a whole. Relations with these groups range from the cordial to the outright hostile, so Interdim operatives can’t always count on the support of the local Time-Cops.
UPS---Universal Parcel Service----A newcomer to the Interdimensional scene is UPS, which prides itself on being Interdim’s rival with regards to interdimensional parcel transfer and communications. Smaller and tighter than Interdim, UPS has begun to make a name for itself, with its distinctive dark brown uniforms and dark brown delivery vehicles(often concealing substantial firepower). Interdim regards UPS as a young egomaniac upstart that may be getting itself into deeper waters than it suspects, and worries about what may happen if inexperienced UPS tries to go into the Reality Shaping aspect of operations, or intrude into new world-lines before Interdim has a change to adequately survey them. Though often snubbed by UPS workers, Interdim occasionally has to rescue UPS crews that have blundered into bad situations beyond their ability and understanding to escape.
Though lacking all the high-tech toys of their Interdim opposites, UPS employees are nevertheless quite adequately equipped, and often carry more raw firepower. Their infamous dark brown hover vans are a case in point; often nicknamed ‘gunboats’ for their heavy armor and concealed heavy armaments.
Gods-----Interdim really does try to avoid the attention of those beings known as gods, even though it can be claimed the agency often treads the same territory as them. It seems most likely, however, that the various pantheons have decided that the agency is neutral ground, and that any overt moves by either side to destroy or subvert it will result in an all-out retalliation by the other....so Interdim walks an uneasy path between being considered useful pawns and insignificant insects. However, contact with the pantheons is sometimes inevitable......The Hellenic Pantheon seems to have the most contact with Interdim; Hermes, in particular, seems to look after the megaversal messengers with some fondness, Athena has been known to pay the occasional visit to the Archives, and Zeus has been rumored to have used Interdim to slip the occasional love note or child support payment to his many mortal mistresses, away from Hera’s jealous eye.