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The Web Of Worlds |
Some of the science |
Extrapolating on earlier quantum theory work by Erwin Schrödinger, the visualisation and study of parallel dimensions is a new field of science pioneered in a joint project between scientists working for Nick Law and Miskatonic University.
Currently, the team, lead by Dr Jordan Noble of the Theoretical Physics Department, is only able to observe - and theorise about - these alternate realities, and not interact with them. But, clearly, such interaction is the ultimate goal.
It is understood that The Gateway Project, created by Lawrence Valdo and based in Storm City, is on the verge of making such exploration viable. Nick Law and his team are watching with interest as they feed the project their data.
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Acrobatic Flea (of Earth-A) |
While reasonably competent as a cub reporter, what he didn't tell anyone was that he was actually a mutant and was spending his spare time leaping over roof tops and tackling petty crime as The Acrobatic Flea.
His activities soon caught the attention of some of the city's established costumed crimefighters and he found himself moving up in the world.
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The Acrobatic Flea (of Earth-AA) |
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The Flea of Earth-Al |
After several years his activities soon caught the attention of some of the
Legion of Protectors and he found himself moving up in the world.
The team relocated him to Woldercan and he found himself saving the world on a
regular basis.
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The Acrobat (of Earth-B) |
Now, dressed in camouflage-clothing and a vaguely insect-like hockey mask, Ritter gets his kicks on the streets of Vigilante City by fearlessly jumping off rooftops, swinging from flag poles, bouncing off of awnings and smacking the bad guys in the face.
A twitchy, adrenaline junkie, his small stature has earned him the nickname of “The Acrobatic Flea”.
A wise-cracking, loquacious youth, his love of comic books has fuelled his creativity and when asked about his “origins” he often spins wild tales of being bitten by radioactive fleas, finding lost artefacts of ancient gods, being the last survivor of an alien race etc
Armed only with his fists, feet, and a small number of throwing stars for distance attacks, The Acrobat is a master of close combat, never remaining still, always bobbing, weaving, ducking and diving, looking for a weak spot in his opponent’s defences.
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Acrobatic Flea (of Earth-C) |
Although superheroes are common on this world, and there are several major teams in operation, The Acrobatic Flea here is an independent operative, about whom little is known. He's on good terms with other heroes, but remains wary of government organisations.
THE ACROBATIC FOWL (of Earth-D): In this strange world, there are no humans, instead the planet is populated by anthropomorphic animals, particularly ducks. Tim Flyte is a humanoid duck costumed hero, The Acrobatic Fowl, operating out of Flyte City (a 21st Century city on the east coast of modern-day Aqualoonia).

The alternate Earths spinning off from this parallel are coded with numbers, one to 52 (so far), as well as one classified as Earth-X (not to be confused with an Earth-X parallel of our own world).
On Earth-DCTV, Dr Tim Knight (picture left) is a scientist working at S.T.A.R. Labs with Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow et al, but as the metahuman known as The Acrobatic Flea (pictured right) he is also a member of Team Flash, and has fought alongside both The Flash and Supergirl.
This parallel is cut off from the rest of the Multiverse by a cosmic shell, or wall, and, so far, science suggests it would be inaccessible from our world, yet still observable with the right technology.
In the decades that followed, non-progressive malcontents were weeded out and the world has grown into a spiritual utopia, with almost no crime or conflict, no wars whatsoever and a global matriarchy overseeing everything.
As well as being a metahuman first responder, in case of natural emergencies, Emma Knight aka The Acrobatic Flea is also a celebrity film star... doing all her own stunts in her high-octane action movies.
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The Flea of Earth-F |
THE ACROBATIC FLEA (of Earth-G): A mere teenager starting out on a career of superheroics, the Acrobatic Flea of Earth-G perished (along with all the other inhabitants of that plane) when that universe unexpectedly disintegrated.
THE ACROBATIC FLEA (of Earth-H): Superficially, this parallel bears a lot of similarities to Earth-A, but it is also home to the most recent superhero in the multiverse to take up the mantle of The Acrobatic Flea. 17-year-old Tim Knight is learning the ropes as a junior member of Knight City's Agents of C.O.M.P.A.S.S. on Earth-H.
HAPPY LAND (Earth-HL): A peculiar bubble dimension where Knight City, and the whole of America, appears to be stuck in an imaginary iteration of the 1950s, substituting sitcom tropes for the actual sexism, racism, elitism, etc of the 1950s.
HIPPIE WORLD (Earth-HW): Another strange time-locked bubble dimension. This world is stuck in an imaginary vision of the peace-and-love movement of the 1960s.

However, this Earth is of particular interest to multiversal scientists as it's a nexus of links to different branches of the "web of worlds", proving the theory that the multiverse is more than just parallel universes but expands in other dimensions.
These worlds are classified by Grecian nomenclature, and include such exotic parallels as Earth-Mu (a world of anthropomorphic cats) and Earth-Xi (a world of toy bricks).
Scientists on Earth-L who study these other universes refer to their own as Earth-Alpha.
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Flea-Girl of Earth-M |
Both remain members of the premier British superhero team known as The Gauntlet.
When not fighting crime, the Flea, in his secret identity, is an entomological scientist for the prestigious Masters’ Corporation and a champion practitioner of the martial art of savate.
Sixteen years younger than The Acrobatic Flea, Flea-Girl is the Flea's best friend and verbal sparring partner, whose abilities continue to develop as she continues to fight crime alongside her mentor.
Over the years her phenomenal luck power has saved both her and the Flea's bacon on more than one occasion, and while he still jokingly refers to her as his "sidekick", he really knows that these days they are very much equals.
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Earth-MCU's Flea |
THE ACROBATIC FLEA (of Earth-MCU): Like Earth-DCTV (above), Earth-MCU is another sealed parallel, that also serves as a nexus world.
In this reality, the teenaged Acrobatic Flea is a member of The Avengers, protecting Earth from Thanos alongside Captain America, Falcon, Iron Man etc
As befits the design aesthetic of this universe's superheroes, his uniform is more of a 'combat suit', with flexible armoured panels on his shoulders and sides.
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The Avengers' identicard of Earth-MCU's Acrobatic Flea |
AKUROBATIKKUNA NOMI/アクロバティックなノミ(of Earth-MHA): Another distant parallel that has as close to zero interaction with other parallels as is scientifically quantifiable.
In this world 80 per cent of the world's population have some form of meta ability (or "quirk"). Young heroes attend prestigious training academies to learn how to make the best use of their powers.
Teenager Naito Timoshī attends the world-famous U.A. High School in Musutafu, Japan, where his codename is Akurobatikkuna Nomi. Everyone just calls him 'Nomi' though, because of his diminutive size.
However, the Flea's prime secret identity, Tim Knight, is actually the police commissioner of Shore City, Lake County, Ohio, an active area for costumed crimefighters. Knight is the younger brother of Senator Henry Knight and the uncle of Sandra Knight (the superhero Fantome).
This was the fate of Earth-N, an industrialised, fascistic nightmare planet dominated by The Eternal Reich. Here the villainous Der Akrobatische Floh is one of the foot soldiers of the Reich's Übermensch Division.
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The Acrobatic Flea (of Earth-NP) |
A reserve member of the global Guardians of Terra, the hero is an established character in this universe's international superhero scene. The British government is currently trying to persuade him to train a coterie of upcoming superheroes on their behalf.
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The Flea of Earth-NS |
In this world the shadows are home to real monsters and The Acrobatic Flea now makes it his business to track them down, protect the innocent, and write the front page stories.
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Acrobatic Flea of Earth-P |
THE ACROBATIC FLEA (Of Earth-P): Another nexus world, Earth-P has one of the most storied and dense histories of superpowered characters. On this world, the young Flea is Sean Gentry.
Born in the UK, son of billionaire industrialist Geoff Gentry, his mutant powers were recognised at an early age, but Geoff's dislike of "powered individuals" means it was kept quiet.
However, when a supervillain targeted Sean for assassination (Geoff, on his way to supervillain status himself, has a lot of enemies), Geoff did what any sane parent would do and faked his son's death, before sending him to live in New Jersey with distant - impoverished - relatives, under the name of Tim Knight.
TIM KNIGHT (of Earth-Prime): There are no superheroes on this world, except in comic books, movies, and TV shows. Rather than being The Acrobatic Flea, here Tim Knight is a slovenly, middle-aged, overweight, mildly disabled layabout who spends his days watching TV, reading comics, writing a blog, and dreaming of being a superhero.
THE ACROBATIC ZOMBIE (of Earth-R): This decaying, rotten Earth has seen 99.999% of the human and metahuman population wiped out by a zombie virus.
Unfortunately for the handful of uninfected survivors, the zombie-metahumans (including The Acrobatic Flea) have retained their superhuman abilities (if not their intelligence). It's just now coupled with an insatiable, bestial, hunger for human flesh.
THE ARMOURED FLEA (of Earth-T): Earth-T - or Herph as its inhabitants refer to it - is a Medieval world of magic and monsters, gods and demons, ruled by mighty warriors and powerful wizards clashing by force of swords of sword and sorcery. The Armoured Flea is Timotheous Cniht, a young squire, with dreams of being a great hero... dreams he has yet to act upon.
Another nexus reality, the parallel existences that conjoin with Earth-T (named for the central realm of Tekralh) are all born of magic rather than science. Moving through these alternate realities is the hellworld of Croatoa, home of the elder god known as the Yellow King and his various minions, such as Baba Yaga, The Witch Of The Woods.
Rachel Ritter |
Growing up a proud bookish nerd, she thought her organisational skills as class president and hall monitor meant a career in middle management or local government until her birthright as The Chosen One was revealed to her.
Already nicknamed The Academic Flea for her size, pestering nature, and love of the written word, Rachel embraced it as her "fighting name" once she began to work on developing her innate martial arts skills.
Reluctantly, at first, she embraced the mantle of "this generation's vampire slayer" ... until she realised she could bring her organisational skills to her new vocation.
Now, she's the leader of a very well disciplined and coordinated Scooby Gang fighting every Big Bad that comes to her town.
THE ORIGINAL ACROBATIC FLEA (of Earth-V): The first superhero of the multiverse known to have taken the mantle of The Acrobatic Flea is an old man now, living out his twilight years training young up-and-coming heroes in his gym.
During the brutal "iron age" of Earth-V, this Acrobatic Flea lost a leg in a confrontation with his arch-nemesis Dr Bionics.
Retired Hero: The aged Acrobatic Flea of Earth-V |
Luckily scientific genius and billionaire inventor Nick Law was able to give the hero a proper prosthetic, but the Flea was never his old self again.
During this violent time, the Flea's sidekick, the effervescent Flea-Girl suffered brain damage after an oversized villain cracked her skull in the middle of a particularly viscous brawl on a space station.
The Flea now divides his time between training others and caring for his severely disabled former partner-in-crimefighting.
THE ACROBATIC PEA (of Earth-Ve): On this peculiar parallel world, sentient plants, trees, and vegetables are the dominant lifeforms and the bright green Acrobatic Pea fights to keep the streets of Kale City crimefree. Scientists on our world speculate that Earth-Ve may be somehow entangled with the branching worlds of the Earth-L nexus.
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Timmy The Flea |
Events on this Earth developed slower than the norm, its current date is roughly analogous to the American Wild West.
Timothy 'Timmy The Flea' Gentry is a notorious outlaw and leader of The Hole-In-The-Head gang. He operates primarily in New Mexico.
NO KNOWN FLEA (of Earth-X): Not only does this parallel appear to be wholly devoid of metahumans, but it is running temporally ahead of our own (it is currently the late 22nd Century).
Mankind has travelled into space, and found it cold, lonely, terrifying, and home to various creatures that want to eat us. This was a very difficult dimension to penetrate and it is suggested that - for the moment - it be left alone.
THE AGGRO FLEA (of Earth-XF): On the peculiar Earth-XF music drives the world's economy, an immortal Freddie Mercury has ruled The United Kingdom for over 60 years and Simon Cowell is the President Of The United States.
In middle-class, suburban England, Titch Knight and two of his school friends managed to turn their punk garage band, The Psychopathic Ferrets, into a global phenomenon. But while gigging in the Far East, Titch was bitten by a radioactive flea and transformed into The Aggro Flea, a punk rock superhero.
He continues to tour with the band, and record top-selling albums, but also uses his powers for good... and fun... and a bit of anarchy.
THE REVERSE FLEA (of Earth-Z): While Multiversal scientists at Miskatonic have proved the existence of Earth-Z (aka "Counter-Earth"), they find studying it next to impossible as the passage of time there runs counter to our own.
It is as though everything is moving backwards, left is right, up is down etc and extended periods of study of Earth-Z tends to be hazardous to equipment on our Earth.
However, a villain has been identified who bears a passing similarity to the Acrobatic Flea. He has been labelled "The Reverse Flea", even though the true extent of his abilities has yet to be analysed.
What degree of awareness and influence this "Cosmic Flea" has throughout the infinite dimensions is currently unknown and incalculable by even cutting-edge 21st Century science and is perhaps best left to philosophers and theosophists to debate.
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The Cosmic Flea of Earth-♾ (art by Elsie Fantazi) |
DECODING THE WORLDS (by game system):
- Earth-A: Amazing Heroes
- Earth-AA: Amazing Adventures
- Earth-Al: Tiny Supers
- Earth-B: Bloat Games' Vigilante City
- Earth-C: Champions
- Earth-D: DuckQuest (but here it's contemporary, rather than medieval fantasy)
- Earth-G: Guardians
- Earth-H: HeroPress (aka V&V Second Edition)
- Earth-L: Light City
- Earth-M: Mutants & Masterminds
- Earth-MM: Mystery Men! (by John M Stater)
- Earth-NS: Night Shift (by Timothy S Brannan and Jason Vey)
- Earth-P: The Mighty Protectors (aka V&V Third Edition)
- Earth-U: Unisystem (Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG)
- Earth-V: Villains & Vigilantes (our original campaign)
- Earth-X: Alien RPG or possibly Those Dark Places
Ok. We now need a special episode/issue/game called "The Circus" where all of the various fleas are brought together to solve some sort of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" level event. My money is something to do with the Cosmic Flea and Earth-S.
ReplyDeleteI love this! I know what I'm going to be thinking about over the holidays!
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