u/Absolute_MD_Fan6000

Has anyone tried doing this idea yet? Here's my own take:

The backbone of the multiverse, the Great Span.

It's a system that acts as the rulebook of the entire multiverse, it lets things stay grounded and not drift off-course, if a world does not fit the criteria, it is seen as a glitch or an accident and gets taken care of by the Three Executors (Not literal, more like executors of commands), the God of Time, Chronael, the God of Space, Vasturiel, and the Goddess of Matter, Primara.

But sometimes, it gets spared and is studied as an anomaly, if allowed by the Archivist, the entity that rules over the Three Executors, although still bound by the Great Span... Even though the system was made by the Archivist itself.

The Archivist alongside the Three Executors make worlds as a goal to observe and archive the entirety of existence, the why, the how, the entirety of it all.

When a world is reaching the same conclusion as another one, they get an event called the Purge, an event that is basically the Three Executors' way of saying "this is not it".

The very first world that passed the test and is seen as a brand new template for worlds was Earth, basically a reason on why many worlds in the worldbuilding community have humans, plants, animals, and many more things similar to Earth.

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Found this lore text in my Clipboard and now that I look at it, it's kinda unique, but it's old, I don't even remember half of the lore that I put into this, it's very vague too. Maybe I'll post more about it if I manage to find it through my notes.

What's your take in worldbuilding worldbuilding? I'd love to hear it! :D

(Last post about the remaster of Lost Scrapyard 👉 https://www.reddit.com/r/CoreBound/s/a8iZxMvDVk)

When the city fell, the rest of civilization quickly took notice.

The Greater Cores found out that the Infection is now heading East, but something stands in their way—a mountain range stretching for kilometers, it became a natural barrier between the Infection and civilization.

The infected machines can't easily climb up the steep mountains nor travel for weeks, months even, without proper maintenance.

The only way to get to the other side is through a mining hub called Crystal Volt Quarry.

Before the discovery of the Core Crystal, civilization used another type of energy source, the Volt Crystal.

This mineral has the ability to store enormous amounts of electricity and can be found in or underneath mountains or highly elevated terrain.

The Volt Crystals can even recharge naturally under certain geological requirements.

It was seen as the perfect crystal, until the Core Crystal was found.

Volt Crystals became a secondary energy source, sometimes used in Lesser Cores for additional energy while still being cheap.

The largest exporter of Volt Crystals is Volt Quarry, it gives around 50%~ of civilization's Volt Crystal supply.

And now, it has another use...

Once the Infection has learned about Volt Quarry's position, it decided to strike.

But the Infection stopped in its tracks once it sensed its mortal enemy, the Volt Crystals.

These crystals seemed to interfere with the virus, making the Infection momentarily stop...

At first, it was a huge victory for civilization, Volt Quarry was momentarily viewed as the safest place in the world.

After a month of safety, the cities on the opposite side of the Infection slowed down in trying to research and destroy the Infection.

That's when a lone infected machine slowly approached the Quarry's entrance... and it managed to went inside.

The Lesser Cores in Volt Quarry at the time immediately destroyed the infected machine.

Even if it was still weak because of the Volt Crystals, they discovered a horrifying truth... the Infection can adapt.

An emergency meeting was immediately issued about Volt Quarry and in that meeting, a Greater Core proposed a prototype to hold back the Infection—named Project Voltheart.

The project aimed to mass produce Volthearts, a Lesser Core lacking a conventional body, instead, it has a Core in the middle while its surrounded by a large amount of Volt Crystals in a square diamond form. It can move by floating using electromagnetic fields emitted from its body and the Volt Crystals of the Quarry.

The Volthearts silently drift through the air and when it spots an enemy, it attacks by using arcs of electricity from its body.

But there was a problem, mass-producing Volthearts means using the now precious Volt Crystals in large amounts.

Most Volthearts were scrapped for the Volt Crystals while only a couple dozen were sent to Volt Quarry to defend it from the Infection.

Because of this, someone proposed another prototype—Project Voltstriker.

It has the same premise as Project Voltheart, to mass produce a certain combat machine, but this time, its more efficient.

Voltstrikers have a more conventional body, their Core placed in a diamond shaped head while mechanical tentacles hang from below. The tendrils can extend arcs of electricity farther than the Volthearts after harnessing the powers of the crystals around it. They can also recharge by using the energy from the Volt Crystals around them. It can also float because of its electromagnetic field and the Volt Crystals'.

More Voltstrikers were sent to Volt Quarry to defend, and its working.

These "Crystal Guardians" helped protect the Quarry from the Infection, patrolling through corridors, Volt Crystals sparking in their path.

Other machines are also situated in Volt Quarry, helping mine and process more crystals while also defending the Quarry from the inside.

Bubblemounds, spherical Lesser Cores that help store crystals inside the "bubbles" that they make. These machines are important because of the Volt Crystals' properties, mishandling these can cause serious damage, that's why the Bubblemound creates a spherical material resembling bubbles that can regulate a Volt Crystals' capabilities.

Drillers, Lesser Cores that has a long wheeled body with a powerful drill in front. The Drillers dig tunnels to find Volt Crystals, they also have a special sensor that can detect these crystals' electrical properties, finding Volt Crystals without the danger of accidentally drilling into them.

Wiremaws, a Lesser Core that hangs from the ceiling or wall using chains, it has a body resembling a jaw with sharp teeth. They use this "mouth" to crush debris, they also have a hook inside their jaw to reel in pieces of stone to break apart.

Lurkstriders, large four-legged Lesser Cores that carried precious materials and Volt Crystals in and out of the Quarry. Once the Infection started, it was fitted with weapons to defend itself if needed. It's essentially a walking cargo ship, just with energy weapons.

Although the Quarry remained at peace, they underestimated the Infection...

Oblivious to Volt Quarry's workers, the Infection began digging tunnels into the mountain. After a while, they managed to break through, even if they're still weak from the Volt Crystals, they just needed one victim.

Why? Because all of the machines in Volt Quarry has special bodies that can withstand the Volt Crystals' electrical properties. Even the simplest of Lesser Cores, like a singular, helpless maintenance robot.

Once it is infected, the Quarry is doomed...

And doomed it is.

The Infection spread silently through the tunnels of the Quarry, the machines inside it still oblivious to what's happening.

And then it happened, the infected machines stopped... and turned on their former allies.

The Battle of Volt Quarry has begun.

Emergency signals were sent to the rest of civilization that's resting behind the Quarry.

A simple yet unexpected message, "The Infection managed to find a way inside. We'll hold the line, do not send help..."

"...The Quarry is doomed."

Bubblemounds purposefully popped their own bubbles, dropping Volt Crystals and creating an explosion of electricity, destroying machines. But soon enough, they were infected because of their stationary position and limited attacks. Only leaving empty bubbles and unused Volt Crystals.

Drillers began drilling through hordes of infected machines, digging tunnels for escape routes, and intentionally collapsing certain sections to halt the Infection, even if it meant sacrificing themselves. Once infected, they began hunting for uninfected machines, popping out of the ground to ambush victims.

Wiremaws crushed infected Lesser Cores with their jaw, although they can only target smaller machines. Inevitably became infected and began ambushing targets by hiding on top of ceilings or waiting patiently in the walls. They use their hooks to reel in the uninfected, securing their fate.

Lurkstriders became the center of the battlefield, being the only Lesser Cores with multiple weapons, they became absolute units. They also protected helpless machines in their cargo bays. But once one is infected, the rest began falling. The infected Lurkstriders began targeting its former allies, a terrifying sight in battle. It also carries the Infection with it, being heavily armed mobile carriers.

The Volthearts and Voltstrikers were the few machines that lasted for hours, days even, guarding paths and choke points using their electrical powers. But the overwhelming amount of infected machines inevitably caused their downfall.

Everyone thought that the Quarry was invincible, but they forgot a fundamental rule in war... Never underestimate your enemy.

Long ago, civilization was still in it's "primitive" form... Until the discovery of the Core Crystal.

Before finding the miraculous mineral, they still used standard energy sources like electricity, solar, nuclear, and many more.

The Core Crystal was a surprisingly good source of energy, more efficient and less dangerous than the others.

It was immediately integrated into society to power entire cities and even more technologies. Things that weren't available before was now being made because of the Core Crystal.

After further research, scientists discovered that the Core Crystal has another property... mind transferring.

Many were skeptical, some were intrigued, and through countless experiments, the first Greater Core was made.

There's two types of Core robots, Greater Cores and Lesser Cores (borrowed this idea from a theory I made, here's the post if you want to see it: https://www.reddit.com/r/CoreBound/s/bYmRy9sMtz)

Greater Core robots has a Core Crystal with a human mind transferred inside of it.

A hull with a Greater Core can control the hull it is in while having the consciousness of it's past body (aka the human it once was).

Their main bodies consisted of maneuverable and modular hulls, like Crawlers, Drivers, Tanks, Dashers, etc.

Lesser Cores are essentially AI cores, they can think and even have the same level of consciousness because of the Core Crystal but they were artificially made by Greater Core robots and living beings.

They're in the lower part of the Core hierarchy, often used for labor and other essential tasks. Therefore, automation and efficiency drastically increased.

Their bodies were more specific than the Greater Cores, since they're essentially the workforce of civilization.

This era was called the Age of Cores.

Peace lasted for centuries, no massive conflict happened during that time since they have a new philosophy, war is part of their old self, a nonsense human-driven motive.

They're something new now, they chose this body, there's no point to doing it if you're just gonna repeat your past mistakes, right?

At first, it allowed for a more peaceful life, newer generation Greater Cores didn't experience such unnecessary destruction and the ancient Greater Cores choose to stay silent.

But it backfired once the Infection arrived...

(Origin time! :D)

An ancient "virus" was slowly coming back, a now scattered disease that once fed off the Core Crystals' mind properties.

It all started when an unfortunate mining Lesser Core was wandering an unexplored part of a Core Crystal mine.

After wandering for a while, it finally found a decent vein of the crystal, but something felt... off.

Its color has a subtle red glow around it, the Lesser Core didn't pay attention to it though and began extracting the Core Crystals.

Little did the Lesser Core know, one of the last pockets of the Infection was feeding on the Core Crystal vein, hence the red aura.

It unknowingly brought back the Infection to the main processing hub for Core Crystals, but it already began infecting the Core of that mining Lesser Core, slowly twisting it...

At first, the symptoms were subtle, pausing in the middle of work, twitching body movement, the Greater Core inspectors viewed it as a bug in the Lesser Core's programming.

And after a few days, the Lesser Core was fully infected... but it's not alone.

The Infection began spreading inside the processing hub, including the Lesser Cores and all the processed and raw Core Crystals.

Within a week, the facility went quiet, the Greater Core that was inspecting the place that day noticed the silence.

When he stepped out his room, all the infected machines stared at the Greater Core, but instead of their normal blue color... They had red glowing glares directly aimed at the inspector.

Before the Greater Core can react, the Infection attacked the inspector, destroying him and continuing the silence.

The Infection has learned a new vessel... and the rest of civilization is next.

And that's the introduction to my AU! (In a post-sense, I'm not making this into a story lol)

Name recommendations are still available so feel free to give your ideas :D

Basically, I remake the world of Corebound (lore only, like the Infection, changing the enemies' functions, etc. and not gameplay) with my own vision and using the base game as reference.

I have many placeholder names like "Corebound: Redux/Reimagined/Remake/etc." but those feel too short and not catchy enough.

I'm looking for short phrases and titles, something like "Corebound: The Age of Cores" (this one might be enough, although I want to hear your name ideas to see which is better).

All opinions are welcome :)

First, what's Operation Gardenview?

Gardenview Educational Center & Museum shuts down shortly after the "Malfunction" incident, leaving the Toons all alone inside the once lively facility.

A few years have gone by and the US government has now turned it's gaze upon Gardenview. Seeking out the mysterious substance "ichor" after finding multiple cases of illegal smuggling of the substance.

After meticulous planning, they send in Special Agents such as the FBI, a SWAT team, and a detective to investigate the Gardenview facility to try and uncover it's secrets.

Appropriately named, Operation Gardenview.

(Still a WIP btw)

Onto my question, how do I make it "realistic" while still being suspenseful?

Normally, there would be tons of research done before infiltrating a facility or building but I want the reveal that the Toons are actually still alive.

That's where the problem comes in, if it was realistic and they already spied on the Gardenview facility, then the "Toons still being alive" reveal wouldn't be plausible, so how??

It irritates me that I can't think of anything to cover this plot hole (or realism hole?) 😭