Sorry For The Lore Dump - Blog Posts

Okay so there's this dp x dc tumblr post about the JL finding the Ghost King's family tree or something and lots of misunderstandings happening but I can't find it anymore and would be grateful if someone would send it to me... Anyhow I was inspired by it and this is the result!

Also on ao3 if you wanna check it out there!

The Family Tree

"So you're telling me this is just a family tree?", Green Lantern asked with a frown on his face.

Bruce could see Constantine's eyes twitching at that question. As always, leave it to Hal Jordan to annoy people.

"This isn't just anything", the sorcerer said with narrowed eyes. "It's a Class-X magical artifact. If this thing is used as a focus for a ritual, the magnitude of magical energy would rise by at least 80 factors. For those of you non-magical or unfamiliar with magic, that's fucking huge."

Beside him Zatanna nodded, her gaze still fixed on the ancient manuscript. She hadn't taken her eyes off the scroll for more than a minute since she got to the Watch Tower and first saw it spread out on the containment room table. Constantine was the same. Captain Marvel was not present, working along with Superman, Hawkgirl, and Aquaman on a case, but his reactions have always been dissimilar from his magical colleagues, so his case might be anywhere between staying the hell away from it to trying to inhale it.

It was clear to Bruce that Zatanna coveted it, but was sensible and cautious enough to stay away from it. Constantine had no sense so he was a tossup. From where he was standing between Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter, the Gotham vigilante resolved to keep an eye on the two magicians. They most likely won't try to steal the artifact, considering the heavy dose of 'not messing with that thing' overshadowing the desire to possess it, but the scroll itself might be enchanted to encourage covetous feelings on those nearby. It wouldn't be the first time. Better safe than sorry.

It was Diana that stepped up towards the two JL Dark members to seek more clarification. As both a Demigod and as someone familiar with magic, she was usually the one taking point on such issues.

She gestured to the scroll innocently sitting inside the runic circle the two mages had constructed around it. "You have told us that the artifact is not destructive, that it is merely a record, and that the information it contains is not a spell, or a runic arrangement, or a magic circle. You have also told us that the strange energy readings coming from it are mostly due to the material it's made out of than any catastrophic sorcery enchanted into it. You have at last decoded it as a record of a family tree. Yet it is dangerous, a Class-X relic as you've said. Given all this information, I suppose the correct question to ask here is this: why is a family tree capable of raising magical energy output by 80 factors?"

The two magicians looked at each other. Zatanna finally pried her eyes away from the scroll and faced the room.

"Magic is a force that simultaneously has laws but at the same time adheres to none. It's confusing to explain but for the time being just keep that in mind."

She walked to the center of the room, followed by Constantine, visibly trying to collect her words. Bruce prepared himself for a complicated explanation and activated another one of the batsuit's recorders. He felt the urge to sigh, for a supposed unchained force, Magic was needlessly complex at times, and practically incomprehensible to non-magicals.

At the front, Zatanna took a deep breath and began.

"As you know there are multiple dimensions. But magical dimensions come under a different category. Depending on the overall magical potential of a particular magical dimension, we call it the World State Stable Thaumaturgical Output Capacity, we can classify these dimensions in grades and levels, as either higher or lower, with relation to each other. These levels are dependent on a multitude of variables like space, time, gravity, Events, Proximity, etc and as such are non-linear, and unfixed. That's the first thing."

Bruce could practically see the capitals on the last two. Looks like they would need to hold another meeting to clarify a lot of these concepts. Seeing the dawning of lost expressions on some of the members however, Bruce mentally amended that to many future meetings.

Zatanna continued. "Magical objects from higher dimensions become stronger in lower ones. The inverse is also true. This is all in relation to the Overture and the same polarity orientation of course but we don't need to get into that now-"

On the contrary Bruce thought they really needed more explanation on all of that.

"-In simple terms, a child's toy from a higher dimension could become the focus for an apocalyptic ritual in a much lower dimension, while an apocalyptic artifact from a lower dimension might as well be paperweight in a sufficiently higher one. There are ways around it, but if those methods are not implemented, then this is how it generally goes. The larger the level difference, the higher the power."

Now that wasn't concerning at all. Bruce really needed to update his contingency plans regarding magic.

Constantine continued from where Zatanna left off, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"The second thing is that when it comes to magic, things that are indefinable or unquantifiable become definable and quantifiable. Stuff like love, hate, happiness, despair, fate, necessity, authority? All measurable. Not always needed of course, But definitely possible and frequently used in a variety of magical fields."

The sorcerer leaned against a nearby chair. "One such thing is Significance. The magic contained in true names for instance is mostly based on significance. A true name is significant to you, its a doorway to your soul, and therefore it holds power. Significance is also what we call a positive, additive factor in magic. In the absence of interfering variables, significance as a quantity is directly proportional to magical output. In other words-"

"-the more significant an object or an event, the higher the magical energy output, and consequently higher the magical power", J'onn finished. He looked towards the scroll. "The information recorded on it, the family tree as you've said, valuable in significance, most likely in terms of whose family it's a record of. In addition, the artifact is from a higher dimension with relation to ours, and that has a cumulative effect."

"Yeah exactly", said Constantine with a raised eyebrow. "Which means that if that hypothetical toy Zatanna mentioned? If that happened to be important enough, like a first toy, or a cherished gift or something like that, its significance increases, its potential increases, and in the right hands, or in the wrong hands really, that potential could be harnessed at a lower level."

There was a bout of thoughtful silence as they absorbed all of the information.

But Bruce felt as if he had been quiet enough and took the chance to ask a question of his own. "You mentioned something called the Overture, and polarity orientation. What do they mean?"

Constantine just sighed. "For fuck's sake Batsy those things aren't really important to the discussion..."

Bruce just stared.

..."Fine", the mage said in defeat. "There are many names for it, the Overture, Exordium, Legerdomain, Nascence...but the most accepted two are the Beforebirth, and the Womb. It's not a something as much as it's a someplace, but then again it's not really a place either. Simply put it's the birthplace of Magic, where it all began and all that. It can't be accessed without the Key and that's been lost for a long time. It's actually a mission for many magicals to find it you know? A holy quest for a lot of them. Some of them are straight up crazy though."

Bruce field that information safely away. Figure out a plan to combat fanatic magicians trying to find the birthplace of magic for sinister reasons. "And polarity?"

"Well", Zatanna began, "its how magic is classified according to the nature of...magic? Or rather the essence? It's hard to put in mundane terms...Anyhow broadly speaking there are two main polarities, the Obverse, and the Reverse."

For a moment, she struggled with the explanation before brightening, seemingly having found an idea.

"Picture a number line, but like on the y-axis! Zero is the Overture, Obverse dimensions are the positive number side, and Reverse dimensions are the negative numbers! The higher up the obverse dimension, the larger its magical output! Similarly, the lower down the reverse dimension, the higher its magical output."

Bruce had hardly parsed through that when their resident speedster spoke up.

"Guys", the red clad hero said, "I feel like we missed the obvious follow up question after Ollie over here...like I feel like this is important, but where exactly is the scroll from?"

As one everyone turned towards the artifact.

Constantine grimaced and Zatanna winced. They looked at each other as if asking who wanted to bite the bullet. Finally it looked as if Constantine lost. The sorcerer cursed under his breath.

"Well which dimension is the scroll from?", asked Wonder Woman.

Constantine took what looked like a fortifying breath.

"It's from the Infinite Realms."

Silence.

"What?", the Green Lantern asked intelligently.

"It's from the Infinite Realms. As in Infinite. As in end of the figurative fucking line, number line whatever!"

Everyone stared at the magicians as understanding slowly dawned.

There was what was essentially a magical nuke in the Watch Tower.

"Now", began Martian Manhunter, "this is unfortunate".

Poolverine, at the end of the world.

Wade: Hey, Wolvie~!

Logan: Wade, I swear to god - if you ask me to repopulate the world with you one more time, I’ll-

Wade: Is that a no? :(

Cropped version:

ITS DONE!! It took forever but it was worth it :D I drew this for my half-baked poolverine au! It’s kind of a post-apocalyptic time skip, and it’s based on 616 Wade and Wolvie, so not from the Poolverine movie >•< I’m thinking of maybe doing a couple more pieces of them in this au :D

AU lore dump/intro (TL;DR at the end):

It’s been decades (maybe even centuries - who’s keeping track?) since civilisation collapsed, and there’s little left but ruins and bones. Shattered buildings, once tall and steady, litter the skyline.

By all accounts, it’s the end of the world.

And yet, Wade Wilson and Logan Howlett still live on. Their healing factors, although not as fast as they once were, still refuse to let them die. Everyone, and everything, they had once known though, is long gone. Taken by the collapse or just the quiet passing of time. But they’ve managed to find each other, and they’ve made it work.

Right after the collapse, Logan spent months alone, furious and hurting at the loss of the people he’d never been able to admit he cared for. He never stopped moving, tracking faint scent trails across near-empty countries, looking for someone, anyone, that he had known before. Looking for those that he didn’t yet know were alive or dead. ‘Ro, Kurt, Laura, Scott - anyone. Well- anyone but Wade Fucking Wilson.

Logan tries getting rid of Wade for a while after they meet. He yells at him, stabs him, threatens him - but Wade clings on like a damn limpet. A loud, overly affectionate limpet. And for the next few weeks, Logan does not know silence. Wade follows him everywhere.

Eventually, Logan just gives up and stops trying to abandon him in a cave somewhere. He even starts sharing his food and water when it becomes clear that Wade has the self-preservation skills of a newly born puppy. And now that he’s not actively trying to lose Wade, Logan starts noticing something weird’s going on with him. More so than usual, anyway. Sometimes he’ll just stop mid-sentence, confused, unsure of what he was talking about or what he was doing. Or he’ll miss a step while walking, and look around like he’s not sure when he’d gotten here. (Think Wade in the Deadpool and Cable comics prior to Nate using his funky telepathic powers to make it better). He asks Wade about it, and gets a messy answer about regenerative healing factors, cancer, and ‘people who keep fucking about with his brain cells’. Logan chalks it up to what happened in the collapse - no one got out of that unscathed.

Once it’s clear that it’s not something Logan can fix with his claws or his tools, he stops asking. Instead, he compensates. They make it work. Logan gets good at giving Wade the rundown of what’s happened that day when Wade forgets, and dragging him back when he wanders off. And Wade knows to pull Logan out of his thoughts when he notices his Wolvie being a bit too broody and standoffish. Wade understands what Logan’s lost, why he’s still looking so desperately for the ones he loved. Wade had lost his own people, though he has no reason to search like Logan. You can’t look for someone you’ve already buried.

And so Logan and Wade keep travelling. Weeks turn into months, months turn into years, and years turn into decades. The little outposts of survivors that they come across get sparser and sparser, until they disappear completely. Green starts taking over shattered concrete and brick, and the rubble of cities gets covered by a layer of moss and brush. Animals begin settling in on top of the remains of what was once human, and it becomes easier to think that maybe people had never walked the earth at all.

And soon, it becomes clear. They’re the only ones left.

TL;DR: A ‘would you love me if I was the only man left on earth’ situation but it’s not hypothetical.