Linelayer

Linelayers are Old Brethren who practice the discipline and trade of Linelaying; linking universes together through the Void.

History
The Linelayers began as a profession in the pre-Weave civilisations of the Old Brethren. Due to the size of the Timeless Eternities, communication was difficult between more distant universes within the Pool of Possibility. As the nascent civilisations of the Old Brethren spread throughout this multiverse, they became burdened by communications and logistics issues after several millennia of expansion. The primary method of communication between distant universes was Flickercasting, whereby pulses of their Terraforming field would send flickers of power into the Void. This method of communication becomes more unreliable at further distances, and information sent this way experienced distortion that scaled with distance. In order to somewhat combat these issues, a relay system was implemented, but ran into its own problems. Communication became akin to games of telephone, with gradual loss and distortion of information with each relay as a message was passed on. Before the Old Brethren completely cleared most of the Pool of Possibility, the Timeless Eternities were also home to deadly predators that roamed the Void, making travel hazardous anything less than the most heavily armed convoys.

In light of these issues, new avenues of research were pursued. Among the most successful of these ventures was the one headed by the Winter Primordial. The Primordial developed a method by which an Old Brethren could create a spatial tunnel through the Void via their terraforming fields, thereby directly linking one universe to another. This enabled a far more direct link between universes that greatly eased the logistical and communciations burdens that the nascent multiversal civilisation was experiencing. Old Brethren expansion accelerated, and within a few million years had a presence throughout the entire Timeless Eternities. As the Old Brethren turned their vision towards other, more distant realities, the initial expansion met with Transcends affiliated with the Weave. First contact was relatively peaceful with no threats exchanged, though tense relations would follow between the rising powers. For the period of 7348 to 14 923 FE, the two ascendant factions made political maneuvers against each other, eventually resulting in the Kordem agreement. This pact allowed the Weave Nodes to finally be built in the TImeless Eternities and linked the Pool of Possibility to the rest of the Weave. With the linking of the Weave Nodes in the Timeless Eternities and beyond, there was little need for the Linelayers and the profession quickly became obsolete.

After the profession's obsolescence, the discipline itself was kept alive as a somewhat popular hobby for Old Brethren, before it once again became useful during the Second Aeon War. Linelayers saw action in restoring communications and logistics to universes cut off from the Weave during the conflict. Having observed the effectiveness of the Linelayers, the profession was revived and used to reinforce connections between realities as a secondary measure. This measure was vital during the collapse of the Weave and the subsequent Scattering, as enough links existed for many survivors to flee doomed universes to more fortified ones and allow communcation between some realities.

The danger of the profession rose sharpy after the Weave's collapse, with the Void that the network occupied suffering heavy contamination from Tor's corpse and the prevalence of other roaming horrors. Casualties rose sharply for the those in the trade, as Linelayers grouped together into large organisations for security and to ensure the success of their operations. Where previously linkages could be performed by individual Brethren, post-collapse linkages require entire armed expeditions to ensure success. Even with the greater danger, business for the Linelayers has grown greater than ever due to their vital role in logistics and communications for the Weave Remnant.

Institutes
Organisations of Linelayers are divided into institutes. Each institute is stationed in a Pool of Possibility, with larger pools having multiple such institutes. Each institute is the sum total of the resources and manpower pooled for Linelayers in their regions, with larger institutes having greater numbers of Linelayers and more linkages to their name.

At the head of each institute is the Chief Architect, the Old Brethren responsible for the large scale planning of expeditions and maintenance of existing linkages. Directly underneath them are the heads of the Logistics and Cartography divisions, whom advise the Chief Architect on matters of resource allocation and route planning/exploration respectively. Further under the Cartography division are the various Field Divisions, whom are the field workers who undertake the actual Linelaying. Under Logistics divisions are various Transport and Maintenance divisions responsible for transport and maintenance for a routes.

Expeditions
When a new major route between a colony and a Living Mythos needs to be established, a Linelaying expedition is mobilised and sent for the task. Outside the actual Linelayers and their immediate retinue, each expedition comprises a sizeable security force made of Tor Harness users and Shardbearers provided by the Negentropic Union and those under the Linelayer's employment. Accompanying the security forces are support personnel and members of the Unlasting whom carry the necessary resources and are responsible for communications respectively.. These expeditions are sent into high risk areas where heavy resistance is expected.

Linelaying of minor routes is subject to much lesser resource allocation, with smaller divisions and often individuals performing Linelaying and the maintenance of routes. The payouts for these minor routes tends to be significantly higher per individual, but also poses high risk due to the lack of security and support.