| “ | Now he understood. This was the purpose. Not the long survival of humankind into a dismal future of decay and shadows, the final retreat into the lossless substrate, where nothing ever changed or grew. The purpose of humankind - the first intelligence of all - had been to reshape the universe in order to bud others and create a storm of mind. We got it wrong, [...] By striving for a meaningless eternity, humans denied true infinity. But we reached back, back in time, back to the far upstream, and spoke to our last children - the maligned Blues - and we put it right. This is what it meant to be alone in the universe, to be the first. We had all of infinite time and space in our hands. We had ultimate responsibility. And we discharged it. We were parents of the universe, not its children. | „ |
| ~ Manifold: Time |
Summary
The Downstreamers, also known as The Old Ones after the collapse of their multiverse, are a hyper-posthuman civilization. Born in the "primal universe," they are the first and oldest race in Manifold, and are in fact the creators of said Manifolds and the descendants of humanity in a sense. They survived the heat death of their universe, seeking to expand their possibilities in regard to the creation of life, and so reached back in time to send messages to the 21st century, telling their ancestors, the "maligned Blues," of their plans to restructure the Manifoldverse.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 2-C | Low 1-A
Key: Downstreamers | Old Ones
Civilization Tier: Transcendent Civilization
Name: The Downstreamers, The Old Ones, The Ancestors from The Afterglow
Origin: Manifold
Gender: Varies, possibly Unknown (Individual Downstreamers are formerly human and retain their mental humanity upon ascension, but as beings of pure information, it is unknown if they still retain "gender" or not)
Age: More than 10^117 years old | Inapplicable
Classification: Hyperadvanced posthuman civilization, neutrino/quantum consciousness/informational beings | Abstract existence
Kardashev Level: Type VII
Population: Unknown
Territory: The entirety of existence
Technology/Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Immortality (Type 1), Abstract Existence (Type 1. The Downstreamers are informational beings[1] and a higher level of consciousness[2]), Large Size (Type 7. They are as vast as a galaxy[3]), Portal Creation & Dimensional Travel (Can create portals powered up by gravity fields, which act as a bridge between different time periods[4] and other universes[5]), Energy Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation, Black Hole Manipulation (They can manipulate black holes and draw energy from them[6][7]. Can perform "black hole coalescence" by moving and merging black holes in a hierarchy of more massive holes[8]), Matter Manipulation (Macro-Quantum. They can manipulate neutrinos to send signals to the past[9]. Their portals are powerful neutrino sources[10]. Can manipulate and shoot quark nuggets[11]), Time Travel (Can send quark nuggets through time[12]. Can create portals that act as a bridge between different time periods[13]), Magnetism Manipulation (Can create magnetic fields[14]), Sound Manipulation (Can create barriers that negate infrasound[15]), Transmutation (Can convert matter into something else, such as light[16]), Information Analysis, Power Mimicry, Duplication (Their time portals can analyze/store information and recreate it[17]), Information Manipulation (Types 1 & 2. The Downstreamers could feed the brains of certain children with information[18][19], making them smarter to the point of creating a language that transcends human language[20] in efficiency, as well as building a structure of infinite volume[21]. The Downstreamers can manipulate the information that defines an individual's existence[22]), Causality Manipulation (Can change events and rewrite history[23]), Spatial Manipulation & Time Manipulation (Can fold an infinite space within a finite structure[24]. Can make artifacts of "folded time"[25], as well as twist and bend spacetime like steel[26]), Void Manipulation (Can make things vanish into unreality/nonexistence with the sphere of unreality[27]), Power Bestowal (Turned Malenfant into a Downstreamer[28]), Telepathy (They can telepathically show visions of the past to people[29])
All previous abilities, plus Beyond-Dimensional Existence (Type 2), Dimensional Manipulation & Mathematics Manipulation (Created the Manifold, which contains worlds as described by logically consistent formal systems, such as Mathematics and Geometry[30]), Law Manipulation (The Old Ones "changed the rules" of the Manifold, allowing them to create infinite possibilities for both life and mind[31]), Teleportation & Probability Manipulation (Via Quantum Tunnelling[32])
Attack Potency: Low Multiverse level (Can effortlessly create abstract material with their thoughts which can withstand the combined energy of a thousand big bangs[33] per second. Similarly, they possess weapons capable of carving giant maws on a construct which is noted to be trillions of times bigger than our current observable universe. Capable of altering the fabric of time[34] in thousands of universes[35] including at least one 11-dimensional M-Theory[36] universe) | Low Outerverse level (The Old Ones are the creators of a mathematical superspace governed by subtle mathematical rules[37], which contains all logically possible universes as described by logically consistent formal systems, such as Mathematics and Geometry)[38]
Power Source: The entirety of existence
Industrial Capacity: Irrelevant
Military Prowess: Irrelevant
Notable Individuals: Reid Malenfant
Speed: Massively FTL+ (Their non-corporeal forms include a Causal Loop computer that essentially makes them know things before they happen, and they also possess FTL ships[39] with which to transport lesser races) | Infinite (Created the Red Moon, a construct that could travel through an infinite amount of possible universes within a finite scope of time through the use of phase-space engineering. Capable of easily changing the constants of reality to be able to travel in ways that cannot be described by human language, and may transcend the concept of movement itself)
Lifting Strength: Unknown | Immeasurable
Striking Strength: Unknown | Low Outerverse level
Durability: Low Multiverse level (Some Downstreamers, who don’t come from the "Time of Afterglow," are born from naked singularities.[40] They are capable of surviving even when exposed to such a naked singularity at close proximity. They can produce material strictly from their thoughts that can withstand the combined force of a thousand big bangs per second; said material is completely immune to any change in the laws of physics.[41] The Downstreamers as a whole were also fully capable of surviving the heat-death of a universe, though it is unknown to what degree they were weakened as a result of this), likely High Hyperverse level (Individual Pre-FVC Downstreamers are intangible neutrino/quantum consciousness/informational beings, which could survive the collapse of an infinitely-layered reality) | Low Outerverse level (Reached a new level of existence which was vastly superior to its previous incarnation, transcending the whole of known reality and the "infinite ensemble"[42] of possible universes that arranged due to the Manifold's expansion)
Stamina: Unknown | Infinite
Range: Interstellar (Pre-FVC Downstreamers are described to be a light-year wide[43] in size) to Low Multiversal (Capable of enacting time-line alteration on at least 1000[35] non-causally connected universes,[44] and could set up Time Portals made of physics-warping material at will in at least 1000 universes) to Low Outerversal (They have access to the whole Manifoldverse) | Low Outerversal (Capable of controlling and initiating cosmic inflation[45] across the multiverse, in which universes are described as "mere bubbles of foam on an ocean")[46]
Standard Equipment: None notable
Intelligence: Nigh-Omniscient (Know how every possible[47] event in the universe will unfold down to the quantum level. Their "brains" are Causal Loop computers, a device which grants them infinite thinking and processing power. Could develop a language that transcends human language[48] in efficiency) | Nigh-Omniscient (The Old Ones are able to comprehend and manipulate the "infinite manifold" that encompasses all mathematical possibilities)
Weaknesses: Dependent on energy (Mainly from Black Holes). If they are present in a universe approaching heat death, their abilities take significantly longer to use, as they cannot collapse any black holes to sustain their abilities and technology. | None notable
Technology:
- Red Moon: A moon-sized construct that wanders through the Manifoldverse, transporting humans from different universes to empty ones. It can travel to an infinite number of universes in a finite amount of time through the use of phase space (higher-dimensional engineering). It can also affect probability through quantum tunneling.
- Refugium: A universe-sized construct built around cosmic strings, which is created as a shelter of sorts to all different kinds of organisms.[49] All sections have bubbles which are tailored to suit all kind of organisms’ needs.
- Planetarium: A simulation system whose purpose is to project a generated reality surrounding the solar system, which is undetectable by any means. It is a perfect simulation down to the quantum level, requiring more energy than a galaxy. It’s implied that this was just another experiment of the Downstreamers, resolving the Fermi Paradox in a certain universe by creating this false reality to protect humanity.
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Time Portals: Pre-FVC Downstreamers can materialize material of molded space-time out of their thoughts at will. The material can be used to time travel and for defensive purposes (It can withstand the force of a thousand big bangs[33] instantaneously, and is still intact even past the heat death of the universe. It can also deploy a field around selected area[41] which allow the Downstreamers to freely change the laws of physics inside it)
- Unreality Wave: Mixes all different possible states of a universe from phase space[50] until the universe is completely destroyed.
- Time-line Alteration: Allows the Pre-FVC Downstreamers to change time-lines[34] of at least 1000[35] different non-causally connected universes[44] at the same time.
- Transcendence: A transformation which allows the Downstreamers to transcend an infinitely-layered infinite multiverse after their Non-Corporeal form (Which was a neutrino/quantum consciousness/informational body was destroyed in the complete multiversal collapse. This form transcends all known existence)
- Cosmic Inflation: Produces seeds which grow into countless universes.[45] These universes are compared to bubbles in foam floating on an ocean.
- Existence Manipulation: The Old Ones can effortlessly change the rules of the entire Manifoldverse, allowing them to create infinite possibilities for both life and mind.
Notable Matchups
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
References
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Phase Space: The Gravity Mine
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 3
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 3
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 3
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 3
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 3
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 2
- ↑ World Engines: Creator - Part 5
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ World Engines: Creator - Part 5
- ↑ World Engines: Creator - Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ World Engines: Creator - Part 5
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Origin: Part 4
- ↑ Manifold Origin: Part 3
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 432
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 512
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 445
- ↑ Manifold Time, Part 2, p. 201
- ↑ Manifold Space , Chapter 10 , p. 160
- ↑ Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 476
- ↑ Phase Space , 'Refugium' , p. 555-556
- ↑ Phase Space , 'The Gravity Mine' , p. 756-758
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 460
- ↑ Manifold Origin
- ↑ Phase Space , 'The Gravity Mine' , p. 755
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Manifold Time, Part 2, p. 141
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Phase Space , 'Grey Earth' , p. 477 - 478
- ↑ Phase Space , 'The We Who Sing' , p. 738
- ↑ Manifold Time , Part 4 , p. 532-533
- ↑ Manifold Time: Part 4
- ↑ Phase Space, 'Refugium' , p. 574-582
- ↑ Phase Space , 'Touching Centauri' , p. 849
Discussions
| Discussion threads involving The Downstreamers |