Inevitable (Species)

*“There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before...”*
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

The **Inevitables** are a race of immortal beings that exist outside of time on another plane of reality whose purpose is to observe the time stream and ensure nothing is done to alter it. They possess books containing everything that has ever been, everything that is and everything that ever will be.

Inevitables are capable of traveling through time and manipulating it in small ways, allowing them to heal near-instantly and stop time entirely in over small areas, making them appear to be moving faster than the eye could see.

Inevitables are very wise and intelligent creatures with an unbending attitude toward laws and traditions. They do not believe anything in their books can be changed. This hardline attitude and fatalistic approach to the universe make them arrogant and surprisingly short-sighted at times.

## History

At the dawn of Creation, after the creation of Heaven and Hell, the equal planes of Mechalus and Limbo were created. In Mechalus were created the Inevitables, Keepers of Time and Knowledge. The First Inevitable, known as Akum, looked into the Time Vortex, seeing past, present and future. He recorded all he saw and disappeared, leaving behind the **Book of Akum**, which has within it the knowledge and laws that all Inevitables would live by.

From then on, the Inevitables have taken it as their duty to ensure time passes as the Book of Akum dictates. This observation is marked by a Law of Non-Interference, which dictates that an Inevitable will not interfere with the timeline except in the most dire of circumstances.

They also observe the movements of **the Planes** and the actions of other extraplanar beings, but they do so with a level of disinterest, as they know that no matter what, things will turn out as the Book of Akum decrees.

## Breeding

Inevitables do not breed. New Inevitables come into existence occasionally, but this is rare and usually seen as a portent or omen.

## Habitat

Inevitables dwell in the extraplanar realm of Mechalus; a Law-infused realm of perfect geometry where everything functions like clockwork.

### Diet

The Inevitables do not have a need to eat, as their bodies are self-sustaining due to their fourth-dimensional natures.

## Characteristics

Inevitable society is rigidly structured and adheres to a strict hierarchy, and rules and laws are held in higher esteem than morality. The structure of their world, their lives, their very being adheres to strict laws, rules and obeys sacred geometry.

In much the same way, Inevitables obey their laws and adhere to structure with no variation. The thought that the Book of Akum could be wrong is ridiculous, obviously.

Despite their connection to the timestream, and their individual Books, Inevitables are not omniscient beings, although their knowledge is extensive. Their power exists from their connection to the Time Vortex, which is a fourth-dimensional energy.

They tend to be stoic, emotionless and arrogant. They often view humans as lesser creatures unworthy of much care or worry outside of their role in the timestream. Inevitables also do not have names. Instead, they each have numbers, in the language of their people, which indicate their role in society.

### Renegade Inevitables

Though it has only happened twice, it *is* possible for Inevitables to go rogue. In doing this, the Inevitable disregards the laws of their people, interfering and using their abilities to affect change in the timestream and reality itself.

The only punishment that Inevitables are known to employ is imprisonment in **The Room Without Doors**.

### Appearance

In their natural forms, Inevitables appear to be humanoid beings with eyes, no nose, mouth or ears made entirely of starlight or cosmic energy. They are clad in long robes of bright colors. The different colors signify the Inevitable's station. In addition, the most high-ranking Inevitables wear decorative headdresses. Their voice in this form sounds like the planets moving or stars burning.

On Earth, an Inevitable appears like any normal human. However, their eyes glow with cosmic light when they wish for it to and they do not bleed; instead, it appears that same sort of light or energy is escaping from a wound.

### Powers & Abilities

Inevitables are immensely powerful creatures, rivaling even angels in power. They are not widely known throughout the universe but those who are aware of them understand the cosmic terror of their power.

* **Age Alteration:** An Inevitable can warp the timestream around an individual, either accelerating or decelerating the rate at which they age. This can cause a human to age by decades in seconds, or it could cause them to age seconds in decades.
* **Alien Physiology:** Even in human form, an Inevitable possesses a body different from that of a human. They have no hearts, blood or scent of any kind. This also means they cannot be killed through force of injury or trauma.
* **Blind Sight:** An Inevitable can perfectly perceive their surroundings even without the use of their eyes.
* **Cell Death:** The touch of an Inevitable is able to destroy cell activity in mortals, which renders them unable to heal naturally. This effect can be reverse with magical healing.
* **Chronokinesis:** The ability to manipulate the passage of time, including stopping time, speeding it up or traveling through time. They can use this ability to speak in secret, temporarily remove beings from the timestream as a form of punishment and they can create "Time Skips", forcing a being to re-live a brief period of time over and over again indefinitely. They can also bring humans with them when they do this or even send humans through time.
* **Cosmic** **Knowledge:** Due to their Books and knowledge of time, Inevitables have extensive knowledge of the universe and its workings.
* **Disintegrate:** Inevitables can cause a mortal to age so rapidly that they turn to dust.
* **Enhanced Strength:** Inevitables are incredibly strong; on par with angels, at least.
* **Foresight:** An Inevitable is constantly aware of the immediate future, making it almost impossible to surprise an Inevitable or catch them off-guard.
* **Gentle Repose:** An Inevitable's touch can cause a deady body to cease decomposing.
* **Idyllic Touch:** Much like an angel, an Inevitable's touch can send a mortal into a deep slumber.
* **Immortal:** Inevitables cannot die from age or natural causes; they are eternal creatures, immune to Time, Death Effects, Disease, Mind-Effects, Necromancy, Paralysis, Poison and Magical Sleep.
* **Lawful Dictum:** An Inevitable can dispel a chaotically-aligned Outsider with a word.
* **Omnilinguism:** All Inevitables can communicate with any creature on the Material Plane.
* **Order's Wrath:** By focusing their fourth-dimensional energy, they can unleash a beam of three-dimensional, cosmic energy that is positively charged with lawful energy.
* **Reality Bending:** An Inevitable can fold reality in on itself, making it difficult to damage them in battle.
* **Revivification:** All Inevitables will revive within 24 hours of their deaths in Mechalus, unless they are permanently destroyed (see Weaknesses, below).
* **Share Memory:** By touching a human's temple, they can allow that human to view and experience their memories.
* **Superhuman Perception:** Inevitables can see creatures normally invisible to humans, such as Reapers. They can also physically see time flowing around them, which allows them to find important people, events and damages to the timestream that are in need of repair. They can also see the matter that humans are composed of and can identify minerals and other components in dirt and other compounds by tasting them.
* **Telekinesis:** Inevitables can affect their surroundings through sheer willpower.
* **Teleportation:** As 4th-dimensional beings, Inevitables can teleport to any place in the Material Plane that they wish. They can also teleport humans with a touch or bring them along with them when they teleport.
* **Temporal Immunity:** Inevitables are immune to time-based magic or psionic effects and they are not subject to timestream changes. That is to say, they remember the events of previous timelines in the event of a timestream alteration. For example, **Bentham** remembers and knows of **Jack the Ripper**, even though **Erica** and her friends unintentionally erased the Ripper from existence.
* **Unmaking:** If an Inevitable kills a mortal from the Material Plane, they are completely erased from the fabric of time. All memory of that person is gone and nobody can remember their part in major events in their lives.

### Weaknesses

#### Harming, Misleading, Banishing and Trapping

* **Anarchy Seals:** Inevitables cannot enter, see into or hear into an area protected by an Anarchy Seal.
* **Banishing Sigil:** Inevitables are susceptible to certain sigils that, when viewed, will banish them back to Mechalus.
* **Chaotic Weapons:** Any weapon or magical effect that is chaotically-aligned are lethal to Inevitables, leaving them with grievous wounds that take a very long time to heal and will result in scars. Decaptating an Inevitable with such a weapon would not kill them; they would reform from the Time Vortex in Mechalus, though the process would take some time.
* **Dwarf Star Alloy:** This extremely-rare metal distorts time. They cannot see or find creatures warded with Dwarf Stay Alloy, and a cage made of this metal could indefinitely hold an Inevitable on the Material Plane.
* **Extraplanar Wards:** Any effect or magic that can banish an Outsider will affect an Inevitable.
* **Room Without Doors:** Also known as the Void, this is the only place in existence from which an Inevitable could not escape. **Except for the one who did.**

#### Destroying

While the following list is not an exhaustive one, these are the only ways of truly destroying an Inevitable that are known:

* **Book of Akum:** If an Inevitable were to read the last page of their books, the resulting paradox would kill them.
* **Death's Scythe:** They're subject to the same rules of death that the rest of the universe is.
* **Plane of Pandemonium:** If an Inevitable were to set foot in the chaotic plane of Pandemonium, they would be torn apart by the resulting vortex of chaotic energy.

## Notable Inevitables

* Known Inevitables

 Uatu | Bentham