《IPAT3 MEGA-POST》
The worlds are managed by the Interplanetary Protection Agency of the Third Ring (IPAT3).
The IPAT3 has 4 divisions:
IPAT3-1: Humans
IPAT3-2: Minor meta-humans
IPAT3-3: Stronger meta-humans up to planet destroyers
IPAT3-4: Planet destroyers and stronger.
All of the IPAT3 organizations are managed by the Controller of the Third Ring, colloquially known as the Controller.
Think of IPAT3 like a shitty government. The IPAT3-1 and IPAT3-2 are chronically underfunded, their agents stretched thin.
Most people and minor meta-humans who exist in divisions one and two don't even know what the IPAT3 is, as the IPAT3 does not make itself known to them.
Think of the IPAT3-3 as the middle class. It's a very large amount of people with multitudes of powers. Bellamy and Temperance exist in this layer. Most DC or Marvel superheroes and villains would exist in this layer.
Think of the IPAT3-4 as galaxy destroyers, people with the power to end entire civilizations in a snap. They are extremely powerful, and most of the power/resources IPAT3 has goes toward this layer.
It should be noted that the IPAT3 is notoriously cruel. Not only are many unaware of their surveillance and the organization as a whole, but they also mistreat their agents and anyone who dares stand up to them.
The IPAT3 has two classifications within each division: volatile and stable. These classifications are never explicitly defined and are utilized against those whom the IPAT3 oppose. Temperance is labeled as volatile, as is Freddie.
The IPAT3 also has a way of dealing with criminals. Typically, they will take over in doling out justice to those deemed division three or higher. The IPAT3 has a machine that can allow people sentenced to a crime serve their entire sentence in mere seconds, at least for them. The person sentenced, however, will experience the full length of the sentence and come back entirely changed. There have been people who served thousand-year sentences in only a matter of seconds to those on the outside.
Similarly, since the machine operates on someone's mind, they can torture the person from within however they see fit without leaving any visible marks or scars, meaning they cannot be tried and convicted for cruel and unusual punishment. Even if they could be, it's not like anyone would actually try. The IPAT3 controls everything and everyone.
Temperance serves a five-year sentence via the machine after being caught with some other Disciples during a mission that all of them were unaware was a setup.
Bellamy gets charged with knowingly harboring a criminal and gets a deal made; however, he then becomes an IPAT3 agent in lieu of serving a sentence in what is essentially hell.
Bellamy, in his infinite wisdom, does not read the fine print of this deal and is now an IPAT3 foot soldier for life, basically. He signed an agreement, forcing him to stay on the IPAT3-controlled planet in the barracks with the rest of the IPAT3 agents. The agreement also states that he may no longer associate with any criminals tried by the IPAT3 or the justice system on their home planet, meaning Bellamy just lost his home, most of his friends, and his sister.
Temperance reemerges from her sentence a changed woman and finds her brother gone, a note left behind on her bed detailing what happened to him, not even from him, but delivered on IPAT3 letterhead. All of his things are still in his room, untouched.
The IPAT3 has been steadily trying to improve its image for years, and its most recent venture has been creating a mentorship program for divisions three and higher. This means all members of the IPAT3-3 and upward must either A) be IPAT3 agents or B) get assigned a mentee. You must be at least 25 years old to receive a mentee, and you and your mentee must be of the same classification as you. This means Temperance has a mentee classified as volatile, and Bellamy does not have any such mentee.
There is only one problem with this. There are already a limited number of volatile mentees, and it doesn't help that the IPAT3 organization recognizes Temperance, her wife (Sofia), and her associates as criminals, meaning she has limited access to mentees. And since she can only mentor other volatile subtypes, her options are extremely limited, so she gets the toughest mentee of the bunch, or so she thinks.
For all intents and purposes, her mentee (Freddie) is a normal girl. She’s 16 and has no incidents on her record. When Temperance questions the IPAT3 about this, they tell her that her mentee was labeled volatile just recently after an accident she had. The girl is permanently scarred, both physically and emotionally. The girl was moved to a school in her own universe (Nevermore) that takes care of students like herself, but given the fact that the IPAT3 had to respond to the incident, they have ruled her as volatile for the rest of her life, essentially dooming her to the same fate Temperance has.
This angers Temperance. A child has an accident, and she is labeled a failure. She does not tell her mentee of this; in fact, she does not explain much to her mentee about herself at all. Her mentee does not know of the things she does, does not know of her stays in both the IPAT3 prison or in a prison on her planet, does not know of the Disciples, does not know of her friends or acquaintances and their crimes, none of it. To her mentee, Temperance is just a gruff older woman with a hell of a backstory that she won’t share much of. Her mentee likes her regardless of that, though.
The kid is sweet, naive, and a force for good, and Temperance worries she may corrupt her, or she may dislike her when she finds out her true nature. For fucks sake, she basically worships at their feet.
The name of the IPAT3 planet is Vires, meaning men or troops of men (REAL LIFE WRITER'S NOTE: thank you to my lovely wife for the name of this planet <3<3<3). Colloquially, this planet is called Virus.
Virus is a really boring planet without much to do on it. It has IPAT3 run bars, IPAT3 bases, hospitals, roads, grocery stores, you name it. Everyone who lives on Virus is employed by the IPAT3. The only people allowed on Virus are the people the IPAT3 employs. Virus is an extremely insular planet.
The IPAT3 itself is set up like a standard militaristic dictatorship. There is a military in which some people specialize, and others are foot soldiers. There is a small and powerless government that makes minor decisions on minor things like uniform policy and the like. There is no one else even close to as powerful as the Controller, who has the entire IPAT3-controlled galaxy under his fingertips.
The IPAT3 does not make allies. Other enemy territories of comparable size do not attack IPAT3-controlled planets as long as IPAT3 allows them to keep their own planets. There's also the mutually assured destruction of it all.
The IPAT3-4 division is not unique to the IPAT3, nor is the way they use classified IPAT3-4s. The other planets have similar divisions, with similarly meaningless and stupid names and similar purposes.
The IPAT3-4 division uses classified IPAT3-4s as nuclear-grade weapons, culling entire galaxies if they deem it necessary. Every large dictatorship in all of space-time has a few uniquely named IPAT3-4s.
The IPAT3 manipulates its IPAT3-4s, molds them, and grooms them from birth to become the perfect weapon; they fatten the lamb for slaughter (REAL LIFE AUTHOR HERE AGAIN!!! THANK YOU TO MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE FOR THE BANGER OF A LINE!!!).
The IPAT3 scrapes most of its foot soldiers, targeting vulnerable people from the planets they control. This is how Bellamy became an IPAT3 agent; they lied to him and gave him what seemed like a golden ticket. They target kids in schools who may not have another option, they grab kids from rural areas, they take prisoners, the homeless, the poor, anyone they can grab.
It's still never enough. The IPAT3 and other dictatorships within all of space-time find other unclaimed, uncolonized planets and crush them under their thumb. If the IPAT3 determines that they want something from your planet, they will burn the entire thing down to get what they want.
The IPAT3 doesn't need allies because it doesn't need resources. It grabs and devours everything within reach and manipulates its citizens to fall right into its open maw. The IPAT3 spans endlessly into the abyss; an exponential amount of soldiers are created every day for it to consume.
The IPAT3 has a division within its military known as the red team. The red team is a subsection of foot soldiers that traverse extremely dangerous situations. The red team is denoted by a simple red square with a red "X" through it on the lapels of their uniform. Being on the red team is essentially being put on a suicide mission. It should be noted that the red team is made up entirely of individuals classified as volatile. The IPAT3 treats being on the red team as an honor, meaning there is a sort of pride every agent has for the red team, a certain yearning to take their place.
That yearning is ironic considering that the IPAT3 needs no publicity. They don't advertise themselves, they don't need a positive presence, they don't need good publicity, they simply get whatever it is they want, no need to pretend. There are no military dogs for photoshoots, no sexy military men calendars, nothing at all.