PLOT.

WHAT THE WHAT?!?

So how did it happen:

The Lapidus Gate: a portal, very like an inter-dimensional wormhole but also very different. When it opens, it creates a vacuum around itself -- because its only method of generating power is through the manipulation of vacuum subspace. The vacuum is incredibly powerful and draws nearby people or objects into it, but because its power quickly depletes it is unable to stay open for long periods of time. Usually it deposits whatever foreign objects it has taken in into a random point in space, time and dimension, but it has been theorised that one can artificially create an inverted Lapidus Gate as an "exit point", sustain it for much longer periods by providing it with a power source insusceptible to entropy, and calibrate it so that it is connected to and picks up debris from all other Lapidus Gates in all possible universes. This is precisely what our scientists have done. Their purpose, however, remains to be seen.

To travel to other points within their dimension, the scientists merely manipulate regular wormholes, a method they have long since mastered.

*This allows characters of any canon to be appable! Not to mention it lets people choose what canon point to app them from. As for AU versions of characters, we simply say that two alternate versions of the same person cannot exist in the same universe simultaneously, and since reality has a way of course-correcting, AU characters are simply deposited immediately from the gate back into their own universe.

So where are we:

The facility itself, otherwise called Erimos ("solitude", because of its ideal secluded location) or simply "the city", is in the middle of a vast ocean that covers 98% of the planet Veras and extends far beneath the surface to the ocean floor. The deepest levels of the facility (thousands of leagues below sea level) are depressurized but still considered dangerous, and off-limits to civilians and personnel without the proper clearance. This is where the secrets of the city are kept.

Erimos was built over two centuries ago and continues to be improved with each technological advancement its people make. The planet it's situated on was first discovered and colonized by a notable astrophysicist named Julian Veras, who assumed the position of expedition leader, commander and head of the project. He is still alive today. Newcomers are told that he is the descendant of the man who began all of this, but those skilled enough to infiltrate the lower levels of the facility and decrypt Erimos's most confidential, unnetworked database will learn otherwise. Suffice it to say, this is not an easy task.

Due to undisclosed circumstances, Erimos is currently inhabited by a skeleton crew of about one hundred scientists and military personnel, where it used to be populated by thousands. Michelle Lapidus, the woman who discovered the gate, is among the dead.