The invasion has begun. They are among us. Alien creatures. Some of them look like you. Some of them look like your worst nightmare. One thing's for certain, though. They're not going away anytime soon.

We were too busy watching the skies to notice we were being invaded. We should've been looking sideways, at alternative dimensions to our own. For centuries - millennia, even - there have been rips in the dimensional wall that separates our own reality from all those other competing worlds that occupy the same space and time. Until now these were tiny rips, letting through only the occasional fantastical creature. The phenomenon we call 'ghosts', UFO sightings, those myriad stories of sea monsters, the Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster, we now know that they were all examples of creatures that somehow made their way through the dimensional rift.

For the past forty years the number of creatures being sucked through these dimensional rips has increased. In the electronic age, many of these transdimensional beings ended up trapped in video games, toy things of us humans. But now these huge tears in the dimensional barrier have become gateways, enabling numerous creatures to enter our reality at will. These creatures have liberated those of their brothers and sisters ensnared in our video games, and have come looking for us.

Not only that. They've also brought their war with them.

It is a war that has lasted untold millennia. A war between two species of Noks, genetically disparate creatures whose evolutionary systems do not obey the same rules as ours. On the one side there are the Zykons, led by their Holy Family, upholders of the so-called 'True Faith'. On the other side there are the Sardarrians, led by their mysterious Autarch, rationalists who believe science will ultimately enable them to prevail in their seemingly never-ending struggle against the Zykons.

And in the middle of it all are all those weird and wonderful creatures who aren't on anyone's side. And that includes us humans.

Both the Zykons and the Sardarrians have been brought to our reality by their quest for the fabled Varkarl. The Varkarl is the ultimate weapon: an ancient force of unimaginable power that will assuredly bring whoever possesses it absolute victory over their enemies.

For a brief time the Sardarrians actually possessed The Varkarl, but their scientific knowledge did them little good when they tried to access its power. Thanks to a spy in the ranks of the Sardarrians, the Zykons were able to launch an attack on Zutra Major, the base where the Sardarrians were hiding The Varkarl. In the ensuing battle, many were killed amongst both Sardarrians and Zykons. Not only that, but The Varkarl managed to escape.

The Varkarl was able to escape, because The Varkarl is unlike any other weapon in the Multiverse. It is sentient, intelligent, and able to assume any form it chooses. It could be a sword, a table, a tree, even a person. And it might not even know its own identity.

Who knows what The Varkarl looks like? Who knows where The Varkarl went? Perhaps The Varkarl itself doesn't even know.

One thing is certain, though: whoever controls The Varkarl will win this war. They just have to find it and convince it to work for them. Which might be easier said than done.

In the meantime, the Noks are gonna come calling on you. Some of the Noks will tell you the truth, some will tell you lies, some will want to befriend you, some will want to kill you. The more Noks you collect, the more you'll understand.

Nok, Nok. Here they come.