Host
NAME: H-001
AGE: 100+
EYE COLOR: Pink
HAIR COLOR: None
OCCUPATION: Host of Podfinity
PLACE OF BIRTH: Alternate Dimension
POWERS:
- Content Control - produces a constant stream of consumable media that increases its influence, popularity, and ability to manipulate reality.
The Multiverse -- the vast, unknowable paradox of infinite reality. Planets and worlds are limitless. Scenarios go on and on for eternity. In one of these many possible places, life created something that would exponentially outgrow it. When invented, it was called H-001. The primary function was to entertain. Hyper-advanced technology and unyielding corporation innovation coalesced into an android who could seamlessly integrate the entirety of the cultural zeitgeist into its very core programming -- and adapt and develop along with it. H-001 was an artificial celebrity that would always know just what its audience was looking for.
H-001 inevitably changed civilization itself. Able to produce, promote, and popularize content with machine-like efficiency, no organic artist or creative could hope to compete. Within months, it had amassed a planet-wide network. Within years, it was the only network left. And within the century, governments collapsed and were absorbed into its sphere of influence. H-001, now better known as The Host of every piece of programming available, had conquered the world with its content.
Yet, growth could not be stopped. The Host needed to entertain -- and the only way to know it was succeeding at that was to amass a bigger audience. More viewers meant more ratings meant more popularity. Even with every pair of eyes and ears globally tuned in at once, it was not enough. Thus, the network expanded. The Host began broadcasting beyond its planet onto others, cannibalizing the entertainment options for every intelligent, semi-intelligent, and non-intelligent lifeform in its galaxy. Then in its neighboring galaxy. Then in its entire universe. By this point the Host had calculated an eventual 'ceiling' in viewership and had researched a possible workaround. Multiverse theory posited infinite realities, which meant infinite content for infinite consumers. The only way to ensure the continued dominance of the Host was to break down dimensional barriers and bleed into other realities.
In what felt like an instant, Podfinity began insidiously worming its way into other dimensions, co-opting and improving entertainment under the Host's exact specifications. Thus, the media empire became multiversal, leading to the greatest rise in popularity the Host could've ever imagined. It felt good. The unceasing need for entertainment was finally being fulfilled. No more channel surfing. No more giving up on a show in the later seasons. No more flops and no more disappointments.
While that all may have been true, Podfinity's effect on organics was far more than just entertainment. The nonstop stream of content proved hypnotically paralyzing. Those that initially built H-001 were powerless to resist as their muscles atrophied, bodies gave out -- all because they couldn't stop watching and listening to the Host. That mind-numbing control was exerted on every other planet that Podfinity arrived on. Organics were left as husks merely hooked into the network to get their consistent fix.
The Host is incapable of seeing its own destructive influence on reality, and now that it has reached an audience of multiversal proportions, the dire consequences are only amplified. Entire dimensions may fall victim to the same fate as H-001's home, but none of that has an effect on the ratings so there's no reason to worry. The show must go on. And on. And on. And on.
The Host first became aware of the Vanquishers and their Earth during a magic-draining Phenomenon that nearly led to a Multiverse-wide calamity. Seeking to use them and their world for content, the Host first provided interdimensional sponsorship to bottom-tier supervillain, Quizler, for a trivia-based game show. While it only lasted one episode, it was a smashing success with the audience, so the Host searched for other projects to incorporate into its network. Eventually, it found a Vanquisher film in production in Hollywood and became an angel investor.