It should be noted before we begin that these are my own theories based on what I could find on the web in various SLA sites. My main sources have been Sam Pay's Pythagorean Lair and Big Picture E-Zine (He is, as he says, FAR to good to us!), among others. Again, these are just my theories and anyone who wants to correct me or just debate and argue can send me an e-mail and let's talk.
i. Slayer, the Kilneck, and Senti
My theory is that Slayer came from an ancient and developed world where two races existed side by side, Slayer's unnamed race and the Kilneck. Slayer's people were the overseers, they ran the government and the businesses and everything else. They were the Eloi of H.G. Wells' Time Machine. The Kilneck were the Morlocks, only they were not cannibals. The Kilneck and their overseers used the Ebb in everyday life, for they understood its most basic principles. But the overseers became lax and excessive, and gave birth to something in the Ebb, a presence fed from their most base feelings and activities. Thus was Bitterness born. (I know it sounds like the Eldar in Warhammer 40K, but they're really the best analogy to my theory anyway- it makes sense, Slayer has referred to his race as being "weak" and getting what it deserved.)
Bitterness corrupted the world of Slayer and Intruder. He led the two species to their destruction, driving them mad and subverting them. Some he kept, including his first Monitor, an overseer named Walker. Slayer was off-planet with his Kilneck servants at the time of his race's destruction. He decided to do all he could to prevent Bitterness from taking over the universe and destroying all life. Thus was the Big Picture formed. Being incredibly farsighted and an amazingly astute businessman, Slayer formed his company, SLA Industries. He knew several things would be needed. First, the majority of the Conflict races would have to be eliminated, as they were all susceptible to Bitterness' corruption. He found that Humans were the most easily distracted and misled- if they didn't know of or acknowledge his existence, they couldn't be corrupted. But Slayer needed warriors, warriors capable of destroying whole races and free of the taint of Bitterness.
Thus was the Biogenetic Program formed. Intruder brought in the eldritch witch Senti, who knew the art of Deathwake, the basic principles of the Ebb. She created life, uncorrupted by Bitterness, based on Intruder's genetic code, and his kindred souls. Slayer was pleased to no end. The Stormers made short work of the other races, except those that were saved: the Humans, the Shaktar, the Wraith Raiders, and the Ebons.
Now, Slayer uses the Media and immense amounts of violence to keep the humans from knowing of Bitterness. The Shaktar's ethics and no-nonsense approach to their own religion keeps them relatively free of taint. The Wraith Raiders are survivors, and they see SLA as their best option. Ebons are Slayer's warriors against the Ebb Demons, for they can fight Bitterness and his minions on equal footing.
ii. The White and Bitterness
Bitterness exists on White Earth, and in the White itself. He is all that is negative personified. He exists to make people and their societies eat themselves from the inside out. But he cannot do that if they are not at least rudimentally aware of him. So now he wages war on Slayer and his oppressive SLA Industries. Bitterness corrupts, pure and simple. He acts through his puppets, who are controlled by his Monitors.
The first Monitor was Walker, an overseer from Slayer's planet. The Walker was a rejected member of society, and as such was a more than willing servant to Bitterness for the power he was granted, and for having his hand in the destruction of the world he despised. There are many other Monitors, all over Mort and the World of Progress. Other servants include Ebb-demon manifestations of other negative emotions. They are strange creatures that none can really know.
Cults provide willing fodder for Bitterness' campaigns against SLA Industries. Bitterness also uses the serial killers of Mort, recruited through the Monitors, as warriors and spreaders of chaos and despair. Slayer still turns this against him by turning them into cartoons and "the latest things." When a Serial Killer is corrupted by Bitterness, his or her eyes turn yellow. Bitterness has another tool though (in my opinion), and they are by far the worst, both because of their immense power and for the fact that Slayer doesn't even suspect them.
iii. The Truth of Necanthropes
Necanthropes are indeed a pinnacle in the evolution of the Ebon race. They are power personified. And most have been corrupted by Bitterness. This is why they are so hideous in appearance, why many are driven by strange perversions or go insane. But Bitterness is not the source of their power.
Necanthropes gain their newfound power from their immersion in The White. They are inundated with the Ebb, imparting phenomenal instincts and potential to them. But during this exhausting life and death struggle, they are approached by Bitterness, or Walker, who offer an easy way out. All the Ebon or Brain Waster has to do is swear fealty... And so their abilities, their nature as Ebb-beings is impregnated with an undetectable taint of Bitterness, masked in their already intense auras.
It is possible to escape the White without Bitterness, just harder. Kilneck and overseers had done so for centuries, which is why Slayer trusts his Necanthropes, who are in truth wolves in the fold. But not all. Some, like William "Soul" Hannon, and others, are free of the taint, and bide their time so that they may one day defeat Bitterness.
Bitterness cannot really communicate with the Necanthropes once they are back in the World of Progress. Any hint of taint would bring Slayer's suspicion down on them, and Bitterness is not yet prepared to play his trump card.
iv. Brain Wasters
Brain Wasters are the Ebb's response to the existence of Necanthropes. The Ebon race and the Ebb were not prepared for this step of evolution, and as such, Bitterness was able to corrupt some of the basic precepts of the Ebb. And so, just like your body does with a virus, the Ebb created anti-bodies. The first appearance of the Brain Waster coincided with the first appearance of the Necanthrope.
Unfortunately, the Ebb has no way of telling its aggressive children of their purpose, which is why they are so self-destructive. They do not know of the intended outlet for their rage and power. Ironically, this rage and imbalance makes them very corruptible during the ordeal in the White. But if the Wasters were to one day learn of their purpose, then the corrupted Necanthropes and the creatures of Bitterness would have a reckoning on the way.
v. Biogenetics
Stormers and their offshoots were created to be Slayer's warriors. They have proven quite immune to the taint of Bitterness, though they can be naturally unstable or psychotic- not all psychoses trace back to Bitterness. There are examples of the unreasoning hatred Bitterness holds for Stormers; he and his minions consider them abominations.
The reason for this is rooted in the creation process brought on by Senti. The Deathwake Device brings life to Stormers. This is because it rips a soul directly from the White and places it in the Stormer. The nature of the Stormer precludes any sort of flashbacks or interference. This practice offends Bitterness, and all those creatures rooted in the White.
So Bitterness and his minions have embarked on a campaign of extermination. The Stormer breeds present a major threat to the power of Bitterness not only in the physical world, but in the White as well.
vi. The Big Picture
The Big Picture is Slayer's plan for the control and eventual defeat of Bitterness. The very nature of his opponent requires that it be kept incredibly secret, for only the very strongest minds can withstand the truth of Bitterness' existence, the knowledge that Bitterness is fed by the emotions of all those around him. Slayer seeks to divert the universe through the media, and the constant blitz of violence and ever changing stimuli available. So long as no one really knows that Bitterness exists, he is kept at bay. Stigmartyr protects the truth at the highest levels. Cloak Division and Internal Affairs protect SLA Industries. The Operatives deal with all these things, be it the "regular" subversives like Darknight or Thresher, or a Serial Killer driven on by Bitterness and his monitors.
