The Letharchy was a corrupt organisation that travelled across the multiverse being hired by greater powers such as the Superiors to erase people from existence so that they were forgotten by the rest of reality. The people they "erased" from existence were mind-wiped and forced to work on their leisure spa ship, the Point of Know Return.
History[]
The individuals erased from time, including Grant Markham were initially housed as a much smaller operation within an airship in the Time Vortex. (PROSE: Repercussions... [+]Gary Russell, Short Trips: Repercussions (Short Trips short stories, 2004).)
Whilom, an individual who loved the film Spirited Away in his youth, which was a troubled one, was one of the individuals whom the Letharchy stole from existence and mind-wiped, erasing his memory over time. However, he retained a subconscious affection for the film, and when all his memory had vanished, he believed himself and the other staff to be an "officer class" left behind by the true Letharchy, and subconsciously fashioned the ship into a homage to the film.
One of the individuals they were contracted to were Chris Cwej's Superiors, who ordered Chris to investigate. Simultaneously, one incarnation of Lady Aesculapius and Cwej were tasked by Aesc's people, the Firmament of the 10,000 Dawns, and Cwej's Superiors, respectively, to investigate a strange signal being sent out across the multiverse. This signal was coming from Grant Markham, who had joined the Letharchy because he could not bear the pain of his separation from a friend, whom both he and Cwej had used to travel with. Aesculapius and Cwej followed the signal to the Warsong, where they teamed up, slightly involuntarily, with a schoolgirl, Jhe Sang Mi. They discovered the source of the signal, and resolved to save Markham from the clutches of the Letharchy, although they did not, at this point, know the identity of the Letharchy. To do this, they enlisted the help of Auteur to create a television series that would make everybody remember Markham, and pull him back into reality. They chose to reboot the old science-fiction television series Professor X, and Sang Mi portrayed the eponymous professor. Auteur, however, was lying, and the ritual did not pull Markham back into reality, but instead propelled all the members of the cast into the Point of Know Return, where their memories were taken from them.
Chris Cwej and Whilom had a discussion in an abstract space, and Whilom argued that they should be on the same side, due to both working for Cwej's Superiors. However, Whilom's callous dismissal of patients did not endear Cwej to him, and Cwej was left as a disembodied consciousness. Whilom then went and met Lady Aesculapius, and gave her a tour of the ship. However, like Cwej, Aesculapius was appalled by the actions of the Letharchy, and so Whilom transformed Aesculapius into a rabbit, whom Sang Mi then found and christened Ouisa. Simultaneously to this, with the help of Grant Markham, Sang Mi was able to make an attempt to regain her lost memories, but when she entered the Memory Storage Area, she was overwhelmed by nightmarish visions, concocted from her memory. She escaped with the help of Cwej, and met one of the Letharchs, Finagler, who had attempted the same thing when he was brought in, and, like Sang Mi, failed. He resolved to assist Sang Mi, and handed her a sword. Some days later, a "problem patient", who was in reality none other than the aforementioned disembodied consciousness of Chris Cwej, appeared on The Point of Know Return, and Whilom and Blanche Combine entrusted the dealing of it to Sang Mi. She managed to restore Cwej's memories by singing Meet Me in Saint Louis, which reminded him of a visit to Saint Louis World's Fair with Larles, and when his memories were restored, he acknowledged Sang Mi by name, restoring her memories in turn. They then fought the Letharchs, who were too great in number for them, so they escaped through a laundry chute, and Sang Mi cut a hole in the side so that they could escape from it. Cwej then relayed all the information of what had happened to Sang Mi, and they discuss various important matters for a while.
The Letharchy believed Cwej and Sang Mi to have perished in the laundry chute, so were surprised when Sang Mi, posing as Professor X once more, appeared on their screens and announced to all the guests staying for the spa, many of whom were fans of the series, that the Point of Know Return was soon to come to ruin, and advised them all to go to their rooms immediately. Whilom then attempted to set his army of Letharchs on Sang Mi, but Grant and Finagler hacked the laundry system, and they were enveloped in dirty laundry. Cwej, taking advantage of this distraction, then went and smashed the memory banks, restoring everyone's memories. Whilom was irate at this occurrence, and began to rant, but Sang Mi managed to restore his memories, too, by pointing out the similarities between the entire situation and Spirited Away, and the Letharchy was no more. (PROSE: And Today, You [+]James Wylder, Cwej: The Series, 10,000 Dawns, WARSONG (Arcbeatle Press, 2023).)