The Travellers is a humorous Web Literature. It appears on a wiki-page in the community site of elftown. The stories produced for it are written by four teens, about their drunken and oftentimes violent adventures through Time and Space in their cramped Ship, The Spirit Of Jazz, not to be confused with the Spurt Of Jazz which is a totally different vessel altogether. The Exploits of the Travellers are often a combination of Surreal humour, Sci-Fi Antics, Violence, Self-obsession, and Anarchy. While the Travellers claim to be Deviant, Mercenary Vigilantes, they seem to always do as they please and never seem to be earning any money, and are more often then not totally bankrupt, the one great exception to this was in a series of Steve's (see Characters, Below) where the Travellers inherit a large sum of money from a loan-shark. In this Series they used the finances to buy The Jest a warship of monumental size. Unfortunately this was generally shunned by the other authors.

Characters

Josh

Josh is the closest thing to a leader that the travellers have. He is a friendly and wise type who often manages to win drinking games, due to an extraordinary metabolism. One of the original Terrible Two Josh and Matt (see below) knew each other from a collage on one planet or another, and they built a small, but useable craft. The ship is a miracle of science, (mainly because the Two had no experience.) Josh, while laid back normally can be provoked after so much, and when he is enraged all Hell is set loose. Josh's main contribution to the Crew is his amazing intelligence, and ability to repair the ship. Josh can be distinguished by his Amazing abilities with the ladies, wooing anyone of woman born into loving him and his insane addiction to following the latest trends, a wholly hopeless hobby for a time-traveller.

Matt

Matt is also one of the original Terrible Two, and has a Terrible mean streak and an overbearing alcohol problem. His very short temper is easily incited and he is quick to act and when he does it is usually violent. He is a relentless Sadist who kills people simply because 'Their blood looks funny.' While Matt's temper is sparked off by many things the one thing that really gets to him is Steve (see below) and has been known on many occasions to lash out at him for no apparent reason. Matt has the natural ability to automatically identify any weapon and use it expertly. Matt can be identified by his 'Castaway-esqe' beard and multiple scars, recently he acquired a Jacket with which he has developed a great affinity.

Jez

'The one know simply and sinisterly as Jez' is Matt's Cousin, the two of them sharing several relatives including several mothers. He was teleported onto the Main Deck of The Spirit Of Jazz after a freak accident involving the Time Police (see Factions). He has been stuck there for a few thousand years, and now has become accustomed to his new life. Previously he was the Proud joint-owner and Builder of the stolen Ship The Supernova, with his old friend Chaz. He is highly technologically adept and has an affinity with computers. Jez can be easily identified by his long, curly locks. At first it was thought that a) this was a stupid hair style and/or b) he was too lazy to get it cut. Actually, his hair gives him his ability to manipulate computers, though it is totally unknown how.

Steve

Steve, or 'The Captain', is a clone. He was created by the First three Travellers in an insurance scam. Each of the travellers put a piece of their hair into a vat. the outcome of this was a southern Human being spawned, one who actively had all the worst abilities of the others, being lazy dim witted and slightly drunk, not to mention willing to eat anything (though whether this is a negative quality is disputable.) But occasionally, and with increasing frequency, he displays the 'better' qualities of the travellers, and seemingly manages to do them all better. He has potential to be clever than Josh, Quicker and more violent than Matt and better with Technology then Jez. He is identified by his hair, which he constantly messes with and can be heard from light years away.

Vessels

The Spirit Of Jazz

The Spirit Of Jazz was built by Matt and Josh in their early years and has been used uncountable times to wreak terror throughout time and space. Built by two collage drop-outs from bits and pieces of scrap the Jazz is surprisingly reliable. Josh, particularly, is very proud of it. though frequently out-classed and morbidly under-equipped the Travellers get by in it. The name was chosen by Josh, an avid watcher of the television series The Mighty Boosh after one their episodes, Electro, in which a character appears with the same name. Noel Fielding (left) as Vince Noir and Julian Barratt as Howard Moon The Mighty Boosh is a British cult comedy which has taken on several incarnations as a series of stage shows, a BBC radio series and a sitcom. ...

The Jest

The Jest was a huge battleship that was seen mainly in the stories written by Steve, and was subsequently given its own sub section. After a loan shark died, he left a huge sum of money to Josh, who used it to purchase a Huge Warship, which Steve named The Jest. Though the huge vessel was better armed than the small ship, The Spirit Of Jazz, it was less popular among the other writers and so was generally shunned.

Factions

All of the following is quoted from the opening caption to the introduction of The Wiki main page of the Travellers on Elftown

' Established in 3425 CE on Zxrock IX the high time directive was designed to send soldiers or historians (occasionally very gung-ho historians who filled both roles) backwards, or forwards in time. There were many reasons for this. Most of which are forgotten and the rest probably aren't true.'

The Time Police

'The Time police ensured that time followed the path it was supposed to' In several stories The Time Police have featured as the closest approximation to 'bad guys' and have great vendetta with the travellers, and would dearly like to kill them all, and in fact, have often tried.

The Time Sifters

'...The Time Sifters who ensured that it did not' The Time Sifters are never actually mentioned in the stories by any of the writers, however, we are led to assume that it is this establishment which employs the Travellers to do the nefarious Jobs they are sent on.

The Historix

'...And the Historix who just watched then told everyone who they were and why they were so great.' Again the Historix have never been actively involved in any of the writer's stories, and their actual roles in time is not discussed in any detail and we are left wondering who they are what they might want in time.

Time Vigilantes

'Being able to travel through time was often confusing as one job was frequently countered fifty years later and another was sent back to stop the original order taking place. This caused many people to become so bored and confused that they just went off and pissed about with time how they like. These time vigilantes are constantly hunted by the Time police and are well know meddlers, and because of their gung-ho and immoral way of dealing with time they are often employed by the time sifters. (Mainly to piss off the time police.)' It is this faction that the travellers are connected, although it seems that they are simply anarchistic and not disillusioned as it seems so many others like them are.