#(gotta change that to paracosm)

[acircusfullofdemons]

ok well now we r thinking literally escaping into a paracosm. a daydreamer wants to die n… idk. they get ahold of smth n they think its some kinda poison. they live their last day n drink it. n then wake up but they r inside a paracosm. none of the paras know who they r bc they r not a chara. they realize they r at the start of the narrative n r stressing abt making it thru the plot (do u try to keep the plot as untouched by ur presence as possible or completely change the narrative w ur actions?) there gets a point where the daydreamer realizes they dont know whats abt to happen. bc they havent daydreamed this far yet. smth smth… they gotta keep writing the story. as a reason to live their world needs them. maybe they keep on living in the story (some kinda metaphor) or they get to return to their world n “It Was All A Dream” (to the outside world).

The way I sighed because this is what a probably concerning number of my paracoms are about. Mildly suicidal people getting the chance to live in a fantasy world and then having to decide if they should stay or go (and sometimes that decision is made for them better or worse). MaDD so bad it's making metaphors about itself.

But that is an interesting take on like. getting isekai'd into a story you know. idk. I think there's some untapped potential there in being brought into a world you created and then having to live with the consequences of your own worldbuilding and story ideas.

[divine-knight-hand]

❤️‍🔥 Warning: The following paracosm post contains mentions of grief, death, killing, and other potentially morally questionable elements. Proceed at your own discretion.

I spaced off during my sociology class and now I wanna do a little talking about this goof:

Okay, she’s not always a goof, but that’s my parame. I refer to all my paras as emojis, though, so you may or may not recognize her as 🔥.

(Also, for those of you who don’t know, a parame is the main character of a paracosm. Or, they can be the character a maladaptive daydreamer daydreams through.)

But today I got to thinking about a concept, and that was her as the justice lady (I dunno if she has a name or not):

Link to original photo: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/877216833655872421

I thought that it would make a cool art to represent a large part of her character, but since I can’t draw, I’m just gonna explain all the metaphors and motifs of this concept, even though nobody asked.

But, before we do that, we gotta start from the beginning:

That was how my parame looked at about 18 years old. That was probably one of the darkest times of her life, tbh. She was mourning the death of a family member (which she accidentally played a part in) before she ran away from home, but that’s not what I wanna talk about in this post.

When she ran away from home, she launched into a series of serial killings, referring to herself as “Justice Incarnate”. This is one of the first instances where I caught a glimpse of her radically righteous nature.

She was literally willing to kill to send a message, in the hopes of creating a better world for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

This brings me to my first element of the idea to talk about. The skulls and the sword:

I know this figure isn’t normally pictured on a pile of skulls, but I thought this reference I found was perfect in terms of representing the violence my parame is capable of when she’s really passionate about someone else’s wrongdoings. Also, the sword is her go-to weapon of choice, so that happened to work out perfectly. Hehehe!

And then, of course, I have to explain the scales (A.K.A. The reason I chose this figure in the first place):

Like I mentioned earlier, 🔥 referred to herself as “Justice Incarnate”. She believed that she carried the burden that the system her society operated on just didn’t feel the need to take on. So, she went out and made a killing. As one does.

But, if I were drawing this out, there’s one change I would make. I wouldn’t draw her in a blindfold, because I never said she judged fairly…

[we-are-madd]

Hi first off I love your blog Second, I know this is from October but I would love to hear about your daydream lore

In exchange, if you guys want, we could tell you the daydream lore for our paracosm universe (multiverse at this point but the afterlife works the same anyway so whatever :P)

i think this was the post about afterlifes in the paracosm right?

okay SO!

our paracosm takes place in 3 main worlds: asteria, etheria, and earth. earth is pretty much the same as this one, but with added Supernatural Creatures- the traditional ones (werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, etc) as well as some original ones! asteria only has one native humanoid species which is a type of elf (moon elves). etheria is the most diverse of the three with all of the Fantastical Creatures (again, mostly the traditional ones but with a few original ones).

so obviously with all these People they all have different religions and different perspectives on the afterlife! and none of them are Wrong, per se, but they're all. different? kind of? it's hard to explain. like describing a color that doesn't exist.

starting with the moon elves: i bet i could get aerwyn to write eir own Post on this but basically, my understanding is there are two moons in the sky and they're the gods, one represents life and one represents death. and each star in the sky is a soul. and when you die you become a star and get to dance with the others and dance with the gods. and reincarnation exists i think so like everyone also comes from the stars.

moving to etheria: forest elves: the afterlife is essentially like. a huge field with trees and animals and the souls of everyone and everything (including the trees and plants and animals) go there. and there are special places for elves who died in battle or in a Tragic(TM) way that are like. raised marble temples(?) kinda. also every time they kill an animal for a hunt or whatever they thank the (dead) animal and bless the body so it can pass on. if the body isn't blessed then the soul of the animal can't go all the way and is kind of like. trapped at the door. which sucks. there are also animals(?) that lead you to the afterlife and guard it from Bad Things. such as Disgraced Souls. there are 2 levels of disgraced souls: ones who died and were never given a funeral/blessing/goodbye, and ones who died and were actively disgraced. for the former it's more like a purgatory, like it's not Hell but it's not Great. and for the latter there is no nature anywhere and it overall Absolutely Sucks but i'm pretty sure for all three sections(?) there are certain times where you get a chance for a do-over but i'm not sure exactly how that works. again i can probably get edyn to write a Post on this

for fauns it's very similar but there's no levels to it, everyone goes to the same place, but you have 3 choices: rest forever with the soil, go to the afterlife, or reincarnate. if you choose afterlife you can change your mind to one of the other ones later on i think. i'll have to ask akai more

for faeries it's like. nature itself is the afterlife? like when you die you become One With Nature. sometimes during funerals there are certain types of plants/animals "invited" to encourage the deceased to attach to them. sometimes the plants/animals go to the grave themselves. sometimes neither happens. so if you're hunting/gathering you gotta avoid specific/sacred places, and a lot of pets are (believed to be) fallen loved ones. also gardens. do NOT pick flowers from someone elses garden they WILL be pissed and you WILL be cursed.

there are more but i'll have to bring Others to front to type it out bc i just realized i never actually Discussed this stuff with them lmao

finally: alisha has talked to Death (one of the representations of death? i guess?) and essentially. all religions are correct because they're believed in. like since they believe there's an afterlife there is. since they believe the afterlife is the way it is, that's how it is. it's not like. a Solid Thing that people are Right or Wrong about. it just. Is.

this got longer than planned and it's not even in full depth fdjakljsklf

if you want to hear more about cultures we can say more (given i can pull a member who knows shit about them to front)!!

[solannecontinuum]

SOLANNE C’S CHARACTER OF THE YEAR! 2022 EDITION.

Very much delayed, but here it is!!! 

1ST: TELFOSO/KIDDE.  Bonding with Telfoso not only drew me closer to her, but learning that she embodies who is to become my own little mini Host rocket launched her into first place for 2022!  My beloved little goddess means so much to me.  She thinks trophies are some sort of hat, wwww

2ND: ELDER-KUN. It was a very close match between them and Kidde, but Elder-kun is still ever so beloved, my seraphim husband. ♥♥♥  It’s funny because he was 2nd place in 2021, too!  He, uh, seems to be glaring darts at another one of the Husbands.

3RD: STARSCREAM.  My Lord. ♥  Starscream is one of The Three Husbands for a reason, everyone!!  Known for always coming back out of left field and making me enamoured with him all over again~ ♥  Especially since he stepped up to become one of Telfoso’s fathers, thus bonding us together, it’s no surprise that he won a spot for 2022!  He’s being oddly peaceful, despite his rather intense rivarly with Elder-kun.

RUNNERS-UP: MORO.  A first time for this year!!!  We have Moro for runners-up because my sibling made me care for him a lot more than I originally did!!  My autistic turtle lover boy.  Never change Moro.  Let’s get trolled by our older siblings and be losers together!!

[morgana-ren]

Do you think in a small part in his mind, that he blames tomura for your break up? If he's willing to break off his poor head then there's gotta be something that mans hiding

Honestly, it's entirely possible. I think it could also be his weird subconscious way of attacking my goofy daydream paracosm because that was my happy place where he wasn't allowed to be after a while. In a strange sort of way, the fictional characters I love got more from me than he did, and rather than trying to understand why that was, he just blamed them and me for it.

And I did try to communicate why I was resentful and unhappy, he just didn't care. He pulled the manipulation manual out rather than trying to change. You know, the whole "I'm just a miserable, bad person! You should just leave me :(((" and "You deserve better than me, so that's why I act like this" nonsense rather than taking responsibility for his actions.

Ultimately, the relationship ended because he fucked up in a BIG way, and he knows that. Him pinning the tail on Tomura or any of the other wretched creatures I love would just be another way of him dodging responsibility for his own actions and misery 😒

[wellthatschaotic]

Hi gay bestie! So when we were on DM's you asked me about a "someone in a dreamway system that is both a para and a headmate and/or can switch back and forth", and like I wanted to like tell you what I found! I could've done it on DM's but like I decided to do it on ask, hope that isn't a problem /gen

Sooooo for starters, there's parabond which is a sentient para inside of a paracosm, and there's also paracontinuum which is basically a system that goes back and forth between being a system and a person with MaDD, and/or a system with parabonds (but the og definition specifies that they don't front, so I don't think that's what you mean)

So I asked people in a discord server and we found this, but I gotta tell you that it was coined by Someone /neg that turned out to be problematic, however I don't think that really matters y'know. Anyways, we found this: "Paracosmic refers to a system where members leave and live in Paracosm Bubbles inside the system, and feel like they could fluctuate between a Para/parame and a System Member. The main person in a Paracosmic system can fluctuate and change at random times.", and while I don't know how well that fits y'all, I thought I'd share!

Anyways, that was my research, and if you don't identify with any of these, I'll coin the term myself /gen (/but also jokingly threatening)

Anyways! Aside from all of that, I wanna share with you some great news! I got a gf! And I'm still with my bf! We're a polyam relationship!!! And I'm so happy rn!!! :DDD

Anyways this is a long ask and like sowwy jehdjwhwihekev

HELL YEAH /pos POLYAMORY ROCKS!!

yeah that doesn't quite fit us? it's more like. they're in the headspace as a headmate, but when we go into Daydreaming Trance™ we can use their para/source as normal? kinda? i'm bad with words but something like that

[ineloqueent]

Hello! I would like to ask for fluff with Joe since you haven’t written for him yet. How about Joe dating/flirting with someone way more quiet and shy than him? A shy! Reader

here’s some fluffy joe for you! i’ve made y/n into a bit of a bookworm, because i’m a bit of one myself, oops. hope you enjoy :)

⭒

Joe had been the first person in your life to understand that being shy wasn’t mutually exclusive with not wanting to be spoken to, that you were human, and craved connection as much as anybody else.

You’d first encountered him at the local hybrid cafe-bookshop, Paracosm. Perhaps that was why you’d been a little more at ease than usual, that day; you knew the place. Paracosm was your favourite haunt, filled with the familiar comforts of tea and yellowed pages, the glittering light bulbs that hung from the ceiling like little planets and kept the atmosphere of the cafe cosy, even on the coldest of days.

Or perhaps it’d been the look of kindliness about him, the slight ginger tint to his hair, the snow dusting his eyelashes, the way he’d shivered and shared a laugh at his own expense with the barista. It was a beautiful quality, to be able to laugh at oneself.

Or maybe it was none of those things at all, and instead simply that he’d smiled at you when he had accidentally made eye contact with you, instead of hurriedly looking away, as most people— including you— did.

“I should’ve worn a warmer jacket, I think,” he said conversationally, and with a start, you realised he’d been talking to you.

Your first thought was why? Why was he speaking to you?

You were sitting by the door, yes, in the spot where you normally did, because the way the bookshelves were positioned by the table ensured that no draft would sweep over you, but just because you were closest to him… Was that why he had directed his remark to you, in polite resolve of the mistake he’d make in looking at you earlier? Or was he speaking to you because he wanted to speak to you?

No, of course not.

But he was still smiling at you, almost expectantly, as though he thought you would reply.

“Wrong day to wear a thin jacket,” you said, and your tonelessness could have been mistaken for hostility. You cursed yourself inwardly; it wasn’t hostility, it was nerves. Admittedly, the man was attractive, and as you already struggled with small talk in the company of people you knew, talking to this auburn-haired stranger turned your words more nonsensical than normal.

But he laughed again, lightly, easily. He had an easiness about him, a simplicity that boasted earnesty and depth, both wit and charm. “You’re right,” he said, simply. “But you look like the clever sort.”

You blinked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” you said.

The memory of a smile remained on his face as he told the barista, “A latte for me,” glanced in your direction, then added, “and another hot chocolate for the lady, please.”

Your expression turned further puzzled, and the man said to you, “Mind if I sit down?”

He’d said it so kindly, as though he genuinely cared that you would not be bothered by him taking the seat across from you.

“No,” you managed, “sit down.”

He pulled out the chair and sat down, made as though to take off his coat, then changed his mind, instead wrapping it more tightly around himself.

“You’re reading Shakespeare,” he said.

“Sorry?”

“You’re reading Shakespeare,” he repeated, and you glanced down at your book.

You were reading Shakespeare, but as to why that was relevant, you couldn’t guess.

“And?”

He shrugged. “Call me simple-minded, but if you’re reading Shakespeare for fun, you have to be some kind of smart. You can’t read between the lines if you’re not smart, and most of Shakespeare is between the lines, not in them.”

Pulling your book closer to you, you challenged shyly, “How do you know I’m reading for fun?”

You noticed, as you leveled your gaze on him, that his eyes were a lovely brown, the kind of colour one might wish to sink into, merely to fathom a whisper of the warmth that lay within them. “You were smiling at the book when I came in.”

He’d noticed you even before you’d seen him.

How often did that happen?

The answer was never. You were one to shrink into the corner, preferring to deflect most attention, and careful observation was your greatest asset in this world of loud-talkers and scatter-brained thinkers. You imagined that nothing about you drew the eye.

But you’d drawn his.

A flush touched your cheeks. “That’s embarrassing,” you muttered. You were only half-joking.

That smile was back on his face again.

“I’m Joe,” he said, reaching out to shake your hand.

“Y/N,” you responded quietly, taking his hand. His skin was soft.

“Joe! Latte and a hot chocolate.”

Joe raised his eyebrows at you, then went to retrieve the drinks. Returning, he set down the hot chocolate in front of you.

“You really didn’t have to do that,” you said, avoiding his eyes.

“Oh, but I wanted to,” he winked. “Gotta make a good first impression.”

Your book was a refuge as you glanced down again, the reliable pattern of black lettering stamped into creamy paper offering you familiarity in this unfamiliar situation. You weren’t used to this… interest.

“And anyway,” he resumed, “what I meant to say was, that’s not embarrassing,” he jammed a finger in the direction of your book, “but the fact that I know how to recite the entirety of Macbeth backwards is.”

“Backwards?” you couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do you know how to recite the entirety of Macbeth backwards?”

Joe winced. “See, that’s the embarrassing bit.”

You raised your eyebrows, and with a heavy sigh, he continued.

“It was a bet. I was being stupid and thought it would be a good idea to bet my friend a hundred dollars that I could memorise any play within a week.”

“Okay, that does sound a bit embarrassing,” you conceded. “But still, why backwards?”

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there,” he said, blowing over the surface of his latte, gingerly taking a sip. He recoiled when it was still too hot, wrinkling his nose in an adorably childish manner. “Backwards, because my friend decided to teach me a lesson for being an idiot, and one-upped me that I should learn it backwards. Before I knew it, there was an entire bar-full of strangers chanting for me to do it, on pain of death if I refused.”

You laughed, finally slipping your fingers from your book, closing it gently with the bookmark inside, your attention captured by how this man told stories in such a lively way, the lilt of his voice akin to how one would narrate a fairytale.

“Go on, then,” you said, trying your hot chocolate. It was perfect, as ever. Perhaps a little more so because it hadn’t come out of your weekly budget. And because it had been paid for by a handsome stranger, one who actually wanted to talk to you. “I want to hear some backwards Macbeth.”

Joe’s eyes twinkled. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I do,” you answered. But you didn’t, really. And he knew it.

He narrowed his eyes.

When you didn’t flinch beneath his gaze, he began, “Despair thy charm, and let the angel whom thou still hast served. Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.” Here, he changed his voice to represent the change in speaker, and you smothered a laugh in your hands at how dramatic his facial expression had become. “Thou losest labor as easy mayst thou the intrenchant air with thy keen sword impress as make me bleed. Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield to one of woman born.”

A few more lines, and he had you utterly in stitches; you did not bother to quiet your laughter. Of course, the lines now sounded completely meaningless, but Joe’s sense of humour was as ridiculous as your own, and in deriving pleasure from the ludicrousness of a Shakespeare work read backwards, Joe was more likable to you than ever.

“I believe you, I believe you!” you cried, and his composure crumpled, a grin spreading across his face.

“Thank god,” he said eventually, when the two of you could contain yourselves. “I thought I’d have to recite all of it before you gave in.”

You shook your head, still smiling.

“I would’ve done it, though,” he said, and you felt your chest tighten at the look of earnesty in his eyes.

“You should be an actor,” you told him, and he chuckled, the warmth of the sound warming you.

“I’m glad you think so. I am an actor.”

“Oh!”

“But I’m not pretending I want to be here with you,” he said.

Something like butterflies had fluttered beneath your skin.

He’d returned to Paracosm every day after that, and though he seemed happily surprised each time he encountered you, you weren’t so foolish as to believe that your meetings were actually a coincidence.

As the days went by, you grew more comfortable in Joe’s presence, until you were relaxed enough to begin an argument with him about which of the Brontë sisters was more forward-thinking in terms of women’s rights. Unlike most of the men you’d come across in your lifetime, Joe was perfectly comfortable debating such topics, even going so far as to slag off the more conservative male classical writers of the same time period. The two of you had then pored over the difference between Oscar Wilde’s poetry and his literature, examined the metaphors of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, trawled through the conspiracy theory regarding Shakespeare and whether or not he had really authored all of his own works. The latter conversation had become so heated that other cafe patrons had begun taking their own personal sides on the matter, loudly voicing their opinions until even Paracosm’s baristas had a thing or two to add to the discussion.

“How are you so well-read, anyway?” you’d asked Joe.

“My mom forced me through all of the classics before I was ten,” he’d said with a shrug. In his nonchalance, he became all the more alluring, the humbleness a complement to his personality.

Not many days into the routine of running into you at Paracosm, Joe had asked you to go out with him, properly.

You’d nodded, “Okay.”

“Okay?” he’d laughed, nervously. “You don’t have to go out with me if you don’t want to.”

“No,” you’d shaken your head, adamant that you get your point across. “I want to go out with you, Joe.”

His face had broken into a smile. “Okay,” he’d said, making you laugh, and his smile had broadened until it reached his lovely eyes.

The first time he’d kissed you had been on that first date.

He’d taken you to see a musical, one you’d struggled to pay attention to because Joe kept looking over at you to gauge your reaction to certain parts of the show, laughing with you, smiling when you smiled.

After the show, the two of you had wandered down the boulevard, and as it had been cold, you’d used this as your excuse to hover close enough by Joe’s side that your sleeves occasionally brushed as you walked with your arms by your sides.

You’d been content to walk like that, floundering for breath when his eyes caught on yours, your heart stumbling along its usually steady course. But then, in place of sleeves, his fingers had brushed your fingers, and suddenly you wanted more, to be closer to him in this blistering cold where his touch would surely warm you.

And he slipped his hand into yours.

You could hardly breathe.

“Look,” he said quietly, pointing up at the sky.

Confused, you frowned, but it wasn’t long before you realised his meaning: snow drifted down from above, snowflakes spinning through the air like dancers. It was beautiful, light snow, not the heavy kind, the kind there’d been on the day when Joe had first stumbled into Paracosm, the kind that would warrant a panic about losing one’s way home.

The snow was beautiful, but you couldn’t take your eyes off of Joe.

He stared up at the heavens, his eyes wide with childlike wonder, and for a moment, you lost yourself in watching him, drenched in your own memories of a simpler time.

Snow glittered in his hair, on the shoulders of his coat, on his eyelashes and on his collar. The word ‘angelic’ came to mind.

“I like snow,” he murmured.

You laughed softly. “I can see that.”

He lowered his eyes until they met yours.

You remembered that he was holding your hand.

“And I like you,” he said, a smile finding its way to his lips. His eyes were homely and familiar in his face, the face you’d looked into for so many days now, gazing at him and wondering at how it was really nothing more than a coincidence that the two of you had met. What a wonderful coincidence.

“I like you too, Joe,” you whispered, your hold tightening on his hand.

He lifted his other hand to your cheek, not quite touching you, but close enough to make your breath hitch.

His own gentle exhale tickled your skin.

Tentatively, he asked, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

“More than okay,” you murmured, already gravitating toward him.

“Okay, because I wasn’t sure, and I wanted to be sure, and I—”

You cut him off, pressing your lips to his as he hummed a soft oh against your mouth and finally, finally pulled you into his arms.

You felt him wrap his coat around you, and you leaned further into him, relishing his warmth in the coldness of the night.

When he pulled back, he combed snow from your hair with the lightest of touches, laughter in his eyes.

“You know,” he said, “you must be more well-read than I am.”

You blinked at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, because that was classic, cutting me off.”

You rolled your eyes at the ridiculousness of his joke.

The snow fell more thickly now, but neither of you moved. You simply stood, you with your head nestled against Joe’s chest, Joe with his coat and his arms wrapped around you. His breath ruffled your hair.

“My well-read girl,” he whispered.

⭒

[inhum3n]

Faceholders and their Counterparts.

My computer crashed while I was typing this so I gotta restart. I’ll make it a little more curt.  I want to use the time remaining I have before college to write a long ass post about my thoughts about MaDD. 

I wanna talk about out relationships as MaDDers with our faceholders and how they impact our view of their originals.  To make things clear, when I say a faceholder I mean a real life person a MaDDer has taken and incorporated into their paracosm.  The faceholder may be similar to their real life counter-part or completely different. 

There have been times where I’ve made certain celebrities into faceholders in my paracosms.  And to continue to gain inspiration for that character I would in turn become invested in that celebrity’s life.  It’s kind of a confusing cycle.  I’m not sure if daydreaming about a celebrity/figure pushes me to consume more of that celebrity’s content or if consuming a celebrity’s content pushes me to use them as a faceholder.  Moving on.

It’s odd because I’ve caught myself at times blurring the line between my faceholder and their original counterpart.  Like I subconsciously forget they are completely different entities.  One is an independent human being that makes their own decisions while the other is a carefully crafted figure in my daydream who only bares the original’s resemblance.

Due to this unconscious link between the two, when something bad happens to the real person it can kinda freak me out.  I could mean a lot of things by “bad”.  Maybe the real person is going through something tough, maybe they’ve lost a family member, etc.  It can branch into where I get upset when the real person does something that goes against the character I created for their faceholder in my daydreams. Ex. Lets say that the faceholder in my daydreams is a young broke college student.  They’re not dating anyone and they have very few friends.  They are lonely.  Most likely I gave them this “status” for the purpose of my daydream’s narrative and/or use them as an outlet to express my own loneliness.  So when I read a google news article stating that the person - from whom I used as a faceholder – is dating someone or says they have many friends I can become distressed.  It’s as if I think that the actions of the real life person must affect my faceholder as well.  Or that it says something about my faceholder.  It’s like my control over my faceholder’s personality/character is handed over to the real live person, and that their actions dictate who/how my faceholder acts.  And this loss of control upsets me.

This gets particularly sucky when the real life person turns out to be kind of crappy. Like they’ve done/said bad things and haven’t apologized or changed. This always leaves me with a weight of guilt in my gut.  Guilt that’s attached to my faceholder, even though they didn’t do anything.  They can only really do what I allow them to.  Yet I take the actions of the real life people they are based off of as if they are actually them.  Whenever this happens I have to sit myself down and remind myself that the two people are separate entities.  When this happens I get this weird feeling of alienation from the real life person.  Like I suddenly realize I do not feel connected to them at all. I only felt connected to their faceholder.  But due to my confusion between the two I mistook the connection to my para as a connection to the actual person.

I think doing this (reminding ourselves that our faceholders are not their original counterparts) is a healthy thing to do.  If we confuse or muddle the difference between our paras and their real life parts, we may catch ourselves placing assumptions on these real people with no real evidence for it.  It’s also helped me to do this because it helps me to remember that I should hold these real live people accountable and that I shouldn’t have idolized them in the first place.

I realize that non-MaDDers may experience something like this as well.  They create a person they believe their favored celebrity to be, and then when they find some nasty things out about them they are at best sorely disappointed of their actions or at worst in denial of them(they defend their fave’s actions).  I still wanted to type this up though, cause I believe the MaDDer experience in this scenario is little different.  I think MaDDers may experience a stronger attachment to their idiolized versions/faceholders than non-MaDDers may.  Also I think we are able to completely separate the two when we realize we aren’t actually that invested in the real life person’s affairs, we were just using them as outlet and a faceholder.

Message me your thoughts if you disagree or wanna add something.  I love some good critique. Happy Late New Years

[cambriancrew]

Can't sleep tonight (brain is running in circles and our usual meditation techniques to turn it off aren't working) so I'm using some of that restless brain energy to spitball some ideas.

Could their government be some form of meritocracy or technocracy, as far as leadership goes? And then, kinda in line with the basic idea of value based on gifting, maybe embracing symbiosis and having a cultural repugnance towards hoarding? Maybe also with myths and legends and fables about how it's better to work together for common needs than to try and do everything yourself and keep all the results? So less about directly gifting things and more like "our community made this, so anyone in the community who needs it can have it" with a strong delineation between needs and wants? And, perhaps it might help with the storytelling, struggling to even have and recognize wants of your own when your culture teaches you that wanting more than you absolutely need is bad? Maybe with an exception for identity - "the only thing you can truly own is yourself"? Perhaps this is even reflected in their language, with no true ownership words - it's not "my shirt" it's "the shirt I'm wearing", and also it's not "your hard work" it's "the help you were able to give" - and also cultural allowances for the disabled, no one works for the right to have food, clothing, and shelter, the community is deemed a failure if not everyone in it can flourish in their own way. Maybe a strong cultural importance placed on flourishing (holidays where people show off what they can do?) and making sure every person has enough to not only survive, but to hone their talents. Maybe a strong cultural importance placed on talents and aptitudes , too.

-----

Also just gotta say, we love what we've heard of this world so far. We love the naming bit especially - we also have a culture in our paracosm where it's not only common, but expected, that when a person comes of age they change their name from what they were called as a child, to what they want to be called as an adult, where calling an adult by their child name can be really offensive if it's not done by a parent affectionately. We have a character from that culture who believes strongly in fate, that you are what you were born to be and it's stupid to try and change that, and therefore he kept his child name - Maker of Mirth - and never changed it, even though it really doesn't suit his personality at all. One of the reasons why, other characters learn over the course of the story, is because his mother named him that with hope that he would bring her joy, and she passed away when Mirth was only a few years old - and he's determined to make her smile at him from heaven. (Well. Sorta heaven... It's complicated. I would call it purgatory but there's no purging of anything, it's more like "Y'all wait here until the end of time - even though you're not really experiencing time normally as you're outside of the space-time continuum - and after that all things will go together to the next thing.")

We're always up for seeing worldbuilding, the more unique and offbeat the better, and helping come up with more ideas for it. We spend so much time on that with our own universes, it's nice to step into someone else's for a change of pace. :)

Kepekape, the home world of the Ktletaccete

(this was originally posted in a world building facebook group, but we think you might love reading about it here, too - and have feedback) OK, so. We're working on some world building that's a bit of a challenge for us.

It needs to fit some history we've already written into a series of nine novels. And it needs to serve the story we think we want to write.

We're going to ramble at you here and see if anyone likes our ideas, or has any suggestions or brainstorming to add. But also, we just want a place to write some of this down where someone can read it.

What we've got:

A fairly Earth-like world with life based on two kinds of XNA (it's not compatible with DNA, but works similarly to it). At some point in its past, there was alien contact with life that eventually evolved to be reasonably compatible with the indigenous life. So there are some surprising mixes of lifeforms.

There's been a lot of parallel evolution, so if humans were to visit, they'd see some understandable fundamentals, like vertebrates, arthropods, fish, etc.

The people are evolved from an amphibian-like ambush predator turned omnivorous. They still lay eggs and have a larval form (that looks a lot like a tadpole while still in the egg), and nymph form and adult forms after they hatch. When they reach adolescence, they go through a metamorphosis that is highly adaptable for their environment. To the point where they often look like multiple completely different species as adults.

Now that they've developed a civilization capable of creating a generational starship, their adolescent metamorphosis has become something they can sort of personally control, and neighboring children may grow up to be very different from each other. Personal special interests, economic status, gender roles, family dynamics, and all sorts of other factors of modern stress go into shaping their bodies. And medicine has reached a point where those that can afford it can purposefully induce desired traits.

Also, they're what we think of as hermaphroditic. They can change their functional sex at will, or sometimes the change is induced by stress. Occasionally, someone will end up with one set of dominant sex traits at adolescence and never change after that, even if they want to, but it's rare.

Their family structures are really different from humans, too. But we haven't quite nailed down HOW, yet. We just know that they're not what we think of as nuclear families. Child rearing is very different and fairly hands off. Adults make sure children are fed, but teaching and learning happens much more organically and communally. At least, for most of the countries on the planet. There are, of course, some outlying cultures that have different structures.

Something we want is no capitalism, in the strictest sense of the term, if we can get away with it. Basically, nothing like a stock market.

There are still big social and economic divides, including forms of exploitation. There is, after all, a global government at this point that has the power to focus a great deal of the planet's resources into making a truly huge spaceship for SOME reason. And not everyone is going to agree to that.

So, first big set of questions:

Do we go with some form of communism for the dominant economic structure?

Or is it really a dichotomy like that?

Could there be other forms of major economy besides these two axes that humans have been struggling with for the past couple hundred years?

There are fascism and dictatorship, of course, both of which can use either communism or capitalism for their economic structures. And certainly, there have been that kind of government on this planet, and likely still are. But we kind of want the dominant government to at least SEEM more egalitarian.

These people tend to highly value personal expression and the exploration of skills and arts, almost above all else. It's sort of an instinctual level drive. So whatever social structures they create, they'll at least cater to that drive, if not outright exploit it.

Cooperation and community are obviously important. Partly because we're limited enough that we can't imagine a starship building civilization without it. But also because we LIKE those traits.

One idea that comes to mind is to have an economy that is built on gifting. Where the person who gives the most away gets the most social power. This is not an original thought, though, and is based on what we learned about Pacific Northwest Indigenous cultures in college, so we're feeling a little cautious about that (both because we learned it from anthropologists not the people who've practiced it and because it's not our own culture).

Our goal is to show something that is different and alien SEEMING to most people who've grown up under capitalism or communism, to show that other models can be viable. But we're also very definitely showing that even when you're talking about aliens and other models of social structures, there can be major flaws such as exploitation and oppression.

But, we don't want to say, "See this idea here? This is worse than what we've got now."

We do think the rest of the series of novels does put it into a context that avoids that. But we're hesitant to use a model that's too close to something that's been oppressed here on Earth.

Anyway.

Maybe we could personalize it a bit more? Not gifts, so much as discoveries? The more that someone discovers, the more political, social, and economic power they're awarded?

So, you end up with a whole civilization of people who are trying to one up each other in their respective fields of study and craft.

Now.

Does this society need money?

It could certainly work by using something that is basically money. A note of genius, so to speak. But could it work without it?

Because money does seem to lend itself to stock markets, after all. And if we avoid money, then we avoid the stock market. Maybe we can lampshade it and just say there's no money, that's the way it is, and make it work regardless.

Though, we could just as easily say that there's money but no stock market.

Maybe the idea of a stock market is absolutely repugnant to these people. Basically, "You can't gamble with SCIENCE! And investing introduces bias!"

Hailing Scales. This implies their global government resembles the editorial review board of a scientific journal.

What think you?

[sowhatifimmadd]

hey! its been a while! how are you??? - a-para-leaf-world

Yes, it has! I actually had to take a hiatus from tumblr because of reasons but I’m back! How have you guys been, my daydreaming friends?

Gosh, so much changed on my paracosms. I gotta go fix aesthetics and picrews of my paras 😓

[babydollsmadd]

4, 7, 8, and 10 :D

4. Parame profile

My parame is Nyru, and her full name is Lilah DeLacey! She’s usually my age, but it tends to fluctuate a lot depending on the story. So generally she’s between 18 and 25. She’s relatively small at only 160 cm /  5'2", and she’s pretty petite & has an hourglass figure. She’s beautiful, has very pale skin and a doll face with big dark blue eyes. Her signature silver hair color is immediately recognizable, and something she is well known for in most of my paracosms. It’s actually cut short into a bob, but she also likes wearing extensions and having it styled differently. She wears almost exclusively black, she’s a full on gothic babe and only doesn’t wear killer heels when she’s at home or at a friend’s place, so she actually appears much taller than she actually is. On the surface, she’s a really sweet, kind and funny person, but there’s a lot of trauma behind that mask. She regularly has breakdowns, gets into fights with my other paras, and does some really weird shit sometimes. She’s honestly just trying to process things and heal from them, which she mostly does by making music. In my main paracosm, she’s a famous singer who’s actually currently on tour! She cares very deeply for her fans, and is constantly torn between completely hiding her private life and putting everything on social media. Lately she’s been much more outgoing than before, she’s allowing herself to actually feel things and be more authentic on stage. Oh, and she’s also hella bi.

7. Favourite paracosm

This is real fucking difficult, I just want to say LA cause that’s my main and I’m so incredibly attached to it. It’s a sandbox paracosm, meaning I just do whatever I want and for the most part, there’s not even a story. But that’s not really interesting. The other two that come to mind are Next Future, my first ever paracosm and one of the very few that I’ve actually ended, like wrapped up the storylines and everything; and the other is Mortiferum, a very dark paracosm I continue every time I’m feeling really down and angry. There’s also Raindrops, the most wholesome out of all my stories, but I haven’t even introduced that one to this blog yet lol.

8. Latest negative impact from daydreaming

This is funny bc I’m actually daydreaming so fucking much lately, and it’s bothering me so much but I can’t really seem to snap out of me. Today I only got up around 6pm, because I was literally just in bed daydreaming for 6+ hours. I gotta go to bed again in half an hour, so really I’m only spending around 6-9 hours a day truly awake. Because the second I go to bed I’ll just daydream again and make myself sad and have my parame rant about dumb shit.

10. Random para profile

Hmm let’s do Ao! Her full name is Lyn Saitou. She’s my parame’s best friend, and in a lot of AU stories they actually live together. She works as a model for a lot of well known brands, her signature blue bob cut hair is instantly recognizable. She’s quite thin as most models are, but she’s actually not that tall at 171 cm / 5'6". Because of her work as a model, her clothing changes drastically from day to day, tho her personal style is more casual business chic. She’s incredibly kind and caring, she’s the literal definition of the mom friend - always taking care of others, making sure they’re ok, setting them straight when she needs to. Just don’t underestimate her. She’s very smart, and can read people well and if there’s one thing she cannot stand, it’s injustice. She will do everything in her power to make things right. Because of this, she’s an activist and regularly involves herself in protests, strikes and interviews. She came out as a lesbian many years ago, tho she hasn’t had much luck in long term relationships. Currently she prefers to be single and just enjoy life and her work.

[madd-fandomlife1st3rdpov]

Parcosm 9th Anniversary Celebration: List of Canon/Original Settings/Places in 3rdPOV

2/11/13

2/11/22

HAPPY 9 YEARS TO MY SLOWLY SPIRALED MADD THAT IS NOW ONGOING DAYDREAMING at a regular pace and controlled habits, no worries my paras today are way better than any other years! (Even the most longtime one!)

well I gotta do something to celebrate!!! I will try to go chronological

List is under the cut!

2010 - I played a certain Mario and Luigi RPG AlphaDream game at an early age. These settings were for imaginative purposes at first. Daydreaming wasn't that maladaptive yet, but I kept looping In The Final over and over during a long car ride. I started to imagine the final battle, then Okey Dokey! when Mario and Luigi dancing to the music.

Toad Town

Dark Bowser's Castle

Bowser (just gonna leave it at that... not telling title.)

2011 - I collected these Pokemon toys and did my very first dark story plot, "Snivy Gets Water Poison." I don't know where I got the idea from. Maybe I was just getting tired of my "school friends". Or the Where's My Water purple water thing gave me the idea.

Pokepark

Pokemon Zoo

2012 - began writing stories for the first time on the very old notes app format like iPhone 2 format. Daydream started to get more interfering, cause I actually attempted drawing comics of my original Club Penguin characters during school work.

Elite Penguin Force HQ

Club Penguin Wilderness

Penguin Band's House

DJ Cadence's Nightclub

Gary's Lab

Other Club Penguin settings

2014 - Suddenly, a paracosm was made out of in real life settings but with adjusted fantasy element for the rest of the years. It stuck that way in 2015, however, paracosms keep coming today depending on hyperfix.

I started to act out more than 10 paras.

The Log (Apartment)

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza

Paras' Igloos

2015 - weather in 3rd POV was exhaustingly stormy and rainy. Or that's just because I kept looping Undertale songs to cope. Then sunny days when imagining Frisk dancing to CORE/Death by Glamour.

Office of Paperwork (Workplace)

Dreemurr High School (attempted a school AU...)

Snow Bubble Express (bubble tea inside the train!)

MTT-NEWS

Mt. Ebott, they were able to enter and fuel magic at any time

2016 - lots of daydreaming happened here and I was never aware of it. Paras... fighting? feuding? arguing and ranting? Me, just commenting all the paras' comments?? Me, talking back to myself in various voices?? yeah, daydreaming was very much present.

Philippines' hotel real life settings but with adjusted elements

The Adobo Household

(They rode Tower of Terror before shutdown and I daydreamed a lot of disney scenarios!! oh wait thats not a paracosm sorry-)

2017 - this was the worse year and showed most signs of negative effects I gained from MADD. A para renamed themself to Fruit and tried to be "savage". My daydreaming led me to slamming car doors and yelling "ITS MONDAY ITS MONDAY" in Fruit's bland sarcastic voice. but I will explain more in detail since this is on paracosms. also Tears of Patience was a thing. Splatoon 2's bright colors intensified everything. I made a lot of dark plots during this year and my relative didn't want to talk to me anymore.

PvZ Battlegrounds

RV Good Times (main para named the paracosm due to Fruit's neg. actions.)

Glinfrit - Splatoon but friendlier. I forgot the motto-

Team Booyah! HQ

Splatoon 2's canon settings

2018 - A lot of my headcanons somewhat impacted almost every para in my POV and some of them highly drifted from their canon personality. I removed their magic abilities too for more real setting but that didn't go well when paras from media AUs started coming in. That's when I knew I couldn't stop this "imaginative play" forever.

Happy Container ("frisk please stop renaming youse- "Captain Sprinkles - u -" siGHH - me years ago)

Disney World Hotel but better and more decorated

LEGO

Bricksburg

Monika's House

2019 - Engaged in hobbies and went to a lot of places. also how does a para start being the spotlight of the show after entering smash and changed personality to a more happy person-

Syspocalypsestar

Systar System (like solar system)

Hobby Stores but much bigger and turned into a Entire Hobby Mall

Little Mac's Kickboxing Gym (Paracosm was created the same day Sans' costume got in Smash)

2020 - OHHHHHH we love this parts when I transformed my entire house into a whole paracosm /s also VR PORTAL AHAHAHAH

VR Portal - literally EVERY SINGLE PLACE I went to. and keeps paras unaware of current event situation (then failed the more I got aware)

Sardine Bar Grill - Kitchen

RC Museum - A shelf filled with RC Cars

Epic Gamer Bar

Spas - bathrooms

Lounge Lobby

FanonSkeletonStuff Studios - UTAUs....... gave my brain a terrible spawn.......

Apoluscalypse

2021 - I discovered MADD at the end of the year. The paracosm I was not able to spawn was my Animal Crossing island haha

Skeld

Mira HQ

Polus

Airship

well that's all I can remember from last year, most is just at home

Long car trip to the disney happened too and I did an entire chatroom of paras wOOOO

Disneyland Hotels but better and more decorated

okay im gonna go try out Antar when I wake up its 5am I spent 3 hours on this gn!!

[thehazygaze]

Episode 205 | It Is What It Is

Aired on Thursday 3rd May 2018. Full playlist available on SPOTIFY.

The Frightnrs - I’d Rather Go Blind - I’d Rather Go Blind Single  

** Kali Uchis - Gotta Get Up Interlude - Isolation ** Kali Uchis - Body Language Intro - Isolation Ginger Root - Belleza - Spotlight People HOMESHAKE - Call Me Up - Fresh Air 

Connan Mockasin - It’s Your Body - Caramel Blood Orange - It Is What It Is - Cupid Deluxe Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Hunnybee - Sex & Food Earth Girl Helen Brown - Language of Love - Venus 

BadBadNotGood - Chompy’s Paradise - IV Gorillaz - Plastic Beach - Plastic Beach Thundercat - Them Changes - Drunk Toro y Moi - Lissoms - Causers of This Neon Indian - Halogen (I Could Be a Shadow) - Era Extraña

** The Internet - Roll (Burbank Funk) - Roll (Burbank Funk) Steve Lacy - Looks - Steve Lacy’s Demo William Onyeabor - Atomic Bomb - What?! Grizzly Bear - Sky Took Hold - Painted Ruins ** Tom Misch, Goldlink - Lost in Paris - Geography 

Masego, FKJ - Tadow - Tadow Nina Simone - Baltimore - Baltimore Dumbo Gets Mad - Quasar - Thank You Neil Wild Nothing - Reichpop - Life of Pause Washed Out - All I Know - Paracosm 

Still Corners - The Trip - Strange Pleasures Chet Faker - Dead Body - Built On Glass SBTRKT - Pharaohs - SBTRKT

** indicates new release

[parasafterdark]

I actually kinda relate to what you're saying, funnily enough!

As in: Chasing the good chemicals by any means necessary. Just instead of building entire new worlds and characters, I skip half that work by throwing the same couple people at whatever problem provides the brain chemicals at the time x)

I guess that comes with a deep sense of familiarity. Like, I don't just know my paras, I KNOW them. All their trauma, their recoveries, their changes and still unadressed problems with themself and each other. Just....years of growth and changes. And yet I kinda don't knwo them cause there is so much more to explore and learn about how they react to the new status quo after every storyline. So I'm less afraid of running out of steam with a storyline, cause some subplots have been going on for years and I swear, eventually I'm gonna explore them (I lie to myself >.> )

But also...there's a kind of sameyness? It's been mostly the same paras for years and everything has to comply with rules of the paracosm and lately I have been struggling with kinda...getting away from that, but also really REALLY being afraid of letting go of what I've built here ._.

(there is also so much lore. Holy hell, no wonder that I can't remember shit. Gotta keep that space for para stuff, cause otherwise their actions won't make sense and what's the point then??? x_x)

Me: Slightly envious of the people that have different paracosm and can cycle through them while I'm stuck with my single large one

The writing related worlds/character, who I come up with and treat the exact same way I do my paracosm/paras: *white man blinking gif*