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[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Para bio: Rowena

Basic info

Name/nickname: Rowena Maxwell/Ro

Species: willar

Gender/pronouns: female, she/her

In a relationship with Mike and Violet

Short(ish) backstory

Rowena was the very first para within this paracosm, and forms the opposition to whatever the hell Leo was doing in the beginning. Since she’s a willar, the species’ history (or at least a small part of it) is necessary to understand her motivations. Basically, willars are magical beings who live among humans and hide their magical abilities and physical differences (wings, tails, and pointy ears because reasons) from humans. There used to be a good reason as to why they are in hiding, but this explanation has been lost over time (although it does return in later conflicts). Meanwhile all willars agree they shouldn’t show their magic to humans, their beliefs as to how this is supposed to happen divides the people in two: one side says they should live separately from humans and practice magic in secret (calling themselves Freefeathers), meanwhile the other believes they should give up magic and live among humans (calling themselves Amongers).

Rowena’s family are Amongers, but they sent her to a Freefeather school so that she can learn “proper magic usage”; this is also where she first met and befriended Mike. But due to the (often bloody) conflict between the two sides, the parents erased all of Rowena’s memories about her origins and family, which backfired spectacularly when Rowena finished school and, upon learning the truth, ran away from home, feeling betrayed by the very people she should’ve been able to trust.

This is when she accidentally met Leo, just as they were trying to open up the Universe. (I haven’t really figured out as to how Rowena was able to find Leo at this exact time but whatever.) Since she had no idea what was happening and her only source was Lucy, who was actively trying to stop Leo, she joined Lucy’s side after the opening and the two became the first two members of the Main Team™ (later I started referring to them as the Dragon Squad because it sounds dope and because dragons). The two went on to explore the dimensions, ignoring Leo’s warnings and sometimes actively fighting them and their “stupid rules”; and it was during this era when most of the current members joined the Squad, like Emil and by his actions the three Tarinians (Freddie, Nesh, and Gordon), and later Mike (who originally joined Leo but switched sides after the Universe got restarted).

A recurring theme in Rowena’s history is her making decisions on the whim, without thinking about the consequences, and then those consequences turning out to be very bad. First, she learnt about Sky magic, and how Sky creatures have a sixth sense that allows them to “sense” their surroundings without actually seeing/hearing/touching anything, and became obsessed with it. (I tried describing it as “touching an object but not actually having to physically hold it”, although idk if that’s really understandable.) So she infused herself with Sky magic, and gained said sixth sense – but ignored the fact that willar brains aren’t designed to deal with so much information at once, and to accommodate the new wave of info, her brain decided to get rid of a different sense, which is how Rowena lost her hearing completely over time. Also, in Gythrene, Sky magic and Water magic do not mix well, which is why Sky creatures (now including Rowena) cannot touch water without getting seriously injured or even killed.

Another similar not-thought-out decision was her getting enough of the Freefeather-Amonger conflict happening in the background and ended their argument by revealing the existence of magic and dimensions to humanity. This led to free-er use of magic and that, aside from the conflict that arose between humans and willars/the magical world, even attracted the Porfeans, who are effectively the galaxy’s Magic Cops. Aka they basically make sure that nobody uses magic for bad, which in their terms means nobody uses magic at all. Which is obviously not good for species who were used to accessing magic easily, and after years of build-up and not wanting to oblige, the conflict resulted in the Big Interdimensional War For Which I Still Need To Find A Better Name.

Personality

Rowena is very stubborn but has a good heart. As said before, she tends to make decisions without thinking twice, which, although she has good intentions, usually backfire and cause more harm than good. This chain of bad consequences turned her positive attitude towards a more realistic and negative one, and her outlook on life changed with it, especially after her turn towards Sky magic took so much away from her. Despite this, she still tries to cheer up her friends and mostly dedicates her life to protecting those who she cares about – usually by force since fighting’s the only thing she really knows how to do.

Artistic rendition

Made with this picrew (is it bad to have a crush on your paras?)

And this one's mine again. (Willars’ wings and tails usually have the same colour as their hair, just with different shades; however, Rowena’s started shifting towards white over time due to the Sky magic she introduced to her body. Also this is one of my first ever pieces of digital art, so please be gentle with me I'm trying my best here)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Para bio: Leo

Basic info

Name/nickname: Leo (full name unknown)

Species: magicless willar

Gender/pronouns: genderfluid, she/he/they depending on current gender

Short(ish) backstory

Despite not being among the “important” paras for a long while, Leo is essentially the catalyst for the entire plot of the paracosm. They grew up in an orphanage (which is why their “true name” is unknown), only befriending Lucy at the place. They also got to know the oldest and most powerful demon in existence (mentioned in this post, although that one is a bit outdated & I might update it with another one idk) via the Magic of the Internet; the demon exploited the naivety of the (at the time) ten year old kid to get Leo’s trust, and then used them as a puppet for his own plans. Leo didn’t know that he was a demon for a very long time, and firmly believed that he only wanted the best for them and the world – therefore, they never questioned his orders and loved him like the father they never had. The demon also provided Leo with access to magic in the form of a wooden staff (cuz they look cool shut up), which they didn’t naturally have as they had a rare condition where a willar, which is normally a magic-using creature, is born without said magic. (I’ll probably do species-specific posts at some point if anyone’s interested/if I’m feeling like it.)

Leo is the catalyst to all events within the paracosm because they were the one who “opened up the Universe” – basically, they made interdimensional travel possible. (As mentioned in this post, in Gythrene, stories become real in separate dimension that can be visited, although very complicated made-up physics and rules do apply. I may or may not talk more about this at some point, idk I’ll see.) Afterwards, their main mission and lifegoal became to explore and protect the dimensions and their inhabitants, despite the fact that for some reason, everyone (read: the Main Team™) constantly believed them to be the villain.

One important instance of this bad guy misbelief was when the Universe became so unstable due to everyone travelling around carelessly that the only way to stop it from collapsing completely was for Leo to essentially “reset” the dimensions. By which every interaction that the outsiders had with the dimensions were erased – effectively, the dimensions’ timelines were set back to their stories’ beginnings, and the people completely forgot about all other interactions they had previously. (Tarin was an exception from this due its… complicated nature.) The blame was then put on Leo, despite them being the only one actively trying to re-stabilize the Universe and only resetting it as a last resort.

Leo was viewed as the villain for years, and even after the Main Team™ accepted them as one of the team, they still joked about Leo’s evilness for quite a while. This made them become even closer with their demon friend, and eventually led to them choosing their father figure’s side in the Big Interdimensional War For Which I Need To Find A Better Name (all you need to know is that it was a Big War with lots of Epic Fighting & magic & stuff). As of now, I’m simultaneously during the war, at the end of the war and after the war, so the details get a bit confusing here but what I DO know is that the demon dies at the end, which causes a lot of… erm… emotional turmoil for Leo, to say the least.

Personality

Leo is usually very energetic and hides their emotional struggles behind a carefree persona. They always try to help those in need to their best knowledge, and believes themself to be a good person despite what everyone thinks of them. The latter belief changes a lot during and after the Big Interdimensional War, when they start to genuinely question if the others’ criticism could hold up – the death of their father figure especially adds to this dilemma, essentially confirming for Leo that they are inherently evil and not deserving of redemption and love due to their mistakes. (And this is where I am now. Angst.)

When not in the middle of an emotional crisis, Leo spends their time exploring the Universe, and adding new dimensions to the already quite vast catalogue of known places. Interestingly, they are one of the few (if not only) explorers who actually do research on the places they plan to visit, by checking the dimension’s general plot, characters, and other important details. (The fandom wikis are very frequently visited websites.) Also, Leo is responsible for nearly half of the map the Bridge (the base of the interdimensional explorers) currently has of the Universe.

Artistic rendition

Made with this picrew

And this one’s mine 😊 The horns/red eyes/red fire are meant to symbolize the fact that their demon friend sometimes uses them as a vessel/randomly possesses them at times. (I know I can’t draw but it still helps me imagine my paras better ok)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

definition of "makes decisions on the whim and all of them are bad"

flower child with a love for hunting (people for sport)

theater kid except the sword isn't fake

engineer with a severe lack of a normal sleep schedule

a good example to why trusting strangers on the internet is bad

programmer who hacks reality on a regular basis

gay arsonist

waterboy who is also the boyfriend of said gay arsonist

the only remotely sensible one of the team

the one I gave the most tormented life but also Touch Them and I Will Kill You

Mary Sue except dragon

artist who turned art into a fighting style

alchemist with no self control

some kind of eldritch being whose sole existence defies the laws of physics

Reblog with really bad descriptions of your paras

Lost water bender wannabe

Ageless space entity

Deaf chef and pregnant

That one girl from band camp

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

eyyyy fellas I was feeling like doing bios for my main paras but there's too many of them and I don't know which one to start with so if there's any one of them y'all want to hear me ramble about feel free to pick (from the ones that have themselves a tag, and with the exception of Nesh since he technically already has one)

i know i promised i'll finish paramay but i got lazy i'm sorry

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Alright so I’m a lazy dipshit so I’ll just slap this under the anon emoji ask I also got and do the two together. But oh boi howdy are y’all in for a ride with this fella (it’s a bit long I’m sorry)

✨ Do they have any powers or talents? What are they?

So for anyone not knowing, Nesh is half demon, half human, so to understand his motivations and actions, it’s good to have at least some grasp on the mechanics of souls

In Gythrene, (almost) all living things consist of a physical body and a magical source, the latter most often being a mortal soul. The soul attaches to the body upon birth, then when the body dies, the soul’s memories get wiped by the Goddess of Death (a topic for another day), and the cycle starts again.

Demons on the other hand function a bit differently. For one, demons’ memories cannot be wiped by Death, making them essentially immortal (and royally pissing off Death). Two, when two demons reproduce, they create a new demon soul, which is already equipped with a certain amount of physical matter. This matter doesn’t really have a form, therefore demons can shape their bodies in any way they please.

Physical matter is important because without it, memory making/thinking is impossible, and without those, the creature is essentially not alive. Ergo mortal souls between bodies are not living beings but rather just objects within space; and since the bodies of demons are surprisingly fragile and can easily be destroyed with enough magic, they like to possess living creatures as sort of a shield against magical attacks.

As the mortal soul is the “default” occupant of a body, the person being possessed can put up quite a fight against the demon. So to get around this, a few demons went like “hey, if mortal souls can have mortal bodies, why shouldn’t we?” And so they did: after taking control over a few humans, their children had the souls of demons instead of normal ones. The bodies still died, though, so the surviving demons reincorporated into their society via reincarnation. (Having a headache yet? No? Trust me it gets worse)

Queue Nesh. Nesh was the second demon in existence, but came relatively late to the “human party”. Since the only person overpowering him was his brother (aka the oldest demon in existence) he decided to take control and rule over other demons by being born as the son of the about-to-be-queen of demons, Lexie. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was that Lexie, instead of becoming queen, decided to leave all demons (including her not so friendly father) and marry Gordon, a mortal man instead. The two had a kid, William, who had both a demon soul (Nesh) and a mortal one within him.

Since demon memories don’t resurface until around the age of 15, Will’s childhood years were, for the most part, peaceful. The two souls grew up together, working in unison to basically act as one person (kind of like how fusions work in Steven Universe, if anyone’s familiar with the show). The problems arose when Nesh’s memories started to come back, and he gained more and more control over the body, with less and less respect towards Will’s needs and wants. This was especially worrying as Lexie’s younger brother Hiruati, being pissed that his sister ran away with a mortal, decided to punish her by turning her own son against said mortal (and as a result, against the entirety of Tarin).

Now, the thing about demons is that they look at humans/mortals the same way most humans tend to look at bugs. That is, they are definitely alive, but if you accidentally step on one – hey, there are probably thousands more to take its place, so who really cares? This isn’t necessarily deliberate ignorance, and most demons genuinely don’t understand that mortals are, in fact, feeling beings – regardless, when Hiruati came up to Nesh going “hey do you wanna join me and fuck shit up” he was like “yeah sure why not let’s have some fun” and the two went on to become basically terrorists.

The concept of people trying to kill innocents (I usually refer to these terrorists as rogues) wasn’t exactly new to Tarin – after all, they were the reason the country was founded in the first place: to protect the citizens from murderous assholes. However, having to deal with not one but two demons at the same time was a hard blow, and the police (the main military force of Tarin) took a lot of big hits during that period.

After about two years of being a destructive bastard (btw this all happened before I started writing down my stuff so I’m not entirely sure about some details, like dates), a lot of things finally started pushing Nesh to stop being a murderer. For one, he was literally battling his own father (one could argue that Gordon was not the demon’s actual father, but Gordon still raised the two of them, so there definitely was some emotional connection), and Will was fighting against his actions with full force. The final push came when Freddie, realizing the error in his ways, decided to give himself up to the Tarin Police and help them by sharing as much info about rogues as possible. After this, Nesh finally gave Will a chance by listening to what he has to say, and realized that mortals are, in fact, thinking and feeling beings, and therefore killing them might not be the bestest of ideas. He left his old ways (and Hiruati) behind, and decided to sort things out, starting with Will and his parents.

What happened afterwards is a bit foggy, but I know that after a while, Gordon forgave and officially pardoned him. In his words, “I’d love to put him in jail for at least a decade or two for his crimes, but having an ally as powerful as him can be pretty useful, not to mention it is kind of hard to lock up a magical being in a non-magical cell.”

Nowadays, Nesh and Will get along fairly well. Nesh is usually the action and the one on “the outside”, which is why their fusion (for a lack of a better word) has his name; meanwhile Will is mostly the moral compass of the two. The result is an extremely hyperactive and overconfident person who sometimes sets things on fire and is also the most stereotypical gay you could imagine. In Tarin, clothes aren’t really considered gendered, which makes it all the easier for him to wear skirts, heavy makeup, and just overall dress very femininely. He is also very gay for Freddie, who likes not to think about the implications of him dating a person who is actually two people in a trenchcoat (and one is technically a few billion years old).

The reason why I called him semi-redeemed is because one, he basically avoided the punishment he definitely deserved, and two, his demon part still sometimes forgets that killing people is Not Okay – at which point Will has to remind him to stop being a dipshit and concentrate. Overall, Nesh can be considered to be on the good side, even if his methods are a bit… unconventional.

TL;DR Nesh has the power of a demon and the talent to blow shit up with Style™. Also, demons are confusing as fuck.

Regardless idk if this is what you were expecting but that’s what you get for asking me to infodump lol

Raise your hand if you have a serial killer para

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 18: Mask

Paras: Thalia, Ro

The Sun was just about to set behind the horizon when the two arrived at the beach. Ro was the first to sit down in the grass, a fair distance from the water, and Thalia soon followed.

For a few minutes, the two both stared at the waves. Thalia looked at the sparkling ocean with awe, watching as the water crashed on the rocks and sand, almost hypnotized by the rhythmic sound. Ro, on the other hand, turned her head to her friend, and waited for them to snap out of their thoughtful state. This didn’t seem likely to happen soon, so she gently poked them with her wing.

“You said you wanted to tell me something. Is everything ok?” she asked, a bit awkwardly - this whole sign language business was a bit new for her. Thalia didn’t seem to notice, though - they opened their mouth, about to respond, but shook their head instead and turned back to the ocean.

Time for a different approach then.

“Hey.” She placed her hand on Thalia’s shoulder, trying to put as much comfort, peace, and warmth into the single word as she could. She felt their muscles tense up under her palm, and gently wrapped her wing around their small body before continuing. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t feel like it. But just know that I’m here, whenever you need me, okay?”

Thalia sighed, and leaned into the hug. The two sat there in silence for a few moments, until Thalia finally managed to collect their thoughts.

“Look, I… I’m tired.” The intense waves of burnout, guilt, and just plain exhaustion almost made Ro want to curl up in a tiny ball, and cry. But she refused, and kept listening. “Just… everyone on The Bridge thinks I’m some sort of- some sort of superhero, or something. But I- I’m not a hero, okay? Most of the time, I have no idea what I’m doing. But since I got lucky a few times, saved a few people while I was saving myself, and now everyone wants me to tell them how to live their lives.” Thalia shook their head again, tears running down their cheeks. Ro gently pulled them closer, using her hands to tighten the hug. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, I love the people, I love that they care, but just- I did something right a few times, and now somehow, all my words are taken as sacred and unquestionable, and I can’t- I can’t be responsible for others like that. I just can’t.”

Thalia took a few deep breaths to calm down. Ro opened her arms to give them some space. “And the worst part is… you know, we joke a lot about how “a single sentence from me could get someone killed”, but the things is, I don’t think it’s just a joke. I cannot get mad at someone- hell I cannot vaguely dislike someone without everyone else getting pissed at them too. It’s like, I cannot have subjective opinions without everyone else taking them as objective facts, and it can hurt- I can hurt so many people with that. And I’m just so tired of having to watch my every step.”

Ro didn’t know how to respond. Sure, she already knew Thalia wasn’t having it easy (having to move out from an abusive household and adjusting to an entirely new life will do the trick for you), but she always believed that The Bridge was a safe space for them, just like for everyone else. She never even considered how much responsibility being the founder and role model for everyone could be.

“I mean, we could try and go up to them, and tell them to start thinking critically instead of becoming a cult,” she suggested, and Thalia chuckled.

“I wish it worked that way. Sadly, I’ve already tried several times, and failed.”

Ro stared ahead for a few seconds, trying to come up with ideas, but none seemed to come to her. “I wish I could give you a good answer to this, but… the best I can offer now is my company. And the promise that you won’t have to do this alone – because you really don’t. We’ve got your back.”

Thalia made a small smile, and leaned their head against Ro’s chest. “And that’s enough for me.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had sooo many thoughts while writing this I’m afraid I’ll accidentally leave something out but here we go

First of all, it’s important to note that the language they use (aka the bold parts) is not exactly your conventional kind of communication. The two here talk via sharing their emotions with one another, so instead of words/phrases with more or less strict definitions, they communicate via thoughts and concepts. Feelings can get both very confusing and oddly specific at times, which means they can be perfect at delivering messages, especially when you have no idea how to put your thoughts into words. The only downside is that you cannot really use “neutral language” around others (since a lack of emotions is inherently opposing a language built upon emotions); and also, hiding things from the other is literally impossible without the other immediately knowing something’s up. But otherwise, very useful skill.

On the topic of languages, about a week or so after I put out the first few snippets, my brain randomly went “hey what if Ro was deaf, just because”, and since I couldn’t really bring up anything against it and it fit perfectly with the plot, I just went “eh, fuck it, why not, time to spice up the character drama”. So that happened, and that’s what I was trying to reflect upon in the beginning.

Also I can relate so much to the whole “I did one (1) great accomplishment and now suddenly everyone expects me to keep doing it over and over again, even though I feel like I’m no longer on that level and just want some peace for once” concept and I feel like that tells a lot about me

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

🌌 for the ask meme please! :D (this is paraesthetics btw 💜✨)

🌌 How did you come up with your para’s name? What does it mean?

Having lots of (major) paras means having to come up with lots of names, and I generally have three methods for it:

If the para is human/grew up among humans, I can give them a "normal" name. This either just comes to me randomly (like for about 90% of my paras), or if I can't find a good one, I'll just look it up on a baby name website and pray I find something good (like for Rowena - god I'm so happy with that name choice it fits her so well). These names don't really carry any other meaning than "I find them cool & fitting"

And for the paras with non-human origins, I use the good old method of "keysmash then make it make sense" (most notably with Kazary but my demons get the same treatment). Or if I'm feeling lazy, I go to a fake word generator website and work from there (this one works wonders for fantasy names I kid you not)

I think I only have two paras who have any deeper meaning behind their name - Violet, who, being a fairy, was born from a flower, a violet flower to be specific; and Aurora, whose name I picked because "holy SHIT aurora borealis looks sooooo cool"

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

oooooooooooooh yeah that makes sense, thanks!

Para emoji ask game! (I felt like we needed something like this)

🌌 - how did you come up with your para's name? What does it mean?

🏠 - where do they live? What is their house like?

✨ - do they have any powers or talents? What are they?

🌎 - what is their paracosm like?

👬 - who are their favorite people?

❤ - what's their love language?

🍓 - what's their favorite food?

🌟 - do you have any songs that make you think of them? What are they?

🎟 - are they from an existing piece of media? How close are they to the source character?

🐕 - if they were an animal, what would they be?

🎮 - what types of technology do they have? Is it more or less advanced than ours?

😀 - what would they want to say about themselves?

Feel free to rb and/or send asks!

(If people enjoy this then I might make a sequel)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

ok so I have no idea how emoji ask games work and google refuses to tell me for some reason (😢) but from what I can tell this seems fun so feel free to pester me with whatever you want and I'll pretend like I actually know what the fuck I'm doing

Para emoji ask game! (I felt like we needed something like this)

🌌 - how did you come up with your para's name? What does it mean?

🏠 - where do they live? What is their house like?

✨ - do they have any powers or talents? What are they?

🌎 - what is their paracosm like?

👬 - who are their favorite people?

❤ - what's their love language?

🍓 - what's their favorite food?

🌟 - do you have any songs that make you think of them? What are they?

🎟 - are they from an existing piece of media? How close are they to the source character?

🐕 - if they were an animal, what would they be?

🎮 - what types of technology do they have? Is it more or less advanced than ours?

😀 - what would they want to say about themselves?

Feel free to rb and/or send asks!

(If people enjoy this then I might make a sequel)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 17: Extreme

Paras: Nesh, Thalia, Ro, and others

Nellie was flying as fast as she could. Left, right, left, right, between the buildings, along the streets, trying to avoid getting caught. Nesh, her rider, frantically glanced behind them, screaming the directions he thought would help.

“Ok! Now left! Now another le- no wait right- no- left!”

The sudden sound of a horn filled the air. Another player duo is out of the game.

“C’mon, Nel, we’ve got this, just a bit more and we can win this round,” Nesh muttered into her ears. She nodded, and landed in an alleyway to catch her breath. “They won’t find us here,” she explained.

Nesh slid off her back, and let her rest a bit. “The field is tough today,” he said. “But I can feel this one. We’ve survived the worst, so the only thing that can come in our way is- “

A different, much deeper and much longer horn sound cut his sentence in half. Nesh heard his partner gulp.

“-that.” He finished his sentence, and jumped onto Nellie’s back. It was that time of the game.

The two flew out of the alley, and saw about two dozen other players follow. The fight has changed; the players were no longer against each other, but rather a common enemy: the Beast.

Whoever spots the Beast first has the greatest chance of survival. But, then again, the Beast is fast, and even the best don’t stand a chance against it.

The players spread out; some circled high off the ground, hoping to get a better view, others lay low, trying to hide from the inevitable. But the tension was the same, the air was thick with it.

And soon enough, a loud yelp from a duo marked the beginning of the end. A flash of yellow darted across the streets – “Up!” Nesh yelled, and the two ducked out of its way. At least we weren’t the first ones.

The chase was on. Nesh felt the adrenaline rushing in his blood. “Turn up! Left! Behind that corner!” Nellie turned, loud wingbeats followed – around the corner, up the wall, above the houses. The open air wasn’t safe – down, down, back to the streets. The wind blows too loudly, where did the enemy’s sound go? No time to worry, no time to look, only forward, only left, only right-

The next moment, they arrived at the central square. A large open field of cobblestone, nowhere to hide.

“Oh fuuUUU-“ Nesh yelled. “GO GO GO DON’T STOP!”

Nellie dared to glance behind – this was a mistake. Just a few feet behind, there it was, the yellow nightmare – the Beast, as they called it. On their back, another rider, another player of the game, the only one who cannot lose.

Nellie knew her only chance was to reach the houses before the Beast reaches them. She flew, as fast as she could, wings beating fast, she could barely breathe, but it was worth it, it’s worth to fight – but to no avail. She wasn’t even halfway across the square when she felt a gentle tuck on her tail, and suddenly, she wasn’t flying by her own wings anymore.

“Gotcha!” Thalia squealed with joyful glee.

“Oh for fuck’s sake do you ALWAYS have to pick us first?” Nesh complained. “How can we expect to win if the game is rigged?? I’m calling shenanigans!”

“Stop being a whiny brat, Nesh,” Rowena smiled smugly from Thalia’s back. “Life sucks, deal with it.”

Nesh let out a long groan. This game just wasn’t letting him win.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paracosm creation is fun, because sometimes it’s carefully working out all the small details so that they add up together, meanwhile other times it’s more like “cool cool but what if we like. Added dragons for no reason” and then it’s canon and nobody can question you. The dragons in this scene are native to Tarin, but usually come to The Bridge for better training opportunities – one of which is the infamous Dragon Tag, during which dragons and riders have to work together to “survive” until the end of the game.

The game ends with the deploying of the Beast, aka Thalia in their dragon form. This is both because they already have a high status among the citizens of The Bridge, and because their dragon form is the fastest among all the dragon subspecies, which makes the game all the more fun (or terrifying, depending on how you look at it). But since Thalia is far from being fair, Nesh and Nellie are almost always the first ones to be captured during the final phase

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 15: Comfort

Paras: Thalia, Nesh

Nesh was lying on his bed, ready to fall asleep. But as he was about to slip into the realm of dreams, he felt something was off – and opening his eyes, he saw Thalia sitting on their bed, staring into the void, obviously deep in thoughts. He fought himself up to a sitting position before starting to speak.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asked. “You seem a bit… upset.”

Thalia chuckled, and shook their head. “I’m fine. I’m just… thinking about stuff.”

“You know, you can tell me anything. I’m not gonna judge.”

Thalia let out a long sigh, then sat next to Nesh.

“It’s just… I’m not a kid anymore. Within a few years, I’m going to leave the house, leave this life behind, and live on my own. And… I’m not sure if I can handle that, y’know? I mean, what if I can’t find a job and earn enough to support myself? What if… what if…” their voice broke, and they cuddled up to him. “I’ve only had to spend two days on the street, all by myself, and it was the scariest experience of my life. I don’t… I don’t want that.”

Nesh wrapped his hand around them, and hugged them tightly. He wasn’t even mad for having to get up; this was much more important than sleep.

“Hey hey, it’s okay,” he hushed them. “I know the big world is scary, but you don’t have to worry. There’s not gonna be a moment when you turn 18 and suddenly you’re no longer allowed to talk to Mom or Dad or even me; we’re always going to be here to help, whatever you need. And besides, this is Tarin we’re talking about. All your basic needs come for free here.”

“Really?” Thalia sat up in confusion. “You mean, I could literally not do anything, and I’d still get a house and food and water and such?”

Nesh nodded, proudly. “Yep! We realized early on that the only way our community could survive is if we helped each other as much as we could. And it’s not like we have a shortage of resources, so why not give them out for free?”

Thalia thought about his words for a moment.

“This does sound… comforting,” they finally said. “After growing up in the capitalist hellscape of Homeland, Tarin looks a lot more… safer to live in.”

Nesh chuckled, and hugged his sibling tightly.

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The creation of Tarin’s economic and social structure basically went like

Me: *sees something in the world I don’t like*

Me: well then Tarin does the exact opposite!

…and the end result was socialism. Which does raise a lot of questions about our society.

Anyway, Homeland here is referring to the “original” dimension aka planet Earth – basically, my paracosm version of real life. It is a common trope among people who are not from Homeland to hate that place with a seething passion, for the simple reason that life kinda sucks there. (But I mean, that isn’t too surprising now is it)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 14: Explore

What do you do when you're a shapeshifter and your girlfriend is asexual? Well, you learn how to turn into a dragon, and take her on adventures around the multiverse, of course! And since the multiverse is like, Really Big, you can go to a different mountain range every single weekend.

At least, that's how Thalia thought about the matter. As an ikani, their secondary form is a dragon, meaning they frequently go for long flights every week - and most of the time take Aurora with them. It's interesting to note, however, that Thalia's dragon form is a special one, a species which is obsessed with freedom and being free of all kinds of limitations - which means that there are only about two people who Thalia can tolerate on their back.

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 13: Creation

Paras: Emil, Mike

Mike was sitting on the fence, his fingers running across the keyboard of his laptop. Emil walked next to him, and watched as the troops trained on the field. The training field, one of his works; a combination of virtual reality and just straight-on reality bending. After all, it isn’t too hard to create holographic images of imaginary foes when the entire world is running on your own computer.

And yet, despite having created such an intricate world, Emil still wasn’t satisfied with his work. Tarin might have been the pinnacle of coding, but it was still lacking in an actual storyline.

He glanced at Mike. The screen was filled with sentences and paragraphs, most likely a story in progress. Emil could only read a few words before Mike closed the window and looked at him.

“I feel like you want something from me, or am I mistaken?”

Emil turned back to the training field. He knew what he wanted, but he wasn’t prepared to actually talk about it.

“Well, you could say that,” he began, figuring out the words on the go. “It’s less of a thing, and more like, an explanation, I guess…”

Mike raised an eyebrow.

“Look, I’ve been watching you for a while. And maybe it’s just because I come from a planet where creativity doesn’t really exist, or maybe because I simply don’t understand people, but I cannot for the world figure out how you keep writing like, constantly. I mean, where are these ideas coming from? How do you just, write down stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with reality?”

Mike raised his other eyebrow as well.

“Are you asking me how my creative process works?”

“No, I’m trying to figure out how creativityworks,” Emil replied. “Creativity is such a unique and rare trait, and getting to meet someone who has it, I have to take my best shot at learning something from the experience. So, uh, if you’re fine with sharing your superpowers, then…”

Mike thought for a second, then sat down on the ground, and pat the grass next to himself. Emil settled next to him, and rested his chin in his hands.

“What if I told you the only reason creativity is so rare is because your belief of what creativity is is completely wrong?” Mike began. “No, don’t answer to that – I can prove it. I can prove to you that anyone, and I mean literally anyone can make up stuff that isn’t real – and from that point on, what you create is up to you. But, first of all, if I’d say “apple”, you can imagine the apple, right?”

Emil was surprised by the question, but nodded, so Mike continued.

“Okay, so, let’s play a little game. I’m going to start describing something to you, and your job is to try and imagine it as best as you can. After each addition, I’ll ask you to repeat it back, so that I’ll know you were listening.”

“Imagine this: you’re standing on a field. The green grass is soft under your feet, colorful flowers grow as far as the eye can see. So tell me, what do you see?”

Emil smiled, eyes closed. So far, so easy.

“I can see a grassy field with flowers, but I’m not sure how- “

“Let me continue. So you stand there, and you look up a bit. It’s a sunny day, there are no clouds in the blue sky. A few birds fly above you, too far above to see anything but their silhouettes. What do you see?”

“Birds flying around over a grassy field in a sunny day, but why- “

“I wasn’t finished! Now, you look back at the field. You turn around, and behind you stands a giant tree. It’s top is so far above, you can’t even see it – the canopy so dense you can’t see through it. So tell me, what do- “

“I can see a large pine tree in the middle of a field, but will you please tell me how or why this proves anything?” Emil opened his eyes, frustration in his voice. “Don’t get me wrong, this is all very interesting, but you could’ve just said “oh hey I can create stuff” without rubbing it under my nose.”

Mike let a smile spread across his face. “But that’s the thing, Emil – you keep saying I can “create stuff” like you can’t, even though that’s just not the case. For example: I never said it was a pine tree. That part, you added yourself.” He paused, and waited for Emil to think about his words before continuing. “Our brains will always try to fill in the holes to our best of knowledge, only this time, what we describe is not a “real” thing. Creativity isn’t some kind of mystic superpower you’re born with; in reality, creativity is knowing what questions to ask, and how to answer them correctly. In our case, the question is: sure, you have a tree, but what kind of tree is it? And the answer, apparently: a pine tree.”

Mike stood up, and brushed the dirt off his pants. “I hope that was helpful, because honestly, that’s the best I’ve got.” And with that, he sat back on the fence, laptop in hands, and began typing again; leaving Emil to his extremely confused thoughts.

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I originally intended this as a “what would writers be like in a world where creative writing is extremely rare” but honestly, I feel like the result applies outside of the paracosm as well. I wasn’t expecting for this to get this meta so sorry for the philosophy session y’all 😂

But regardless of the philosophical implications, creativity is, in fact, considered a highly valuable superpower in this paracosm. Both because it’s extremely rare (or so do people think), and because being a writer here also means being the ultimate ruler of an entire dimension. Emil understands this, and via this conversation, becomes the first (and thus far only) person in the entire multiverse to “learn” creativity, instead of just being a creator from birth. In fact, he learns it so well that he goes on to create the Undertale AU from which head scientist Dr Alphys comes.

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 12: Safety

Paras: Varian, Dylan

Varian was looking at the notes spread across the table. He has been working on this project for quite some time now; finding out how emotions correlate to magic and its usage was crucial to creating the tools necessary to control magic. But no matter how hard he tried, the clues just didn’t seem to add up.

“Y’know, you could just not try and mess with things this powerful.” Varian looked to his side, where Dylan was standing. Standing was a bit of an under-statement – rather, he was floating few inches above the ground.

“That’s what you always tell me,” Varian replied, turning back to his notes. “But if you know so well that they are “dangerous to mess with”, why don’t you just tell me how they work so I don’t have to test them?”

Dylan didn’t reply. Varian tried to organize the papers differently, but they still didn’t make any sense to him. He glanced at Dylan again, who was making an exaggeratedly worried face.

“I’ve been meaning to ask something.” Varian put his pen down. “I’ve noticed that, although you try to pretend like you’re a laid-back person who doesn’t have a care in the world, you worry a lot. Especially about me and Nate. Why is that?”

Dylan let out a slightly nervous laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Or are you offended because I care about you?”

Varian didn’t respond. His hope that silent staring might prompt Dylan to talk more proved successful.

“Look, I…” Dylan looked around, hoping to see something that could drive the conversation to another topic, but couldn’t find any. “You know how I’m like, older than the universe we are in, right? Which means I’d have had to spend roughly 14 billion years, all alone. And that’s not exactly good for a creature like me, now is it? So to solve the problem, I found myself… er… partners, for a lack of a better word – that’s how I found you too.”

He looked ahead, seeing something that was not in the room they were. Or in the same moment, for that matter.

“But you weren’t my first partner. The people before you… all pioneers of their time, just like you. They experimented a lot. And sometimes, those experiments… look, the world is under the control of natural forces that are also, technically, people. We have gods, you know that. And those gods do not like when people discover ways around their powers.” He paused. Whatever he was seeing, it wasn’t a happy memory.

Varian felt a bit guilty for pushing this far. He thought that Dylan was just a bit over-protective, but this seemed like a much bigger, deeper problem. He tried to gently put his arm around Dylan, only to realize that this is a lot harder to accomplish with a creature who doesn’t have a physical body.

“Look, I just…” Dylan’s voice broke, but he continued. “I’ve watched far too many people go. I’ve seen entire empires disappearing overnight, entire planets getting wiped off maps at the snap of their fingers… while I did nothing. While I could do nothing. I can’t tackle the gods, Varian. I want to, but I can’t stop them, their powers… I can’t let that happen to you. I can’t let that happen again.”

Varian stared at his friend, examining his face, his emotions. “I… I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Dylan suddenly shook his head to wake from his thoughts. “But that’s all in the past. No need to keep worrying about it. And it’s not like I could stop you from exploring, now could I?” He shot Varian a smug smile, only to receive an eyeroll from his friend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If I wanted to analyze the exact relationship between Dylan and Varian (or just generally anything Dylan is involved in), we’d be here for ages. The gist of it is that Dylan is technically an immortal spirit (for a lack of a better word) whose only weakness is that without a body, he can’t think nor remember/make memories. So to “live”, he has to partner up with other living beings; he gets a body and access to the host’s memories, but the host is still in complete control, and can even take control over Dylan to some degree. This mostly shows itself in the host getting Dylan’s powers, which basically means doing magic. (Obviously this is all just an over-simplification of the process but this is vaguely it)

Another thing: for those who don’t read tags, Varian here is part of a DID system of two, the other alter being Nathan. The hows and whys behind this also fall under the category of “we don’t have the time to discuss that right now”, but I might get into details at some point.

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 11: Success

Paras: Varian, Nesh, Leo, and a lot of others

When Alphys entered the room, she was expecting a lot of things, but she wasn’t prepared for the sight that welcomed her. All the tables were pushed together into one gigantic surface, all of which was covered in detailed maps, colorful notes, and just about an infinite number of pens and pencils. Around the table stood all the members of Team [n], currently in a heated argument about potential tactics.

“I’m telling ya, messing with the Power Trio is not a great idea,” Nesh said, pointing to a purplish area on one of the maps. “We should leave them to the better teams, and when they are weakened – bam! We take them down, and cash in on their territory.”

“Good plan, but you seem to forget one thing,” Azure replied. “We are one of the most powerful teams in the game. If we can’t take them down, neither can anyone else.”

Varian looked at the map, then at the notes he made.

“I mean, we could, hypothetically, try and band together with the other teams, and then maybe we’d have the chance to defeat them?” Danny examined the others’ expressions in hopes of agreement, but Leo shook his head.

“You know how that goes. Sadly, this unforgiving world is full of backstabbers, and I’d rather we didn’t gain territory than we lost territory.”

Danny sighed, and turned to Varian, the unspoken leader of the team. Soon, all four of them went silent, waiting for his insight on the matter. He looked up from his notes, and opened his mouth to respond – and then immediately noticed the not-so-friendly-looking Alphys in the door.

“Oh hey Doc, wassup?” he said, trying to sound casual. The rest of the team spun around, and gave her an innocent smile.

“Nothing much, Varian,” she replied, her voice too calm. “It’s not like you’re an entire week late with your reports and instead of working on them, you’re playing games.”

“C’mon Doc, cut him some slack.” Leo protectively wrapped his hand around Varian. “The finals are happening in about a month. If we want to have any chance in the next season, we gotta do our best.”

Alphys gave Varian a questioning look as he tried to blend into the environment, then sighed.

“Alright, look… if this is so important to you, then fine.” Varian straightened up. “BUT I’m not letting your reports slide. This is your project, after all, and we can’t progress without you.”

“Of course, of course,” he replied, already returning to the maps. “I’ll finish them by tomorrow.”

Alphys rolled her eyes, knowing full well that he’d rather stay up all night than disappoint his boss, but didn’t say anything. She left the room, and could hear the argument continue as she closed the door.

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The villains of The Bridge might have reformed, but sometimes, the urge to conquer the world is just too strong, y’know? To solve the problem without ruining everyone’s lives, the people of The Bridge designed a game, where they divided up the town into different territories, and the players “fight” each other to control as many areas as possible. Anyone can join, as long as they follow the surprisingly over-complicated rules of the game, which state things like: banding up with other teams is perfectly acceptable, but so is cheating; and the battles cannot include permanent damage to the other party’s physical forms. (Emotional trauma is sometimes acceptable, but it depends on the situation.) I am yet to write down the exact rules of the game, but I definitely want to have at least a vague rulebook someday.

The paras appearing here are, for the most part, “side characters”, which is why I didn’t feel like they need too much of an introduction. Regardless, a short summary could be useful: we have Azure, a dexer from an Undertale AU that only exists within this paracosm; Dr Alphys, also a dexer from a different Undertale AU (created by Emil) that also only exists within the paracosm, and who is also the head of the science facility on The Bridge; and Danny Phantom, from the series Danny Phantom (surprise surprise). (And you guys have already met Nesh, Varian, and Leo.) The Power Trio meanwhile refers to Ro, Mike and Violet’s team, and is usually considered to be the most feared among the players – and let’s just say there’s a good reason for that.

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 10: Color

Paras: unknown

Colors.

Such a weird concept. There’s an infinite number of them, yet you could name all the colors of the rainbow. They don’t even exist, they are merely a construct of our minds – and yet, when you think about it, colors rule almost every part of our lives.

Every color has a meaning.

Light green is for creativity. For those who dare think outside the box, and who expand on what’s possible. There are no rules here, only the limits of the mind. Light green is everywhere.

Pink is for rationality. When you take those ideas you had, and put them in a line. When you take your fleeting thoughts, and organize them into a plan. All ideas are worthwhile; but not all ideas can stay within reason. Pink is logical, and never emotional.

White is for creation. For when the nothing becomes something. But even an empty world needs something in order for it to exist; a truly empty world only has creation within – a truly empty world is pure white.

Black is for destruction. For something to come out of nothing, you must make nothing out of something. And so goes the balance – matter in, matter out. The dance continues on.

Light blue is for life. For all the memories you make, for all the experiences you have – that’s what life is. All the things that ever affected you, all the things that made you into who you are, may that be internal or external - the sum of everything that makes you, you.

Red is for death. For all beginnings, there must be an end; infinity is never a good answer. But it is not with fear, but with peace – a way of bringing those who had their lives to their final rest. Death is not violent. Red is a sign of serenity.

Yellow is for emotion. This magical substance, always with you, right next to your mind. Experience comes with a price, a price worth paying. Objectivity might seem like the highest of goals – but what’s the point of life without a little fun in it?

Purple is for history. For all the things that happened before, and all the things that are yet to happen. A list of events, shaping the world around them.

Dark blue-green is for the leader. For the one who sees it all, and the one who organizes them all. After all, a good world needs its forces to be in harmony.

And orange – orange is for everything. The box that sums it all up, the bubble that holds it all in one. Orange is the color of all and everything. Orange is the color of Gythrene.

…

And grey?

…

Grey is for nothing.

Grey is for what does not exist. What have never existed, and what never will.

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I was in a very philosophical mood writing this ngl. I have a bad tendency to put symbolism everywhere I can, and since I just fucking love colors (man, they are pretty), I gave basically every “major” color a meaning within the paracosm. Although the concepts I talked about here can be fairly abstract, they sometimes have quite literal meanings within the paracosm – for example, magic that kills directly is colored red, artifacts that create things are white etc.

Also, this pretty much describes the basic aspects upon which Gythrene operates, even if only in a very vague manner. I could probably go into extreme detail what each and every color actually means/represents, but that would probably take a lot more time and effort to explain it in an understandable way. And I’m not 100% sure you guys are ready to hear me ramble about the extremely specific scientific concepts I made up for a fictional universe. (I’m a science nerd leave me alone)

On another note, if I’m not mistaken, this concludes all introductions to my main paras. There are still others which have varying importance, but these are The Paras™ of the paracosm. I know this last one was a bit more… confusing, to say the least, but I felt like a vague writing with no actual plot or comprehensible meaning is the perfect way to introduce a para who, by the rules of the paracosm, doesn’t actually exist. (Confused yet?)

[infinitely-orange-paracosm]

Paramay challenge - day 9: Treasure

Paras: Leo (willar, he/him), Ink (dexer, he/him - originally from Undertale AU Inktale)

The stone sat on the table, the light from the window was shining directly at it. It was purplish yet transparent, and refracted the light touching it in a thousand directions. It was pretty, yes – but it’s true power was much more important than its looks.

Next to the table stood Leo and Ink, both examining the crystal closely.

“Sooo where did you get this thing from, exactly?” Ink asked, his eyes stuck on the stone.

“I found it in a cave, actually,” Leo proudly answered. “It was kind of a coincidence, not gonna lie, especially considering it was being protected by these weird plant creatures.”

“You mean fairies?”

“If they were fairies, I would have said so, dumbass.” Leo gently punched Ink’s shoulder, although he acted as though the punch actually hurt. “No, they were more… animalistic, I guess? Kinda like deer or something. Anyway, they were guarding the stone, saying something like ‘only a true creator may possess it’, which, according to them, I was not. So then I got Mike, we both entered, they gave him the stone, and he gave it to me. Easy peasy.”

Ink thought about the story for a second.

“Eh, seems legit,” he shrugged, and picked up the crystal. “And how do I use it?”

“Oh, that one’s easy. You just gotta go to the dimension you wanna free up, and think ‘hm, I wanna free this dimension’, and boom! The dimension is connected to the stone. And it remains connected as long as you want it to.”

Ink was still a bit concerned. “Isn’t there like, a limit to how many we can connect?”

“Doubt it,” Leo shook his head. “And besides: stop worrying so much! I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quickly. Even if you mess up, I’m still here, you know how to find me.”

Ink stared at the crystal for a few more moments, then finally put it in his pocket. The world will definitely become a different place with this treasure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember how in the intro I said “if someone writes a story, it becomes real in a separate dimension”? Well, here’s the catch: although those who enter can and will inherently interact with the world around them, they have to do so in a manner that won’t disrupt the original flow of events (as described by the writer/creator). Since the dimension gets its stability from the original story, if the events differ from the ones in the story… well, things can get real ugly real fast. (As in, the dimension might collapse. Which is like, not fun.)

A solution to this problem lies in the Dimension Stone (which, I do plan to rename). Its basic function is that any dimension that is connected to it can have their events differ from their original story; this sometimes even leads to the people of said dimension reading/consuming the original material to predict their own future. Which can also lead to interesting consequences, but that’s less of a dimensional, and more of a personal problem.

Of course, the whole dimension system is a hella lot more complicated (the document I write down my thoughts in currently has roughly 1500-2000 words on the topic and that’s JUST THE BASICS), but this is the gist of the main problem they have to face.