#GEverse

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Trexdis vibes:

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maybe it's appropriate that i'm getting a bunch of om*geverse anons on my blog anniversary

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Apartments in Batumi , Geverse Development  , მშენებარე ბინები ბათუმში  , новоствройки в Батуми . http://geverse.ge/en

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Did anyone else have multi-purpose OCs, who you’d use for different stories at once? Sometimes original, sometimes as part of some pre-existing media, with minor differences between incarnations. I recall Midas and Lynkos doubling as both Ninjago and Ghostbusters OCs.

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Looking through my old writing, it’s funny how I kept trying to portray the Escapees as sympathetic villains with a heart of gold deep down, while also trying to frame their motives to kill Lloyd as somehow. Understandable???? Like Lloyd secretly did something to warrant all this???? Because it just sounded like I was saying

“Trust me guys he’s not an asshole he just needs to get this asshole move out of his system and then he’ll be fine.”

Anyhow tag your OC for whom this image applies.

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Yeah this is my OC Tamericus, she’s-

Wait a minute…

YOU! IT WAS ALWAYS YOU!!!

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I just realized the perfect nickname for Trexdis: T-Rex.

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Spirit Currents

         So I want to ramble some things about the Spirit Currents;

         When coming up with an afterlife for the GEverse, I liked the idea of a place where souls were coming and going, like a constant stream. I wanted to do the idea of souls being summoned to the afterlife, and in this case it’s because it’s made of the bulk of the energy they’re made of; They’re drawn to it like magnetism, without a mortal body to keep them grounded in the mortal world. Bodies are made of Golden energy, this is the Shining Void, etc.

         Ghosts are souls that linger, who decided to take their time, especially when given sufficient regret to do so. And sometimes souls get lost and struggle to make their way to the Spirit Currents, and are even vulnerable to certain outside forces that might prey on them in their unprotected, vulnerable states. That’s where Reapers come in; They’re one of two Psychopomp varieties, and they guide souls in safe passage to the Spirit Currents.

         Reapers, as their names imply, reap the souls of the dead. They wield Death Scythes, tools made of Soul Stone. Soul Stone is an obsidian ore covered in glowing blue cracks, emanating the energy of the soul; This is how they can interact with the soul, and soul stone is found in the Spirit Currents. There’s a bit more to the story than that, which I’ll get to in another post. If soul stone passes through a soul, it gets contained within it; If it makes any sort of cutting or piercing injury on a living person, it will reap their soul, leaving the body empty and abandoned of it.

         When a soul leaves a dead body and is left to linger, normally it’s too faint for soul stone, as wielded by mortals, to ensnare and contain. But Reapers, hailing from the Spirit Currents, can augment the power of the Death Scythe to reap a soul in this state. Reapers are invisible, silent, and intangible, and tend to shadow souls they sense are at the end of their lives.

         Once a sufficient amount of souls are stored in their Death Scythe –a certain amount of soul stone can only contain so many spirits- the Reapers begin the journey to the Spirit Currents. It is said no mortal can cross over to the Spirit Currents, for in order to go there, one must shed their mortal body that shackles them to this mortal plane, so their free soul can make the journey. But hitching a ride with another type of entity, such as the Reapers, can allow you to keep your body; Plus there are other methods too.

         I chose an ocean-like setting due to inspiration from series like Pirates of the Caribbean, and also because the ocean is kind of a scary, dark, and primordial force. I chose water because it represents a flow and cycle; You know how there’s a water cycle? There’s a soul cycle, appropriately carried out by a type of ‘water’ in the Spirit Currents. If you thought Death Scythes were scary for their ability to nab your soul, the actual Spirit Currents themselves can wash it clean from your body, no need to make any injury in your body!

         The water is practically an entity in and of itself; You can’t really harvest buckets of the stuff, it all stays connected together, fluid and ever-moving. It’s almost like a planet-sized sphere, constantly rotating, as part of the current and stream. Souls are deposited by Reapers who wash their scythes in the currents, cleansing them of their burden before going back to the Shining Void to begin another harvest. Other souls take a longer journey themselves to these waters.

         Souls tend to travel in flocks as they drift through the currents, resembling blue orbs of light; Think a Will-o-the-Wisp, which in the GEverse, may have been inspired by someone seeing a lone soul in its bare state. Souls are tended to and protected by Angels at this point in the soul cycle; Angels being massive, powerful leviathans that nobody dares incur the wrath of. They’re practically divine beings, yet calm and benign to their charge. Angels are the other type of Psychopomp, and exist in symbiosis with the Reapers.

         During this whole process of entering the afterlife, the soul sleeps; Its mind wanders to the Dream Aether as its great rest begins. As the soul enters the Spirit Currents, its mind becomes more and more imbued with the Dream Aether, until finally it breaks free and becomes one with it. Thus, a person’s mind, their personality, their dreams and memories; These basically live on forever within the Dream Aether.

         As for the soul itself, it dissipates and stretches impossibly thin across the whole of the Spirit Currents; This is where the ‘water’ draws its power from, made of the collective, ever-rotating, omni-present energy of souls, all of it stacked atop one another. So the Angels aren’t the only guide, technically; There is a third Psychopomp, the base energy of the soul that envelops concentrated versions of itself. That energy will eventually be reincarnated, forming bit by bit, inside of another living being in the Shining Void; And so the cycle continues.

         You could compare it to how water evaporates in the ocean, entering the atmosphere above bit by invisible bit; In fragments too small to see. It’s like that with souls freshly cleaned in the Spirit Currents, as they return to the world of the living and gather bit by bit with other bits of soul energy into new living things, creating new souls. In this state, the energy is too sparse and scattered to interact with, but it’s there.

         There’s a lot of inspirations of classic afterlife portrayals and depictions of the Underworld; The soul cycle is like the cycle of reincarnation, of rebirth. The Spirit Currents function like the river Lethe of Greek mythology, where you’re cleansed of your past life to begin anew. Water is a cleansing motif, associated with rebirth, so I wanted to capture that idea here. While working on Bionicle: RaE, I found a lot of comfort in its depiction of the afterlife that I came up with, and the idea of people being reborn in new things, as part of a new cycle of energy; It’s like real life where bodies decay and become new atoms and molecules in other parts of nature. Becoming ‘one with nature’ and all that. It’s truer to life, which helps to find peace with either process as a reader.

         There’s also the ‘eternal rest’ that death is often depicted as, so I found it fitting that when one dies, they dream eternally, until they become one with the essence of dreams, and basically live on forever through them; Particularly in this surreal, dreamy state that for mortal dreamers, doesn’t seem quite real and is easy to forget the next morning. Was that dream your loved one’s past consciousness reaching out, or just a figment of your own mind? Reality and fantasy become blurred in the realm of dreams. The mind and personality are made of Dark energy, as is the Dream Aether; And people sleep when it’s dark.

         An ocean-like setting represents how all life came from the ocean, so it makes sense for it to return there; Plus the ocean just has dark and mysterious vibes, and never ending depths. In a way, the rotation of the Spirit Currents is kind of like the wash cycle in your laundry machine, which goes with the whole cleansing motif. And they say spirits can’t cross running water for all these reasons; Water is change, water is rebirth, water cleanses you of your past sins and life, AKA the very things that keep the undead trapped in their in-between state.

         I also wanted to pay tribute to that with another detail about the Skull Kin: They cannot swim. Nor can they float. Orichalcum sinks like a rock, and the Skull Kin aren’t full of sealed-off air cavities. They don’t have buoyant flesh anymore. So if you want to escape a bunch of Skull Kin in the land of the living, try floating in a decently spacious river; They can’t swim to where you are, and even if they walked across the bottom of the river, you’d be floating above them, out of reach. Technically they can attempt to throw things at you, construct a boat, or even build a ladder underwater…

         But that’s assuming you’re going to stay in one spot the whole time; More than likely, you’ll go with the current to escape the dead. Mundane bodies of water are actually a safe bet, mortal water against mortal dead. And as for the Spirit Currents themselves, the dead REALLY want to avoid them, as do the living, for that matter. When still, the Spirit Currents don’t wash away your soul as easily as when they’re in motion.

         I’m still figuring out what exactly the Angels and Reapers get from participating in the soul cycle and helping to perpetuate it, keeping it moving, etc. I was inspired by the idea of Death as an entity who protects and guides souls onto the afterlife, the psychopomp escort who helps the dead pass on, move on from their mortal grievances tying them down. The whale imagery of the Angels is meant to invoke schools of fish swimming in tandem with large sea life, and just symbiosis in general, because all of this is natural; This is the soul cycle, the same way we have a water cycle. But if it’s symbiotic, I’d prefer the relationship to be mutualistic.

         Don’t pick a fight with Reapers or Angels; They’re basically invincible. Some have foolishly attempted to colonize the Spirit Currents, and seize control of the stopping point for all souls; However, the Angels and Reapers, when sufficiently angered, will converge together to obliterate such threats. The Psychopomps are born directly of the Great Entity, so they’re on a similar power level to the Wyverns, to put things into perspective. They can whip up the Spirit Currents into a powerful storm to deal with threats, as the overpowering nature of the currents will drown any spirit.

         Since it’s a soul cycle, there’s probably some cosmic environmental balance to maintain, that’s supported by the motion of souls; That may be what the Psychopomps get from the relationship, a stable world. But there is still a surplus of energy to create many more new souls with, so populations can still rise well beyond their current numbers. And if you’re careful enough, situated in one particular blind spot in the Spirit Currents, only harvesting souls every now and then…

         Well, that’s where Shogaken’s island comes into play; That’s how he can salvage souls to create Skull Kin. His island is just out of sight of the Angels and Reapers, and he isn’t salvaging souls at nearly a big enough rate for the Psychopomps to notice. It’s a classic tale for mortals to trick death in their clever little ways, with their unnoticeable loopholes; I find it morally neutral, even if there’s pragmatic justifications to let death occur on a larger scale. Some people like eternal rest, others don't want it just yet. But you can’t just travel to the Spirit Currents and start fishing up souls in order to establish immortality, or for your nefarious purposes, or whatever; Angels will descend on you fast. Shogaken’s island is a perfect exception.

         The Psychopomps see souls in the Spirit Currents as their charge; As do Reapers with souls harvested. But souls who have just died but are still lingering in the mortal world, who have yet to encounter a Reaper to harvest them? Those are fair game, and it’s much easier, and more practical, to work with those instead. This is relevant for another group I want to bring up later down the line…

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Have you ever seen a bubble in the process of freezing?

Very beautiful... Snowflakes like crystalline stars, with ghostly ferns sprouting afoot. Looks just like a snow globe, too! I imagine this is what the Escapees were trapped inside when frozen in magical cryostasis. What delightful gifts for the Queen of Tears’ child, when the wrapping they come in is a treasure in and of itself!

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Girl help I forgot the epithets I assigned a few of my Escapees (such as Monarch Man)… I guess I could always make new ones, especially since some feel a bit outdated or insufficient. But a part of me wants to do this after at least looking over the original to work from it, but that means going through like. A little over a thousand pages of notes to find these elusive titles, just to potentially ignore them anyway.

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Found two drawings for the GEverse that I never posted. The one on the left is "Lloyd," back when this was a ridiculously elaborate Ninjago fanfic. Looking back, this version of "Lloyd" was basically an OC, so that's what I'm planning to do with them, and I intend to update their design down the line. The one on the right is another take on Caila Forrester, who always was an OC, whom I've already introduced. I'll probably change her design again, same with "Lloyd." I dunno what I'm gonna rename "Lloyd" in the GEverse, but I want it to be an L-name, and/or something that Midas can distort into something ridiculous like Floydy-boyd, and be constantly mistaken as another, more popular name. I love the Lloyd-Floyd gag so I wanna retain the spirit of it in some form.

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            Something that’s been bothering me for a while is… What is the blood of Titan the Golden Wyvern? What is it called, what are its properties? I already brought up Maelstrom for Sovereign, and Dark Matter for Overlord; Dark Matter in particular I should mention, is VERY reactive to the psychology of those around it, and can manifest as one’s worst fears for example.

         But what of Titan? And as I think about it, I think I’ve finally gotten an answer… The Philosopher’s Stone.

         Allow me to change and retcon my established lore for a bit. Midas’ Philosopher’s Stone isn’t one at all, it’s a failed attempt that gave him, of all things, a gold touch. That’s how it is from an in-universe standpoint… But from a meta perspective, Midas’ attempt at a Philosopher’s Stone is more accurate to the real life concept that inspired this adaptation.

         So the actual Philosopher’s Stone is indeed what the Horned Demon and now Tamericus seek out; A substance that enhances and catalyzes the processes of the universe, amplifies its raw matter to new heights. I choose this for a number of reasons;

         Firstly, the Golden energy that Titan embodies is meant to represent the physical. The body, stuff like that. So it makes sense to focus on physical attributes, and this evolved into Titan being able to transfer and store kinetic energy, redirect it, transmute things, etc. This of course pairs nicely with Trexdis’ mirror abilities that include reflecting attacks, given she was transformed by the Mirror World, itself a network of Golden energy branching off from the Shining Void.

         I also know that the real-life idea of the Philosopher’s Stone was described as the ‘perfect element’ that couldn’t be destroyed and whatnot, which I think fits Titan’s more physical motif compared to her siblings. Not only that, but…

         As mentioned, the Wayvren family found its origins in two individuals, whose blood was converted into a pseudo-Philosopher’s Stone. This not only meant that they could survive becoming a host to Titan or any of the Wyverns, it also meant they would enhance the power of whatever Wyvern they bonded to. And it was this extra edge that enabled Titan to defeat Overlord and reign as victor of the Wyvern Wars.

         Unlike her siblings, Titan couldn’t boost her power with a regular Philosopher’s Stone, because that was already her blood and already a part of her. But by ‘changing the recipe’ in a host, for lack of a better phrasing, Titan created a new version that would work for her.

         Prior to this decision, I’d come up with this concept years ago as an explanation for why a Wyvern would even need to bond with a host to begin with, as well as how the Wayvrens are so long-lived, and ultimately tying the idea of a red liquid that enhances power to another red liquid that, would you have it, enhances power! So the Wayvrens are technically the source, the first example of the Philosopher’s Stone.

         And with Tamericus’ attempt to use Wayvren blood as a means of crafting an even better version, I figured… What if we kinda worked with that, and the fact that I needed another type of ‘blood’ for Titan herself that also accentuated the physical? Thus, the Philosopher’s Stone is just Wayvren’s legendary blood. Like Dark Matter and Maelstrom, it has the capacity to propagate as a resource and change the world, and while Maelstrom seems more overt in its Terrorbrai legacy, the Philosopher’s Stone arguably reigns supreme through the Wayvren family.

         Whether Tamericus knows this staggering truth or suspects it, I dunno. But either way, her attempt at using Wayvren blood to create the Philosopher’s Stone is actually just reverse-engineering the ‘original recipe’ from the altered take, bringing out its original properties. This includes magic and a variety of supernatural ingredients, as mentioned before, Midas himself.

         Plus, this goes back to what I said about Lloyd and Midas’ parallels. In addition to being gold and green champions with their own found family of outcasts, they both have some variation of the Philosopher’s Stone that has altered their bodies. Lloyd’s is derivative of the original source, while Midas’ is a failed outside attempt to recreate it. One was naturally born with it, the other had to make it himself and inject it into his own body. One was cursed with this from birth, the other wanted and chose it for himself.

         I should mention, it’s fairly hidden knowledge that the Philosopher’s Stone is Titan’s blood (not related to Owl house’s but what a coincidence of term huh), or there would’ve been a lot more effort by alchemists to just bypass the alchemical trial and error by simply searching for the fabled Golden Wyvern, getting it right from the source. The reason for this, aside from Titan not wanting mortals to be privy to the power and secrets of such divine energy-beings, is simple; She wasn’t spreading her blood all willy-nilly to control others with.

        Sovereign did so to enact their will upon reality, as did Overlord. But Titan, as mentioned before, was more of a Free Will type of person. And when the first Wayvrens were altered, it was with a variation of the Philosopher’s Stone that was different enough that Titan couldn’t just control them with it, which was better; A mutual symbiosis brought out the synergy of a Wyvern better than forced control on either end. Ultimately, Titan was a lot more conservative about flexing her power over others, even if she technically did fight to enforce a policy of her own.

        Now, all that said... I do have to adapt to this change; Namely, the color of Dark Matter. Originally it was red, but since the Philosopher’s Stone is and I made THAT into Titan’s blood (not related to King Clawthorne’s dad), I need a new and appropriate color for something called Dark Matter. And it can’t be purple, since that’s taken by Sovereign’s Maelstrom.

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I’ll admit it, I saw a random clip of Quantumania online, and found the joke of MODOK monologuing his backstory, only for Ant-Man to obliviously shut down the drama by realizing the acronym, to be legitimately hilarious. And while I might change Will Lasher being a Techna for my story, I am suddenly given this humorous idea for an exchange, if I keep that idea...

-

Will: They left me to die, but Salazar found me, rebuilt me. Made me an ultimate weapon; A mechanized Techna armed with electric whi-

Nick: Whiplash!

Will:

Nick: Oh- Whi- Oh I get it, it’s a pun! *Calling out to Kate* It’s wordplay! Will Lasher... Whiplash... Do you happen to have a middle name that starts with a P?

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Anyhow something something Dioclius using his puppet strings to turn people into props and characters in his own ‘play’, his own fantastical story that he’s made up and forces people to fulfill roles in, with himself as the twisted hero.

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As a reminder, this is what Kress, Tamara, Nick, and Sally look like, in that order;

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            As I draft out the general ‘idea’ of how the story goes and ends and whatnot… I realize that in a way, the Queen of Tears basically gets away with it all.

         As I’ve said, she’s done this all for her child, all so her child could be happy, find friends who understand, and no longer have reason to cry; At least, not cry out of sadness. And by the end of the day, her kid didn’t come up with this idea to gather a bunch of people and enslave them to their will, that was all the Queen of Tears!

         Now obviously, her child doesn’t question and nevertheless accepts it, and that ultimately doesn’t work out; The Escapees DO escape, as they’ve always done, as they’re known for. But I’m taking a restorative justice approach to this kid, because ultimately they ARE a child and punishing them with more loneliness isn’t going to help… What they need are friends and kindness, who can teach the maturity necessary for the child to recognize where they went wrong, while still asserting they deserve to be happy too.

         So when it’s all said and done, somebody’s gonna step up and offer to adopt the kid, to befriend them, something along those lines. Everyone hates the Queen of Tears for what she’s done, but someone like Trexdis, for example, isn’t willing to punish a child just to prove a point to their parents; She isn’t like Midas’ group of Escapees, after all!

         Trexdis probably would arrange something and/or support it. Talikal is of course aggravated, because they can’t let the Queen of Tears get away with this, but again Trexdis admits she considered that possibility. And obviously the child could help heal any damage and make up for things with their power, too!

         And the Queen of Tears is stunned by the compassion of our protagonists, because they COULD choose to hold a grudge like the Escapees do, and they’d actually be justified. But for the greater good, for the kids, they’ll just have to let this pass, they’ll have to let the Queen of Tears succeed. They could torture her endlessly as retribution, and the Queen of Tears wouldn’t mind, as someone who would gladly submit herself to that torment for her kid to be happy; And if her kid IS happy, then she doesn’t mind continuing to pay the price for something she nevertheless got.

         But as I’ve said, the Queen of Tears dissipates once her kid’s wish is fulfilled, and I imagine there’s a bittersweet farewell she has with her child before that happens. Maybe she does feel one regret, that she couldn’t be here to see them grow up happy and be loved… But knowing they will be, that’s enough for her.

         It’s just. She’s NOT exactly a good person, the Queen of Tears is someone willing to lie and kill callously for her kid, and that isn’t justifiable. But Trexdis would feel hypocritical to call her out for that, because that’s a prioritization she can admittedly relate to. You could argue the Queen of Tears was vindicated, rewarded, for all of her effort, no matter how immoral; Sure, her plan didn’t turn out exactly as she anticipated, but it did lead to a series of events that resulted in her kid finding love.

         Maybe there’s a point to be made that the Queen of Tears caused unnecessary grief, not just for others but even her own kid; She could’ve just… asked for help, instead of forcing people. She was so desperate to make them feel as happy as possible, she basically discounted herself as a means to actually address that loneliness, when it was what she was made for; The Queen of Tears went about this in such a needlessly roundabout manner, is what Trexdis might point out.

         The way the Queen of Tears went about it wasn’t right. And you could argue it’s because of what our protagonists did to fix things, that actually ensured it succeeded; Not the Queen of Tears’ efforts. It’s the reward for the protagonists’ work, that the Queen of Tears just happens to share in. Maybe that’s something she’ll consider, or won’t, because she doesn’t need to and is about to disappear into thin air anyhow. The results are all that matter, right?

         She’s a mixed bag; You could argue her as morally gray, given the selfless attitude she has for her kid, the Queen of Tears’ willingness to die for her child’s happiness. But isn’t it selfish to prioritize that kid over others? But then, the people she originally intended to suffer at her child’s expense were the Escapees, who… weren’t really saints, and are grown adults. And as misguided as she was, the Queen of Tears IS somewhat genuine about the Escapees finding mutual love with her child, too! She’s happy giving up everything for her kid, surely they will be too… It’ll be a happier and more fulfilling, more useful existence and atonement, than their usual course of action.

         I guess a part of it is really up to the reader to decide how to feel; Anger, vindication, reluctant agreement? Justice isn’t always served, things don’t work out perfectly, so maybe there is an element of tragedy in the sense that the Queen of Tears crushed so many for her quest, and ultimately got away with it, got exactly what she wanted. But maybe there is no tragedy, just the painful, yet ultimately freeing, acceptance of restorative justice over the retributive kind.

        The Queen of Tears does so many horrible things, and in the end… She wins. She’s rewarded. She succeeds and has basically no real regrets… Utter girlboss.