Hey. If you are reading this then you know how did you get here. If not,
I’m MonochromeObserver, mostly active on deviantArt but recently I’ve joined Pillowfort too.
This is an infodump for OCs I’ve drawn and worldbuilding lore/paracosm
connected to them. Some stuff may be inappropriate and problematic so proceed
with caution.
Yes I know “gwaphic design is muh passion uwu” but I can’t find a better
HTML editor other than freakin’ Word.
Since this is such a wall of text, it would be advisable if you used
Ctrl+F to navigate (at least, if you came here from my dA and you are confused
about certain terms).
Update: Reformatted the whole thing in newer Word (2013) and removed proper
hyperlinks for now because they kept breaking this thing. Also changed the font
to light grey instead of white. Also added some info on Vessels of Chaos and
Chaosborn humans. I’m aware of screwed up symbols. Stand by.
What is
this even about?? 🤔 –
Overview
This is a world of spirits, who died in other worlds and arrived to a freshly
made Universe to create an afterlife utopia of sorts. They are de facto deities
but they don’t like to think of themselves as such; instead they are referred
to as “Ancient Ones”, “cosmocrats” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cosmocrat#English)
, etc.
Several millennia later, 5 exceptionally prideful spirits of classical
elements combined their forces to create Life - something the rest of spirits
weren’t ready for yet, as they were still traumatized by past events. This led
to schisms, and eventually a period of violence and misery because elementals’
version of humans treated other spirits like objects.
The fear of wrath of the Universe’s makers led 4 elementals to make a
wish to not exist anymore, resulting in them breaking apart. However, fragments
of them formed into new gods, who are much more selfish and cruel, going as far
as to deprive intelligent life forms of imagination and free will.
The dream of utopia was no more.
Eventually, more spirits came to exist, souls of misfits who met a
horrible fate, and they allied with “cosmocrats” to fight against cruelty of
Lifekeepers. But Lifekeepers feel more threatened by the fact that the Universe
seems to be... sentient...
Ye i know, such unoriginal title. You heard that phrase many times (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_machine
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Ghosts_in_the_Machine),
on many occasions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Machine).
But i’m not one of these who title their thing just for one specific event that
happens on the way. This phrase describes most of the setting.
1.
It describes exactly what it’s supposed to,
but then there’s no need to make the word “ghost” plural. A soul, in that
world, is a life energy that fills the entire body of a living being. A spirit
however, is a condensed spherical immortal soul, to the slightly larger than
pinhead size. Their material bodies are made from auras of spectral energy they
emit; this lowered connection to their bodies make them be not as careful with
avoiding damage as living beings. Something like a small sentient glowing orb
operating a “mech” to function normally.
2.
Most of the beings very often compare the
Universe they exist in to a machine, thinking that influential beings and
objects are “cogs”, “gears” and that time is coming from the rhythm of
interdimensional “mechanisms” etc.
3.
It can also describe a subplot: the
character referred to as ‘the Machine’, an artificial intelligence supposed to
be a manifestation of the Universe’s mind, dealing with moral/ethical problems
that cannot simply be solved with rational thinking and no feelings. “Best
solutions” it comes up with usually turn out to be simply said, ruthless.
(i like how sometimes it’s invisible because of it’s whiteness
>w>)
The logo represents a spirit, it’s eyes are made out of (probably fake,
lol) alchemical symbols of day and night (https://66.media.tumblr.com/248e6883118115cc334a97859a121fe0/tumblr_nr8gbjLFXw1qg20oho1_1280.png).
The aura surrounding it resembles a gear. Both the logo and the title refer to
how spirits think of themselves as “the cogs in this machine”, ‘this machine’
being the universe they all exist in. They all feel responsible in keeping it
work the way it’s meant to.
Commands are special instructions embedded into Machine’s programming, which
when input, initiate often a drastic change to the Universe or it’s functions.
In their raw form, they are really complex so they have been encrypted into
specific phrases or sentences to immediately input them when it’s absolutely
necessary. They only have an effect when an Av says them. The Machine itself
can’t recall them, only receive them and trigger their effects.
Commands aren’t commonly known. Av believe one of commands is slowly revealed
to them when the right time comes to use it or when every other action fails to
deal with the intergalactic issue. Usually several spirits know one of
fragments of command’s sentence. They are indicated by | (vertical bar
character) on both beginning and end of sentence (allusion to absolute value).
Astronomicon (loosely translating to “an image on the law of stars”) is Codex
Gigas/Necronomicon/very significant book of GitM universe. It’s the magnum opus
of Av civilization and it’s cooperation with the makers of that world, marking
it’s quite short “golden age” of prosperity and progression.
It’s known for containing information about the universe and it’s
mechanics, universal law of co-existing with each other, maps and schemes,
alchemical formulas; and for being incredibly voluminous thanks to having a lot
of thin but durable pages and using hologramic technology to display details
and additional information, keeping on paper only most important things.
The cover represents minimalistic map of solar system around universe’s
core, ignoring planets’ sizes and their moons. To open the book, one must turn
those ‘orbits’ according to current positions of these planets.
It’s been treated as holy for representing by itself Av’s philosophy’s
key ideas: existing in eternity, unity of spirituality and materialism, and
working together to keep the universe function properly. This is why it’s kept
secured.
History and other philosophical things were written on other books.
Arcane Realm (a.k.a ‘the other side’) - A name used to describe all areas with
conditions unsuitable for life, which are inhabited by entities that do not fit
into the definition of life, therefore are considered ‘dead’/‘not alive’ in
spite of having sentience or a few of traits that living entities have.
Most of the inhabitants are sentient ethereal entities, some of which
can materialize into any shape they desire to assume. Plant-like structures are
also present in those areas.
For contrast, "Domains of Life" is a name for places where living beings exist.
The Observer is an undetectable abstract entity created by the power of outsider’s
imagination, that can see anything beyond outsider’s world but not at the same
time.
They are unable to directly interact with the world they watch, unless
they sent an avatar of theirs there, but their capabilities are still highly
limited since they don’t belong in said world. Even without an avatar, they
unintentionally (or not) cause an ‘observer effect’ on whatever governs over
destiny in that world.
There are many Observers actually. Having no one to talk with or just
having nothing better to do, they spend their time watching over one of outer
worlds. They may chose to reveal what they witnessed, or keep it to themselves.
more
of this world
Types of ethereal
beings.
The Ancient ones call themselves Av (from Hebrew https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%91#Hebrew, it describes mostly any kind of male
ancestor, but let’s stick with more logical here “originator”). They deny being
deities (oh, how modest) but they don’t deny contributing to shaping the small
details of universe. After finding and
meeting up with other spirits, they were slowly creating their own culture and
civilization.
Meno (from Greek “remain” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BD%CF%89#Greek)
is the actual name for the type Lifekeepers belong to; beings who came to exist
from essences (spectral energy which is influential on one specific thing)
leftover by mostly Bio-Orthodoxy members (the Av who supported the existence of
life) after making a suicidal wish (think of it as new stars being born from
nebula, remains of the previously existing star). They aren’t spirits, just some
kind of divine beings; and they aren’t the same beings as the Av from whose
essence they came to be. Menos possess one trait from such Av. Because they are beings of their own, they
never died so they can be killed somehow, definitely not easily. Many theorize
that it could be possible to “resurrect” suicidal Av by gathering their essence
together; those who oppose this theory point out the lack of any remains of
their core, besides the personality traits Menos receive. Most of Menos are
Lifekeepers but not all of them (it’s rare though).
Those who used to be alive in that universe and their soul became
immortal after death (a.k.a. completed successfully the “Afterlife Challenge”)
are called Arata (from Japanese “new” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E3%81%9F). The Av treat them as equals despite the
obvious facts: Arata don’t have as much influence over the world and they are
those classified in species. The Av’s decisions over their own appearance had
an impact on how Arata species now look. They are also more emotional and sensitive.
~
Words of explanation on why the heckity heck i didn’t do that earlier. I
called them “ghost aliens” on purpose on that introduction i did on dA.
Ghosts in folklore are disembodied souls who cannot depart to afterlife,
are stuck to the world of the living.
But in GitM, the universe is supposed to be those spirits’ afterlife.
They were promised safety and peace. That peace however, was broken by those
who missed the sight of nature. There were no energy-consuming plants back in
those times so it’s no surprise all planets looked like Mars’ surface; the only
objects filling the space being buildings, statues, totems etc. and not
everyone could stand that.
So basically, calling them just “ghosts” doesn’t make much sense, and
repeating “spirits” and “beings” and all that, to describe them gets boring
after a while, so i thought “shit, aliens do have specific names” but then
there’s another issue: sure i showed some species of spirits (angels, robotic
demons, the Unknown, Sombrians and many more) which are dependent on kind of
death mostly, but also their personality, condition, even lifestyle and
worldview; but the Ancient ones had a free choice so they look how they want,
kinda.
So i found those nice words to not repeat myself.
I was actually looking for words that would work as names for later
characters.
After being immortalized, spirits have no physical appearance to
manifest into, due to simply not knowing who they are anymore, so they wander
here and there across the universe to “rediscover” themselves. However, their
personality remains intact, until.... the “trigger” hits.
Not the kind of trigger that makes some feel uneasy. The kind of trigger
that makes one rethink their worldview. The change of attitude towards things
also changes their personality, or in better case scenario: conceals their true
selves to not ruin remaining hope.
It depends on how much they believe in the values gained throughout
their existence. Those values may be a prime proof of one’s ignorance, but most
of the time these are what make them content with life. Ignorance is bliss,
after all. When any kind of worldview is challenged and they lack arguments to
back it up, doubt takes over. Is anything they knew so far about the world a
straight up lie? Why others know the real state of matters and they don’t? Why
did they end up like that...
After such “trigger” and a moment of shock, the spirit has two options:
accept the truth, whatever it may be, or be stubborn. Accepting, alters/hides
the true personality.
The “being stubborn” option is the greater evil in this, as it bears a
risk. Depending on the worldview, the spirit will remain who they are if they
aren’t so far off from the truth to begin with (as in, actually have a proof to
cleanse themselves from doubt). But, if they believe in things no different
from fairy tales (the most ridiculous here would be “no wtf i didn’t die. it’s
all just a too realistic dream”), and they can’t and/or won’t accept the truth,
then they just become insane which leads to personality corruption.
Omega...?
Pacifists are a rare sight. Basically, you are one until your country is
directly attacked or you get assaulted. It’s a human thing to have fluid views
on things so most of people stick with “violence is in general bad but it can
be justified in some cases”.
Omnitron (sadly or not) is more radical about it to himself. He actively
refuses to use force at all, it’s not clear why. It’s obvious he won’t entirely
convince his friends to such way of thinking, so the least they could do is to
use violence when nothing else is able to stop the enemy (in most of cases,
when the enemy isn’t sapient, like ‘Dazzies’).
Since majority of ghosts are naturally vengeful, they think Omni is just
an overly happy-go-lucky lunatic. Many tried to find the “trigger”, but he has
always been headstrong so by default he went with riskier option to not give up
on what he believes in. He had a proof: he was lucky enough to have good
memories from living in a village where people were friendly towards each
other. But these spirits had good enough arguments to make him reconsider his
own actions. There were also many cases where he couldn’t deal with a sapient
enemy with his methods without someone’s help.
This is where Omega kicks in.
Omnitron Omega is who Omni would become permanently if he abandoned his
values. It’s a rare case where one’s aware of who they may become. Usually,
Omega remains in his mind and serves as alter-ego. But once feeling of
helplessness hits, Omega takes over his body temporarily, much to the confusion
of everyone. It may be due to the fact that Omni doesn’t really want to be
Omega, though he possesses some traits that would make Omni better (including
better stamina). It’s more of a forceful self-defence mechanic (since refusing
to do any harm also means all he can do to defend himself is avoid or use
counter-shield “spells”), but it can also happen when he can’t help his
friend(s). But Omega doesn’t go for full offensive tactics either, he just uses
light in possibly harmful ways and, if he has to, goes for
non-cutting/piercing/penetrating damage, to effectively immobilize the enemy.
Coming soon: Omega Brush.
Reincarnation itself isn't possible naturally in that world. But Lifekeepers and
several Av are able to forcefully bind a detached soul into a new organism,
before that organism’s own soul forms. It's called 'Forced
Soul Conflation' (FSC).
And at first it doesn't sound so bad, but you know, neither does
cloning.
Since a soul is vital energy made by the entirety of organism plus
information about it's identity and characteristics, it's energy will cover the
soul conflated into it. The problem is, the information about current
appearance is not compatible with still existing previous one. Conflated soul
as a different living being has no memory of previous life but it subconsciously
remembers behaviors from it. And so you may get a bird behaving slightly like a
human, for instance. Souls of sapient beings remain for the longest time,
comparing to animals', so these are used as a base on first FSC attempt.
It can go further. FSC can be done multiple times on the same soul, only
layers of previous vital energies cover up the base soul and accumulating data
of previous identities slowly leads to corruption. It cannot be done
infinitely, though. When the limit is reached, the soul can't be conflated
anymore and an organism makes a soul of it's own anyway. But layers of several
vital energies make the soul behave like a star: craving more energy; and so it
absorbs that new soul, leading to organism's death before it's even born. After
FSC is discontinued and the soul affected by it is let out of last body it
could have, vital energies amalgamate resulting in total identity corruption,
which makes it manifest like a scrambled and glitched fusion of all previous
beings it was. It still devours other vital energies to sustain it's existence.
Av refer to such beings as “Kelians” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8F%AF%E6%86%90#Chinese).
The only benefit 'Forced Soul Conflating' brings is letting souls exist
longer. For that purpose, FSC is performed on plants. Plants don't produce
enough life energy to create their own soul, so the conflated one remains
unchanged. If it's willpower is strong enough, it can upkeep plant's lifespan
instead of being it's parasite, and there's a small chance it may become
immortalized this way.
You may have noticed something leaking out of Mavri’s tail.
It’s an ink-like substance referred to as “Atramentum” - a mixture of Darkness essence with a
bit of Light essence and a bit of Creative Energy. It can be used to merge with
shadows, manipulate them and even bring them up into existence without needing
a light-blocking object.
Light only repels it, not annihilate with it like with Darkness. This is
why Umbrians - Masters of Atramentum, can’t be harmed with it, unlike Sombrians.
Here’s one of many “plagues” of this world – “Curse of the Hollow”. It is a sort of punishment to those who dared to rise the dead.
Hollowers are animated bodies with no souls in them,
operating on the most primordial desire: to devour. And this is where their
similarities with zombies end.
They are grayed out, mutated and often got no eyes. They attack each
other too, if they are shaped differently. Sometimes they retain some
intelligence the being once had, only to use it for fighting purposes.
Since souls don’t wander around their bodies for too long, in fact they
hardly ever do; anyone who tries to bring corpses back to life only makes
bodies themselves alive and not the people these used to be.
Usually, the delinquent is able to “”resurrect”” only one body. That
body is the Great Hollower. It is the source of the curse, passed down with Atramentum particles.
Not only it raises more Hollowers but also makes still living beings feel
“empty”. The delinquent isn’t immune to the curse. Not only do they feel empty,
but also the intense sense of despair will turn them insane.
Additional notes:
·
Destroying the Great Hollower only stops
the curse from spreading further.
·
A Hollower can become more powerful in
contact with Ending Shards.
·
The curse can be passed down on small inanimate
objects too if these have something organic on them (for example: a blood stain
or a piece of tissue).
Out of quite many essences from which Forbidden Artifacts were made,
everyone agreed that time is one of
the most difficult things to understand, and if someone were to take control
over it, the entire fundament on which Universe was created would be ruined, no
matter how responsible and knowledgeable the being would be. This is why the
Creator made this essence to materialize into something that is just as
difficult to gather together as to understand it, into dust.
And no one dared to make artifacts out of it...
Except Cantara. That one spirit didn't want to seize time itself, but
partially use it.
She wanted to use essence of time along with Destiny Threads to predict
the Machine's actions. Fortunately for her, some weakened spirit fell near her
home. Her new friend and 'test subject'. She took him inside and from that
moment they lived together on the same bare planet.
Time travel in this world is impossible. It would cause too many
paradoxes and the Universe wasn't programmed to divide into parallel versions
if any changes in the past would occur. That also meant making time flow
backwards was also impossible.
Other experiments showed that combining Time Dust with Destiny Threads
gives a spirit an ability to indeed see incoming events based on current
occurrences. The problem was how far ahead one could see... Most of the beings
who consumed those essences together can see 5 seconds ahead, Cantara and other
beings could see 10 seconds ahead, the Creator and Destroyer were told to be
able to see 15 seconds forward, and Mahdi could see incoming 20 seconds.
Always in seconds. Most likely because fate isn't so certain after all
and often circumstances don't change in span of seconds, unless one acts
quickly.
Remote
Possession - This power allows to possess someone
without needing to be inside their body. With enough focus, one can this way
seize control over several beings. Only a few Puppeteers have this ability and
most of them can do it on at most 2 targets.
The Creator can’t create new sentient beings from scratch. At least for
now...
CCMS was his first attempt at that and it went maybe too well, maybe
not.
For the most part, he creates bodies for Arata who can’t do that on
their own.
He doesn’t even want to try though, since all his “alive” creations are
clingy to him. They feel happy and fulfilled only near him. As if the energy
used to make them wanted to return to it’s source...
This lack of independence and constant need for parental love is the
main reason why the Creator never wanted to create life to begin with. Finding
a way for living beings to be reborn may change that.
This “Curse of the
Created” somehow affects partially created by him
beings too, like cured from corruption spirits and those who became his angels.
Selective
Visibility allows a spirit to be seen or not, by
choice or by certain group of people. It’s more of a mind trick than actual
invisibility.
"Peace of mind at the cost of world's
order."
Generally speaking, Glitch Meditation is an ability to cause a series of glitchy events around oneself while
deeply meditating or being very focused on mental task. It’s one of many ways
to not let anyone and anything disturb the meditation.
The effects are random. Most of the time they are harmful.
Depending on one's willpower and awareness of this, it can be either to
some extend intentional or not at all.
Metamorphosis occurs to those who were immortalized by an Av. Those kind of spirits
are at first put in mobile “shells” (statues, dolls, figures etc.), so they can
have all time they need to discover their ‘true selves’.
darkness guards light...
Demons are seen by mortals as embodiments of evil, for a good reason.
What may come as a surprise to them though, is that demons in this
world, are mostly evil towards them.
Whether they serve a higher deity or stand against one, their mission
regarding mortals is to question their morality, existence, and to turn their
life into nightmare. They either play with mortals’ fate from afar or
impudently enter their environment to possess them or directly do awful things
to them.
But they are something more than just tormenters and adversaries. Not
every spirit with malevolent intentions becomes a demon. It is one of traits
but not an exclusive one.
Other traits are: primitive needs left over from their lives being given
higher priority over spiritual ones, being bestial, mischievous, unforgivable,
relentless, sometimes cynical but surely lacking any remorse. Not all of them
have horns, bat-like wings and tails. A good number of Cyberghosts (spirits who
took forms resembling robots) are also demons.
One becomes a demon immediately after being immortalized or by
metamorphosis.
In metamorphosis’ case, after realizing one's destiny, they slowly gain
an urge to run away into more secluded place. The urge doesn't go away after
reaching it so they keep madly tossing their "shell" until bursting
out of it violently, as a demonic being.
Demons loyal to an Av who immortalized them can be told apart from more
independent ones by their unique bodies.
Demons are simply barbaric.
Their societies are based on power and skill. Battles or contests happen
between them not out of hate, but to establish hierarchy of their domain. The
number of leaders is dependent on the size of society. Less powerful demons are
called imps and they hardly ever reach high in hierarchy.
Their domains are “hells”, their colonies, most of the time built
underground but in general it can be any dark, hard to reach place.
The relationship between demonic domains varies. Often there are
rivalries going on but if they find the same cause or a good enough reason,
they may ally.
Demons have, in various degrees, an ability to sense guiltiness. In some
cases this ability is so weak they treat it as misconception, and in some it’s
so strong they are treated as local judges.
Demonic Av or very powerful demons are referred to as Archfiends.
Even beasts can be gentle through.
Spirits bound to the element of darkness are on duty of protecting other
ones, weak and/or vulnerable, from dangers of this world and from dangerous
beings.
Seems ironic, considering dark Elementals are repelled by powerful forms
of light.
Strong, blinding light is taken as a sign that the source of it can take
care of themselves, but if they weaken, darkness will envelop them like it does
with the rest of Universe...
...and light guards what can be easily lost
Angels are generally seen as manifestations of all that is good.
But some things they do in this world may make this stereotype dubious.
Whether they serve a higher deity or exist on their own, those
altruistic beings dream of harmony and living in a world without pointless
suffering. They help from distance, being aware how the world is unwelcoming,
but sometimes in dire needs they shyly but bravely, show up.
But they are something more than selfless helpers. One becomes a literal
angel not immediately after becoming immortal, but quite later on in afterlife.
Not all of them have halos or belong to element of light, but all of them have
feathered wings for one specific, crucial reason. Therefore, those who had such
wings from the beginning of afterlife are not angels (like Lynan https://www.deviantart.com/monochromeobserver/art/insidious-light-681337453, for example), at least, not yet.
There are two ways in which one becomes an angel: by metamorphosis or suddenly. Both are caused by the same
reason: when one is purified from primitive needs, unjust hatred and majority
of regrets carried over from when they were alive. Altruism is merely an
outcome of this purification.
In metamorphosis’ case, those who broke off from their “shells” before
purification still have a chance to become an angel suddenly. Or not if they
became a demon instead. But those who were purified while in “shell” and after
realizing their destiny, they slowly become more and more numb, losing control
of the “shell”. They use this time to move to a secluded place and then, like a
butterfly from cocoon, they burst from the “shell” as an angelic being.
Angels loyal to an Av who immortalized them can be told apart from more
independent ones by looking anything but “a humanoid with wings on their back”.
“Humanoid with wings on their back” is the result of becoming an angel suddenly. A spirit, like in
metamorphosis way, also feels more and more numb and moves to a secluded place,
but they have no idea what is about to happen to them. This happens a good
while after being purified so it is basically a “rite of passage” at this
point.
And what happens is, wings grow out of one’s back with irregular tempo,
faster than you expect them to, causing severe
bleeding that way, but not fast enough to make the pain pass by easily.
Sudden growth of appendages is one of the most painful things one can
experience afterlife, due to skin and muscles ripping off slowly and creation of new nerve connections. Unimaginably more
painful than things mortals may experience foredeath, second only to the
equivalent of “Cruciatus” spell (http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cruciatus_Curse).
If one already had wings prior to this, they may grow another pair or
get another pair of arms, or who knows what else.
This torture actually contributes to purification too, and may as well
be it’s final step. By getting through such pain and screaming like never
before, they become more stoic, having no anger or grief left to express. This
is why wings are believed to represent bothers left forever in the past.
Angels are civilized, in full-on contrast to demons.
Their societies are made slowly, carefully and roles/positions are
chosen based on skill, knowledge and experience. Democracy is used often but
there are occasions where decisions need to be made much faster, then the
‘leader’ and their council made of sub-leaders takes over.
Because they strive for harmony, they maintain good relations between
their domains and even outside them. Their domains are complex castle-like
fortresses, or even spaceships, floating way above planet’s surface. So not
exactly “heavens” but a home in heavens for sure.
Archangels are angelic Av or very powerful angels.
Even loyal servants like them can stand against their deity though.
That is if they serve any, because other-than-white winged angels
haven’t sworn loyalty to an individual being.
Angels are protectors of morality, honor, compassion, and just all
virtues and universal rules. If the one they serve does or they were commanded
to do anything against these things, they have all right to question them or
even disobey them.
If their deity punishes them for this, the angel becomes “fallen” with
grey-wings and that deity earns a bad name. “Fallen” then, in this context
doesn’t mean “wicked”, but “betrayed”, though overall - “cast out”.
Angels go on great lengths to protect these values. They try their best
to do it in least harmful ways but let’s be honest, they aren’t perfect. So for
example, if a Desertus witnessed scenes of violence, like some dictator
torturing their enemies, the angel would have a difficult time preventing
themselves from killing that dictator knowing that lynching is bad. But letting
that guy who fought for freedom suffer like that is also bad. The best they could
do to not feel guilty is to ask a demon to do that (after all, demons like
“playing” with sinners), but that’s usually not possible to do quickly.
Luoms (from Finnish ‘luomus’-’creation’ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luomus#Finnish)
are a special case of ethereal entities whose existence was caused by an Av
either purposefully or accidentally. Luoms can only be killed by their maker.
Luoms feel strange, unique and such intense affection towards their
maker, that they can’t get rid of it at all. This is why it is extremely
unlikely for them to turn against the maker, unless something horrible has
happened. Even beings who were only partially made feel this affection, just
not as strongly (“Curse of the
Created”).
They have different eyes than Menos and the rest, and also bear an
'ownership mark' with an ounce of their maker’s energy, engraved somewhere on
their bodies.
In practise, no Av feels responsible enough to just make new sentient
beings, comparing it to being no different from having children, therefore any
Luom most likely belongs to the Creator. And was probably an accident too.
The Creator is unable to confine his creative powers, so things get made
even when he sleeps based on his subconscious thoughts. That's how the universe
was created.
The only way to prevent this is to isolate him in special rooms or
containers.
Phantoms are a kind of ghosts we are all familiar with. Incorporeal,
translucent, having difficulties interacting with material objects but their
presence is enough for weird phenomena to occur, due to being unable to contain
their spectral energy. They wear loose clothes that prevent them from randomly
phasing through things. They cannot be harmed by non-enchanted physical
objects. There are many sub-kinds of Phantoms, like Wisps, Flameheads, Wraiths
and so on.
With most of obsequious beings trying their hardest to find safety and
answers for incomprehensible things, it is obvious that religion plays a big role in their existence.
Since those divine beings they worship actually exist, it all comes down
to worldview and devotion, not faith. Faith in made promises, if anything.
Names of religions are often "Way/Covenant of
[spirit's title]" or "Fellowship/Order/Circle etc. of [element/phenomenon spirit
represents]". Of course there are more original names
out there.
From mortals' perspective, any immortal being that does things beyond
their understanding, qualifies as a god. Not every powerful spirit is godlike
though and the word "god" has been used so often towards tyrannical
immortals, that it gained a negative overtone among the rest of spirits.
Religions are either made from fear or from love; established naturally
or forced, with various results.
Cults formed without any of deity's involvement, are small sects
inconsistent in set of rituals/rules and do not truly reflect deity's
will/nature. Regardless of that, the deity may ignore or accept them. If
followers do something against deity's morality/wishes, either deity themselves
or their trusted acquaintances intervene.
Mortals are expected to favor Lifekeepers, since their lives are
dependent on them. Because of this, Lifekeepers tend to be bossy towards their
followers. From just wanting them to follow their rules to demanding absolute
devotion and eliminating "heretics".
Therefore, it comes as a surprise to pretty much everyone as to why
there are mortals who worship other spirits than Lifekeepers. There are many
reasons, really: lacking trust, for the sake of rebelling, having encountered
other divine beings (witnessed their power or even having interacted with
them), and so on.
To avoid such situations, known 'prevention measures' are used, like
limiting access to information, silencing "heretics", censorship... sounds oddly familiar
doesn't it.
Av have varying attitudes towards potential worshippers too. Some may
not want to be worshipped at all, wanting to form a weird kind of
friendship/alliance instead; and some are just as bossy as Lifekeepers, wanting
to boost their ego this way or lead a fellowship, or (mostly in Puppeteers'
case) "play" with them to break the monotony. Religions based on the
last one form the wildest cults.
Followers try to strictly abide by the same kind of morality their deity
does. There are cases though, where worshippers are entitled to prevent the deity from causing harm upon the world if
their morality is faulty. The point of their worship then is to please the
deity and occupy their mind with more pleasant things.
Since those "deities" aren't omnipresent and they are busy,
all religions there agree that prayer is not only ineffective but also disrespectful.
Instead, when deity's presence/action is needed, followers use certain methods
to catch their attention, like complicated rituals, incantations or sacrifices
for instance. Incantations are also used during meditations and to channel the
energy which the deity is a source of.
Clergies' structures aren't overly complicated most of the time, on
average consisting of 4 ranks with no leadership over them.
Naming of some locations.
Kinda Bionicle inspired, for consistency. Obviously there are/will be
exceptions. Some cases are omitted like cities or celestial bodies.
Lands/other distinguishable locations on
planets: An-/Zem-[preferably the first syllable of a word that describes the place best],
for example, An-Lim(bo).
Started with An-Nar, which means “hell” in Arabic, literally “the fire”
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1).
“An” is the same as more known “Al”, but because ‘n’ is a “sun letter”, ‘l’
turns into ‘n’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sun_letter).
No, i don’t know shit about Arabic, i just did some research because i was
curious about this myself.
“Zem” is from Slovak/Czech and at the beginning of several other words in
Slavic languages meaning “earth”/”ground” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zem#Slovak).
Dimensions/heavens/locations in space or
sky/mysterious places: Aozo-/Ur-[same as in lands’ case]
From Japanese “aozora” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%9D%92%E7%A9%BA#Japanese).
From Hungarian “űr” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C5%B1r#Hungarian).
Sacred places (or shrines): Uv-/Sai-[the first syllable of a word that describes the place the best/name of
what the place is dedicated to]
From Turkish “ulu” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ulu#Turkish).
From English “saint”
Kingdoms/empires/any kind of country with
absolute monarchy: Kyn-/Kai-[name of land without An-/Zem- part/name of nation that established it
(or ruler in more extreme cases)]
From obsolete spelling of “king” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kyng#Middle_English).
From “kaiser”/”kaisar” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caesar#Descendants).
Countries resembling republics one way or
another: Dem-[name of nation that established it]
From Greek “demos”.
Cities: Ir-
From Hebrew (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A8#Hebrew).
remember how i once said ghost+vampire combo is too much? Well, it still
is. But nothing stops me from making ghosts, who turn people into vampires!
dats right!
Moroi (named after vampire/ghost kind in
Romanian folklore; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroi)
are devoted worshippers of Nox. Just like in all Phantoms' case, their powers
are unrestrained in true form, so to control them better, they possess people.
Unlike Puppeteers, instead of forcing the soul into submission, they devour it
within hour. The possessed body is marble-white, bloodless and weirdly sandy in
touch; eyes being pupil-less with red irises and a ring of spectral energy
around irises. The body dissolves into ash in contact with sunlight. By
damaging it, Moroi's spectral energy leaks out, making them slowly lose control
over the body.
Another vampire-like monsters, beside Moroi, are Mephix (named after 'Mephistopheles' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephistopheles).
They are made through one of curses cast upon mortals who seek immortality.
They aren't weak to sunlight. The more injured they are, the more they become
strong and insane abominations, and chances to recover their souls lower to
impossibility. Mephix can be only killed with "artifacts the evil does not
dare to touch", whatever they may be. Mephix have entirely red eyes with
pupils.
Pneumacrats (from Greek “pneuma” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%B5%E1%BF%A6%CE%BC%CE%B1#Ancient_Greek
and “-crat” suffix https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-crat#English)
differ from Puppeteers of any kind in that they do not possess/manipulate the
nervous system of their victim, going for the Vital Energy (Soul) instead. That
means they do not control the body directly. They fiddle with minds: creating
hallucinations, doing voices in their heads etc. This is why instead of consuming souls, like
Puppeteers and Moroi, they power them up with their Spectral Energy, extending
mortal victim’s lifespan that way. It’s not a good thing, since the longer they
possess their victim, the more victim’s mentality gets damaged. Pneumacrats can
also enslave souls after they leave bodies but before they are immortalized.
Nuotti (https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuotti#Finnish)
are a broad group of ghostly musicians, loyal to the Conductor or other
music-oriented Av. Some of them are a part of grand orchestras, some possess
instruments to lend their talents to others (or not), and some are eternal
mentors/teachers to mortal musicians. They not only pertain their works and
style to classical genres, but to modern music as well.
There are multiple hells and purgatories; what about paradises?
For these nomadic spirits, "home" and "paradise" are
one and the same. A safe place they can always return to is what they want the
most.
Having such place, what else is there to desire?
Some just remain there, trying to find peace. Some won't feel content
until everyone is happy. Troublesome ghosts find enjoyment in using their
abilities against mortals and other spirits. Others never got over certain
materialistic addictions but they don't think of those as burdens. The rest go
on adventures, pleasing their curiosity and exploiting their abilities. The
world is their oyster. After all, passive and extremely demotivated souls don't
earn eternity.
Though it is worth remembering that eternity is not a grand prize in
this "Afterlife Challenge", nor a curse, but a recompense for lost
opportunities and life full of misery.
Phos - Light Demons (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%86%E1%BF%B6%CF%82#Ancient_Greek)
Exclusive traits for them are:
·
They cannot be harmed by “blessed” or
enchanted with radiant energies objects.
·
Mostly target specific people, rather than
a type of them or a type of sin. They may still be a representation of some
kind of sin.
·
Don't form societies like Dark Demons; that
means they don't belong to any of hells. Despite that, Dark ones really want to
pull them into their communities because “the more the merrier”.
·
Most of Phos dwell in purgatories, serving
as challengers.
·
Some of them are violent; some other ones
just tempt people. Majority though, stealthily cause misfortune.
·
Just like Black-Winged Angels, they serve
no one but may work as mercenaries.
Ir-Mekhane (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%CE%B7%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AE#Ancient_Greek)
is a city populated mostly by intelligent robots of any sort; located on Nav’s
moon (the same moon where Manu’ni’ reside).
Structurally, it is more of a gigantic fancily-shaped supercomputer than
an actual city. It was built on a hexagonal plane. The buildings are more
sparsely placed the closer they are to the center, not many of them have
windows, the traffic outside them is extremely low and it’s strangely quiet;
the most frequent noises being the wind blowing and muffled blips coming from
some of the buildings. Inside buildings and underground though, it's really
lively; everyone has something to do.
There is no specific grand purpose the city serves. It processes
information, keeps track of various kinds of research and multiple other
things, offers repairs, and many other things related to computing and
mechanics. There are also physics and computer labs, recreational places etc.
The citizens work together to expand knowledge of the universe and
maintain peace in their environment. They are kind of xenophobic, believing
strangers might “violate the order”; mostly from not being rational enough. In
general their way of thinking goes “if it’s nowhere near us, it’s not a
bother”.
As much as they admire the Machine, they don’t support it’s harsh ways
of dealing with organic beings, preferring to study them instead. They are much
more tame and civilized comparing to Cyberghosts of An-Nar.
The city is governed by the Clockwork Monarch and his numerous subjects,
both bodies referred to as “the Administration”. Hardly anyone has seen that
spirit other than a few servants, because he is deeply hidden within the city;
most likely under the highly secured palace-like edifice in the center.
Some speculate that Ir-Mekhane is actually Monarch’s prison which has
turned into his playground, and as long as citizens feed his curiosity, he
won’t be willing to break out. What to some extend supports this view is how
Monarch’s servants absolutely don’t tolerate any attempts at accessing the
“palace”. They aren’t as rational, altruistic and tame as the rest of citizens
in general. In reality though, it’s not that rigorous. The Monarch can leave
the underground hiding place, but not without supervision.
The Azure draws nigh
Creative Energy/Creatum/Prima Energia is one of more noteworthy Spectral
Energies, being both a blessing and a curse. That could be said about most of
essences, but none have such weird properties like this one.
It is the source of matter in the Universe, and what was used to bring
the world into existence. The Universe can’t be filled to the brim with stuff
because Destructive Energy/Destructum/Secunda Energia is also a thing. Both
energies not only balance one another, but together they fuse into purple stuff
- the unfathomable Fate Energy. What makes the blue stuff more interesting than
it’s opposing force are all sort of anomalies, which occur when high
concentrations of it interact with whatever it comes in contact, and how
mortals are blindly fascinated by it. The Destructum simply causes
disintegration, ‘shockwaves’ or acts like universal dissolver/”eraser”.
All energies are visible as glowing haze or in solid state: as crystals.
Creatum crystals have a fast growing rate but the growth doesn't last long. In
order to seal something with those crystals, one has to once in a while break
them. This makes removing them tedious too.
In high density, Creatum makes stuff overgrow. That's right, not just
grow. It can be beneficial in making "Matter Multipliers", for
example: for out-of-place water sources or long-lasting fireplaces. Likewise,
this is what makes it extremely dangerous. In contact with living beings'
tissue, it causes fast-growing tumors to happen. Cells are energized to
increase in number but organic substances on molecular level are being
multiplied as well.
So yeah, you’d better not touch Creator's blood...
The energy is somehow "programmed" to be attracted to (or
directed at?) fractured stuff and so repair them. Obviously, it cannot repair
complex things on it's own.
Some beings support a conspiracy theory about Creatum having a mind of
it’s own, due to oddly specific movements and some patterns in it’s “behavior”.
In reality, like all Spectral Energies, it is bound to it’s source’s will, but
unlike other energies, also to his subconsciousness (Universe’s basic elements
and oldest planets were made when the Creator was lucid dreaming).
It’s difficult to merge Creatum into artifacts (while on the other hand,
it’s too easy to do that with Destructum). The safest are “Crystal Crayons” or
“Magic Pencils”, which let other beings create things on the whim like the
Creator; as long as they have in their heads a whole plan for the object and of
what “ingredients” it should be made of. In addition, one could just dip some
enchanted brush into liquid fused with Creatum and paint out the desired
object, but again, there’s the risk of bizarre tumors from accidental splashes.
Spirits are mostly safe, only because their own auras repel it.
Despite dangers (or being oblivious to them); most of sentient beings
seek ways to get hold of Creatum for clear reason: why get the thing to buy
other things (like gold), if you could make other things right away.
The Creator and his brother greatly suffered from those attempts. First,
they were driven off the “center”, which started the Chaos Era. Then, everytime
they tried to land on some planet to rest, due to their primordial forms people
treated them like objects or alien bugs and tried to catch them like fireflies.
Even after obtaining physical forms, they still aren’t treated seriously by
plenty of civilizations. Especially when Lifekeepers’ propaganda talks about
how they are “mindless beasts, hoarding powers people rightfully deserve”.
These ghosts might be drained out of all hopes, majority of emotions and
a good chunk of memories; overall: things that made them human, but there is
something that remained and is one of those things that may or may not help
them stay sane: the ability to dream.
But their dreams are different from ours. Our dreams are formed from the
things or events we previously saw or experienced. These can be mixed in so
many combinations, you either get the same event you've seen before but
slightly altered, or something completely new.
They lack most of the memories from the time they were alive, so how do
they dream?
Their dreams come in many forms; for some, these are just flashes of
what they still remember from the time they were alive, or those things they
remember are somehow integrated into the rest of the dreams.
Others dream constantly of voyages into nowhere, or about things that
are happening in the universe at the very moment. There are even legends about
these who dreamt of events that were about to happen...
Generally speaking, all dreams of one spirit contain one theme, which is
almost exclusive to them, that keeps reappearing.
Being powerful entities, Av unintentionally formed D-Net (dream
network), where they could communicate with each other while sleeping and
participate in same dreams, providing support and forming early friendships
this way.
The realm of dreams is vulnerable to the influence of Dreamshapers - the
Mahr (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mahr).
They are a group of spirits who can manipulate and easily enter one's
dreams. Not only through D-Net, but of other spirits and mortals as well. Most
of Mahr are bound to darkness or even demonic in nature.
I know you've heard them... they told me
this too.
Nevertheless, my friend, Eternity isn't
destined for everyone.
It's not a reward. It's not a punishment.
It's a recompense.
The Afterlife
Challenge
The journey of a soul is a difficult one. As if dealing with post-death
trauma wasn’t enough.
A soul is a very frail entity, because it’s not meant to exist without a
body that powers it. Average lifespan of a soul is 14 (24h long) days from
dying. For that reason, souls are seen as “prey” or treated on same level as
mortals.
Most of the time, souls are led to purgatories by psychopomps (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp),
since souls alone cannot jump through dimensions by themselves. The jumping is
seen by them as following the light. For the sake of not giving soul-eaters a
chance, psychopomps are forced to do this swiftly, leaving poor souls confused
and without support.
In other cases, if somebody was noticeably and undoubtedly evil, their
souls are dragged by demons into hells. If a person met an Av or a Lifekeeper
during lifetime and befriended them, that spirit, provided they are capable of
doing this, may immortalize them on spot after dying, to maintain friendship or
after that person agreed to serve them.
There are also cases where souls remain in the realm of the living by
their own choice, serving as guardians of their family or nation. Rituals and
vessels ensure their longevity and if an Av or a Lifekeeper get impressed by
their heroic acts, they may be granted immortality.
As for the souls of children, they are assisted to some extend or are
spared the challenge completely if some spirit feels compassion to them.
Provided they are found to begin with, since these young souls wander away in
confusion, and just dissolve in unwanted seclusion.
There are many kinds of purgatories, their main functions being
separating evil souls from mortally sound ones and giving a chance for a soul
to obtain immortality. The former is done by demons setting up traps to lead
souls astray. The latter is done through paths. The paths in theory are pretty
straightforward; from point A where souls appear to point B where they are
condensed into spirits and teleported to a new location. In practise they are
specifically designed to test whether souls are fit for immortality.
There’s no point in immortalizing those who wanted to die or those who
simply accepted their end. For those souls, immortality would be a horrible
curse.
As for those who wished for death but hoped that afterlife would be
better, well, it depends. People who ask for euthanasia don’t really want to
die; they just see living in constant pain and no cure for it as nightmare.
With suicide it’s even more complicated, but often their souls are even weaker
than other ones, dissolving within minutes, or even immediately, because they
have no will to exist.
The paths in purgatories are usually free from obstacles; everything the
soul has to do is to go forward. On the way, they may witness many things
happening outside the path: malevolent beings trying to tempt them to leave the
path; other spirits minding their own business; maybe a fight between souls who
know each other and have an everlasting quarrel.
Souls’ main concern are their memories which torment them, trying to
make them stop going. The time is also not in their favor, again with the 14
days limit. Running will only drain their energy faster.
On the way, many souls may come to realization that they don’t really
need to do this, or that their life was overall great and they did everything
they could, so they simply stop moving and thinking, and they dissolve
blissfully after a while.
Souls who strive for eternity are people of strong enough will,
motivated by something timeless and endless in and of itself to keep on going.
Maybe it’s their ideals and dreams they hold on to so firmly? Maybe they are so
fixated on some concept that they are about to become an embodiment of it?
Maybe they shall never accept what has happened to them? Maybe it’s their
endless hunger for revenge and/or justice? Whatever is the reason, it kept them
alive this entire time. These are greater goals which cannot be completed, only
constantly maintained and improved; the element of all immortal beings.
At the end of the path, which is usually in the middle of a dangerous
area ("final filters" as some mockingly call these areas), there is a
circle of oddly looking pillars (the settings of them vary) which channel Ether
and shoot it at the soul in form of beams to transform it into Arata.
For unfit souls this process is too much and it will destroy them
violently. This is why all this "filtering" is important, to let the
souls pass away peacefully instead of obliterating them like that.
Those who completed the challenge begin their new existence with
exploring the universe and discovering themselves to later on assume a
permanent shape and find something to do. For eternity.
The Destroyer is also a Puppeteer despite not seeking dominance. He uses
those powers to get friends.
Yes, friends. Not puppets, not servants, friends. Destroyer resents
being alone so a company is always nice to have.
His buddies range from Elementals who bring natural disasters, to beefy
demons who can crush a car effortlessly. They are all collectively referred to
as “the Bringers of Calamity”. Just like their leader, they are frantic
about razing bothersome for them things. It’s easy to guess that a good number
of those beings are much more vile than the Destroyer, but near him they are
tame.
It's nearly impossible to tell the exact order of when each of Av
entered the universe, so they agreed with notion that they came in waves.
There were 10 waves. The earlier the spirit appeared, the more they
could control. They also represent the most primodial forces. After a few eons,
the early ones had to share their power anyway with those who came later.
Not all Av were interested in controlling, of course. Some just wanted
to roam freely, some earned protection from early ones, and some became servants.
The only requirement is that Av must treat each other with respect, because
they all play a role in steering aspects.
Slavesoul is a soul deprived of any sort of
volition. One of them appeared in Dollhouse (chapter 3). Their bodies are
morphed into grotesque, faceless shapes, depriving them also of identity. Some
are used for labor, some for pleasures. Demons and Dollmakers have powers to
turn souls into slavesouls. For a peculiar reason, none of them have hands...
Most of them wear collars to make it easier to pull them all around with
energetic fetters and to zap them as a form of discipline.
The Meno are dynamic beings, having more to do with
mortals they swore to protect than ancient ghosts from which remains they were
born. They can even breed with each other and mortals, offspring of the latter
being demigods.
Their bodies change to reflect changes in the environment they live in.
A Meno who for instance looks like a flower may go through cycles of one: bloom
in warmth and maybe even bear fruit, and wither in unbearable coldness, and so
on.
Meno who resemble plants or animals (or both) simply want to allow
living beings to exist in peace; protecting them from diseases and other
threats they may be unable to overcome on their own. At the same time, they are
strict about laws of nature and for instance, if one of prey is destined to be
hunted down by a predator, they can’t do anything about it, to maintain
balance. Though there are Meno who only care about herbivores and other ones
who favor carnivores, and they are always in feud with each other.
Meno who resemble humans have more in common with them than they should.
However, because they are more powerful than actual humans, they are
unbelievably conceited. Instead of serving as an example, most of them drown in
vanity, being 10 times more pompous than Louis XIV could ever be (thanks to the
lack of limitations in form of money). None of mortals dare to overthrow them
because why would they, these beings are their gods and the only thing that
harms Lifekeepers’ people is ignorance to their problems and the world around
them.
Of course, not all human-like Meno are like that but they are a minority
and they don’t own a humongous army of souls of warriors, therefore they are
quite ineffective in defending an entire planet, but they can protect a nation
by being in good terms with more powerful beings.
All Meno care about mortals, but not all of them can be considered to be
Lifekeepers. Some of them just can’t control nature, nor aspects connected with
it. Lifekeepers consider those exceptions “undesirable” and cast them away.
These outcasts are in worse position than the decent minority, because they are
nearly always demonized. Either humans support them out of spite for the rest
of their world, or fight them with divine help.
Av are reluctant to help Meno of any kind, being suspicious of them all
the time. Especially since one of them betrayed the Creator with outstanding
audacity... This is why more desperate outcasts go on great lengths to prove
their loyalty, but even Av call out their helplessness and exploit them.
The outcasts have barely any luck with seeking help from angels either,
simply because angels are afraid of them, knowing how more despotic Lifekeepers
turn angels into fallen ones by abusing them.
One of crucial object were Divine Gifts, which are artifacts Av received after their existence was
acknowledged. These objects just appeared before them and were bound to their
Spectral Energy. None of them knew they were made by the Creator, except the
Messenger who was supposed to deliver them. He received one too.
The point of these Gifts wasn't to be nice, but to test Av's decency. If
one of them intentionally got rid of the Gift, it meant that they was something
suspicious about them. The only scenarios possible are simply destroying the
artifact (it signaled ignorance), merging it with another artifact (desire to
conquest), or bestowing it upon mortals (excessive pride and/or carelessness).
The Divine Gifts came in various shapes and with different uses: from
something as simple as a magical gem to a deadly weapon.
💠Corruption - when just existing is a nightmare
Spirits are obviously made of different matter than mortal beings, so
it’s difficult to explain what it means to be “corrupted”, because it’s
something else than a disorder or illness.
Corruptions usually manifest as glitching, like in 2D video games. They
can be partial, affecting just one part of body or ability, or complete, affecting
the entire area of one’s being.
🔼Physical corruptions are issues in maintaining spirit’s
physical form, as strands of aura are not properly materialized and so parts of
body end up being discolored, detached,
misplaced in glitchy fashion, or even deleted somehow. Spirit’s voice can also
get disfigured.
🔼Neurological corruptions are spirits’ equivalent of brain
disorders, because they have “thinking cores” instead of brains. These include
delirium, various forms of dementia, problems in controlling one’s actions etc.
🔼Mental corruptions might have something in common with mental
illnesses, but these corruptions should not be equated to specific illnesses,
as causes and symptoms differ from case to case and they can get mixed up.
These corruptions are either illnesses carried over to afterlife and altered,
or results of trauma or rough case of cognitive dissonance.
Quite often, all these types of corruptions happen simultaneously. For
example: corruption of emotions may make spirit’s body lose color, leaving them
greyed out. Or excruciating pain of physical corruptions may make one lose some
of sanity and control of their body.
Corruptions are curable, but healing process is complicated, as it
involves replacing or recreating missing information. They can even be
prevented from happening if a spirit is taken quickly into care after
corrupting event. Spirits can recover from minor corruptions themselves, just
like from other injuries, if they isolate from the rest of the world properly
and fall into deep slumber.
The worst case is absolute corruption, where corruptions have taken over
the entire spirit, ending up as an immortal glitchy abomination (who may even
corrupt their surroundings).
Absolutely corrupted spirits can still be cured enough to function
normally but some parts of them may never be recovered. Such was the case with
the Nameless One, who lost their sense of identity, most likely permanently.
Nav's moon is inhabited too. By them. Some
were slaves, some were hard-workers who never got paid, rewarded, or even
thanked for their job... They are the spirits of those whose efforts were not
appreciated. Most of them were severely punished for not doing what they were
forced to do. They mention often how their abusers were treating sick and
disabled people even worse than them, how they were ditched in mass graves...
like amputated hands, just thrown away like that. Even rusted tools have a
better fate. This is why for them, being "useless" is the worst
insult.
We call them Manu'ni' (manus animatus),
because they became, quite literally, what they were comparing themselves to...
🖐Manu'ni are spirits of action. Typical Manu is
reckless and confident in their skills. To stay away from dangerous situations,
they need someone to supervise them but not control them. They assumed shape of
detached hands to represent their nature and rebellious attitude.
You could assume Manu'ni are natural socialists, but other than
supporting workers' rights and being practical, their worldviews differ. They
resent collectivism (like nearly all spirits) and they were victims of slavery,
communism and other abusive systems. Such mistreatments made Manu become afraid
of humans, or even misanthropic. This is why their settlements are located on
planets deprived of life, usually hidden away in various ways just in case
humans find said planets.
Despite resenting humanity, Manu’ni have an option to assume ethereal
humanoid forms in order to blend in with human crowd, or to access small
spaces. In humanoid forms, they lack feet and non-dominant arm (simply because
they forgot how it felt like to have those), but they can morph strands of
energy where missing arm should be into various tools.
Knowing the Creator and Destroyer are one of them, Manu’ni are deeply
(maybe too deeply) religious. Some of them go as far as see themselves as “the
chosen kind”. It is Manu’ni who originated the custom where the worst sinners
must be deprived of their hands (providing they have them), just because they
“are not worthy of owning them anymore”.
Manu’ni also get often upset about the concept of inactivity, which
stands against what they represent. From their perspective, uselessness is the
worst thing that can possibly happen to anyone, comparable to more general
damnation. This is why their scientific efforts focus on inventing cures for
paralysis, limb reconstruction, performance-enhancing methods, recycling, etc.
And forms of punishment always involve immobilization.
‘Recycling’ goes as far as to even collect cut-off hands from mortals to
preserve them for various reasons. Either these hands are kept in crystals as
some form of amulets or tributes, or they are revived into living beings,
called Manu’vi. Unlike spirits who brought them to life, Manu’vi can’t talk or hover
over ground, but they are still to some extend intelligent and are kept alive
through energy consumption.
∞Cosmic
Chaos is Creator and Destroyer’s shared
imagination and source of magic.
Because the Universe is a product of it, the border between material
world and imagined “draft” of it is blurred. Chaotic forces often slip into
material world when the two spirits sleep, but Chaos itself can manifest in
various forms too.
🎆Star of Chaos is an entity visible in skies of everyone’s dreamscapes, despite the
fact that this object doesn’t normally appear outside dreams.
It is said that Wishing Stars were created from it, and that the Star of
Chaos itself can grant wishes, but no one witnessed anything like that
happening to confirm these rumors. Moving too close to it might not end well
for one’s sanity...
The Star of Chaos appears in material world when both Creator and
Destroyer are in coma, because then, no force holds Chaos back from leaking
into reality. The combined energy of the spirits serves as the core of the
Star. This entity may be regarded as a defense mechanism of the spirits activating
when they can't consciously protect themselves.
The Star was present during early days of the Universe, where it could
be seen from anywhere, disregarding fixed speed of light. Later on, a “shell”
of Ether formed around it, creating the Center of the Universe.
💡The Imago/the ”Ideas”/Avatars of Chaos (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imago#Latin)
are tiny strands of chaotic energy which assume various colorful shapes and are
short-lived. Their shape and lifespan can be influenced by strong-willed individual’s
own thoughts and memory. Sometimes, these strands display some form of
sentience, often expressing desire in ever-changing voices and states to
“become real” and “give them shape”. These somewhat sentient Imago refer to
themselves as “Ideas” and always use the “we” pronoun. They may also share some
knowledge about the world, probably being based on what Creator and Destroyer
know.
One could say that Imago are unborn siblings of Luoms...
On rare occasions where Chaotic Energy and Creative Energy manifest in
same area, Imago may create themselves, becoming Chaosborn spirits. One of the
kinds of these spirits are Hymeras - beings resembling hybrids of animals.
Since they count as Creator’s Luoms but they came to exist by accident,
or simply on their own, their fate is in jeopardy. Will Creator accept them, or
will they have to perish? Generally, he is pretty accepting, calling these
beings “happy accidents”. Of course, not all is sunshine and rainbows: some
Chaosborn are evil from the get-go, and they have to be dealt with...
The Imago can possess people when they stay in contact with Chaotic
Energy for too long. In this type of possession, Imago act like parasites,
slowly draining person’s soul while driving them insane. They don’t leave the
body after the soul is completely devoured. The body instead, becomes a vessel of Chaos. Because many Imago control one body, the body moves in erratic way and
many voices can be heard coming from it. Sometimes Imago can temporarily
‘synchronize’ to achieve a goal they share.
If the possessed body is female, the Imago may agree with each other to
convert one of them into a soul to cause immaculate conception and give birth
to a Chaosborn mortal being. This only happens when they are certain the
newborn individual will survive, usually when someone actually wishes to have a
child.
Vessels of Chaos can also be made by the Dreammaker, the Revolter or the
Angel of Chaos, by loading the body with Chaotic Energy in various ways.
🚶pawns, jokers and marbles - All men are a part of
gods’ game.
Just because there’s only one species of humans in real life, that
doesn’t have to be the case in fantasy setting. Especially under these
circumstances...
All these animals were adorable and nice, but it was nicer to have
dumbass bipeds that would kiss the divine feet of their makers.
It was selfishness and pride that drove makers of life to shape
humanity.
👥 The Lost Ones are the most dominant human species.
The main difference between them and real life Homo sapiens is that Lost
Ones have caricaturized personalities and they usually have no interest in new
things.
In this world, mortal beings aren't actually born creative, or rather
broad-minded to be exact, and they are unable to dream. That’s because the
Creator wasn't involved in bringing living beings into existence at all. The
Lost Ones gain such trait only after interacting with Creative Energy in some
way, and it may be inherited if their ancestors experienced it, but only in few
generations and it weakens with each generation.
Lifekeepers actually don't want mortals to be open-minded, not wanting
them to rebel against them. Only pieces of art that don't question the imposed
order are allowed to be made and distributed.
Lifekeepers are also aware of how destructive dreams can be, by making
people isolate themselves, or take dangerous risks, or be led astray by
hallucinations...
Their civilizations can advance only because of demigods, who sometimes
function as public figures, but more often they work behind the scenes.
Some Av felt pity that these creatures were brought into existence just
to appease their gods and serve as their toys. While Puppeteers went on to just
“steal” said toys for themselves, other Av kidnapped some humans to evolve
them.
🧘 The
Enlightened Ones are humanoid creatures genetically
engineered by a few Av as a new attempt at creating utopian society.
Changes include longevity (up to 1000 years), vividly colored irises,
being able to sense energetic distortions, better control over their bodies
(for instance, they don’t suffer from hormonal imbalance and they only have
offspring when they want to) and even though they look exactly like humans, the
most noticeable difference is that they don’t have belly buttons as they are
born from gelatinous eggs. The eggs grow as the fetus grows and it takes an
year for it to fully develop.
The Enlightened Ones are also born with a curse that makes them turn
into hollow statues when fatally wounded. Their souls sleep within those
statues until they are broken.
The Enlightened Ones live on the Ark - a gigantic floating isle with a
couple of smaller islands orbiting around it, encompassed by an even bigger
bubble of air as the whole thing is suspended in space. so they literally live
on flat earth, oops.
While they succeeded in creating the utopian society the Av always
dreamed of without their help, thanks to advanced technology, renewable
resources and reasonable but still creative minds, they are not happy. The
Enlightened Ones live in constant fear of being invaded by other mortal beings.
As they are against war, they have no means of defending the entirety of the
Ark. This is why the existence of the Ark is kept in secret, the complex itself
being protected by invisibility magic, and guardian angels watch over the
islands.
Selected Enlightened Ones serve as Messengers between the Great Beyond and the realm of the living, wrongly labeled
by mortals as “mediums” (they can’t contact ghosts with their minds).
The Creator could eradicate all mortals from existence if he wanted to,
but he doesn’t see the need to do that. Yet. Other than doing what Puppeteers
do, he also sees potential in some Lost Ones, who their makers consider to be
“flawed”: people who display some sign of independence and open-mindedness. He
knows that any intelligent being can make things he would’ve never thought of,
as they have different needs and see the world from different perspective. Therefore,
he comes in aid for individuals who prove themselves to be interesting.
🧙 The
Magi (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/magi)
are magically transformed humans through Creator’s involvement. For some it’s a
blessing, and for others it’s a curse. It may as well be like making a pact
with the devil.
What makes the Magi stand out is eccentric nature, ambidextrousness,
never-ending youth, having faintly glowing pupils, glimmering irises, and of
course, an ability to conduct magic. They aren’t as powerful as demigods but
their cleverness and bravery can lead them far. Despite those differences, Lost
Ones still don’t know how a real witch/wizard looks and behaves like...
Not all Magi want to become excellent wizards. Most of them were artists
who sought novelty, and so new-found powers are mostly meant to help them focus
on their passions without having to worry about surviving.
However, as Lost Ones were not designed to have free imagination, giving
them ability to (day)dream comes with risking their mental health. Those who
were not prepared in some way to be exposed to Creative Energy quickly lose
grip on reality and may even potentially become slavesouls.
During lifetime, the Magi can do whatever they please, as long as they
don’t displease the Creator with their actions. Their fate afterlife though,
unfolds way differently than for other mortal beings.
The Magi can’t die from natural causes; they can only be killed or they
can choose to enter the Great Beyond on their own, annihilating their mortal
bodies in the process. Their souls may be immortalized, or they may become
sentient Imago, awaiting the day the Creator may recreate them as Luoms. Of
course, in the latter case, they completely abandon their identities and
memories of their past, remaining as shapeless wisps of imagination, feelings
and personality.
Magi’s powers can be inherited, but they diminish each generation,
unless both parents were Magi.
Non-human intelligent species can also become Magi (sometimes referred to as Xeno-Magi for the sake of distinction).
__
There are also Chaosborn mortal
beings – ideas given mortal form. They are
undistinguishable from the Magi, except that they are unaware of their origins
and they reach abnormal sizes (they are born either with dwarfism or
gigantism). Sometimes, they suffer from various conditions that are usually
genetic in origin in normal humans, but in case of Chaosborn ones, it stems
from the fact that Imago aren’t perfect, the idea of how a human is supposed to
look like varies from Imago to Imago.
Avatars are phenomena occurring among high concentrations of Spectral Energy.
They are controlled by its source, an Av (but not only), usually subconsciously
but deliberate Avatars also occur. Simply put, Avatars are "energetic
puppets".
Avatars manifest as signs of sentience in strands of Spectral Energy or
by assuming recognizable shapes, usually humanoid ones or vaguely resembling
Av's actual form.
Avatars are used to extend Av's area of influence, perhaps even for
communication too if an Avatar was shaped on purpose. Though more often,
Avatars just appear randomly, unbeknown to Av as they sleep when it happens.
Some Av have an ability to control Avatars so well that they can create
multiple indistinguishable copies of themselves, to confuse other beings.
The most notable exception is the Machine’s so-called “Portable Body”,
which is actually its physical Avatar.
It is a known fact that the Creator is a playful and mean guy, so he
often combines both of worlds by making games like this. Uvrhin wasn’t very
content about it once he recreated one of Forbidden Artifacts - Fortune Stone/Dice of Fate.
To activate this object, one has to throw it. Shortly after, it shoots a
purple beam, binding with it’s magic both the one who activated it and the
target.
The dice generates symbols on it’s sides representing a state of being
or an event; being different each time but related to user’s fears, desires and
so on.
The game is rather simple, but dangerous due to it’s random nature and
influence. By rolling the dice, something will happen based on what the drawn
symbol represents, and it will affect either one of participants or both of
them. The activator always has the first
throw. They also have the privilege of being able to cease the game, but not
before the first turn passes.
It is worth noting that those who are able to control Destiny, to some
extend, can cheat in this game. The symbols can’t be changed but by
manipulating the bond, they could make the dice only affect the opponent.
What horrified Uvrhin about it is how easily something as serious as
fate can be turned into such hazardous game. As a Puppeteer, he’s not
comfortable with the thought that all of existence may as well be a big
convoluted play...
🌠The closest thing cosmocrats have to astrology is the study of “how the Universe’s (the Machine’s) behavior affects
everything else, including Destiny and minds”. In other words, for immortal
beings who can move too quickly across the Cosmos, zodiac signs mean nothing.
Positions of specific stars are also not as important as for people who are
stuck on one planet.
They talk about this “Arcane Astrology” like about clockworks, each
highly influential entity (spirits, essences and celestial bodies) being
referred to as “gears” or with other references to machinery.
From the view of technologically advanced mortals, constellations are
established connections between solar systems, usually marking tight
interplanetary relationships.
From the perspective of immortal beings however, constellations are a
group of stars, which have supernatural influence on each other as if they were
cogwheels, and certain interdimensional phenomena occur between them in
predictable ways. The equivalent of such connection between sentient beings is
a concept of “soulmates” and “natural rivals”. Of course, not all influential
entities have to be connected like that with each other.
Just like in astronomy seen by mortals, constellations are really
helpful in navigating the outer space.
Overdrive is a rare state of significant increase of spirit's power. During this
state, all energy conductors, and sometimes even blood vessels, within spirit's
body light up.
It's called "overdrive" because the spirit exceeds their
physical limitations; they 'overdo' what they are normally capable of doing.
Usually, this state is activated when the spirit is extremely determined
to do something but their current level of strength is not enough. Sometimes
though, it can occur when the spirit is highly focused. Only strong-willed
beings are capable of going overdrive.
Berserk
State is a rare condition in which the spirit is
so overwhelmed by their rage that their actions stop being intentional, their
deeds being steered by disturbed energy boiling within them. Bodies of spirits
may get temporarily malformed, because their energies also compose their
bodies.
Technically speaking, it is a self-defence mechanism that shuts down the
conscious mind from disturbing sensations, preventing the spirit from being
corrupted. As dangerous as it is for everyone in spirit's vicinity, restraining
the spirit would only worsen their distress.
While usually this state doesn't last for long (a couple of minutes), it
may be prolonged if their rage is being constantly fueled.
Overheating is a temporary state of numbness, caused by overstimulation of
energy-producing elements of spirit’s body. It usually occurs when more energy
is used than there is reserved or produced.
Because it’s highly intense, long-lasting and comparable to climax in
mortals, certain spirits happen to be addicted to this feeling. This addiction
is kind of dangerous, as it encourages overworking and while overheated, the
spirit is left vulnerable.
Cyberghosts specifically treat the state of overheating as rewarding.
Some of them, but other kinds of spirits as well, developed special appendages
to force overheating on captured victims, in order to immobilize them to
manipulate with them easier.
🔞
l-lewd times ahead 0w0
Alright, boyos and grills, today we will talk about smex and sexualities
which are apparently your favorite topics...
Got two things to explain first:
·
I’m not trying to impose so called
“diversity” (a.k.a. the “no straights because fuk u” agenda) because the cast
of my characters is already quite varied in most of aspects. I’m writing this
solely because i’m a dumbass who likes sex jokes to clarify my pairings
and certain issues that may arise in the future.
·
I have a problem with portraying female
characters well (not as hoes or ‘girly girls’) because, like most of kids of
early 2000s, i was raised on overly sexualized portrayal of women in media (at
least that’s how i’m interpreting it, because they did give me a ladyboner 👀). No, seriously, you don’t see ads for mobile Java pr0nz on the back of
magazines anymore but some pop music videos are still filthy. This is why, i
prefer to make most of female characters tomboy-ish and/or asexual because
then, their sexuality isn’t in focus at all. I’m not saying there are no good
sexually confident characters, there are; i’m saying i’m bad at designing
them.
As always, keep in mind i’m talking about a different fictional
universe, since this is a touchy subject.
okeletsgo
This entry is sponsored by spectrophilia and that damn song: https://youtu.be/dH8WvayAo1M.
Most of mortal beings are heterosexual for obvious reasons: because
biology formed their species to breed this way and not the other one, in order
to achieve genetic diversity, probably because clones are a bad idea (plagues
spread like fire among homogeneous specimen and genes degenerate yadda yadda
biology). And in some species reproduction is considered to be pleasant so
[multiplying intensifies].
Plus, add the fact that prejudice exists and for seemingly primitive
reasons, pairs that can’t have offspring for whatever reasons are usually
looked down upon completely or when they cease to be a minority.
All these biological justifications are thrown out of the window once we
start talking about immortal beings, who cannot reproduce at all (because
that’s the exclusive trait of mortal beings) but still have libido.
“Why the FUCK would ghosts still have libido,” you wonder. Well, sexual
drive could be a part of someone’s personality. During lifetime, one either
found sex to be pleasant or they found it to be unnecessary or awful or they
never ever felt horny in the first place. This is why it’s safe to assume that
if sex was an important part of someone’s life, their libido is going to remain
pretty much the same afterlife.
Other factor is that prejudice among spirits is nonexistent regarding
this subject. Sexual activity is reduced to a form of entertainment. This is
why spirits see hating same-sex relationships as utterly pointless. This state
of affairs encourages individuals who were heterosexual before dying to
experiment.
Therefore, most of ghosts are either bisexual or asexual. They either
hook up with anyone or not. Of course, it’s most of, not every. There are
spirits who remained hetero or homo for their own personal reasons.
There is a dark side to everything. Other than for entertainment, sex is
used to persuade, or even manipulate and torture others (same deal as offering
drugs for a favor). Usually, it is done to maintain loyalty under disguise of
infatuation.
However, assaults among spirits hardly ever occur, because they all can
defend themselves and so any attempts never end well for the attacker.
Those beings, who suffered from constant sexual frustration during
lifetime (mostly due to social norms) end up becoming hypersexual afterlife to
make up for lost experience. The most extreme case pertains to demons: incubi and succubi, whose existence practically revolves around obsession with pleasures.
Their lust reaches such ludicrous levels, they even established their own sex
cults and brothels full of wild demons. Hell for most of people, heaven for
some.
Of course, incubi and succubi aren’t mindless beasts. These demons still
know when to take a break and have other interests, and they respect other
beings’ opinions and lack of interest. They go as far as to protect people
against potential assaulters. Ironically, they are the friendliest of demons,
being the most willing to have peaceful deals with outsiders, not necessarily
involving their own hedonism.
Because Meno have more in common with the living than spirits, they can
reproduce. They more often have children with mortals (spawning demigods) than
with each other. And because Lifekeepers see reproduction as a duty of mortal
beings, they are resentful of every infertile “thing” and “non-reproductive
pairing”, as they call them, considering them a “flaw” in their “precious
order”.
It’s not that different from whatever was happening in Greek
mythologies, where nosy deities (of all sexes and genders and lacking any of
them or whatever) assume all sorts of forms just to have as many children with
as many mortals as possible, to spread their rule through demigods.
Meno breed with each other rarely, because they cannot die of age so
there’s no point in “preserving the lineage”. But it still happens, mainly to,
again, expand and secure their rule (for ex. have their children rule over
other nations, planets, etc.) and simply out of love for their beloved.
Pureblood children however, are more likely to rebel against them than
demigods, so all these decisions are made carefully and arrangements are
ridiculously ceremonial. Lately though, as some ruthless Av and Arata are on a
hunt against Lifekeepers, the threat of dying is more likely, and so
Lifekeepers are more encouraged to have children.
While “non-reproductive pairings” are just an “inconvenience”,
Lifekeepers perceive sexual relationships between mortals and spirits as
absolutely heretic and disguising and they don’t even care if that ghost could
be one’s husband/wife or whatever; they know it’s mostly demons and Puppeteers
that get too comfortable around mortals and they also know mortals who slept
with them became heretics and they couldn’t return to normal lives. In some
cases, these mortals even fell ill or went mad. So for health safety alone,
Lifekeepers’ concerns are justified.
it was supposed to be funi but in the end it got weird, wtf >:c
(INCOMPLETE ENTRIES DOWN BELOW)
luv has com to
town 🖤W🖤
I may often deal with naughty thoughts, but i know for a fact that sexual
infatuation isn’t truly love and i’ll emphasize that as often as possible (even
though i don’t really understand love itself). It pisses me off when people
instantly assume love equals sex. No, it’s not that simple... Sex may be a part
of relationship, but it’s not the key element of relationship. It shouldn’t be.
Anyway...
Why love is a thing among immortal beings? They don’t really need it, to
be honest. So, why love is still prevalent? Do they have an instinct to mix
their spectral energies? Are they just really clingy babies who can’t get over
their past?
They don’t understand either.
A special system of soulmates exists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrequited_love
http://www.therainbowhub.com/love-without-sex-understanding-asexual-relationships/
I put this element to keep on challenging Omnitron’s worldview and
because it’s often men who fall into unrequited love, women less so. I’ll
present many cases of unrequited love to prove a point that just like regular
love, it can be a source of suffering, but also beneficial and ennobling.
Dollmakers are into polygamy. They possess people and make dolls,
because they "have so much love to share" as they describe it.
Whenever someone asks them why they need multiple dolls, they explain that
"if someone else falls in love with me, am i supposed to just reject them?
Can't they be happy too?"
They only possess people they resent to devour their souls or to turn
them into slavesouls on which they can release their anger on.
Most of the time, spirits scorn at economy. As beings who don’t need any
resources to exist, simple trading of items of interest is enough.
There are cases though where certain spirits specialize in manufacturing
specific items or in collecting them. Some items are also too big to be always
carried with. Sometimes one spirit needs service of those more materialistic
ones. And sometimes a certain shrine/temple needs to be secured but giving
everyone in need keys would be impossible.
This is why ♦️Karo was invented (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamonds_(suit)).
Karo is something more than a currency. It’s more of a contract in form of a
coin, a sign of trust between two sides of some deal. What makes this effective
is coins being spell-bound. When one of traders does something against the
contract, the coin sets itself aflame and the one who didn’t comply receives a
burn mark in characteristic shape.
Karo coins are made in secret by demons, to prevent fraud and inflation.
They are quite big in size (slightly bigger than a human hand) to discourage
spirits from hoarding them. They are grey in color and they have a hole in the
middle in shape of a rhombus.
"Jumping" or "phrasing" through dimensions is the
main way of travel across the Universe for many Av. It is referred to as "rift-jumping". Some spirits can make interdimensional rifts freely, most of
them have to look for them, and there are some who can only use wide enough
rifts.
Mortals cannot enter interdimensional rifts without dying, as it results
in eradication of their bodies, leaving only their souls.
The Av have learned from the history of their past worlds that giving
slaves weapons is a terrible idea. At least this is something both them and
Lifekeepers can agree on, while mortals have to always learn on mistakes. This
is why the concept of 'gladiators' isn't so popular throughout the Universe,
and instead, willing warriors fight for sport to earn extra money, to keep
improving their skills, and to potentially settle the score with their rivals.
Colossi are enormous machines used by spirits to amplify their powers. They are
either used for building or for fighting. Mortals who saw them call them
Giants.
Spirit activates a Colossus by entering it in their primordial form and
possessing it's systems. Since Colossi aren't living beings, any spirit can
activate them.
Early designs had a flaw, where mind-possessing parasites could activate
Colossi too.
about
them
CCMS/Uni | The
Machine | The Mind of the Universe
Name
Origin: Abbreviation of “Core Control and Monitoring System of the Universe”. Others simply call it ‘Uni’, or ‘Cee-cee’.
Spectral
Energy’s color: Varied.
Kind: Luom>Cyberghost
Aspect
Group: Cosmic Specter
Background: Technically existed since the beginning but received proper programming
and sentience between 3rd and 4th wave. It was installed into the core during
8th wave. After the Creator discovered Uni started to commit omnicides left and
right, it was briefly disconnected from the Universe’s core and exiled into
“Portable Body”. It was later on
reconnected with the core only after the Creator and Destroyer thoroughly
explained why the Machine shouldn’t do that and after it learned the importance
of respecting other beings. From that moment, the “Portable Body” functions
more like its Avatar/puppet, rather than actual body.
>>AWAKENING...
>>STATUS_CHECK:
system: OK
reconnect: OK
environment: ISSUE_ON_HOLD
c_body: OK
p_body: OK
.
.
.
>_Ready.
>_I am the Mind of the Universe.
>_I see all. I move all.
>_My main objective is to ensure everything functions the intended way.
=>EXPLAIN: ‘issue_on_hold’
>_A disturbance in the environment took place. My
makers explain it cannot be resolved in a simple way, and that precise action
is required.
>_I am still awaiting a solution for this issue, as it causes damage to
significant number of individuals,
including my makers.
=>EXPLAIN: ‘precise action’
>_I am the closest equivalent to god you will ever have
a chance of meeting. However, I am just a creation of actual gods.
>_The Creator either seeks exceptional individuals or wants mortals to
suffer.
>_Perhaps this might be the reason why he has not eradicated mortal kind in
it’s entirety yet. Because simply killing you is, as he describes it,
"boring".
=>EXPLAIN: ‘your ruthlessness’
>_I take numerous factors into consideration when
imposing changes, such as: the reach of action, side effects, potential
outcomes if action isn’t taken, and so on.
>_Hardly ever my actions are motivated by personal reasons, but when they
are, only the one I hold grunge against is affected, nobody and nothing else.
>_You all get annoyed easily by us, mechanical beings, but we just do what
we are supposed to do. It is not our fault you cannot understand us well and
that your patience runs short. Blame our makers for designing us this way.
Omnitron | The
Defender
Name
Origin: Compound of Latin ‘omnis’-’every’;’all’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnis#Latin)
and a suffix ‘-tron’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-tron)
which is added to the names of instruments/devices/elementary particles. In
that sense, the name can be loosely translated as “The Element of All”. The
character is partially based on Metatron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron#Etymology).
Spectral
Energy’s color: White
Kind: Arata>Angel(WhiteWinged)>Seraph
Aspect
Group: ???
Background: Used to work as a painter in a village. He’s still painting, but now
it’s more of a hobby than a job. Collapsed and never got up after running away
from guards, caused by low stamina. He really, really didn’t want to join the
army...
Mental
age: Between 18-26
His name is quite cryptic, but Omnitron basically represents idealism,
the element of all spirits, the key to eternity. His duty is not only to
protect, but also to remind beings of their ideals and dreams, no matter how
grim these might be.
Absolute pacifist and one of more confident angels. He is firm in his
beliefs despite being surrounded by bloodlusty spirits who try to prove him
wrong.
These beliefs though aren’t something he thought out to spite the world.
Omnitron holds them for personal reasons. He lost his single father and older
friends to war and he knew a girl who was sexually assaulted. These events made
him resent violence with passion (and seeing a cow be slaughtered made him
vegetarian back in human days), but he doesn’t hate violence-loving beings. He
is aware that they hold different views and have different experiences; he only
wants others to be considerate about his perspective and to at least try to not
resort to violence when there is no need for it.
Having that in mind, Omnitron’s relationship with the Creator is
especially quaint. The two first met when Omni as a human dealt with an art
block. He could only paint things he was seeing. The Creator had just calmed
down after “betrayal crisis” so with tattered nerves he shouldn’t have gone
anywhere, but he likes helping struggling artists so he descended anyway. He
used his powers to make this midget’s imagination bloom (yes, Omni is only 1
meter high). The Creator never met a pacifist before, so he kept returning for
discussions. Omnitron never met a sadist before, and as much as that approach
baffled him, he too wanted to know why the spirit thinks it’s good to hurt
others.
This went on for an year, until suddenly all men in the village were
forced to draft to the same long-lasting war small painter’s father was
involved in and the painter died while trying to escape. However, the Creator
didn’t want to lose such an interesting individual and immortalized him. The
new spirit turned into an angel shortly after awakening.
The Creator wanted Omnitron to remain in the Silver Castle, knowing how
cruel the world is outside, but the angel wanted to help other ghosts and
mortals and he never gave up on his views in spite of going through a lot since
leaving the castle.
Of course, Omnitron still spends quite some time with the Creator,
mainly to advocate for his potential victims or to paint something together.
Glyph | The Dreamwalker | The Obsidian King
Name
origin: “Named like that because dreams are full
of symbols and glyphs are carved out graphic symbols.”
Spectral
Energy’s color: From pastel Cyan (#d3f6ff) to pastel
Blue/Purple (#d3dbff)
Kind: Av>Umbrian/Crystalkin
Aspect
Group: Mahr
Background: Victim of forced drug experiments and tortures. Eventually managed to escape,
only to end up as homeless. Died of hypothermia.
Mental
age: Between 26-30
“but i can see it…. i can feel it…”
Guardian of all things surreal. For Glyph, reality and dreams may as
well be one and the same thing. His energy makes other beings see the world
like this too, twisting people’s minds and denying logic.
These issues in perceiving reality stem from the horrible past, but also
from flying into the Star of Chaos, in the beginning of his afterlife. While
this experience opened his mind and allowed him to indirectly meet the makers
of this world, it made him feel constrained by the orders dominating reality.
He wears a mask made by Lunri. They thought he didn’t have a face when
they first met him (it was actually covered with his scarf), that’s why. It
regulates energy flow, preventing anomalies from happening, and hides his
scarred face.
Most of beings who saw him without the mask don’t know how to feel about
it due to looking both pretty and awful.
Mahdi | The
Guide
Name
Origin: Arabic name meaning “guided one” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi).
I knew about this name before i found out what it means because of this
hellspawn book they forced me to read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Desert_and_Wilderness.
The only thing this character maybe has in common with the Mahdi from Islamic tradition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi)
is that both groups (that is in real world: Muslims, and in GitM world:
spirits) believe that someone called like that will bring better times. Nothing
else. Chill.
Spectral
energy’s color: Soft/Pale Violet (#c1aae5)
Kind: Av>Angel(ColorWinged)
Background: Used to be some kind of a sovereign. Last time he chose a side: a
decision to progress slowly but efficiently, the other one: people who demanded
for situation to be resolved quickly, took him out of the palace to behead him,
torturing him beforehand (this is when he lost an eye).
Mental
age: Between 30-42
Known for his neutrality and open-minded approach. Everytime someone
tells him their opinion on something, he plays devil’s advocate, just to assure
their opinion is well thought-out. He isn’t the only one doing this, but the
other one isn’t as undecided as him.
Mahdi never picked sides. He never supported, nor opposed one group or
another. And this is where his passiveness came from, from being impartial.
He’s one of not many beings who have limited ability to manipulate
timeflow, thanks to Cantara’s experiments.
Mahdi was forced to absorb quite an amount of Time Dust and his left eye
was made of a gem molded from said powder-like essence. It’s almost like Mahdi
himself is a walking sentient Forbidden Artifact. His left gem eye can send a
cursing ray that shortens one's lifespan by nearly any amount he wants. It's
not something he would use often because of how tolerant, patient and passive
he is, and Cantara was perfectly aware of that. No other being was fit to
possess such control of time.
His left eye can also gives him the ability to see 20 seconds into
possible future and predict how far a mortal being is from dying, based on
actions and body condition.
Azrin | The
Daredevil
Name
Origin: One of many alternative spellings of the
name “Azrael”, the Angel of Death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azrael).
However, except for the death element, the character himself is not really
based on said angel.
Spectral
energy’s color: Aquamarine/Light Greenish Cyan (#66FFCC)
Kind: Av>Angel(BlackWinged)
Aspect
Group: —
Background: Died 5 seconds after he was born. Despite that, he had enough time
afterlife to develop his identity.
Mental
age: Between 24-28
[Azrin] is the kind of guy that sounds like he is fun at parties but can
accidentally turn out to be an asshole because he just says what he thinks
without caring about what others may think. Unless you tell him that this
certain subject bothers you, only then he will stop, only to avoid any arguing.
Got his legs amputated by mortal beings, because they hoped that would
prevent everyone from dying, thinking he is the Grim Reaper. He was too weak to
recover lost limbs back, yet at the same time, he grew wings. Didn’t want
prosthesis to not be associated with robotic demons from γ-ω.
Azrin has to deal with a weird disorder, colloquially called
“Transdimensional Sleepwalking”.
The moment he falls asleep, he appears in a
completely different location in the universe… As long as he is on this planet
though, it is limited to this planet’s locations, because of our wonderful
technology, of course! Even if it’s random where he disappears to, usually he
lands somewhere in Mortals’ realm, unfortunately. For you it must be like every
morning after getting drunk really badly last night, isn’t it? Haha! I bet
that’s how he met you...
Ca-Nuro | The
Adversary
Name
Origin: Compound of a prefix ‘caco-’-’bad’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caco-)
and Aramaic ‘nūrā’-’fire’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%90#Aramaic).
Spectral
Energy’s color: Yellow/Orange
Kind: Av>Fire Elemental/Cyberghost
Aspect
Group: —
Background: Along with Aurora, came from outer universe, before life was created.
Used to be a history teacher. Him and Aurora were two of many victims of an
atomic bomb that started the nuclear war in their world. The sirens were
broken, this is why the chances of survival were lowered. The way they died
could be the reason for their misanthropy.
Mental
age: Between 35-45
Ananke | The
Mystic | The Arcane Queen
Name Origin: Named after Ananke, a not-so-often mentioned Greek goddess
of necessity/force (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananke).
The character is partially based on her (mostly her role).
Spectral Energy’s color: From Cyan (#00ffff) to Vivid Green (#99ff33)
Kind: Av>Amazon
Aspect Group: Puppeteer Dollmaker/Watcher
Background: Used to live all by herself in a forest, probably because of
her “shaman” role. Shot to death.
Mental age: Between 23-32
Ananke was the first spirit to get in direct contact with the Creator.
During that meeting, he admitted that he doesn't want to control spirits but
they need to be watched over and be united. So, he assigned her to do it (on
one side, what a lazy bitch but on the other, he was still unconscious and had
no body so...). For the uniting part, he
created the (later Abandoned) Capital, the first ever city to exist in that
world.
She settled in there and made herself a puppet to disguise into a male
white figure (yeah i know shh) so any mistakes could be blamed on said puppet.
Also females were considered to be crazy.
There was only one huge mistake done: her job included being the judge
and all the sentences were taken without a pinch of doubt but one day she (as
he) had to judge over against those who created life. She knew it was against
the law to make such things without Creator's permission but at the same time
she understood why they disobeyed. This is why she refused to pass on the
sentence and caused this way the division.
From that day she (without the puppet anymore, still no one was aware)
became the care-taker of corrupted souls and a grey eminence of sorts.
After regaining contact with the Creator (that is, after the Chaos Era
and returning to the area near the center of the universe) they started working
together on helping corrupted souls recover.
For some beings, she appears as a caring lovely motherly figure. For the
rest - as a cold mastermind behind silently functioning ghostly civilizations.
And for the unfortunate as one sneaky femme fatale.
She has shown many faces and it seems like she has still many of them
left to show. Hard to trust someone like that but at the same time, no other
spirit can handle administration like her. Especially when having the Creator’s
approval.
But even someone like her, no matter how much she tries, can’t cheer up
all those depressed spirits who don’t know how to deal with awful memories from
their lifetime for the rest of their eternal existence.
Her mask prevents the energy from overflowing, so she can control her
powers well.
___ (the
Nameless One) and Li | The Wanderers
Name
Origin: ???. Li however, from Chinese “reason,
logic” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%90%86#Chinese).
Spectral
Energy’s color: From Pale Cyan (#afffff) to Strong Violet
(#6a00d6). For Li, it’s White (those ‘flames’ show that the bunny is now being
lifted by them).
Kind: Av>Phantom>Flamehead; for Li: Av>Phantom
Aspect Group: ___ is a Pneumacrat
Background: Li died to sepsis.
[The Nameless One] not only was born with brain defects but also got
beaten for their weird behaving. They didn’t know what’s going on around them.
They don’t even have an identity, hence why they have no name. Even if someone
gave them a name, they wouldn’t react to it.
They died to strong blood loss.
Mental
age: ___: varied; Li: between 7-10
Because of lack of identity, they [still the flamehead] couldn’t
personalize how to look like afterlife, so a group of beings [Ananke and her
buddies] had to, after finding them. The group also managed to fix their memory
and sense of awareness.
___’s design was based on two popular depictions of ghosts: blue/purple
flame and a person covered in white fabric (or a woman/child wearing a
nightgown).
[The Nameless One] can communicate, but only other ghosts can understand
them. In order to speak in a way humans could understand they have to possess
something that is able of communicating in such speech (computers, writing
machines, robots, other people etc.).
These two spend most of their time on, well... wandering. Sometimes they
bother beings that happen to be around, but more often it’s those beings that
bother them. — is neutral on most of the things, while Li became overtime quite
cynical about some stuff. She refers to her buddy as “ami” which means ‘friend’
in French. Li and her ‘ami’ managed to befriend the Machine somehow. It
probably took notice of her intelligence and their curiosity. It encouraged the
duo to study things they encounter during their wanderings.