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humunanunga · 2 years

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I did something completely unnecessary and looked up ages and timelines for dreamland/isekai protagonists and liminal spaces. What you do with the following information will be for you to deal with now. (Because I feverishly looked all of this up between the span of last night and this morning, despite math not being my strong suit, there is a chance I took a few wrong notes here and there. If you catch any I missed, I’ll edit the op.)

In late 2020, presumably mid-December after everyone’s birthdays passed, Eustace and Jill (the Final Battle) would be 87, Fran Bow would be 76, Milo (the Phantom Tollbooth) would be 69-72, Jesse Aarons (the Bridge to Terabithia) would be 52-60, Sarah Willians would be 50-55 (depending on when between 1980 and 1986 The Labyrinth is set in), cinema Bastian B. Bux would be 52 (book Bastian would be 46), the surviving Stranger Things cast would all be 37 years older, Sunny (OMORI) would be 40-44, Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes) would be 41, Helena Campbell (Mirrormask) would be 30-34, Misfortune R.H. would’ve been 27, Coraline would be 22-30, Madotsuki could’ve been anywhere between 26 and 45 if she survived, assuming this was set in the year of the release date, Max (the Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl) would be 25, and if the same assumption as for Yume Nikki applies, Ib would be 17 (quoting exact years in an abstract alternate dimension is not exactly reliable), making Garry presumably between 26 and 37.

Clara Silberhaus (the Nutcracker) was a senior by the time Alice fell into Wonderland.

Dorothy Gale was the same age as Digory and Polly (the Magician’s Nephew). They would have been in their twenties when Peter Pan and his shadow met Wendy, who would be in her mid-to-late twenties when Christopher Robin played in the Hundred-Acre Wood. Christopher would have been 24 when Fran Bow was taken to Ithersta. (And while it could be written off as an easter egg, a younger alternate Fran was friends with an alternate Alice. Being a younger alternate, they could have both been born later than in the timeline of the player’s Fran.)

Christopher Robin was 29 when Narnia was rebuilt from scratch, Wendy was in her mid-to-late 30′s, and Dorothy, Digory and Polly were ~69 (nice).

Milo (the Phantom Tollbooth) and Jesse Aarons are 9-20 years apart depending on when in the 70′s Jess and Leslie’s stories are supposed to take place.

The main events of Stranger Things mainly take place in Hawkins, Indiana, starting in 1983-- or 1979 if you count the first time a gate was opened even temporarily. Project Async’s known operations ran between the late 1980′s and late 1990′s, and is implicated by association with the Loma Prieta earthquake to be based in California. Their first prototype was run in May 1982, a year before the first sustained opening into the Upside-Down. The events of EverymanHYBRID concluded in 2010.

The City of Light and Land of Shadows, the Hundred-Acre Wood, the Lands Beyond, Neverland, Wonderland and the Looking Glass, the beldam (in the book wherein Coraline did not take place in Oregon) and much of Narnia’s invitations all made contact with our world (or at least one variation thereof) through England, especially London. Whether pagan practice was all that stood between Brits and an outbreak of dimensional rifts before the christianization of Europe remains unknown. If all these events happened in the same universe, well, maybe that just happened to be the arrival point of that escape route The Web was working on. I, of course, am entertained by the idea of Jon the Archivist becoming Jon the Hunger in this absolute crossover singularity I’ve just propositioned.

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landofanimes · 1 year

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Sailor Moon 30th Anniversary Musical Festival -Chronicle-

Nelke’s 2016-17 4 Inner Senshi meet the 2021-present cast!

November 19, 2022 (night performance)

#sailor moon #sailor moon musical festival chronicle #sera myu #inner senshi #sailor venus #sailor jupiter #sailor mars #sailor mercury #yume takeuchi #karen kobayashi #rimo hasegawa #kaede jupiter #Kanon Maekawa #Rei Kobayashi #Kisara Matsumura #Marin Makino #bssm

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crazykacey · 1 year

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And then there is the thing with the guests... AND I RECORDED THE WHOLE THING. And a interesting thing is that they actually had a small talk show... Not at the end of the musical like Anza & co. had the Special Live in the middle of the musical like they had with Riona in the previous performance I went to see. So it features the Amour Eternal & Le Mouvement Final Inners, Yume Takeuchi(Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury), Karen Kobayashi(Rei Hino/Sailor Mars), Kaede(Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter) AND Rimo😍Hasegawa(Minako Aino/Sailor Venus). Apparently Hotaru Nomoto(AE-LMF Sailor Moon) was supposed to come but wasn't able to due to time management issues but she wrote a letter which Yume read. So Ms. Frozen asked them few behind the scene questions from their performances(which I'll go intro greater detail on a later post) And gosh Rimo was being so chaotic I loved it💛💛

While I'm very happy about it, it makes me wonder why Anza & co. didn't have a talk show... What a missed opportunity

AND They performed Speed of Light at the end of it. (starts around 21:45) So while they may not have sang multiple songs like Anza & co. I think it's safe to say that the other guests also sang something (hopefully other songs than Moonlight Densetsu tho)

They also appeared at the end and danced the end part of Moonlight Densetsu!

(If using headphones, it only works on the right ear. Also there is a lot of clapping cause everyone had the time of their life. So yeah I didn't edit any of them at all cause I only have my phone with me. Also also if shared, please credit me!)

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sleepy-bunbun-ace · 10 months

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hhhhhhhhh yea, twisted wonderland got me

i made some yuu ocs because i got bored

yume rosalia - the first one. i wanted to make a star based character and then threw them into twst and gave them lore. my only non-human yuu, i got inspire by herta's design in hsr. they have another form but i'm not showing it yet ;P. i made them come from the super mario galaxy universe as an evolved form of the luma because some of them evolved in a way to help out princess rosalina because they love her a lot and want to help her out.

yume asta - the idol. originally they were just created because i needed a yuu for my tsukasa gets isekai'd to twst au but i grew attached to her. she's minori's cousin and has been an idol for the past two years before being isekai'd. she's a totally normal, rule obeying student. yeah, totally. don't go looking for any hidden messages in their part.

silvester hatter - the one magic user. i like making characters based off of concepts and since the twst characters are based off of the disney villains, why not make one based off of a fantasy novel? i was originally gonna do xie lian but then i remembered howl's moving castle and decided to do sophie hatter instead. i based her look off of movie!sophie while her personality will probably be more book!sophie based.

yuu - the tired one. he is the most normal one in terms of life experiences. she definitely introduces the first years to pop culture from her world. they also know how to make their own clothes (sewing, crochet, knitting, etc.) and offer to make clothes for others as well. plushies included. they are not responsible if anyone gets hooked on anything they introduce from their world.

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silenthilllz · 9 months

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YEHAHHHHH

#ITS STILL UO #SOMEONE PLAY YUME NIKKI WITH MEEE #FLOW AND 2KKI #or the others maybeeee #cat chronicles

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teenagetreepatrol · 1 year

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#yume no tsubasa #fictionjunction #music #tsubasa reservoir chronicle

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yumesthings · 2 years

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also, i started watching The Chronicles of Bridgerton (i know im late and far behind everyone else...)

and

it's not the first eng series i watch, but this one

is particurlarly funny, i recommend it to stress out and have a good time watching something on netflix

#the chronicles of bridgerton #netflix #netflix and chill #random post sorry #yumes boards

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dissociationswagcompetition · 1 year

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THE DISSOCIATION SWAG COMPETITION BRACKET IS HERE!!!

Click for better quality as Tumblr likes to eat quality! Goodness RIP my art program putting in all of these characters and texts hahaha!

All characters, including names and media, as well as which group they're in and when their versus poll will open are all under the cut!

ROUND 1

Round 1 will be broken up into four groups to avoid having too many polls at once

Group A - Tuesday, Feb 14, 2023

Patrick "Pat" Sprigs/Rey Sprigs (Mega Man Star Force) vs Crona (Soul Eater)

Darcy Wu (Amphibia) vs Raiden Ei (Genshin Impact)

Steven Universe (Steven Universe) vs Kris Dreemurr (Deltarune)

Ferb Fletcher (Phineas and Ferb) vs Benrey (Half Life VR but the AI is Self Aware)

Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones) vs Maxim Kischine (Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance)

Sunny/Omori (Omori) vs Yugi Muto/Yami/Atem (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Uendo Toneido/Patches/Kisegawa/Owen (Ace Attorney) vs Harrier Du Bois (Disco Elysium)

Razputin "Raz" Aquato (Psychonauts) vs Dirk Strider (Homestuck)

Group B - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023

Abed Nadir (Community) vs Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Yellow Guy (Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared) vs Jeanne-Marie Beaubier/Aurora (Marvel Comics)

Ienzo (Kingdom Hearts) vs Laudna (Critical Role)

Michael Shelley/Michael Distortion (The Magnus Archives) vs Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

"Crazy" Jane (Doom Patrol) vs Raphael Hamato (Rise of the TMNT)

Lord Garmadon (Lego Ninjago) vs Alfendi Layton (Layton Brothers: Mystery Room)

Sora (Kingdom Hearts) vs Veyle (Fire Emblem Engage)

Eda Clawthorne (The Owl House) vs Cecil Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale)

Group C - Thursday, Feb 16, 2023

Oscar Pine (RWBY) vs Shallan Davar/Veil/Radiant (Stormlight Archive)

Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles) vs Jeritza von Hrym (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

ENA (ENA webseries) vs Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama (Mob Psycho 100)

Kujou Hikari/Shiny Luminous (Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart) vs Mafuyu Asahina (Project Sekai)

Goldia die Heilige (Pocket Mirror) vs Madotsuki (Yume Nikki)

Gregory House (House MD) vs One-One (infinity Train)

Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Marvel) vs Garu/Karu (NU: Carnival)

Nagisa Shiota (Assassination Classroom) vs Tenma Tsukasa (Project Sekai)

Group D - Friday, Feb 17, 2023

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII) vs Zenitsu Agatsuma (Demon Slayer)

Harvey Dent/Two-Face (DC) vs Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Blitzwing/Icy/Hothead/Random (Transformers Animated) vs Kayano Mikoto (MILGRAM)

Mike/Chester/Svetlana/Vito/Manitoba/Mal (Total Drama) vs Bruce Wayne/Batman (DC)

Sayo Yasuda (Umineko No Naku Koro Ni) vs Nandor the Relentless (What we do in the Shadows)

Jackson Jekyll/Holt Hyde (Monster High) vs Ingo (Pokemon)

Punch/Counterpunch (Transformers) vs Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Chara Dreemurr (Undertale) vs Ash Williams (Evil Dead)

Thank you SO MUCH for everyone who submitted these lovely characters, I wish them all the best of luck!!! See youse all tomorrow~

#I have been working on this for over 5 hours straight omgggg XD #dissociation swag competition #polls #tournament #tumblr tournament #I believe I got everything and covered full names+systems+medias and whatnot...#If i didnt... ill fix it tomorrow JBJEBSFKJSDBGJKSDB im exhausted XD #My heart goes out to Blitzwing even though I doubt he'll win but I care for him and that's all that matters <3

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jujumin-translates · 3 months

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Lyrics | Aisubeki Bungo - Lovable Literary Master (Kanji/Romaji/English)

I've had this done for a while now but decided to go back and make some edits to it today and figured why not post it. TL'ing lyrics isn't my strong suit, so please do let me know if there are any errors or anything!

Kanji

鶴松 & 知久

着物に袖を通し

キツく帯を締め上げる

背筋が伸びる感覚

小さな世界の習慣

鶴松

古きを知って

ロマンを語る

丁寧な暮らしの中に

人間の正しさを夢見てた

知久

時に光は屈折し

鶴松

言葉は迷子　彷徨う情緒

知久

でも成し遂げられない

はずはない

鶴松

書き綴った己の答えは

鶴松 & 知久

文学の世界にある

生まれながらに

手にしてきたもの

指先から

筆先に伝う

一筋の光　気持ちを

走らせ　言葉が踊る

故きを温ねて

新しきを知る

以って師と為る可し

文学に生きて

生かされている

愛すべき文豪

鶴松

夢路に袖を通し

知久

焦がれた世界に

身を置けば

鶴松

背筋が凍る感覚

期待という鬼が

見つめていた

知久

時に光は屈折し

鶴松

なぞらう文章

遺伝子の暴挙

知久

でも成し遂げられない

はずはない

鶴松

愛を知った己の答えは

鶴松 & 知久

文学の世界にある

ただ生きるという

学びの中で

見つけたのは

認め合う覚悟

誰かの言葉に耳を

傾けて己に語りかける

故きを温ねて

新しきを知る

以って師と為る可し

文学に生きて

生かされている

愛すべき文豪

鶴松 & 知久

信念と拘り

(信念と拘り)

苦しさと希望

(苦しさと希望)

光と影

(光と影)

言葉と言葉

(言葉)

鶴松

書き綴った全ての答えは

鶴松 & 知久

文学の世界にある

生まれながらに

手にしてきたもの

指先から

筆先に伝う

一筋の光　気持ちを

走らせ　言葉が踊る

故きを温ねて新しきを知る

以って師と為る可し

文学に生きて

生かされている

愛すべき文豪

Romaji

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Kimono ni sode o tooshi

Kitsuku obi o shimeageru

Sesuji ga nobiru kankaku

Chiisa na sekai no shuukan

Tsurumatsu

Furuki o shitte

ROMAN o kataru

Teinei na kurashi no naka ni

Ningen no tadashisa o yume miteta

Tomohisa

Toki ni hikari wa kussetsu shi

Tsurumatsu

Kotoba wa maigo, samayou joucho

Tomohisa

Demo nashitogerarenai

Hazu wa nai

Tsurumatsu

Kakitsuzutta onore no kotae wa

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Bungaku no sekai ni aru

Umare nagara ni

Te ni shite kita mono

Yubisaki kara

Fudesaki ni tsutau

Hitosuji no hikari, kimochi o

Hashirase, kotoba ga odoru

Furuki o tazunete

Atarashiki o shiru

Motteshi to narubeshi

Bungaku ni ikite

Ikasareteiru

Aisubeki bungou

Tsurumatsu

Yumeji ni sode o tooshi

Tomohisa

Kogareta sekai ni

Mi o tokeba

Tsurumatsu

Sesuji ga kooru kankaku

Kitai toiu oni ga

Mitsumeteita

Tomohisa

Toki ni hikari wa kussetsu shi

Tsurumatsu

Nazorau bunshou

Idenshi no boukyo

Tomohisa

Demo nashitogerarenai

Hazu wa nai

Tsurumatsu

Ai o shitte onore no kotae wa

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Bungaku no sekai ni aru

Tada ikiru toiu

Manabi no naka de

Mitsuketa no wa

Mitome au kakugo

Dareka no kotoba ni mimi o

Katamukete, onore ni katarikakeru

Furuki o tazunete

Atarashiki o shiru

Motteshi to narubeshi

Bungaku ni ikite

Ikasereteiru

Aisubeki bungou

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Shinnen to kodawari

(Shinnen to kodawari)

Kurushisa to kibou

(Kurushisa to kibou)

Hikari to kage

(Hikari to kage)

Kotoba to kotoba

(Kotoba)

Tsurumatsu

Kakitsuzutta subete no kotae wa

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Bungaku no sekai ni aru

Umare nagara ni

Te ni shite kita mono

Yubisaki kara

Fudesaki ni tsutau

Hitosuji no hikari, kimochi o

Hashirase kotoba ga odoru

Furuki o tazunete

Atarashiki o shiru

Motteshi to narubeshi

Bungaku ni ikite

Ikasareteiru

Aisubeki bungou

English

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

I slide into the sleeves of my kimono

And fasten the obi tightly

I feel my back straighten

It’s a custom in this small world

Tsurumatsu

I speak romantically of the past

In my careful life I’ve seen humanity’s truth within my dreams

Tomohisa

On occasions, the light refracts

Tsurumatsu

Words lost, emotions wandering

Tomohisa

But it can’t be left unfinished

Tsurumatsu

The answers that I’ve chronicled myself

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Can be found in the world of literature

It’s something that I naturally possess

From my fingertips to the tip of my brush

A single ray of light flows, letting the words dance

As my feelings run free

Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old

And you may become a teacher of others (1)

I live and breathe literature

Lovable literary master

Tsurumatsu

Enveloped in a state of dreaming

Tomohisa

If I put myself into the world I’ve longed for

Tsurumatsu

A chill runs down my spine

The demon of expectation was staring at me

Tomohisa

On occasions, the light refracts

Tsurumatsu

Imitating writing styles, genetic recklessness

Tomohisa

But it can’t be left unfinished

Tsurumatsu

My own answer to the question of love

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Can be found in the world of literature

In learning to just live

What we found was a readiness to admit

Listen to the words of someone else

And recite them to yourself

Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old

And you may become a teacher of others

I live and breath literature

Lovable literary master

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Beliefs and obsessions

(Beliefs and obsessions)

Suffering and hope

(Suffering and hope)

Light and shadows

(Light and shadows)

Words and words

(Words)

Tsurumatsu

All the answers that I’ve chronicled myself

Tsurumatsu & Tomohisa

Can be found in the world of literature

It’s something that I naturally possess

From my fingertips to the tip of my brush

A single ray of light flows, letting the words dance

As my feelings run free

Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old

And you may become a teacher of others

I live and breathe literature

Lovable literary master

• • •

T/N:

(1) “故きを温ねて新しきを知る、以って師と為る可し”/“Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others” is a quote from the Analects of Confucius.

#a3!#a3! translation #sakuya sakuma #tsuzuru minagi #// this was my top song on spotify for 2023 btw #listened to it 228 times #which calculates out to about 15.3hrs of listening to it total #so needless to say i’m completely normal about this song

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feyrianedoesart · 4 months

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Small felt falcon - made for a friend for whom I was Secret Santa. It's Dakoni, the familiar of one of her TTRPG characters.

#felt #feltcraft #felt crafts #handmade #secret santa #dakoni #yume's chronicles #animals #sewing #flo sews #flo posts

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warp--space · 1 month

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One Piece Insert Character!

Name: Shepard Rian

Age: 20 year old man

Devil Fruit: Yume-Yume No Mi (dream-dream Fruit)

Pros: The Dream-Dream fruit allows its user to know the dreams, wishes, and fears of others, and also to enter and manipulate someone's dream if they happen to be asleep.

Cons: unable to swim, cannot force others to go to sleep through powers. The user also seems to have trouble sleeping, frequent nightmares, and an inability to control their own dreams.

Role: Chronicler of the Straw Hat Crew. He tells the story of the crew, including the individual members, so that their story and purpose doesn't get lost to time. He always thought it was a shame that groups like the Rocks pirates have been all-but forgotten, and that while everyone knows the name of Gold Roger and how his journey ended, no one knows for certain how his life really unfolded. He refuses to let that happen to his generation, and even offers to note the exploits of other crews.

Formerly the cabin boy of Boa Hancock's crew. Joined the crew after witnessing the tragedy at Marineford and befriending Luffy during his 2 years of training. Sneakily learned the basics of Haki and unlocked some of his own potential while watching said training, learning how to use Armament and Observation Haki.

Not much of a fighter by nature, but relatively competent in defensive martial arts, knife throwing, and use of a basic club or staff.

Picrew

SPOILERS FOR RIAN'S CHARACTER ARC:

True Name: Sheppa D. Rian

20 year old transgender man.

The child of a pirate who has been lost to time, taken from his mother while his father was at sea and sold off into a human trafficking ring. Was saved by Boa Hancock at a young age and brought to Amazon Lily, who let him live among them until he came out, and was still allowed on the ship and on certain parts of the island while under guard to resupply his personal stock of food. His true name is kept secret, but he searches tirelessly for traces of his lost father.

The Beautiful Nightmare

The Sweet Dream

#rian posting #antis dni #proship selfship #proselfship #We Are On The Cruise

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paint-lady · 5 months

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🖊 + Maru!

Send me a “🖊+an OC“ and I will talk about that OC! It can be a headcanon, a fun fact, a small paragraph of backstory- anything! Alternatively, send in just a “🖊“ and I will talk about any one of my OCs at random!

Oh, Maru my beloved.

Maru "Maru-Maru" Maru is my character in Secret World Legends and my NPC (and eventual PC) for the Secret World ttrpg. They are the current OC im constantly rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken.

I had attempted to write a longer form comic for them and even finished a first chapter. Unfortunately, life got busy and started taking more spoons to other tasks and I am not able to dedicate the time and energy I want to the comic. And thats okay. In the year I have been cold, I have expanded upon the Maru-verse even further, and discovered even more interesting loops and details to incorporate. And I cannot wait to illustrate them one day.

So without further ado, please enjoy this extensive lore breakdown on Maru-Maru:

For your convenience this post has a keep reading <3

Name Significance: Of course Maru is not their given name. Its partially a joke, partially an echo of a long-lost memory, partially a misheard role to fulfill, and their first grasp on their identity.

The name Maru firstly comes from my Exalted Zenith character. My partner and I wanted to name our bees after them, as a way to honor the fun we had with such a short campaign. Little did we know how smoothly Exalted and SWL can blend together- the transition from one age to the next, apocalypses rising, and powerful beings beyond comprehension changing Creation. The tone is certainly different though: an Exalted chronicle is uplifting and with epic heroes to save the world, whereas SWL is riddled with uncertainty about how long the collective will of reality can hold.

The SWL version of Maru can barely remember their previous incarnation, it's more like a weird dream than anything else. If they look to closely, the memory vanishes; like the people of the Third Age trying to grasp their memory of the Second, and their predecessors before them. The golden light within them feels different, yet can still vanquish monsters with their touch, and aid people plagued by nightmares seeping through cracks in reality.

A more recent discovery has played nicely into my friends headcanons and names of their characters. SWL Maru was discovered by experienced agents of names Inanna and Ninshubur in Kingsmouth. While the name Maru is not a Sumerian/Assyrian deity, Mamu is. There is not a lot written about Mamu. They are most notable for being a god of dreams and having both male and female depictions. We love a lil gender fuckery in the pantheon. There was temple built in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) to them. Dreams were not seen as depictions of the subconscious (thanks Freud) but rather true portents of the future. This is all over the epic of Gilgamesh as a literary device to keep that long ass story going. Regardless, the Assyrian King who had dreams of Inanna vanquishing his enemies felt the portents were significant enough to build that temple to the messenger: Mamu. Additionally, there are oodles of accounts of death-dreams and glimpses into other worlds (namely the Underworld) across several sites, whether its recorded dreams from priests and priestesses- or more Enki myths.

And this is what Maru does- even by accident. They catch glimpses into the other worlds, talk to other versions of themselves to relay messages and warnings, and make sure Inanna and Ninshubur are aware of whatever weird shit is out there. In the SWL ttrpg, I intend to have Maru explore this role to fulfill more, as a messenger and a dreamer. Funnily enough, the surname I gave Maru is 夢宮: Yumemiya, which can translate to Yume: dream, and Miya: a shrine, or place for gods. Don't you love it when the narrative falls into place like that? (But in truth, I borrowed the surname from Kanae Yumemiya, an actress who portrayed Usagi in a Sailor Moon Live production...)

Lastly on name significance, we have the japanese translation that Maru means ◯, and is literally a circle. Depending on the characters used to spell Maru, it can also mean truth, and expanded to mean a complete unending cycle. Putting two ◯◯ together is like censoring a name or word, similarly to how $#%&#! is used in English. In a way, Maru-Maru is saying their name is Redacted, or blankety blank or So-and-so. This was incredibly hilarious in the SWL game when QBL labels the player a terrorist after climbing Orochi Tower. Ah yes, you've definitely found the ringleader who set off the Tokyo bomb: It was ◯◯! Excellent journalism, QBL, no notes.

But in truth, its a clever and funny way to hide themself. Searching Maru on google is gonna get you a stardew valley villager and a cute, chubby cat youtube sensation. And they like it that way.

So whether it's Maru, Mamu, Redacted, ◯◯, or some other weird fifth thing, they'll always be that one odd baby bee who reaches across dimensions to keep reality running just a little longer. They won't have to face the end alone, in fact, its statistically improbable.

And if you survive. If you are still you. Think on the questions. Remember when you were a bright little thing, so full of questions?

THE LIFE CYCLE:

Time is a funny thing when dealing with several versions of the same individual. The smallest changes completely alter a course of events. Many Marus recall gaining their bee not long after the Tokyo Filth bomb around 2012, and being swept up by whichever agency got to them first. Many recall their parents working tirelessly at their jobs at the Orochi Group. They learned how to cook for themself at a young age because Mom and Dad wouldn't be home til late. Many recall the first time they heard the buzzing static was as young as 6, following the sweet whispers through a soon-to-be park and a newly planted flowering tree. There are a few that never receive a bee, or receive their power through other means. These timelines are the strangest ones.

A riddle to kill a sphinx: What's one, then three, and then one again? Wait- that's not how it goes...

The Lumie, Templar, and Dragon Maru all share the same origin. Depending on where an outsider glances, the three realities are so close, they are nearly one. Nearly. They grew up in Kaidan with their parents. They did attend the Orochi-sponsored schools and attended several programs, but flew right under the radar for "gifted abilities" that Orochi was seeking. Little Maru was aware of whispers in tv static, rattles in old pipes, the shrieks of summer cicadas Evangelion style. As a young child, they marched to the beat of their own drum, ignoring or indulging the whispered warnings as they saw fit. The dreams were harder to ignore, but when they told their parents about the big scary monsters that couldn't get out- it was written off as their overly active imagination. After all, they had failed an aptitude test to get into the nearby elementary school near their work. Its uncertain whether or not Maru's parents knew what that test was truly analyzing- and whether or not they were relieved to see they failed. Decent Orochi employees have excellent poker faces.

Sometimes one is born special. Sometimes specialness is genetically modified into one. Not every child is equal.

As they grew older, the supernatural continued to burrow into their eardrums. Maru was an average student, but occasionally received top marks on answers whispered to them. They earned a reputation for being a little bit of a tech whiz, and had an observant eye for finding errors in codes. Not really a "super power" but troubleshooting tech is an immensely useful skill. Maru was exceptional at the ol' percussive maintenance with old printers, punchcards, and fax machines. When things went to digital interfaces, Maru found the tried and true "have you tried turning it off and back on again," to be a real winner.

When they didn't want to hear the whispers, they'd make use of bulky, noise-cancelling headphones. Maru would often be seen wearing them outside of class and in their home, enjoying the peace and quiet. Maybe the headphones were a placebo. It only worked because they believed it worked. However, at night, their mind would be plagued with vivid dreams and even louder whispers and messages. Headphones can't keep hide the noise if its already in their head. Frustratingly, they'd always wake up and immediately forget what they dreamt. This was their normal. Caffeine to keep themself up during the day, wear headphones to keep out the messages, and TV to drown out the static at night.

And there wasn't really anyone to talk about it with. Last time some Orochi kid fessed up to their weird dreams and whispers, he'd definitely vanished. Teachers said the student moved away, but Maru knew his parents still worked in Faust upper management. Another girl said she could hear thoughts before you could finish thinking them. Maru thought that one was bullshit- but she disappeared too. Lesson learned. Keep the static to yourself.

Don't fear It. Fear Nothing. Fear the Foundation. It's no wonder; they say once you hit four, it's all downhill from here.

When it came time to apply for highschool, a few of their peers found this "Clubhouse" and despite its messaging, were blabbermouths about it. Maru always felt uneasy about the place. If there were whispers saying they had nothing to fear, they didn't trust it. They couldn't believe the claims that were coming from this place. Free drinks? Can play games as long as you want? You can be yourself without any fear? Maru especially didn't trust the last one. None of their classmates knew how they felt wearing the girls uniform. None of them knew how exhausting it was to shut out the whispers, keep the eyes on them sated with just the right expectations, and then complete their coursework on top of it all. Maru absolutely did not want to "perform" there either.

Upon finishing highschool, Maru was presented with an opportunity. They'd complete a university comp-sci degree and then immediately dive into a job at the company. Orochi is not devoid of nepotism. At first, this seemed ideal. They'd attend university in New York, and take their summer internships with the American branch of Orochi. Should everything go well, which... it was going to go well that was the expectation... they'd be looking at a substantial salary and generous benefits while working in the Tower.

America was loud. America is loud. But the sheer volume of everything drowned out the buzzing whispers. They still needed the headphones to drown out the rest of the noise though. They could focus a lot more on themself outside of the Orochi bubble, even if their presence was just a few streets away.

Maru figured out a lot about themself in the four years at Uni, especially the gender thing. They enjoyed building weird robots and programming them to do silly things- in addition to their assigned tasks. They enjoyed the few college parties they attended. They even had a steady, long term relationship with a classmate named Caesura (nods back to Exalted). As graduation loomed, they dreaded going back home. They realized how much time they spent alone and really did not want to go back to that solitude at Orochi. So they avoided it. They delayed their graduation by a year and a half by swapping majors, making absurd connections and promises with subdivisions of Faust and Anansi, and prolonging which classes they needed to graduate.

What was the cause of all this, sweetling? Where is the zero point?

Everything changed sometime in 2012. Maru couldn't get anyone on the phone back home when the bomb went off. Even the work lines in Faust were gunked up. They have zero clue if a letter they wrote made it through security and into Orochi's headquarters. Caesura had also vanished. (Unbeknownst at the time, the man was abducted by the Dragon. In most timelines, he does analog calculations for the faction, figuring out where pieces need to move rather than doing field work himself). And then they get their bee, freak out and wreck their apartment, get nabbed by one of the big three, and then get sent out to Kingsmouth.

Things start to break and differ sometime after this for our Red, Blue, and Green iterations of Maru. They all admit to being unaware of their prowess for chaos magic before meeting two other big bees: Ninshubur and Inanna. It was Ninshubur who gifted the confused baby bee a chaos focus, and Inanna gifted a them an empowering gadget. Receiving these items are one of the more prominent cracks on the flickering timelines on the Reality Engine.

Though the most prominent tears in their time are when the Dreamers made themselves known to Maru. The first, a gift. The second, worship. The third, freedom.

Templar!Maru, believes they were tricked by the gift. They swear they would have never have listened to the bubbling voices, but deep down they know that they fell for their sweet words. Whenever the Dreamers approached them, they were certain to make sure they'd never be fooled twice. Their choices are marked with unbound Blue wings.

Dragon!Maru had already begun developing their philosophy on the cyclic end of the world: however messy and destructive it was going to be, whatever was going to rise out of the ashes was going to be just as magnificent. Decay is a form of life. They morbidly want to see what the world will look like at the end, but have to be strong enough to make it there. Accepting the gift, begrudgingly worshipping, and freeing the Dreaming Ones is all part of their dream. Their wings drip with filth. Unease sits in their stomach, they do not know if they'll get their wish.

Lastly, Lumie!Maru was keen on not listening to more voices in their heads. They are the only iteration to refuse the gift. Their wings gleam gold. What is done cannot be undone, and they loathe that their defiance to one set of voices is obedience to another.

Go ahead, glance back. Don't sweat it, sweetling. You won't turn to salt and you can't make yourself impossible. History will conserve itself. The continuities will hold.

Again, time is funny when dealing with several iterations of the same individual. The slightest changes make immense impacts on their lives. There are Maru's who graduated on time. There are Maru's who never left Kaidan. These individuals work with Orochi, whether they want to or not. There are Maru's who's last memory is the filth exploding from within that guy's jacket. There are Maru's still sleeping. There are Maru's who joined the Council of Venice, there are Maru's who hacked the Swarm's game back, and fled their factions. There are Maru's who want nothing to do with the secret world and just want a peaceful goddamn life with their wife and accounting job. There's a Maru who is just really into boats...

But they are all connected, tethered to one another. Like a rat king on reality, fated to meet and tangle.

FUN and STRANGE DETAILS:

BLOODY VALENTINES: Uta, the rabbit killer in Kaidan, is three separate individuals who used to inhabit the same body. Lilith is responsible for splitting her like a worm and separating the sibling souls into new bodies. Maru is an anomaly: they are physical duplicates of the same individual existing simultaneously. Both Maru and Uta fight with unprecedented coordination, switching aggro and balancing their buffs between the three of them. The showdown at the top of Orochi tower was certainly a spectacle... And a vocabulary lesson for swears in several languages. Some agents have noticed the similarities between Maru and Uta, but Maru is quick to squash any speculations. This is not because the two actually know each other, but more Maru does not want anyone to know their Orochi background if they can help it.

The buzzing on Uta reveals some interesting clues about Maru and their existence. Uta was not plagued with insanity but rather hypersanity for the new age- and with new software there are bound to be bugs. While Maru didn't absorb their twin in the womb or was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia; Maru was also sensitive to whispers just outside reality. And so were other children born around the same time. Maybe Maru and that generation of kids got the patched version.

A LUCID DREAM: The Black Signal, or John, tells the Chuck's who will listen that he's no longer singular, he is plural- but remembers what it was like being a sole individual. To Maru, this is so old news. In fact, Maru loves to snark back at him saying that he is not special and they're plural too. There are many Maru's. The Black Signal doesn't really tend to listen to this. Maru may be many, but Maru is still meat. If they would hatch, then they'd have a new conversation. Again, Maru disregards this, and says they've spent enough time being an egg.

They don't want to think too hard about what it means to have "hatched." They know John's not talking about them being nonbinary. Maru is an adept and experienced enough chaos user at this point to recognize when a timeline is too different for them to safely pull on. There's a phantom pain in their outreached hands and fingers when they try to go too far. They are aware that there are some selves they used to be able to call upon and cannot anymore. Something about them has changed. They are aware they can become "out of sync" with their doppelgangers or even be "out of phase," and get stuck somewhere overlapping two or more timelines. But to not be able to call themself at all is terrifying. If only they had the ability to glance at all it all from the outside ... oh.

At least, Maru can't do this consciously. Some versions of Maru have swapped places with their doppelgangers in their sleep or had rude awakenings of being pried from bed to be used as a meat-shield for another. While dreaming, they can go anywhere- so long as they don't forget how to wake up. These ones don't know how close they get to bleeding out of reality.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES:

In my SWL playthrough, I of course ran into a whole bunch of bugs and glitches. And I love them. But, there were times that it made the game do absolutely weird things- which provides some very fun stories to weave into the glitch. The most notable was at the Second Choice in the City of the Sun God. At this point, my partner had played ahead and was almost through Translylvania when I had finally defeated Aten. He knew there was an Ultimate Move behind the choices and spoiled a little (with my permission). I didn't know what "Blue Wings" meant but I understood to get them I would need to, against my better judgement, listen to the Dreamer's at least once. So after defeating Aten and being greeted by the Filth bird saying "hey you should do the worship emote" I then obliged and typed /worship.

And the game crashed. No worries- this happened all the time for me. My laptop would get obscenely hot running this game and would shut itself down so it wouldn't fry itself. Upon reloading, I had to do the Aten fight again but found myself having trouble with some of the UI interface. Reloadui did not solve the issue, and I found myself in front of the Filth bird again. I typed /worship and Maru did nothing. I opened the emote tab, and clicked, and Maru would do nothing. In fact, all of my emotes were not functioning- except the dances.

I laughed as I watched Maru dance and devour tacos in front of the Dreamer, not knowing how frustrating it must have been for the cosmic entity to watch some small, nascent angelic thought just proceed to do anything but what it requested. How much longer? Out of frustration, I eventually attacked the creature, triggering the next cutscene. The Dreamer's were angry, and I laughed and laughed.

Now the strangest thing is in game play, Maru sometimes has golden wings. I have had friends say they see blue wings and I will see gold on my screen. I've also had the opposite. In all cutscenes, they are blue. Considering the overlapping timelines, it seems like Lumie!Maru's almost choice bleeds through onto their timeline sometimes.

INITIATE THE D20 SYSTEM:

I have been very fortunate to be the storyteller for some very avid fans of the Secret World and have presented an alternative timeline to the world they know and love. Maru of course, is no exception to this. Everyone is operating with different times and circumstances. Eventually, I will get the chance to play Maru in the game. But for now, Maru has only made one appearance: to Olivia, the newest bee of the group. Of course, Olivia has zero idea what implications she has encountered by merely interacting with this version of Maru, untethered to their doppelgangers. The TTRPG timeline is indeed one of the strangest.

Thank you for reading this absurdly long OC lore post, I have spent easily 3 week writing and editing and rewriting and adding. I hope you enjoyed and it sparks some fun thoughts about SWL and maybe a lil Exalted. As a treat.

#steph answers questions #thanks for the ask!#swl #storyteller vibes #maru energy

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