The MerriWay

A Universe full of Motley Monsters called Merrimos

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Brainstorming the Tummyverse!!!

Welcome to the Merriway! Dont know what the Merriway is? Its a cosmos consisting of many worlds filled with a motley bunch of characters and critters all tucked away safely in a dragon’s big blue belly. Despite living inside a big ol space monster there is no danger of being digested so no worries! As you travel the many worlds and stars you are sure to meet a Merrimo. A merrimo is short for Merri Monster. You will mostly likely see a lot as this universe is entirely inhabited by monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors. While they all share the overarching Merrimo description there are many different classes of Merrimo. Candy, Doll, Dream, Farm, Forest, and Fire are just some of the categories of Merrimo you will run into. Some are more friendly and others are a bit more hostile. I should mention that a Merrimo is not to be mistaken for a common beast. They have aspirations, morality, flaws, and sentience just like you! So if you’re going to make a friend better be on  your best behavior. Most of these folks have a magical power of some sort so its wise not to be rude. Now once in a blue moon you might run into a Monarch Merrimo or a MerriMonarch. This class of Merrimo consists of extremely powerful monsters who have the capability to shape the Merriway. Some hide away and observe from afar while others roam the many worlds. If you are looking to spot one just look for the floating crown. The floating crown is a symbol a sure fired way to know you are meeting a Monarch.

Thats your basic overview for now! Im sure more information will come out as we discover and learn about the Merriway.

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If Shifter and the Dreamon were one and the same then the former is probably a form that exists in the Waking realm while the latter is one that wanders the Dream realm. Most likely when one goes to sleep the other wakes up and begins their day.

The trick possibly is that the Dream Half remembers everything that both halves have experienced while the waking half does not remember anything of the dream side and only what it has done.

How they ended up this way now is the real question.

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Recap: Merrilee’s inner universe consists of three realms. Waking Realm: Reality that follows laws but can be tampered with. Dreaming Realm: Ever changing and seemingly endless expanse where all matter and ideas form. Hypnagogia: Small Realm between the Waking and Dreaming Realm where the 12 Dream Lords live and where they use the matter of the Dream Realm to forge the reality of the Waking Realm.

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I dont know Jackal’s origin story, heck, I dont even know their real name. What I do know:

They are ridiculously durable. Im talking Hulk levels of survivability here.

They can change their size. This has a limit but they can get pretty big. They’ll eat just about anything even natural disasters

There is no gender there is only Jackal

They are super fickle

They are a good friend but they dont like the hassle of having to ‘make’ friends’

Nonetheless they do have friends

They act on their anger but they dont necessarily get super destructive unless stuff has been building up for a while.

They can be very flirty

They have no home. They tend to wander about.

They love attention and affection

There is a lot more but I dont want to be here all day. Sorry.

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Well in that case, lets give Jackal a few questions. Hey Jackal, mind if I ask you some stuff? Like, first off, what is your earliest recollection? Do you eat nothing but meat, or is there something you like even more? And what are some activities or hobbies you like to indulge in on your down time?

“Uuuh...The first thing I remember is wrecking some town. I eat just about anything and does sleeping count as a hobby?”

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Are there any particular habits that Merrilee has, when traveling from place to place?

Merrilee honestly doesnt always enjoy the traveling part because it tends to be very lonely. Its not unlike them to take a long nap until they float into some other dimension and focus on their own tummyverse. Otherwise they probably amuse themselves with their own magic and if that fails just search for the nearest planet/dimension to land on.

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*Slowly counts Dream-Lords of on his fingers.* Lesse, so what's the story behind Nerlock? And are they always so quick to anger and eager to scuffle, or are they just really intense, passionate and impulsive about everything?

More of the latter. Nerlock is just someone who doesnt believe in barriers? If you wanna do it then do it. No time to second guess just go! Of course this impulsive behavior can have many consequences but he takes those as all apart of doing what you want. For this reason he may seem spontaneous. Ready to be helpful one moment but then getting a random urge to fight and you’re in for it.Whatever he does though he definitely does with passion.

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Speaking of Sonas, can we get a little bit of a low-down on each of your sona-characters? Like a general refresher, and anything else you want to share about each of them?

Merrilee: A dragon who wanders through space and time passing through many dimensions in the search of friends. They are benevolent and magical spreading wonder and whimsy wherever they go. Their biggest secret is the cosmos they house in their tummy which is its own entity as well as connected to their own being. Overall a big squishy friend who wants to make sure their friends are safe and happy.Shifter/Draemon: Essentially Merrilee’s psyche personified. They too are a wanderer seeking out friends in the tummyverse. While they share many similar themes and behaviors with Merrilee they also possess slight differences. They kinda encompass a lot of stuff dealing with duality. Blue Jackal: A giant dog like creature who prefers to follow their instinct and gut rather than follow what others say. They are not mean per say but sometimes may come off as a bit of a jerk when they are unwilling to compromise. However if you know how then its not that hard to get along with them. Their purpose is yet known.

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Sorry, I'm probably going to be asking for the low-down for each of the dream-lords in turn. So you've touched on Nag and Saer, how about Lunatore?

Lunatore is the youngest of the dream siblings and is in charge of lucid dreaming. Because of this he serves as a sort of gatekeeper for the dream realm able to reject or accept incoming visitors. Some of the main themes that surround Lunatore are Truth, Tranquility and Wisdom but also Sadness and Melancholy. Lunatore is probably the most compassionate and helpful of the dream lords. They avoid speaking cryptically and do not withhold information. In a way you can say they are crystal clear with anyone they come across and they expect the same in return. However due to their short and childlike stature they are often underestimated and thus people often try to take advantage of them. Those who try quickly find it to be folly as Lunatore tends to be one of the most intelligent of the Dream Lords and quickly outwits any trickery. Overall if you are polite and honest you should have a good experience with Lunatore or Blubert (Dont call him Blubert)

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I need to go back to updating this blog. Sorry for the absence. I should reblog some of the stuff from my main to here.

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So yeah, after the Scarilee incident, would Merilee have spookified episodes, where they'd accidentally go Scarilee after being suddenly startled or really scared by something of a sudden, without the spook-O-vision? Sort of involuntary reaction, like sneezing or hiccups?

Most likely yea! It wouldnt happen from a simple jump scare but if they run into the wrong scary lookin costume or anything they may temporarily go scarilee but they would also be much easier to calm down so the episode probably wouldnt last that long.

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Hey, I saw once that you transfer your traditional drawings to computer in order to post it here, but do you change the drawing ON the computer before posting it? Like using photoshop to make it brighter, darker, etc…

Yea!  I use levels on photoshop to adjust the brightness and contrast. I do this with both photos and scans. For example this is a scan before I edit it:

And this is after I use levels:

Hope that answers the question :3

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Sorry its been a while since I update here. I think I’m going to start talking a little bit about the merri army idea here too. The merri army does not take place in the tummyverse, however events and characters that happen in the merri army may have ties and influence within the tummyverse. For example if the tummyverse is in part connected to merri’s consciousness I think it would make sense that people they meet might inspire and influence creations made within their own lil cosmos. But I think I’m going to keep the two stories separate because they have fundamentally different mechanics and settings.

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Also I love the idea of the currency for the dream-gods realms being Z's. But I'm afraid I even have more questions to unload now. 1.) What do Z's look like? And what would you say is the best way to make Z's in each of the dream-realms? 2.) Is it paper-money, coin denominators, a combination of the two, or does the currency take on more unusual forms? 3.) Do the Dream-Lords realms have money-brokers and banks? 4.) Do the dream-gods have their faces printed on money that's from their realm?

I’ve yet to design Z’s but chances are it is not paper or coin money but rather something silly or unusual. The Z’s would not work like bills. There would not be a multiple types of Z’s with different amounts attached to them. There might be like one special type that is 100Z’s and would probably look like a much fancier and bigger version of the symbol but I doubt it gets more complicated than that.

Think about Kingdom Hearts and the Munny system.

Denizens of the Dream World work jobs just like we would and the jobs vary amongst the different colored kingdoms. Outsiders may struggle to make Z’s and would most likely have to pick up odd jobs to get some money in their pocket. The Z’s would probably be different colors depending on what kingdom you are in and if you switch to another kingdom you would have to have the Z’s exchanged. Thus there probably would be a bank in each kingdom and possibly also be an overall bank that is neutral and not part of the 12 kingdoms. The neutral bank would also be where the Z’s are created and distributed.Z’s are probably created by a big sleepy monster who is constantly asleep and dreams up the ‘Z’s’

The dream gods do not have their faces on the money because there would only be the symbol of the Z.

Phew sorry those were loose concepts I had to think up

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So since the twelve dream-gods abandoned the waking world, what's sustaining it? And how long would it have before it went terminal without some intervention?

Well nothing is sustaining it actually. Im not sure about a time period but without inspiration the denizens of the world stopped created, stopped thinking up new things, stopped seeing what could be and only saw what there was. Thus the world slowly began to lose all color and become nothing but a gray monochromatic place with nothing interesting about it.It wont end but its not really going anywhere either.

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Lesse, I realize you haven't banged out every single possible detail just yet: but what notable services would each Dream-Gods personal realm provide? I figure Loxley would provide a lot of gourmet foods, and rare and exotic spices, ingredients, and cooking/baking-ware, maybe?

Thats kind of tough to answer because originally the their job would have been to help maintain the world they created. They were supposed to stay connected with the waking world and provide inspiration and influence to keep it colorful and ever growing. Each of them together would have provided different possibilities. They would inject love, fear, passion, hunger, sickness, serenity, healing, change, routine, problem-solving, spirituality, and hope and of course these could all mix and match to create even more things.Thus it was not so much they provided a service so much as they kept the waking world alive until they abandoned it.

Asking for a service would be risky business. After all you are dealing with the equivalent of gods here so if you wanted something you would need to offer something in return. I suppose if you were looking for some sort of help from them they would be able to perform certain tasks.Loxley would be able to provide fantastic cuisine and anything relating to food. Nag (currently) would probably be someone you would go to in order to find a way to torment someone else. (you may end up being the subject of some torment as well though)Roon would be pretty awesome in being able to provide an assortment of magical or powerful items that could aid with questing.Figz would be able to heal or provide items that heal. Harlem could provide love advice, haha, I wanna say some love potions but I dont think they’re very fond of that idea so i doubt theyd sell those. Tonic would probably be able to provide puzzleboxes or even traps to confundle enemies. Nico could make you ill? I dont know why you would want that.Trent probably has some questionable stuff like hallucigenics, gawd I dont know. Maybe he’d have some fun things, really cool stuff everyone wishes they had. Like a puppy scooter. Like the random stuff you think up of when youre on a sugar high.Wickhem, hmmm, thats a tough one, like, im not even sure if im down with his influence. Im not sure yet.Nerlock would probably be able to give someone something that like makes one into a beserk. Well not a beserk but just a potion that brings out all the deep stuff in you. This could be good or bad depending on what in you. Saer is pretty straight forward gonna offer you some fortune telling. * shrruuuugss?????*

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While we're at it, could you describe what each dream-gods domain is like? Given that they make their lairs in Hypnagogia I figure each realm would be quite personalized and distinctive.

This is all still a work in progress still to ( as is everything haha) but lemme do my best to give an idea of what I’d think the theme of their kingdom would be.Nag=Haunted MansionLunatore=PastoralTonic=PuzzlesFigz=Fantasy ForestNico=Club/SpeakeasyTrent=BeachWickhem=Urban/Big CityLoxley=FoodMarket/KitchenRoon=Castle/MedievalNerlock=Heavy Metal Concert???Harlem=Cloud nine/CabaretSaer=Temple?

Those are just loose starting points I have in mind. I imagine the appearance would be similar to the different lands in Rayman Origins.