#beyond the matrix

[black-arcana]

Epica ➢ Beyond the Matrix Hellfest 2025

[wayti-blog]

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.

Hermann Hesse

[hauntedwhispers]

(x)

[empresskatariah]

Epica - “Beyond the Matrix”

I had almost forgotten about Epica and then I stumbled on some of their more recent stuff... <3

[hellyeahepica]

EPICA vs Metropole Orkest: Beyond The Matrix - The Battle (feat. Arjen Lucassen)

Out 27th October

[flowerempowered]

Epica vs Metropole Orkest - Beyond the Matrix TEASER

[xavidotron]

Raksha Drepane

I decided to write up my Beyond the Matrix character as if she were an actual Nobilis deceiver, just for fun. Because apparently having OCs and reinterpreting them in different AUs is the thing to do these days.

Raksha Drepane is a Deceiver who was once a mortal, perhaps. Perhaps she was trapped in an untenable situation, and her breakthrough let her escape. She doesn’t like to talk about it.

Because the real Raksha Drepane is a dashing rogue, swooping in out of nowhere to upend your life. She’ll lie to your face, but if you call her on it she’ll act impressed and tell you it was a test or a koan to help prepare you for insight into the true nature of reality. She loves convincing people that the world they believe in is a lie, whether that means convincing mortals that hidden vampires have taken over their city or convincing powers that their Imperator is a mimic. She truly believes that her lies are for the greater good of setting people free from the prison that is Creation, though she can get carried away with her schemes and lose sight of the overall objective at times. But anything that makes people question reality helps the cause, right? This does not endear her to Excrucians more focused on direct warfare.

She tries to avoid direct confrontations with powers, preferring to focus on “rescuing” mortals, subtle attacks of Estates (she subverted Facebook into an attack on Friendship), and hit-and-run raids. Her overconfidence often means that these efforts don’t go off as smoothly as she would like, but so far her mind games and trickery have always let her get away in the end.

Lifepaths:

Key: Lotus Flower (Key I): I Bring My Flock... Lie:

Freedom

A Truth To Believe In

A Better World

Something To Work Towards

Truth:

I love them

I listen to them

I want to give them what they want

I want to lead them to the truth

Key: Wild Oats (Key VI): Who I Am, In This Your Dream Lie:

a trickster

a charming rogue

Truth:

overly-elaborate schemer

ungrounded narcissist

pathological liar

overconfident captain

My Path (connecting both Lies)

I reject all authority

Foundation: All About the Crazy Head Games pState: A Marvelous Artifice!, Active Breakthrough: Need Plan: Build Something Backup Plan: Despair Contacts: People Whose Lives You’ve Touched, Partners (Hume and Nort), A Power of Creation (Dee) Territory: An Awesome Vehicle Justification: Because They Deserve Better

Stats:

Aspect 1 Persona 2 Treasure 0

Gifts:

Invisibility (1)

Wayfinder (1)

Elusive (1)

Persuade the Lie (Domain 2: Conversation, -1 (Simple) -2 (One thing) +1 (Full Flexibility) +1 (Uncommon), times 3 (any estate) = 3

Skills: (8)

Shine: 2

Convincing Liar: 3

Dramatic Entrances: 3

Discern Secrets: 2

Bondflictions: (13)

Bond (3): I’m not where you expect me to be.

Bond (2): I care a lot about freedom.

Bond (2): I want to free my mortal "followers” from the Lie.

Bond (1): I lie pathologically for fun.

Bond (1): I think I know better than my superiors.

Bond (1): My ship of the Not, Twilight of Illusion, can get me in and out when I need it.

Bond (1): I like Chinese food.

Affliction (2): I always stand out and look dramatic.

pState:

Those Raksha Drepane Has Convinced Their World Is An Illusion

Reject other authority

Treat inconsistencies and arguments as evidence of deeper lies

Come to her aid in unexpected fashion

Latch onto what they have seen

Spread her “teachings” to others

This was actually a really interesting exercise, because it helped highlight how some of the Beyond the Wall/Matrix assumptions differ from baseline Nobilis. In Nobilis, a Deceiver’s reality-breaking is tightly focused on pState shenanigans, and otherwise mostly interacts with Creation on Creation’s terms. In Beyond the Wall, at least as we’ve been interpreting it, the default Excrucian powers are much broader; you can roll, e.g., Radience through Illusion to reshape Creation pretty freely, and while it might not always work, it also might. That works well for the Matrix, and creates more of a lucid dreaming feel overall that makes Creation feel like an actual Lie. I ended up making a wacky gift to capture some of this for Raksha, mostly because I feel like going around convincing locks to open and such would be a lot of fun, even though that’s a much more conversational approach than how things go down in Beyond the Matrix. (I could’ve also chosen a pState that’d give me more control over arbitrary things, but I like Rahsha’s modus operandi of convincing mortals that their world is false in ridiculous “Vampire: the Masquerade” is real ways. Her relatively low Persona also keeps the focus on getting people into her pState through mundane actions rather than just Persona whammying all the time.)

[lotusgraphics]

Simone Simons 200x320 Please, like and reblog if you save/use. Do not remove the credit and do not redistribute as your own. Thanks <3</p>