y'know what fuck it here's the origin lore for the Paradox Prism
I haven't made propaganda in ages and I don't know what to make but I'm having 06 brainworms again so might as well pull this card out. Long post inkoming!
So, the Paradox Prisim is one of a multitude of gems in the Sonic universe that directly contain near-limitless divine power (the Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones are also in this category). As such, explaining its' lore means going into the systems of divinity and magic within my personal lore.
The origin of the system I'm about to talk about actually has its' roots in another AU of mine, namely the unnamed Myth AU. It deviates somewhat, but the overall basis is the same, and I won't mention anything Myth-AU specific here at all. So, without further ado:
Magic, in this multiverse, originates from something called the World's End Energies. There are seven- of course- and they make up the very fabric of the multiverse. (The word multiverse is important here, as this also applies to alternate dimensions and timelines.)
The seven World's End Energies are:
Time (self-explanatory)
Space (primarily involves the first 3 dimensions and gravity)
Luminance (involves presence and matter)
Obscurity (involves absence and antimatter)
Electromagnetism (also self-explanatory)
Radiance (radiation and strong & weak interaction and everything attached to it)
Animation (involves soul, thoughts and emotions)
There's some overlap between these in everything, obviously- they're connected, and can't really be isolated even as concepts- but these energies are at the very core of the multiverse.
Gods, then, are primordial beings made almost entirely of these energies in their purest form. This can manifest in different ways, and most if not all are shapeshifters. Solaris is a god primarily of Time, with some Radiance and Animation. Light Gaia and Dark Gaia are almost purely Luminance and Obscurity respectively, with varying levels of Animation.
Animation as a World's End Energy is particularly interesting, as it's almost a cop-out the way it's in pretty much everything. Even if something isn't sentient or sapient, and is otherwise an inanimate object, it still has the ability to collect memories and emotions from the creatures around it. This allows people with psychometry (like Silver) to learn the history of objects, or even for non-sentient objects to gain so much Animation that they become sentient, like Caliburn or even Metal Sonic.
Chaos Energy isn't a World's End Energy, but it is a very specific blend of Animation and Luminance: Imagination turned into matter. This is why people say the Chaos Emeralds turn thoughts into power, because it is an energy that allows for the transmutation of something primarily made of Animation into something made of Luminance.
...So, how does the Paradox Prism come into all this again?
The Paradox Prism is what gods generally call a World's End Entity. These are made entirely of a condensed, near-limitless supply of one or more World's End Energies. The more there are, the less likely an Entity will actually exist, so most Entities have one to three Energies within them. At most, four, although regardless of how many there are Animation will pretty much always be one of them. Gods can create them, but normally they're just funky little products of the multiverse multiversing. They can come in batches of seven (such as the Chaos Emeralds, Time Stones or World Rings), or they can be solo (such as the Master Emerald or Paradox Prism). They usually have some sort of sentience due to the aforementioned constant presence of Animation, and having so much of it, although they generally don't choose or aren't able to make mortals aware of that. Gods can communicate with Entities pretty much instinctively, which is why the Chaos Emeralds work so well with Mephiles. They are extremely empathetic to him and Iblis, as they understand the notion of being used and hurt in a failed experiment.
Anyway, the Paradox Prism is a combination of Animation, Time and Luminance, with snaller amounts of almost all the others. It was built by multiple gods, including Solaris, his divine counterpart Lunaris (who is a god of Space and Electromagnetism), and several others who don't get involved with mortals nearly as much. (One of these gods actually gave Shadow his abilities as well!) As such, it has a defined purpose: to contain and provide easy access to alternate timelines, and allow the creation of new ones.
Due to the nature of its' power, the Paradox Prism, when whole and undamaged, exists simultaneously in every universe and dimension. When damaged, it restricts itself to a few like it did in Prime. Its' creation of the Shatterspaces we know was a defence mechanism: it latched onto the Animation of the people around it (and as such their thoughts and emotions), rapid-fire created new timelines, and scattered itself across them to stop it from being broken any further. It also essentially forced some of itself into Sonic (similar to the way he absorbs the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super, but the Prism did it instead of him) to drive him towards fixing things. It was essentially quietly subconsciously pushing his mind towards getting the Prism fixed (although he was already focused on it, so it kind of just made it worse).
This whole deal is also why the situation in Sonic Prime: Round Two is significantly worse this time around, as the Chaos Council now has access to literally any timeline they want and is going after duplicates of the Prism. They're just not creative enough to actually think of searching further than what they know is there rn. (If you went even further into the void, you would find the Arabian Nights and Camelot, as well as the original 06 Iblis future timeline! They're close to Green Hill, in the grand scheme of things, but still fairly far away from the other Shatterspaces.)
That's about it as far as the Prism is concerned, I think. If anyone has any questions please do send an ask or put it in the notes <3 I'll be happy to answer hehe.
That's right! After the Paradox Prism was repaired and the Shatterverses stabilized, the underdeveloped Shatterverse previously known as The Grim was able to develop fully, and its' inhabitants call it The Haven.
Part 1: Orientation
The reason the Grim was underdeveloped was because each Shatterverse, when created, was influenced by the thoughts and experiences of the people around it when the Paradox Prism broke. The Grim belonged to Shadow, but because he vanished, it couldn't fully develop. Once Green Hill was restored to its' former self and the Paradox Prism recalibrated with the Shatterverses, though, Shadow went from an anomaly to a Shatterverse resident, and the Grim could finally finish its' development, becoming The Haven.
The Haven itself is actually the equivalent of the Space Colony ARK- As the Earth was ravaged by war and the Abyssal Arms (Shatterverse Black Arms) invasion, many civilians were evacuated to the Haven. Its' Paradox Prism lies in what once was the Eclipse Cannon, now powering a full biodome on the other half of the Haven. Nowadays, the Haven is the safest place to be.
Part 2: Crew Compartments
This one needs a bit of explanation. When a Shatterverse lacks a variant of a character, another Shatterverse will make up for it with multiple. (Hence multiple Eggman variants.)
Eclipsing Shadow: One of the successful outcomes of Project Shadow and endlessly curious. Now manages much of the science around the Haven, and it was his idea to use the Paradox Prism to create and maintain a biosphere. Shadow's variant.
Daylight Shadow: One of the successful outcomes of Project Shadow, he's a child at heart and wears that heart on his sleeve. Loves high-energy sports, especially surfing. Shadow's variant.
Rain Shadow: One of Project Shadow's successful outcomes, at least in the sense that he's alive. His mind wanders, zones out, and loses track of things a lot, and he lacks a sense of identity. Shadow's variant and the only one of them to not have gained a Doom Power.
Horizon Shadow: One of Project Shadow's successful outcomes, and named for the Event Horizon Shadow in a black hole. Fell prey to Abyssal Doom's influence and went down the Dark path in their version of shadow 05, and only resisted and killed the Abyssal Arms right at the end when he realized what he'd done. Though he was taken back upon the Haven by his brothers, he's under careful control, and has a strained relationship with most. Shadow's variant.
Terra Maria: a childhood friend of the Project Shadow brothers, and a lead scientist aboard the Haven now that her NDIS is manageable. Maria's variant.
Atlas Tower: A childhood rival-turned-friend of the Project Shadow brothers, he now works in the legal and peacekeeping department of the Haven. Responsible for many plans to evacuate citizens to the Haven. Abraham Tower's variant.
Artemis Rouge: (yes that's an artemis II pun.) A civilian evacuated to the Haven. A jeweller who prides herself on restoring people's prized possessions. Rouge's variant.
Custodian Knuckles: A citizen evacuated to the Haven. After his home island was destroyed, he made it his duty to continue his tribe's culture by caring for areas of the Haven's biosphere that matched his home. Knuckles' variant.
Moonlight Rose: A citizen evacuated to the Haven. Formerly an activist, she helped greatly in ensuring as many innocent people as possible were brought to safety, and was one of the last to leave Earth herself. Amy's variant.
Satellite Tails: A trainee in the engineering division aboard the Haven, and a young prodigy who frequently comes up with great ideas. Tails' variant.
Nine: Originally from New Yoke City, he found his empty Shatterverse shifting around him and watched the Haven form around his Paradox Prism. Though not at all happy about it, he allowed himself to be taken in by the Haven's people and become a citizen, although he still prefers to be alone. He's a bit lost as to where to go now, although he's not telling anyone that. Tails' variant.
Comet Cat & Froggy: Citizens evacuated to the Haven. Nowadays they enjoy a more or less peaceful life. Big and Froggy's variant.
Syzygy: A former activist like Moonlight Rose, and one of the few who survived trying to protect the Earth through both the wars and Abyssal Doom's invasion. Only evacuated to the Haven when he absolutely had to, and even now he still tends to push his limits just to help someone out. He's helpful and protective to a fault, and that fault is lacking self-preservation. Silver's variant.
Metal Shield: A mechanic aboard the Haven, in charge of maintaining the outer domes and the protective shields that keep everything inside alive. Metal Sonic's variant.
Saturn & Cassini: A civilian refugee and her Chao, evacuated to the Haven. Vanilla & Chocola's variants.
Moonlet & Gali: Saturn's daughter and her own Chao, evacuated to the Haven with her mama. Attending school upon the Haven and full of curiosity. Gali is named after Galileo Galilei, btw. Cream & Cheese's variants.
Biotech Barry: A civilian evacuated to the Haven who somehow ended up as a research assistant for the biologists on the Haven. Has no idea how they got the role given they have no experience and did not go through the hiring process. Just somehow ended up there. Barry's variant.
(I'm so sorry that was so long HAHA. I didn't actually realize until recently how much work the Grim needed, which is why I didn't mention anything about it. The plot is thankfully not set in stone, though, so at least it's not causing any plot holes. At least our rundowns are now done! :D feel free to send in asks if you have any questions :DD)
FINALLY DONE. Rain Shadow wasn't tooo hard to design? But Horizon Shadow took me AGES. Mostly because I was really struggling to find a good pose base for him.
@sonic-au-collision-zone
YESSSSSSS
Oh btw, if the images get too compressed or you want to copy paste, here's Horizon Shadow's hex codes!
Brown fur: #250600
Red fur: #a8220d
White fur: #fff2f1
Skin: #d4a861
Gloves: #6e6462
Cuffs/Chain: #75787b
White shoe: #d2cecd
Red shoe: #732a1b
Black tentacle: #140300
Tentacle veins: #2e0500
Tentacle tips: #ff2200
Tentacle underbelly: #d61c00
Anyway, first up is Rain Shadow. I was trying to avoid shading on his, so I turned his lineart darker. (So if you want to eyedrop or use as a ref, go with the lighter grey on his fur.)
Rain Shadow is derived from Shadow's amnesiac self and his lack of self-worth and identity he had at the time. He's named after the geological term for an area that becoems dry or deserted because amountain range blocks cloud or rain from accessing it. His mind wanders, zones out, and loses track of things a lot, and he lacks a solid sense of identity, and thus needs the most care and consistent companionship out of the Project Shadow brothers. He's the only one of his brothers to not have gained a Doom Power from Abyssal Doom. Still, he's often gentle, and will quietly react to things if he's paying attention. A smile from him sometimes feels a little like a gift.
Horizon Shadow, on the other hand... He's named after the Event Horizon Shadow in a black hole. This is the variant of Shadow who succumbed to Abyssal Doom's will and destroyed what was left of civilization on the Earth's surface. He eventually turned on Abyssal Doom and killed the Abyssal Arms after Doom attempted to get him to use the Haven as the Abyssal Arms' breeding ground. However, he was not accepted back onto the Haven easily, and now lives under control in a long probation period after what he did. Nowadays, he is partially stuck in his Doom Morph form, unable to fully return to his former self. He's fairly reserved and doesn't like inconveniencing people. It's quite tragic, the difference between him and the boy he used to be. Prior to Abyssal Doom, he was almost closer to Daylight Shadow in disposition; always ready to help out or get something done, and his #1 prioritiy was always protecting his brothers. While his heart is still full of endless love for his family and friends, it's also broken, and he doesn't like letting that love show anymore- it was, after all, what got him manipulated by Abyssal Doom. He's derived from Shadow's fears of what could've been had he made the wrong choices in Adventure 2 and Shadow 05, and gone down the darkest path.
brackets will be up soon... Hehehehe I'm so excited!!! So have some reference sheets for two of Shadow's variants.
Meet Ecliptic Shadow and Daylight Shadow! They both belong to The Haven (formerly known as The Grim) and, like Eggman's variants, were drawn from Shadow's own self-perception of his own past.
Verbatim from my notes/texts to buds:
Ecliptic Shadow is built from Shadow's desire to constantly improve, and his care for the people he loves. To that end, Ecliptic grew up absorbing any and all knowledge he could from anyone who would give it to him, and ended up becoming extremely familiar with the inner workings of the ARK and the science necessary to run it. It's because of him that this version of the ARK uses the Eclipse Cannon to create an energy shield across the open half, which lets them use it to recreate Earth conditions. Essentially, the ARK is now a mini planet.
Daylight Shadow is, at his core, a younger Shadow's childhood desire for reckless play and room to be carefree and silly. He often restrained it, coaxed out only by Maria when they were kids- but in the Shatterverse, it manifests as Daylight Shadow, with no needless barriers. He's SO cute i love him. I get cuteness aggression thinking about this boy hes so sweet. When Gerald said he imbued Shadow with a soul like Maria's this is what he meant this lil guy is all of that .
The Boscage Maze is perhaps No Place's direct opposite- an overgrown rainforest with trees that stretch higher than the clouds.
Part 1: Mapping It Out
The Boscage Maze's Paradox Prism is kept safely guarded by a group of its' inhabitants, though under a mutual deal not to touch it. And for a good reason- the forest was created thanks to the Prism's power overflowing the local wildlife, basically supercharging them into rapid growth. There's a few groups and solo survivors out in the woodland, but coming across them (or hunting them down) can be tricky, as there's so much space and so many spots to hide among the leafage.
Part 2: The Local Life
Thorn Rose: The forest's most avid protector and the most familiar with the Paradox Prism's power after she used it to chase the Scavengers out. Amy's variant.
Prim Rouge: One of the Scavengers and Thorn's friend (albeit a tentative one). Rouge's variant.
Gnarly Knuckles: One of the Scavengers and the primary hunter of the group. Knuckles' variant.
Hangry Cat & Froggy: One of the Scavengers and his frog buddy. Big & Froggy's variants.
Mangey Tails: One of the Scavengers. Tails' variant.
Leaf & Log: A rabbit and her trusty Chao who built a home in the trees, a fair ways away from the Scavengers' territory. Vanilla & Chocola's variants.
Petal & Flower: Leaf's daughter and her Chao partner, budding experts in the local wildlife. Cream & Cheese's variants.
Bushwhack Barry: A loner who lives near the edge of the forest, where the woods meet the waves. Barry's variant.
Metal Scrap: Metal Sonic's variant. A robot from ancient times, abandoned and claimed by the forest until he was found and reactivated recently. Now lives with Bushwhack Barry.
Sorrel: Silver's variant and former friend of the Scavengers, he appeared out of nowhere before the forest overgrew and claimed to be from the future, trying to prevent a disaster. When the Paradox Prism's power flooded the ecosystem, however, he spiralled, and hasn't been seen in quite some time since...
Welcome to the rundowns! This is the base info for Green Hill, which is where everything kicks off. The way this is going to go is that I'll give a general summary of the location and what's going down here, and then list the names of everyone from this dimension who's involved with the plot and what they'll be doing.
So!
Part 1: the Lay of the Land
If you haven't seen Prime, Green Hill is what the show uses to refer to South Island and, in a larger sense, the canon dimension as a whole. It's where the Paradox Prism is held, which creates and allows transport to alternate timelines. When it was broken in season 1, the people around it influenced the timelines it created. After it was fixed, those timelines continued to exist- they were just re-harmonized with the original universe (Green Hill) and repaired.
The AU itself starts where Prime ends. The Chaos Council, having found out that each Shatterverse has its' own full Paradox Prism instead of just a piece, immediately suit up and invade Green Hill looking to take it for their own.
Part 2: The Team
The bigger the problem, the more people get involved. Here's who's working against the Chaos Council:
Sonic: Stuck with explaining everything that happened to everyone, and with leading the fight against the Council. Moving around the Shatterverses to deal with the Council directly.
Shadow: Tired as hell, but it's not like he's going to stop for it. Keeping Sonic on a leash and acting as a second informant. Moving around the Shatterverses with Sonic.
Tails: Facilitating communication between Shatterverses and helping make the plan. Sometimes goes into the Shatterverses to help, but not always.
Rouge, Amy & Knuckles: Keeping Eggman on a leash & staying behind to help defend their Paradox Prism in case the Council tries anything sneaky.
Eggman: Petty as he is, he's made a temporary alliance with the others to keep their world out of the Council's hands. Eggman wants world domination for himself, not his copycats.
Metal Sonic: Temporarily reprogrammed to not kill Sonic (or the others), he's been sent by Eggman to assist Sonic and Shadow and whip the Chaos Council's ass.
Silver: Witnessed pretty much the entirety of seasons 1-3 in a single second thanks to the benefits (not) of being immune to changes in the timeline resetting your memory. Immediately went RIGHT over to see what was going on. Pissed off about it, especially since he now has a constant feeling that his power is being drained. Travelling the Shatterverses with Sonic, Shadow and Metal.
Cream: Was being babysat by Silver and insisted on going to South Island with him to make sure he's okay. (Witnessing four new timelines be created and then collide did not look very good from the outside.)
Barry: Just lives here. Barely involved but somehow got dragged into everything anyway.
Vanilla: Aware Cream is with Silver and he had lifesaving duties to attend to, but does not live on South Island and will not be told the full extent of what happens until afterwards.
38: Would you say they have a superiority complex? Inferiority complex? Neither? For Seaglass, Sorrel, Steel and Syzygy
@sonic-au-collision-zone
Seaglass yes but only when dealing with someone who's not in his crew. He'll bow to Captain Fathom and his crewmates, but if someone else is getting a little too uppity, he's always happy to remind them that he is, at any given point, the arbiter of whether they live or die. He's grown into it as he has his powers and battle prowess- prior to being taken in by Fathom, he wasn't confident enough in his ability to survive a pirate attack (and for good reason given Fathom found him after getting mauled by one), but as he's grown stronger and become more skilled with his abilities he's gotten a bit of ego, although he doesn't let it go to his head.
Sorrel, like Silver, probably had a bit of a superiority complex most of the time, but Sorrel's failure to protect the future took that down hard. He's definitely sitting in extreme inferiority complex territory.
Syzygy I think has a bit of a superiority complex, but different from Silver's in that it doesn't power his straightforwardness quite as much. He's generally still willing to detour to help someone out.
Steel... hard to say. Probably neither, maybe a little bit of inferiority but tbh i think he's a solid neutral
48: Is this person afraid of dying? Why or why not? For Sonic
@sonic-au-collision-zone
Oh you knoooooowwww he says he doesn't but he absolutely does. He keeps up that "cool chill just a hedgehog who likes adventure façade but the SECOND he's alone it drops so hard you wouldn't believe
