#zy unhinged

[zylian]

apologies if you don't wanna talk about it but I'm genuinely obsessed with your unhinged zam au, sooooo..

How did zam transition from just a guy to being unhinged??

no problem!!! I love to ramble :D

I never really thought about when Zam started to change but I would say his “moral” implications were flipped upside down when he joined lifesteal.

so Zam started to become unhinged after the nether chase in s2 and when him and Leo got attacked after Clown was offline.

Zam got hunted by a lot of people and understood he was supposed to be scared and fearful cause he was still being hunted. And all he saw was Leo and Clown not caring that he went through that but only the aftermath (revenge)

S2 rips his morals apart and since Zam needs something consistent he ends up with “as long as it’s in the base server rules” than he can have fun without questioning everything.

—Ramble—

Originally Zam could regulate himself and act the important emotions that correlate to his situation but once he was chased to no end after clown logged off, he went through so much running and diving into the nether to hide with Leo that he thought he should be scared

But Zam couldn’t tell how scared he was supposed to be and the only way to find out was for him to repeatedly witness such a situation to know how to react to it.

So he watched Leo and of course Leo is sorta crazy. “To not be cruel to those you deem are weaker and to be relentless to those you deem stronger.”

When Clown returned he watched him. He saw Clowns obvious distaste and treated the disrespect for his teammates as his own.

Zams core thought process was changing from how he watched Leo & Clowns principles. Zam likes his rules. He deems his skills rough and that those actions were all within the rules. So the baseline made him happy since in lifesteal you can’t always win.

When he saw Leo become power hungry he knew he didn’t like it but he didn’t see a problem with it.

Through s2, Zam slowly deems that he needs consistently/ something to ground him to be able to have fun. The cleansing was iffy so he focused more on his team rather than the moral implications of it. He only hated exploits in s4 since that ruined EVERYTHING he was trying to do.

Even in s3 with all of those found bases, the thrill/ dread was technically fun. He put himself in gruelling situations to see if he knew how he should act before breaking (not showing emotions)

Zam was just a guy having fun with matching what emotions go with what until he met Leo. Leo & Clown are the only 2 who know Zam doesn’t have emotions and fakes them. So Leo told Zam to watch everyone and being over emotional doesn’t matter as long as you achieve it. Clown consistently tells Zam if he finds the emotion he’s displaying off and Zam takes it into consideration.

With the brutal environment lifesteal is, Zam deemed that anything can go as long as long as he’s grounded.

((I reworded this so many times and I still don’t like it but here, I hope it made sense, unhinged Zam is still getting worse))

[zylian]

Mapicc essentially said there’s no world he’ll believe Zam is good

The guy has teamed with him in so many seasons, Zam even said his ride or die was Mapicc

The closest ppl to Zam know how unhinged he is

Mapicc warned eclipse and Zam himself warned 3ht

When Zam betrayed those team, Subz called him broken while Planet got no closure

And that’s because Zam is just like that. It’s why Mapicc called him selfish. Zam wants everything to be fair in his vision even if its at everyone’s cost

Mapicc never went back on his word, blaming Zam in the end. Which Zam eventually agreed with.

Remember when Mapicc told purple duo that by the end of the season Spoke is going to end the server and Zam will be the one to side with him

Spoke and Zam are destructive, when Zams not on the same page Spoke notices and immediately distanced himself at the risk of Zams tendencies.

I can argue Zam lost complete faith in eclipse the second he found out Spoke was involved, more so when he found out Vi went to Spoke immediately. Zam closed that book and from than on put all blame on Vitalasy. He knows Spoke did almost all of it but that’s just Spoke, how can u blame him for being him.

Spoke and Zam work the same way and it stresses the hell out of Mapicc if he’s involved. In s3 Mapicc noticed Spoke was the backstabber and just backed out of it all while Zam went into denial.

Zam doesn’t know when to stop and the only way he will is if he is banned.

Mapicc knows that first hand! (S2 execution)

The day he realized Zam was in a megabase after the castle arc Mapicc knew it was too late. That he should of never revived him and left him banned cause now Zam has people who aren’t aware of his tendencies and the only way to permanently stop him is now voided.

Zam as an enemy is the worst simply because he will always be back. Having Zam as an ally puts them at risk so for the one time they try to cut him off it ends horribly, as expected.

Zam needs people, he thrives off of support despite how much he verbally opposes them. He wants everything to be fair in his eyes which means he HATES weak players & he HATES being the strongest in any team.

He needs someone stable, someone who can hold their own, play their part well. Zam is willing to suffer and for how far he goes makes him evil.

[zylian]

So with unhinged zam, how does castle arc really go down ^-^

Like if mapicc knows what zam is really like why chase after him? Maybe to keep an eye on him, to not let him have an escape and go after mapicc somehow. It definitely would be advantageous for him but I'm curious about your thoughts

And does zam see it as a game like mapicc does in canon

Gaahh devotion duo but Worse :33

Castle arc hurts my brain- too many thoughts: (Rambling answer SORRY I got carried away!)

At the core of it, yes, Mapicc is keeping an eye on Zam originally because of what Zam may be up to.

Zam wants to play fair without dupes and so he forced Mapicc down to play fair. When the fighting was no longer fun he turned to fight his teammate to make it fun.

Unhinged Zams “fairness” is being on the same playing field which means no one uses cheats and plays within the rules. That’s the only way he has fun.

Zam knew it would make Mapicc mad, that’s why he didn’t bother talking it out on the nether roof. He painted his picture and made Mapicc a monster. When Mapicc first showed up to the castle, Zam said he felt like it was over for him. He said his last goodbyes and essentially said that because Mapicc found him he was going to be banned.

Zam expected it, yknow since Zam loves playing with death.

Mapicc witnessed Zam blow up new silvington just because Pangi found it despite all of his attachments to it just so he wouldn’t be a sitting duck waiting to die. Yet in the castle arc, Zam knows he’s going to die, Mapicc knows Zam is going to die and Zam chooses to stay.

Zam made Mapicc his enemy so his existence at that point was an issue Mapicc couldn’t ignore. Mapicc is always looking for Zam, it’s ingrained in him since he practically babysitted Zam in s2 so I think Mapicc realized he screwed up the second he found Zams castle.

Mapicc even accidentally messaged Zam “I think I found his base” whether accidental or not, even if he wasn’t going to kill Zam, Zam stayed there and Mapicc realized he expected him.

Despite Zam cutting ties, Mapicc knew at that moment if he didn’t do anything it was going to come back to bite him since Zam has a history of never giving up unless it’s with a ban.

Zams feelings are fickle. Mapicc knows this is what Zam wants and won’t give it to him. He also knows what Zams capable of if he ignores him. When Mapicc attacked Zam before they were even teamed, Zam geared up 5 ppl to attack back. Zam is persuasive, he has a reputation and it’s proven time and time again when other server members put Zam in a separate view than his teammates despite all of the stuff he’s done with them.

Banning Zam wouldn’t solve it if someone else would just bring him back and Zam would target him again so Mapicc couldn’t afford to let Zam get stronger.

Zam doesn’t think of it as a game. Zam takes everything seriously. To him he can find “fun” in anything so there’s no reason to play games. He just needs a good reason and that’s enough for him whether he’s winning or losing.

It’s why Zam got so upset finding Mapiccs room in the castle. Zam found out that Mapicc was going to keep him in this loop as Zams fun/purpose was slowly dying (Pearl dupes/time glitch popped up)

((Castle arc Zam says words but since his actions counteract it, his words aren’t true))

Zam made Mapicc his enemy cause there was never a day he wasn’t bored. His adrenaline was high and he thrived off of it. Zam only feels confident when fighting and when he fights against Mapicc nothing is guaranteed

I hope this makes sense-

So it’s always a game when Zams involved in Mapiccs eyes cause he can’t leave Zam alone without Zam causing something to happen that effects him and Zam doesn’t think it’s a game, since his “fun” is taking it seriously and Mapiccs existence is fun to him.

[zylian]

Unhinged Zam never thought the castle was tainted when Mapicc found it

When Pangi found new silvington he said it’s pointless to stay so he would just leave and start up again

When Zams eclipse bases got found, it was a risk for his teammates so he left

When Zams castle was found he stayed

Zam only got irritated when the 3ht started showing up there, he clearly didn’t like them there as instead of him only dying they would die to

Unexpected deaths that he would be blamed for.

Zam only expected Mapicc, he knew what the hell the castle arc was going to do but suddenly it wasn’t him and Mapicc anymore

In the eclipse arc Zam works so hard to fight Mapicc alone but there’s always an external issue changing the 1v1 he considers fair

Also Spokes entire existence is an issue here.

Zam in the solar union arc says he wants to save Mapicc from Spoke. He jumps in between when Mapicc got “tortured” by Spoke with those potions when everyone else was hesitant since it was Mapicc.

Zam makes it clear he doesn’t have any issues with Spoke himself but by association their plans clash. So Zam goes after every single person that wouldn’t have been Spoke, a person to blame.

Eventually they find out Spokes unstoppable plans involved everything and Zams fairness gets ripped apart plus Mapicc wouldn’t leave him. So Zam joins and when Spoke betrays for oping Vitalasy, Zam makes it clear to Mapicc that it’s just them again.

It’s so twistedddddd, unhinged Zam chose Mapicc from the start and has acted in odd ways when those try to change his present plans.

Spoke is an outlier due to Zams bias towards him. Zam sees how similar Spoke is to him, so in times they’re alone he isn’t hateful to him. Like when he frees him from the obsidian pillar in the end after his ban. If anyone else is involved Zam knows Spoke would help them too so Spoke being with Mapicc after the castle arc was ruining Zams plans.

[zylian]

With unhinged Zam it goes hand in hand with Playful Spoke

Spoke treats everything as a game which is why Mapicc doesn’t like Zam and Spoke together. Even though they’re technically polar opposites they understand how each other function the most.

It’s the reason they can easily find reasons to excuse the other, work with eachother and immediately move on.

“It’s Spoke what did you expect” and “Zams always like this”

When Zam found out Vitalasy went to Spoke and didn’t stop him there was no reason for Zam to blame Spoke. Spoke was doing exactly as expected when given such power and in the end Spoke gave answers Zam wanted which led to them teaming.

They know each other’s purpose and it gives reason to all actions they make

In the assassins spin off Spoke helped everyone who asked him but only for the minute it lasted. He never said no and accommodated many people.

Spoke helped Zam scare off Minutes team by sticking by Zam

Spoke didn’t loot Delilah’s body cause Zam asked

Fanst asked for help getting loot so Spoke killed Zam to let Fanst get the loot

Spoke than helped Ashswag infiltrate Zams team with Zam now needing “help”

Even after Zam considered it betrayal he was still inclined to believe Spoke when he got messaged that Ashswag was Zams assassin. Which Spoke had no reason to inform him of.

Spoke plays all sides extremely well so Zam won’t ever blame Spoke for it but he will decide whether he helps Spoke out if he gets backstabbed by him.

Zam loves loyalty but hates getting bored and Spoke doesn’t care who he helps if it means he’s no longer bored

[zylian]

I’ve always loved the concept of unhinged Zam

Him crying and being fearful is only when he has someone to express it to, which is anyone he’s teamed with or if anyone is watching him

Zam can be scared but once he fights he isn’t scared of the blood shed or ppl dying, it’s him losing.

If no one is listening he’s stone cold.

Anyone he’s teamed with knows this. They have seen him do countless gruesome things without a bat of the eye and he’ll only complain if he messes up. The act is never the issue if he thinks it’s reasonable. Fight to death, trap for a death, if he’s helping his teammate escape death despite losing virtually nothing.

Zams morals are skewed, he’s been teammates with the worst kinds of ppl while being fully aware of what things they’ve done. He’s a catalyst that ranks who’s closest to him and whose hurt him the worst while considering associations.

When seeing no reason to whine he will stop. If in the middle of battle when crying out is a burden he’ll get upset. If it’s not fair it becomes an issue and he won’t stop.

Having to be confident in what you have til the end and for Zam the end is not meeting a specific goal. Since dying can aid his goals if done right

(I’m like really happy Mapicc sees Zam as evil/joker who can’t be a good guy because of how quickly he can switch)

((Zams hands are tainted and his skin gives false promises))

[zylian]

out of curiosity how did eclipse go with unhinged zam, was it the same or if it was different, how different (also I love this au you have so much omg--)

Ty!! I love unhinged rather than pathetic Zam anyday, he is so insane >~<

So essentially it’s the same but the reasonings for his actions change. Like he’s way more hateful to Vitalasy and willing to do anything to protect Subz physically & emotionally.

Also Planet therapist arc is almost non existent since Zam in this au is way more angrier in eclipse. Hes passive aggressive with Vitalasy often and the betrayal he does himself.

Solar union does exist but it’s vague and once Zam knows he can’t get Mapicc away from Spoke he leaves.

-> Further Ramble

Unhinged Zam wants to fight on his terms so since his castle is compromised he throws himself at Subz who can hold his own.

Subz says he doesn’t trust Zam but Zam responded with him fully trusting Subz. Zam knows he can’t put his attachments into places since Mapicc likes to blow them up. To ground himself he attached himself onto Subz

Every eclipse base that got damaged was fuel for Zam to fight Mapicc because it emotionally hurt Subz. Zam actively got the Pearl dupe/time stopping glitch patched to return to fighting on his “fair terms”

Though instead of 1v1s, Mapicc always had someone with him to jump Zam from than on. Zam was angry and it put Subz at risk. It wasn’t fun to him since duped sets were in circulation.

When Subz finally died alone when Zam couldn’t help, he snapped. He went after emotional damage and blew up the water tower, the only material Ro & Mapicc cared for.

Subz said he would be sad if Zam lived in fear so he changed himself. Showing his anger and slowly more problems showed up. Exploits. Zam doesn’t trust anyone but by association he wasn’t allowed to hate Vitalasy. He had to go with their plans since the breaking portals were technically within his rules.

Zam still gets harassed by 3ht for being evil and they have verbal fights weekly, no physical fights

Eclipse arc is Zam getting upset that Vitalasy was the one to bring exploits so no matter what Zam did he wasn’t going to have fun because he will never be able to fight on his terms because of Vitalasy

Zam at one point was willing to drop it all before the prison and allow himself to fight with exploits but Vitalasy told him he “shouldn’t give up on his dream” (the catalyst of eclipse) and because of that Zam needed to find a way to obtain his “fair” server instead of fighting Mapicc since he eventually does win his 1v1s with him.

Exploits couldn’t be contained, Zam betrays and ends up with solar union until Zam had the realization the exploits were truly irreversible, he was not getting his fair terms back in this server ever again.

I’ve said before but Zam and Spoke are similar so Zam doesn’t blame Spoke when Vitalasy gave Spoke the access to ruin the server. Zam blames Vitalasy for it all the second Vitalasy called Spoke and Ash secret members.

Zam never actually felt bad about Vitalasys death since the server was still in ruin but with Subz’s death he no longer had anyone or anything to ground him. So he, yknow, went to Spoke to help achieve his “fair” terms by giving in and destroying everything to move on.

So Unhinged Zam was 100x more angrier in eclipse and fought with 3ht & Vitalasy while being sarcastic to Mapicc and overly clingy to Subz

Ye ^-^

[zylian]

My brain formed Unhinged Zam after the paranoia breaks him after getting hunted in s2

Like everything’s an act since he truly couldn’t care about anything even if he tried to. He just pretends to and that’s the reason he stays on the server instead of logging off because he will forget how to act if he takes a break.

It’s like the headcannon where Zam never had emotions and has to learn what they are from stories/watching others while pretending to experience those feelings himself

He thrives off of ppl saying he’s too emotional, at least he’s doing it right

It’s why he’s so expressive, he doesn’t like that his panic is feeling nothing

so when he gets killed, all his enemy sees is a smile with dead eyes almost like a doll

Weird creature who needs to put on a show and won’t stop