Take Valve, Make It Monsters

This is an AU that uses valve characters in an Urban-Fantasy setting where monsters are real and people are aware of that fact. This wasn’t made to tackle race issues or anything like that, this was just made to mess around with the concept because I like intense drama and valve characters. (Currently the only games we have fully into the universe is Left 4 Dead and somewhat Half-Life and its sequels. This was originally a L4D AU alone so the former is consequently further along.)(AU was made with a friend :) )

[combines]

happy birthday gordon freeman

[nuclearnerves]

[likopinina]

[ltafamilyguy]

WOOOOOOOOOO!! YEAAAAAHH BABYYYYY

[whatamonsterousau]

YOOOOOOOOO

[whatamonsterousau]

Nothing to see here! Just shopping for food. Nothing vaguely angelic happening here ahaha

Louis is a Nephil (half-Angel) raised by a witch, and can be pretty unassuming for people who don’t know what to look for!

99% of this picture is me getting really excited about angelic imagery tbh…

Used another outfit from @mascofcentermbs !!

[whatamonsterousau]

It’s her, it’s Zoey!

(Current) Finished on the left, sketch on the right— click to see the full image!

Hopefully I can keep this monster au momentum going!! ✨

https://whatamonsterousau.tumblr.com/post/661885475646259200 here’s the outfit I put zoey in:

Take Valve, Make It Monsters

outfit for a goat demon pretending to be a normal human teenager

[whatamonsterousau]

I found a couple refs I was trying to make for this!!! I still have to line and color but woo!!!!!!

[bitchvirgo]

[whatamonsterousau]

Alright so two people liked the post sooooo- werewolves in this AU woo!

So Ellis and his friends are a small little pack that knew each other before the whole werewolf thing was a thing in their lives... They met before they were even 10 and now they’re in their early-to-mid 20s. It’s been awhile. The rest of the pack consists of the other people Ellis has named in his stories: His friends Keith and Dave, and one of Keith’s brothers, Paul. Long story short the infection went like... Keith gets bit, Keith bites Paul, time passes, Keith infects Ellis in a way they didn’t know was possible, Ellis bites Dave. There is no alpha to the group, they’re all just friends hanging out together (also look it up alphas aren’t actually a thing in naturally-forming in-the-wild wolf packs) Woo!

Overall it didn’t throw a wrench into their lives too much, but that’s mostly because they all agreed to keep the lycanthrope on the down-low since they weren’t really sure how good the reception for it would be. Probably not well, honestly, just because monsters aren’t to well-recieved in this AU, even if they are public. When it was just Keith and Paul infected, Dave and Ellis would just try to keep an eye on them on the full moon and days leading up to it and everything would be a-okay. Now they kind of self-isolate in a group and fingers crossed they don’t run into anybody or something.

Ellis, Keith, and Dave all run a mechanic shop together in their small town area, and Paul is actually a doctor (a decision mostly inspired from Keith’s many childhood injuries) and a grump, so while he’s in the pack for the full moon, normally it’s a bit more from a distance than he’d like to admit. The guys running the mechanic shop are basically the main group and Paul’s a tagalong who’s trying his best. Ellis and Dave are both hyperactive as hell (though Dave also has a heaping helping of “middle child from a large family” syndrome) and while Keith is a bit more calm he also has Zero Self Preservation and is willing to be the greatest crash test dummy of all time.

A lot of the time when Keith gets hurt, it’s because he decided to do something stupid on his own. The rest of the time is because Dave and Ellis egged him on without realizing how stupid their decision was. For this AU it’s been decided that every Keith Story and MORE are real so Keith looks like he went through Hell’s kitchen several times. This likely isn’t great for Keith OR Paul, who is in this AU are identical twins. Keith’s fiiine thought it’s fiiiine. He can’t live alone anymore, though, so he lives with his brother. Honestly between Ellis, Keith, and Dave they have two brain cells and none of them are using either ever.

The only one to ever go through a transformation alone is technically Keith, so when the story starts and Ellis ends up with the rest of the L4D2 team, it’s his first time being basically alone for it. Overall his personality basically sticks to the wolf form, just add amnesia and lessen restraint. So while he’s scared at first, wolf-Ellis eventually warms up to the others, and then it’s just having a huge excitable animal in the area. Woo! it all works out in the end!

In the story Ellis gets caught as a werewolf early on and has to dodge town to avoid being arrested. Meanwhile Paul is not as lucky and DOES get arrested (these are separate incidents), so Keith and Dave have to pack up shop and try to follow in Ellis’s tracks— All of this AFTER they manage to get Paul back with them. Again with the no brain cells thing, they manage to lay low pretty well for awhile but they also make a bunch of stupid decisions because of course they do. It wouldn’t be a group with Keith without a few trips to the hospital.

So that’s the deal between Ellis, his friends, and lycanthropy! I hope you enjoyed. if you have anything else you’d like to hear/see or any feedback, shoot me an ask!

[nat-without-a-g]

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! A L4D AU, character design, and art development at the same time!

A year ago me and a friend started making a Left 4 Dead Monster au, and I’ve never really been good at putting it down, so yeah here’s art for it,,

Rochelle’s a nymph in the au. More specifically an iris nymph. The picture on the right was my first attempt at a real design, and my friend mentioned it looked like the “I’m a luxury” shirt so.......

[whatamonsterousau]

spoiler!

Louis has several family “reunions” with people he did not know exists!

The results are varied.

[whatamonsterousau]

Oh man, this au looks very interesting. I love it!

!!!! Thank you so much!!! I’m so sorry for the inactivity, I want to share more about my thoughts and ideas for the au but I’m. Very easily tired out haha..

I’m so glad you like it though!!!! If there’s anything in particular you want to learn more about, just send an ask, I’ll be more than happy to say more! :)

[cenntaur-remaking]

send me “spoiler!” and ill give u a vague spoiler abt a story im writing

[whatamonsterousau]

~Valve Monster AU~

Howdy, I figured I would go into detail about the characters considering that’s probably really important for people to know! In summary before we begin: monsters are real and make up basically the whole cast in this au, currently got two games in the mix, might add more someday. Let’s begin!

Half-Life

Gordon Freeman : Demigod, not something he’s entirely aware of, nor is he aware of whatever kind of power he might have as a result of this. Which means as a result almost nobody else is aware of this.

Eli Vance : That’s a Human Person! That’s just a fuckin’ dude!

Azian Vance : Kitsune, spends like 90% of her time in a human form. Not that she prefers being human, more that she’s worried other humans would prefer her as human. Most in the lab knows though, they all trust each other.

Alyx Vance : half-kitsune, Magic is weaker than her mom’s but she’s stronger (among other things) than a regular person and can make weak illusions at a moment’s notice. So overall, seems human at a glance, 100% not human. (Or would it be 50% not human?)

Barney Calhoun : Not directly recognized as a monster, but his lineage used to have Valkyries which are considered nonhuman.

Isaac Kleiner : Witch!! Potions on the side of science!!! Finding where the “normal” laws of the world end and where “magic” begins! Still pretty scatterbrained tho.

Lamarr : She’s a will-o-wisp and Kleiner’s familiar! She’s very lovely but isn’t afraid to spook people by taking surprising forms. Especially Barney. love Iand magic) is stored in the flying fireball!

Gina Cross : A pixie! Not the kind with wings or anything, she’s just very short and some nonhuman qualities about her. And maybe magic at her fingertips that she’s more than willing to apply to experimental items. Also, by proxy, she can’t be possessed, which is good for working with ghosts.

Colette Green : Decended from giants!! She’s tall and durable, but careful when she has to be. It doesn’t get in the way of her throwing herself into her work, but it can be tiresome.

Arne Magnusson : A tommyknocker, overall he’s much more comfortable underground. Likely nocturnal too. Overall not a fan of cities.

Wallace Breen : This man is also a human person, just a shit one.

Adrian Shepherd : Changeling, though this wasn’t discovered until he joined this military. Bit of a shock to his family.

G-Man : Ghost, and a powerful one at that. Might be acting under someone or something as a representative.

Left 4 Dead

William “Bill” Overbeck : Undead of some kind, technically always falling apart and decaying. Hates it, but can’t seem to die, so it’s better to just recooperate and keep going.

Coach : Selkie, and balancing a life out of the ocean with his husband and son and in the ocean with his family. He’s having a nice time. At least until the au really kicks off but ehh—

Francis : A ghost, more specifically some kind of vengeful spirit? Well, he tries to be nice but it isn’t his fault he catches on fire sometimes.

Nick : Vampire! Overall he. Probably gives the most general difficulty to the team just trying to vibe by existing but that’s okay they love him anyways.

Louis : Witch! Nephil though they’re not allowed to learn too much magic and too powerful magic because of the nephil thing. Too much magic misuse makes the half-Angels fall, even if there are good intentions. :pensive:

Rochelle : A flower Nymph! Seeing as she is a walking plant, more or less, she’s probably the most obviously not a person, which sucks for her but she can manage.

Zoey : Jersey Devil, the cryptid. In the au there’s more than one, probably not just really centered to any kind of Jersey, and she’s one of the younger ones. She can take a human disguise kind of form that works on anyone who can’t see through magic.

Ellis : Werewolf, in a pack with his friends. He doesn’t have any obvious bites, but he’s not a born werewolf. Here, lycanthropy is a really easily spread disease, so if you like. Donate blood or something that could lead to infecting someone else.

Thank you for reading if you took the time to read and I hope you liked it ^^

[whatamonsterousau]

Howdy! It’s been a bit! I decided to be a bit more lenient about the au so it’s Zoey l4d posting hours.

Original plan was to make one of these for everyone before posting, but I’m not good at continuing ideas, so here she is! A cryptic gal. In the au she’s a Jersey Devil. I say A because in most tellings of the Jersey devil origins that I hear, the situation in which the first one was birthed could probably more or less be easily recreated. So. There’s more than one Jersey Devil, the Well-known one is just the first account of one and also these things are hella rare and usually keep to themselves.

She’s young by cryptid standards, but is immortal unless killed. She can’t shape-shift per se, but she can trick people into seeing her as one of them. Probably from the Fae. Either way it’s not the best magic trick and can be seen through if someone tries hard enough so she has to be weary to fit in. “People” like Louis (as he is now) can see right through it without trying though. Good thing he’s on her side.

The book isn’t detailed but she’s totally reading some form of the walking dead graphic novels.

[whatamonsterousau]

Oh man, this sounds interesting!! Do the characters have specific designs?

First and foremost: :DD! I’m flattered!!! I’m so glad you think it’s interesting!! it honestly means a lot and I’m so sorry this took so long, i just wanted to prepare so i could try to make this the best i could ^^

(Heads up there’s art here but it’s sketchy and kind of bad)

I’m not sure what character you’re referring to here, but for the most part, yes the characters have designs. The Half-Life characters tend to look a lot like how they did in the games, while the L4D characters have either noticeable monster-like traits or entire monsterous forms. I would totally make art for this but I think I’ll do the main character references later, let me know if you want to be @ed on those when I finally do them.

If you’re talking about the characters who didn’t have designs in their original game or are very different from their original situation: also yes! For the most part though, only some of them. I haven’t really expended too much effort into designs yet ^^” these two are probably the only ones I’ve really thought about their design for:

I’m also trying to work on designs for things like metrocops and combine soldiers since they’re in an entirely new element! Current working idea is they’re a type of law enforcement hired in bulk to deal with monsters in cities where certain monsters even existing is illegal. In the AU, hunters (monster hunters) are a branch in the military and law enforcement, and the metrocops would just be an extension of that. They would be an anonymous force, since their job is to weed out monsters hiding in communities, and that might be difficult to do if people recognized them as monster hunters, so they don’t wear name tags and wear masks to obscure their faces. So far apart from that, the only real addition is that of a hood and a tool box for weaponry and supplies and of the such, though I doubt most of them lug it around. Of course this is just a work in progress and I’m a bit excited to mess with them a bit more

Thank you again! I hope this is satisfactory!!

(Also the bottom left clutter of words says “they’re centralized to like 1 state” no idea why i wrote that so sloppily)

[whatamonsterousau]

Welcome to the Monster Au!

Hi, and welcome to the Valve Monster AU (work in progress). This au takes place in a different universe and setting than what the characters are familiar with, but I’m trying to keep the core elements of said stories in line. Currently, these games are L4D, L4D2, Half-Life, and all other canon story games that come with it (besides Portal and Portal 2, I figure that the game should be in the universe but I haven’t thought too deeply about it yet). This AU has a story to it, but in a way in which the story is flexible. I’ll give more information under the cut, but here’s the intro to this mess! ^^

Something I think is important to note right off the bat is: the exact genre is not carrying over. This is not a zombie apocalypse nor alien invasion story, it’s more urban fantasy. In this universe, mythical monsters exist, but through some means, people are still in charge of everything. This isn’t a hidden world, the average citizen is aware nonhuman humanoid entities exist and intermingle with society. It’s more that many people are ill-informed on some monsters and what they stand for or how much of a danger they are. Anyways, long story short; just about everyone in every aforementioned game has been ~Monsterified~ for this universe. Honestly, this is mostly just for the sake of it, but that applies to the whole AU.

The Half-Life and L4D(s) stories have completely different plot lines, but can and may intermingle. The L4D and L4D2 stories are somewhat the same plots just with different outcomes, and they all have to exist in the same general area. (Basic summary, Half-Life is Ghostbusters but also with a pinch of fuck the government, L4D(s) are road trips chock full of character development and danger.)

I do want to mention this because L4D(s) and Half-Life already has monsters; there may be some changes for the sake of them maintaining an antagonistic role. Aka: there’s gonna be Original Characters based on the og games antagonists (there’s others, the antagonists just feel like a necessity to mention). If OCs aren’t your thing, really sorry! If it makes it any better most of it is just characterizing minor characters or names listed in canon. This includes characterizing the AI (the Director), Church Guy, The Screamer, the friends Ellis mentions in his stories (he mentions two other people aside from Keith), and all the special infected (all from L4D so far, but as I work more on the Half Life story you can probably expect this same treatment for characters like Laszlo, Griggs and Sheckley, and Cubbage’s cut son from Half-Life. No promises, just possible examples.)

I will be receiving asks for this blog, and if you have any questions about the au or whats happening in it, feel free to ask! @medicalmysteries helped out with this too, so the AU is technically a group effort and some answers may take some time. I’ll be listing characters in another link on the page, but if you want more information again: asks are open and feel free to ask whatever you want! ^^

I’m going to try to keep the posts on the main tags to a minimum, so it’s probably just going to be this one so I can catch a bit of attention.

TLDR: VALVE GAMES AU WHERE SOME PEOPLE ARE MONSTERS, WILL BE VEERING FAR FROM CANON BUT TRYING TO MAINTAIN ORIGINAL INTEGRITY, ASKS ARE OPEN IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE FEEL FREE!