Rudy

For those interested, here's a speedpaint. It's about 4 hours of work compacted into 4 minutes.

Spamton is a young addison that used to work as a mailman in his city, living on his own after leaving his working-class family. He’s dreamed big all his life, thirsty for action and wishing to pursue a life bigger than his modest  job offered him. 

Spamton started corresponding by letter with a mysterious person one day. They promised him a sure way to get what he wished for most. The benefactor asked him to enlist in the army, saying that he would find glory there. Even though Spamton was reluctant, he joined. After all, the mysterious person had been right about a lot of things that no news outlet even had access to at the time. Spamton had a strong ally. And weren’t a lot of young people eager to go? It didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

And so, Spamton enlisted, got a couple weeks of training, then was assigned to Tenna’s section, where he would discover the horrors of trench warfare on the Western front.

Tenna is a member of the Dreemurr family, who are strong nationalists, especially Asgore, who is a veteran and served in the great wars at the end of the past century. Tenna is a reservist and therefore was deployed early on when his nation declared war. He managed to survive many close calls and the harsh conditions of the trenches thanks to his technological physiology, a big advantage that isn’t the norm. He was promoted to corporal after leading his section in a successful offensive when their previous corporal died in battle. Tenna is loyal to his nation and has a radical view on the conflict.

Tenna and Spamton grow close quickly, first because Spamton proves to have great tactical knowledge (secretly from the benefactor, of course), but then from learning to know each other and surviving the harsh realities that bring survivors together. 

Spamton continually receives his benefactor’s letters when his section is on rotation in the inner lines. The messages are indecipherable to anyone but Spamton. They give him hints about strategies and specific orders for him to follow. Spamton's benefits don’t stop here, though, as he eventually realizes. Apart from some minor injuries, Spamton hasn’t been seriously hurt despite several trips in No Man’s Land. He used to think he was extremely lucky, until he saw with his own eyes a shot aimed at him impossibly deviate from its course. He is invincible. Or so he thought, before he went against the benefactor’s orders.

Almost two years after Spamton’s enlistment, he received a message from his benefactor that tore him apart. They said Tenna would die, killed by enemy fire, and that this would offer him a path to take his place. It would happen during a major offensive that’s been prepared for weeks.

On the battlefield, Spamton tackled Tenna as an artillery shell exploded near them. Hidden in a crater and with hell breaking loose around them, no one saw Spamton take his knife and cut through Tenna’s neck cables. He swore to him he would explain later, but fate had it otherwise.

Tenna would wake up days later, Spamton nowhere to be found. He tried finding him, or his corpse, but there was no trace. Believing Spamton had betrayed him and deserted, he would foster hate, and hidden longing, for Spamton for years to come.

As for Spamton, he was found disfigured, mangled and without his tag days after the offensive, still alive. Tenna saw the body being transported to the back lines and saw it again in the infirmary while searching for Spamton, but never recognised it as the addison’s. Spamton was taken to the infirmary as a hopeless case, but made a miraculous recovery.  His body reformed in a way that was unprecedented, and he was considered a special case by surgeons, blessed by magic. Spamton didn’t reveal his real identity, scared of what he had done and what he had become, unwilling to confront Tenna and the many claims he probably had to his name now.

Aaand that’s all for the story part of the AU I’ve got so far.

Now for some additional facts, headcanons and events : 

There are no Lightners or Darkners in this AU. There are Humans and Monsters, and the war happens between different nations, not between races. Monsters are mostly biological, like humans. 

Tenna is a part of a rare subcategory of robotic monsters. They magically appear near dark fountains. A few fountains exist in the world, and they are believed to be the source of what little magic exists in it. Robotic monsters are usually adopted by monster families (although many used to be given as slaves once upon a time). Tenna was adopted by the Dreemurr family. 

Magic is almost non-existent. Its rare forms are present as support for less biological monsters’ bodies (like Tenna’s). All attempts to harness the dark fountains' magic were unsuccessful.

Many downed robotic monster soldiers’ bodies are analysed, and parts are used by whichever side finds them during the war. They serve as a way to further technological advances, one of the few ways to gain advantage during the war. The practice is badly viewed by the population and used to be prohibited, so it’s hushed up by news outlets (and nothing is said about the living ones that have been experimented on in secret). The practice provides very little information since robotic monsters’ inner workings are magic-dependent and cannot be artificially recreated. 

Although Tenna and Spamton would probably be American soldiers, the USAs only joined the war in 1917, and I wish to explore the war’s earlier period as well in the AU. So I’ve decided to keep their nationality non-specific for now. As far as I have decided, they are part of the Allies. (Really though, it’s probably not that important, since I’m already creating a bunch of anachronisms and logical gaps with Tenna being a 1980s TV robot and all, but I like trying to figure it out anyway).

Spamton’s benefactor uses magic to make their letters legible only to them and Spamton.

Ramb is also a part of Tenna’s section. He smuggles alcohol and other valuable goods in the trenches and sets up a small trading system. He knows something is going on with Spamton and confronts him about it, but never does again after he gets shot in the leg later that day. He survives and doesn’t want to deal with this paranormal stuff anymore. 

Tenna’s magic protects his circuitry from the terribly wet and muddy trenches. Spamton sometimes gets a couple pairs of dry socks with his letters and saves himself from trench foot before proper drainage systems are built. He might have traded a few pairs for cigarettes.

Tenna always loved music and composed pieces back home. He wrote a couple poems during the war that he later turned into songs. Some of them mention a dark-haired addison with big dreams. 

Tenna wrote often to his family back home and they would send him some goods. They eventually started sending additional gifts when they learned about Tenna’s “good friend”.

Before leaving, Spamton begrudgingly told his family about enlisting, and as he expected, they were against it. Some even joked he would get killed in the first week because of his small stature.

The benefactor’s magic is the only reason Spamton survived being blasted by an artillery shell. He was kept alive as punishment for disobeying orders, cursed to live a life ostracized and alone. His mental health slowly degraded, similarly to Deltarune’s Spamton, as time went on. His healed face and body resemble his puppet-like appearance in the game. 

I could keep going, but this reply is already way bigger than I first imagined. Sorry for the long read!