#information stand

Saw a few people in a Starlight Express server I'm in were interested in my lore expansion AU and had AU/headcanon blogs of their own, so I decided to start one myself! This AU is not a complete rewrite of StEx, but rather a VERY large expansion on the canon, including other vehicles aside from trains, a magic system, and social/political things among vehicles to name a few. This AU also includes the perspectives of other groups, mainly electric engines and humans. Though this AU is mostly fantastical, it does take inspiration and basis in some actual history in some parts, but do not expect this AU to be entirely accurate. I would like to thank @mercury-arc-rectifier's wisdom for inspiring this AU (Or rather, inspiring me to entirely rewrite my imagining of Starlight Express' outer lore) and helping me find sources for research when needed.

It may be annoying to go around the museum without guidance, so I've made a few tags for organizing topics: The Lobby - General lore relating to all vehicles

Exhibit A, The Tracks - Everything relating to trains, more accurately everything relating to Starlight Express. This will probably be the most active tag

Exhibit B, The Roads - Everything relating to other land vehicles, mainly automobiles and cycles/velocipedes

Exhibit C, The Skies - Everything relating to aircrafts

Exhibit D, The Seas - Everything relating to maritime

Exhibit E, The Stars and Smiles - The miscellaneous vehicle tag, mainly for any spacecraft or amusement rides. While these two categories are much more rare and not usually classified as "vehicles" (especially amusement rides), they still have the same kind of souls as regular vehicles

Delivered Letters - Answers to your asks

Archive Cabinet - Reblogs

Information Stand - Announcements

5$ Blind Box - Shitposts and random stuff

A few disclaimers and notes

Unfiction/unreality(?) (Not really sure how the unreality tag works on here), oppression, religion, and mechanical body horror/unrealistic gore are reoccurring themes in this AU. If you find any of these things triggering, explore with caution or avoid this altogether.

This AU is not specific to any one production, but it does not have all the different productions together separately. I instead put things from different productions together into one big mixing pot. If this AU were one production however, it would be set in the early Bochum production.

「ＨＥＡＶＹ ＤＩＲＴＹ ＳＯＵＬ」 is a stand bound to a massive, ancient anchor. The user is unable to move away from it without experiencing intense mental strain. 

When a non-user touches the anchor, they are temporarily left in a state of hallucinating euphoria, as if they have been struck by lightning that causes joy instead of pain. If the user touches anyone in this state, they may enter their victim’s mind and explore it freely.

「ＢＬＡＣＫＳＴＡＲ」 is an integrated stand visible only by the user’s black irises. When the user focuses their vision on any object (including a person) and consciously activates their stand ability, the focused-upon object becomes the only thing the user is able to see; it will appear as though the object is floating in an otherwise black “void”.

In addition to the remarkable capability for tracking, a secondary effect steadily builds as long as the user remains focused on an object. The “void” in which the object appears will begin to manifest imagery reflecting either the object’s own unconscious state, if it has one, or the unconscious states of anyone who interacts with said object. For example, if the user focused on a weapon and later “witnessed” a murder using that weapon, they may see the scene as a wrathful monster wielding the weapon within the void. Such images are extremely faint and indecipherable at first, but steadily grow brighter and more intricate-- eventually, overwhelmingly so.

「ＫＩＮＧ ＡＮＤ ＬＩＯＮＨＥＡＲＴ」 is an automatic tool stand that manifests as a sword and shield in the user’s hands when somebody nearby lies. This person becomes the stand’s “target”. However, the sword and shield are not only invisible to non-users, but usually intangible even to other stands. Though potentially deadly, they require some finesse to use properly.

When “cut” by the intangible sword, the target will be compelled to lie in their next statement. In addition, the target’s body will “remember” these potential wounds in 2 stages: if someone besides the user tells the target they are lying, the potential wound becomes an “impending wound”. When the user dismisses their stand, all impending wounds are immediately applied.

「ＢＥＨＩＮＤ ＴＨＥＳＥ ＨＡＺＥＬ ＥＹＥＳ」 is a long-distance stand with two extremely potent abilities that rely on “indirect” eye contact. First, the user must be caught in some piece of media, such as photo, video, drawing, etc. When someone catches the prerecorded user’s eye, the user immediately knows their viewer’s location. This effect persists until a different person activates the effect on a different piece of media. While not directly harmful, this “location lock” is easily paired with mundane weaponry.

Second, if the situation is reversed and the user locks eyes with a person captured in media, they are temporarily invisible to that person until they break eye contact.

「ＴＨＥ ＴＨＥＲＭＡＬＳ」 is an integrated stand which causes objects or places which have been touched or interacted with by humans to become red-hot, but only to the user. The more recent the human interaction, the hotter. 

More specifically, the stand allows-- or perhaps forces-- the user to feel a secondhand physical manifestation of the passion or intensity of others.

「Ｉ ＷＡＳ ＴＩＲＥＤ ＴＨＲＥＥ ＨＯＵＲＳ ＡＧＯ」manifests as a third eye on the user’s forehead. WIth it, the user is able to see something that definitely did not happen in the past. The user is able to specify any past time, but their sight range is unaffected. They cannot see a distant place, only a distant time. For example, if the user stared at a footprint in mud, they would see something or someone that definitely did not leave the footprint.