#loremaker haji

some metaphysical background. every universe has its own rules, yeah? works in slightly different ways, has slightly different game mechanics physical laws

glitchiness - the effect the glitches have on the world, as distinct from the glitchstuff itself - is what happens when you try to run software from universe a on universe b’s system, and that might not even be a metaphor

things just… don’t work quite the same way, and the glitchy entity/effect is constantly bashing into the universe, trying to work through its rules and just failing. it can be as minor as a weirdly-coloured object, but if the contrast is bad enough, you get missingno

so like, whenever someone goes out wandering the multiverse and visits a reality other than their own… they’re a little glitchy. odd numbers of fingers, wrongly-pitched voices, things like that

but it’s never, like, too bad, at least around the pokemultiverse where realities tend to run on pretty similar lines. and it usually wears off, too, as the universe and its visitor get used to each other

or if you’re bullshit omnipotent like the voices you could just whack the universe until it works the way you want it to, but they’re an exception to literally everything

so long as you’re coming from a world of your own, you can usually reach an accord

s o l o n g a s y o u ‘ r e c o m i n g f r o m a w o r l d o f y o u r o w n

because, see, here’s the thing about the void between the universes. it devours

it eats away at everything that passes through it - it eats away at the voices, that’s how overpowering it is. spend enough time in the void, and you’ll gradually slip away

all the rules that used to define you just… disappear. it gets harder and harder to fit into - any reality, there’s so much less of you than the world expects

{Trollkitten:}

ooooo

{Newbie:}

...i think i see where you're going with this 👀

{Mitzi:}

sometimes you can claw your way up the table of pokenuclides into an acceptable self again, but more often than not you get swept away by the tides of dex number radioactivity

it’s fairly easy to ward off void decay if you spend enough time in - any world, but your homeworld is best. you were made according to the rules of your native reality, and you’ll always fit into those best

but what if your world

doesn’t exist anymore?

the glitches are shadows of dead realities

seeping into others, they try desperately to take form, but more often than not, they just bring the void in with them

put too many glitches in a reality and it’ll break from the strain. another world will fall into nothingness, and whatever survivors will start to lose themselves too

all they can do is try to latch onto another world - and it’ll all happen again

different clusters of glitches have different sources. the initial bout of glitches in the tppverse - associated with OLDEN, made the glitchhaze - are the last remnants of wing and thorax’s world

the reality might still exist, but - like, even the atmosphere’s chemistry is totally different. they try to push in, to bring the world back to what they knew - and the oxygenated blue-skied world will not let them, fuck yeah the wing-and-thorax stuff is now relevant to tpp

(as to how they came back into quote-unquote existence… look. amber would never accept a world where the fossil gods were trapped in the pc forever)

(they let a few things slip to cyrus in s1!platinum and are thus personally responsible for 90% of their own problems all the way up to omega ruby)

but the current crop of glitches… they’re not from that collective

the last few seasons, my lore has been full of universes blowing up and being rebooted, culminating in the big multiversal reset in pla

the new multiverse is a much less… troubled place, on the surface, so far. but despite the best efforts of the hosts…

there are still traces

And That’s Why Forrest Is Like That (angry)

{Newbie:}

...i see

{Mitzi:}

for something i bashed together over the past couple of months this is fitting into my pre-existing lore surprisingly well

it’s tying things together. gives me a reason to still care about the glitches

thank you for bearing with me while i took over the channel

{Newbie:}

no problem :LUL:

this is... fascinating for me

{Trollkitten:}

I really like your theorem on what the glitches are and where they come from

{Mitzi:}

but seriously this is giving me… ideas about certain non-voice legacy characters

feels like a way to bring in The Consequences Of The Hosts’ Actions, which is where my lore’s been trending lately anyway

turns out, you can’t just overwrite your problems

{Trollkitten:}

yeah

{Haji:}

What did I say??? :OMEGALUL: I've been on a ramble most of the day, I honestly can't remember

{Mitzi:}

i think you asked me something weeks ago about wing and thorax’s legendaries, and it set fireworks off in my brain

{Haji:}

Ah :tppPika:

Oh my. Yeah I remember now

{Mitzi:}

i think i went, like, ‘actually that connection does make sense’ and then ‘hey wait what if all the glitches are remnants of wing and thorax’s world’ and then ‘that would explain so much of why OLDEN is like that’ and then i kept going from there

evan mourns for the happiness he lost, the god bits of OLDEN mourn for the world they destroyed

… did i ever say that OLDEN is a fusion between evan, the bits of wing and thorax that didn’t end up in amber, and a whole lot of glitchstuff that might well be the same thing actually? well, IT is

{Haji:}

Y'know? I don't think so

{Mitzi:}

it’s a story but i need to go to bed

yeah this was secretly a section of mitzi won’t shut up about the fossil gods, part 5 the whole time

coupla endnotes!

- ultra space isn’t the void between universes. it’s… more like a corridor? a path between worlds, not void itself, which is why necrozma could use it to build an interdimensional empire

- the distortion world, on the other hand…

- phancero is… one of those glitches that decayed into a real pokemon, with a little help from the voices. the last remnant of the glitchhaze, finally made real

{Haji:}

I've been playing with this…

"So let me get straight. The Glitches we've been facing were already a living, consistent problem we'll have to deal with in Abe's world?"

There were a few giggles at the Slowbro since they had left that subject a few subjects back. Still, Rhianna decided to indulge Rocket with an answer. "I actually don't know. Maybe? They seem to be related, but the Fae we dealt with were like a human catch-all term for anything they couldn't explain. Letter shaped creatures and stretches of number carvings you couldn't walk past, people getting trapped by sentient buildings, and that's not even getting into things like the walking skeletons. A lot of stuff was brushed off as hallucinations brought on by "Fae Magic" but I don't know much of anything about this "other world" business to know if any of this stuff happened in his world."

Gen I glitches are.... Fun

Somewhat related, I like to imagine Phancero came to Kay with intent (we faced it twice iirc?) that if he was brave and strong enough to master it, he's retained his powers over the Void to safely go wherever. He's the latest Glitch King because there must always be a Glitch King

Phancero itself is only a fraction of Olden's real power, but much like the Fossils often serves as a good consistent vessel

(because the gods aren't actually the Fossils we know, it's just how they most often appear)

{Mitzi:}

… damn i’ve really been neglecting What’s Phanchy Up To These Days as a lore plot thread

[And what does this mean for Kahuna Moon?]

{Trollkitten:}

So... if Kahuna Moon lost her world... is she glitched?

that could explain a lot

{Newbie:}

Moon has Zygarde and Necrozma with her so i think she's protected... for now

{Mitzi:}

personally i’m going with her starting to glitch and having a really anime plan to stop it from happening

‘i will resurrect my world!’ ‘doesn’t that literally always backfire’ ‘i’ll do it!’

{Newbie:}

so this goes from just manic grief to manic grief coupled with an underlaying self-preservation instinct 🤔

Like I'm sure the kid has figured out somewhere along the way Cyrus is with Galactic, but there's been little to tell him Cyrus is the one running the dang thing (then again, he's not the brightest host we've had).

And in turn, Cyrus looks at this little runt he's become acquainted with on the road and going "you? You're the one I keep hearing about???"

I mean, he doesn't lose his cool until the end of his pre-battle speech, but in this dialogue he makes it sound like he feels almost betrayed by the kid since it's like "I didn't expect it would be a child. My commanders have had a hard time with you... [Coldly] You're here for the Spirits, aren't you? Why? They have nothing to do with you." Like why should you care, sir? For uh... Someone who claims he doesn't care

And then after the battle, he shows the way to the warp panel in all cases but here he's like "You can take this panel to reach the Lake Pokemon, I'm going to Mt Coronet. Yes, the same place you and I first met. I will ascend the mountain and end everything. No, a new beginning for everything" and looking at the line in Platinum he's just like "I will climb the mountain where destiny awaits. I will create my new world" which just feels less poetic. XD

Also I'm not sure if we ever faced him at the Battle Tower in post game, but I find it funny on the quotes page he's all like "Hello again. It seems our fates have intertwined. But here I will break that bond!" Just admit something in you actually likes the kid XD

{Newbie:}

considering we only unlocked the battle tower in the BD revisit, probably not

{Haji:}

Makes sense. So it wouldn't come up, just kind of funny to me

I think the other thing that makes their dynamic fascinating is Cyrus has probably never met someone like Auguste. Everyone he's met has either been like-minded or annoying in their differences from what he might think is ideal. In my head this often extends to the hosts too since he thinks he can reason with those like Izzy and Karma, in their focused and serious nature, heck initially he probably saw a lot of his younger self in Napoleon, and then there's Pepe at the opposite end of the spectrum who is SO different it's infuriating how this anxious, faith-driven, sentimental sap has caused them so much trouble when everything from the way he talks to the way he depends on those around him says he should be weak. He's exactly the kind of person Cyrus can't reason with and can't understand and can't seem to squash.

And then there's Auguste who Cyrus can't relate to, but is still intrigued by.

And I'm still not sure why myself, but I'm kiiinda curious to analyze it more now that I've had this scene come up in game. I've never played DP so I didn't know how different things were between versions

But part of me wants to say Cyrus is curious because of just how free Auguste seems to be. He's not burdened by his family, he's very much against society, he goes where he wants when he wants (despite the calls for urgency),  and despite how much he clearly loves to help people, he also doesn't seem toooo miffed when others get hurt. He's someone who doesn't suppress his emotions, he's very much in control of them which allows him to keep some distance when things go bad. He's upset but about things that have happened but he never became jaded about it. Take some time to recover, then get back to business. And sure, as he gets older some of that may fade but right now he's this equally weird kid who would honestly listen to Cyrus for a while and be like "I don't know about that but..." and not judge him just have them be equally confused and fascinated how the other functions. 😂

At least that's the current thought

(this doesn't help the ongoing joke in my head as he gets older that Auguste?? You're not a bad guy, why do you keep hanging out with "villains"?)

{Popia140:}

Ooh, I think the idea of Auguste being in complete control of his emotions around other people sorta meshes with my headcanon of him having fallen into a depression in the past, but now, since he has control of his life, he REALLY means it with his emotions- yes, he does have negative thoughts towards himself, but he can be totally calm around others and things that are not in his control 

{Haji:}

Exactly. He has his regrets, but few would know it if they didn't already know what he's been through. But he's not stoic about either. He'll either change the subject or if it's something he's okay with, he'll retell the tale with excitement and flourish how it's just one of his many adventures. Or he might shrug it off. Depends on which incident they heard about

{Popia140:}

Auguste, I feel, is one of the most mentally strong of the group, imo

{Haji:}

Probably. Which is also kind of impressive because of how young he is in my head.

{Popia140:}

Honestly, I didn’t really know what was the big thing that made him depressed in the past (probably because I didn’t know what to put, lol)

I headcanon him as like, 17-18

{Haji:}

I have him around 11-14 somewhere in that range 😂

He's a little pickpocket working on up the ladder to conartist :LUL: they grow up so fast

{Popia140:}

But I guess one of the big events [that made him depressed] would be a public failure- I imagined him to be some sort of performer, and his mom put a lot of pressure on him for winning the big prize and being the best performer, but massively screwed up during the big finishing move that involved bird Pokémon, and broke his ankle in the process- not the greatest way to go out and quit Pokémon Contests :BibleThump:

{Haji:}

Awww

{Popia140:}

Which could explain his hesitance for bird Pokémon and Pokémon contests

{Haji:}

Yeah

{Popia140:}

And one of the most saddest parts was that while he was performing that big move, he actually felt some happiness in the spotlight instead of sneaking around as usual like he does

{Haji:}

My hc is he's got some mother issues. He and "Mom" (I don't think she got a name in DP?) don’t get along very much, and part of that is because of her first love being the spotlight, second on wistful memories of her time in it, and maybe him in third. She does care, but seeing how he's a troubled middle school dropout who gets his thrills from getting "free" stuff, she doesn't really talk about him much to her friends. She worries about him, they've had talks before, but she's kind of embarrassed by him

Worst trouble is, he knows it. He'd like to make her proud of him one of these days, but that's just not... Him? He could try to be what she wants and be miserable about it, or he can just do what he's good at, and let her have her spotlight without him. Part of the reason he even got into the business was to avoid going home. He still comes home though when he needs a place but Barry legit didn't know that often times when Auguste crashes at his place or they meet up at the lake and stuff, it's because he's not been home in like a week.

It's alright though. Odds are, mom isn't home anyway

I would say he cleans up eventually but PFFFFFFHAHAHA adult hcs aren't much better

{Popia140:}

It’s the “being a Pokémon trainer” business, right?

{Haji:}

.... .... .... Sure. :Pika:

{Popia140:}

I honestly don’t know :BibleThump:

oh wait its gotta be the thieving biz

{Haji:}

Yeah. XD

Which started in day 1 because DP differences had him steal a Pokemon from Rowan to defend himself and chat just ran with it throughout the rest of the run.

Including this even this late in the game made me laugh it's still going

[Screenshot of chat in which Twitch user Abstrection says ‘go pick pocket that guy’] 

{Popia140:}

:LUL:

{Haji:}

We got to our first door and found out we didn't have the key, so Chat was teasing about going to nearest Grunt we dodged earlier

{Popia140:}

The Voices: being a bad influence

Auguste: okay with it, but only for stealing

{Haji:}

Only bad people, right?

Voices: ... Riiiighht. [Teaches Thief to Pika]

And yeah, Auguste is actually a good kid. I'd say he has ways of getting what he wants, but he's not manipulative or anything. Just a bit of a liar with sticky fingers.

{captwaddledoo:}

gina aceattorney...

{Haji:}

I'm not familiar with the name

{captwaddledoo:}

she's from the great ace attorney games. she's also a pickpocket

{Haji:}

Ah okay XD

But yeah, Rowan at first took the kid under his wing since he can see Auguste was in need of some guidance. Besides, school wasn't for him, maybe he's more of a hands-on learner. Put him to work in the fields and he may be able to turn his life around. :Burrito1:

But then game events happened

And it's not like Rowan has given up on him, quite the opposite I like to think Auguste does look up to him as a parental figure and has come to his and Dawn's rescue on more than one occasion. It's just Rowan that as things with Team Galactic has played out, poor Rowan doesn't want to encourage this, but they can all agree they may need to utilize Auguste's "skill set".

 {Trollkitten:}

Larry: [Sighs] I don't make the rules. Believe me, I've tried.

kek

{Newbie:}

i take it his "boss" is Wyatt? and if so... what's Wyatt's investment in all of this? 🤔

{Haji:}

I think most of those aware of all this are invested in the fixing of the universe right now (whether it be the colliding or separating of worlds, it's really shaking things). Question then is who all knows about it? Although I laugh to think Wyatt is staying out but urgently keeping tabs through Larry because they realized how unstable Paldea is during Scarlet. If it's getting worse, we don't want to risk anyone else getting corrupted by all this, so send in someone both already corrupt and has control of themselves around Glitchery 😂 More specifically, I guess Wyatt would be concerned about a Randomized region full of Pokemon that shouldn't exist because his was much the same. His Pokemon are now one of a kind that the world straightened out but they were born in chaos

{Trollkitten:}

For some reason I feel like whatever the anniversary run is will be important to making connections between RV+ and the anniversary run. I'm certain that there must be some connection (a bold claim to make when we don't even know what that run is, but I have a hunch that can't be ignored), I just have no way of knowing what it is rn I guess if anyone's qualified to investigate this mess, it's probably Larry

{Haji:}

Same. As I said before, it's too early but I just feel like anniversary could be a big one

{Brespawn:}

Beating Nemona is friendly engagement, right?

I'm now imagining Terra starting a fist fight against Nemona. :tppLUL:

{Haji:}

I really enjoy the battle system. I've been trying to study different dance styles to make each one unique in how it functions.

I would normally be all like "shhh spoilers" but considering the story hasn't had an update in like five years, it seems silly to ask you to wait. It's a separated at birth situation. Why though is because I play a lot with destiny in the TPP universe especially having a single timeline in a seemingly cyclonic world

Timeline wise as you may have noticed while reading, this is actually before original Platinum

{Popia140:}

oooh! Did not know that! :Begwan:

So I was right with the separated at birth theory!

{Haji:}

Yeeeaaah.... [Pepe’s religious background] was one of the factors in my nervousness. At the time I preceded every Author Note basically going "Look, my lore is weird. Don't eat me" or something because I knew even if that's how it played in my head, I was scared of "going against the grain" with what everyone else was doing. Which mostly was Pepe the Frog memes and artistic snob portrayal

{Popia140:}

Personally, I felt that the artistic snob sort of personality didn’t mesh well with his shyness (in my opinion, it’s just a matter of taste), but I imagine that if he did paint, it would be out of a sort of therapy for his trauma under the voices and the crazy things he experienced in his life… or he just wanted to paint a cute Skitty because he has a weakness for cute things :Begwan:

Could go both ways, imo

Also, who was the girl during the blackout at the Ravaged Path?

{Haji:}

I can see that. In fact, after Ultra events, I like to imagine he does a lot of art for that reason. Still trying to remember things and drawing out memories to make sense of it. His friends can remind him of things they recognize or talk to him about some of the more disturbing images

[The girl in the Ravaged Path] would be Mindy! The Candice replacement in this world. She was a Psychic Trainer and portrayed as a showman, but Fossil wise, I had her with Cover

{Popia140:}

Napoleon is mentioned by Pearl in the story, so I’m assuming they must have met when they were very young- where did Napoleon end up? And did Pepe learn that Napoleon was his older brother in the end, maybe after-game?

{Krizste:}

What if Pepe uses art snobism to cover his shyness. Like he's trying to appear..... Whatever the word is.. not-shy, but It just looks like snobism

{Newbie:}

Confident?

{Krizste:}

Yeah that word!

Tryna pull of confidence but just being really jank about it

{Haji:}

Given what people probably expect of him as Napoleon's brother, I can imagine him putting on that kind of face  at parties :Jebaited:

Napoleon went to stay with Aunt Grace and Richard while all this was going on. Honestly never knew he had a brother until after Ultra events. Which finding out after that just made him worse about the whole... Trying to murder Pepe multiple times while not himself thing. Pepe woke up at the villa after they got back home only to learn it's been months he's been in a coma (time shenanigans. He made sure Leo was able to wake up in the "canon" timeline in order to stop Cyrus but it seems in a weird way, Pepe took his place. Missed everything during the Bill Overlord events and was too injured to do the Unova stuff with Cly, but Leo knew he was okay enough to go with the other S1 hosts)

Pepe on the other hand found out about Napoleon during his journey, so he knew  about it WAY ahead of Leo but they still didn't meet for.... Some time??? Again, Pepe becoming a time traveler at the end of his run makes his lore in my timeline hilariously screwy

{Krizste:}

Oh yeah who was it that lost his head again? Was that pepe

{Haji:}

Yup

{Popia140:}

Ahh thanks for the answers!!

Napoleon completely in the dark about it, lol

Did their mother separate them at birth?

{Haji:}

Sort of. With Forrest's [Gardenia] backstory I was going to get more into the pre-RPlat / pre-Red war stuff that was going on when he was a kid. Gravund [Roark] and the boys would have been too little to remember but Forrest was a little younger than Pepe is now so he's got some scars from it. Basically the family got split up when fleeing the violence so Johanna has Leo with her and thought her husband and other son didn't make it. Pepe was taken to Hearthome like many other war orphans but while it wasn't separated at birth they were both around maybe one or two years old at most

And before you ask about their father, I had an idea and then I wasn't sure but I've been on the fence about things so let's just leave him as a giant question mark

{Popia140:}

Aw, that’s sad for them :BibleThump: the Quinnels never really got to bond as bros

{Haji:}

Yeah... But things are peaceful for next several decades (next Sinnoh run wasn't until Gauntlet), so they've got time. Help out with the others when duty calls, but even many of the other hosts know they can go to Napoleon's palace to get away from things for a while. Cly's mansion is often a nice hang out but it also happens to be the gang's base of operations in secret so there's always some level of alert since Unova isn't as stable as Sinnoh is. (And besides, for Aaaaaall the trauma of Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn seeming to be in a consistent state of peril, Sinnoh is lovingly close by for Leo and Pepe to give a sense of normalcy for the newbies)

{Popia140:}

Aww, a happy ending :Burrito2:

{Haji:}

I love these two so much, but my gosh I feel bad for what I put them through. I feel bad for most of the hosts I wrote for, but good lord did these two need a happy ending

{Popia140:}

They def deserved it, they went through so much

{Haji:}

[cough] can I tell you a secret? |D

{Popia140:}

yea sure

{Haji:}

Even though I stopped writing it, this is the story that has never left my mind. I've actually continued working on it, but never posted and one of my goals is to continue at some point if I ever get my projects in order

Sometimes I'll just be watching a show or something and get reminders of the characters and how much I miss them

[Bonus: a mildly out-of-order side tangent from Haji’s comment about the TPP universe being cyclical]

{Trollkitten:}

In my headcanon, the TPP-verse is cyclical the same way the Zeldaverse is cyclical. All of this has happened before, and it will happen again.

{Haji:}

Yup! Though why is always different in my books partially because the villains have different motives each time (and adds to why they think it would be any different this time because they're not like the last guy who did)

{Newbie:}

i vibe with the idea of the universe just breaking down and getting rebuilt over and over again, reality in smithereens and then being rebuilt from the ground up... or just completely coming up with entirely new plots while disregarding canon :Kappa:

{Mitzi:}

my lore somehow manages to do both. frequently at the same time

{Newbie:}