Thread:Dr0Shadow/@comment-28071061-20131125151708

The Marchen is a fear created by the creator of the mythos, CuteWithoutThe. It hasn't appeared in any stories for we haven't created a page for it. I was originally really hostile towards it since it had a lot of elements of other fears, but I've warmed up to it and I like it much more than I originally did.

Anyway, here's all the info on it:

The Marchen is named after a type of folk tale told in Germany, because the idea behind the Fear is turning our wildest fantasies, wishes, and personal childhood fairy tales, into something gruesome.

This is how the Fear works. The Marchen is a living meme or story. As in, it grows stronger each time a human encounters it. Once a human encounters a form of the Marchen, the human is caught in a childhood fantasy of their, or some other type of entrapment that would be ideal to hold the human as long as possible with the human attempting to escape. For example, maybe a bedtime story a protagonist is particularly attached to could be used against them.

The human is trapped. The longer they stay in the Marchen, the harder it is for them to leave. If they figure it all out, and try to escape... everything changes. Their best fantasies turn into their worst nightmares. Their supposedly perfect fantasy, their spotless childhood, is flipped over, and dark truths emerge. All of their phobias, all of everything, is used against them in this world.

The Marchen does not kill its victims. It absorbs them into itself, and feeds off their energy. If you are caught inside of it, and you reach the point of no return, you are stuck inside of it forever.

Stuck in either a neverending fantasy that becomes a dull torture or an eternal nightmare that becomes your own personal hell.

There is another fate for victims. Some victims are recycled, and the Marchen uses these victims to lead others into the Marchen.

While most of the Fear was built upon my concepts, this next part of the Fear is pure Visitor craziness.

The Marchen uses/recycles victims to expose others to its memetic properties. The Marchen sets these humans into a collective based off a motif or theme. Different motifs are used for different people, as the Marchen is feeding off the person's mind, but I am using a chess motif because it is the easiest example, and the most common one. An example for another one would be for rank motif for a soldier.

The Pawns are human victims of the Marchen. Their connection to the Marchen varies, but they are always used for its benefit. The Marchen views capturing humans as a game, like a chess game, and it uses Pawns like a normal chess player would use pawns. Pawns can be cultists of the Marchen, or just normal people exposed to its memetic presence. Basically, normal people affected by it.

The Knights are the classification the Marchen gives to allied Fears. Any Fear that somehow figures into its "game", or is currently helping the Marchen due to a common goal, is pushed into this classification. Otherwise, the Fear does not have any relation to the Marchen, other than being on the board.

Knights move in a way unlike any other piece on the board, and are able to bypass other pieces (basically the chess equivalent of their eldritch nature and their ability to use Godsway).

The Bishop is like a herald or evangelist. It spreads the memetic presence of the Marchen, which exposes others to it. Just like how the bishops in actual chess move diagonally, which mimics non-confrontational behavior, the Marchen's bishops move in an unpredictable and sneaky way.

The Rooks are denizens. They are the creatures that lurk under your nightmares. For example, if your fantasy included a dancing tea kettle, the Rook would be the actual creature hiding underneath that Disney-esque cartoon mask. They are generally the direct arbitrators of the Marchen's will, but they do follow the promoted Queen. They are like the Marchen's equivalent of proxies, but they are not human in nature.

Examples: paper ballerinas, tenfold copies of a faithful hound missing most of his head, slightly 'off' versions of parents and relatives

The Queens are eldritch beings created by the ascension of a victim to becoming the ruler of their fantasy. These are usually the victims with the strongest wills. They are similar in nature to the Fears, but since they are still at their core, at the root of their being, is a fragile human psyche, they are incapable of ascending to true power. Despite what their delusions tell them.

Most of them follow the Marchen's will instinctually, but many of them often become independent. They cannot, however, ever bring joy to the world, or ever get back in touch with their humanity.

They're pretty much destined to fuck everything up. No matter what they do, it always ends up to the benefit to the Marchen. They can try to help people, but due to the Marchen's curse, and because of their loss of humanity, it's futile.

The King is the Marchen itself. He controls all the pieces on the board. Unlike the other pieces, the King cannot be captured. Sure, you can put him in check or checkmate, but you cannot kill him off; well of course you can't because he's a Fear, but still.

He rarely attacks directly; he uses the other pieces for that. He also usually doesn't appear directly. He generally appears in a position of royalty, and when a victim appears, he "crowns' them.

The chess board is the world.

The chess motif is where the "triumph over difficulty" theme of the Marchen genre comes into play. The Marchen sees every victim as a challenge, as a game, and the series of chess games represent the hard work the Marchen puts into capturing a victim.

It sort of flips the hardworking type of human protagonist around and morphs it into an eldritch antagonist.

I mentioned the memetic idea of The Marchen earlier. That idea does not focus on the internet idea of a meme, but rather on a common story told type of meme. Such as a fairy tale!

A common form the Marchen takes on is a book. This offers an interesting parallel to the Blind Man. The Blind Man is about forgetting your childhood memories, while The Marchen is focused on absorbing his victims through their childhood memories.

I'm not going to put it into a determined Fear of aspect yet. Instead, I'll let you guys work that out.

There are common themes to it, that tramples upon already-established Fears. This is why it is an AU Fear.

- Letting yourself become too entrenched and absorbed in your past, and letting who you were then define who you are for the rest of your life.

- The loss of innocence when you come of age. When you look back upon your past and see things in a horrible new light.

- The Fantasy taking aspects of your life, and of you, and changing them into aspects that hurt you or the ones you care for in your life.

- Taking advantage of your desire to escape from your ordinary life.

Please don't add a page for it. Like I said before the Marchen hasn't appeared in anything so it shouldn't have a page. 