The Path of Dread is the setting used by the World of Fear Wikia. It has existed, in some form of another, since January 2013, originating as an unofficial RP. As of October 2nd, 2014 the entire verse went through a major reboot. This reboot has been ongoing in some form or another since late-2015, and the original founder of the site has been replaced. The Wiki, and therefore, the verse, changed entirely. Lord Dalek, who had been there from the very beginning, said: "We got to Cthulhu fighting Slender Man and losing. Where else do we go? It was inevitable."
Itterations[]
Itteration 1[]
Synopsis[]
The first iteration of the Path Of Dread started in January 2013. This iteration of the world was a reality in which Fears were just one of many pantheons of divine beings, including the Abrahamic God, the Greek and Hindu gods, and the creatures of the Cthulhu mythos. The central plot of the RP more or less followed a Slenderproxy by the name of Kiba being targeted by all the other Fears in order to get at her master, who for some fucking reason had romantic feelings towards her, and followed the development of their relationship and Kiba's inevitable rise to being the Queen of Fears. Eventually The Great Old Ones decided to return plunging the world into a war between them and the Fears. Vermont (I think) got nuked off the face of the earth. A man named Nathaniel Schwartz who inherited the Fear research organization Black Eden from the man who would become Jack decided to turn the moon into what he liked to call a "death-star". Slenderman was revealed to actually be the Greek god Erebus for some fucking reason. Eventually Cthulhu was talked into being nice and stopping the war, but unfortunately for everyone involved, the stress placed on the world by the war caused reality to shatter.
All Fears in this universe used to be human, and a human could become a Fear by killing one and eating it's soul.
An incomplete record of the early events of this iteration can be read here .
New Fears[]
List is incomplete, as there were so many new Fears by the time it ended that it was impossible to keep track of all of them.
- The Reveler: A portrayal of the Fear of Addiction, representing excess, Frenzy, and losing yourself. Takes the form of a large Satyr.
- The Pendulum: A portrayal of the Fear of The Future. A mass of machinery and clockwork that fits together into a working frame, it silently observes time and essentially acts as a spectator of all things that have been, will be, or currently are.
- The Pale Maiden: A portrayal of the Fear of Memory, specifically representing loss. She mainly appears as a young woman in a parka, and appears in locations typically absent of human presence, such as parks or alleyways in late night periods, or forested areas with little human interaction, and steals people's memories.
- The Typhoon: A portrayal of the Fear of Nature, specifically representing storms and natural disasters. Basically a kaiju, but not to be confused with the servants of Eff Minus also known as Kaiju.
- Eff-Minus: A portrayal of The Fear of Ourselves representing failure. The Fear form of the aforementioned Kiba Thompson. Had way too many sets of twins with Erebus. Too fucking many.
- BLANKQUEEN: A portrayal of The Fear of Ourselves, representing unrestricted freedom and chaos. Appeared as a pale skinned woman with black (and later blood red) hair, chalk white skin, pitch black eyes and a gashed mouth full of pointy teeth. Thematically tied to death and rebirth. Former lover of the Dying Man before he was shattered.
New Concepts[]
- Fireveined - Servants of the Burning Bride, who are literally always burning on the inside.
- Doormen - Servants of The Empty City loosely based on Contractors from Pandora Hearts.
- Phobiums - The Fear equivalent of Demigods from Greek Mythology. What you get when humans bone Fears.
- The Cheshire Cat - a Bastard interdimensional cat which everyone hated. Fuck this guy.
- In addition, any supernatural being you can imagine probably existed in this iteration. Succubi, Vampires, Werewolves, you name it.
Iteration 2[]
Sub-Iterations[]
Iteration 2.1[]
Iteration 2 officially began in October 2014, but didn't really take off until mid 2015. Got off to a good start, but then the current head admin brought in a plot about a being called The Fear of Fear that mostly involved two paramilitary groups fighting in the middle of the Georgia Forests, and ended in the world getting nuked.
Iteration 2.2[]
The actual proper reboot. Following the Cthulhu War in the first iteration, reality broke apart in an event known as The Shattering. Eventually, reality began to piece itself back together, though not every piece went where it should, creating a superficially similar but fundamentally different world. No longer were there multiple pantheons of Gods. Fears were once again the most powerful entities in reality, and now mostly functioned like abstract forces of nature with a few exceptions. Angels and Demons still existed, but were the universe was actively trying to erase them. The scope of the story was much smaller, following an ensemble cast in the ever shifting city/college town of Damascus, Georgia slowly uncovering the secrets of the Fears and trying to survive and not go insane.
A mostly complete archive of this iteration can be read here . Referred to as "Season 2", it's broken up into 3 distinct acts, with the first half of Act 1 currently lost to Skype.
Iteration 2.3[]
Following the end of the third act of Iteration 2.2, Damascus, Georgia was torn from reality, and it's surviving citizens were displaced across the world with new memories. As they slowly begin to remember the events of Iteration 2.2, time begins to fall apart around them as reality attempts to correct itself once more. This officially considered to be the third "season" and is the current iteration of the RP. A summary of events up until now can be read here .
New Fears[]
- The Siren: A portrayal of the Fear of Ourselves, representing failure and self hatred. She manifests as an idealized reflection of her victims, taunting them over their perceived flaws and telling them they'd be better off dead. The new universe's reconstruction of parts of BLANKQUEEN and Eff Minus.
- The Blank: A portrayal of the Fear of Ourselves, representing anonymity and how people behave when free from consequences. A living meme, The Blank infects people who feel stifled by society, and pushes them to unshackle themselves from the world, eventually freeing them from their own identity, becoming a part of the collective that is The Blank. Full members of this collective all share the same will and desire to oppose structure of any kind, and cannot be recognized as individuals, having given up their unique face and identity. A large part of the plot was about the birth of this Fear.
- The King of All Beasts: A portrayal of the Fear of Nature and the Fear of Ourselves, representing Brutality, Animosity, and sadism. Based on The Rake, The King is far more intelligent and articulate, and has a fondness for the music of Frank Sinatra.
- The Man Who Calls Himself Apollo: A portrayal of the Fear of Control, representing the fear of being objectified. Manifests as a store run by a man with golden eyes and long red hair, who turns victims into instruments that look like naked people.
- The Pristine: Ostensibly a portrayal of The Fear of Stagnation, it mainly existed as a way for the current head admin to shoehorn gorgons into the new RP. On it's way out as of iteration 2.3
- The Masquerade: A portrayal of the Fear of Memory, the Fear of Miscommunication, and the Fear of Being Replaced. It specifically represents lies, deceit, and manipulation, and manifests as a doppelganger who will say and do horrible things, for which you will suffer the consequences.
- Variola Carnalis (The Venereal): A portrayal of the Fear of Guilt and the Fear of temptation, specifically representing western views on sex as something both desirable and shameful. Based on The Red Cap, The Veneral is a sentient eldritch STD that infects those who, at the time of contraction, were breaking either a marital bond or a bond of trust with another partner.
- The Ice Man: Occasionally written iCEMAN, he is a portrayal of the Fear of Control specifically representing the fear of being watched, observed, followed, and most important of all, being recorded. He manifests as the silhouette of a man behind a red curtain sitting sideways to all those who look at it, his legs lay crossed as he sits in a director's chair, with a camera in front of him facing towards the left wall. His appearances are often heralded by the sound of a mechanical whirring similar to that of an old film projector, and he is known to trap victims in pocket dimensions where they are forced to enact absurd and often horrifying film scenes which usually leave them traumatized.
- SeaKingTruth.com: A portrayal of the Fear of Addiction and Depersonalization representing drowning in ones obsessions. Manifests as an internet forum which attracts those with obsessive personalities, encouraging and feeding said obsessions to the point of becoming all consuming.
New Concepts[]
- The Shattering - A manifestation of the will of the universe to reassemble itself. Manifests as invisible fractures in reality. Possibly a Fear, potentially being a dual portrayal of the Fear of Stagnation and The Future, representing an unwillingness to change and an aversion to new experiences.
- Phobiums - Humans who either escaped servitude under a Fear (how exactly they do this is unknown) or escaped the Great Game. As a result of their connection with the Fear stalking or enslaving them being cut, they gain some inhuman abilities and detriments. A full list can be found on the Phobiums page at the RP Fear Wiki.
- The Involuti - Eldritch Fae like beings created from reassembled fragments of memories and emotions broken in The Shattering.
- Witches - Human women born with marks that allow them to abuse the fractured nature of reality and partially modify it it to their will. This power is known as "magic".
- Bliss - A supernatural drug made out of phosphorescent white flowers that grow in graveyards. Gives those who take it euphoric visions of a paradise beyond this world called Elysium where pain and suffering do not exist. Highly addictive, those who take it are filled with an overwhelming desire to return to Elysium, and many who are unable to continue to buy the drug end up taking their own lives to return. The drug is controlled by the cult/criminal syndicate known as The Timberwolves. Potentially a Fear, possibly being a portrayal of Addiction and Depersonalization.
- Strigoi - Founded upon a curse invoked over a hundred years ago, these souls are processed by recurrently malevolent forces which push them beyond the limits of the sound of mind and body. Through ritualistic sacrifice, these unfortunates have let into themselves entities far beyond their power which crave destruction and consumption at it's very basest nature. Seeking out victims in the night, processed Strigoi have been known to kidnap, flay, disembowel, and consume the blood of their human quarry. They can be detected by their pure black eyes. Connected in some way to The Veneral.
- Cheshire Shards - The Cheshire Shards are a trio of three Gods: Charlotte, Incognito, and Introvert (only one of them named themselves), who all used to be part of a much larger entity known as The Cheshire Cat, a primordial being which has since gotten bored with, and left this universe. They were all systematically killed by The Shattering.