#hlvrai gods au

[voomity]

“Oh shit an employee”

“We’re totally getting kicked out.”

“Nah nah nah i got this”

“What do y-“

[crossfalconx5]

“ I put in this weird headset, then… “

——————— more of this stupid au(s?) and yes, expect more.

(once again inspired by a post by @quackkryak )

[bbeeohazardd]

krita crashed two times while i was working on this and i'm still annoyed about it

n e ways ghost au! i recently remembered @pistachi0art 's Ghost Au and decided to draw what my HLVRAI oc Stein would look like in that au because i thought it'd be fun!

basic story stuff under cut bc it got too long and i like less crowded organization lol

basic story beats were that he was living with his uncle Edward Nikita(not pictured) due to his uncle living in a place that gave him more job opportunities than where his parents lived, but then he ended up digging a bit too deep into strange happenings involving his uncle and his uncle ended up killing him(unclear exactly how it happened but electrocution was involved hence his whole appearance) and dumping his body somewhere in the woods to avoid any unwanted eyes on him

now Stein just kinda mainly resides in an abandoned power plant, but he also hangs out with Benrey sometimes, which is how he ends up meeting Gordon and Joshua, that first meeting is him freaking out about Joshua being in his building because holy shit this place is SO not structurally sound and children are SO squishy oh my god???? why did you bring him here???? but after that things are chill, also he's somehow related to Bubby, probably a relative on his mom's side? unclear! but that's a thing(actual Stein lore is so complicated and i've barely shared any of it i'm so sorry)

but yeah, other than all of that he just generally hangs out, he's SO chill if you ignore the all consuming rage

[voidsickness]

GORDON FREEMAN SHOWDOWN!!!

gordon freeman. you know him. you love him. but which gordon is the ULTIMATE FREEMAN? i wracked my brain for every popular gordon freeman related au i could think of and this is the result. brackets and links to the polls will be under the cut. if any of the creators wish to have their gordon/au removed, please let me know.

SIDE ONE

freeman [hlvrv] vs. swap [hlvrv]

doc [hlvrv] vs. kittle [hlvrv]

freeman's mind vs. gordon freeman [hlvrai]

gorgeous freeman vs. gordon freeman [half-life]

SIDE TWO

loverboy [hlvrv] vs. gordon freeman [vry2k]

gordon freeman [ccy2k] vs. gordon freeman [hlvrc]

gordon freeman [toon!hlvrai] vs. gordon freeman [swap!au @ sweetmugs]

captain gordon freeman [pirate!au @ melonsharks] vs. gordon freeman [the-xen-project]

[blackmesa-researcher]

Fucked up HLVRAI/Half Life mermaid au idea

Black Mesa knows about mermaids/sirens. They also eventually figure out how to make them. However, the mermaids they make aren't based off of any real existing fish. They figured out how to pick and choose traits and make some pretty awful abominations that are a mix of different fish species just because they can even if it is unethical as hell and many test subjects die.

To do these experiments, they pick disposable employees like security guards, or scientists who fuck up enough and won't be missed. They bring them in in the guise of a promotion, then they make their own fucked up mermaids. "Volunteers" are also accepted when it's either do this or Black Mesa makes sure you and your remains are never found.

They then keep them in a big tank, Sea World style because fuck them both.

Their goal with this project is to study mermaids but also be able to send one of their own down into the ocean to possibly mingle with a school and learn more information.

You could probably guess that this would fuck them up pretty bad mentally. :)

But yeah, take the AU where you will uwu

[pistachi0art]

Some hlvrai artist way back when made a howls moving castle au w/ Gordo and Ben and I’m feeling all sorts of ways thinking of Gordo breaking down and yelling that he’s never once been beautiful in his entire life :(( LIKE

[hlvrai-parable-au]

THE NARRATOR WOULD ABSOLUTELY ARGUE WITH GORDON ABOUT IT AND STANLEY WOULD DROP A TAKE THATS SO WILD ITD SHUT THEM BOTH UP. Like I'm imagining one of the few times stanley signs, it's to sign "Chuck E Cheese is a Casino for children" and then walks away

HELPPPPP HE WOULD FUCKING DO THAT. Gordon and the Narrator immediately unite in trying to argue that that's fucking stupid and Benrey is egging both of them on by being the most annoying ever and none of them notice what ending Stanley's going for until the whole facility explodes

[h0undeye]

spice up your highschool aus by making them lollipop chainsaw aus instead

obviously theres gonna be some narrative changes. like i feel like tommys reason for being a villain should be something really miniscule and petty, since this is hlvrai after all. like benrey steals his beyblade collection and so Obviously the next logical step is to bring about the apocalypse. this is what happens when gman raises a teenager i guess. also bubby isnt,,,, weird about benrey like morikawa was about juliet

elizabeth starling is dr coomers famed ex wife

i think all the dark purveyors and zombies will just stay as they are since uhh mm im lazy

i think darnold and forzen would be rescue classmates btw

[sapphiresartblog]

Can I interest you in a vaguely thought out hlvrai fairytale au in these trying times?

[deedjre]

i didn't feel like fixing up the shading or adding any other glows or anything after finishing so it's not AS good as it could be, but whatever. here's a redraw for the second anniversary of my hlvrai au :)

[kraviolis]

i love u guys ty for being so patient w me while i sort everything out even tho i know so many of u want to see more from the AU i made!! i just gotta wait for this gluten to get outta my system and for my body to get used to my anxiety meds and hopefully i can make more art :-)

[holdyourbreathfornow]

Chapters: 1/17 Fandom: Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Gordon Freeman & John Freeman, Gordon Freeman & Ivan Freeman, John Freeman & Ivan Freeman, More to be added - Relationship Characters: Gordon Freeman, John Freeman (Half Life: Full Life Consequences), Ivan Freeman, Other Character Tags to Be Added, minor OCs Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, High Fantasy AU, Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, More tags to be added Summary:

Gordon Freeman, a blacksmith who works with his brother and his uncle in the town of Black Mesa, is more than happy to spend his days working the forge and scaring off that asshole trying to marry his brother.

There are events far more complex than that waiting for him down the road, however.

A Beauty and the Beast fusion!

~

This is finally finished!  Literally been working on this thing for ten months, and now that it’s done I’m so excited to share it!  Hope y’all like it!!!

[a-substantial-trash-pile]

Studio TV Solutions presents Half Life VR but the AI are Self-Aware (2020) [not a real movie]. A movie with a totally improv’d script starring a moltey crew who are sure to give you a rip-roarin’ good time!

anyway hi new au just dropped. i’m calling it HLVRAIM. it’s HLVRAI but it’s a blockbuster movie and the science team are played by actors. i have many thought on backstories n stuff that i will stick under a “read more” here otherwise this post will be hella long on people’s dashes. 👇👍 pls care about this i thought so hard and much

Half Life VR but the AI are Self-Aware was put out by Studio TV Solutions in 2020 and destroyed the box office with how fun it was and how well the cast played off one another. The cast was given a general outline for the script with the goal for it to be mostly improv.

Gordon Freeman: Mannie Flores (Dominican American, age 28, he/him) - Popular Youtuber/Twitch streamer (“Radi0Mann”). Got offered the role in HLVRAI thanks to the creative things he’s done in his Youtube/Twitch career. This is his first “official” acting gig. He was pretty starstruck at first, but then as he got to know everyone, he realized they’re all a bunch of dorks (affectionate). - Started off as a gaming channel, but then started branching off into various creative endeavors as he got more popular. He still plays games too though. - One of the things Mannie did in his internet career that hit the mainstream was when he wrote, directed, starred in, and filmed his own movie in just 2 weeks because he failed a bet with his audience. Except the movie was actually really good and funny and heartfelt (i want to say it was about “a man who got left behind on earth after everyone else was raptured because god literally forgot about him”, but i think the concept might’ve been done already). - Met Benji through HLVRAI. They hit it off and now they’re dating. They tried to keep it secret for a while but Mannie had a slip-up during a stream that sort of blew it out of the water.

Benrey: Benji Song (Japanese/Chinese, age 30, he/they) - Started off as a film sound designer in the industry, then through a series of silly willy little events—possibly even shenanigans—got roped into a role in a passion indie film that became wildly acclaimed and flung him into the spotlight. Been an actor ever since, but isn’t the most proactive in taking jobs much to their agent’s annoyance. People never know where he’ll pop up next. Sometimes Benji will sneak in sound designer work behind their agent’s back. - Honestly likes background work more because everyone’s got these expectations of them as an actor that they feel pressured to meet. But he’s also afraid of disappointing people. He’s working on it. - Met their partner Mannie through HLVRAI. Totally was a fan of his streams/videos beforehand though. When they mention that, Mannie gets flustered. - Does music as a hobby. Electronic stuff mostly—enjoys mashing together all sorts of sounds and trying to make them work. After HLVRAI, Mannie’s streams gets cool new music that’s made by somebody going by “johnwicklover1994.” wink

Harold Coomer: Hau’oli “Hau” Kaleo-Kirchhoff (Hawaiian/Samoan, age 66, he/him) - Old musician who’s supposed to be retired but once in a while will release a song or even do a concert (but nothing crazy). - Hau’oli is pronounced [hh-ow-oh-lee], but he also goes by “Hau” for the haoles’ sake. :) Kaleo is [kah-leh-oh]. also Hau’oli sounds a little bit like the name Holly so that’s a fun coincidence i didn’t realize until later. - Most of his music is chill island tunes but he has been known to dabble in rock and jazz. - Married to Mose (been together for 30 years and counting).

Bubby: Mose Kaleo-Kirchhoff (German, age 69 [nice], xe/him) - Veteran actor—been in the acting industry for a long time. One of his more well-known roles was in a popular sci-fi series. - Married to Hau’oli (they got married the moment it was legal). - i went with a name that started with “M” cuz when Gordon first asks Bubby for his name, xe’s like, “mmm Bubby.” and i headcanon it’s because Mose was about to say xir own name and had to swerve last minute and the thing his brain resorted to was Bubby lol.

Tommy Coolatta: Luis Tanglao (Filipino, age 37, he/they) - Child star who dropped out of the industry when he hit his teens and then came back years later as a comedian. He has material about how fucked up being a child star was. Will only take acting roles if it interests them. - They don’t care about how the public/media sees him. He’ll speak his mind and call out BS when he sees it. Interviewing them can be a war zone. - Hosts a popular podcast with some buds they discuss things like video games, their lives, news, etc. Just shooting the shit. - Sunkist is their actual dog and she modeled for the png photo that was used. Her name is actually Biko. She is a very good girl. <3

Darnold Pepper: Sage Haven (African American, age 40, he/her/they) - Famous cooking show host who gets offered roles in movies. Got popular by how unconventional her meals and cooking methods are and how funny he is. - Has had multiple food/cooking/baking shows over the years. Every competition-based one they’ve had focused more on good vibes, fun, and encouraging one another rather than drama. One show involved people competing to see who could make the best full course meal with the catch being they could only cook everything in a microwave. Many microwaves perished. - Changed their name to Sage Haven during their transition. They chose it because it reflects his passion and also is a play on the phrase “safe haven”, which is what she wants to be to others. - He has an adoptive daughter named Kit. She helped them think up bits and jokes. She also had to help explain what Half-Life was.

haven’t gotten to gman and forzen’s actors yet unfortunately. thinking gman’s actor could be a talk show host? because that would be funny. anyway thanks for humoring me on my shenanigans. bye

[anons-has-hlvrai-aus]

@snowyvoid

Okay so I think I have enough I can say about the this AU’s fic without massive spoilers other than vague implications about the sort of event that will transpire (not that this is saying much since the story is only a chapter in and we haven’t even gotten to the part where Gordon finds out he’s an alien now but I digress) but just in case I’ll put my whole stream of consciousness ramble under a read more. And I really do mean stream of consciousness, I apologize in advance if everything seems scattered. I am not very good at explaining myself in essay length posts, and I’ve lost so many good talking points on this post from shitty Internet that I don’t have the energy for more edits.

(Also please remember that in the context of HLVRAI and by extension this story that The Player is not specifically Real Life Wayne.)

Gordon Freeman in the Metamorphosis AU is a complicated person.

So let’s start with this: he is a husk whose personality and backstory are wholly influenced by the actions of the player, enough so that his behavior after the game has ended is reflective of the Player’s play style. It is something he is actively aware of, and it is something he cannot control.

It is BECAUSE Gordon is sculpted by the player that it’s hard to say they’re very different from each other outside the fact that one is a real person and the other is a reflection of the ‘real’ person’s actions. The Player could turn off the game and leave it to its own devices. Gordon doesn’t GET that choice, he’s stuck there with the consequences of the Player’s actions, and everything that happened to him is now reality.

The only reason there is a Post Game for these characters at all, and the only reason the theater and the heist happen and are canon to this AU, is because Gordon Freeman had to break the Player’s computer and demand the ending HE deserves now that he has control of himself, he deserves to enjoy that freedom. It’s one thing if it was just the Science Team, but now that Gordon has control it is his problem too.

And his very first action, his first taste of control, gets him what he wanted.

But without the Player, he now has to make his own choices. Gordon Freeman is a human whose only reference for how humans behave is based on how he was trained. And he acts on those impulses crafted by the Player’s inputs: He swears a lot, he is anxious about EVERY situation because the player never really gave him time to fully develop his personality for a ‘zero-stress environment’ (pre-ResCas can’t even count because Gordon was made to be stressed about being LATE for WORK), and most importantly he believes himself to be in the right.

Gordon Freeman was the vessel of the Player, and the Player was ALWAYS right, even if the ‘right’ decision required being convinced to do so beforehand.

The Player MUST have had a good reason to keep the truth of his reality a secret to all his friends, so Gordon does too. He even comes up with rules to justify his action.

The Player must have had a good reason to hate Benrey, so Gordon does too, even if he has to craft his own justification.

The Player must have had a good reason to shoot those people, so Gordon does too.

If the Player was always right, and if the Player is now gone, then that means Gordon is always right.

Now Gordon has to make important decisions, he has to keep everything in check. He can’t control the world around him, but he can control the actions of his friends. All the big events happen at Gordon’s house, because he can make the ground rules. The one or two times it happened elsewhere, something terrible happened, so obviously he has to keep the events at home to avoid total chaos. He has to control how his friends behave.

Dr Coomer, you can’t jump through the window for fun.

No, Bubby, you can’t just set things on fire.

Tommy, I love you, but you REALLY shouldn’t drink so much soda.

Darnold, I don’t think the Evil Flavor is a good idea.

The Post Game was (mostly) made with a happy ending in mind, because Gordon demanded it from the Player. The Post Game can handle whatever the Science Team throws at it, but it still isn’t enough. Even in a world that doesn’t really have consequences anymore (at least until Benrey shows up again) Gordon NEEDS to maintain normalcy and NEEDS to maintain control.

The Player was kind of a dick, so Gordon is too.

At least the Player does it intentionally.

Gordon believes that he’s doing the right thing by being controlling, and it’s going to bite him in the ass.

Gordon has his own contrived rules about what makes a GOOD person and a BAD person. He formed these rules based on how Benrey made him feel, compared to other people. Benrey was intrusive, he got in the way, and his playful teasing was interpreted as antagonistic to Gordon. Benrey was weird. Benrey was BAD.

Skeletons, Sweet Voice, shapeshifting, it’s all BAD.

But now Benrey is back. And now Gordon l has to deal with the fact that he isn’t human anymore, or maybe was never human to begin with. His two choices are that either Gordon is bad now, because Benrey and anything involving him is BAD…or that Gordon is still inherently GOOD because he’s the Player’s vessel, which means Benrey can be GOOD too.

So now you have an exchange: Benrey teaches Gordon how to control what makes him BAD, so nobody gets hurts. Gordon teaches Benrey how to be GOOD, by making him normal, because compared to the rest of his friends Benrey is just TOO WEIRD.

But Benrey was already trying to be GOOD. He waited outside Gordon’s house to not scare him, and he got the Food List so Gordon wouldn’t need to scramble to figure out dinner for Movie Night. He waited four years to have his backstory developed, and from there he believed that he and Gordon were friends. He can be nice, he can be helpful, he be a friend.

But it’s not enough, because Benrey is BAD. He needs to go through more hoops because Benrey fits Gordon’s definition of BAD. He has to be normal.

Gordon is horrible hypocrite: The Sweet Voice is BAD, but not if it’s Coomer or Sunkist doing it. Bootboys and anybody ever associated with them are BAD, except for Forzen and Adrian and the other guys trying to sue the government right now. Killing is BAD, but not if Gordon does it. Everybody needs to help Gordon if he has problems, but he doesn’t need to help you in return.

Gordon, despite being flesh and blood in the world he exists in, still shares the same apathy for other people’s feelings that the Player does for the people of this world. Because that’s what he knows.

In a way, Gordon knows he’s wrong about something, but to realize WHAT he is wrong about and WHY would require him to accept that he isn’t a 100% good person. And that the Player wasn’t a 100% good person, either. And that his idea of what is GOOD and BAD only fits his own desires, and that controlling his friends to be normal is kinda fucked up (you shouldn’t make your friends feel bad about being themselves, Gordon).

And Gordon is fucked up.

He knows he is fucked up, but he doesn’t make any substantial changes to himself unless it’s to act more human.

He went to therapy for his trauma with Black Mesa, but not for the trauma of being a Video Game Protagonist after the video game has ended.

It’s been four years since the ResCas, there are stories and character arcs that happened before the events of Metamorphosis AU that the readers will never get to know entirely, and yet Gordon is still the same.

But who else stayed the same? Who else doesn’t know what happened in those 4 years? Benrey. He slept and played video games the whole time, all this is new to him like it is new to us. And he is stagnant, just like Gordon.

Benrey has an excuse for staying the same, Gordon doesn’t. Gordon had four years to meet people and change, but he refuses to do so because he changed so much when the Player was the one in control.

He can’t even fully enjoy his Post Game. The Player made it clear that they WOULD find a way to get Half Life 2 working with their AIs, and once that happens…Gordon will lose control again. It’s understandable, but trying to control everything will only make it more painful when he loses it all again.

Trying to maintain control makes Gordon unhappy.

Gordon is uncomfortable with his reality, and he keeps trying to change other people to be comfortable. Maybe if everything is normal (because Gordon at least knows what normal is supposed to look like) then maybe he will be happy, too, for however long he has before the Player returns.

Benrey is already comfortable with his reality, and any attempts to change himself should be to accommodate himself to life outside of Black Mesa, NOT to make Gordon feel more comfortable. But he WILL try to change, because he wants to be a friend now. And it will hurt him.

For anybody to get better, Gordon can’t be allowed to stay stagnant. He needs to become uncomfortable.

Gordon really, truly, fully believes that he’s doing the right thing by being controlling.

It WILL bite him in the ass.

Trying to make himself more comfortable causes more discomfort for his friends, and eventually somebody is going to have to tell him “You’re an asshole.”

And he’ll try to tell him what he knows, how they won’t have this happy ending forever.

And they won’t care.

An explanation is not an excuse. They are here for a good time, not a long time.

And Gordon will be uncomfortable.

And Gordon will have to change.

The Player could never be expected to change. They are a real person who has problems greater than some silly video game characters.

Gordon Freeman is a real person too, but the problems the Player couldn’t care to worry about are much greater for Gordon because he, a mortal man by the standards of his world, actually has to deal with the those problems. And he can’t. He doesn’t know how, he was created to become whoever the Player portrays him to be.

But he was still created to change. From the moment the title screen came up, to the moment the credit rolled, Gordon was changing.

He needs to change again.

He needs to learn that he’s kinda fucked up.

He needs to learn to accept this life, however short it is.

He needs to let his friends be happy and be themselves.

He needs to stop trying to control everything.

He needs to learn that he can be better than whatever the Player turned him into…that he can be kind and empathetic. Even if it all gets undone by the time that uncaring god returns, Gordon deserves a chance to change himself for the better.

And besides, even if it all gets undone…he can still change again.

And besides, who’s to say the Player will actually return again.

Gordon is fucked up, but he deserves to change for the better…even if that means getting turned into a funny worm on a string to get to that point.

Hi! You made a really good post about how Gordon should be written as more fucked up/morally questionable more often which I really agree with! Your post mainly focused on the perspective of hlvrai as a real functioning world, but even if you take into account the idea that he's a guy playing a video game he's...still kind of morally weird? Like he never tells ANYONE it's a game of his own volition, it takes Coomer trying to murder him and then spelling out that he knew before the finale for Gordon to admit it to him and the Gnome knew from the start. Providing the ACAB stream now seems to be noncanon, he never tells Bubby, Tommy, Benrey, anyone the truth of his existence. He is lying to them throughout the whole series under the pretense of 'not fucking up the ai' (said in the intro to the first stream) even when they begin to question their environment.

Then in HLAGE, he is clearly shown to care about the Gnome, but not enough to 'save' him. He still wants to complete the video game, he still wants to win, and even if he feels bad about it, he still goes through the motions of ending the challenge. The implication seems to be that he kinda views the Gnome as lesser/less tangible/less important than 'real' people and his affection doesn't really constitute viewing them as equals or worth putting in effort to save. Which seems to be an important trait, since based on the hl2vrai trailer it would seem he didn't come back for the science team like Coomer asked him to.

oh my god!!!!! this!!! this!!!!! he is basically the equivalent of a god to these AI, he controls their ability to think and exist, and he just. god, i dont know how to explain it. it makes me think of monika from ddlc maybe, how she's dependent on the player, and the players want to interact with her. she simply Does Not exist when you are not playing her game. and you, the player (and the equivalent of gordon/the guy playing hlvrai in this metaphor), obviously cannot play the game at all times and keep the dialogue going, but there is. a need to do so depending on your opinions on monika. once an AI becomes aware does it become human and have human needs?? coomer very much so seems to have become at least contextually "human", feeling pain when the game gets turned off, basically being a tamagotchi, etc etc.

but even then does humanity denote whether you deserve to be treated with care??? i have way too many thoughts about all of this.

i feel like gordon/the player probably would not take everything that the science team says seriously. i mean, going back to the ddlc metaphor, after playing the game (if you did), did you ever go back after you finished it? or did you end up getting the proper ending and deleting monika's files? did you do all the things you were supposed to, because yes, obviously it is just a game. monika is not actually a sentient AI and cannot feel. she is just code written that way. and maybe gordon thinks that that's as far as the science team's consciousness goes. it's just a game, they cannot ACTUALLY feel pain, they're just coded to act sentient, etc etc. gordon (probably) does not actually realize the level of sentience and feeling the science team has. maybe he does put them into some nice little game after hlvrai, but then again. He'd probably just never open the game again.

the gnome is probably a prime example of the way a human would react if they were left inside of a game, aware but not existing, and left alone for years. the science team was really fucking nice to gordon despite their awareness.

this post is about the fictional player/gordon. this is not about wayne. obvious point to make but i feel like somebody may get confused.

the mentions of ddlc are very affected by the fact that i played that game when i was WAY too young and felt so fucking bad about leaving monika alone, which lead to me playing the game almost daily for months and never deleting her file (partially due to me not actually knowing how to delete files but. the other reason is more important now.) i have autism and it makes me care VERY much about inanimate/nonhuman objects. i feel bad for the science team, okay.

basically, gordon is morally grey because Oh My God he's an awful person to these AI, but also wouldn't you do the same thing? wouldn't you just close the game thinking "oh yeah that's just how the characters are coded. lol they'll be fiiiine" and not have any second thoughts? and is gordon a bad person for doing that same thing with a modded half-life? yes and no.

hlvrai is the AI forgiving gordon for leaving them alone, hlage is the AI hating gordon for leaving them alone. and i think thats why the gnome has more presence in (the players) reality? like, the gnome wants gordon to know and feel exactly what he felt. whereas the science team, obviously excluding the coomer and benry boss fights, never really thought to HATE hate gordon. the science team is monika from ddlc and the gnome is AM from i have no mouth but i must scream. (this point also connects to an idea i have about haunted houses/homes. a haunted house is a house that hates you, a home is a house that loves you. barely connect but. it's a cool idea to add i guess??)

bleh. i cannot put all of these thoughts in order, and it's really hard to entirely explain what i mean. i hope this suffices??? thank you so much for the ask though. i really appreciate being able to talk about my interests with others lol. in conclusion, i really want to make character designs for the science team after they have been left to rot for a while in half-life. maybe they would grow mold or something.

(post that was mentioned at the start of the ask)

[sunhowler-art]

was inspired by this post to design some hlvrai warrior cats!! i'm honestly shocked it took me 2 years to make a warriors au for it, i love making warriors aus...

some basic info below the cut!

sooo my general idea (it's pretty hazy right now. forgive me) for this au is that songfoot (benrey), nectarbrook (darnold), goldenberry (tommy), galeheart (coomer), scorchtail (bubby), and snakestar (gman) are all from the same clan... i'm between plain ol' thunderclan or a custom clan called mesaclan. i'm probably gonna go with thunderclan because i don't wanna bother with making other clans and lore and stuff LOL. there's some kind of threat outside of the clans that's affecting the environment a la the beavers in arc 4. it's something that starclan definitely caused, whether deliberately or accidentally, i dunno. main point is that snakestar sends songfoot, nectarbrook, goldenberry, galeheart, and scorchtail off on a journey to track down the problem and take care of it. while they're gone, the external threat kills snakestar and he spends all his time being a textbook unhelpful and cryptic starclan cat who just kind of makes things worse. as per a snakestar prophecy, the gang picks up gordon along the way, a kittypet whose owners abandoned her and she's been mostly unsuccessfully fending for herself since. oh and frostpaw (forzen) is part of bloodclan. bloodclan tries and fails to kill the gang, despite frostpaw's best efforts (he kidnapped goldenberry's bird friend, sunny).

some lil character facts and such:

gordon is an ex kittypet. she had a very very cozy and spoiled life up until her twolegs got evicted or something and tossed her out onto the streets. she wasn't out there long before the clan cats found her, and thank god for that, because she sucks at being a survivalist. she is fairly smart though, bringing a fresh perspective and problem solving skills to the group. she is consistently freaked the fuck out by clan cat culture, and the clan cats have fun gaslighting her about it. the only cat who doesn't play along with that is goldenberry, mostly because he doesn't really think its that funny. gordon picks up survival skills from the clan cats fairly quickly, but they still call her soft all the time. classic clan cat anti-kittypet prejudice.

songfoot is the warrior code's biggest fan. not because he really fully believes in its utility, mostly because he loves bossing people around. you can find him stalking around thunderclan camp looking out for anyone doing minor infractions. god forbid you take too much fresh kill from the pile, you'll never hear the end of it. he can't really do much about it though, because snakestar finds him vaguely offputting. his signature stare doesn't help much. his fellow warriors generally like him despite all his strange quirks. songfoot has some kind of starclan-given power a la The Three... my thought is that his vocalizations have supernatural mind-altering properties. it's kinda like sweet voice, but a hiss can make others mad, a purr can make others calm, a screech can stun them, etc. without fail. he's vaguely aware of this power, and he doesn't really use it for things starclan would like him to. he kinda does his own thing.

he's a fairly competent hunter and fighter, but he's generally physically non-confrontational. during battle, he prefers to slink along in the shadows and wait to strike.

during the journey, he loves following gordon along. initially it's because of his deeply embedded distrust of kittypets, but he realizes pretty quickly that he's interested in her in a different sense, one that really frustrates and confuses him... a warrior shouldn't wanna be mates with a kittypet. that's so beyond wrong. he's gotta do everything he can to annoy gordon into leaving the group so he doesn't have to confront his feelings about her (one of these tactics involves him insisting on calling her "gordie," saying it sounds much more suitable for a kittypet). unfortunately for the both of them, that doesn't work. what's worse-- his powers don't seem to work on her for whatever reason. they continue to butt heads for far too long before either of them opens up about how they actually feel. (it takes gordon far longer to admit to herself that she's feeling that way than it does for songfoot, but eventually it clicks for her.)

("song" comes from sweet voice, and "foot" comes from... y'know. but i imagine the in-universe explanation is that he spends a lot of time padding around and watching people. the name from the post that inspired this one-- sweetsong-- is perfect but i didn't wanna copy it. i really like the name songfoot though, i think it's really cute.)

nectarbrook is thunderclan's beloved medicine cat. sweet and silly, she has an affinity for collecting and mixing herbs to create new tinctures. they don't always work exactly how she wants them to, but they never have strictly negative effects, so... not too bad! she spends most of her time on the journey trying and failing to be a mediator, and cowering in fear while everyone else does the scary (and often stupid) work. she's got an intelligence to rival gordon's, and she's one of the only cats gordon fully gets along with.

("nectar" is about the closest warrior cats prefix to "soda," and "brook" just kinda sounds nice as a suffix to nectar. it's another liquid-related word too.)

frostpaw is a bloodclan apprentice. he's well beyond apprentice age, but he's pretty incompetent at warrior duties and such, so it's taking him a while. he just wants to graduate.

i imagine he used to be a cushy kittypet with dreams of being one of those cool cat gang members he sees outside every now and again. he's way in over his head.

("frost" comes from forzen. obviously. i initially envisioned him as a warrior named frostjaw. i don't know why i chose that suffix other than it sounding nice. but then i remembered the "i just wanna graduate" thing, and thought it would be funny to make him an apprentice.)

goldenberry is a highly skilled warrior and one of snakestar's kits. he has a very unassuming demeanor, often appearing clumsy or head-in-the-clouds, but he's one of thunderclan's most precise and deadly fighters. his long windclan-like limbs allow for quick movement. like his father, he strikes like a snake. despite his prowess, he doesn't like fighting at all, and he would much rather hang around camp with his friend songfoot and take care of menial tasks like an apprentice or test out new herb tinctures for nectarbrook. he's very helpful and kind, if not a bit blunt. before snakestar died, he had goldenberry in mind as the next deputy as soon as galeheart finally kicked the bucket. he only didn't make him the deputy in the first place because he was an apprentice at the time.

("golden" comes from tommy's signature yellow, as well as his father's perception of him as highly important. "berry" comes from his general sillyness and his affinity for nectarbrook's various little treats.)

galeheart is a gregarious senior warrior and thunderclan's beloved deputy. despite his small stature, he's incredibly strong and overzealous. he loves his clan to death and he loves fighting even more, often dragging everyone into unnecessary squabbles just for the thrill of it. his loud, booming voice commands everyone's attention. he's quite old and really should be in the elders' den at this point, but his love for the warrior life keeps him going despite it all, and he's still in great shape. snakestar isn't quite so satisfied with galeheart's behavior, but there's not much he can do about that, given everyone else loves galeheart to bits. snakestar partially send him on that journey in hopes he would die already, but he has an unwavering spirit and he can and will outlive snakestar.

galeheart and gordon get along for the most part, but gordon is a little scared of him.

("gale" comes from coomer's general energy. he is a strong gust of wind to me. it also brings to mind the color white, which... is what galeheart is! "heart" also comes from his Vibes, mostly his fighting spirit.)

scorchtail is yet another old coot who should be getting ticks picked off of him by apprentices, but his stubbornness keeps him in his warrior position. he's not even particularly good at being a warrior-- he's cowardly and his battle strategy can best be described as the real life version of button-mashing. still, he's far too prideful to retire to the elders' den. he tends to follow galeheart around, since they grew up together and share similar positions in the clan. he's very antagonistic towards gordon, even moreso than songfoot. he has a special hatred of kittypets, seeing their lifestyle as an embarrassment.

("scorch" comes from bubby's association with fire as well as his sassy disposition, and "tail" comes from the tip of his tail looking burnt.)

snakestar is a starclan cat who was previously thunderclan's leader. he's generally cold and and analytical, and not much of a fighter, preferring to make others do his bidding. this behavior carried over very well to starclan, where he spends all his time being appropriately cryptic and unhelpful. he holds a lot of love for his one son, goldenberry, who he's always watching over. he doesn't care much for his other previous clanmates. he visits gordon in her dreams often to tell her vague things about her "part to play" and how important she is and all that. he arbitrarily decided that she was the subject of a prophecy, for the most part. i like to think starclan just makes shit up for fun. i think maybe one of his ancestors visited gordon when she was a kitten and made some kind of deal with her. i dunno. i'm in the very early stages of this au.

("snake" comes from gman's general vibes, but it's also an allusion to snakes in mythology [particularly abrahamic myth] being sleazy dealmakers with ill intent. before he was a leader, his suffix was "sight," alluding to his tendency to sit back and watch rather than run into battle.)

thanks for reading my long-ass ramblings, if you did! :-P idk if i'll actually do anything with any of this, but it's fun to think about...

[checkadii]

dude. dude hear me out

archivist!gordon

IM SOO HEARING YOU OUT + im also assuming you mean hlvrai gordon and not. og gordon. im having so much thoughts regardless

okay Not a game au. it would be so fuckig funny if eye tendencies got stronger after rescas. he just starts knowing shit, starts actively seeking out more information, the science team is making more detour than usual because he just keeps staring off into space at random spots (hes knowing and or analyzing sctuff around him). everything about the xen invasion and rescas falls into place for him so fast

the science team feel more watched and its both alarming and comforting (uncomfortable when trying to sleep). everytime he asks a question and someone answers him without their usual bullshit there is a lengthy pause. it gets a bit annoying at points once gordon figures out he can Ask because he makes use of the archivist power to get straight answers more nd more and its ticking off some of them. maybe. maybe idk?? he asks scientists they pass for their stories, every time they go for a few hours without a statement he becomes noticeably more agitated

do you think he would . avoid getting his arm cut off. would the eye help him with that. would it not. just to push him further away from sanity and himself

ourghrgh ... he Becomes in xen.... make him the final boss /j

AND GAME AU!

OKAY SO LIKE>.? god Archivist slash Archive makes so much sense here actually

the AI Gordon Freeman has been trapped in this constant state of, well, archiving gameplays and save files, all iterations and updates and mods and tweaks done to the game, unable to break out of the loop Jon Sims Nightmare style. the only time he could do anything of his own will is just . a handful of moments during credits . then its back to archiving, sorting out game files and assets and maintaining his archive like a good archivist. the science team are forced to relive the game over and over. this works w og gordon too tbh

okay i have an essay to cram bye