#l'manburg independence war

[supernovaa-remnant]

Cmadduo early lmanburg era, secret meetup for politic reasons (cuddling)

at first they decide to meet every week for political reasons in private because otherwise everyone else would turn the meeting into chaos (usually tommy and sapnap would start the arguing then everything would go down hill). but during one of those meetings both of them realize they haven't had lunch so they make pizza together. at first they're sharing banter and making half joking half genuine jabs at each other. then they get in a fight with the flour. then they start laughing.

after that they begin to actually do things together whilst doing these meetings so that they'd have something to do whilst discussing whether or not L'manburg is an independent country or not.

but one day, after wilbur had to clean up a potion mishap that tommy and tubbo caused, and after dream had to grind for more weapons after a fight between sapnap & george led to said weapons being thrown into the bottom of a lava lake, both dream & wilbur show up to their scheduled meeting exhausted.

they agree to just sit and talk, but at some point they move to a bed that wilbur hastily crafts because it's more comfortable. it ends with them just laying next to each other barely even talking about politics anymore and instead discussing their days. they find that they like cuddling, so they start to cuddle during their political meetings.

it's relaxing. it's cozy. they like playing with each other's hair and listening to each other's heartbeats after a stressful day (but, of course, it's still for political reasons). they still have their private meetings every week, but sometimes they sneak off to have a secret meeting which is definitely for top secret peace discussions and not because they want cuddles.

(and if wilbur makes changes to their declaration of independence, and if dream puts the declaration of war on the back burner, and if it ends with peace and unity on the server, then, well, that was definitely their plan all along. not just a side affect of them wanting cuddles. definitely not).

[hollenka99]

YouTube yesterday: Hey btw The Longest Johns just released a song about Horatio Nelson's death.

Me: Cool, excuse me as I stare off into space and think about L'Manburgian soldiers' reaction to hearing about Kiril's dying to withering whenever I play the song.

[sardonic-the-writer]

poll because i got curious. feel free to explain why you torment (think) over it the most in the tags! reblog if you vote for more reach

[majixox]

I hate that due to the CC!Wilbur 's actions and him being a terrible person in general, so many people decide to try to completely erase the being that is the C!Wilbur. They are separate entities, one is a truly bad person in real life, and the other is just a character that was played by him. I don't understand why the terrible actions of the Content Creator have to influence and erase the character that was Wilbur in the story.

I will admit, my favorite character in all of DSMP fannon and cannon was and always will be Wilbur. His character is complex and in my opinion beautifully portrayed, you cannot just decide to erase all he was due to his "actor" turning out to be an abusive and evil person. While C!Wilbur definitely had some characteristics of the CC, they are mostly different entities entirely.

There are many ways to portray and understand C!Wilbur, and how i see him he is a tragic character, a good man turned to insanity after events that thinking back at it could have been prevented, deciding to destroy his legacy after giving everything he had to this nation and choosing to ho down with it by the hand of his own father. To then spend years in isolation in Limbo, and then be revived with no less trauma, and still half mad. I can go for hours about the depth of his character and interactions with everyone, but i shall not. Anyway, and so due to me first of all loving the character so much, and many others feeling the same, it hurts to see everyone trying to erase all traces that there was of him.

Fans of the C!Wilbur gets harassed, and while there are certainly people who still support the CC!Wilbur (in which case like wtf) but i think people must understand that they are different people, and the terrible things the content creator has done doesnt mean it has to reflect and therefore make the character something that must be erased.

I rejoined the fandom recently by complete accident, but i was a part of it since the first war for the independence of L'Manburg. And now i just wish to enjoy my favorite character without his existence being destroyed by the actions of the content creator.

Hope someone who will read this understands where i'm coming from. And i hope fellow C!Wilbur fans will rise again. Because truly, all the characters in the fannon and cannon of dsmp were amazing, and the story was good, and we all had an amazing time in the fandom. No character deserves to be destroyed and erased for the terrible actions of the content creators playing them, and they should be enjoyed as characters and for their story and personality as characters and now as the content creator. And no fans of the characters deserve to be hated on for liking a character that was played by a turns out terrible person.

Bye bye, love you all, and ALWAYS SUPPORT VICTIMS.

[misty-doodles]

Hey, I just had the best time travel dsmp fic idea imaginable, you aren't ready. Hear me out,

Prisoner Dream, at what point I don't care, but for this I'm going to say pre-tommy imprisonment, gets sent back to pre L'Manburg revolution times. Specifically, after he's already declared war

He wakes up, and he's in the community house and his friends are there, and he's just ???? And obviously has a panic attack because everything is wrong, and he is very confused. He doesn't even try to appear normal. Sapnap notices and is like "are you good bro?" and he just fucking implodes. Just full hysteria and making zero sense while trying to process where he is while Sapnap and George are trying to comfort him and figure out why their friend is suddenly unwell. He's staring at his canon lives in confusion, what day is it? Where are all his scars? He is not okay.

Now, this can go one of two ways, either is golden

Dream runs away. Cottage core Dream fic starts now, baby. He leaves a note that's basically like "if y'all hate me so much, I'll just leave, have your damn independence," and disappears off the face of the earth. I want him to have his healing arch by himself in the woods and cope with his actions in the previous timeline while the server is in shambles.

Fun idea, leave the server in shambles, always fun to write.

He stays, but is the most natural person alive with full knowledge of events, and just decides to see how closely things will match timelines without his active participation. He is still a mildly emotional wreck due to jumping from prison to current, but like, to everyone else he's even more cold. Have him write a passive-aggressive declaration of L'manburg's independence, reading it aloud as he writes, before throwing it at Wilbur's feet and leaving. The war is over before it began. Have him invite the same people, absolutely refuse to be a part of or help in the Pogtopia vs. Manburg war, threaten to perma-ban Tommy but let Tubbo deal with his nonsense.

The possibilities are endless, I need you to understand. Like he's just so passive (mostly) because like, if he does nothing than he can't be the villain and things still go to shit, so it clearly isn't his fault.

[cdroloisms]

honestly, there's probably a lot you can say abt c!dream in terms of losing even when he wins. because, tbh, this is...consistent.

c!dream is very intelligent and very good at PVP and these are well-established traits from the beginning of the server. he is skilled at thinking strategically and therefore is often able to navigate unfavorable situations to him in order to successfully achieve some goal of his. in terms of achieving goals, c!Dream isn't half bad in the slightest! but how do these goals actually work out for him?

in the revolution, c!dream successfully leads his side to victory while minimizing damage to his own people (and, sometimes, minimizing damage across the board: see him telling his men to hold fire to allow lmanburgians to retrieve their items.) the most amount of risk to anyone on his side is during the duel, where he ended up on half a heart to determine the end result of the war. and it's quite undeniable that c!dream wins the war--he gets to set the terms of the peace, gives them "technical" independence as he planned to from the start but says that he and the rest of the Dream SMP will view them as constituents of the greater server and gets both discs after c!tommy offers them willingly. by all means, on paper, a glowing success.

only time passes and as others treat l'manburg as independent, he is forced to do the same. "suck it green boy" becomes one of the most common catchphrases of the server when the independence that was granted them in the book that this statement was written was. literally given to them out of c!dream's mercy? and not out of their victory? he loses both discs AND significant leverage against himself due to various conflicts that involved people stealing from him and/or blackmailing him when he literally wasn't doing anything. l'manburg's ranks have swelled and the story established by it and its independence has long since drowned out any other perspective on the war.

then, in manberg/pogtopia, c!dream enters into the conflict from the perspective of wanting c!schlatt out of power. later on, remaining loyal to c!wilbur, he helps him to successfully pull off the plot to blow up L'manburg and also manages to obtain the revive book through a brief alliance with c!Schlatt. once again, his goals were successfully pulled off in no small part due to his strategizing.

and yet, in the long run, what does c!dream really gain? the revive book is something he evidently didn't know about until the trade with c!Schlatt, and the knowledge of it fucking destroys him. with both c!Schlatt and c!Wilbur dead, he immediately ends up as enemy number one, something c!Wilbur himself states later on. c!Dream, who had never really had any particularly stable alliances pre-manberg anyway, comes out the other side of November 16th even more alone than he had been before, publicly distrusted (not that he was ever really trusted, even by Pogtopia before he officially starts working against them because of the revive book, something that the content creator himself has stated was created purely to explain why c!Dream would switch sides.) the destruction of L'manburg is merely temporary. the plan to blow up L'manburg was c!wilbur's in creation, and considering how open c!Dream is about disliking c!Schlatt, I really hesitate to think that he was going out of his way to ally with guy unless he himself intentionally revealed the revive book to this end (like. c!schlatt is a smart guy, bro.)

c!dream is "secretive" about just about nothing at this time, besides I guess his actually helping Pogtopia (if you can call this guy telling the fucking Manberg cabinet that it's L'manburg, not Manberg, being secretive el em ay oh)--he's open about helping c!Wilbur with the TNT (and c!Wilbur you know, makes a point of doing it in front of an audience both times he asks c!Dream for TNT as well) in Vassal and then on November 6th, and that exact stream is also where he literally walks in the middle of Pogtopia to say hey guys. I'm Betraying You Now. like ???

everything he gains at this time culminates to 1) he helps c!Wilbur successfully pull off a plan that c!Wilbur himself came up with and wanted to pull off and does, to some degree, pressure c!Dream into agreeing with him about--even if c!Dream was going to give him the TNT no matter what, he does display a measure of resistance during Vassal Speech (whether or not you believe this resistance was genuine) and c!Wilbur responds to that by kinda threatening him. So. and 2) he gets the revive book by acting in service to a guy that was clearly established as someone he disliked and feared, and that book is also something that we KNOW scared the shit out of him and like ended up prompting a paranoid spiral that ends with him creating a whole goddamn prison to put himself inside. soooooooo. you know. and all of this is happening at the same time that his losses end up turning into "by the time november 16th rolls around and is over and done with most people either want him dead or are very very close to wanting him dead, cheers!"

then obviously, there's everything from november 16th to the staged disc finale. again, we see c!Dream pulling strategic plays left and right and achieving the goals he has--at this point, often through, uh, less than savory means. through political bullshit with NLM and well, exile, he manages to get the disc during green festival; through helping c!Techno against the butcher army, he manages to obtain a favor; through stuff involving the enderwalk and some kinda deal that im p sure has remained unspecified, he manages to get Cat from c!Skeppy; through experiments with c!Punz, he gets information on the revive book; through green festival, obtaining both discs (and therefore no longer needing to act in terms of political interests with NLM), and establishing common ground with c!Techno, he's able to destroy L'manburg through Doomsday; through having the discs + everyone hating his guts because of Green Festival, Doomsday, and to be fair everyone literally just hating his guts from the outset, he is able to ensure the security of c!Punz, the revive book, and himself by locking himself in prison. A lot of different moving parts, a lot of different goals, a lot of running around the server to get what he needs to get done done at the right times in the right ways, and he manages to con the server and put himself exactly where he wanted to be.

and yet?? and yet??? sure, he pulls off what he wants to pull off, sure he achieves his goals, but in terms of actually winning? he's paranoid and the paranoia just keeps getting worse. the threats to his life and the amount of enemies that want him dead just keep growing in numbers. he finally gets lmanburg blown up for good but you know there's going to be like 4 more factions on this server by the time he gets imprisoned. his friends ditch him and then try to kill him when he clumsily tries to communicate that he's trying to protect them because of the paranoia he has about everyone hating his guts, he explicitly identifies the reasons for people's hatred as having a lot to do with manberg/pogtopia arc where he ends up helping two dead men that aren't around for people to hate anymore, he pulls off staged finale and puts himself in a prison that ends up shattering himself.

like he achieves his goals--even if we're talking about the prison, even if we're talking about the time where things most thoroughly go awry for him because of c!sam's betrayal, you can't say that he didn't achieve what he intended. c!sam kept him alive, and would do anything to keep him alive--he might've been wrong about a lot, but he wasn't wrong about that. and yet. AND YET.

c!dream achieves his goals but where does he end up? miserable and afraid of literally damn near everything and losing his whole mind in the exact prison that he constructed to keep himself safe when in a paranoid spiral about a hostile world that suddenly made so much less sense than he was used to--alone.

like. wdym doesn't lose all he does is lose literally everything he ever had like 😭😭😭😭😭

[llitchilitchi]

oooookay, I'm not super versed in dsmp lore and I don't even really know the whole events in chronological order. but!!!! I love your monarchy restoration au. your art is so gorgeous. and the emotions there ... man

can you please give me some guideline of what should I know from the og lore to understand your au? or maybe some summary of your au?

just talk about it I really want to interact!!! :D

hi, editing Li here, the summary ended up being over 2k words. then I realised you asked for a summary to the AU, which is part of the masterpost. I went over the lore in brief, I promise it's just brief despite the length and doesn't tackle All there is to the SMP

okay, lemme try and speedrun the lore of the dream smp - given that the story of monarchy restoration centers around the Dream Team, or at least the parts that I shared, I'll be focusing on them. this will get long and I'm really sorry jghdfjd

the core ideas you should know is that: Dream, George and Sapnap were close friends, but they drifted apart as time went on due to conflicts on the server. Dream crowned George as King, but then due to George doing badly as a king and this position putting him in danger made him dethrone George, which made the rift between them grow. they were once inseparable, and now George and Sapnap thought of Dream as obsessed maniac who no longer cared for them as people. after Dream got put in prison and tortured, he broke out, and this is where the lore of Monarchy Restoration diverges from the original story of the SMP and becomes an AU, as instead of reuniting with Punz as intended, Dream is too weak and injured to do much and runs into George, who takes him in.

now for the Actual Lore Recap:

at the very beginning of it all, there were two friends - Dream and George. they found a little piece of the world for themselves, and everything was fine. then a third came, Sapnap, and then more people joined, and they lived in the same house in the middle of the lake and things were okay.

months passed, and fights turned into splits in the community and a community turned to factions, and the conflicts of factions were intertwined with interpersonal fights. (the interpersonal conflicts? the disc saga, aptly named over 2 music discs that were used as a bartering chip and have a pretty good significance in the overall story. put a pin into that.)

the two factions at play were the (retroactively named) Greater SMP and L'Manburg which declared independence from the Greater SMP on basis of xenophobia. they lost the war against the Greater SMP, the final fight being a duel between Dream and the original owner of the discs (Tommy). a deal was struck after, where Tommy offered his discs in exchange for independence (or independance, if you want to stick to the original text)

an important aspect of this war is to note that Dream offered one of the people on L'Manburg's side a deal - they betray the faction and get to become the King of the Greater SMP. this establishes monarchy in the story. they accepted, betrayed their allies, got the role of a King with the promise of 'staying neutral and uninvolved in further conflicts'.

I'll breeze through the Manberg era for the most part (despite being the most interesting one, imo). L'Manburg ran a presidental election, the original leader (who wanted to take power by scamming the whole thing) lost, and the new leader of L'Manburg (renamed to Manberg, because they're not taking any L's anymore) exiled the OG president and his right hand man Tommy, things went bad. the two exiled men started a new faction (Pogtopia) that they hoped to use to take back their "rightful place" and were given support from Dream because the new Manberg was a little too expansive. (he ended up siding with Manberg last minute for Yet Unknown Reasons, we will get to them, again, put a pin in it)

the King of the SMP very vocally sided wih Pogtopia, which was a betrayal to the core principles of their position as King. the King was dethroned, and Dream put his best friend George on the throne, with him and Sapnap serving as his knights.

upon the defeat of Manberg by Pogtopia (since Manberg's authoritarian regime ended up driving people out and most joined Pogtopia, Dream and his people fought for Manberg only as mercenaries), one of the core allies of Pogtopia - an anarchist, the blood god himself, Technoblade - turned on his former allies because they told him it was about defeating a tyrant, but all they wanted was to kill one tyrant and put their own people in his place. Techno then fled into exile.

next chapter begins after the rebuild of L'Manberg, yet the L' is back, under a new rule given that the OG president uhhh Blew Up The Country with several megatons of TNT and then persuaded his father into killing him.

King George is vibing. he is unaware of all faction wars, builds himself a holiday house far away from everything, enjoys time with new friends, all while Dream grows more and more distant due to trying to keep what is left of his old life together.

the reason the home is important to mention is that, once peace has settled over the world, Tommy decided that the discs that he traded for independence are His, in fact, and he needs to steal them - or barter for them in any shitty way possible. he still had tons of grudges against Dream, and in one of these half-grudge fueled fuckeries, he and one other character set fire to George's holiday home.

Dream found it in ruin and still burning when he came see his friend with a bouquet of flowers. there are several interpretations to this, and since Dream himself never really specified, there's a speculation that he thought that this event maybe killed his best friend, and given that George is the King of the Greater SMP, an attack by the right hand man of the current L'Manberg president on the physical property of the King of a rival faction is de-facto a war declaration.

so we are presented with an ultimatum, where Tommy is either exiled or a war starts. (exile won. it was voted on by the fans we wanted that bitch Out. this is not quite as important but the dynamics shaping up between Tommy and Dream had a massive impact on the plot.)

while Tommy is in exile, George becomes rather friendly with a new budding faction on the server. his involvement with them means that his neutrality vow was broken, and given how frequently he got harassed by L'Manberg, Dream decided to dethrone George, and put the previous King back in power. this dethronement caused a huge rift to form between George and Dream (and Sapnap, who sided with George) and the three of them fell apart with the parting words from George to Dream being "Just say you hate me."

I'm sure this won't have any lasting effects on the man who was tearing himself apart to make the world the same as it was when it was just the two of them

now in brief: the L'Manberg cabinet decided to take revenge on Techno after he turned on them after they tricked him into helping them against Manberg. the punishment? execution. how did they achieve that? they hunted him down, threatened to kill his animals, told him he will get a court process but just set him up in a guillotine. Dream intervened and saved him, thus earning a favour from Techno because both of them are traumatized warriors with trust issues that rather treat kindness as currency. Tommy runs away from the place he was restricted to in his exile, moves in with the anarchist-in-retirement-gone-pacifist Techno, the two of them end up teaming up for the time being as Techno protects him from Dream. L'Manberg in the meantime decides to host a festival to show that they are peaceful now, and nothing bad will happen again :) it takes place a week after they unlawfully tried to execute Techno, and the festival is meant to serve as public execution of Dream. However, the festival is cut short when Dream storms in because the original house where he and his friends lived - known as the Community House - got blown up. he blames L'Manberg and Tommy, and after a short conflict that happens then he declares that L'Manberg has a day to evacuate and him and Techno agree to blow up the country. a second time. and completely now.

so L'Manberg is gone now and the members of the faction scatter. within days, Tommy receives an invitation from Dream to come get his discs (I didn't know how to include it, but after the whole 'setting George's house on fire' Tommy tried to barter for the discs and for Dream to ignore him setting the house on fire, all while trying to leverage things that Dream held dear. attachment to objects and people is a running theme in here. Dream then proceeded to give his "I don't give a fuck about Spirit, I don't give a fuck about anything actually" speech, basically telling everyone they have nothing to leverage against him and he will destroy them if he needs to and them holding something hostage won't bother him.) This sets the stage for the Disc Finale. Tommy and his best friend Tubbo make their way to a specific location, far away, all alone, where they are to fight against Dream to win the discs back. they lose spectacularly and Dream reveals his "grand plan" where he has a vault to gather "all the precious items people own to control them" (and I wrote "grand plan" because it was a farce. it was a show, it was staged, all just to get Tommy to leave him the fuck alone and stop meddling with his greater plan. what is the greater plan? fuck if I knew.)

the whole thing is then intercepted when a large group of people, one of which is Dream's right-hand-man Punz who was running errands for him before, and more importantly, Sapnap. he's beaten and just as he is about to be killed, he reveals his secret: the reason he sided with manberg, all those months ago, is because in exchange for his services he got a book of necromancy. he can now bring people back to life. because of this, he is locked up in an inescapable prison in case anyone needs to use the book.

Sapnap and George are very much under the impression that Dream doesn't care for them. Sapnap comes visit Dream once, promises to return, never does. George doesn't even bother coming in, instead sleeping his days away and it catches the eye of a deity who wears the same face as his beloved Dream, and he loses himself to the illusion of being reunited with his best friend in a world where everything is perfect.

another important thing to note is that Sapnap stumbles upon a Book Of Death (yes, its death note, sapnap is a weeb, it even functions the exact same.) the thing about the book of death and the book of necromancy is that they are both books that were placed into the world by the deity wearing Dream's face (known as DreamXD, or XD for short, yes it's a little silly) and XD reveals to another character (a somewhat-deity, Foolish) that the books and their owners are intertwined in a way, and if one were to die the other dies with him.

so we have three friends, one locked up in prison and seen as nothing more but an object to use (Dream), the other a man who watched his friends, his parents and his lovers fall apart (Sapnap) and a man who cannot face the world falling apart and the loss of his friends so he gives into an illusion created by god in his dreams. and all of them have a strange tie to a stranger god.

this very fractured relationship the three have, along with their ties to the god, were the main driving force behind making this AU.

the last thing you should probably know is that Dream was locked in prison for 10 months, starved, tortured, with little to no social contact until Techno was locked in with him, but with the use of some fun magic Techno managed to escape and then "return the favour" from when Dream saved him from execution, and broke him out of prison.

there's a lot of little nuanced things I probably forgot about but this is the core of it all I hope it helps

[call-me-apple]

Here's a compilation of notable c!Dream & c!Eret interactions from Eret's recently uploaded VOD of the Final Control Room + a bit of Eret's monologuing once the war fully ends and they're on their own. Note that the clips were chosen based on what I personally found interesting, so some parts of the conversations that I thought were repetitive or lacked substance got cut. You can find them in the full VOD.

Transcription below the cut:

Eret: "Down with the revolution boys! It was never meant to be." [Members of L'Manburg ask how Eret could betray them. Eret leaves their VC to join Dream Team's] Eret: "Hello there." Dream: “YEEES LET’S GOO!!” Punz: “Oh my God.” Dream: “Eret is now our- our- our king.” Dream & Eret: *laugh gleefully* Dream: “Wha- how did they react? I didn’t have their stream pulled up.” Eret: “They were so devastated.” Dream: *laughs gleefully* “LET’S GOOOO! That was EPIC. They did not see it coming in any way whatsoever.” Eret: “No-” Dream: “There are no traitors in war, it does not-”  *laughs* Eret: “You guys- you guys offered me land, you guys offered me resources. We were- we were against a force we could not fight, I truly just saw the brighter way.” Dream: *cackles* “So you have as much land as you want to expand upon your- expand upon your castle.” Sapnap: “Do we go to their land now?” Dream: “No. Don’t- don’t go in their land. Um. Just take the good stuff, let’s go hide it. They can’t see-” Eret: “No mercy.” Dream: “How do you feel? How do you feel?” Eret: “Oh, I’m shaking a little bit, not gonna lie!” Dream and Eret: *both laugh* Dream: “Do you feel bad?” Eret: “Not a bit.” Dream and Eret: *both laugh*

[big cut during which L'Manburg got blown up, Dream dueled Tommy and exchanged Tommy's discs for independence]

Dream: “We have gathered here today. We have won in every way possible. I don’t think there is a single thing that we have lost. They may be delusional and think that they now have this land, but I told them that, er it- we’re still considering them a part of the Dream Team SMP. So, basically they’ve won nothing, and we won everything, and now everybody gets to keep everything they have. I don’t think anybody used the God apples we got, so you guys get an extra God apple *laughs* than you had. And, basically, we won in every way! We got their town in ruins. They may rebuild, but we will remember this day, this is- this is the day of reckoning.” Eret: “The day of victory.” Dream: “The day of victory. And Eret is the- is the king. And that is all that matters. And the funny thing is: they would have done the same thing, they just- they just weren’t smart enough to.” Eret: *chuckles*

Dream: “How do you guys feel?” Sapnap: “Feel good.” Eret: “Feel good.” George: “Feel splendid.” Eret: “Magnificent even.” Dream & Eret: *chuckle* [Dream points out that Punz is muted] Punz: “I feel amazing. Eret can build in peace now.” Dream: “Exactly. Now Eret can keep expanding his castle instead of— instead of a small piece of land.” Eret: “Yeah, it’s like… they say ‘what have you done for us?’ I got them all their armor, I built this castle, I did— *laughing* I did most of the stuff.” Dream: “You like did basically everything!” Eret: “Yeah!” Dream & Eret: *both laugh* Dream: “You did basically everything, that’s why you knew you would lose cuz once you did everything you were like… ‘well, okay, I mean—’” Eret: “I’ve done everything.” Dream: “Everything I’ve done is not enough to win, and I’ve done basically everything.” Eret: “Yeah, so I did everything, I was like ‘welp’” *laughs* “We’re gonna lose, I’m gonna— I’m gonna dip.” *laughs* Dream: *laughs* “That is great. That is great. Me and Eret, we’ve been friends, we’ve been allies, so we would never- even when he originally switched sides, I had a feeling that he would come back around because-” Eret: “Yeah.” Dream: “-we’ve been allies from the beginning.” Eret: “Yeah.” Dream: “And plus I’ve said he can build wherever he wants and he’s like ‘ah that’s a good point, actually, I like building’.”

Dream: “Tommy, Tommy- I have Tommy’s discs now, so… That’s good, I lost them in the Disc War, so. We’ve actually won two wars today, cuz we won the war, and then the other war which I technically lost, I have… the only thing I lost in that war.”

[big cut during which Dream talks to Wilbur]

[Dream talks about how the Final Control Room was great for people’s content] Dream: “I’m sure they’ll have a play-grudge with you for a while.” *laughs* Eret: “Yeah, probably. There are people in my chat who are legitimately upset with me.” Dream and Eret: *both laugh* Dream: “Oh, I’m sure they are. Well, it’s war.” Eret: “It is war.” Dream: “There’ll always be people that are upset in war.” Eret: “All is fair in love and more.” Dream: “No mercy. Exactly. All is fair in love and war. There’s a lotta love and a lotta war involved. Exactly. And- and, it’s just that… friendship prevailed and that’s all that matters.” Eret: “Yeah, exactly.” [...] Dream: “That was- that was crazy. That’s- that’s how- you gotta be a good showman. When I came to you with that idea, I was like it’s gonna be such a good- it’s just showmanship. You have to have- you have to have good showmanship to be-” Eret: “Otherwise- otherwise what? We end up in a cold war for ages? Fight until the world ends?” Dream: “No, exactly” Eret: ”No, we have a definitive ending now, so… At least you’d hope so.” Dream: “I’m sure they’ll come back-” Eret: “Yeah.” Dream: “-and then they’ll get, like, super stacked and then they’ll be like ‘alright, let’s fight them now’.” Eret and Dream: *both laugh*

[part of Dream and Eret's conversation is cut because it was mostly them being hyped about FCR all over again el o el]

Eret: *exhales* "Take my place as king of the Dream SMP. KING Eret, boys. KING Eret! I am KING of Dream SMP! No one can stop me!" *runs into closed gate* "Maybe this fence can..." *opens gate* "Okay, no one can stop me!" *laughs gleefully* "Look at my castle. Everyone knew, everyone should've known that I was king of this land from the start. EVERYONE should've known. No one saw it coming. NO ONE saw it coming." [cut to Eret sitting on the throne] Eret: "We rule over this land. We win! This is VICTORY, boys. Victory! This is what victory looks like." Eret, reading chat: "'A king without friends is nothing'. I have friends. My friends are Dream, Sapnap, George, Punz. I'm friends with all of them. They promised me victory, they promised me friendship. They didn't promise me friendship, we were friends before. King Eret!

[maigetheplatypus57]

sketchbook art of @tjodity's New L'manburg QPR AU because I would sell my soul to these silly little gay creatures

Some minor details/explanations under the cut:

the au is set in the same universe/is a continuation of Sounds Like Hedonism, basically a canon divergence au where through the power of queer platonic love and healthy communication Tommy is NOT exiled and New L'manburg is NOT destroyed YIPPEE!!!

cclingy (and later on cbench) are queer-platonic with emphasis on the "do things that can be seen as romantic to outsiders" part. very gay aroacespec creachurs

I drew these over the past few months so designs are very inconsistent as howdy and I were (and still are!) experimenting with their character designs.

The base idea I stick to though is if the L'manburg Independence War uniforms are based on Act 1 Hamilton then the nlm cabinet uniforms/suits are based on Act 2 (jefferson and hamilton's stupid fuchsia and green suits my beloved)

Tubbo's suit is the one described in SLH however, and I'm also gonna direct y'all to howdy for plot points since it's the main writer (I am simply the artist and occasional ideas man)

[kingsleywrites]

You Can't Just Get Rid Of Them!

Tommyinnit x male reader (can be seen as romantic or platonic) Also possibly Tubbo x male reader (can also be seen as platonic or romantic)

CW: swearing

Angst to (slight) fluff

This takes place right as and after Jschlatt banishes Wilbur and Tommy after the L'manburg election.

M/N will be used (meaning male name)

H/N: Horse's name

"I REVOKE, WILBUR SOOT AND TOMMYINNIT'S CITIZENSHIP!" Schlatt's voice boomed and everyone began to panic with a few people punching and shoving Wilbur and Tommy away. M/N stood there, his body slightly shaking. 'This can't be real, no, Schlatt didn't, he wouldn't.' these thoughts ran rapidly in M/N's mind. He looked over at Tommy and Wilbur their faces looked completely devastated and confused. M/N clenched his fists and ran up and onto the podium where Schlatt and his subordinates were. "JSCHLATT!" M/N yelled, he was held back by Quackity. "You-You can't do that! Wilbur founded L'manburg! And Tommy is his right hand! You can't just get rid of them!"

"Last I checked, M/N, I am the president. Sorry emperor." Schlatt said getting closer to him. "No, no you're just a tyrant, hell bent on destroying this nation! We have fought too long and too hard for you to just throw it all away!" M/N pulled away from Quackity, getting even closer to Schaltt. They stared each other down for a few moments before Jschlatt spoke, turning around to face the crowd. "I suggest you hold your tongue or else you'll be joining them. Now get him out of my sight." Quackity grabbed M/N and threw him off of the podium. It wasn't enough for him to die but he sure as hell took a lot of damage. He could hear Wilbur yelling for Tommy to run, M/N wanted to run with them too but he couldn't as much as he hated Jschaltt he had to be here, for his country, his nation, he wouldn't leave L'manburg, not while Jschlatt was in rule, someone had to keep him from doing something stupid. 'Don't worry Wilbur, Tommy, I will find you guys and I will bring you home.'

Later that night

M/n sat on his bed with a bow in hand and a target across the room. He had already screamed and cried that night but he still had some pent up rage, so he was shooting arrows at a target, pretending it was Jschaltt's head. His door opened and he drew his bow, almost shooting it before he saw who it was. "Tubbo! You scared me." M/N lowered the bow, letting his arms relax. M/N could tell how tense Tubbo looked, the male was looking down at his shoes and fiddling with his fingers, M/N let out a sigh. "If it has something to do with Schlatt just tell me so we can get it over with."

"Schlatt wants to speak to you..." Tubbo's voice was soft and calm, probably trying to avoid M/N's outburst.

"HE-" M/N began to yell but stopped himself taking a deep breath and holding his head in his hands, slouching over. "Fine, Where is he?" M/N stood up.

"Follow me." The two walked out of M/N's house and onto the wooden path.

"Tubbo, if this is a trap, just remember that I will kill you."

"It isn't, I swear! He just told me to get you so you two could talk."

The two continued walking up until they reached a big building, they walked inside and began to climb the mountain of stairs, neither of them saying a word. When they get up to the top Tubbo opens up two big wooden doors and they walk inside. "Ah, M/N your here, welcome, welcome." Schlatt motions for Tubbo to go to him, which he abides by, standing beside Schlatt's desk. "What do you want Schlatt?" M/N says, shooting a glare at the man. "No need to be so hostile, I just want to ask you if you're enjoying Manburg."

"L'manburg." M/N puts emphasis on the L.

"Not anymore, you see this great country doesn't take L's, which seemed to be a reoccurring theme with the last President."

"We won our independence away from the SMP you were not there Schlatt you have no right to-" Jschlatt cut him off.

"You lost the war, the only reason why you even have independence in the first place is because Tommy played the hero and gave his dics to Dream."

Schlatt put his arms up and he had a crooked smile on his face. "But that's besides the point." He walked over to M/N, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"M/N you are an amazing fighter, you have the drive that this country needs in its army."

M/N tensed up and somehow he knew exactly what Schlatt wanted.

"I wanted to ask you to be my commanding officer, you will command Manburg's troops as we expand this great country!"

"Work under you? Ha! You're insane if you think I'll command your army." M/N pushed Schlatts hand off of his shoulder and took a step back from the male.

Jschlatt ran his finger through his hair and sighed. "It's fine, sometimes we all need a little bit of motivation." He snapped his fingers and Quackity walked up behind M/N, using one of his hands to grab onto M/N arm and twist it behind him, while his other hand gripped the back of his neck, pushing on two nerves so he wouldn't try and jerk away.

Jschlatt pulled a netherite axe from his inventory and threw it to George who caught it, grabbing Tubbo by the back of his hair and holding the axe to his throat.

"Tubbo!" M/N yelled and tried to run to him but Quackity pushed on the nerves more making his whole body ache and his eyes water.

"So, M/N! You have two options, You can do as I say, and nothing will happen to Tubbo, OR, you can not do as I say and then not only will you be missing Tommy, but you'll have to explain how you got poor Tubbo killed. So what'll it be." Schlatts smile grew and the tension in the air was thick.

M/N stood there dumbfounded. "You wouldn't.." He mumbled, his eyes narrowing. Tubbo took in a sharp breath as he felt the cold axe press against his throat, drawing a small amount of blood. M/N eyes shot over when he heard Tubbo and for a moment the whole world slowed down as he watched the blood drip farther down.

"Tick Tock, M/N I don't have all night, say, how long do you think it takes for someone to bleed out from the neck, a couple of minutes maybe?" Jschlatt taunted M/N. George's grip on the axe tightened and he went to put more pressure on Tubbo's neck before M/N's voice broke the silence.

"Don't! Just stop! I'll do it! Just don't hurt him!" M/N eyes watered as he looked between Tubbo's scared expression and Schlatt's crazed one. Jschlatt snapped his fingers and George took the axe away from Tubbo's neck and pushed him on the ground. Tubbo let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Quackity let go of M/N and he fell to his knees before getting up and running over to Tubbo giving him a bear hug. M/N let go and began to inspect Tubbo's face "Oh my god, are you okay, let me see the cut." He lifted up his head only to see that it had stopped bleeding. "M/N, I'm fine." Tubbo's voice was once again calm. M/N helped him up and hugged him again, Schlatt's voice breaking the comfortable silence between the two. "So, M/N I'll see you tomorrow." His voice was still in a mocking tone. "Yeah, sure, whatever makes you happy." M/N said with as much venom as he could muster in his voice.

"Come on Tubbo, let's go." Despite Tubbo needing no assistance to walk, he kept an arm around the boy, looking back at the three as they left the room. The door closed leaving the room in complete silence. George looked at the axe that was still in his hand, the tip slightly covered in blood. "You were prepared to kill Tubbo, right then and there, correct?" George eyed Schlatt who was looking out of a big window that overlooked the newly renamed Manburg. "I was willing to do whatever it took to get that boy to comply."

"You do know that it was a stupid idea to have M/N join, you know how close he is to Tommy, there's no way that he won't try and steal secrets to give to them."

"Of course I know that I'm not dumb! What I need is to be able to keep an eye on him. How can I do that if he isn't working for me?"

"And Tubbo? You don't think he won't try to communicate with Wilbur and Tommy."

"George, Quackity, I am counting on their betrayal."

M/N lightly dabbed disinfectant on Tubbo's neck, him slightly wincing at the contact. "M/N, you don't have to do this, I'll be fine without you helping me."

M/N got up and threw the cloth he used into a cauldron filled with water to be washed later, grabbing a small bandage. "I know you'll be fine without all of this but, I need to, it's my fault that you have this cut in the first place, if I had just said okay to Schlatt instead of being stubborn then maybe that whole fiasco could've been avoided." M/N sat back down, looking at the bandage in his hands.

Tubbo placed a hand on M/N's. "There was no way either of us could've known what Jschlatt was planning, you can't beat yourself up for that. I'm okay, I didn't die, and even if I did I still have another life. I would have been okay."

M/N looked up at Tubbo, his eyes were glossy but he had a small smile on his face. "Still, I started to fix you up, so let me finish." Tubbo let out a small laugh and lifted his chin, allowing M/N to put the bandage on his neck.

M/N looked out his window and saw how dark the clouds began to look in the night sky. "You should probably start to head home now, it looks like it might rain." Tubbo looked out of the window and nodded. The two stood up and M/N led him to the door, opening it up for him and allowing him to step out into the night. "Hey Tubbo?" M/N called out and the boy turned around. "Thank you... for saying that it wasn't my fault, I really needed to hear that."

Tubbo smiled. "You're welcome." M/N walked up to him and gave him one last hug for the night.

"Stay safe okay?"

"Okay, I will."

The two separated and M/N walked back to his house, glancing at Tubbo one last time as he walked further and further down the path. He closed the door to his house and his smile dropped, he walked over to his chest and opened one, pulling out a glowing netherite chest plate. He stared at his reflection for a moment before putting on the chest plate as well as other pieces of armor. M/N grabbed a cloak that was hanging by his bed and put it on, it hid most of the armor as well as the sword that was at his side. He placed his bow on his back and thunder crashed making him look out to his window. It had already started to rain.

M/N walked out of his house and over to his horse that was shaking its head every time too much water would get on (his/her) face. He untied the lead from the horse's reins and hopped on their back. "Come on, H/N, let's go find Tommy and Wilbur."

The two traveled down the path all the way back to the podium where Tommy and Wilbur were declared banished from L'manburg and were shoved out. "Where did you two go." M/N mumbled. M/N pulled the reins making the H/N turn in the direction where he saw them run. "Hiya!" M/N lightly squeezed the sides of H/N making the horse gallop into the woods. The further that M/N got into the woods the denser the trees got, making it nearly impossible to even walk with his horse. M/N pulled out a lead and tied them to a tree making sure to surround the horse in a bit of cobblestone, just as a safety precaution.

He continued the journey on foot, occasionally looking down at the mud to see if he could see any footprints. As he continued walking he saw a small clearing in the woods. Someone was here. He could see the faint outline of the freshly blown out torches. He saw light coming from behind him but before he could turn around a voice spoke. M/N whipped his head around to see Wilbur and Tommy standing in front of him. "M/N?" Wilbur questions upon seeing the boy. "How did you-?" M/N cut him off by running past him and engulfing Tommy in a hug.

"Oh my god, Tommy are you alright?" M/N stopped hugging Tommy but both of his hands were still on his shoulders. "I'm fine, M/N, but how did you find us?"

"I just took off in a straight line from where you two ran." He said with a small laugh. Wilbur cleared his throat, "So I see you only came here to see Tommy?"

M/N let go of Tommy and hugged Wilbur. "No, I just care about him more."

"It's nice to see you again, M/N."

The sound of thunder and lightning flashed in the sky making the three turn their attention to the rain, which was coming down heavier by the minute. "Let's go inside, before the rain comes down even more." Wilbur suggested. The 3 walked into the small dirt shack, Tommy and M/N sitting on the bed and Wilbur leaning against the crafting table.

"Nice little shack you got here." M/N said jokingly

"Hey! Just because Pogtopia is small, doesn't mean that we aren't a great nation."

"Pogtopia?"

"That's what Tommy wanted to name this, he said it was another name for L'manburg, speaking of, what's going on there?"

M/N put his head in his hands, lightly tugging at his hair. "Schlatt has been in power for not even 24 hours and everything has gone to shit, he claims himself to be the emperor, Quackity and George are his vice presidents, Tubbo-" M/N sighs. "Tubbo is his right hand. He can't do or say anything with that asshole's approval!"

Tommy and Wilbur looked at each other with sorrowful eyes. M/N hands drop, his arms resting on his legs. "Tonight... before I came here, Schlatt he-he tried to kill Tubbo."

"What?! Why? Is Tubbo okay?" Tommy questioned raising his voice in distress.

"Tubbo is fine, his neck is cut up a little, that's all."

"What made Schlatt want to kill Tubbo?" Wilbur asked softly.

"He wanted me to be his commanding officer and command his troops as we quote expand this great country. If I didn't say yes, he would've had Tubbo killed with no hesitation, I couldn't let that happen."

Tommy hugged M/N who hugged him back trying not to let the stress tears fall. "It's going to be okay M/N, we'll be okay, we'll get L'manburg back."

M/N let go of Tommy, though his hands still rested on his shoulders. "Tommy, Schlatt changed the name, it's no longer L'manburg, it's Manburg. He said that this country doesn't take L's. Wilbur, he said that it was a reoccurring theme with the last president."

"What? He-he can't do that Wil, can he?"

"He is the elected emperor, technically speaking, yes."

"And what you're just gonna let Schlatt take your name and rake it through the mud?!"

"My name had been through enough-"

"Well I don't have your name and we don't have any time to waste so if you just let me-" Wilbur was the one to cut Tommy off this time.

"No we won't do that, end of discussion.'

The shack went silent for a moment before Wilbur spoke with a small sigh.

"The rain stopped, I think it would be best for you to start heading back M/N before the sun comes up and people get suspicious." M/N nodded and stood up. "I'll walk you out." Tommy said with a small smile.

The two boys walked out of the shack. The smell of rain was still in the air and in the silence you could hear water dripping from the leaves on the trees.

"I'm sorry about what just happened its just-" Tommy was cut off by M/N placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Tommy, It's okay, you both are under a lot of stress and I understand that fights can break out in stressful moments." M/N had a small smile on his face that warmed Tommy's heart.

M/N's hand retracted from Tommy's shoulder and back to his side, M/N went to walk away but Tommy grabbed his wrist.

"Wait!" The two looked at each other for a moment, Tommy fiddled with the hem of his shirt, his hand still wrapped around M/N's wrist.

"Can-Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." M/N turned around to face Tommy, whose hand never left M/N's wrist, it wasn't a tight grip but it was comfortable enough that they didn't feel the need to immediately move away.

"I-" he paused for a moment trying to form the right sentence. "The reason why me and Wil got into the fight was because, I want to try and get Technoblade on our side."

M/N was stunned for a moment "The Technoblade? You want him, to help us?" Tommy nodded.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Tommy shrugged. "He's a strong fighter and a great strategist, he could be what we need to help beat Schlatt!" A smile grew on Tommy's face as he spoke.

"I'm assuming Wilbur doesn't like the idea of getting the blade to help?"

"They have beef from the past so I think he's hesitant."

"Tommy, I trust your judgment, if you can convince Technoblade, to be on our side, I'll stand by your decision."

"Seriously?!" M/N nodded. "Yes! I won't let you down M/N! I'll convince him!" Tommy had a huge grin on his face and pulled M/N into another hug, which he reciprocated.

"I have to get back Tommy, I do need sleep for whatever the hell happens tomorrow." M/N said with a light laugh, pulling away from Tommy.

"Alright, get some sleep, I'll see ya later M/N!"

M/N walked away, waving to Tommy until he reached the forest.

"Bye Tommy, and good luck." M/N said softly as he turned around, pulling his hood up and walking deeper into the forest.

********

Wow! First writing done! I hope you all liked it if you got this far, if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes feel free to comment them, I am open to constructive criticism as I do want to improve my writing.

Word Count: 3195

[somerandomcryptid]

More Dream&Cryptid in smp interaction (this is actually just a later part of the bit of conversation I posted yesterday)

they are very healthy and normal and Dream is not a paranoid possessive mess, nope, definitely not

He has no problems with Cryptid having other friend :), not at all

Ok now that I'm done being sarcastic I can ramble about them more, also explain the Tommy thing a bit since I have yet to properly draw him for this au

Basically long story short, Tommy's one of the people on the smp who adopted Cryptid as their sibling

Cryptid made a run away attempt on their first night in the smp and ran into him and Ghostbur (who they are also close with!)

And they've been friends ever since, despite having their rough patches due to their clash of morals and personality (Tommy keeps swearing he doesn't actually care about them, he does, he very much does)

It's actually on the day that Cryptid runs into Techno that Cryptid aquires some of his wardrobe, they forgot to bring a jacket, so Tommy gives them his sweater(which is way too big for them) and just kind of never asks for it back, the bandana was specifically given though, it's a match of the one he had back in the day before he and Tubbo swapped bandanas some time in the L'manburg independence war

Cryptid wears the sweater often(despite it being too big for them) and they barely take off the bandana, it's comfy what can they say?

This... pisses of Dream quite a bit

He wouldn't like seeing them in any of his enemies clothes, but he especially hates that they're Tommy's

And for Cryptid, Cryptid thinks sides are bullshit in general, everyone's just people why do they have to pick a side when both are right and both are wrong at the same time? They'll just be friends with whoever they damn well like thank you very much

Dream absolutely does not think that way, and to him, them being friends with Tommy means they're abandoning him in the process

And it's Tommy, Tommy of all people, he made this server hell and then he just gets to steal his friends and leave him to rot alone? And be hailed as a "hero"? It's all bullshit to him, and he is absolutely not letting him "take" his sibling, no fucking way, they're good, they want what he wants, a world of peace, Tommy doesn't just get to take them and fuck everything up all over again, to make them just as chaotic as himself

If you cannot tell, Dream's mindset is very very unhealthy, and Cryptid's own agency is not a thing that pops up in there a whole lot at this point in story

He does basically everything he can to isolate them from people that are not him and his allies, he also does a similar thing with Wren, but that's more a matter of making sure that Wren will not meet anyone on the smp in a at all friendly way unless he wants her to be friends with them

Wren's harder to control though, Dream knows that he can guilt trip gaslight girlboss Cryptid into doing or not doing things if he tries hard enough, but Wren actually has enough of a backbone to call him out if he tried anything like that on her

So he tries to manipulate the situation more than her directly

I think that's all the rambling that I have for now, I was absolutely not kidding when I said I was going to make him a gigantic bastard, he has a lot of issues, a lot of issues

Also in this comic is what I was talking about when I said he moves Cryptid manually a lot, he tilts their head to him, pulls them onto their tips toes, pulls them against him, over all he's just very... Touchy.. in a very platonic way(obviously), but touchy none the less, it's often on the gentler side, but sometimes it's definitely closer to manhandling

Anyway now I'm actually done, I have so many thoughts about all my blorbos though, it's very hard to shut up :p

(Dreaming of death is an au of the fic Penpal by @calamari-minecraft-corner)

[dreamsclock]

prompt u say... in a no nuke universe, how does c!tommy handle seeing the absolute worst of c!dream's scars?

(and vice versa?)

not gonna write this as a fic and instead gonna write it as a mini analysis because i wanna discuss different scenarios so!! buckle in!!

this is a mess. warnings for: scars, death, murder, mild gore (Detail of injuries and scars), unhealthy dynamics (diskduo), mentions of torture, abuse, etc. warnings for general themes in exile, prison, and c!diskduo's general dynamic).

operating under the popular headcanon that canon deaths leave scars, i would imagine the worst of c!tommy's scars are from his canon deaths: one over his heart from the l'manburg independence wars, one across his neck from the final control room, and a head scar from being beaten to death in prison (along with others, but the most common c!tommy final death i've seen has him with a head wound for this). of course, he probably has other scars - from the manberg explosion, from doomsday, from exile, etc - but i imagine a lot of those would be straightforward enough?? along with the first two of his deaths. i think in any of those scenarios, c!dream would be either patching up a wound for c!tommy or something similar, see the scar, and then ask him about it - i like to imagine he doesn't even REMEMBER the final control room death (because i also forgot it LMAO) and tommy takes the biggest offence to this. what the fuck do you mean you don't remember??? that was the biggest deal of my life!! "look, it just slipped my mind-" SLIPPED YOUR MIND???? MY DEATH SLIPPED YOUR MIND?????

for the final death, i think it resonated a lot more for both of them. the first two of tommy's deaths happened even before the life system was canonised, and happened before exile, manberg, and everything that followed. after manberg, things felt like they had a lot more weight to them. tommy's final death came from a very personal place, for both of them. it wasn't war, it wasn't for a kingdom. it was a matter of emotions and desperation and fear and trauma, for both of them, and i think it would be a lot more of a big deal for them both too.

dream finds it when he's trying to wash blood out of tommy's hair after growing tired of him complaining about the mess. it's a knotted, gnarly scar - half feels like there's obsidian still lodged in there - and dream's hands pass over it once, before pausing. tommy's squirming and griping stops very quickly when he realizes what dream's found.

both of them know what it is. neither of them need the confirmation.

but dream isn't going to ask. and tommy isn't going to tell. so dream continues until the back of tommy's head is blonde, free from blood, and tries to be careful when washing near the scar.

maybe later that night, when they're both lying half-asleep (read: staring restlessly at the ceiling of their base), dream asks quietly. does it still hurt?

at the other end of the room, tommy turns over in bed, and sniffs.

do yours?

because dream's scars... they're not exactly hidden. sure, dream wraps up what he can - his mask hardly ever comes off, and he's usually clad in armour and extra clothes and bandages anyway, which cover a lot of skin - but torture scars can't exactly stay hidden. especially not that many. tommy sees new scars every day, though he never asks about them any more.

i don't know how to begin classifying which of dream's scars would be the worst. neither does tommy, who sees burn marks and places where bones have broken the skin and scars from swords and axes and patchily-healed skin where shears have been involved.

he'd tried asking about them at first. what the fuck? he'd said, seeing the first - a strip of skin that hadn't healed right on dream's back, nasty, scarring. a messy little smiley face is cut into it too. dude, you look like you've been fucking cut into little pieces.

dream goes rigid. how are your scars, tommy? he'd snipped back, voice curt, mocking. how's the neck healing? how's the arm?

they'd fought. obviously. they fought a lot, in the early days.

but tommy's unease around dream's scars only grows when he realizes the extent of them. they seem endless, a mural of torture and torment that he just knows are from the prison.

quackity did this, didn't he? he asks, when they're too tired months later to fight. quackity and sam. in the prison.

dream doesn't reply to that.

but tommy is woken up by him that night, when dream shrieks, bolting awake in bed. it's not a human sound. it's barely even animalistic.

tommy never tells him that he'd woken that night. there's no point. dream won't thank him for the knowledge that tommy had seen him curl up in bed, whole body trembling. he won't thank him for the knowledge that tommy had heard the choked gasps and sobs as he'd struggled to breathe, that he'd watched through half-closed eyes as dream had paced until the sun came up.

he didn't tell him any of that. he didn't tell him about the new scar he'd seen either - two of them, wrapping around his neck from the axe of peace, from the staged disk war finale.

tommy remembers how good it had felt, slamming that axe into dream's body.

when he eventually falls back asleep that night, he dreams of prison, and the break in dream's frame when he'd killed ghostbur.

SEND ME MORE C!DISKDUO / NO NUKE PROMPTS OR ASKS!!

[stellocchia]

AAAAAAAAAAA

The first fic for the cPrimetober event is here! And we're going back to the very beginning with this one. Did anyone order a protege!Tommy during the independence war? Well now it's here!

Summary:

“Trouble in paradise?” Dream asked in a sort of weird hopeful tone. “Nah, it’s just hot as fuck today, innit?” He waved Dream’s apparent concern off. He hoped that was enough to dismiss whatever weird idea of Tommy’s situation Dream had built up in his mind. Dream hummed, unconvinced. Too bad for him, because that had been the truth. Tommy only left because he’d been choking for air for over an hour after he tucked himself away in bed. Still, Dream didn’t actually question his story. “Oh, well, if it’s just that I can offer you a solution, I built a base over in the Holy Grounds so anyone could rest safely if they needed. It's nice and fresh there. I could bring you there” He offered. If Tommy was any more lucid than he was at that moment, he would have said no. Dream was acting weird. Tommy didn’t have any armor or weapons on him. It was a stupid choice. But Tommy was known for making stupid choices on the best of days, let alone when his mind was so hazy he could barely think. So, of course, he followed Dream. or, unable to sleep in L'Manburg's stuffy barracks, Tommy sneaks out to his bench to get some fresh air. Everything goes downhill from there...

[hiveswap]

How do you get into mcyt?? I’ve tried a couple times and I can’t really figure out where everyone’s finding lore? Any tips?

Oh hi. i dont even know where to begin, i've been really out of the loop. But i have recommendations. This is going to be long

DreamSMP

Well, the dsmp has gone to shit for many reasons.

But if you do get into dsmp, blueberrytv on youtube is your best friend, they cut streams down to more digestible episodes so you can follow the story along. Yes it's long. Dear god it's long. Also @relaxxattack has a carrd that updated until fairly recently, i also recommended it many times.

The story was (i never thought i'd have to speak in past tense about it, the fucker seemed to drag through for decades in just 2 years) told through livestreams, quite a few of are lost forever because twitch deletes vods after 2 weeks and no one bothered to back them up. Also ignore everything after the disc war finale except quackity (and tales of the smp)

You can test the waters by watching Wilbur's L'manburg war video to see if you like the vibes. I usually recommend this, though it's not the earliest point in the story. (that would be tommy's disc war, which is also VERY important, but people tend to find him annoying at first, esp. 2020 tommy like jesus christ he was a different beast. Definietly watch it after the L'manburg independence, things will click.)

Sad-ist's animatics are classics that helped shape the story as it was being written. Watch them as you progress through.

Hermitcraft + Adjacent*

*as far as fandom/content creator overlap goes

1. Hermitcraft is more gameplay heavy. If you don't enjoy minecraft you're not gonna like it, but it's pretty straight forward. You find a youtuber and follow their series on youtube. People usually recommend Grian, GoodTimesWithScar, and Mumbo for beginners, (they are the most popular ones) and then you can branch out from there. Hermitcraft recap is a godsent if you want to know what's going on everywhere.

I personally loved season 8, it's also the shortest and the most lore-heavy. Really gives you a taste of what the series is like at its best.

2. The life series! (Third life, Last Life, Double life, Limited Life) again, find any participant want, then branch out if you want to. Lore is easy to find here, people were under pressure to make up stuff quickly because the series is short, and the result is funny, creative, and so so tragic.

3. People watch EvoSMP for grian, pearl and martyn lore but it really doesn't matter to anything that's going on right now. It's a good series, but Watcher (basically evil angel Grian) headcanons are far detached from it nowdays despite originating from it.

4. Yandere highschool! Do not watch Yandere highschool. No detail is worth it. Use adblock if you force yourself through it, no money for the creator he's an asshat and the other members apparently no longer talk to him.

QSMP

Since the last post, Quackity started the QSMP, in which spanish and english speaking youtubers play on the same server. It has roleplay but it's looser and less grimdark than the dsmp thankfully. They are on an island and they adopted little eggs that walk around and act all cute. It's streamed on twitch. Pick a person and look up their vods, if you're interested. Slimecicle is recommended to start with, and some spanish creators use english subtitles/translation mods. There aren't comprehensive sources to find every vod/video yet, since the server isn't that old.

EmpiresSMP

Start from participants' youtube channels, can't tall you more. I never got into it, not my thing. However, a lot of people left guides in the notes!

[kozzax]

The Festival of Hope.

Held once a year, over the span of three days following the anniversary of L'Manburg's Doomsday. Organized by the Captain, and by the ex-King. Surrounding the crater of what was once a thriving nation, and filling its valley with joy and community once more.

A celebration of everything L'Manburg stood for.

It's been ten years, now. Ten years from the first Festival-- a small affair, the attendees primarily those who had once lived in L'Manburg, gathered to mourn and honor their past home.

Now, the Festival is a bustling event. Players from across the entire server come to take part in the festivities, to celebrate and honor the spirit of that which brought so many of them together. Children in Snowchester are allowed these days as a holiday from schools, and encouraged to visit the crater. Las Nevadas opens a miniature casino for the adults. It is built up to with delight and excitement, as a reminder of the community that once existed.

You have come to the festival, a young child who can not remember the days of L'Manburg but who has grown up with the stories of its existence. As far back as you can remember, you have visited the crater to pay respects to its legacy.

This year your parents have determined you old enough to attend on your own, and as you step up to the edge of the crater to leave your offering-- a small bundle of wildflowers, picked out of the snow and kept safe and alive for almost a week now, bundled up in warmth and sunlight within your home --you can't help but notice a tall man staring into it.

You've seen him around Snowchester before. He has dirty-blond hair, and he's drumming his fingers and talking to himself as he watches the crater. He's wearing a blue sweater that doesn't quite fit him right. He looks... sad.

You offer your flowers to him, instead. He shakes his head.

"It's just-- I can't believe after all this, people still-- They still care about it all," He says, gesturing to the piles of gifts and offerings left at the edge of the crater. "They remember it. They care about it. It's--"

He doesn't seem to know what to say next, and you can see the tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"It wasn't all for nothing. It fucking-- it meant something. He was right. It meant something."

You stand there for a moment with him, letting the world be quiet, before placing your flowers where you'd meant for them to go. He smiles at you, then, reaching out to ruffle your hair with a laugh.

You notice that in his other hand, he's holding a pair of taped-up glasses. He sends you back to the festivities before you can ask about them.

"Don't fucking worry about me, bitch. I'll be back down eventually. Go have some fucking-- fun, or whatever."

He's smiling, still. There's something sad about it, but-- you turn to head back down, anyways.

You join in with a game some of the other kids are playing. You're soldiers, revolutionaries, fighting for their independence and freedom. Wooden swords and paper sashes become your battle gear, as you laugh and play with each other.

And, as you play, a grown fox offers to join in. He says you can't be soldiers without an enemy to fight. Without someone you can stand up against. And so he takes up the role of the bad guy, with an over-the-top laugh and a sly grin on his face. He seems to be having fun. You know you are.

When he's defeated, he tells you you fought well. You're not sure you did, but he's playing with you and nobody else is willing to be the bad guy, so you guess he's alright. Still, as he walks away, you hear him mutter something under his breath.

"Good kids. Clearly their parents didn't leave them for some dumb war. Maybe-- maybe this isn't so bad, after all."

You forget about what you heard quickly enough, though, as you're swept up in the excitement of reenactments. This has always been one of your favorite parts of the Festival: watching as the stories of L'Manburg are told through theatrical productions. You know them all by heart.

As you watch, this year, you can't help but overhear comments from some of the other attendees. A pair of people-- a woman with pink hair, and a man wearing a headset --keep up a humorous, if not... entirely kind, commentary throughout all of it.

"They always forget to talk about the anteaters," The pink-haired lady insists during the initial revolution, half-snickering as she does so. "We had to sit through that rant so many times. You'd think they'd remember it."

"Yeah, or the time they counted rations wrong and we were left eating fucking coconuts for a week. D'you think that's where Fundy got the idea for his campaign name?" The man replies, a matching grin on his face.

You don't know quite how to feel about their commentary, but-- at the very least it's funny, and you've heard the stories enough times to enjoy them. They seem to be having fun, too, and-- isn't that the point, of it all?

The man laughed at anything involving Jack Manifold, Tommyinnit's friend, and the woman seemed to pay no attention to the story of the baker-warrior Niki Nihachu. You aren't quite sure why. You always liked those stories, but-- well. Nothing's perfect for everyone.

The festival continues. You find yourself enjoying every moment of it, as you play games and sing songs and listen to the tales of L'Manburg. Here and there you spot the Captain, guiding people around and ensuring everything is moving smoothly. Her wool is dyed with L'Manburgian colors, as it is for every year.

You catch up with her properly, once, and ask her for a story. A real story about L'Manburg.

She tells the tale of a knight, too slow to protect the country the first time and too slow to protect it a second, but finally able to protect its legacy. She talks of how the knight set the captive heroes free, by protecting their legacy in their place. She talks about children, finally allowed to just live, because the knight swore to never let Doomsday happen again.

You don't quite understand how it connects with L'Manburg properly, but she's called away for the closing ceremonies before you get the chance to ask for more stories.

And as the final day comes to an end, you attend the closing ceremonies the same as everyone else.

They're led by Eret. They're always, always led by Eret. Every year, she tells the story of her involvement with L'Manburg, and of her work to repent for what she did to them so very long ago. And every year, he closes the speech with a simple enough request: to remember.

To remember what the country stood for-- freedom, and peace, and hope, and community.

To remember what happened to it-- to never let it happen again.

To remember their errors-- so that you can be better.

This year, ten years after the first Festival, she adds a new statement to her closing speech. A statement that you don't... quite understand the weight of, though the surface of it makes enough sense.

"I remember everything. I regret hurting my brethren, I have always regretted it. I know that you will never forgive me. I do not deserve to be forgiven. But I hope that-- that I have given you some amount of peace. The chance to live your own lives, comfortable and quiet and happy. I hope that you can heal. I hope that the ideals we fought for stand strong, and true."

Were you to look at the entire audience, you would have noticed the people you've been speaking to this entire time staring at Eret. The sad man with the sweater, holding his brothers' glasses tighter than ever. The fox just letting a soft laugh out, muttering under his breath that he'd forgiven her a long time ago. The woman with the pink hair and the man with the headset, exchanging thoughtful glances with each other and murmuring between themselves.

And with that, the Festival of Hope is over. The attendees begin to disperse, and you move back towards the transport to Snowchester with the rest of the kids you came with.

You're excited to see your family again. To go back to your quiet little community, and tell them all about your time at the Festival. About all the people you met, and the stories you heard.

To live your life, safe and happy and comfortable.

Just as they'd always hoped the people could.

[cdroloisms]

c!Dream and early aid for Pogtopia

(i promised this post so long ago rip)

There is a lot to say about c!Dream and the Pogtopia/Manberg era, especially because so many events in this period of time define the future of his character in very long-lasting ways. Much discussion has been focused particularly on the Vassal discussion and c!Dream's loyalties after--today, though, I want to focus on c!Dream's priorities before that discussion and what they might reveal about his goals.

First, I want to quickly link my post I made on c!Dream during the L'manburg Revolution, which establishes a few of the key c!Dreamisms that influence my read of him particularly pre-November 16th. Second, I want to point to a clip in the drodcast that emphasizes that the reason why c!Dream switched sides to Manberg was for the story's sake and in-universe therefore only happened because of the revive book deal, further indicating that the character had no prior intentions to turn against Pogtopia.

All that being said, there are a couple main points I want to make about (how I interpret) c!Dream in early Pogtopia.

c!Dream was already pretty obviously acting alone/isolated at the beginning of this arc

c!Dream was always genuine in his support for Pogtopia

There is more reason to believe in c!Dream's assertion that he wanted "L'manburg to be something" than the opposite

Starting wth point one, I think it's important to acknowledge how c!Dream emphasizes the idea of secrecy repeatedly during the beginnng of the Manberg/Pogtopia arc. He talks about how he has to provide support "from the shadows" in the Tyrant book, and he expresses similar sentiments when he gives supplies to c!Techno around this time as well. At the very least, when he was supplying aid at this point in time, he was pretty damn obviously acting alone--we see this as the arc progresses as well, when c!Dream helps c!Tommy in the Battle of the Lake and when he meets with Pogtopia during Vassal, for example.

Of course, acting alone doesn't necessarily mean isolation, although taking on a big + potentially dangerous task alone can lead to feelings of isolation regardless of that fact, but if we take a look at c!Dream at this time...sure he has friends, and people he's friendly with. But in terms of actual allies, he's kinda been on his own? c!George was decidedly part of Manberg due to the coalition at the start of the arc, and as far back as the Elections we see him claiming that he was "under Dream's rule" to explain that the decisions weren't his own in the Revolution.

Even though c!George obviously does not have high opinions of Wilbur and Tommy and their whole deal re: independence, we also see that no one really protests when c!Dream is called the "leader of tyranny."

And outside of this one debate, when we look at the actual events of the server...c!Dream enters into a few conflicts after the Revolution, all of which were not initiated by him. In these conflicts, he repeatedly has his items used as blackmail against him w/ the discs being the cited justification in a lot of cases (discs that were, once again, legally traded to him). And as far as these conflicts go, in terms of actual allies? There's really no one consistent at all? c!Sapnap outright teams with c!Tommy to get Dream's stuff until he turns on c!Tommy when he realizes opposing Dream isn't a good idea for him. c!Dream gets pulled into c!Sapnap's mess with the Pet Wars and therefore helps him hide their pets when the fight escalates--but at no point does c!Sapnap really outright support c!Dream in a conflict that involves him. c!Skeppy is also out here mostly in it for his own gain and was the one to steal Spirit's leather (from his. grave 😭) in the first place, like. Consistently, when c!Dream is involved in an actual conflict, he acts alone--before the Manberg/Pogtopia arc even begins. Mix in the fact that L'manburg was largely seen as an independent entity despite its technically being a part of the Dream SMP (and therefore Dream having to act accordingly) and the way that like the fandom, the L'manburg Revolution's aftermath brought in a lot of new members that further solidified the narrative in-universe (just like how a lot of new fans joined after the L'manburg Revolution, especially bc of the SAD-ist animation, which all served to solidify the l'manburg = heroes connection in the fandom as well) and the idea of c!Dream as the "bad guy" of the Revolution went relatively unchallenged (along with c!Eret, who obviously never shook the title of traitor.)

c!Dream was lacking in consistent allies and largely dealt with conflicts involving himself alone pre-Manberg/Pogtopia (gestures at how it's me and you against Dream was reiterated repeatedly), and when Manberg/Pogtopia began he had even more reason to act by himself. He was acting against the peace treaty by helping Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, and a lot of the people he knew were friendly with or outright were a part of Manberg (George was a literal part of the government at the beginning, Karl was looking for wherever he could get an advantage, Sapnap is. Sapnap and shit was happening like the Battle of the Lake which literally involved kidnapping Niki, as well as other things)--c!Dream, at this point, is already used to working alone and had many reasons to continue doing so.

Onto point two: c!Dream was genuine in his support of Pogtopia throughout the arc until the point of the revive book deal. I want to point to the clip again from the drodcast, specifically how Dream says that before the conception of the revive book, c!Dream "literally switched for no reason we had no reason for me to switch [outside of the revive book]." This, plus the fact that what canonically does end up driving the decision to "switch sides" by publicly supporting c!Schlatt on November 16th is the literal revive book, all points to how c!Dream wasn't exactly going to side with c!Schlatt easily. It literally takes the whole ass revive book, the item that shatters his view of reality with its implications and was one of the central reasons why he had a paranoid spiral that involved him cooking up the prison for him to consider being on Schlatt's side.

Oftentimes, the arguments around c!Dream in this era and how he was manipulating the situation for his own gain boil down to two main moments where an assertion is made that c!Dream was playing both sides to make them destroy each other, those being Vassal and his speech to c!Eret on November 16th.

The first excerpt, Vassal, happened in early October, and the latter comes from the famous conversation c!Dream has with c!Eret on November 16th. And from these two excerpts, it can seem reasonable to believe that c!Dream's intentions were in the realm of helping both sides destroy each other, especially considering his saying that his plan is "there is no Manberg, there's no L'manburg, there's no Pogtopia, there's just Dream SMP an there's Dream SMP everywhere." But--regardless of whether or not you believe this statement, regardless of whether or not he wanted L'manburg gone from the beginning of this arc, it's undeniable that his actions do not support the claim that he was always planning to help Manberg to sabotage both sides.

The only reason why c!Dream helps c!Schlatt, and by extension Manberg, was the revive book. And this is made quite explicit both in and out of character. This man was calling Manberg L'manburg to Manberg's goddamn cabinet, for god's sake. As soon as the deal with the Election results go down, c!Dream aligns himself with Pogtopia. He supplies Manberg no aid until after the revive book deal and literally warns Pogtopia when he switches sides???? Even the claim that he wanted the two entities to destroy each other doesn't reflect the reality of him knowing that destruction would come at c!Wilbur's hands from the TNT, not from the fight between Manberg/Pogtopia in itself.

Even if you proceed with the reading that c!Dream wanted L'manburg dead and gone and wanted that from the beginning, he quite clearly was helping Pogtopia against Manberg in order to facilitate his goals and was not helping c!Schlatt until the revive book forced his hand.

The third point is the one most up for debate/based on interpretation, but I believe that, based on the information we have, it is more reasonable to believe that at the beginning of Manberg/Pogtopia c!Dream had no plans for the total destruction of L'manburg and didn't necessarily see that as one of his end goals for the server than to say that the opposite is true.

For one, going back to the revolution, c!Dream--even then--didn't have total annihilation of L'manburg as his end goal. He goes into that war knowing that he would give them "technical independence"--allowing them to exist as an entity, hell, allowing them to have 'independence' in some form (although obviously he finds the whole "we are our own server now actually" situation ridiculous). If there was ever any time to pursue the total destruction of L'manburg as an entity, it would've been then, before L'manburg was ever firmly established.

If we take c!Dream purely at his word (a dubious thing to do for sure, obviously, mans is a liar--but at the same time, c!Dream at that time was also a man that was known to generally keep his end of the deal) then c!Dream's motives at the beginning of Pogtopia are quite clear: the Tyrant book establishes the reasons why he opposes c!Schlatt, that he was able to maintain peace with L'manburg but did not feel that the same could be true as long as c!Schlatt was leader, and that "Schlatt is no Wilbur."

Later on, in Vassal, he reiterates these points, openly mocking c!Schlatt in connection with democracy and once again stating that he doesn't see Pogtopia as the bad guys + stating that c!Schlatt, unlike c!Wilbur, is unfit as a ruler because of his ambition.

Later on, when outright questioned about why he supports L'manburg now when he was the one that famously opposed them in the Revolution, he says this:

and obviously, right, he could be lying. I'm not discounting that. But it's rather notable, I think, that when it comes to c!Dream agreeing to give c!Wilibur TNT, that's in response to "I want to rig the city"--a city that, at that minute, was in enemy hands and a force that they were planning on fighting. c!Dream had pledged his allegiance to Pogtopia and specifically set a precedent of himself as an ally that would provide military aid and items (see: the gear he gives c!Techno and c!Tommy, Battle of the Lake, hell, he gives c!Tommy TNT literal minutes before Vassal while all but guarding him when c!Tommy is trying to antagonize Manberg in order to bring them back and keep them from discovering Pogtopia)--his support in this area does not, in my opinion, show clear support for the actual ideological reasons behind why c!Wilbur concludes he has to blow up L'manburg (and in Vassal, we actually see him push against those reasons several times, as shown below.)

And again, whether or not you think his disagreement is genuine or if you believe he was just fishing for information/how serious c!Wilbur actually was, I'd say that his words and action in this scene do, repeatedly, indicate a level of hesitance. He is not jumping the gun as soon as the opportunity presents itself for him to get rid of L'manburg once and for all--he's being cautious. Assessing. So much so that c!Wilbur picks up on it and outright threatens him, which is also the point in the conversation where c!Dream stops arguing back against any of the points that he makes:

And the point I'm making here isn't that c!Dream didn't want L'manburg to be destroyed when he agreed to give c!Wilbur the TNT. I think there does exist proof for this point, including whatever the hell Dream knew that Plan B had to happen...I'm so proud was supposed to mean, but that's not the point I'm specifically trying to make here. Rather, I think that until L'manburg's destruction is specifically brought up by c!Wilbur, there is little proof that shows c!Dream as specifically pursuing it/planning to get rid of it for the sake of a factionless server.

Sure, you can say that c!Dream's ideal server would've been a server without L'manburg on it. You could also say that c!Dream's ideal server at the time was a server where c!Tommy shut up abt the damn discs alread and a server where c!Sapnap stopped rampaging through the pet population on the server--there's a difference between "the ideal" and what he was specifically working towards. And the fact of the matter is, after the Revolution, c!Dream really doesn't have any conflicts with L'manburg itself. c!Tommy? Certainly--largely initiated by c!Tommy for the discs that he literally traded c!Dream during the revolutionary war. But c!Dream is hardly entering into faction conflict--he even says, in Tyrant, that they had peace between their two nations, and that it was C!SCHLATT'S election that disrupted that peace.

And c!Dream's particular dislike of factions is also something that I think has a tendency to get...overexaggerated? Especially because it's one of the foundational tenets of the L'manburg mythos--c!Dream is a control freak that opposed the idea of people getting together to make a "country" without him, etc etc. This is even something that is addressed in the Mexican L'manburg debates:

c!Dream doesn't like factions, true. He'd prefer a united server without them, true. But c!Dream being pushed into taking action against any particular faction really didn't start from him just, hating factions in the first place? There always was some kind of inciting incident. By the time of post-Nov 16th, he quite evidently recognizes that factions are going to continue to be a Thing--he never has any outright conflict with the Badlands, for example, because they don't really engage in conflict with him--and later he practically ignores El Rapids even after the whole debacle that was Mexican L'manburg. When c!Dream says "look you guys were fine because you were just existing" in the Tyrant book and in Vassal, that fits the pattern of how he deals with faction conflict on this server? (See, also, how he generally doesn't go after factions post-prison, despite making some implicit threats: the only faction that he goes after is LN, and even if you consider the fact that he probably had bigger fish to fry with the whole, world reset thing, once again factions don't really matter to him until he's registering them as an explicit threat.)

The Revolution was meant to prove a point, the point being don't fuck with me--a point that c!Wilbur clearly understood and abided by. And after the Revolution, c!Dream really never shows any inclinations of wanting conflict with L'manburg or wanting it gone the way that we see that as more consistent trait later on by the time we get to things like the revive book deal, and Nov. 16th, and especially in his dealings with NLM leading up to Doomsday the unfinished symphony, right?

And, you know, all of this makes sense. c!Dream knows that L'manburg isn't just about L'manburg itself, considering the damn story of L'manburg was established by c!Wilbur in like, what, a day? c!Dream and the Americans (tm) were established as the Enemy even though half of them literally weren't involved at all in the drug van conflict (and members of L'manburg had. Literally fought with c!Sapnap in said conflict??) and L'manburg grew out of that story in almost no time at all. c!Dream has zero reason to believe that the destruction of L'manburg in entirety is even possible--he literally didn't think it was possible in the Revolution! c!Dream's priorities for the server isn't a factionless server, it's a peaceful server--not to mention how he literally saw L'manburg as part of the Dream SMP anyway? As long as L'manburg the entity wasn't starting shit (which they weren't, not until Schlatt got elected and everything went to hell) c!Dream really doesn't have a motive to try and Start A Conflict against them (which is antithetical to the whole peaceful coexistence schtick that he was trying to get at) and really doesn't have much of a reason to think that any of that would even work either, considering how he was quite confident that the L'manburgians would never give up when L'manburg was like. A week old.

Of course, with Vassal and with c!Wilbur going "let me destroy it all" it's obviously perfectly possible that c!Dream was thinking hey, the guy that all of L'manburg respects and sees as leader wants L'manburg gone, this could possibly lead to L'manburg being fully dissolved and the server going back to being factionless and united and for that to motivate his later actions in the arc and his support of c!Wilbur. But Vassal still has to happen first. There really isn't any reason to believe that c!Dream was gunning for L'manburg's destruction at the start of the arc, and c!Dream really had every reason to believe that that wouldn't even be possible (and I mean, NLM had rebuilt itself literally like. In the span of a week? So.) Based on what we see, the most that can really be said imo about c!Dream here is that he's being opportunistic, and even then he expresses a level of hesitance throughout Vassal.

Considering how c!Dream supported Pogtopia from the beginning and only ends that alliance because of the revive book deal and considering how he acted in the time period between the Revolution and Manberg/Pogtopia, I think it's fair to state that c!Dream's statements of his end goal being to return to the "peace" that had existed pre-Manberg through the coexistence of L'manburg and DreamSMP, one side believing themselves independent and the other side believing that they're all part of the same server, was. His original end goal when Manberg/Pogtopia began. He had every reason to support Pogtopia over Manberg (and by extension, Wilbur over Schlatt) when you consider how Wilbur generally was willing to play nice with c!Dream post-revolution, a sentiment rather clearly not shared by c!Schlatt and his expansionist ideals. Even if c!Dream would've preferred a server without L'manburg, his actions as far back as the Revolution indicate to me that the likelihood of his actually creating any plans in that direction is rather small and that his sentiments of returning the server back to how it was in its pre-Manberg state are close to the truth. c!Dream isn't stupid enough to think that destroying L'manburg outright would've suddenly resulted in server peace--destabilizing shit by making everyone mad at him at that point in time really seems antithetical to his goals? It seems more likely to me that c!Dream, in alignment with his goals, at this point would prioritize a peaceful server over a factionless one, especially at a time pre-Manberg nonsense when the whole "L'manburg is an independent nation that Matters A Lot To Everyone" is just so deeply entrenched.

And obviously quite a few important changes happen to his character around this time, especially due to 1) Vassal and 2) the Revive Book Deal. I think that these two in particular have a lot to do with the character that we see in November 16th (when c!Dream is already acting quite a lot more like how he will continue to act over the next two months up until staged finale, and when he's already a little bit more, uh. Unhinged than we've seen him, looks at his laughter when c!Wilbur detonates the TNT.) And obviously a lot of the important development that happens at this time (such as his spending time with c!Wilbur in Pogtopia + the. Everything with c!Schlatt, the book deal, shakes everyone about the book deal again) happens off-screen, so we have to speculate a bit. But at the end of the day, when c!Dream is considered in the context of who he was before Manberg/Pogtopia began as well as who he ends up being at the end of the arc, it definitely feels to me that these early moments shouldn't be as wholly dismissed as an act/front/lies what have you as they commonly are.