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nmoroder · 3 years ago

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Crowns and Revelations

There's a small story I came up with in 2021 and was even planning on illustrating the whole thing, but it lacks details world-wise so I'm dumping it now as it is. It revolves around the AU where Klogg was sentenced to living on the Pin Island (check out my askblog posts that are based on the same idea!) and involves several of my OCs, one of them driving the whole plot. The whole idea was more of a character development process, not something lore-filled, so yeah that's what to expect here.

This post contains info about the story and the characters involved, as well as some illustrations - only 10 per post, sadly, because I have much more. Well. Let's dive in!

OCs

Keep in mind that this story only includes OCs created by me, so stuff like 'this detail is unique for him' takes place cuz it's unique among my characters, so on - the fandom is so vast and creative on OCs behalf, nothing is truly unique nowadays.

Maleeh and Shuffle (far left, left) were created next to each other and are almost complete opposites; while Maleeh is mostly a normal Neverhoodian (a cheerful easygoing pal just eager to have fun), Shuffle acts unnaturally serious all thanks to the shoulder patches he got upon creation. He considers them a sign from above that he needs to stay by Hoborg's side all the time and provide any support he requires - all because he's the only Hoodian with the patches detail. He's distant compared to other Neverhoodians but he's mostly neutral or positive towards them, although not really invested in the whole 'having fun' thing; the only Hoodian he really loathes is Klogg - cuz Hoborg hasn't given up on him but in Shuffle's opinion it's just a waste of time and mental stability. Sly (middle) is also supposed to be a part of this OC trio but he comes from Maleeh's side, and Maleeh does his best to ensure Sly doesn't hinder Shuffle's progress anyhow; Sly is the 'little seed' cuz he was the last one to be created and his seed had the least Klay left - so he's a bit smaller than other Hoodians.

Alto and Glenn (right and far right) played a lesser but also important role in the plot; Glenn is the local equivalent of Da Vinci with his insane inventions that are impossible to recreate in Neverhood but that doesn't stop him from trying. And Alto is the Hoodian that was created after him and is just happy to vibe along, though he doesn't really understand Glenn's complicated talk.

Plot summary

It's been four years since Neverhood was successfully populated and Klogg got sentenced to living on the Pin Island. Throughout all those years he'd been visited every other day by Hoodians, sometimes Willie Trombone and even Hoborg himself, bringing food, news and stuff to occupy himself with. Hoborg's tactics consisted of tryng to teach Klogg what he'd missed thus fixing his mistake of giving an uneducated child freedom of will; it sort of works because Klogg's attitude dies down a bit, changing towards a rather passively waiting one. He's still a power-seeking little misbehaving shit tbh but at least he had a lot of time to process his wishes and environment - now he's waiting for a second chance to gain what he deserves. Nevertheless Hoborg is happy with the progress they've made.

Slowly but steadily, they even come to an understanding with Hoborg to a point of the latter no longer leaving his crown to a trustee upon visiting the Island (or giving it to Shuffle who often accompanied him). It came so far that in a talk that once occured, Hoborg even admitted that if he ever had to leave his crown to someone permanently (in case he dies or suffers grave injuries anyhow, which is unlikely in the Neverhood but still possible, right?) - he'd choose Klogg as a successor. After both Shuffle and Klogg recovered from shock dealt by these words, he explained that he'd like the crown owner to be a creator and most Hoodians are not - except for maybe Glenn but they've discussed it and he refused.

The topic died quickly but, as you'd expect, Klogg wouldn't forget something as loud as this promise, and it resurfaced a while later when Hoborg decided to take another trip for the Klay mountain (yay Hall of Records lore). This time he decides to take a companion along and Shuffle eagerly agrees - there's nothing else for him to do, anyway. Klogg is rightfully unhappy about this idea cuz the crown he was promised is leaving somewhere for unknown period of time, but there's little he can do anyway. So the duo leaves, and the Neverhood is peaceful again for another four whole years... until Klogg wakes up one day in cold sweat, sensing clearly that someone else has put on the crown.

Here's also something worth mentioning - the crown headcanons:

all creatures who's ever worn the same crown can feel its presence subconsciously - like a beacon;

all creatures who's ever worn the same crown can feel it being put on by someone (but not being taken off its current owner) - it feels roughly like being thunderstruck, a sudden realization;

the creature who is the last to wear the crown can feel the intentions of someone who holds the crown at the moment; it's not really mind reading, more like a subconscious awareness, and if that other creature actually puts on the crown - it becomes closest to their mind and intentions so reading them becomes easier as well. The best example I can give from canon is Hoborg actually sensing Klogg's intention to put on the crown, not just take it away, when he stole it from the creator.

So where are we? Klogg's dead sure that the crown is no longer safe - that means something happened to Hoborg as well, and with that he tries to talk the Hoodians into letting him explore space and find their creator (and his idiot companion, too). They're not so eager to believe Klogg's words about sensing the crown's location, about him also feeling it being put on by someone else, etc etc, and the biggest red flag is him claiming that Hoborg promised him the crown himself (and there's no one to prove it cuz both witnesses are gone from the Neverhood). Some Hoodians suggest that Shuffle could be the one taking advantage of the crown, and Maleeh with Sly defend him fiercely, saying that Shuffle would rather die defending the crown and the creator rather than lay his hands on them.

Then Glenn steps in and announces he can help Klogg on this noble quest - he can assist in building a spaceship that'll bring him to final destination way faster, seeing as it's been four years since Hoborg left and he may be quite a distance away now. But Glenn puts forward a simple arrangement: he helps with the ship, and Klogg brings back their creator safe and well. That's a dangerous thing to bargain upon, but ultimately they make a deal. Despite Glenn's intentions to help build a ship, in fact he's almost finished building one - he's just letting Klogg use it once it's ready, and Klogg takes interest and actively helps finish buiding the structure; seeing how he's not weaseling out of anything and not even trying to kill anyone while being out of the Pin Island, Hoodians ultimately decide he's honest in his intentions. The only fly in the ointment is Klaymen announcing his wish to join Klogg on the ride, claiming that Hoborg wanted him to accompany Klogg if a situation like this ever happens. Sure thing, Klogg ain't happy about that, but Glenn advises him to take Klaymen along cuz they could take turns in piloting the ship and get there twice as fast, maintaining the course. For Klogg himself it's gonna feel like watching over a kid whose parents left for theatre or something because unlike Hoborg, Klaymen wasn't really trying to talk to his predecessor that much and they're still pretty much strangers to each other.

Here's where the Badly Written Lore Part kicks in! Yeah, I've only got basic thoughts about how the boys boldly went through space, the two major events occuring when they ran low on fuel and had to land on a planet. During their first landing, they saved the planet from a local hostile creature and when local people asked them to literally sign their sanctuary as a thanks, Klaymen agrees and Klogg later reprimands him saying 'you just gonna follow everyone's order of good will? ah yes, you did so with Hoborg and look where you are now'. Nevertheless, it gives Klay a treat in form of a ray shooting weapon which he stores in his chest for later use. And during their second landing they landed right in the middle of a military conflict; their arrival was viewed as a sign and the generals asked the aliens what should they do. Klogg sure as hell advised them to attack and they did so - and they won, making him another high general among their own, and while it was honoring and scratched the itch, Klogg wasn't planning on staying on some weird planet when there's a crown waiting for him, so one night he talked Klaymen into deserting and stealing back their ship along with some more fuel. He miscalculated the amount though and they had to throw out some fuel in order to ever take off, almost losing Klogg as well - they barely took off with him hanging off the entry hatch.

Overall the boys spend six months in travels and it helped them learn more about each other than those four years of calm and leisure. Klaymen was still a weird silent straightforward guy, not really talking much, but it was still better somehow; the most impactful conversation they've had was about Klay's intentions while holding the crown at the end of canon game (with Klogg offering him a choice). Klogg would've mentioned that, when it happened, he felt that Klaymen hesitated and didn't choose Hoborg's side at first (the third crown headcanon comes in play here). Klay answered simply that he was really heartbroken over his friend's death and wanted to put on the crown to fix it and revive him, but then he remembered that Hoborg's experience must be fuller and that he's the rightful owner of the crown after all. The very fact of Klaymen wanting to own the crown not for power, but for saving someone surprised Klogg to a certain degree.

All in all, the beacon in Klogg's head finally starts feeling heavier and clearer, and they land on a planet that is supposedly the source of crown calling. The planet looks quite similar to Neverhood but also retains some parts of the planets they've passed by and even stopped at during their journey; even local creatures look similar to Hoodians, although smaller in size and different in color. It's also that Bad At Lore Building part here, but overall the locals believe there's some creating force behind their world, although no one has ever seen it or them and some don't even believe in its/their existence. The beacon leads Klogg underground into some sort of facility, and right on the first floor an audio message greets them in a familiar voice - it's Shuffle, sounding a little battered but alive and asking to let him out of some trap he's led himself into. He explains that he doesn't remember what happened but he appears to have locked himself in for some reason, and the only way through is to solve some puzzles. Klaymen is content with that but Klogg enters his usual bickering with Shuffle, changing the overall mood very quickly.

The further they go, the worse Klogg's behavior becomes - not just because of Shuffle leading the way and helping with puzzles, it's mostly for the beacon signal getting stronger with every step. Before on the ship, he told Klaymen that wearing the crown filled some cavity inside of him, and while off the head of its current owner (if it's not Klogg himself), it itches his mind and urges him to come find it and put back on, to take it back and own it again. The closer to the crown, the more unbearable he gets; and sadly Shuffle isn't giving off good vibes as well, not answering questions and mostly telling it off as 'you'll find out soon'. So they reach the last room where Shuffle is supposed to be locked and Klogg notices how the beacon calls him downstairs, not behind the doors; they enter the room anyway and see Shuffle face away, staring into a window. Klogg calls him out on being a coward and prompts him to turn around.

Klogg is immediately enraged, realizing that those Hoodians who suggested Shuffle to be the cause of trouble were actually right; their relationship wasn't very nice to begin with and now all formalities and pretty faces are gone - Klogg engages him into a fight. To his surprise Shuffle overpowers him very quickly and drags him to the window he just stood at, holding him high above ground. Klaymen has a chance to use his hidden gun and he takes it; his choice is to either wait until Shuffle chokes Klogg to death or to shoot and give Klogg at least some chance of surviving if there's some ground under him - so he shoots. Shuffle obviously lets go of Klogg but manages to pull out a couple of small cardlike objects and hand them over to Klaymen before dying.

Soon enough, Klogg comes to his senses and climbs back up to the same room, and together with Klaymen they listen to a recording left by Shuffle - judging by his voice, he was already corrupted by that time. He's telling the whole story that happened to him and Hoborg in their travels: they've been attacked by wild beasts on this very planet and he managed to carry Hoborg away and to conceal their place deep within underground caves. Shuffle's wounds were bearable but Hoborg was very close to death and he kept trying to find any possible way to heal his creator, all to no avail - on the fifth day he returned from his searches and found Hoborg unconscious and fully unresponsive. Shuffle remembered that putting on the creator's crown on someone else was supposed to freeze him, to put him into a deep comatose-like sleep and probably stop his ongoing decay as well; he knew full well it's going to change him forever, but for Hoborg he was willing to do anything - and he did.

He was correct about 'freezing' part - it did stop Hoborg from dying, but it was also the only positive thing about putting on the crown for Shuffle. Right after it settled in, he immediately lost all other thoughts he had and seemingly 'entered a creator mode' - he transformed the whole land around them into a new world, and even created a race similar to his own. The crown made him create against his will, and it took him almost a month to come to his senses and remember why he put on the crown in the first place. So he retreated underground, sealed himself and Hoborg off and waited desperately for someone to come down and help him out of this situation. His best shot would be Klaymen because, well, that's Klaymen, he's a cool guy and strangely effective at solving problems; at the end of his speech, Shuffle apologizes again for having to live through this but also thanks the listener for putting him out of misery. Klogg listens through all this with a lot of scepticism but Klaymen seems to believe Shuffle and lets the record finish - it tells them the code to one final room downstairs, under the platform Klogg fell onto a while earlier. They enter the room together, too, and see what they've been chasing for so long already.

This crown is real, Klogg confirms, having the beacon reasonating at its fullest. They realize Shuffle was indeed not lying, that Hoborg was injured and that Shuffle never needed the crown at all - he locked it away with the creator in hopes for someone to find them; untouched by all that, Klogg simply takes the crown he 'deserved' but doesn't put it on right away - he mutters something about Shuffle's talks on how the crown made him create things against his will and that he wants to leave this planet first, maybe it's just anomalous. But before they leave the room, Klogg takes out Klaymen's blaster that he picked up earlier and shoots comatosed Hoborg without any resistance - Klay doesn't even have time to react. Klogg explains that it's the least they can do for him now; there's no way they could help their creator in this condition, and the journey for the crown is over - so be it. The last thing Klay does before leaving is to drag Shuffle's body downstairs, put it near Hoborg and to destroy the code panel for the room doors, effectively locking their bodies out forever. They don't say anything suspicious to the natives and just set the course back home, not really caring what's going to happen to this planet now.

They don't talk a lot on the way back. Both also kinda dread the moment of coming back to Neverhood because Hoodians are waiting for Hoborg to come back and certainly not for Klogg with his crown. As they see, though, him putting it on, they start resenting about how he's trampling on the bones of their creator, but what they don't expect is that the first ever thing he does as the crown owner is... to revive Shuffle of all people. Corrupted, yeah, from his latest state, but it's still him occupying the body. The second thing Klogg does is... yeah, take a wild guess - he revives Hoborg too. And this is when Klaymen realizes why exactly Klogg had to shoot their creator back there - to give him another chance at home, but still... why?

When I wrote a document about this whole thing back in April'21, I left myself a trailing off note saying 'I'll probably figure it out' and guess what, I haven't. I guess my thoughts originally were going around 'Klogg went through MORE character development and is now even less of an asshole, who could've thought'; I just like thinking that experience really gave him more to think about and to develop himself past the 'I just seek power cuz I like power' model.

There was also something headcanonish Sly's author came up with (Sly isn't my OC, he was created by @victavare, give her art some love btw) - and it's about using additional clay to change one's appearance if you're a creator (handling a crown, in this case), and Hoborg would've talked Klogg into giving Shuffle his old appearance by shaping him back to a pre-corrupted form. But yeah, that's like... post-canon or something, though still neat-o!

If you've reached this point... wow, you're truly a hero! Or truly interested, in both cases - thanks for reading! It's a silly story but still a heartwarming one, so putting it to words for you feels a little better now.

#moroderdraws #morodermakes #neverhood #long post #crowns and revelations #any future posts about this au will be tagged with this title

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