#stp original route

[voice-of-the-dumbass]

I can’t draw nails augh

[msfcatlover]

I could see this diverging a few different ways.

You chase her out of the cabin, she is claimed by the Mound (see route layout.)

You manage to corner her, but like any cornered animal (including rabbits) she puts up a valiant fight. You stab her heart, but she rips your throat out. You bleed out, and wake up in the forest of The Den.

(This is your alternate ch.2 -> ch.3 path, the same way you can get the Fury from either the Tower or Adversary, the Wild from either the Beast or the Witch, the Grey from either the Damsel or the Prisoner.)

For cornering a frightened, panicked girl who wanted nothing more than to flee and killing her in cold blood, the Voice of the Cold joins your chorus.

The Hare will not take the blade; she's too frightened. But by throwing it away and demonstrating that you have no others hidden, you can win her very faint trust. The open sky & lack of tunnel give the Narrator very few options for killing you off, but He calls down a blizzard to try to stop you.

If you chose all the right dialogue options, you can shelter her in your wings, leading to either her being taken by the Mound wondering if people can truly change, or a new variant on the Wild as you freeze together.

(If the Wild, either the Voice of the Smitten or the Voice of the Cheated will join your chorus, just like with the Thorn, depending on your exact words.)

Otherwise, she runs off, still unwilling to trust you beyond the threshold. She disappears into the storm, and then everything else does too.

Chapter II: The Hare

Edit: Basic Route info and theoretical end speech beneath the cut.

To be frank, I mostly just wanted to draw Princess as a bunnygirl, but I did still have some thoughts about the route, though nothing too in-depth. Rather than come up with a new dialogue option, I figure it'd be best to take advantage of options that are already there. Currently, both instances of slaying the Princess when the Narrator compels you lead to Witch, but what if the second time led you somewhere else? Internal logic: Soft Princess has just dodged your first (initially unwilling) strike, proving to be swift enough to avoid you, though clearly in a panic. Despite her unease, she's much faster than you. Like you're a... tortoise, and she's the Hare... Just roll with it. (I don't think anyone's noticed/mentioned her crown has that turtle shape on it)

For the snow thing, I just wanted to give her a dress that'd allow her to run, but didn't want to go with a loincloth like design a la Adversary. I settled on that short, fur trimmed one and thought "what if there was snow" and hey, now there's some manner of conflict and explanation for why she's not chained up and is able to avoid you.

And extremely early draft of a theoretical Shifting Mound speech. For context, I imagine you have to sort of chase Hare out of the cabin. Make her choose between constantly avoiding you, or heading into the freezing winter air she's afraid of. "Survive, evade, run. Flee, escape, take shelter, hide, live another day. But death comes all the same, whether it waits outside your door, or comes barreling through it. Do you look it in the eye, meet it on your own terms, or do you keep running, do you keep hiding? You drove me to make a choice, and only in choosing to confront the cold death I feared was I truly alive. One always has a choice to make, even in fear.

But without that fear of the end, do one's choices truly matter? Can a life mean anything if your decision to survive, or to die, is as meaningless as your decision to breathe? Is being given that choice so unimportant to you?" -That fear is what pushes one to survive, but it makes life itself terrifying. "Or is it the terror itself that makes life worth surviving? The fear of not seeing what comes tomorrow?" -I would never take that choice from you, or from others. "Then make your own choice to join with me once again, and give back that choice to the world."

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

forever thinking about how the long quiet embracing their full divinity involves The Voices coming back. like yeah being plural is basically the same thing as being a godi'll cosign that

[salty-an-disco]

Original Chapter 2 concept:

When you enter the cabin, you keep Narrator's words about the princess lying and cheating in mind and make sure to interrogate and prod at her every statement in the basement.

The princess gets visibly distressed and irritated at this, feeling even more trapped under your interrogation and getting more angry the more you doubt her words ("I don't know! I just don't know! What else do you want me to say?"). Hero suggests that maybe you should lay off a bit, and Narrator shows irritation at the fact that you keep questioning instead of slaying.

If you keep up the interrogation, getting closer so that now the princess is also physically cornered, the princess will snap at you and use her chains to trap and strangle you, screaming like a trapped animal.

Everything goes dark and you die.

Chapter II: The Weaver

You're accompanied by Voice of the Interrogator, and go to the cabin to find a moist stone building with walls covered in a silky thread. In the basement, there's a regular-looking princess waiting for you, tho you can't quite make out her face from this distance. She screams at you to help her, that there's a monster nearby and to please save her soon.

If you do, you'll find yourself getting dangled in webs, and that the 'princess' was just a decoy set up by the real princess, who was waiting for you on the ceiling.

[msfcatlover]

Oh, I can so see the Princess getting more & more upset, staring you down, eye twitching, but unable to rip herself free as you stubbornly insist to the Hero & Narrator that yes you can do this forever. Tugging on her chain until her wrist starts to bleed, but unable to summon the desperation to chew when her patience has become a defining trait. Stubborn silence eventually beginning to crack—still unwilling to talk to you while you still hold the blade, but challenging what the hell your problem is, asking if she’s so scary that you’re paralyzed, eventually half-furious/half-begging demanding to know what’s wrong with you, why you keep staring at her like that—

The Narrator trying to press the issue by making your body start to give. Legs tremble, then you fall to your knees—maintaining eye contact is a choice, keeping hold of the blade is another. Eventually your arms will give out too, but you can twist your head to keep looking at her.

The dark shadows forming under her eyes. The blood dripping from her manacle, the flesh puffy & inflamed around is. The chapped, dehydrated lips. The sunken, starved look settling into her cheeks. Slumping back against the wall, as feeble as you are.

(It could just be shadows, of course. Tricks of the light.)

Too dangerous to approach. Too dangerous to leave alone. Too pathetic to be a threat. Too threatening not to take seriously.

(Oh, she is a contradiction~)

Her last words are probably something like, “What do you want from me?” or “Too stubborn for your own good… but I guess we’re the same then.” or “Why are we doing this again?”

Some fan princesses before i go to bed. Lore on them in the morning if anyone cares put ut in the tags if ya want that ig

[bottomschlatt]

stp voice of the opportunist is the kinda guy to request someone perform a mormon ‘baptism for the dead’ for him in his will just on the slightest off chance they’re actually right. this makes him a bit of a slimy weasely shithead and also it makes me want him so fucking badly

[churrobird]

guys can i have a category 7 autism event. will you put up with my cringe.

rospierce slay the princess au/route!!!!!! because GOD i love slay the princess

(slay the princess spoilers under the cut! i won't be talking about the overarching story (but there is a brief reference to the characters involved in it at the end), but i will be referencing and taking inspiration from certain routes in StP, including ones from the Pristine Cut DLC!)

You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a castle, and in the basement of that castle is an Architect. You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

yep! as it is the easiest option, i am calling this au "Slay the Architect". i only have one route really... planned in my mind, but i think a lot of different angles could be done with this, just like the original game!

currently, the route i have is The Architect -> The Castle Keep -> The Heart of the Kingdom

Chapter 1: The Architect

the start of the "game", its pretty much like the start of slay the princess, except clownpierce is here. clown finds himself on a path in the woods. he's told by a voice in his head (that definitely isnt badboyhalo. guys do you ever think about evil circus (thats their duo name right?? pretty sure it is)) that he needs to slay the architect that lives in the castle.

i dont think clown would really buy into the whole "she'll end the world" thing, but he is an experienced assassin. he's not gonna question a client as long as he gets paid. bad promises that he'll get his reward after he slays the Architect, and he's satisfied after some negotiating on payment.

from there, it's pretty straightforward to how you would get The Spectre route in StP. clown rocks up to the castle, finds the basement, finds the Architect chained up. ros tries to threaten him to back off, and he doesnt even bother with a response as he just efficiently stabs her. clean, precise, no-nonsense. that's how he operates his business endeavors. he's a little thrown off by her not even struggling before dying, but he's seen every reaction to being murdered you could possibly imagine. false confidence isnt that weird, honestly.

and then, of course, he goes upstairs and tries to exit the castle, only to find the world is gone. he immediately starts threatening bad for betraying him, and is furious when bad says he never lied to clown; this is the "reward" he was promised, after all!

eventually, the voice of the hero speaks up, and tells clown he can get him out of this, as long as he just trusts him. clown agrees because what else is there to do, and hero takes over his body to stab himself, and moves on to the next chapter

(BY THE WAY. i have this entire thing in my head about the different trsmp members being the different voices? and im pretty dead-set on sneeg being the voice of the hero stand-in because YEAHHHH 3/3 LOSA!!!!!!!! also. i dont think he'd be called "the voice of the hero", since fairytale heroism is... not clown's default state of reasoning. genuinely sneeg would be most alike to the voice of the skeptic, as both sneeg and clown are very questioning people when Something Is Afoot. i dont know what sneeg's title would be? i'm considering "Voice of the Alchemist", as a reference to the twohickey and alchemy being a field of study both sneeg and clown share. also clown's "default voice" in such a confusing situation being a scientist who wants to cut through all the bullshit and find what's really going on is very in line for him.)

Chapter 2: The Castle Keep

so. according to google. the keep of the castle is defined as "the strongest and most fortified part of a medieval castle, serving as the last refuge in case of a siege or attack, and often housing the lord's residence"

EHEHEHEHEHEHEH

so, The Castle Keep is based off The Spectre and The Wild. after being killed in her own castle, the Architect's spirit has merged with the very walls she built. and she is threatened. this stranger, this archmage, had walked into her home and slayed her without remorse, or even a word towards her, and she will enact bloody retribution to defend the castle; to defend herself. this is an attack upon her walls, and she will see to it that the threat is eliminated.

clown and the voice of the alchemist are joined by The Voice of the Scapegoat (its pili 1!!! his whole thing is that killing the Architect was a necessary evil, and who cares that she's pissed about it. if she didnt die, then the entire world would. anyone wouldve done it, clown was just the unlucky sucker who had to. very much reflective of how pili 1 was the one who stepped up to kill for red, and was hated for it despite it being necessary so him and all his teammates wouldnt lose a life.)

the Castle Keep tries to kill clown as soon as he enters the castle again. immediately tries to drop a rock on him, or something, because the castle is her body and she can control it at will. he navigates the castle, dodging the very building he's in attempts to try to kill him. voice of the scapegoat is telling him to find the Architect immediately so he can kill her again, while voice of the alchemist tells him to actually talk to her this time and figure out what's going on.

clown talks to the Castle Keep while she's trying to kill him, and she finally starts relenting enough to entertain conversation. because she's hurt. she was killed for so suddenly and for seemingly no reason, and now her murderer has returned and is effectively running around inside her body. she doesnt know him. she doesnt know if he's going to hurt the castle like he hurt her. she wanted him gone before he could hurt anything else. and she wants to know why he would do such a thing for her. he tells her about the whole "ending the world" thing, which she tells him that she has no idea if she can or not. he tells her about the whole "well he paid me and im an assassin so of course i did my job" thing and weirdly enough, she laughs. she thinks its really funny in a morbid kinda way. so they bond about that.

the thing is though.... the Castle Keep was effectively tearing herself apart to kill clown. pillars falling to crush him, chunks of the wall falling out to also crush him, the floor cracking open to try and drop him into the abyss. with how much she's torn herself apart, she can't control herself from crumbling the rest of the way. right as theyre finally seeing eye to eye, rubble falls and crushes clown under it. the Castle Keep wails, screaming that she didn't mean to do that, that she's sorry, that she's trying so hard to move the foundation that once was hers, was her, but cannot anymore. clown slowly bleeds to death, but before he dies, he tells her that he is sorry, and it's only fair for her to kill him after he killed her.

Chapter 3: The Heart of the Kingdom

so welcome to chapter 3, the Heart of the Kingdom! this chapter is based off of The Wounded Wild, Happily Ever After, and the Thorn

the gang is joined by the Voice of the Penitent (aimsey, who expresses guilt over having hurt the Architect so callously without even considering how she felt about it, or considering that she was her own person and not just a hit to take out. aimseys role is reflective of how pre-death aimsey was very dismissive of ros' feelings and agency in the pursuit of doing what they believed to be the right thing to do for her)

clown approaches the castle again, and finds it a wreck. the damage the Castle Keep did to herself seems to have carried over, but there seems to be even more damage. banners ripped and torn down, deep gouges in the floors and walls like axe strikes, chunks mined out of the stairs.

clown eventually finds the Heart of the Kingdom not in the basement, but in the throne room. she's once more a human woman, not a spirit who lives in and lives as the very walls around them. she's sitting on the throne, but her demeanor is entirely unlike a queen. her face is puffy and red from crying, streaks of mascara running down her cheeks. she's hunched over, hugging herself, staring blankly at the floor with dead eyes. she's wearing a crown, a fancy dress, fit for a queen, but it seems so ill-fitting on her, like someone had dressed up a doll.

the Heart looks up at him, and doesn't say anything except for scooting over a little. clown sits down next to her, the throne big enough to fit them both. another thing that made her seem so small.

they sit in silence for a while, and then the Heart begins to speak.

she tells him that she built herself out of the violence he inflicted on her. he attacked her, and so she sought to attack in turn. he had come into her home, the very castle she built, and hurt its architect. but she doesnt want to seek revenge anymore. the damage she inflicted on her castle, herself, in pursuit of retribution was a million times worse than what he had done to her. her very self was as shattered as the building around them.

an eye for an eye, she says, echoing his final words. he killed her, so she killed him, even if accidentally. they could be even, she says, but wouldn't he have a reason to pay that back? couldnt he kill her again for killing him when they had finally gotten along? she would probably be angry enough to, if she wasnt so tired and hurt.

clown says he could, but he stands by what he said. they're even. to kill her now would to just spiral further into an endless loop of violence. it's unnecessary. he knows how to pick his battles. taking on a fight that brings you nothing, means nothing, is just a stupid way to potentially get yourself killed.

they lapse into silence. and then the Heart finally asks him who he is. he's still a stranger to her, despite all of what they've been through together. so they talk. he tells her about his studies as an archmage, a few fun facts about himself, but not much with depth. he's still a very private person, and she's right- they're strangers. strangers with a tumultuous short history, but strangers nonetheless. he'll make the steps to get to know her now, but he won't reveal everything right off the bat. he never would've.

the Heart can't tell him much about herself. she simply doesnt know who she is. she was an Architect, wasn't she? she built this castle. but she's the only person she's ever seen in it. while he was gone, in the moments before he returned to the castle, she had explored it. there are furnished rooms, personalized with color, but she doesn't know who she built them for. the castle is desolate. things that should be familiar to her aren't. it should be full of life, but theres no lights on. it's just her. and the castle is as empty as her memory. maybe it really is her.

eventually, clown asks her what she wants, and despite everything, she says she wants to go outside. the castle hurts, and maybe it would finally stop hurting if she left- even for just a little while. she's never seen the grounds, even though she's sure that she built that too. how strange that is.

they walk outside, and stare up at the sky in the garden. the Heart hopes this can be a fresh start for them. she says she finally feels at peace, but didn't expect it to feel so cold.

and thats when she gets taken by a bunch of hands

(idk who the shifting mound would be in this au. foolish, probably? i know bad is the narrator, but im imagining a kinda-sorta different scenario from StP where bad is the narrator and the long quiet because some fuckshit is happening with the overarching plot of Slay the Architect)

BUT YEAH. god its really fun to write rospierce with the perspective that they're complete strangers at the start of each route. they basically speedrun getting to know each other every time. usually with murder involved. also can i mention that it feels so weird to write clown inflicting violence upon ros. it feels so incorrect. but he DOESNT KNOW HER so why would he feel remorse about that. i imagine that with each route played, he starts developing this subconscious feeling that gets stronger and stronger that he Should Not Hurt Her. and mans definitely freaks out about why the hell does he feel this instinctual protectiveness and care for this woman he has never seen before in his life.

i also feel like its very interesting to explore the themes of the cycle of violence with them. tr!ros already has those themes, but its odd to see it depicted between rospierce. clown usually has absolutely no guilt for hurting people, so it's a curveball for him to actually feel sorry for hurting the Architect. and for the Architect, hurting and violence was all she knew when he killed her (basically speedran tr!ros' violent tendencies), so she doesnt know how to stop unless she's too hurt to keep going on. and then they get to talk about it together!!! yay!!!!!

(also... since the Heart of the Kingdom is based off the thorn... and im a filthy rospierce shipper... lowkey kinda want them to kiss. i dont think it would make narrative sense for who they are and what they just went through. but maybe the Heart gives clown a little kiss on his mask. for me.)

[strixcattus]

It's kind of cool how in the original STP demo one of the routes is the Fury, which is obviously the prototype of the Adversary, but comes with the Voice of the Broken, who ended up in the Tower chapter.

And then we get to the actual game, and there's a chapter called Fury again, except she's the merged Chapter III of the Adversary and the Tower, the two routes that she split into over the course of development. They tore her apart and reassembled her from the pieces, which is a little funny, given how her entire chapter is themed around her tearing herself and you apart. There's a thematic parallel between the narrative of her chapter and what actually happened to it in development.

...And now she's going to get an expansion which is apparently "very big" and "has even more MEAT." I wonder if that's going to bring in the "pieced back together" part of her game development arc.

[msfcatlover]

Might I recommend:

@simcardiac-arrested's The Hive & The Web (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

@salty-an-disco's The Weaver

@embraceyourdestiny's The Forgotten isn't technically that, but feels like a great bridge into a spider-based Chapter 3.

I have no idea what would cause this kinda princess but I want a spider princess SO BAD. I want her to have terrifying chelicerae and too many red eyes and saliva dripping from her mouth and a hiss in her voice and her to be climbing on the ceiling like pls see my vision

[msfcatlover]

The Dancer

Slay the Princess route where you insist there has to be a key, convince the Narrator to let you go back upstairs to retrieve the knife, and manage to escape the cabin to search outside of the window, where you find it half-buried in the garden. The Narrator tries everything to make you drop the key or give up the idea, every step back down into the basement is a different form of agony, before you finally drop to your knees at the Princess’s side (mid cardiac arrest) and unlock her cuff.

The Princess is delighted. She grabs her unshackled wrist with a brilliant smile, leaps to her feet and dances about the basement, revealing in her freedom. Then, suddenly, she realizes how bad off you are, and that joy melts away into panic as she tries to figure out a way to save you the same way you saved her.

She can’t, of course. You’re out of breath, wheezing, and can’t manage more than a single word before your heart finally gives out. Everything goes dark, and you die.

The Princess you meet in Chapter Two is a little bit ditzy, a bubbly attitude, and is already free. She has tiny fairy wings, thin antennae on either side of a crown of morning glories, ribbon-y ballet slippers (not proper pointe shoes, probably), and her dress is modeled after old-school ballerinas. You know, with the floofy bell skirts Edgar Degas so loved to paint.

(And here’s some lovely fairy ballerinas in somewhat similar dresses)

She’s protective & worried, and already out of her chains when you arrive. She cries out in joy when she hears you coming down the stairs and races over to meet you, giving the Narrator one hell of a fright. Because the last thing you saw was her staying in the cabin to try to save you, she prioritizes your health over her own freedom, fussing over you. Her cabin is much cozier, with a basement that actually looks like a livable room, right down to a little fire with a cook pot simmering underneath the window.

If you choose to stay & share a meal with her, you will eventually nod off beside the Dancer, her fingers gently brushing your feathers.

The Narrator says you don’t know how long you slept, and you will never know. Because you never wake up. You shirked your duties, and slept straight through the end of the world.

Any other route will inevitably lead to you two escaping together. Unless you kill her, in which case you get the Burned Grey.

(“This one is revelry, but she is also grieving. She never thought anyone would care enough to help, but you sacrificed everything for her. She will make for an effervescent heart. Do not mourn her, for she has found the love she longed for.)

.

Chapter 3: The Dream The Dream’s skirt is longer, back to floor-length, but also formed of wispy layers of torn silk, making it look almost smokey. Her tiny butterfly antenna have become big, feathery moth-y ones, and her wings now drape down her back like a cape. Her eyes are solid black, but refract light enough to look more like large gems than holes in her face. When she smiles, her teeth are sharp.

She is syrupy sweet, just as caring as the Dancer, just as clingy as the Damsel. But there’s an edge to her now. Your last thought was, after all, likely wondering if she had tricked you, to try to trap you down here. She now cares more about holding you at her side than she cares about her freedom, and would happily keep you trapped in that basement with her for eternity if she thought it would keep you with her. Her innocence is more manipulative than genuine—she will not hesitate to whip out the tears or feign hurt in order to get her way, and her protective affection is now borderline smothering.

It’s easy to fall under the Dream’s sway, but like the Nightmare, she really just wants to mold you into what she wants most. It will take a good deal of trickery of your own to coax her out of the cabin, or else the Shifting Mound will take her around when she clasps chains on you, insisting it’s for the best & that you’ll thank her later.

(“This one is shelter & desperation. She knew only captivity and so sought it as a means to protect the only person who ever cared. Her vulnerability is real, but she coveted your company more than your health or happiness. She will make for a passionate heart. Do not mourn her, for she has found the love she longed for.)

.

No original voices, I think. The Dancer & Dream strike me as Smitten & Paranoid routes, respectively. They are (probably obviously) basically alternate versions of the Damsel & Nightmare, after all.

And you know, I think it’d be interesting to see Paranoid deal with a Princess who just seems nice until things start to ramp up.

[voice-of-the-dumbass]

Does anyone want to reblog with their original route/chapter ideas? I have one I’ll reblog with later!

[dangthatscrayz]

Yooo we got the goals of 2 likes on the last one (ignore the fact I’m one of the people who liked it)

Slay the princess swap au part 3

(Btw this is going to be the damsel/smitten route first cus I like them both)

Ignore the bad grammar and spelling mistakes they don’t exist shhhh

Anyways for this smaller segment I will mention that the way you get each princess in the game is how you get there swap-au voice counterparts. If you brought the knife talked to the monster attacked him and gave up you’d get the broken and the voice of the tower. Make sense? It’s like og slay the princess but you touch grass. The forest will change in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 the cabin will be changed like in the og the design elements slowly creeps out. I didn’t change any of the names but switches voice of to the princesses

Name changes/role swaps (btw gonna try to keep the personalities from the og game in the swap au):

The hero/the voice of the princess

The captor/the voice of the world-ender (the captor is just a more adamant version of the hero wanting to do what the narrator originally told them to do and that’s keep the princess in the cabin or kill them or they will end the world)

The smitten/the voice of the damsel

The opportunist/the voice of the witch

The hunted/ the voice of the beast

The paranoid/the voice of the nightmare

The skeptic/the voice of the prisoner

The broken/the voice of the tower (I got good plans for this one trust me)

The stubborn/the voice of the adversary

The cold/the voice of the specter

The cheated/the voice of the razor

The contrarian/the voice of the stranger

You get the point basically the “The” and “the voice of” swapped

(Lore spoilers down here)

I’m planning on this au being after the ‘good ending’ in stp but the narrator gets so bored he wants to die so brings the princess back and puts the monster outside and wipes there memories and gets the princess to kill the monster, that’s why in part 2 and 1 he mentioned the monster surely killing the princess no second thought

[nordicfiord]

Do you have any other dynamics between the voices that you like,besides Cold and Contrarian?

Love your art,by the way,especially Contrarian!I love how soft and puffy he looks!

Ohhh, thanks for the question! And thanks for the kind words!! Have another Contrarian – he is pretty sure his friendship with anyone would be good!

it also would consist of bullying half the time but if everyone is content that it can lead to some of the best friendships out there!

And now… IT’S RUMBLING TIME!!

tldr: I am semi-interested in most dynamics, but am currently obsessed with just one. Crossovers and AUs make dynamics more fun for me to think about because of backgrounds.

So! Voices, huh? What a wild bunch.

I love those little guys. I love that mostly here at the stp fandom we are just interpreting them through our own lenses of understanding – through our own perspectives. It is very fitting, and it allows all of us to view these dynamics in many, many different situations.

Honestly, my brain is a mess. It is a giant cauldron, where everything at once is boiling and twisting and turning. That’s why everything is mixing up into lots of crossovers and weird ideas. 

Can I say that I like voices dynamics in canon? Sure! I like that one Adv-Fury route with Stubborn and Contrarian having the “I may not have a brain, gentlemen, but I have an idea” moment. I like that Hero tried to stand up for us in Cage and Paranoid helped Skeptic to insist on his solution by “physically” restraining him?? What a power move. Pretty much every interaction between voices is something interesting to think about, honestly.

But, uhh…

My brain just chose two random clowns and said “Them. I wanna rotate them.”

Honestly I don’t even know why he (my brain) did it. Maybe he just projected my favourite dynamic (clown and clown enabler). But I like other dynamics too??? Why not them???

Genuinely don’t know.

BUT!

Remember I talked about AUs, crossovers and stuff? Those are bigger dollhouses for my brain. There he can assign some dynamics to characters and watch them unfold.

Examples? Sure!

Skeptic being “the mom friend”. Originally it went from the need to have anyone that could control ContraColdChaos. But when I thought about putting voices in my old Steven Universe AU (I will talk about it here I swear it is just too much to unpack….), it all just made so much more sense. Because there Skeptic was the one responsible for revolution and leaving their home world, ended up on an unknown planet with some very troubled teammates (traumatised disabled leader, “I-died-so-many-times-I-can’t-be-stable” general, repeated killer of said general, army refugee and a high-quality spy) and he HAD to take responsibility and make sure nobody dies. Also that created a very interesting dynamic with Hero, because Hero is basically a young abused ruler who doesn’t believe he has any autonomy… and here Skeptic is, his subordinate, who literally is making all the decisions. Like, it’s clear that Skeptic cares and wants the best for Hero… but he is pretty much adding to a family emotional neglect.

And there’s more. Opportunist feeling like he owes Smitten for saving his life. Cold and Skeptic trying to process that they’ve killed and revived the very same person. Smitten being this person and trying to live a normal life with his murderer and resurrector in the same home.

I guess I just… Can’t operate inside of the canon universe with the little outside influence there is?

Maybe in my head-universe, when TLQ left, he left the voices a big fun playground, where they can put various masks and play many, many different stories. They need something to occupy their “forever” too, after all.

Anyway thanks if you’ve read this far!! I appreciate it, really. Sorry if it’s not uhh… organized? Like I said, my mind really is a mess, haha.

Have a nice day everyday!~

[blacktabbygames]

I’ve been a big fan of STP since the first demo, but I’ve been curious about one thing in particular with every new update: Is there any reason why The Stranger route got changed so many times? Was there story troubles with the og design and voice (which I personally liked but that’s neither here nor there) or something like that?

It was a few things: 1. Her voice, while very fun and spooky for a couple of lines in the demo, would have been incredibly grating (IMO) in a prolonged conversation. I know Abby in particular had to cover her ears anytime we watched a stream get to her.

2. The original plan for the route was far too open-ended. All of the other chapter 2's were shaped/limited in scope by the constraints you already had from your relationship with the Princess in chapter 1. Aside from the stranger existing as a contradiction of Princess and world-ending monstrosity, there was no relationship there, which meant the potential scope of it was was enormous for what, IMO, felt like would be very little payoff.

3. Design-wise, a lot of people didn't quite understand what we were going with for her initial look — (a combination of Princess + !Princess as well as a ton of potentialities crammed into one space.)

So overall it wound up being a lot cleaner to focus on how you got to the chapter and what you saw, and to make it a more direct examination of choice and relationships in the face of the infinite (as well as a peak behind the curtain without any of the context necessary to fully get what you just saw.)

I've seen quite a few people bemoan the fact that we even let them get to the stranger as their first princess and I've seen comments wishing that we blocked them off from her until at least the second loop but IMO:

We don't want to hold anyone's hand and force them to play a specific way. (And the game gives you several options to opt-out before you trigger the stranger.)

I actually really like the Stranger as the first Princess encountered by a player. It adds interesting thematic bookends to each side of the story, and turns your experience into something else entirely.

[blueishspace]

In the Slay the Watcher AU, are the routes we're taking the same / similar to their STP counterparts? And if so, what routes have we taken? (I know we've done the Stranger and several routes where we don't kill but. I always get them mixed up in brain.)

And another question - which voice is which? (Not like. which HC/Empires/Traffic characters they are, but who's the equivalent of the Paranoid or Cheated or Smitten and so on.)

We have done Damsel, Prisoner, Thorn, Stranger, Nightmare, Spectre and Razor.

The voices aren't 1 to 1 the stp voices, I decided to go a bit more original for them.

[fantasticalchaos]

Slay the Princess x Ever After High AU

Okay SO— I’ll be quite honest I saw this post thought “hey that kinda reminds me of Slay the Princess— WAIT A SEC”

And here we are! The Elaboration!

Note: the Voices will come in their own post. For now it will be just 3 characters… in a sense: The Narrator, the Princess, and the Player! Contains also my interpretations of the roles. ALSO SPOILERS!!!!!

The Narrator 🪶

As I said in my previous post: Headmaster Milton Grimm would be the Narrator. One reason is that those two give the most gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing characters in their respective series! Not telling everyone the entire story; Keeping them under the wraps and expecting them to follow through with the story/mission. (Milton = Everyone following their prewritten destinies regardless of how horrific and unfair it is. STP Narrator = Follow through with slaying the Princess.)

Second reason is well… spoilerly!

Here’s the rundown for those who don’t know (and mind spoilers)

Originally, the Player/Hero and the Princess were abstract concepts that were once one being. One that is basically the cycle of life and death.

The Princess, who were forced to slay, is the Shifting Mound (aka Shifty for the fans). Shifty is the concept of change, and changes her form to whatever the Player perceives her to be.

Likewise, the Player/Hero is the Long Quiet. The Long Quiet represents stagnation, having everything be alive and remain in its current state. Something that Narrator considers his creation.

The Narrator fears death, which is contained within Shifty. She is not death, but it is contained within her; Death is a natural part of change and life. He also doesn’t like the amount of suffering and chaos that Shifty brings to both him and his world. So, he does everything in his power, and manages to rip apart the two from the cycle… at the cost of his life.

Thus, he trapped the two entities in Construct away from reality, with the Princess as the prisoner (ironically a route you can take with her) and you - the player - the task to finally slay her. In some cases, he’ll even try to take control of you to do complete his dream. Sounds familiar huh? Who else would try to take such drastic measures to ensure it all will work in their favour/plan?

The Princess 👑

The Princess/Shifty… It could be anyone! It’s your choice!

Me personally? My pick would be Raven! Outside of her being my fave, there is a reason why I pick her! Raven’s one of the major characters in the series that challenges destiny!

Both Shifty and Raven wanted to be free! Albeit for different reasons. For Raven, she just wants to be herself and live the way she wants that is not hexpectated from others. Shifty, on the other hand, wants to free herself from the cabin (after being trapped there for so long) and leave.

And while both have their own level of extremities, they will do what they can to reach their goal. (Raven refusing to sign the book, and do little things that are not fit for being the Evil Queen. Shifty… well, let’s say there’s more than how she looks.)

Raven is also a powerful sorcereress in her own right as well! In fact, eventually she gets to overcome the barrier to use her magic for good! Hell, she wasn’t even supposed to use her powers for good; It’s rebelling her role as the Evil Queen! And she only was able to access her magic for good again when she decided to… let’s say sneak up some forbidden books 😉

Also, the Princess is chained to the wall in the cabin when you first encounter her. Who else was chained in a way? Raven, in the reflection at end after taking a peek into her destiny. (Legacy Day)

Scenes that became a core memory for me fr fr number ♾️ (sorry couldn’t help it)

Alternatively, my other pick would be Cerise! Consider it? Cerise is half werewolf, and her parents deviated from the story by falling in love with each other! And they all have to keep it secret lest they get discovered and go poof! And that is dangerous, something that Milton would not approve at all! Again, another individual wayyy stronger than she looks! It’s quite ironic actually… considering her fairytale…

“You’re on a path in the woods. And on that path is a cabin. In that cabin, there is girl in bright red hood. You need to slay her. If you don’t, it will be the end of the world.”

The Player/Hero 🗡️

Again, another one that could be anyone!

For me, it’s Dexter. And, yes I will admit I ship Dexven but I have a legit reason for this lemme cook! Now, we and Dexter himself don’t know his destiny. As in, what his fairytale destiny is; Who and which Prince Charming Dexter is supposed to be. This could work, as the Narrator (Milton) would be giving Dexter his “destiny.”

“Dexter Charming, this is your destiny! Isn’t this what you’ve been wanting to know your entire life once upon a time?”

“Well yeah… but I’m not so sure about—”

“Then I have full faith in you in carrying out your destiny. It is rather important destiny. It is for the greater good for all fairytales”

“But slaying a princess?!? I can’t imagine pulling through that…”

And the conflict with what Dexter knows about being the hero and a Prince Charming???? Yes, he’s supposed to be prince/knight in shining armour and save the day! But slaying a princess to do it??? What??? He’s also taught to save princesses and damsels in distress, not slay them! What will he do?

Additionally, Dexter can also be the Voice of the Hero too! Speaking of which… I will do the Voices in a separate post *rubs hands together with my chef hat* c:

Before we end things here, I will say this:

You don’t have to choose these characters (especially for the Princess and the Player/Hero roles) as there are no wrong choices. No wrong answers. These are my interpretations, and you have your own! This is a love story (au) with any of your EAH ships - and have fun with it! 🤗