History Literature / MirrorWorld

** Raz's nickname for Cheshire and theirs in turn for Raz spells out "Raspberry Pi," a reference to [[UsefulNotes/RaspberryPi the simple educational computers]].

* PinocchioSyndrome: One of the foremost causes of all conflict in the story: as early as one of the first chapters, Aile reprimands Zeil for wanting to resolve his problems "like people," for increasingly apparent reasons. [[spoiler:The Long Talon plot, the deal between Wydel and Volte, all of Cheshire's manipulations, and all the subsequent misery caused by the fallout of these clashing plots is all caused by their masterminds wanting to become human.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: Virtually every single problem in the plot could have been avoided if there had been better communication from the start: rampant racism between the Houses and a series of [[GambitPileup complicated plots butting heads with each other]] leads to a ton of horrific fallout. [[spoiler:Vita even brings up that everyone wanted essentially [[PinocchioSyndrome the exact same thing]]--they just had disastrously different ways of going about it]].

* BigBad: Everything in the story comes back to the krylyrk, the mysterious, eldritch force behind the titular dimension serving simultaneously as this and an UltimateEvil. [[spoiler:Eventually, the notion of there being a central source of the conflict is subverted; neither the krylyrk/Cheshire or Sorin intended absolutely any of the fallout that happens from their planning, which causes a series of [[PoorCommunicationKills miscommunications between the Houses that topple over like dominoes]] with no real one person at the center of it all. Vita points out that even if Cheshire brought them all here in the first place, the radically [[GambitPileup differentiating plans]] and conflict between everyone is just as much at fault]].

* EldritchAbomination: The krylyrk is an all-powerful UltimateEvil that can see you even if you ''think'' of its [[SpeakOfTheDevil name]], ruling over the EldritchLocation of Inoptica and slowly robbing all those it traps in its world through mirrors of anything even resembling humanity. This extends to its servants, the Brood; the first Vita encounters (the red, multi-limbed beast) is barely comprehensible to her and nearly breaks her mind.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Villainy tends to avail you nothing in Inoptica in the long run.
** Zeil's savagery and brutality only result in [[spoiler:his death and devoiding, returning him to life as an empty shell that can only feel hate, hunger and pain.]]
** Syrile's horrific experiments and cruelty? [[spoiler:Sure he perfects what he wants and gets to run home...except he's in Hiroshima, just before the atomic bomb drops.]]
** [[spoiler:Cheshire succeeds brilliantly in its manipulation, except it finds out its goals are impossible and it's still alone with everyone despising it.]]

** Raz's nickname for Cheshire and theirs in turn for Raz spells out "Raspberry Pi," a reference to the simple educational computers.

->"''Don't think, don't talk, don't question.''"

* DroppedGlasses: Inoptica being the DeathWorld it is, Vita's glasses fly off a few times, [[RealityEnsues particularly when she's attempting]] to [[LetsGetDangerous get dangerous]].

* RealityEnsues:
** Vita's attempts at becoming an ActionGirl don't quite go as planned: [[spoiler:Vita manages to take down a seed-ghoul, but she endures a near-fatal injury in the process.]]
** [[spoiler:Cheshire's naive belief everything will be instantly harmonious when it brings everyone to Wonderland is shattered when its prisoners snap and rebel against it for how poorly they've been treated.]]

** Vita's attempts at becoming an ActionGirl go quite go as planned: [[spoiler:Vita manages to take down the seed-ghoul, but she very nearly dies in the process.]]

* DeathWorld: Inoptica, more specifically the Wilt where the Houses are, is introduced as an enigmatic, dangerous world full of hungry, aggressive {{eldritch abominations}}s, and that's ''between'' the Houses full of people you won't know are interested in helping or killing you until they act on it.

''Mirrorworld'' is a horror-fantasy [[WebOriginalFiction web novel]] written by Tropers/{{Scraggle}}.

It can be read [[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3333104/1/Mirrorworld here]].

* NoHuggingNoKissing: ''Mirrorworld'' is devoid of any romance. No romantic relationships are even implied among house members, with all bonds being those of deep friends or siblings. The only exception to this is Korva pining for his lost love Margaret back on Earth, who never debuts on-page.

* PinocchioSyndrome: One of the foremost causes of all conflict in the story: as early as one of the first chapters, Aile reprimands Zeil for wanting to resolve his problems "like people," for increasingly apparent reasons. [[spoiler:The Long Talon plot, the deal between Wydel and Volte, all of Cheshire's manipulations, and all the subsequent misery caused by the fallout of these clashing plots is all caused by their masterminds wanting to become human again.]]

''Mirrorworld'' is a horror-fantasy [[WebOriginalFiction web novel]].

* GrayAndGrayMorality: Vita is essentially just a scared young girl trapped in an EldritchLocation where everyone hates each other. Nobody's perfect; Vita acts decidedly selfish sometimes (though she grows past this), many of her nominal allies are prejudiced or even murderous, and even Geiger and Wiggy are given to darker moments. The rest in the Houses range from "pleasant" to "complete jackass", but almost ''everyone'' has their reasons to do what they do and nobody acts believing they're in the wrong. The closest thing to a true villain the story has is the utterly unfathomable krylyrk.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Virtually every single problem in the plot could have been avoided if there had been better communication from the start: rampant racism between the Houses and a series of [[GambitPileups complicated plots butting heads with each other]] leads to a ton of horrific fallout. [[spoiler:Vita even brings up that everyone wanted essentially [[PinocchioSyndrome the exact same thing]]--they just had disastrously different ways of going about it]].

* ShrinkingViolet: Justified given [[TrappedInAnotherWorld her predicament]], but Vita's ''incredibly'' timid and fearful around most of Incognita's populace, to the point where she ineffectually wraps herself up in a sheet in some attempt to hide from Geiger.

* AffablyEvil: Korva, the Pitchwraith, is genteel and polite when Vita and Wiggy arrive, even though he's the leader of Noon's mortal enemies, [[spoiler:has calmly watched the death of hundreds of people unfold as a result of his DragonInChief's (admittedly unintended) assassination of Volte and allowed for Syrile's devoiding experiments ([[WellIntentionedExtremist if for a cause in the interest of all parties involved]])]].

* BigBad: Everything in the story comes back to the krylyrk, the mysterious, eldritch force behind the titular dimension serving simultaneously as this and an UltimateEvil. [[spoiler:Eventually, the notion of there being a central source of the conflict is subverted when the motivations of everyone are finally revealed; nether the krylyrk/Cheshire, nor Sorin intended absolutely any of the fallout that happens from their planning, which causes a series of [[PoorCommunicationKills miscommunications between the Houses that topple over like dominoes]] with no real one person at the fault of it all. Vita points out that even if Cheshire brought them all here in the first place, the radically [[GambitPileup differentiating plans]] and conflict between everyone is just as much at fault]].

* CycleOfRevenge: The Houses are locked in endless struggle and nobody can remember who struck the first blow. It's just an endless cycle of bloodshed and misery between them.

* DragonInChief: Korva is the leader of House Dusk, but he doesn't lift a finger to control the bloodlust of his second-in-command Zeil. [[spoiler:Zeil's murder of Volte was the only action of his that wasn't planned, which leads to Zeil's KarmicDeath; when Zeil's brought back, he's put on a tighter leash for the endgame of Korva's plans]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Zeil is quite upset his 'Pye' was taken from him.

* GambitPileup: [[spoiler: It turns out Vita steps into multiple overlapping plots, in between Volte's own schemes with the seed-ghouls, as well as Korva's overarching plan to free everyone from Inoptica, to potentially the Krylryk's own plots to keep them trapped there....of course, things proceed as unexpected.]]

* HeelRealization: Vita realizes how bad her panic is causing her to not see the residents of Inoptica as actual people, and after she callously lets Wigavat [[spoiler: see Volte's corpse without proper warning or comforting]], she realizes how selfish she's been before resolving to be there for the poor kid.

* {{Jerkass}}: Zeil is kind of a total dick, [[spoiler: especially when he returns to life, growling about his total lack of killing Volte in front of Volte's little sister.]]

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Oh, boy.
** [[spoiler: Zeil brags about murdering Volte to Volte's little sister, who's suffered horribly from the death.]]
** Syrile just loves gloating over and mocking some of his victims as well, showing a trace of sadism in his research.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: ''Mirrorworld'' is devoid of any romance. No romantic relationships are even implied among house members, with all bonds being those of deep friends or siblings.
* NothingIsScarier: Just ''what'' is responding to Vita's texts and lurking in the house? Not answered, but that makes it all the more unnerving.

* PinocchioSyndrome: One of the foremost causes of all conflict in the story: as early as one of the first chapters, Aile reprimands Zeil for wanting to resolve his problems "like people," for increasingly apparent reasons. [[spoiler:The Long Talon plot, the deal between Wydel and Volte, and all the subsequent misery caused by their fallout is all caused by their masterminds wanting to become human again.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler: Zeil doesn't last long, but his killing of Volte leaves lasting effects. Likewise, Volte's death hangs over House Noon long after he's gone.]]