Darth Wiki / Evillious Chronicles × Alt-talia

Evillious Chronicles × Alt-talia is the Working Title of a series of fics that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin; an Alt-talia spin-off adaptation of Evillious Chronicles, specifically the "sin" songs, with additional information from the rest of the series and original twists, and loaded with as much historical references as could be used.

Each story focuses on one of seven characters and their sordid tales of wicked doings based on one of the seven deadly sins.The series uses the characterizations of the Alt-talia versions of the characters for the most part, with possibly some minor alterations accounting for this being a Human AU and to make the plot flow a bit smoother. As a result, characters do not act like they do in Hetalia canon.

This series has the distinction of being one of the few times WannabeHistorion604 uses Nyotalia characters in Alt-talia (And it’s said that the 2ps could exist as well), especially outside of non-canon fluff, due to the cast otherwise skewering heavily male, though they basically act just like their normal counterparts. Every story is also self-contained, and their connection isn’t made clear; in fact, it’s pretty typical for the same character to appear in several stories in vastly different roles and as clearly different characters (e.g. the Arthur Kirkland of Story of Evil is a heroic king avenging a woman, while the Arthur Kirkland of Judgement of Corruption is a greedy, smarmy, Faux Affably Evil corrupt judge), with their connection being left up to the audience. However, their personality is kept as recognizable to their Alt-talia selves as possible, though they may be written based on different stages of their development, usually but not always corresponding to the time period the setting is based on.

Many stories have parallel versions with different characters that are meant to be branching paths (with the Wrath story’s alteration particularly having a lot of impact on the larger story), as the author can't decide on certain casts sometimes, and a wholly different "batch" changing the main characters is also being considered.

Before the "official" release of the series, the author also released a fic detailing a theoretical backstory for the Ludwig who appears in "The Muzzle of Ludwig" for a Hetalia event, "The Key to Zorn". It can be read here: https://cooltrainererika.tumblr.com/post/189345156286/alt-talia-x-evillious-chronicles-the-key-to-zorn

While those familiar with Evillious would likely know how these stories end, spoilers are marked as such.

(Note: this is the only series I actually have written down. However, many, many things are subject to change. Also, versions of a character will be labeled with the sin story they appear in, with the title they have if they have one, or a descriptor)

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Evillious Chronicles × Alt-talia provides examples of (confirmed/likely things):

• Adapted Out: Some roles due to not being in the songs or the author not wanting to say for sure who's who. Notably, Hansel and Gretel are mentioned and shown in the original version of Seven Sins and Punishments, and they can be heard singing in the background, but in the EC x AT version the mention of twins is replaced with "children/child" (there is no differentiation in Japanese), making it vague, and there are no additional singeres ^Note I might use David though? IDK. And it's possible David might be Elluka (?), but it's entirely possible he's a completely new role.
• Age Lift: Of course, the characters in this series (most of them at least) aren’t as old chronologically as the Alt-talia cast, but while they are retained when possible, there are a few very noticeable cases where major changes are made for the sake of the story (especially when a character is a parent); while ages change in Alt-talia according to era, the other characters don’t scale with them (and also, characters may often be fusions of various eras of their character) :

• Though never explicitly stated, Judge Arthur Kirkland is probably at the very least in his late 30s due to the fact he has a child who is a young adult, and if he’s the same age as Gallerian, is as old as in his 40s. Even in Alt-talia, at his oldest, he’s stated to be physically 35, and in canon he’s 23. Also, in the era the setting resembles, he was in his 20s in Alt-talia. He’s stated to look Older Than They Look though, though official art does make him look slightly more aged than either canon.

• Archnemesis Dad: In The Muzzle of Alfred, Judge Arthur Kirkland is apparently this to Revolver Alfred, just like in the original story, though exactly why is left ambiguous. As a result, his version of the story and song is way less altered than Ludwig's version, which went out of its way to make the relationship between Ludwig and Arthur as ambiguous as possible.
• Break the Haughty: Prince Vuk gets it in quick succession by the end of his story. By the time he witnesses his brother being beheaded in front of him and a cheering mob, he's been very much broken, with one of the optional epilogues showing him seemingly after the events of Regret Message, showing desire to become The Atoner.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: This may tend to happen even for non-Evillious Alt-talia fans due to character relationships, especially familial ones, being retained.
  • For those who read The Muzzle of Ludwig first and found out Ludwig’s target is Judge Arthur, the reveal that Revolver Alfred’s mission is a patricidal one becomes extremely obvious.
  • Arguably the fact that Miroslav is Šćepan (Montenegro) and Prince Vuk’s brother. Mostly in the PV where he looks basically exactly like Montenegro, and Serbia has few other subservient friends like this.

• The Cover Changes the Gender: Most of the songs get this, as this series has a 5 male to 2 female ratio instead of EC's 5 female to 2 male ratio, plus maybe more major alterations if the story is significantly different.

• Fanfic Fuel: Everywhere. Many loose ends are left in the story, both deliberately and because the author admits she couldn't come up with anything, for this reason.
• Faux Affably Evil: England in Alt-talia has moments like this, but Judge Arthur Kirkland unabashedly takes it and runs with it. His politeness only serves to enhance his lack of care for the people he judges, and unlike many of the other villains he at times he seems straight-up sadistic. He doesn’t even let up with the polite, calm demeanor when staring the Master of the Hellish Yard (basically Satan) in the face.
• Harmful to Minors: The poor Korea Twins, according to a Loose Canon gaiden, are understandably a bit traumatized by the fact they were trapped with their mother in Lust!Kiku’s castle and it doesn’t help that their mom committed suicide over it. Poor Hyun straight-up goes insane.

• Hero of Another Story: Many are scattered around, some of which are heavily implied to be very important to the wider story (i.e. whoever David is).

• The Lost Lenore: ...Possibly. Unlike with Nemesis, it's never specified that whoever Revolver Ludwig or Alfred was forced to kill in their backstory was their lover, just that they were "a loved one", and the author also says that she purposefully left it vague, though she also says it was maybe platonic since she couldn't think of anyone it would be appropriate to ship them with at this time (though Marianne (Fem!France) was suggested as a possible candidate for Ludwig).

• Precision F-Strike: This line from The Muzzle Of Alfred:
  Revolver Alfred: I'll leave your sorry ass to the fire to die a slow, agonizing death [...]
• Replacement Goldfish: Matthew, Judge Arthur's son? The one who he doted over in his story? He’s actually a doll. The doll here can seemingly take on any form. But much like the Clockworker’s Doll and much like with Natallia (?) the doll possibly has genuinely taken on Matthew’s identity.

• Royal Brat: Just like Riliane, Prince Vuk. And how. His worst deed probably being attempted genocide, just to kill a man, and sending his servant to kill said man. Poor Dražen indeed. Then again Vuk in Alt-talia has also done said thing, and in a much worse, more horrifying way.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Just like EC, heavily based around this. They are all sealed into a certain item as well.
  • While the main characters are mainly based on what Fantasy Counterpart Culture their EC counterparts come from, many fit surprisingly well, albeit some less than others (note: I will use country names for characters I haven’t decided on whether they should be male or female) :

• (contested) According to the author, more obviously fitting characters are the demons themselves; or more precisely, their 2P versions. It's suggested that Pride is 2P Rome (named as Lucius or Remus), Lust is a version of 2P Japan (Kuro or Akane), explaining why their vessel is a katana, Gluttony is Ashlyn (2P Fem!America), and a version of 2P Germany is Wrath.

• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Characters actually don't swear that often, as such the incarnations of Vuk and Enis swearing quite a bit especially stands out, though they're still nothing compared to the colorful swears they use in Alt-talia.
• Small Role, Big Impact: David (Israel) makes a brief appearance at the end of The Madness of Elif Pasha and Story Of Evil, and according to Word of God he plays a vital role in the wider story, highly implying this is the same David both times. However, exactly what he is isn't known. (PENDING)
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Lust!Jadwiga uses this to trick Elif into thinking she's another victim of hers, lure her into a false sense of security, and stab her in the chest. It's also a Mythology Gag to her canon counterpart's fanon association with crossdressing. Ironically, her voice is a pitched version of her male counterpart's instead of the other way around.

• Word of God: Apparently David and Benedict (Vatican, name pending) play a major role in all of this, though the latter isn't seen anywhere. She has also stated that Maximus (Ancient Rome) and Yao (China) also probably have major roles somewhere, and for specific arcs, that a version of South Korea and a version of France definitely have major roles in the Lust and Greed/Wrath arc respectively (and that France in general is probably present in more arcs than he/she appears), but they're never seen either (though Yong-Soo is part of Elif's harem in an alternate version).

Tropes appearing in The Key to Zorn:

• The Alcoholic: It’s shown that Roderich has a terrible binge-drinking habit in the scene where Ludwig gets confirmation that Roderich despises his mother; just like in Alt-talia, where he’s prone to drink utterly remarkable amounts of booze in one sitting. In fact, in the real world Austria has the worst binge-drinking statistics in the world. In the world.
• Canine Companion: Lutz, Ludwig's intelligent, telepathic, transforming Fenrirhund who his mother apparently sent him before she died. Or in the Dog-Lutz ones at least, as in an alternate version he’s an eagle instead. While he's a Jerkass, he was also Ludwig's first friend and only friend for over a year and as such Ludwig is pretty close to him. While Hetalia fans would have figured out he's 2P!Germany from the start, they probably wouldn't have seen him actually being the Demon of Wrath coming.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: As implied in The Muzzle of Ludwig, subverted. Sort of. Ludwig still adores his mother, Julia, and cherishes her memory more than anything; however, his actual recollections reveal that much like the Alt-talia Prussia, she was incredibly strict and raised him like a soldier, even if she still cared about him if Alt-talia Prussia and that Ludwig knows what a hug feels like is any indication.
• Dogs Are Dumb: Subverted. Lutz not only acts and talks more like a stereotypical cat, being extremely sardonic and emotionally detached, but is also incredibly intelligent, able to recite the definition and symptoms of Hereditary Evil Raiser Syndrome from memory and saying that he's bored by books because he knows everything written in them already. Just like Seth Twiright, his Evillious counterpart. Well, he is ironically the Demon of Wrath and all.
• Flower Motifs: Cornflowers show up constantly throughout the story; Ludwig’s eyes are described as cornflower blue (though they are in Alt-talia as well), apparently magically enhanced ones grow around Ludwig’s house, and they replace sakura flowers as the flowers that are blooming when Ludwig meets Francis/Marianne. In-story, their significance is that they were Julchen’s favorite flowers, and Ludwig heavily associates them with her; this is the same in Alt-talia, as they were Prussia’s national flower in real life as well as the German Empire’s. However, the reason for that was that according to Prussian legend, a mother hid her children in a meadow of them so Napoleon’s men wouldn’t find them, which may or may not hint at some kind of symbolism in this story regarding Julchen.
  • Another meaning for cornflowers is that they are worn by men in love. ...Which just happens to become really appropriate in the romantic route.
• Good Stepfather: Roderich. He's in fact a bit too doting, which to Ludwig who grew up in the woods and lost his mother at an early age is especially a shock. ...Or so it seems. Oh, he cares about the kid. But much like his Alt-talia counterpart, it's heavily implied that he was incredibly jealous of the fact that Julchen was able to have a child despite the fact that it's also heavily implied that he has been trying for even longer before, and that he or Erzsebet is infertile. As a result, he tries on many occasions to remove her influence over Ludwig, ultimately alienating him completely.
• In Love with the Mark: Just like in Evillious, Ludwig, albeit not knowing she’s Marianne Bonnelfey, falls for said woman. ...However, it’s shown that this is a mutual case, as Marianne only got close to Ludwig initially to gather intel on Pater Natalis AKA Judge Arthur Kirkland, and if possible assassinate him, while also “disposing” of Ludwig himself, her only seeing him as a murdering, shining example of Teens Are Monsters. She of course actually falls for him, and her being more of a romantic than Ludwig, in her last moments tearfully tells Ludwig to choose her over the mission in what is essentially a rare heroic example of We Can Rule Together. She of course fails. Of course, the platonic route features a rare example of this with platonic love.
• Loose Canon: The whole story is merely a “possible” route the story could go, if events mostly went as they did in EC canon. And even then there are certain scenes that are even more ambiguously canon, there are two main routes for part 2, and on top of that a lot of alternate versions with minor edits (namely whether Lutz is a dog or eagle, and one with different code names) for each of these routes due to the author’s indecisiveness.
• Jerkass: Lutz. He's a snarky asshole who Ludwig probably only trusts because he came into his life when he was at his lowest point, neglects to protect the necklace Ludwig's mother gave him, makes the poor kid spend a week on the streets by keeping him ignorant to the possibility that the police might have his family records on file, [[spoiler:and gives absolutely zero care about the people he kills when he sinks a massive cruise liner full of people, leaving no survivors. Considering who he was based on, it's not unexpected. In fact, Lutz acts almost exactly like Seth.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, throughout the story he's shown to care for the boy little by little. And at the end, to his own surprise, after Ludwig kills Francis/Marianne and has a massive breakdown, his words have actual emotion behind them as he urges Ludwig to not kill himself, wondering if he did this to the poor guy, going so far as to keep up the lie that Julchen sent him so that Ludwig at least has that.
• Meaningful Name:
  • In all but one version of part 2, PN gives out Code Name|s like this... from an out-of-universe perspective. As in, all of them use names invoking their country’s symbolism. For most, in-universe they aren’t quite obvious, though the two East Asians are a bit on-the-nose:
    • Gibraltar (name not given, but heavily implied): Rock
    • Marisa (Fem!Portugal): Compass (note:gender pending)
    • Yao: Dragon
    • Kiku: Cherry Blossom
    • Ġilju (Malta): Honey
    • Kumar (India): Jewel
    • Prakash (Nepal): Summit
    • Mohammed (Egypt): Pyramid
    • Emma (Belgium): ???
    • Ludwig: Eagle (Dog-Lutz routes) Ironheart (Eagle-Lutz routes)
    • Agents by the names of Dolphin (described to be a young woman with dark skin, heavily implying it’s Seychelles) and Copper (probably Cyprus) are also mentioned, as well as Cape, who is said to be a Master of Disguise and stated by Word of God to be South Africa
  • Also, the alias Ludwig gets is "Friedrich Sadler"; Friedrich is not only the name of famous kings like Frederick the Great, but has, or more specifically "Fritz" has, also had a history of being used to refer to a generic German soldier. Meanwhile, "Sadler" is just German for "Eagle," and also matches up with his code name just like Nemesis.
• Military Brat: Just like in Alt-talia, Ludwig was raised like a soldier, and he very much holds the principles his Four-Star Badass mother taught him close to his heart, his militaristic demeanor now carrying extra weight as something he has left from his mother; and as a result, Roderich tries to teach it out of him, which combined with him being recruited into PN makes him double down on it.
• Momma's Boy: Ludwig is really, really attached to his dead mother, and her death has only made him idolize her even more. And unlike in Alt-talia, Ludwig isn’t given the chance to be completely weaned off her influence. However, unlike most examples, his mother wasn’t a stereotypical doting mother but instead a certified Four-Star Badass, with Ludwig describing her as if she were a manly father, and she instilled discipline in her son over everything else. Roderich acts more like a doting mother than Julchen does!
• Mythology Gag: Ludwig initially names Lutz "Schwarzchen", or in English, "Blackie", which is the name of one of Germany's three dogs in canon (later, Schwarzchen became the name of one of his dogs in Alt-talia as well). Lutz doesn't like it though, and calls him unoriginal for it.
• Opposites Attract: Describes Ludwig and Marianne’s relationship quite well. They both think that their many opposite traits are rather annoying, but also fitting as it makes them complimentary. In the platonic route, Ludwig and Francis are also good platonic examples.
• Refuge in Audacity: The stated reason for the reindeer-based (albeit not in-universe) code names in one of many versions of Part 2. After all, who would suspect that agents with ridiculous names like “Prancer” and “Dasher” would actually be up to no good?
  • For those curious, said names are Marisa: Dasher, Gibraltar: Dancer, Lukas: Prancer, Yao: Comet, Gilju: Vixen, Stephanos (name pending) : Cupid, Kiku: Donder, Kumar: Blitzen, and, of course, Ludwig: Rudolph. Others like Prakash are mentioned as “dwarves/associates” though.
• Reincarnation Friendship: Heavily implied in the platonic route of part 2. While it wasn't very obvious at the time of release, those who read Story of Evil will be able to see the likely hints that Francis and Ludwig are reincarnations of Prince Francis and Karl from that fic, or at least in some way related to them, as the fic contains quite a few references to the Pride arc; in some places, Prince of Evil or Servant of Evil is almost directly quoted (e.g. Francis serves Ludwig brioche, which is heavily associated with Riliane and Allen, and laughs bitterly and says "Two best friends, torn apart by fate! How poetic!" in his final scene before he's shot). ...However, they may also be cursed, as this time Francis dies.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Emma and Lukas up and quit PN, implied to be due to being unable to put up with the direction it is going in anymore, some time after Ludwig starts becoming a field agent.
• Shout-Out: The gang leader at one point tells Ludwig, after he questions her about why he wasn't chosen for an assassination plot, "I don't think 'Giant Enemy Dog' is a viable weapon to use on a cruise ship.”
  • Before that, Ludwig threatens the rival gang boss with "Speak in a real language!".
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: All of the gang members. The fic itself actually doesn't have much swearing, especially explicitly, but them being gang members they're an obvious exceptions.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Combined with a bit of Hormone-Addled Teenager; Ludwig ponders if what he’s feeling towards Marianne is “love” as occasionally popped up in novels after repeated interactions with her. Lutz is no help as he tells him that “It’s just something you humans invented to make reproduction complicated.” Eventually, he finally determines that he is indeed in love and confesses to her.
  • Lutz’s himself, more so; his character arc is basically him growing to have an actual bond with Ludwig, something he’s puzzled by , the feeling apparently being completely alien to him.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: Ludwig questions "Who names this stuff?" regarding its very Shaped Like Itself name when he's told about HERS; though the author didn't come up with the name, mothy did, it still indeed looks comically on-the-nose in English and is was one of the first lines the author came up with between the main duo. Lutz retorts that he's the one to talk when he basically named him "Blackie".
• A Tankard of Moose Urine: Ludwig is pressured into drinking cheap moonshine by the rest of his gang; he immediately gags, and the narration likens it to "a bottle of horse urine".
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate for Ludwig and Lutz; it's one of the first indications that they're not so different. According to Erzsebet, it's a family trait, and Roderich is horrified to know that Julchen never fed Ludwig chocolate. This is another thing directly lifted from Alt-talia, as Germany is just behind Austria and Switzerland in terms of chocolate consumption per capita. To a lesser extent Ludwig specifically is shown to be partial to different types of bread, something which is also present in Alt-talia.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Ludwig starts as a pretty normal kid considering his upbringing; he acts much like his child self in Alt-talia, who was already kind of cute and innocent, but with his chauvinistic streak removed.

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