Web Original / The Arkn Mythos

The Arkn Mythos is a web-based Urban Fantasy franchise. A Spiritual Successor (of sorts) to The Slender Man Mythos and The Fear Mythos, it began circa 2014 as a collection of independent projects from web content creators DeathlyLogic, TypeONegative, and Huntzilla. With the help of a few friends, the three creators incorporated various ideas and concepts from the projects, and eventually formed a cohesive mythology that served as the basis for the Arkn Mythos. What started as a community of loosely-connected vlogs and blogs has evolved into a complex multiverse, featuring four distinct continuities, countless offshoots, a multitude of interconnected plots, and content that spans vlogs, blogs, short stories, a short film, animated shorts, audio logs, and even electronic music.

Set in both fantasy realms and the modern human world, the Arkn Mythos revolves around the relationship (typically a Forever War) between two powerful races of beings: the angel-like Arkn, andwho possess magic powers, and their demon-esque counterparts the Dekn, who have Psychic Powers. The franchise follows the two races through multiple universes, detailing their conflicts, the events that spawn and shape them, the deities who influence these events, and the various other beings and entities that get pulled in — particularly the human race, who unfortunately always seem to be in the middle of it all.

Content in The Arkn Mythos can be divided into two canon and three non-canon areas of creativity:

• Arkn: Legacy.^note  The current open source community in the franchise, set in Universe X. Focuses on the Arkn-Dekn conflict, as well as both species' relationships with humanity (ranging from Inter Species Romance to Dekn and Arkm-human corporations)
• Arkn: Unity. ^note  A 2020 reboot of The Arknverse (see below), intended to provide a complete, canon prequel for Universe X.
• The Arknverse.^note  A.k.a. Arknverse A. The first established continuity in the franchise. Formerly known as Universe A, it contains stories revolving around the Arkn-Dekn Wars, .Reality, and the Arknangels. After being closed source since December 2018, it was officially decanonized in 2020.
• Arkn: Eternal.^note An orphaned Spin-Off of The Arknverse. Centers around Universe E, an Alternate Universe version of Arknverse A created by the manipulation of time and the alteration of key events. Currently closed source.
• The Arkn Mythos Alterverse/Extended Universe.^note  Unofficially known as "Universe F". The home of work that is non-canon to its 'verse, as well as work based on the lore of the Arkn Mythos (including fan-made content).

The official wiki for the Arkn Mythos can be found here.

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The Arkn Mythos franchise provides examples of:

A-I

• Action Girl: In Arknverse, Seraphina, Ambriel, and Phobos all qualify (being a Valk, a Magical Girl Warrior/ Lady of War, and the head of the Paradisium army, respectively).
  • The same applies to Ambriel and Phobos in Unity.
• All There in the Manual: The official wiki reveals a great deal of information pertaining to Arknverse A, Universe A, and Universe X — the creation of the two universes, character backstories, various plot points — that is left unstated (or unexplained) in-universe.
  • The "Lore" tag likewise contains canon information that never made it into any of the canon works.
  • A great deal of unspoken information about the plot arcs, characters, and The 'Verse in general has been revealed by the creators (usually via their tumblr blogs, during livestreams, and in personal interviews).
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: .Reality manages to subvert this, for the most part: despite being an incredibly powerful, living program, the system generally functions as intended (save for a few hiccups — all of which are caused by invasive forces).
  • Played straight with Project Entropy (Arknverse A). The Entropy machine was created as a duplicate of .Reality for the Arkn to live in, separating them from the Dekn once and for all. The program's engineers were forced to activate it before it was completed; in its unfinished state, Entropy connected to the existing .Reality and overloaded the system, causing a shutdown. Entropy interpreted this as an "error" and attempted to fix it — resulting in a cataclysmic anomaly called a Red Nova that caused the fabric of the entire universe to splinter into ragged fragments.
    • It got worse. The engineers reprogrammed the system (now renamed "Voidweb") to repair the damage it had caused by "reconnecting" the separated fragments of the universe. The end result? A cybernetic Blob Monster that "connects" all living things by assimilating them into a Hive Mind. The system is forever expanding; the machine that spawned it, powered by the blood of the Hethe themselves. Yes, that's right: even the gods are powerless against it.
• Alternate Self: All the human characters of Arknverse A have countless variations of themselves existing throughout the timelines of .Reality. Many of them are nearly identical to the "primary" characters we know — with a few minor differences. Has its own page.
  • In Legacy, Franz Faust, under Redgrave's tutelage, learns of the existence of other worlds beyond the known universe — and other people who wear his face. Understandably, he's rather shaken.
    "Who knows what kind of people could lie beyond this Veil that guards this realm? Who knows what kind of threats could come from there? What sort of people hold my face, how alike or unalike to me they really are?"
• Alternate Timeline: .Reality (of Universe A and Arknverse A) runs on this principal, creating numerous "main" timelines (A, B, C, etc.) that branch off into countless offshoots with minute differences for humans to live in (ensuring that no one individual will ever be completely obliterated by programming glitches or the War, and that all humans have infinite opportunities to live a happy, prosperous life). There are numerous ways for humans to travel between timelines, and variations in the timelines (and the characters who inhabit them) feature prominently in a number of story arcs (see above). However, shifting timelines spontaneously can cause a number of problems: jumping without protective magick runs the risk of attracting Lurkers, while spending too long in an alternate timeline will cause you to acclimate; when this happens, not only do you become foreign data to your OWN timeline, but you overwrite your counterpart and fill their "space" in the new one. .Reality really abhors a vacuum.
  • Alex shifts timelines multiple times in ACryFromWinter — first accidentally transporting himself into Timeline B and becoming stuck there, then being shifted by Malek into B.2, then sent by an Arkn to what appears to be a variant of his own timeline (A.2). It's later revealed that all of these "timelines" were actually crafted as part of King Uriel's punishment in the Infernous, and weren't actually real (though real-world equivalents of them do exist in .Reality).
  • Season 1 of Michael's Camera appears to start in an alternate timeline. It's actually Timeline A, before undergoing a brief reset, due to Michael (who just shifted into that timeline from another, unseen one) having a run-in with a Lurker.
  • In the Season 2 episode "Two minutes in" (from Michael's Camera), Ellpagg literally shoves Michael Knight into Timeline B in order to get Persophelus Redgrave off his tail. Michael replaces his counterpart via the Debigrath Effect, and spends the rest of the series in (offshoots of) that timeline. (Until the end of Season 3, when he ends up in the Infernous and becomes the Carver's vessel).
    • The following episode, Ellpagg teaches a very reluctant Michael ".Hopping": the ability to jump between the different variations of the timeline by shooting himself in the head with a Hethian pistol (causing an instantaneous Debigrath Effect).
    • Come Season 3, Michaelis takes over as narrator and takes up residence in Timeline B. He almost immediately notes that this timeline differs from his own in that his brother, Alex (yes, that Alex) is still alive.
• Alternate Universe: In Legacy, humans exist within a quintet of "mini-universal orbs" known as Seeds, which are maintained and guarded by the Ythen. Every time an event occurs which alters the course of life (namely, human existence) within a Seed, the Seed is cut off and pushed away, becoming an "Outlier", and a new Seed takes its place among the five. Outliers continue developing until they reach apocalypse stage; if they fail to do so, SEEKER comes in and "culls" them.
  • In the finale of Solar's Crimson, Azrael (of Arknverse A) uses his powers try to travel back in time to the golden age of the Arkn, long before his own birth. He overshoots, and ends up arriving at the moment the Hethe first appeared. After the Hethe learn of the events occurring in Azrael's time, they are able (with Azrael's help) to prevent the Arkn-Dekn war from coming to pass. This new, war-free version of events splits off into an entirely new universe — with a version of Azrael somehow present in both universes at the same time.
• Anachronic Order: While the videos of most series happen in chronological order, the Arknthology story arcs tend to play out across multiple vlogs; as such, an episode of one vlog may reference or allude to events that played out in a Crossover with another series — the relevant videos of which may not be posted for months.
  • At the end of the TKS episode “Paradise Lost”, the final video in Act I of the Arknthology, Ellpagg uses his newly-acquired powers to enter the timelines of .Reality and begins awakening the Arknangels — asserting himself as Michael’s guardian and shoving him into a new timeline, and leaving messages for Tobias, Gabriel and Alex — thus putting into motion the events that have occurred throughout Act I.
  • The final episode of Michael’s Camera shows Michaelis ranting about the events that just occurred and leaving .Reality — only to cut to the final video Michael Knight filmed before his death (which occurred two episodes earlier).
  • The videos of handprintsofthdead were posted on multiple playlists — all of which were out of order, and none of which featured the series in its entirety. Word of God says that because The Hooks Killer is a Dimensional Traveler who continuously jumps back and forth between timelines and time periods, it would be impossible to try to place the events in any kind of chronological order.
• Anachronism Stew: The worlds of the Arkn and the Dekn of Arknverse A appear to be a mishmash of different genres and eras.^note  In Real Life, it's due to the personal tastes of the writers, and a lack of coordination between them; in-universe, it’s handwaved as Decade Dissonance: we're told that different cities have different levels of technology, and possess wildly different cultures.
  • The Golden Cities (in keeping with the Urban Fantasy themes) seem to be roughly structured after a Middle Ages or Renaissance-style monarchy — with smatterings of 21st-century technology (implied to be the result of Magitek). In Elysia, the royal family lives in a stone castle lit with fireplaces and torches, clergy members make annual sacrifices to the gods, knights in shining armor train with swords...while interdimensional nomads trade in the marketplace, and (below the city) a team of scientists in a state-of-the-art laboratory create a living A.I. system powered by the blood of a god. Meanwhile, in the Steampunk-style city next door, civilians watch the Cloud9 broadcast on hand-held electronic devices, and magically-trained Secret Police communicate through walkie-talkies.
  • Similarly, the Infinitium (what little we see of it) is an emperial realm comprised of cities of black gold...which appear to have been built in the style of late 20th-century Miami. Lords and Ladies earn their titles by mastering various schools of mental powers, Demonic Possession is an art form, and an elite guild watches over the living virtual reality Magitek system — in which every era of human history plays out simultaneously, side by side.
  • In Arkn: Legacy, the Arkn home realm is this, due to the SEEKER being more prevelant in some regions than others. While some places have motor vehicles and 21st century architecture, others rely on steam power; some still use medieval weaponry. Meanwhile, the SEEKER bases are stocked with futuristic, Cyberpunk-style technology.
• Ancient Astronauts: In the Arknverse, the Arkn (namely, the Watchers) were responsible for teaching Humanity a number of concepts — including war and sex.
• Apocalypse How: Post-Battle of the Arknza, Arknverse A goes out in something akin to Class X-5. Most of the lifeforms that haven't been killed or evacuated to Universe X have been assimilated into Voidweb — including the humans living in the .Reality mainframe and the Hethe. (And it's heavily implied that all living beings in the universe met this fate in time.)
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Ellpagg. (Though eons of being under The Carver's influence — not to mention absorbing untold amounts of energy in the Infernous — certainly didn't help.)
• Big Red Devil: Deconstructed: it's hinted that many of the characteristics traditionally associated with demons in Western society (red skin, red or black eyes, leathery bat-like wings, horns) were based on the appearances of various Dekn. (Likewise, the traits associated with angels were based on the Arkn.) This seems to apply to universes A and E.
  • Surge (ACryFromWinter) has perhaps the most traditionally demonic appearance, being a horned, goat-like being with bat wings.
• Black Speech / Sacred Language: The nameless language of the Hethe. Said to be "impossible" and "incomprehensible" to the ears, it's actually an audible form of pure will; speaking it aloud warps the fabric of reality, and can cause untold destruction. Fortunately, it's rarely revealed to non-Hethe — and even then, only one word at a time.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Both the Arkn and the Dekn seemingly operate according to this in Arknverse and Unity. Ellpagg puts it best when describing the Arkn in "Beating the dead horse" (Michael's Camera):
  "It's almost as if you think the Arkn are the 'good guys'. News flash: we're not. 'Good' implies we follow the moral balance you humans do. And we don't. I don't know what you call 'good', but it sure as hell isn't me."
  • It's worth noting, however, that while Ellpagg himself is a great example of the brutality, xenophobia, and Fantastic Racism of his species, he's also an extremely mentally unstable individual, and far more malicious (and chaotic) in nature than the average Arkn.
  • In Legacy, both species are rather morally dubious, but their motives — to acquire more power, and territory, than their opponents — are far more comprehensible and human-like. Understandable, given that they're actually sub-species of humans (rather than alien creatures).
• Blood Magic: In Arknverse A, Arkn magic was created when the first four Arkn shed their blood (which was "pure" and contained the power of the Hethe) into a chalice and poured it into the Tree of Existence; the blood spread throughout creation, forming an energy field — which Arkn magi tap into, via "strings", in order to practice magick.
  • Humans who have access to Arkn blood (or have "awakened" their own Arkn blood) can tap into Arkn magic by using the proper sigils and incantations.
  • At the conclusion of the Arknthology, it's confirmed that Hethe blood doubles as Life Energy and a source of powerful magic.
  • In Universe X, Arkn blood contains Ethri (the energy through which Arkn practice magick), and is heavily implied to be a form of Ethri itself.
• Body Horror: During his time running the Infernous, Carver was very fond of inflicting this on his prisoners.
  • In TKS, he considers replacing Knight's feet with ducks and making him excrete honeybees. In another scene, it's implied that he turns Knight's flesh into ice cream, scoops out a chunk, and eats it.
  • Both Michael and Michaelis have made numerous comments about "spiders" while in the Infernous.
    • Knight later recalls one eternity that he spent pissing flies.
  • The Broken Mirror Effect (one of the "laws" of .Reality) causes a guardian Arkn or Dekn who encounters a counterpart of the vessel they're currently inhabiting to transform into an "incomprehensible horror". (Fortunately, the effect can be undone — by sacrificing the human who triggered the change.)
• Bottle Episode: Done in many of the vlogs, with quite a few episodes taking place in a single location in the protagonist's house — typically a bedroom, bathroom, or garage (as is often the case with Michael's Camera and Solar's Crimson).
  • Many entries of The Knight Shift took place in various rooms in the same house. The same goes for Solar's Crimson. Justified, as both series are actually set in personalized "cells" in the Infernous, in which the respective protagonists are trapped.
    • One episode of Solar's Crimson was filmed entirely in DeathlyLogic's car while they were driving to work in the morning.
• Broken Angel: Ellpagg becomes one at the end of The Knight Shift. At the moment of The Carver's death, his powers transfer to Ellpagg (the only other being in the vicinity). Not only is Ellpagg fully corrupted, but the process strips him of all identifying Arkn traits, including his powers and his wings — transforming him into a being that is more Dekn than Arkn, but qualifies as neither. His immediate reaction is to gouge out his own eyes in anguish (depriving himself of his "Arkn eyes" as well).
  "I escaped the Infernous. I lost EVERYTHING. My name, my purpose, my wings...and I gained NOTHING in return!"
• Brown Note Being: In their true forms, some Dekn have faces that only a mother could love.
  • The Carver's natural form is so hideous, Knight has a hard time even describing it.
    Knight: (regarding Carver's human form) [Y]ou look like one of [Michael's] friends. I mean, to me you... (makes a disgusted noise) Jesus, I can't even describe what you are, you're...ugly.
    Carver: (grinning) It's how I like it.
    • Fridge Brilliance: It's possible that Knight was actually getting a glimpse of De'ebo.
  • The Carver isn't the only one: when Persophelus Crow is talking to Michael via a mirror, he tells him to point the camera away from him when he's not using his vessel, because showing his true form on camera would cause it to break.
• Capital Offensive: The Dekn of Arknverse A, under the command of Lord Dragon, attempted to gain a stronghold in the Second War by launching a sneak attack on the Arkn capitol of Elysia. Unfortunately, said attack occurred on May 15th, 2016...
  • This, in turn, angered the Hethe Tum'to (who doesn't like it when mortals commit acts of war without his explicit guidance or instruction); he decided to retaliate by puppeting the body of Raphael and forcing him to attack and destroy the Dekn capital.
  • In Universe X, the war between the Arkn and Dekn began when the Arkn (who were offended that the Dekn refused to loan them the Siy decoder) marched on the Dekn capital in the dead of night. Whether they intended to attack, or simply wanted to meet with the Emperor, remains hotly debated.
• Central Theme: The central theme of Arknverse, Unity, and Legacy is that true good and evil comes from our actions and the choices we make, rather than our origins or allegiances. In Eternal, this theme seems to have been discarded entirely.
• Cessation of Existence: In Arknverse A, most humans exist in .Reality as pure data; upon death, they're absorbed back into the system and blink out of existence. There are, however, a few exceptions to this: humans who possess special Arkn blood (or are otherwise marked by The Carver) can survive beyond death — usually in their own special subdivision of the Infernous. Azrael also mentioned that there have been cases of humans reincarnating by being reconstituted in another timeline; we have yet to see this occur in .Reality, however^note (although Azrael spends many eons believing himself to be one such case). It is unknown whether this holds true for the humans of Universe A (in Arkn: Unity).
  • Xerex and Raziel (of Arknverse) briefly allude to possibility of other realms of existence after death, but state that they don't know "what comes next" (or whether it would apply to humans). Furthermore, it's implied that not even the Hethe themselves know all of the secrets of the afterlife.
• City of Gold: The Golden Cities and the Infinitium (of Arknverse and Unity) both qualify as this. The Golden Cities are (true to their name) literally paved and festooned with gold, while the Infinitium is made of black gold (which, in small quantities, holds tremendous magickal power).
• Continuity Reboot: In 2020, all content in Arknverse — which served as the Back Story to Arkn: Legacy — was decanonized, due to a combination of the core Arknverse creative team falling out and content deletion making the story virtually inaccessible to newcomers. In its place, the new creative team made Arkn: Unity, which (while sharing many of the characters and plotlines) is far more simplistic and cohesive.
• Cool Mask: Quite a few:
  • In the Arknverse, Ellpagg frequently wears an armored mask that resembles a cross between a gas mask and a Crusader's Helm.
    • Both Uriel and Michaelis have been known to wear black Lurker masks (which resemble a plague doctor's mask) on occasion.
    • Drakula wears an elongated mask resembling a dog or crocodile skull.
    • The Carver occasionally sports a red metallic half mask resembling a demon's face. Michael Knight briefly wears the same mask in Season 3 of Michael's Camera after he becomes the Carver's vessel.
    • In "Masks" (Medboy789), Tobias finds an elaborate gold and black masquerade mask in his bedroom. It turns out to belong to the Arkn king Abaddon.
  • Ba'al (of Legacy) wears a horned, full-face demon mask made of smooth bone and engraved with Dekn symbols.
    • Andras As'phyxiar wears a Plague Doctor mask.
    • As a vigilante, Mohandas Luueth’dei wears an elaborate royal blue, red, and gold mask (resembling a Mexican wrestler's mask somewhat).
• Cosmic Horror Story: The overarching plots of Arknverse and Arkn: Unity contain many elements of this. The universe is a Crap Sackworld where existence itself was orchestrated by petty, monstrous beings; humanity (as it is) is confined to an artificial realm, where everything we think we know was designed and created by a powerful guild of inhuman creatures with motives beyond our comprehension as a tactical move against an equally powerful race of malicious beings. At any moment, one of them could pop into your life, seize control of your body, and destroy everything you hold dear. Even if you manage to avoid that fate, you might still bump into one of the random, reality-warping monsters generated by the operating system of your artificial world; they lurk around every corner, and can drop out of the sky and fly off with you or drastically alter your world in ways you can't detect. Don't bother praying to your god or Guardian Angel for help: all of our myths, legends and gods were inspired by the same creatures that seek to manipulate us. Don't look for a reprieve in death, either: you'll either blink out of existence, return to life in an equally perilous world, or remain trapped in a hellish prison for all of time. Oh, and if all that wasn't bad enough, this is only the latest iteration of an unending cycle of creation, war, death and destruction. Did we mention that this is a Crapsack World?
  • Arkn Legacy drastically reduces the cosmic horror aspects of the mythology, making it something closer to Lovecraft Lite. The new pantheon of Hethe (which includes a fully-grown Cedric Kharon and an ascended Ellpagg), while still far from benevolent, are much less powerful and much more apathetic than their predecessors. Gone is the terror of .Reality and its many hazards. The Arkn and Dekn are still at war with each other; unlike in Universe A, however, they can enter the physical world without causing the fabric of existence to break down, and are forbidden from directly involving humans in the conflict. Arkn and Dekn-human hybrids are a regular (if uncommon) occurrence, and while the Arkn and Dekn wield even more influence over the human realms (via organized crime), the Lumeric company creates weapons and devices that provide humanity with a means of defense.
• Dark Is Not Evil / Light Is Not Good: The demon-like, horned Dekn, while certainly not good, generally have a bit of a soft spot for humans and are polite and honorable, whereas the angelic-looking Arkn tend to be more aggressive, war-like, and look down on everyone outside their race (and often don't treat their own much better).
• Dead All Along: The Arknangel Azrael. It turns out he was killed by his guardian, Xerex Storn, on the day they merged, and his "dead" data remained active in their body. (This explains why he's able to enter the Infernous: only the dead can enter that realm.)
  • Given that Ellpagg spends much of The Knight Shift in the Infernous, he also qualifies.
    • So does his father, King Uriel, who spends the entirety of ACryFromWinter there.
• Demonic Possession: In Universe A, possession is a common practice for both Arkn and Dekn, and a key factor in many .Reality-centered plots. The Arkn are said to have begun "attaching" themselves to Humanity to provoke the Dekn into breaking their vow against harming humans; after Humanity is moved to .Reality, they continue to do so, using human vessels to enter the system (with the Dekn following suit).
  • Though it doesn't happen as often, Arkn and Dekn can also possess other Arkn and Dekn. (Ellpagg in particular has made use of this at least twice: once using Michaelis's vessel as a "shade" so he can remotely view and physically involve himself in events without leaving his current location, and once taking possession of him to deliver a message.
  • Though it rarely happens, the Hethe occasionally possess Arkn and Dekn.
  • Malek's "shards" use a number of hosts: human, Arkn, and even a dog on one occasion.
  • In one instance, one of Malek's shards takes possession of Ellpagg while he's using the body of Michaelis as a shade, resulting in a sort of bizarre double possession.
  • The Arkn and Dekn of Legacy typically forgo possession entirely, entering Ersis directly (while wearing a human disguise). However, both Arkn and Dekn can still take over the bodies of humans, in a sense: the Arkn can use specialized Ythen-granted sigils to "relocate" directly into the body of a human (basically wearing the human as a Living Body Suit), while the Dekn can use their psychic powers to overload a person's brain and puppet them. (However, the Ythen put a limit on these activities...or at least try to.)
• Don't Go Into the Woods: This becomes a plot point in both ACryFromWinter and There Are No Lights, what with the former having Alex possessed by Malek in the woods and the latter having the stalker seeming to show up in the woods.
  • The Carver's "office" resembles a wooded area in a park.
  • In "Of Fire And Ice" (Wayward_Winter), Alex is pulled into the Nexellium — which resembles a dead forest — and ends up being brutally interrogated by Seraphina.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Hethe of Arknverse A and Universe A. They're monstrous, bird-like beings of pure evil who emerged from a giant cosmic door — which they used to carve into a massive Tree of Life (before crafting the universe itself). They've been deemed responsible for creating not only all things in existence (save for .Reality), but existence itself. Meeting them face-to-face in their true forms is said to result in instant death. Many Arkn worship them as gods.
  • The Hethe pantheon of Legacy is comprised of the surviving Hethe of Universe A, as well as (a now fully-grown) Cedric and Ellpagg. Thankfully, they're far less powerful and far more lazy than their predecessors: since they weren't the creators of the universe, they have next to no power over it, and can do little except sit around and observe. To hear some talk, the most frightening thing about them seems to be how horrendously boring they are.
  • In The Writings of Raziel, Raziel refers to his innate magical gifts as being granted to him by an unknown being, whom he believes to be "the true creator of existence". Whether this "true creator" refers to De'ebo or another, yet unseen being has never been revealed.
  • .Reality itself is heavily implied to be one.
    Redgrave: Now you're probably wondering, "Redgrave, what's .Reality?" Weeeellll, .Reality is everything and nothing. You can't touch .Reality, you can't see .Reality, and good Lord you can't fuck .Reality, but it's there! And umm... It's omnipresent and knows everything. Except, it misses a few things, y'know?
  • The Deedrn, a caste of ultra-powerful beings created by the Hethe as a sort of secret “experiment”. Virtually nothing is known about them, and they were dubbed so dangerous that the Hethe had to seal them away.
• Eldritch Location: The Infernous — a living prison realm fueled by the Life Energy of Gilgamesh which is essentially the equivalent of Hell — certainly qualifies.
  • The Beyond. It was created outside the realms of the Arkn and Dekn by one of the Hethe, to house creatures so bizarre or fearsome that they don't fit anywhere else. The chapters of No More Truths exploring the various sections of the realm are some of the strangest ever written for The Arknverse.
• Elite Four: The four main Arknza/Arknangels, a.k.a. the Paradox Players (mirroring the four Archangels of Christian mythology): Azrael/Michaelis, Raziel/Gabriel, Raphael/Tobit, and Uriel/Alexander.
  • The original four Arkn created by the Hethe — Gynesis, Gilgamesh, Abaddon, and Raziel — who were responsible for the creation of magick.
  • The Hethe pantheon of Legacy is comprised of four Hethe: Ced'ric, De'ebolus, El'lepagi, and Fab'rasi (all of them Hethe of the previous universe).
• Evil Sounds Raspy: A number of malicious characters have raspy-sounding voices:
  • The Hooks Killer allegedly acquired both his nickname and his gravelly voice after consuming human flesh laced with fishhooks.
  • Ellpagg's voice turns raspy whenever he's under the influence of the evil energies of the Infernous. After he escapes, his voice (according to Word of God) turns raspy whenever he's possessed by the Carver.
  • The mad, cannibalistic Arkn Gynesis has a voice so deep and raspy that it's impossible for him to even form words. (He compensates by forming words out of black mist.)
• Eye Scream: During the finale of The Knight Shift, when Ellpagg realizes that he's been corrupted and stripped of his Arkn identity, he gouges out his eyes in anguish, (He recovers rather quickly, though he permanently loses his "Arkn eyes".)
  • Ellpagg also mentions that he spent one eternity in the Infernous without eyes after The Carver gouged them out.
  • The Carver really seems to love this trope: while Michaelis is a prisoner in the Infernous (the first time), the Carver tortures him by (among other things) gouging out his left eye with Imulsyr — and, when Michaelis disrespects him further, shoves his knuckle duster into it to cause him even more pain.
  • Over in Legacy, Franz Faust gouges out Andras As'phyxiar's eye as payback for torturing him. And then takes the eye with him, presenting it to his close friend For'ende as an engagement gift.
• Fallen Angel: Arkn who defect are regarded as this. Those who publicly announce their defection often have their wings removed. (Only those who defect with malicious intent, however, take on a Dekn-like appearance — usually as a form of body modification.)
• Fallen Hero: Uriel, Raphael, and Ellpagg are regarded as this by most of the Arkn.
  • Uriel becomes this to Michaelis after he learns about his deal with the Carver.
  • Ellpagg's Arkn: Unity version, the Prince Ell'epaggi, also becomes this after he emerges from the Infernous. So does his father, King Urabi, who sold out his son to the emperor of the Dekn in exchange for becoming one.
• Fantastic Firearms: In Arknverse (and possibly Unity), there are Edgar Kharon's revolvers. Allegedly created by the Hethe, they resemble non-working toy versions of Wild West firearms in .Reality (if the appearance of Azrael's revolver is any indication); when used in combination with Arkn magic, however, they become incredibly powerful tools, which can enable the user to jump between dimensions...or completely wipe individuals out of existence.
  • In the now deleted Legacy series Malachi X, Malachi buys an ordinary $12 NERF gun from Wal-Mart and infuses it with Ethric energy.
• Forever War: The conflict between the Arkn and the Dekn.
  • In Unity and Arknverse, the two races have been at each others' throats since their creation (save for a few periods of relative peace lasting a millenia or so).
  • In Legacy, the conflict has only been going on for several hundred years, but it shows no sign of stopping.
  • Subverted in Arkn: Eternal: the War never happened in the first place, due to Azrael arriving when the Hethe first appeared — and putting a stop to De'ebo's plans to ignite the conflict.
• Foreshadowing: In the first full episode of TKS ("[1] The Knight"), Knight seemingly shoots and kills his friends — including his glasses-wearing buddy, "Ed". In the series finale, he inadvertently kills that same person (now revealed to be The Carver) for real.
  • One of the title cards in ".TIME.HOP.PAST-TWO" (Michael's Camera) urges Michael to accept his "fate", proclaiming that his mind is "a cage to which the key was thrown away at birth" and that "in a world of monsters, you, Michael, are the nightmare." This is foreshadowing Michael's true identity as The Carver's Nephilim son, his designated role as The Carver's vessel in .Reality, and the destruction he will cause under The Carver's control.
  • In "I have to shoot myself in the face" (Michael's Camera), Ellpagg teaches Michael the secret of ".Hopping": a process of jumping between timelines that involves shooting himself in the head with one of Edgar Kharon's revolvers (causing an instant Debigraff Effect). In the series finale, Michael is Killed Off for Real by a gunshot to the head,from an exact duplicate of the revolver he used to go .Hopping — this time fired by his double, Michaelis).
  • A Season 1 episode of Michael's Camera ("(2) Friends") shows Michael Knight having what appears a medication-induced drug freak out on the bathroom floor, laughing and rambling about noises and "friends" in "the drain" who "know what's up". The "freak out" is actually the aftermath of a .Relapse brought on by his pills: .Relapses can cause mental time travel, as well as seeing through the eyes of others; Michael is glimpsing the future adventures of Ellpagg^note or rather, an Ellpagg-disguised Carver with Cedric's band of travelers in No More Truths (in which the party braves a location called "The Drain"). He may have even glimpsed them through the eyes of his future self in Timeline B — who received said memories through The Debigraff Effect!
    • To drive this home, the relapse plays out again (in a nearly identical fashion) in the Season 2 episode "hahaha" — immediately after The Carver departs to take Ellpagg back to The Infernous. (Granted, it's the actual Ellpagg that's possessing Michael prior to that scene; but given that The Carver is later revealed to be Michael's father and true guardian, who's to say he didn't get Carver's memories instead?
  • In several early episodes of MedBoy789, Tobias wears a beanie that looks like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Raphael. The Arkn of that same name is later revealed to be Toby’s Guardian.
    • In a later episode, "Crescendo of Blasphemous Horrors", Raphael informs Elias that The Carver is using him, stating, "You have no fucking plan. You are a fucking pawn." He's right on at least one account: Elias IS later revealed to be a pawn ...of his father, Asmodeus.
    • In "Revelations", Raphael and Asmodeus have a discussion about Elias. Asmodeus declares that while he isn't sure of the extent of Elias's powers, he will kill his son if necessary. It turns out Asmo has a very loose definition of "necessary".
    • The following episode, "Disbelief of a Higher Authority", Raphael runs into Tobias, who has just recovered from the Infernous. When Raph asks him about Azrael (Michaelis), Tobias refers to him as “Mr. Fancypants”. This is a major hint about the episode’s surprise twist: Tobias is possessed by Malek (who, as established in No More Truths, has a habit of referring to others as "(adjective) pants".
• Four Is Death: This seems to be a recurring theme in the franchise:
  • The eternally warring Arkn and Dekn races both began with four members.
  • In Arknverse A, there are four main Arknangels (The Paradox Players).
    • Arknverse A's own Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a Wild West outlaw gang called the Fearful Four. They're humans with special glitches that grant them superhuman abilities. By the end of their run, they've virtually broken their timeline, and humans fear and worship them as gods.
    • There are also four Deedrn: beings created by the Hethe that were so powerful they had to be sealed away.
• Geometric Magic: Arkn magi/casters are tattooed or branded with the Seal of Unie’ndis◊: a protective symbol similar to the pentagram that represents the unity of elements, emotions, and the soul. Magick cast without it is dangerous and unpredictable.
  • In addition to having their bodies marked with the eal, Arkn (and Dekn) in all areas of magic are required to use the Aether (another sort of pentagram) to promote balance in the caster’s emotions and soul.
• God Guise: The Arkn disseminated stories of benevolent "guardian angels" to encourage humans to welcome them (and in some cases summon them) into their lives and bodies. Likewise, some malevolent Dekn play up the expectations of humans and masquerade as demons in order to cause fear and chaos.
• Gone Horribly Right: Voidweb. After its premature activation creates an anomaly called the Red Nova in .Reality which causes (among other things) the fabric of reality itself to splinter, the A.I. is reprogrammed to correct the damage by “reconnecting” both the splinters of creation and the beings within it. It does exactly as programmed...by assimilating every living thing it encounters, Borg-style, into a Hive Mind.
  • Worse yet, Voidweb was powered by Hethe blood to allow it to exist and expand indefinitely — which it now does, unchecked.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: One of the prevailing themes of Universe A (and the franchise as a whole). The Forever War between the Arkn and the Dekn is an artificial one, engineered for the shallow amusement of cruel gods. Both sides are prone to dubious behavior; while the Dekn seem A Lighter Shade of Gray (due to their drive to protect humanity), they are no less willing to manipulate, betray, torment, and kill countless others — including their own kind and the very humans they claim to be protecting — if it means gaining traction in the war.
  • This is best described by Ellpagg in the finale of The Knight Shift:
  "There is no war fought for a good or bad side; there is only deceit, and lies coming from both sides. The Hethe may be of the prime evil, but it's up to us — no, it's up to THEM, the Arkn and the Dekn, to decide who is going to be the actual good. Because right now, we don't have any."
• The Grim Reaper: The Arkn and Dekn of Universe A have their own, in the form of Xerex Storn, the Arkn-Dekn Lord of Death (among other things). He reaps the souls of deceased Arkn and Dekn (while "feeding" on their essence), and is regarded as the only being who truly understands the afterlife. After Xerex becomes bound to Michaelis Winter, Michaelis (under his Arkn name, Azrael) becomes a new Grim Reaper of sorts, using his powers to free the souls of Arkn and Dekn (and some humans) who are trapped in the Infernous.
  • Interestingly, we are introduced to at least four other characters in Universe A who represent Death in some way: Tum'to (the Hethe who embodies death and destruction), Crow (the former Arkn Lord of Death), Edgar Kharon (who was literally known as "Death" and seen as an avatar of Death among the Fearful Four), and Theatre Mask (who is an anti-god that embodies the elements of decay and entropy).
    • There's also the never-seen Deedrn Damerith Ist Eisz (D.I.E.), who is known as "The living Lord of Dying Death".
• Guardian Angel: Deconstructed in a fairly dark fashion in Arknverse: the Arkn attach themselves to humans as "Guardians" for the sole purpose of using them as vessels, basically making them their personal slaves. Worse, the corrupt Arkn government used muses to spread and encourage stories of benevolent guardian angels amongst humans so they would welcome them into their lives and bodies. The only reason they do any of this is to provoke the Dekn into going against their morals and attacking humans.
• Half-Human Hybrids: The Nephilim of the Arknverse were created when the "Watchers" (a group of 200 Arkn assigned to observe humanity) mated with human women. Once the Arkn learned of their existence, they were systematically hunted down and killed (along with most of the Arkn who sired them). Fortunately, Persophelus Vine and Raziel were able to transfer some of them to the safety of a hidden realm known as "The Hybrid Grounds"; unfortunately, they failed to keep them safe from each other, leaving all the Nephilim, save for Michael Knight, to be killed by the most powerful of their kind, Elias Exodus.
  • Some of the Arknangels/Arknza can also be seen as this, being a fusion of human and Arkn.
  • By the time of Arkn Legacy, half-breeds are far more common. Fortunately, they are no longer seen as abominations, and face little discrimination. (However, they are prohibited from holding government positions.)
• Haunted House: The house in The Knight Shift seems to be this at first.
  • Michael Knight initially believes that the strange occurrences around his house are being caused by ghosts.
  • As do Alex Knight and Toby Kestler.
• Hell: In Arknverse A, the Infernous takes the place of this. It was created (and for a time, ruled) by The Carver, and acts as both a prison and a place of torment, molding each individual's personal fears into reality. Arkn, Dekn, and humans alike can end up there (usually because they were marked by the Carver as being "special" in some way).
  • All of this also applies to Unity as well.
• Inside a Computer System: Many of the Arknverse vlogs take place inside the Nexiumandris (a.k.a. .Reality), a living A.I. system. It was created by the Persophelums (a guild of Dekn) to set humans apart from the War, protecting them from the threat of annihilation and enslavement by the Arkn. Occasionally, humans can go on "relapses" that allow them to see the code of .Reality itself.

J-Z

• Lousy Lovers Are Losers: The Dekn Reyn has the habit of seducing her marks before she has them killed by setting them up to be found out. But during a mission to wipe out an entire French family, she seduces the family's patriarch but is so disappointed by his performance that she personally kills him prematurely.
• Make an Example of Them: Arkn (in Arknverse A and Universe A) who commit severe crimes are punished by having their wings crushed and broken, rendering them useless for flight.
  • Arkn who officially defect undergo the "Bastard's Decay": their wings are painfully removed in public, by either their next of kin or one of the Valkyriums (usually Maalformius), over the course of eight days. Naturally, most who defect choose to leave home in secret and become nomads. If they're caught, however, they have their genitals removed in addition to their wings.
  • The Arkn High Council tried to do this to Ellpagg. They tossed him into the Infernous, intending for him to eventually become corrupted, kill the Carver, and be transformed into a Dekn Lord (or similar being of power) so they could hold him up as en example of the depravity of the Dekn (i.e. that the Dekn are so wicked that they can turn even the Arkn Prince to darkness). Unfortunately, Ellpagg ended up becoming more powerful — and corrupt — than they anticipated.
• Malevolent Masked Men: While they're not technically men, the Lurkers (who wear bird-like masks) definitely qualify.
  • The Luminaries from VoiceOfLegion also count as this.
• Mind Screw: It would be easier to name works in the franchise that don't contain this.
  • Liquid Bones is an entire series of Mind Screw. No More Truths somewhat qualifies as well, given the overall lack of context for the entries.
  • handprintsofthedead is another one. While it features a character (The Hooks Killer) and certain events that tie into the bigger picture of the Arknverse, many of the videos are seemingly random and unrelated (some "episodes" are nothing more than slightly-glitched television commercials), making the series as a whole nigh incomprehensible. The creator admits that this is deliberate, and that they were aiming more for a general feeling of dread, horror, and confusion than a clear-cut story.
  • No More Truths is also rather...odd. As with handprints, DL was going for an all-around bizarre Dark Fantasy (albeit one that introduces a few key themes and characters), and regrets adding some of the side plots (which were confusing and contributed little to the story — or the 'verse in general).
• Mistaken for Gods: In Arknverse, a number of Arkn and Dekn masqueraded as gods when they interacted with humanity.
  • According to Raziel's journal, two of the Watchers, Abu’ura and De’adther, allowed primitive humans to worship them as gods, because they believed that humans were something to be conquered).
  • After attaching himself to a human ruler of Mesopotamia, King Gil'ga'mesh was mistaken for a deity; he gladly played the part, as he enjoyed the power and control it afforded him.
  • Redgrave was often mistaken by humans for an avatar of evil (who eventually was given the name "Satan").
  • Xerex Storn studies human lore about demons so that he can masquerade as one. It's also hinted that he poses as the Grim Reaper in .Reality (in addition to literally acting as The Reaper for the Arkn and Dekn).
• Never Shall The Selves Meet: Both the Debigrath Effect and Broken Mirror Effect operate by this principal (see Body Horror and Only One Me Allowed Right Now).
• Occult Blue Eyes: When Knight gets "possessed" in The Knight Shift, his eyes turns a very unnatural shade of blue. It's the first indication that he's not human.
  • The Hooks Killer inexplicably sports these during his livestream chat finale.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The entire Final Battle between the forces of The Carver and the Arknza, the culmination of the entire Arknthology storyline, is relayed through a page on the wiki. An unfortunate result of many of the Mythos’ key creators departing the franchise prematurely.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: In Arknverse, this happens quite frequently in .Reality (naturally). Indicates either a Glamour Failure (causing Arkn and Dekn inhabiting human vessels to display colored distortion, horns and wings on camera), or an error in .Reality.
• Only One Me Allowed Right Now: The Debigrath Effect prevents two versions of the same individual from existing within the same timeline in .Reality. If an alternate version of a living person enters a timeline, .Reality will delete the existing person and the "new" version will take their place (though it is possible to prevent this, however, with the use of a magic "barrier".) Oddly, there is occasionally some overlap (known as the Bleeding Effect) in which an individual acquires traits and memories from the incoming "new" version of themself.
  • Likewise, if an individual dies or vanishes from a timeline and one of their alternate selves enters said timeline (and spends a considerable amount of time there), .Reality will re-write that person's memory to change it into that of their predecessor as they "fill the void" the individual has left in the timeline. (According to Michaelis, this is a variation on the Debigrath Effect.)
• Our Angels Are Different / Our Demons Are Different: Despite being the inspiration for traditional Western representations of "angels" and "demons", the Arkn and Dekn of Universe A are a complete reversal of how those beings are usually portrayed: the Dekn, being the red-eyed, red-skinned, horned, leathery-winged beings of darkness, were created first and are closer to having to humanity's best interests at heart; the Arkn, despite being fluffy-winged beings of light who live in a Golden City in the clouds, are closer in nature to what people usually think of as demons (in the sense that they're a secondary "evil counterpart" to a primary race, and intend to possess and enslave human beings). The discrepancies are explained in-universe as being largely the result of Arkn propaganda.
  • In Universe X, the Arkn and Dekn both evolved from humans, and possess the physical attributes of angels and demons — and nothing else.
• Our Zombies Are Different: In the vlog "The 7venth Reality" (Universe A), humans in the town of New Comshine are turn into feral, zombie-like creatures after drinking water contaminated by the blood of Serial Killer Alexander Tamil (who is the host for a malicious Dekn).
• Photoshop Filter of Evil: In .Reality, this sometimes happens in the presence of especially powerful beings. We've seen it occur when The Carver is onscreen, as well as when Elias Exodus uses his Nephilim powers. It also sometimes appears when the Persopheleums show up.
• Playing Card Motifs: Arknverse A has one with the names of some of its characters:
  • Uriel, as the only Arkn ruler who's also truly descended from royal blood, represents one of the King cards.^note Type0Negative admits that he never decided which particular card Uriel's intended to represent, adding that he could represent all of them at one time or another.
  • Azrael is the Ace of Spades.^note The Ace of Spades is known as the “card of death.” His adoptive family’s surname was Spades — which also happens to be the nickname Michael Knight gives him — while Edgar Kharon (whose name and identity Azrael assumed) was known as “The Ace” due to his shooting and gambling skills.
  • Raphael/Tobit is Diamonds.^note "Diamonds" is his nickname, due to inheriting the fortune of his physician father. He also uses diamond symbols in the titles of his videos.
  • Persophelus Clubs.^note Self-explanatory. (He also tends to act like the "bouncer" of the Infernous.)
  • Theater Mask's nickname and personality tie him to the Joker card.^note He’s known as "Jester", and he's both a Trickster and a Wild Card
  • Dylan R. Killeburg, the protagonist of the now-deleted series "Hearts", was Hearts.^note "Hearts" was his nickname as well as the name of the series.
• Post Modern Magic: The Arkn of Universe A work their magic through sigils, symbols incantations...and Western-style revolvers. (Said revolvers were actually forged by the Hethe, and work as functioning firearms by focusing the powers of the user.)
• The Power of Blood: In Universes A and E, a ritual involving the blood of the first four Arkn also created the Background Magic Field that is the source of all Arkn magic.
  • Blood is also the medium through which the power of the Hethe is passed to the Arkn in those same universes. Said "blood" literally functions as both blood and a power source, and is able to be transferred from one Arkn to another (or stolen, in come cases). Those Arkn who possess Hethian blood have innate, powerful magickal abilities that ordinary Arkn cannot access.
  • In Universe E, when the Hethe depart, they take their blood — and the power it conveys — with them; this deprives the Arknza of their divine powers, enabling them to live as ordinary (and mortal) Arkn.
• Psychological Torment Zone: The Infernous of Universe A. Fitting, seeing as it's essentially the Arkn/Dekn equivalent of Hell.
  • Some levels of the Vale of Nightmares (Asmodeus's home dimension in Universe A) function as this: Level 1 is "The Entropy of Blackened Nightmares" (which causes visitors to relive their worst memories and/or nightmares), while Level 4 is "The Arena of Nebulous Shadows" (which starts as one's fondest dream and gradually turns into one's most horrific nightmare).
• Punctuation Shaker: In Universe A, the ancient and more "traditional" Arkn and Dekn names tend to be broken up by apostrophes. (However, it is more common among the Arkn.)
  • In Universe X, the Arkn and the Dekn both retain this practice, in equal measure.
  • The Hethe of both A and X break up their names with a single apostrophe. The sole exception is Leg'leg, whose full name, Kal'eg'prlegi, is long enough to require two. Notably, the two beings who are raised up to full Hethe in X — Cedric and Ellpagg — indicate their change status by hyphenating their names (becoming "Ced'ric" and "El'lepagi", respectively).
• Recurring Dreams: Many human characters in Universe A suffer from these. It’s often brought on by a temporary Debigrath Effect giving them memories of one of their counterparts (which, oddly, can even extend to Arkn counterparts).
  • Early in Season 1 of ACFW, Alex Winter has recurring dreams of Longnose.
  • Elizabeth Winter repeatedly dreams about the showdown between her brothers, Alex and Michaelis, that lead to the deaths of all three of them in an Alternate Timeline.
  • In the early episodes of SC, Michaelis (having mentally reverted back to his pre-Arknza human self while trapped in the Infernous) dreams about shooting his brother, Alex, after being shot in the shoulder by him: a sign of his lingering guilt over murdering his brother which, had the series continued through Season 2, would have been revealed to be Fake Memories he acquired from Ellpagg — the real culprit.
  • Prior to his merger with Raphael, Tobit Kestler has dreams about the life of his counterpart, Raphael (namely, playing on the beach with his brother, Asmodeus), as well as the life of his AU self, Tobias (dreaming of Toby’s dog, Bobo, and seeing masked Lurkers). This is due to the Debigrath Effect, caused by Raphael entering the timeline.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Humans who are acting as hosts to Dekn (and their ilk) in Universe A typically have blood-red eyes. Dekn in Universe X also have this trait.
• Reincarnation: In Universe A (according to the episode "6) Reflection" of Solar’s Crimson), some humans who die are reincarnated by having their data reconstituted in other timelines.
  • According to Word of God, Azrael believes himself to be the reincarnation of Edgar Kharon, due to having all of Edgar’s memories. (In reality, he received Edgar’s memories from Ellpagg on the day he converged with Xerex.)
  • In FromTheRuins, all the humans who previously existed in the Ruins had their human forms and memories erased and were remade as animals.
  • In Arkn Legacy, humans who demonstrate certain characteristics will be reborn as an Arkn or Dekn upon death. If said Arkn or Dekn proves their mettle, they will be reborn again as the opposite race; if they succeed in that life, they will be reborn a final time as a Risen: a human with the combined powers, memories and skills of all of their previous lives.
• Religion of Evil: The Cult of Coolificus Coolage. (Read: human sacrifices and mutilations dedicated to the Dekn lords.)
  • The religion of the Arkn in Arknverse also qualifies. Not only does it revolve around the veneration of evil beings (the Hethe), but it requires an annual ritualistic sacrifice (often an innocent, unsuspecting Dekn) in their name. (While some Dekn also venerate the Hethe, we are told much less about them, and they don't practice sacrifices.)
• Rule of Seven: Appears numerous times in the Arknverse. Notably, however, there are no perfect sevens: there are seven Hethe (following Malek's defection), seven Arknangels (barring the "failsafe" Arknza), and seven "negative timelines" (broken, warped timelines which may or may not exist).
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Most of the Arknangels/Arknza start out as this: they (Hethe-blooded Arkn) are "embedded" in humanity by being bound to human vessels (typically either a human in their bloodline, or .Reality's "interpretation" of them in human form); once the human becomes fully aware of their "other half" and activates their Arkn blood (and with it, Arkn powers), the human and Arkn selves integrate, transforming them into a being of incredible power. The particulars, such as how the vessel is acquired and which side (if any) has dominance, vary in each case.
• Self-Duplication: A few very powerful Arkn have mastered the use of "shading": a form of chaos magic that allows the user to create multiple physical manifestations of themself, enabling said user to remotely observe — and, when using a vessel — involve themself in events.
• Serial Killer: The Arknverse has at least two: the Hooks Killer, and the Slender Man Killer. Both have ties to non-human entities, and the former is a Legacy Character.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Universe E is literally founded on this trope: following the final episode of Solar's Crimson (The Arknverse), Azrael trains his Arknza powers, becomes a Time Master, and travels back to a time before the birth of Ellpagg — ensuring that the Arknangels befriend one another, train to use their divine powers without a human counterpart, and (unlike in original history) don't fall prey to The Carver's traps and distractions. He also goes into The Infernous in Ellpagg's place (after passing his Hethian blood to Ellpagg), ensuring that Ellpagg never becomes corrupted or turns against the Arkn. The Arknangels become a strong, united force, powerful enough to defeat The Carver and bring an end to the war — bringing about a new, golden age of peace and prosperity. The changes are so massive that they split off the timeline into a completely separate universe.
• Soul Fragment: Ma'lek is the most obvious example of this, being a Hethe (creator god) who fractured himself into numerous shards after defecting from the pantheon.
  • Raguel, the Arkn protagonist of VoiceOfLegion, was split into three separate beings prior to the series, two of which were bizarrely transformed into humans.
• Take a Third Option: Arkn and Dekn who want no part in the War can choose to defect — at which point they are rightly regarded as belonging to neither side. (However, this puts a targte on their back
  • At the end of The Knight Shift, Knight/Ellpagg sets out to form a neutral counterforce made of defectors — and vows to slaughter both sides if they don't agree to join him. He ultimately founds the kingdom of Arkassia, which serves as a safe haven for all "Neutrals". During the End Times, it is run by Tobias Kestler.
  • During the End Times, Ambriel also revitalizes Riviera: a hidden, largely inaccessible realm which goes on to become a kingdom ruled by both Arkn and Dekn, where the two live in harmony.
• Tested on Humans: Andras As'phyxiar, a Dekn scientist who appears in Legacy, has no qualms about conducting experiments on human and Arkn prisoners of war. In fact, we're told that his Dekn lab assistant was formerly a human prisoner — and that he's trying to duplicate the experiment.
  • Andras's partner, Lucifuge, also has no problem testing on humans or Arkn. However, he goes a step further, by also testing on Dekn.
• Tomes of Prophecy and Fate: The Arknchron, a book of infinite knowledge concerning the Arkn (allegedly created and handed down by the Hethe themselves).
• Trademark Favorite Food: The Carver has a fixation with cheese — so much that he altered his Dekn title to "The Dekn Lord of Pain, Torment, and Cheese (and Sometimes Lettuce)". Sometimes (or so he claims), he uses cheese in "creative" ways to cause pain and torment.
  • Ma'lek and his pizza rolls. He offers them to anyone and everyone he encounters.
  • When "Spooky Michael" (Solar's Crimson) isn't attacking Michaelis, he's chugging milk straight from the jug. (This actually becomes a minor plot point in the series, as Michaelis — who has become sick of drinking nothing but soda in Humanity's Infernous — tries unsuccessfully to catch Spooky in the act and stop him from stealing the milk out the fridge.)
  • Tobias absolutely loves snack chips — particularly Doritos (comes with being The Stoner). How much does he love them? His personal paradise in the Veil included a bed full of extra jumbo-sized bags of Doritos.
• Transformation of the Possessed: In Arknverse, being possessed by either an Arkn or a Dekn typically causes (in addition to a wardrobe change) the vessel's eyes to turn inhuman color: red when they're possessed by a Dekn, and a hue specific to their possessor (green, blue, etc.) when they're host to an Arkn.
  • When Michael Knight is possessed by The Carver, he grows horns (seen only in shadow), his eyes turn red, his face becomes heavily lined, and a sinister Dekn symbol tattoos itself on his forehead.
• Trapped in Another World: In the Arknverse (Universe A), which takes place within a computer system that has an infinite number of timelines (and numerous methods of traveling between them), this happens quite often. Usually, there are only minute differences between the timelines (averting the usual Fish out of Water antics), and the characters are able to return to their original timeline before they acclimate and/or permanently take the place of their counterpart (See You Can't Go Home Again and Only One Me Allowed Right Now). However, there have been a few exceptions: in Season 1 of ''acryfromwinter, Alex becomes trapped for a considerable amount of time in Timeline B — in which his counterpart is the mass murderer behind the Winter Family Massacre.
  • Early in Season 2 of Michael's Camera, Ellpagg forcibly shoves Michael into another branch of Timeline B to get Redgrave off his tail.
  • In Season 3 of Michael's Camera, Michaelis nearly finds himself in this predicament after he spends too much time in Timeline B and discovers that the Debigrath Effect is beginning to mold him into a replacement "Michael". (Fortunately, he is able to leave the timeline before the Effect fully takes hold. But if he had been there a bit longer...)
  • A number of characters (including Tobias, Raphael, and Michaelis) have become trapped at various times in the Veil: the home dimension of Asmodeus (which can function as either a Psychological Torment Zone or a Lotus-Eater Machine, depending on which level you're trapped in).
• Vicious Cycle: The universal cycle of creation, conflict, destruction, and rebirth is hinted to have played out countless times. The existing Hethe create a universe and everything in it, setting off a cascade of events (either deliberately or inadvertently) that leads to a conflict between the Arkn and Dekn, ending in an apocalypse that gives rise to a new Hethe Pantheon — and the creation of a new universe. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  • As of Arkn: Legacy, the cycle is confirmed to have played out at least twice in full ^note  The Hethe entered Arknverse A through a door that led from a previous universe (hinted to be the one inhabited by Emmanuel from Diary of a Mistake).
    • Now confirmed, as of the Arkn: Echo spinoff.
• Voice of the Legion: In Arknverse A, humans possessed by Arkn and Dekn typically demonstrate this (though few show it consistently).
  • Beings possessed by the Hethe in the same continuity show this as well — and they do have it consistently. (The Carver also demonstrates it on occasion, though he's something of a special case.)
• Winged Humanoid: Natural born Arkn (in all continuities) have fluffy, feathered wings of varying hues. The few Dekn that possess them have leathery, bat-like wings tipped with spines.
  • In Arknverse, said wings are separate, living organs that can be summoned at will — namely, when the owner wants to put on their Game Face. Having one's wings removed is a sign of disgrace for the Arkn.
  • In Legacy, Arkn wings are energy constructs formed out of an Arkn's aura, which they produce by channeling the energy in their blood; said constructs can only be created by a full-blooded Arkn, and only in its native realm (the Empyrium).
• World in the Sky: The Golden Cities. Each city is divided into districts (government/banking, etc), with each district suspended on a separate, floating “island”.
  • The Paradisium is similarly made of twelve floating tiers, each suspended atop other through a combination of "Arkn flair" and Dekn technology (via Raziel’s Magitek). In Universe A's Battle of the Arknza, it eventually crashes into the sea after being weaponized by Ambriel.
• World Tree: The very first creation of the Hethe in Arknverse A was the First Tree: a massive tree carved from the door of the very portal they emerged from, which sat in the center of existence. The Dekn made it their home, until it was overrun by the Arkn and set on fire. Its remnants (or a facsimile of it) sit in the middle of the Infernous.
  • The .Reality system of Arknverse A is formed in the rough shape of a tree, with a set number of central timelines that "branch" out into infinite offshoots.
  • Universe A has its own version of the First Tree, in the form of the Tree of Riviera: the home of the first Dekn, Dekncraath.
• You Can't Go Home Again: According to the Seamless Reality Effect of .Reality, any being or object that enters a foreign reality will "acclimate" to it and become foreign data, rending it unable to return to its original reality (unless placed there by a being of immense power).

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