Shifting Worlds

"Sometimes, you get the good end, sometimes you get the normal end, and sometimes... you get the SDM end."

Shifting Worlds is a roleplaying club originally based in Doujinstyle. The roleplays here are mainly based around Touhou Project, with occasional references to other games and a lot of original characters and worlds as well.

Shifting Worlds roleplays tend to happen in Gensokyo, though a diversity of other worlds are involved as well. The club has, over the course of its diverse roleplays, established its own continuity and the Gensokyo of SW has come to be fairly different from the Gensokyo of canon.

Obviously has it's own Character page.

Sadly as of lately Doujinstyle seems to have keeled over. Due to this hundreds of posts worth of roleplaying continuity have been locked. However Shifting Worlds is timidly taking its first steps in a new forum, Zetaboards.

Tropes used in Shifting Worlds include:
  • Action Girl: let's just say most girls.
  • Aerith and Bob: some characters have Japanese names. Some characters have more standard fantasy names. Some others have punny or meaningful names. And some others just have... normal names. (see Desmond for an example of that last case).
  • A Father to His Men: both Kusakabe and Amadeus.
  • Affably Evil: Desmond, though some may disagree.
  • A God Am I: Hellgate.
  • Agony Beam: One of Purge's attacks, also the function of the punishment button on the scepter of the Queen of Hearts.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Anyone, no matter where they're from, speaks Japanese in Gensokyo.
    • Justified in Hellgate 2 Part 3 with the high tech translating devices all rebels use.
    • Justified again during the war in Crossroads 2, as Jenny gives Cirno, Laia, Kanako Imrah, Ratatosk, Jonathan, and Yuro translators.
  • Alternate Universe: Technically everyone is living in an alternate universe due to Hellgate's meddling.
  • An Ice Person: Ryoma Nakurei. Also Nobuharu, to an extent.
  • And I Must Scream: This happens during the final phase of the Black Spawn battle in Hellgate. All of those Tear Jerker moments that occurred throughout the Hellgate saga, and then some, come back to haunt the characters. Then they have images of the entire world on its way to become nothing but nothing. Followed by the laugh of the story's very own Big Bad, who managed to affect the lives of many people. Who wouldn't give anything just to get out of that nightmare?
  • Anti-Hero: Kanako Imrah is a Type III
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: justified for the CopTechs aka Mimics, because they're really NOT your average mechas.
  • All Just a Dream: The sequences where Hellgate claims to have become a God, both in Hellgate 1 and Hellgate 2 Part 1.
  • All There in the Manual: Want to know how Desmond got his grudge against the village and sought to release EX-Rumia? Want to know about Laia's dark side? Want to know how Hellgate himself came to be? The answers to these questions (and more) are all in the Gaiden Thread, and not in any of the RPs.
    • The club itself can be this if you happen to stumble on this page without being a SW regular, since Doujinstyle is closed off to those without a username, the club itself requires a password to get into, and SDM himself largely wants to keep things under wraps for now. SDM has been working on making an site to archive the RPs so that those not in the club itself can view the RPs. Sadly, not a whole lot of progress has been made, so if you want to see everything, you have to get into DS and ask SDM for the password.
      • Right now, Shifting Worlds has moved to Zetaboards, and no longer requires a password to access. SDM is currently working on moving the RPs in DoujinStyle to here, as a means to archive them and make them available to the public. Considering how much there is to transfer over, it will be a while before everything it available to be seen by everyone, but it's a start.
  • April Fools' Day: The first Hellgate 2 Part III, now known as This Thread is a Trainwreck.
  • Apocalypse How: the Black Spawn is basically a living Class 6.
    • Well, most of the time. If the world the Black Spawn is trying to destroy manages to put up some resistance, it has no problem leveling up to Class X.
    • Hellgate was aiming for an X-4 his first appearance.
    • Anarchos was aiming for an X-5.
    • EX-Rumia's release would cause a Class 1 among the humans.
    • In the backstory for Hellgate 2 Part III, the tropical world of Holomon was completely frozen over by The General, effectively earning a Class 5.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: Hellgate turned both Flandre and Patchouli into this.
  • Apocalyptic Log: Desmond's diary in the Gaiden thread.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: when Cirno tells Desmond she would gladly give her life to Laia's Super-Powered Evil Side if her death made Laia happy, Desmond retorts with, "And what if, by chance, your death doesn't make her happy?"
    • And subverted when Cirno completely ignores the question, preoccupied as she is with Laia's current state.
  • Author Appeal: occasionally. For instance, the very idea of Queen Cirno.
  • Author Tract: Hellgate is primarly based around SDM's idea that Gods--or people with power in general--don't get to rule everything--in other words, might doesn't always make right. Not to mention that pretty much every single one of his characters, if deconstructed, have a general trait or personality that matches with SDM's beliefs, personality, and/or disposition.
  • Ax Crazy: too many villains to count, and anyone infected with Dark Spores.
  • Badass Bookworm: Yeshaida, especially since he, as an elf from Filia, is able to wield two swords at once (Filian elves normally aren't able to dual wield).
  • Badass Normal: Nicholas Stroud.
    • Even though he's been overshadowed by the massive power of both his enemies and allies, Stroud earned himself a position as a Badass by being the one who, through intense pain, managed to slay Purge.
  • Bad Powers, Bad People: Elegia del Nulla, who uses emptiness and void powers. Rumia as a whole, as well (including both normal and EX-Rumia).
    • More debatable for normal Rumia, but very straight in EX-Rumia's case.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Cena Brand's ash causes intense pain, corruption and disintegration, but she's overall good.
    • Also, Varukisas is a noble, loving entity with a very sinister-looking EX form.
  • Bash Brothers: Aurion and Kanako Imrah, at times.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Kanako Imrah, though it's Justified by the use of his magic rather than just him being able to do it (granted, it USED to be that way, but that was before there was any sort of cap on powers and such).
  • Beam Spam: Nearly everyone who can make beams can do this, and has done this.
    • Averted in Alta Marea by the six heroes. While they're capable of firing non-elemental lasers, they take time to charge, and only one can be fired at a time.
  • Berserk Button: Flandre's death to Arachnos.
    • Do not mess with Patchouli, lest the Scarlet Devil Mansion will show you to a world of hurt.
    • Same applies with Reimu and Jonathan.
    • Do not mention doing anything bad to Arietta in front of Aurion or Kanako Imrah. Do not mention doing anything bad to Flandre in front of Aurion, Kanako Imrah, Jonathan or Arachnos. Do not mention doing anything bad to Laylasa in front of Kanako Yasagawa. All scenarios will end very badly for you.
      • Unless you're SDM, in which case you have a get-out-jail-free card.
    • Calling Cirno an idiot, obviously.
    • Out of the universe, do not mention Mikirin in any positive light in relation to RPs. At the very least SDM would chew you out for hours, and a few others would join him in it.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Yuro, Martel, Jonathan to an extent, but DEFINITELY the first two. Laia also fits as well.
  • BFG: SDM is prone to whipping out Hadron Cannons and the like. But it's the Black Star Cannon that is the mother of all BFGs, dwarfing SDM HIMSELF, in his entirety, by its size.
  • Big Bad: Hellgate is probably the most iconic Big Bad of Shifting Worlds.
    • THE GENERAL. So very fucking much. He is behind nearly everything in the Hellgate series
    • During the later pages of Another World in Gensokyo, Cichol and the Dark Lord Morgant served as this when they first tried to destroy their world with a summoned Chalad Gaibolg, and again when Cichol came back to avenge Chalad's death.
    • Sono Ruina for the Jewels of Existance arc of Crossroads.
    • in Crossroads, EX-Rumia can be seen either as the Big Bad, either a living Plot Device of mass destruction with Desmond being the true Big Bad. In either case, her dark shadow has been permeating Shifting Worlds for several roleplays now.
    • Abicion in Alta Marea.
    • Yami in Aurion's Guardians of Light arc that's spanned two RPs so far.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Kanako Imrah does this for Lloyd and Yeshaida, when they're about to be overrun by the Dorca Faedhain.
    • Happens again, with Kanako Imrah seemingly doing this for Aurion and Erle against Yami and Sinafay. However, it's subverted when he gets quickly shut down by Yami, then subverted again when the REAL moment is from Flandre, who proceeds to kick Yami's ass and completely render that form of Yami to nothingness by making EVERYTHING (even the explosions) explode.
  • Blatant Lies: "Hi, I'm SDM, totally not Hellgate. Oh, and just ignore the creepy static I'm emitting. And that I don't know a single thing about you all." And it works. Well enough to get the heroes straight into the trap, at least.
  • Blood Knight: Masophet and Anthony.
  • Blood Magic: Desmond.
  • Blow You Away: Venti in Alta Marea. Nobuharu can also use air, and Zephia's main element is air.
  • Body Horror: the Queen of Hearts' creations. Full stop.
  • Book Ends: Aurion's story prior to the beginning of Hellgate 1 and Another World in Gensokyo 1 begins with him marrying Arietta, and ends at the end of Another World in Gensokyo 1 with him Marrying Flandre.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Everyone who got infected with the Dark Spores in Hellgate 2 Part 2.
    • Ian was like this in Crossroads, thanks to Desmond infusing him with evil shades under Rumia's command.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: "took a walk, saw a castle, stopped a madman from trying to summon EX-Rumia even though he was working to release the ribbon and not my seal." Yeah.
  • Break the Cutie: Mia. Oh dear lord, Mia.
    • On a lesser scale, Desmond's Reason You Suck Speech attempts exactly this against Cirno and Laia, and succeeds in temporarily breaking Laia down completely.
  • Broad Strokes / Canon Discontinuity: If you look hard enough in some of the earlier stories, you should be able to find a major event that took place, or a sentence or two that's been said, that would normally have a huge effect on the overall story but has been completely ignored for whatever reason.
    • Notably, the reference to Pedobear in the first Hellgate roleplay. As well as a large amount of other elements in the first Hellgate roleplay, in fact. Justified since that RP was spontaneously created back when Shifting Worlds did not exist, roleplays happened in the Randomness section of Doujinstyle - the Mental Shift, and the idea of a continuity was on nobody's mind. When Hellgate became a serious roleplay, many of the sillier elements were retconned out.
  • Cain and Abel: Saturos and Howaito in Alta Marea, with Saturos being evil and Howaito being good.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Seeing as how Touhou and the Tales of series is involved, there's a fair amount of attack-calling.
  • Cassandra Truth: Arachnos suffers from this in Coronai when he attempts to warn Mia and Zoruff about the incoming Black Spawn after the army of Dark Spores is over. They dismiss him a bit too easily, especially Zoruff who actually scolds him about "hanging on that thread" for too long.
    • Mia herself suffers this from her father when she explains to him why she pulled the heroes out of their timeline.
  • Catgirl: The Nameless One, AKA Eclair.
  • Cerebus Retcon: Kanako Imrah, in SHC: "One of these days, when I can catch him (Ratatosk) outside of you being in the thrall of extreme emotion, I'm gonna ask him myself," in regatrds to Ratarosk making Aurion hastily retreat from a certain man. The trope comes into play when, roughly 2 years after this, Ratatosk is forcibly made to be the dominant soul in Aurion's body thanks to Yami's meddling.
  • Chekhov's Gun: You see that little RP called Hellgate (or, "ATTN Kizeki, Mokou, Aurion, and Present-daay SDM" as it's titled on Doujinstyle)? Didn't expect it to become THE most important RP in regards to Shifting Worlds Canon, didya? Not to mention a few of the off-hand things mentioned in the RP that become important to the characters and/or the plot.
  • The Chessmaster: Most notably Kagami Sakashima. The Hooded Man, Desmond, and the Jabberwock have all shown shades of this, but for various reasons haven't been able to really embrace the trope.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: The Jewels implanted in Cirno and Laia by Sono. Zephita, as well.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Mia Starlight.
  • Combination Attack: Aurion and Kanako Imrah have used at least two.
    • Cirno and Laia have a signature attack which involves Cirno creating an ice prism in front of Laia, which serves to dramatically magnify the latter's light beam.
    • Ixis and Horus'aman pulled this against Kanako, way back when.
    • Aurion has one with the Sanae, Suwako and Kanako, which he uses against the Spawn.
  • Combo-Platter Powers: Some of the Gods and Goddesses of Infinite Grounds are like this, though some do actually go together quite well if you think about them.
    • Many of the characters suffer from this, actually - mainly the older and more high-tier ones. Many of Kanako's characters simultaneously have high strength, speed, combat skills, flight, and proficient spellcasting in tons of unrelated elements simultaneously. Arachnos has a wide plethora of powers that relate, more or less, to his spidery nature (weaving webs from diverse elements, spitting venom and acid, Spider Sense, summoning of large spider minions and small spiderlings) but his status as guardian of Gensokyo also affords him limited reality warping (mostly gravity), plus some other even more ridiculous powers like telepathy and eye beams.
    • Tezcatlipoca seems to have a diversity of unrelated powers apart from his main control of obsidian, but only because the Aztec God he's named after and based on has the same arsenal of powers.
  • Conqueror From the Future: Hellgate.
  • Cool House: Scarlet Devil Mansion is sentient, and a Humongous Mecha to boot.
  • Cool Starship: Arguably any and all of The General's fleet, but full stop, The General's Head - a warship the size of a large town, sporting more weaponry than the entire fleet COMBINED plus a BFG capable of obliterating a mystical barrier protecting a whole country in one single hit. To drive the point home, The General's Head is the only thing the General has able to oppose any resistance at all to HELLGATE himself.
  • Cosmic Keystone: Kanako Imrah, Aurion, and Daisuke serve this purpose for a dark force held at bay due to them being Guardians of Light. A dead fourth Guardian was mentioned, but at the moment there was little clue as to whom it was. Near the end of CR1, however, it's revealed that the fourth Guardian is the deceased Arietta.
    • In Alta Marea, a key is all that separates the titular world from the apocalypse.
  • Costume Porn: Occurs occasionally. Notably, Arachnos often describes Queen Cirno's elaborate royal dresses in much detail.
  • Creepy Cool Crosses: EX-Rumia
  • Crossover: Here, Touhou oftentimes meets Mabinogi and World of Warcraft and The Black Heart...
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Desmond completely dominates and neutralizes Cirno and Laia when they attempt to stop him from releasing EX-Rumia.
    • Cirno herself has administered a few of those. For instance, to the Jabberwock, after it killed Laia.
    • The final "battle" in the Book of Ice in Sweetheart Cafe ended up as one of those. In truth Numb-Whisper was the very definitely final boss of the book, and the wisp of Rumia was obliterated within seconds with much satisfaction.
    • The General's fleet completely obliterates Gensokyo with barely any resistance on part of its inhabitants, who can't even scratch his vessels. Satisfyingly turned on him during the Hellgate Gaiden Part 2 when SDM taps into the Dark Spore, obliterating his entire fleet without much effort.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Kanako Imrah alludes to this in Sweetheart Cafe/Mansion when he meets the Earth's Arachnos as being the reason why he ever came to Gensokyo in the first place.
  • Deal with the Devil: Animus with Desmond, in a way.
  • Death Equals Redemption: Future Flandre.
  • Death Is Cheap: to Arachnos, who is always respawned by Arachna. However, there has been an occasion where he was almost Killed Off for Real - when his death followed his Unstoppable Rage as Anarchos.
  • Demonic Possession: What happens to Ian by Rumia's shades prior to Desmond attempting to unseal her.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: Animus, when he is introduced. He does so by slaughtering everything that gets in his way (and in Desmond's way).
  • Determinator: Pretty much everyone, basically.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Sometimes a situation will get so out of hand, regardless of whether or not it was intentional, that a Deus Ex Machina is needed just so that the protagonists can survive. This can come from either the dungeon master, or one of the players itself.
    • Famously, SDM deliberately asked for one during Hellgate 2 Part 1, in which he allegedly "lost control" of the eponymous villain and the roleplay turned into a desperate struggle the heroes could not normally win. Aurion swiftly pulls out the miracle needed.
  • Didn't See That Coming: type 5. Desmond had been working to break Rumia's seal... too bad she was actually under the power of a completely different seal.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: SDM in the gaiden thread to the Black Spawn. Then, SDM in Hellgate 2 to the Black Spawn, again.
  • Dirty Coward: Ian is typically an asshole outside of combat, and usually shaking with fear while in combat.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Erden
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Desmond wants nothing more than to ruin Cirno's life, even though she did basically nothing to foil his plans - if anything, Jonathan was the real Spanner in the Works.
  • Damsel in Distress: Coronai's Mia.
  • Doomed by Canon: Coronai, basically.
    • Inverted by Gensokyo, courtesy of the status quo, much to SDM's chagrin.
  • Double Take: An interesting variation in the Hellgate Gaiden: the General's scout ship scans SDM once... then scans him again, and again, and again as if it can't believe what it's seeing.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: The Dreamcasters can evoke this, or bring forth these things from one's consciousness or subconsciousness.
  • Dream Land: Hellgate's dream world in Hellgate 2 Part 1.
  • Dream Weaver: Dreamcasters and
  • Driven to Suicide: The intense pain Agensuto inflicts on Cirno causes her to impale herself on Zephita.
  • Dual Boss: Nihilus Clan.
    • Also, Rumia and Reli in Sweetheart Cafe.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: The roleplay has its roots in the Mental Shift, the randomness and stupidity section of Doujinstyle. Unsurprizingly, the first few roleplays are rather... special.
    • The Hellgate saga is a good example of this evolution.
  • Eldritch Abomination: a few of those find their way into Gensokyo. Notable is the Black Spawn, which, while not quite capable to drive one to insanity with one glance, is still very alien.
    • Chalad Gaibolg is this, too.
    • The Illusionary Beast applies here, a creature whom Eclair gets some of her power from and whom she refers to in multiple occasions.
    • Outside of the RPs themselves, the members of the group have created some abominations of their own in their chatroom, two of the most noticable being Jim the Beast of a Thousand Boobs and Snoic the Trippple Goota.
  • Elemental Absorption: Most elemental users can do this, though that's often based on their power levels and master over the element in question.
  • Elemental Barrier: Also used quite frequently.
  • Elemental Powers: a lot of people use elements. A couple of KanakoVoWG's characters in particular are specialized and proficient in all of them.
    • In Alta Marea, the six heroes each have their own elements.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Desmond, when the Queen of Hearts mutilates Animus.
    • SDM, upon realizing that OC Heaven's SHC was actually 18+, and then realizing how Ken acted before at that time, and THEN realizing that he put Ice Moon in there, has this moment. To quote, "Nobody will touch Ice Moon like that. I'm the only one allowed to torture her because not even I would do that to her."
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Mia Starlight apparently sees herself as princess of... something. What that something is remains unclear.
  • Evil Diva: though not outright evil (though she is rather morally ambiguous), Alternate Gensokyo Mystia has shades of this, and she did use her near-hypnotic, addictive voice to get filthy rich.
  • Evil Laugh: Hellgate's evil laugh has become, in-universe, legendary. Merely hearing it, whether it is in a nightmare, a vision, or, Arachna forbid, from Hellgate himself, causes an uncontrollable flow or negative emotions amongst all who have witnessed the atrocities committed by Hellgate...
  • Evil Weapon: Zephita.
  • Executive Meddling: Why Another World in Gensokyo II got interrupted and cancelled (then turned into Crossroads in SW proper) thanks to Mikirin, and one reason that led to Shifting Worlds being created in the first place.
  • Extra Ore Dinary: Tyl in Alta Marea. The Steel Mage in Vocus's cult.
  • Face Heel Turn: From Aurion to Saphir, only to make a Heel Face Turn a while after.
  • Failed a Spot Check: Jonathan in Hellgate 2 Part 3 does this rather hilariously. While everyone is on an abandoned ship, Jonathan goes to check out the condition of one of the computers. The computer ends up working fairly well, and brings up a few links related to security cameras, communication lines, and the like. The word, "link" appears on the bottom of the screen. Jonathan scrolls down to Security Recordings, selects it, and then picks the first option on the list of recordings. It takes him back to the first screen with Security Recordings in bold, and the word "link" being bigger. Jonathan, instead of clicking "link", went down to Security Recordings and selected the second recording of the list. Same thing as last time happened, only the word "link" had arrows on both sides pointing to the word. SDM had to practically make "link" shout out to Jonathan.
  • Failure Knight: Arachnos swears to protect Flandre of the present after having been forced to sacrify Flandre of the future. Later on, his failure to protect Flandre and her (short) death is one of the reasons for him becoming Anarchos for a while in Another World in Gensokyo.
  • Fairest of Them All: subverted when Cirno asks this of the Magic Mirror of the castle, is told that she's the most beautiful of them all in every way, and scolds the Mirror because it failed to mention her lover Laia.
  • Fantasy Pantheon: and how.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Those who were part of the Hellgate incident basically become this.
  • Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: given its size, the Black Star Cannon probably cannot pivot, though this has not really been explicitely stated. With the punch the Cannon packs and the amount of anti-unit weaponry The General's Head sports, firing it at mobile targets would be a waste anyways.
  • Flies Equals Evil: Enthropod.
  • Flight: Tomara has actual wings to produce this. Nearly everyone in Gensokyo can do this as what seems like a nominal rule. Those outside of it usually require some external object or element to do so (Tomara, as mentioned, and Ryoma and Nobuharu through ice and air, respectively)
  • Foe Yay: ArachnosxKizeki?
    • Kanako has admitted that undercurrents of this are why Desmond is rather fixated on Cirno.
  • Foreshadowing: In Crossroads, Cirno boasts to Martel that she and Laia could defeat a dragon. Later, in Sweetheart Cafe/Mansion, she does just that with Laia to a fire Dragon.
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: Laia tends to forget about her Eye of the Storm jewel given to her by the Windseeker. She does remember it sometimes, though.
  • Fragile Speedster: Tomara in her Angel of Light mode.
  • Freudian Excuse: In the Bloodward gaiden, Desmond became who he is because he tried to appease EX-Rumia before she was sealed by the ribbon on regular Rumia's head, by feeding her humans he considered useless. He was later executed by Arachnos once the seal was in place, and grew to hate both Arachnos and the humans who sided against him for denouncing his plan to keep the village safe.
    • Also kind of a subversion of this trope, since it shows that he was more than prepared to do acts that are at best highly morally ambiguous and at worst outright evil in order to protect himself and his family.
  • Fridge Horror: Remember how Arachnos played Cirno like a puppeteer when he was in his Knight Templar mode? Imagine if he was both A.) Anarchos and B.) Could do that whenever he pleased on whoever he pleased for as long as he wished. Yeah.
    • Another point is that, thanks to Hellgate's meddling, Gensokyo prior to Crossroads was pretty much screwed. One timeline has Hellgate destroying it through his machinations, the other has the Black Spawn try to, and The General actually suceed to do so.
  • Gambit Pileup: The war in Crossroads 2 hasn't even started, and already at least 5 plans have been put into motion from at least 3 sides in the conflict. At least 3 of these plans revolve around Cirno and her castle, for better or worse.
  • Gambit Roulette: Hellgate loves his intricate plans.
    • Played for Laughs in the chatroom Xat. Once SDM notices at one that nearly every single member online at the time was a mod (except for Aurion), Kanako claims it was a big Gambit Roulette for just that purpose. SDM, understandably, shuts down.
  • Genki Girl: Mia Starlight. Not on the most extreme side, but she's had her moments.
    • Laylasa in Alta Marea at the beginning.
  • Genre Savvy: nearly everybody gets their moments. Primarily the self-inserts.
  • Gem-Encrusted: essentially everything Queens Cirno and Laia own.
  • Genius Loci: SDM and Hellgate.
  • Giant Flyer: the Jubjub Bird, which serves as both guardian and mount to Cirno and Laia.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Sinistra, the meteor who attacked SDM while he was in space.
    • The General is an aversion. A lot of people felt that he would not be able to measure up to the previous villains when he was introduced. However, as it turned out, he was linked to nearly everything bad that happened in the Hellgate Saga and is now even more hated than Hellgate.
  • Giant Spider: Arachnos plays with the concept. While he is a huge spider, he also happens to be one of the main keepers of order in Gensokyo.
    • The undead counterparts of him, however...
    • SiNafay, once she regains her human form, has a stone that allows her to control spiders. She chooses to control The Weeping Queen, a Giant Spider boss from Vindictus.
  • Glass Cannon: Tomara's Dark Angel side.
  • God: giant spider Arachna, Weaver of Worlds.
  • God and Satan Are Both Jerks: Arachna and Enthropod, full stop.
  • Grapes of Luxury: Once, Cirno was fed grapes by her servants while simultaneously being massaged.
  • Gravity Master: Arachnos. Kanako Imrah as well, as he effectively learned how by watching and learning from Arachnos.
  • Green Thumb: Shaula in Alta Marea. Cirlavicia as well.
  • Guardian Angel: with some elements of Fairy Godmother, since Cirno's ascension to royalty invokes fairy tales on purpose. Since Cirno agreed to house her in the palace, Goddess Martel has been something like this to Cirno and Laia. Due to her immense power, she tends to be conveniently absent when something important happens, but she usually shows up occasionally to improve something, dispense some wisdom, repair some damage, and just sometimes even graces the Queens with a full-blown miraculous intervention.
  • Hand Wave: Plenty.
    • One example: after the destruction of Gensokyo in Hellgate 2 Part 3 Arachnos becomes very whiny and overall completely grating, more than is justified by the loss of his homeland. Upon realizing how unsympathetic this was starting to make the character, his author quickly whipped up a Hand Wave that due to the intricate magical and spiritual connection of the spider to the realm of Gensokyo, the destruction of said realm damaged his psyche and altered his personality and behavior.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Desmond gives one of epic porportions to Cirno before he attempts to unseal Rumia.
    • And way before that, the Jabberwock did the same. Twice.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Hellgate loves situations like that.
    • More recently, Desmond pulled this on Cirno.
  • Healing Factor: Desmond has a limited form of this, given that he controls blood. Barring anything that would normally be fatal (with exceptions), he can effectively heal himself back to full health.
  • Healing Hands: Laia.
  • Heel Face Turn: Saphir back to Aurion, with help from Kanako Imrah, Arietta, and the goddess Morrighan.
    • Animus, from a mad sadomasochist to a peaceful defender of Cirno and her castle/place of residence.
  • Heroic BSOD: Arachnos suffered a spectacular one in Hellgate 2 Part 3, thankfully quickly cured (or is it?) by Patchouli and Kanako.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Scarlet Devil Mansion, versus Hellgate.
    • Also, Zoruff against the Black Spawn.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: The invasion of Genokyo by the General. Mainly because none of the Gensokyoans had the means to actually harm the General's ships.
  • Hot-Blooded: Laia, recently, in CR2.
  • Horny Devils: Erle, to some extent.
  • Humongous Mecha: Scarlet Devil Mansion as of the modifications of Kizeki Corp. And of course, Hellgate.
    • Mimics, the mechas in Hellgate 2.3 which replicate the user's appearance and powers.
    • A recently introduced character named Sally (Azazella Baal-Abaddonia is her full name), who for now has only been used in The Arena, has her mecha as her main form of fighting.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Jonathan vs. Saphir, followed shortly by Sanae vs. Saphir in Another World in Gensokyo.
  • I'll Do What I Have To Do: Jonathan and Kanako Imrah have both frequently stated and/or implied that they are not above killing members of the cast if the need arises, but both do try to look for less violent solutions first.
  • Immortality:
  • Impractically Fancy Outfit: Cirno and Laia's royal Pimped Out Dresses avert this. They are made of youkai spidersilk, which makes them resistant to damage like an armor, while also being light and comfortable to wear. What a man wouldn't do to make his favorite character as comfortable as possible.
  • Insufficiently Advanced Alien: in Endless Ether, the alternate Cirno is a member of a very primitive race given technology she barely understands by a much more advanced alien race.
  • In the Hood: Mr. Hood, Solomon, and Desmond pre-reveal are the most notable in Crossroads 2. Cichari, as well.
  • It Got Worse: All the time in Hellgate.
  • Jekyll and Hyde: Aurion and Ratatosk.
  • Jerkass: SDM as of Crossroads. Also Ice Moon and Akuko.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ryoma and Kanako Imrah.
  • Kick the Dog: Hellgate, Hellgate, HELLGATE. And The General. Desmond killing Flandre is either this or a Moral Event Horizon, depending on who you ask.
  • Killed Off for Real: Coronai, the former Queen of Hearts. Subverted with most of the Gensokyo cast killed in Hellgate, as the status quo demands they be brought back at the end of it.
    • Kanako has also stated very definitively that nearly every single character he has (with the exceptions of Jonathan, Laylasa, and Takane) are going to be dead by the end of CR2 (or the arc that Shadow currently has planned, whichever works).
    • Zig-zagged with Cirno's suicide induced by Agensuto. Cirno impales herself on Zephita. But Cirno being a fairy, she can't die. Except that Zephita feeds on souls, so her soul will be trapped inside the sword forever! Except not, because soon enough a powerful attack on the new wielder of Zephita causes the blade to cough up some souls, including Cirno's, allowing the fairy to regenerate.
  • Kill the Cutie: SDM's plots. ALL THE TIME. Poor, poor Mia...
    • And Future Flandre...
    • On Shadow Ryusaki's side, Jingle.
  • Kneel Before Zod: Purge in Hauntings says this to Stroud.
  • Knight Templar: Arachnos has a version of himself that's between his usual self and his Anarchos form.
  • Large Ham: Kanako, at times. Arachnos, whenever he's talking to evildoers. Hellgate... and several others.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Kanako (not the goddess) at times. Noticably less in the chronologically recent RPs like Crossroads 2
  • Lethal Chef: Minoru. Oh dear. Erden is one as well, though not as bad as Minoru.
  • Light'Em Up: Laia and Nobuharu
  • Light Is Good: Laia, currently.
  • Light Is Not Good: Laia, before.
    • Squirma Fellbug, agent of Enthropod, falls into this as well. She tends to use fire and heat, but many of her spells also have a light component.
  • Little Miss Snarker: Ice Moon, full stop.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: As an RP club, this is kinda a no-brainer, but Shadow exemplifies this. To date, he's had over 400 characters created. (though you won't find them since a mod on another siter where she had them deleted the characters. Even then, though, her character list is pretty big compare to others.) Terrafawkes Tenko is also shaping up to have this, too, if the list of his characters keeps increasing.
  • Lotus Eater Machine: Hellgate's realm in Hellgate 2 Part 1.
  • Lovable Coward: the new Scarlet Devil Mansion has been kinda Flanderized into this, with his tendency of fleeing into space at any sign of trouble.
  • Made of Indestructium: The General's fleet. The only thing that can destroy Indestructium is well... more Indestructium.
  • Mad Scientist: Shadow Ryusaki, despite being a protagonist, has shades of this... or more like, this in spades.
    • Also, the now defunct Queen of Hearts.
  • Magic Genetics: Shadow Ryusaki and Queen of Hearts, again.
  • Magic Mirror: a sentient mirror youkai guards the vault of Cirno and Laia's castle and is extremely powerful, albeit immobile. Renders unauthorized access to the Vault almost impossible.
  • Magma Man: The Magma Mage in Vocus's cult.
  • Mega Corp: Kizeki Corp.
  • Mega Manning: In Alta Marea, Erden gets his alternate power, tar, from defeating a tar blob monster. It is likely tha the other heroes will get their alternate powers in a similar fashion.
  • Megaton Punch: Scarlet Devil Mansion removes the Black Spawn's invincibility with one (imbued with the power of the Dark Spore in the prequel, and the God Aura in Part 2).
  • Making a Splash: Nobuharu and Ryoma. Minoru in Alta Marea.
  • Mind Rape: The most notable example of this is to F-Flandre by Hellgate, to get her on his side. Hellgate has also done this in the form of a fake ending.
  • Mood Whiplash: SDM thrives on this.
    • The Black Spawn battle at Himitsujou has this by the zigzags. Oh Crap! The Devourer of Worlds is coming and there's nothing we can do about it! But wait! The new Rebel superweapon has just broken through the Spawn's invincible barrier, leaving it open! Let's finish this thing off... Oh Crap! It's going One-Winged Angel... or not! Let's finish this thing off... for real now! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT GOT AWAY AGAIN?!
  • More Dakka: SDM, Hellgate, and Kanako Imrah in spades.
  • Motion Capture Mecha: Mimics.
  • Nakama: Oh, yeah. Pretty much everyone who participated in the first Hellgate is this to each other.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Anathemus, Hellgate.
  • Name's the Same: KanakoVoWG (the player), Kanako Imrah (The Self-insert of KanakoVoWG), Kanako Yasagawa, and Kanako Yasaka. Saphir and Arietta, too, since the former is named after Aurion when he was under Cichol and the latter is named after Aurion's first wife. The latter case, however, has been averted when the children's names were changed to Laertes and Sharon.
    • Kanako is not the only player to share the same name with his character. Arachnos player has a character named Arachnos, same goes for Shadow Ryusaki, Terrafawkes Tenko, Aurion (although the character's full name is Sebastian Jebediah Aurion, in contrast to the owner's full username, ShadowAurion), SDM who controls the Scarlet Devil Mansion.... Shallots, Mimi (nekomimimode) and Nosebleed are the main exceptions.
    • Mia (Coronai) and Mia (Starlight). It's only in name, as nearly everything about them, from personality to abilities, are completely different (not that Arachnos doesn't get pissed about only the names being the same).
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Happens oftentimes, especially in SDM's arcs.
    • SDM enjoys inflicting Nice Job Breaking It, PLAYER moments upon, you guessed it, players themselves, when occasionally, a player says something and SDM excitedly says this has just given him an idea for an all-new Player Punch.
      • Kanako has gotten this by revealing his favorite character was Reimu. In Hellgate 2 Part 2, Reimu was the first victim of the Dark Spore.
      • Arachnos' constant mentioning of the Black Star Cannon has inspired SDM to use it more than he had originally planned.
    • Kanako pulls a lesser version on Arachnos by enlisting his help in creating a Gaiden to catapult Desmond to full-blown Maniuplative Bastard territory (and possibly even Magnificent), and having Arachnos flesh out most of the plot himsef.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Everyone in Gensokyo to the Black Spawn, once Aurion, Kanako Imrah, SDM, and their friends break out of the Spawn's crushing darkness, culminating into major overkill.
  • Not Quite Flight: Nobuharu can't actually fly, but he can walk on air.
  • Not So Different: Hellgate and his opponents, in Hellgate 2 Part 1. Or at least so he affirms.
  • Oh Crap: Happens a lot, but the most times are when the Black Spawn arives or is mentioned.
  • Old Shame: the original, absolutely incoherent BOSS BATTLE incarnation of Horus'aman to Arachnos.
  • One-Winged Angel: Cirno and Laia have received the ability to pull this off in not one but two ways: the Super Catalyser which offers a short and massive power boost at the expense of a massive Superpower Meltdown as it wears off, and the Jewels within their bodies.
    • Yami does this in CR after Agensuto pulls off his Crowning Entry of Awesome.
    • Unsealed Rumia enjoys beginning battles in her child form, before turning into her full power adult form.
    • Arachnos possesses a monstrous full power form, which looks like a demonic horned spider as opposed to his usual Nerubian-like form.
    • Lots of bosses pull this off in one way or another.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Hellgate, when he was replacing SDM.
  • People Puppets: what a very pissed off Arachnos did to Cirno, prompting quite a few What the Hells? from those fighting with him.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: A lot. It's easier to name those that AREN'T this trope.
  • Petting Zoo People: Shadow Ryusaki.
  • Pimped-Out Car: Not exactly a car, but Cirno and Laia's royal carriage is definitely this.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Cirno and Laia post-"coronation".
  • Planet Eater: Black Spawn.
  • Planet of Hats: In Endless Ether, an alternate Cirno hails from planet Noth 9, which is a essentially a planet of Cirnos.
  • Played for Laughs: Most Ho Yay pairings, either from DS friendships to Memetic Mutation pairings.
  • Plot Tumor: Cirno, who originally was not supposed to actually be a character AT ALL and through certain circumstances became pretty much Arachnos' main from Crossroads on.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Seriously, Rumia? Would it have killed you to actually tell Desmond that your seal was now on a person instead of a ribbon? Odds are, if you had, Gensokyo would be a dark place right now.
  • Power At a Price: Dark Spores, Zephita.
  • Power of the Void: Arachnos, Arachna, and Elegia del Nulla.
  • Punny Name: Enthropod is a play on entropy and anthropod.
  • Reality Warper: Arachnos is this, as well as Hellgate.
  • Reason You Suck Speech: Desmond delivers one of epic proportions against Cirno.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Aurion/Ratatosk. You can tell when he's in Ratatosk Mode when his lines have red-colored font.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: Cirno and Laia, after having become "queens".
  • Rich Bitch: Cirno tends to avert it, but she does act like this occasionally towards people who piss her off. Reimu, notably, as well as Remilia.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Gustaf.
    • While Cirno and Laia usually leave their so-called kingdom to run itself, saying that they are inactive would be doing them a disservice.
  • Rule of Cool: While Aurion's letting Flynn (Shadow Aurion's self-insert) ride on the former's back while shooting the former's revolver at the youkai in Hellgate 2 Part III may not be as effective as just letting Aurion do all the work, the awesomeness cannot be denied.
  • Sarcasm Mode: Nearly everyone has entered this at one point, except for Mia Starlight and some of Shadow's characters.
  • Sadistic Choice: Hellgate wants to know. In order to save the world, will you sacrifice the life of a depressed, innocent girl whose only fault was to have fallen into his grasp? He pulled the trick TWICE, too. It works the first time. Not so much the second time.
    • Desmond offers Cirno and Laia a choice as EX-Rumia is about to be unsealed: Fight him where they stand and die, flee to their castle as the apocalypse arrives and eventually get killed later, or live as his servants under the shadow of Rumia. (But his attempts would have a bit more weight if Cirno actually realized the gravity of the situation. As it goes, she gladly takes the first option, certain that she'll kick his ass.)
  • Satan: Humongous fly Enthropod
  • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Jonathan carries the seal of EX Rumia up to the end of Crossroads.
    • Also, Shadow carries at least three Goddesses inside him.
  • Self-Insert Fic: notably KanakoVoWG, whose self-insert, roleplayed from the first person, is one of his main characters. Arachnos also possesses a self-insert, but he lives on Earth as opposed to Gensokyo, and therefore was not seen at all until Sweetheart Cafe and played no significant role until the Videogame arc. Aurion's self-insert has so far only appeared in Hellgate 2 Part III.
  • Serial Escalation: How many characters can SDM kill in one roleplay? How many characters can Shadow Ryusaki and Terrafawkes Tenko come up with? How many Gem-Encrusted, golden, masterfully crafted luxuries does Queen Cirno own, exactly?
  • Shock and Awe: One of Kanako's two elements.
  • Shout-Out: Agensuto uses attacks from Sonic the Hedgehog. And Aurion with his Artes and Spy equipment. And- oh forget it, there's too many Shout-Out attacks (and enemies) to list.
    • Kanako in particular is (in)famous for straight out using attacks of other characters (mostly from Touhou Project, Bleach, One Piece and Naruto). His characters must have stolen more attacks than Marisa. With Zorochi being removed from use to be re-tooled, the most blatant use of this is fixed.
    • Arachnos' electric web whips, now a signature move of his, were first introduced the day after the player watched Iron Man 2.
    • Falcon Punch copies have been used by too many people, too many times to count. Including a sentient mansion mecha. TWICE.
    • During one of his attempts to find some peace and quiet in space, Scarlet Devil Mansion has once been attacked by a meteor monster who was an obvious shout-out to Sinistar. Piling Shout-Out on Shout-Out, he then proceeded to use a Shoop da Whoop to destroy it.
    • Muska Nikolaus is a Shout-Out to Colonel Muska in both name and design, although they aren't necessarily the same character.
    • Cirno is known to have a recurring nightmare which is essentially the chorus scene from IOSYS' "Cirno's Perfect Math Class". BAKA, BAKA! BAKA, BAKA! BAKA,BAKA!
    • Achi Cirno was canon... for a few posts, while Cirno was wielding Zephita.
    • During the battle with the Nihilus Clan in Hellgate 2 part II, the steel mage ends up using a block similar to Ganondorf's back-block when Aurion attacks from behind.
    • During the rematch between Aurion and the steel mage, the mage uses one of Link's parry attacks, the one where he rolls behind the opponent and slices at his back. Guess what Aurion used to defend against this attack.
    • By SDM's admission, Mercy, the first boss of Hellgate 2 Part 3, was a Code Geass homage.
    • Desmond gives an accidental shoutout to Doujinstyle member BNelsey, who sometimes likes to say RumiAAAAAAAAaaaa when he talks about her or posts pictures of her.
    • Ely's transformation is clearly heavily influenced by Sayaka's transformation into a witch.
      • On that note, Alternate Rumia's sword (now in Laia's possession) is named Decretum.
    • Albeit not a villain, alternate Mystia heavily references Lord Shen. She has a dress decorated with white and red peacock feathers, she uses throwing knives exactly like his, and she's not very fair in battle.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: When Desmond goes too far in his Evil Gloating and hurts Laia's emotions, Cirno decides she's had just about enough of his crap.
  • Sinister Scythe: a age-long favorite here, wielded by many, including Kanako, Laia, and even Cirno.
  • Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness: Still quite varied here despite the wide selection, from Noble Demon Desmond to Psycho for Hire Animus (pre-Heel Face Turn) to Complete Monster Hellgate and The General. Though, with the possible exception of Agensuto, no one qualifies under Hero Antagonist
  • Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness: There are no villains that fit into the None category, barring someone making such a villain for the lolz. In any case, most villains fare from Credible to High.
  • Sliding Scale of Villain Threat: Villains run almost the entire gauntlet here, and are much more spread out. Due to the power level of the forum, though, they tend to gravitate toward Planetary and above.
    • personal: Desmond to Cirno and Laia
    • City: Desmond at the height of his power
    • State/province: Sono
    • National: Hellgate, usually
    • Global: EX-Rumia
    • Multi-planetary: Bergle
    • Universal: Hellgate with his paradox plan, The General, Mr. Hood
    • Multiversal: The Black Spawn, Anathemus
  • Smart People Play Chess: Kanako, Kanako Imrah, and Shadow.
  • Smug Snake: Vocus.
  • Soul Power: Nobuharu is supposed to have this, though it's not really used that much (partially because Kanako doesn't know how exactly he wants to use it).
  • Spanner in the Works: Jonathan to Desmond.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": It's "The General".
  • Spider Sense: while lots of characters can sometimes display an impressive ability to get away from anger they could not have seen coming, Arachnos, fittingly enough, explicitely has spider sense. Explained away by his status as protector of Gensokyo and link to the entire realm which allows him to see coming things he normally shouldn't.
  • Spoiled Sweet: As of now, despite having more wealth than humanly possible and a personal army at their disposal, Cirno and Laia are usually pretty nice to be around, as long as you don't piss them off. (Cirno's kindness is not in small part due to her looking for recognition, though. Also the list of people who have pissed her off includes those who have given her beatings she probably totally had coming, so she's not completely without fault.)
  • Stable Time Loop: the trip to Coronai. The heroes can't defeat the Spawn, for doing so would cause a terrible time paradox.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Ex-Queen of Hearts on Ken.
  • Start of Darkness: Hellgate's Gaiden prequel.
  • Status Quo Is God: To an extent. Things CAN and DO change in Gensokyo. However, there are two firm rules. No canon Gensokyan characters can be killed, and no canon Gensokyan places can be destroyed. SDM frequently laments this fact. He has stated that, were this not in effect, the events of Hellgate would be final and irreversible, with all the involved characters being forced to carve out new lives for themselves elsewhere once all is set and done.
    • But by SDM's own admission the continuity has strayed too far from ZUN's canon for status quo to matter anymore. An arc is in the works which will completely remove Patchouli from Gensokyo!
  • Storming the Castle: The Invasion of Icecrown.
    • Before that, Cirno and Laia's invasion of the castle of the Queen of Hearts.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: EX Rumia is part of Shifting Worlds' lore. And she is powerful.
    • Also, Hellgate is this to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
    • Also, Omnicidal Maniac Anarchos to Arachnos.
      • Speaking of Arachnos, he's also got a side that is not exactly evil, but more of a Knight Templar (such as attempting to slaughter possessed youkai instead of purging them, and cruelly punishing Cirno and turning her into his puppet for unadvertantly helping an evildoer. And then there's insane(?) Arachnos, which is what happens when Arachnos meets up with an Eldritch Abomination, and who is less evil and more of a Troll.
  • Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: The Clockwork Tailor, whose function is ostensibly to sew dresses and cut gems for the Queen of Hearts (and now for Cirno and Laia), comes equipped with an arsenal of bullets, rockets, lasers, poison needles, and that's not even getting into his symbiotic hat youkai that belches blasts of pure energy. The Eye Beams are justified as jewel-cutting lasers that also happen to be useful in battle, the rest... not so much. Then again, it was created by the Queen of Hearts...
  • Super Serum: Super Catalyser
  • Sure Why Not/Fan Nickname: Hellgate was originally simply called "SDM of the future", but Arachnos announced that he refuses to affiliate the Omnicidal Maniac to the Scarlet Devil Mansion in any way and started to call him Hellgate. The nickname stuck, and Hellgate is now basically his official name.
    • What do you mean, "Basically?"
      • Another one, again involving Arachnos, happened for Kanako's nameless villain, originally known as "The Hooded Man" and now at Arachnos's (out of RP) suggestion and Kanako's approval usually known as "Mr. Hood".
    • Another happened for the Bloodward Diaries (again of Arachnos' writing) in the Gaiden thread. The story was intended to be mostly about Rumia and the character was originally supposed to be simply some random human, until KanakoVoWG suggested it might be worked into Desmond's backstory. Apparently Arachnos is a pro at this.
  • Take That: Patchouli calling Kanako Imrah a "resident freeloader," though it's kinda stretching it.
  • Taking You with Me: Happens occasionally, like with Desmond's suicidal blood explosion.
    • Sono Ruina's Overguard in the battle against Ian.
    • Hellgate's final blast in Hellgate 2 Part 1.
    • If Shadow Ryusaki loses all of his lives, a ritual is started which, if left uninterrupted, takes both his own world and the world he died on down with him (by summoning an apparition in the skies that cleaves the planet in halves).
    • Several Nihilus Clan members went out consuming all of their energy in one spectacular final spell: Earth Mage fired a superconcentrated earth beam, Air Mage conjured a super tornado to smash the heroes into the ceiling and walls, Death Mage summoned a powerful swarm of spirits, Copy Mage unleashed the powers of all his dead comrades into an extremely powerful, omni-elemental blast.
  • Temporal Paradox: Hellgate's goal during his first appearance was to create one of those, survive with the help of his god aura and reign over the wiped out universe as God.
  • The Beast Master: Desmond is Type II and TECHNICALLY type IV, though he can create monsters that are straight examples of Type IV.
  • The Cameo: Cirno's appearance was originally supposed to be simply a one-post cameo. It went wrong. The cameo stretched out into A Day in the Limelight, the day stretched out into more days, plot happened, and now Cirno is one of the main characters of Shirting Worlds, possesses a lover, a castle and an army.
  • The Chick: Laia.
  • The Dragon: Here's a list:
    • Solomon to the Hooded Man.
    • Jonathan to Kanako Imrah.
    • Possibly the Black Spawn to the General.
    • Animus to Desmond before the latter's death. The Jabberwock seems to be replacing Animus now that he's been revived.
  • The Man Behind the Man: The General is behind the Black Spawn.
    • Also, Mr. Hood/The Hooded Man.
  • The Missingno: Data Corrupted, able to warp the fabric of reality to obtain some really strange shit, is a deliberate Shout-Out to video game glitches, especially the Trope Namer and his kin. She fits this even better in the video game arc of Sweetheart Cafe.
  • The Professor: Shadow Ryusaki.
  • The Unpronouncable: Miles, the talking, dancing transportation mimic in Alta Marea has a real name that is so hard to pronounce that the RP master didn't even bother trying to write it down.
  • The Voiceless: Martel, though she chooses to be mute. Kanako also has a truly mute character, complete with missing tongue.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The final attacks unleashed on the helpless Black Spawn. Even Cirno manages to unleash an extremely powerful attack, Arachnos helping. Seeing as how the Black Spawn, which was just about to destroy their world, is finally rendered defenseless, it makes sense that everyone wants to make sure the creep is Deader Than Dead...
    • ...and then the trope is subverted oh so very hard with a final Player Punch. Despite the fact that basically everyone unleashed their best attacks on the Spawn, it MANAGES TO SURVIVE and gaps out of Gensokyo.
    • Flandre unleashes hell on Yami in her Big Damn Heroes Moment in Crossroads 2, saving Aurion, Yami, Erle, AND Kanako from Yami, as well as rendering Yami's form to nothing but explosions, and then exploding the explosions.
  • Time Master: Kizeki, Martel, and Mia Starlight to a lesser degree.
  • Time Stands Still: Kizeki, as Goddess of Time, can use it but usually doesn't. She's powerful enough without it, though. Thebis'Ra, zombie Arachnos, had this as main power, along with more dodgy tricks like rewinding time or forwarding it (in a zone or for one person), distorting time, distorting one's PERCEPTION of time and so on.
    • Mia Starlight shows a lesser version of this. While she can't actually make people literally stop or move at a crawl, she can noticably slow down someone's movement or speed it up.
    • Aurion's actually capable of doing this, but only for a short while, and rarely even does so.
  • Time Travel: How Hellgate ended up in present day Gensokyo. Also, how the heroes ended up in Coronai.
  • Tragic Monster: Future Flandre, Hellgate.
  • Took a Level in Badass (or several): Cirno and Laia after taking the Queen of Hearts' Super Serum.
    • They have since then taken yet MORE levels in badass by learning to use level 3 of their respective elements and obtaining a pair of powerful artifacts.
  • Tsundere: Tenko shows the tsun side of this in the SW chatroom, to the point he's called Tsunko.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Desmond, primarily because there hasn't been any explanation as to WHY or HOW he was revived.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Anarchos.
    • In the Hellgate Gaiden, that happens whenever SDM taps into the Dark Spore's power... at the cost of bringing Hellgate ever closer to inevitably surfacing.
  • Up to Eleven: most members of the cast have God-level characters, sometimes several. SDM has announced that the final boss of his ongoing Hellgate RP will be Anathemus, an entity on a level of omniversal power that will dwarf even the most powerful Gods. How this abomination would be defeated is anyone's guess, and needless to say SDM isn't telling.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: The Holmcross.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Hellgate gets a magnificent one at the end of Hellgate 2 Part 1.
    • Desmond at the end of his arc.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifter: Shadow Ryusaki (from human to fox and cat forms), Arachnos (human and spider forms), the Echo.
    • Eclair can transform into a large, panther-like black cat. Tezcatlipoca can shapeshift into a jaguar.
    • Desmond can take the shape of a wolf.
  • What Could Have Been: Kanako Imrah and Jonathan's power levels if they weren't artificially raised because of Hellgate.
    • For an RP example, what the "Help Yourself Take Over tMS Victory Thread" could have been.
    • For an example in Another World in Gensokyo, Kanako claims that Desmond would've pulled off being a pretty good manipulator in the Aborted Makai arc had he had the time to pull it off.
    • Another example is SDM's Vessel arcs.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: happens occasionally, especially when Arachnos snaps.
  • Who's Laughing Now?: Cirno loves to pull this on everyone who called her an idiot.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: During the first moments of Dark Knight Saphir's life, he got beat up by foxes. Foxes, in Mabinogi, are one of the weakest monsters you can find, at least in the Uladh continent. In fact, the only species of monsters weaker than the fox is the raccoon. Anyway, this event traumatized DK Saphir, leading to his fear of foxes. And then he enters Foxz Guild. You can guess how well that trip went.... Of course, he overcame it eventually.
    • Done literally by Aurion again in Hellgate 2 Part 3 when a reptilian-style door foreshadows an ice dragon head as a boss. Upon realizing this, Aurion freaks out, repeatedly yelling "I HATE SNAKES!"
  • Wide Open Sandbox: Not exactly a Wide Open Sandbox, but The Arena has no plot whatsoever, and Foxz Guild has some but is not part of the Shifting Worlds canon. Both of those are intended mainly to test things out without worrying about repercussions on canon.
    • Tower of Tribulations fits even better.
  • Winter Royal Lady: Cirno, post-"coronation".
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dark Spores give a vast increase to power... but smother everything good in one's soul and amplify the evil within it.
    • Also, Ian (or anyone, really) upon receiving Zephita.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Akuko, if you know her backstory.
  • Xanatos Gambit: How Hellgate's plan in Hellgate 2 Part 1 works out. First the set up for the gambit. He warps the minds of everyone but the protagonists to make them fall asleep. The next step is to pose as SDM and announce his return (which works even better as Patchouli actually did try to bring SDM back). Then he makes the protagonists uneasy by hinting that Hellgate could have possibly returned, followed by letting enemies try to wake up everyone and show up as Hellgate's Shade. Next up, he has the protagonists abuse the sleep potion, and then crushes the waking elixir and enslaves Patchouli.Here's comes the gambit itself: After the protagonists fight him in the dream world and invariably get out and wake up, he presents Patchouli (now in mind-raped and Brainwashed variety!) and gives them a a choice similar to F-Flandre. Then he finishes up with a Not So Different speech against everyone there and gloats about the whole thing. There IS a Spanner involved, but SDM doesn't want to spoil it.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: SDM had to employ this quite a lot with Hellgate, interspersed with making up things as the RP went along. Hellgate 2 Part 1 has this as well, but Part 2 onward are planned from the start to finished.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Depressing example during the first Black Spawn "battle" in Coronai.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: SDM's modus operandi for ALL his characters in regards to removing them. In fact, nearly every single character (with some exceptions) have their last useful acts be dying for drama or to draw an emotional response from both the players and any viewers, and oftentimes both at the same time.
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