Lore Dump

 It is what the post says it is, this is a massive lore dump, simply so I can get a bunch of information down in a post. Maybe one day I’ll make this easier to navigate, but you’re stuck with this for now, either way, enjoy

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The people of this world live on a type of planet known as a double dimension, where two worlds parallel each other sort of like a mirror, there's a whole story for how they believe things "came to be."

Story

(Take this with a giant grain of salt, everything is subject to change)

It started with one world, two sisters, and a never ending war. As the legend goes, both sisters held unimaginable power, in which they used to help the common folk of that planet. But one day, one of the sisters thought up a secondary idea. She wished to use both of their power to give the people their own gifts. But the second sister wouldn't have it, she wanted to keep the power to herself, as she was greedy. Torn by their separate ideas, the sisters fought to steal each others power, one to keep to themself, the other to give to all. It lasted months, and the power fueled battle began to tear the world apart. The generous sister began to see what was happening, and knew the world could not last long enough for her to gain both her and her sister's power, and so she resulted to other measures. The events that had happened had been lost to time, and many story and theories have rose, but the most popular one will now be shared. In a series of events, the generous sister took the greedy sister's power, but sense she couldn't gain it herself without the battle continuing, she released the power into the world, and did what she originally had planned. She gave to the people. The impact tore the world into two dimensions, and the greedy sister fell into the new realm. 

         The generous sister had done what she meaned to accomplish, but at what cost. The planet was half destroyed, and because the generous sister couldn't take the power as her own before giving it away, the power the people now shared still called to the greedy sister, and wouldn't fully be theirs.

This power was named 'Echoes,' as it was like an echo of the full power the people could have.

As for the other sister, she grew into a monster in the dark realm she now stayed, starved of the power that could have been hers. Other monsters of her own creation roam the area, full of her loathing and desires, ready to take back the their power should someone come to them.

Planet

It's a relatively small planet made even smaller due to the many areas that could once be inhabited, but no longer can due to the destruction caused by the battle.

They have a pretty advanced world, it’s like a modern world with lots of fantasy twists, if that makes sense. e.g. clothing are basically modern/fantasy, like most things are. There are bikes, phones, subways (no cars, everything mobile goes off of railroads and the sort])

All across the planet there are protected areas of land with statues of the Generous Sister (they call her _______) many people go there as tourists and whatnot.

The split dimension is basically a mirror image, but as you could imagine, everything has been run into the ground, vegetation (in the places that have vegetation) runs wild, and clouds are a constant.

Once again, the animals on that planet are basically real creatures with fantasy twists, I'm not going into those details. (You need to know what you need to know)

There are some Silos in the world outside of the split dimension, but they are basically little shadow animals, prey to be exact, some even keep them as pets. Of course they would look much different in their home dimension. (Take that as you will).

Objects of Interest

There are a vast amount of things (objects) scattered around the world called Temptations (people generally call them Tempts), they can be anything from a phone to a music box, even to a hat (that one's kinda goofy, but it is true), however they all have one purpose, and that's to lure people into the Split dimension. Different Tempts do it in different ways, some teleport, some guide, others even control. As long as they get some unsuspecting people into the Split dimension, they've done their job.

Some Tempts even have side effects, though not the kind you probably think of. To give an example, there is one such Tempt that comes in the form of a pocket watch. This pocket watch can get you into the Split dimension by teleportation, but once you're in there, it can still be used for teleportation (random teleportation, you don't choose where you go). After a certain amount of time has passed, someone holding the watch can click the top of the watch and teleport any human in a certain radius.

People in the world don't generally believe that Tempts exist, as most don't even believe anything exists in the split dimension, or that you can even go there. The story of their world is so old that it's been altered and shifted enough that everyone believes something different. All that's left of their history that everyone can agree on is that in some way the Generous sister gave them their abilities, and this is due to the statues scattered around their world.

Just like they have alternate uses once they’ve successfully transferred someone to the Split Dimension, Tempts can also change and alter Silos that have found their way into the normal world as an alternate way of attempting to get someone into the Split Dimension. Lots of Myths and Legends of mythical creatures have come from these morphs, but not everyone can see them, as the Tempts will generally pick those it finds to be targets and reveal itself only to them.

Creatures of Interest

THE NORMAL WORLD

Silos:

Silos are a common occurrence in the Normal world, however they’re basically just black animals with beady colored eyes, they’ve been around long enough that no one thinks twice about seeing them, though maybe it’d be a little different once they saw them in their natural form.

Morphed Shadows:

Powerful Shadows, should they find a way into the normal world, can be morphed by Tempts into a better form then they might originally appear, and because of their unique nature and strengthened intellect, they normally choose the form of a human.

Morphed Silos:

Silos twisted by Tempts can take on a more… ‘useful’ form for the Tempt’s needs, generally gaining a more monstrous appearance and even small abilities given by the Tempt. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s normally the cause of the kind of headlines such as dangerous animal attacks. The difference is that it only makes itself visible to those it considers its target, which is why most don’t believe them to exist. The reason why they are generally considered ‘attacks’ are because it’s the failed attempts to get someone into the Split Dimension.

The Generous Sister’s Minions (unnamed):

The six minions of the Generous Sister, popularly known as the creatures ‘sleeping’ on the statues, have never been seen, but seem to still have their own influences on the world outside of a human’s gaze, causing things like fuzzy memories (no one wants to remember that Morphed Silo right?), missing pets (that Silo had it coming okay), and banned internet accounts (I swear this one has a good reason). They are creatures of mischief, and can be slightly faulted for the world’s general confusion and obliviousness. But while they have generally gone rogue since the Generous Sister left, they still continue their duties of thwarting the Shadow Creatures and messing with the Tempts, be it mostly because they enjoy it.

The Eyes of the Minions (unnamed):

Small creatures produced by the minions for the dealings of and shifting of Tempts, they are rarely seen, and when they are they will normally erase the memories, but they are still often present in the myths and legends of mythical creatures.

THE SPLIT DIMENSION

Shadow Creatures:

The manifestations of the Greedy Sister’s desires and power, made by the accumulation of half of a human’s Echo when they are born. They are specifically created to harvest the human’s power (Echoes) for the Greedy Sister, and wander the Split Dimension, awaiting an unsuspecting human to find their way there. Depending on how many Echoes they can absorb, a Shadow Creature can reach three different stages, the stages are as follows: Silo, Shade, Shadow.

Guardors:

Silos morphed by a Tempt tinkered by a Minion’s Eye will sometimes gain other attributes in the Generous Sister’s favor. Guardor’s are a favorite of the Minions, though they exist in few. They will find their target, normally being someone with an Echo with similar properties to their producer, and guard them from Shadow creatures. However, because they are still Shadow Creatures themselves going against their nature, they can sometimes ‘bug out’ and faintly revert back to how they were. Guardors who haven’t found their target can often go psychotic, and can be more dangerous than a Morphed Silo as they operate in their home territory, the Split Dimension.

Shadow Creature Stages

Silhouettes (Silos):

 the basic stages of the creatures, they have no human intellect, and act completely as prey or predator. 60% of population

Shades:

 the middle stages, having gained some of the power they crave, they have doubled in size and intellect, almost acting with a conscience. 30% of population

Shadows:

 the highest stage known, they are quadrupled in size, however they can change size at will, and contain a complete consciousness and intellect. 10% of population

Echoes

Everyone in the world has an echo, you can tell by a mark of some sort on their shadows.

Echoes work in specific ways, they often appear as illusion looking things, only half as powerful as they could be and normally transparent (take that as you will), in the split dimension they have their full power.

here are the general rules for echoes:

All echoes are translucent yes, so even an ability such as fire will not look like real fire, it still has the same affects though.

All echoes can be seen in some way, you can always tell when one is in effect, even echoes based on, say, the mind will have some tell tail sign that it's being used (Ashley has an echo I simply call Far Hearing, it gives her higher hearing capabilities that comes in the form of animal ears, and she has green triangle shapes on her shadow next to the ears) (Christy's echo is called Long Shot, you can tell when she's charging it up by markings on her arms going to her finger tips, and you can tell when she's using her 'scope' from a target that appears over her eye [though the scope doesn't come until she's in the split dimension])

A general rule of thumb, or something to keep in mind, is that the character's ability in the normal world will only be half as strong as it can be, and will only gain more aspects in the Split dimension.

And they generally always come in a certain color (it can be multiple and will always be whatever color is on their shadow) (Coby's is purple, Christy's is blue, Ashley's is green, Lizzy's is cyan etc.)

The Process of Echo Consumption 

The entire existence of a Shadow Creature leads up to the process of regaining the power of the Greedy Sister, which has been given to the humans of the normal world in the form of what they call Echoes. The Shadow Creatures will drain and consume this power to grow and strengthen themselves, but how exactly does the specifics of this process work? It goes as following:

Should a shadow creature find someone in the Split Dimension, and are able to catch them, they can start to drain the echo from them. They do this by first activating the Echo, then extracting, which generally looks as though the markings on the person are fading away and, while more noticeable on an echo that causes an outward effect, will look as though colored steam is getting absorbed into the Shadow Creature. This can happen as long as the Shadow Creature has said person in their grasp, and are purposefully trying to extract. Silos have a harder time as they need more Silos to actually begin the process. This process can also be disrupted, and can be with something as simple as broken concentration. A person’s Echo can go through two different stages before it is completely absorbed. If the process is not disrupted in a certain period of time, that person’s Echo will have reached the first stage, it’s basically just reverted to how it was back in the Normal World. But if it is still not disrupted before it reaches the second stage, it will then become basically a husk of how it used to be, because while a Shadow Creature cannot take away an Echo in it’s entirety, a drained Echo at stage two requires a massive amount of strength and energy to even activate, and can barely do anything it used to be able to do.

Camp Process

The process to getting into camp goes like this:

The camp is held every two years, one year is for preparation and signups (there is basically a couple months to sign up as a 'camper' or try to get hired as some sort of counselor, if you don't sign up or get hired in that specific time, too bad, I guess you'll have to wait a year and a half to try again [unless you're Ashley lol]) and then the entire second year is the camp itself (as it is an entire year, you have to be at least 18 to go, and before you bring up the fact that Hayden is 17, their an exception lol).

In the world they live in, there are six different statues/tourist cites, and that's where the campers stay, normally making use of the wilderness and town in the areas, and every two months the camp moves to a different statue/tourist cite, basically making it's way around the world.

If you haven't noticed by now, the kids there are basically spending an entire year, at a camp, traveling. That means traveling expenses, clothes you'd need to buy, other necessities, I don't think I need to continue. My point is that the camp is VERY expensive, so you're basically either hired (you're getting paid and certain things such as travel is paid for you) or you're rich. Not filthy rich, just rich enough.

Louis's family is very rich, so are Preston and Jason's. Blyke's rich enough, and the Skii’s are paying for Lizzy. Christy works there, and Coby won a ticket (he had help, I'm not going into details). Ashley was more of a menace lol, she wasn't even hired, but Louis liked her enough to use her own allowance to pay to let Ashley tag along under the premise of her being their missing Counselor lol.

They travel in a train when moving to the different destinations, whoever is in the same train car as you is going to be spending the year with you, the categorization goes as such:

The entire Program allows: 306 Campers, 54 Counselors, and 6 Head Counselors.

This is further categorized into 6 ‘Train Cars’ with 1 Head Counselor, 9 Counselors, and 51 Campers in each.

^(The Head Counselor gets to name their train car, which is what they will be known as for the rest of the year in the Program, e.g. Ms, Samuel’s named her’s Train Car Raven)

And each Train Car is categorized into 3 groups, each group has: 3 Counselors, and 17 campers

To become a counselor, you have to go through extensive training and background checking, and it’s all to be hoping you are chosen, the program is so big that classes for it exist in certain schools, but it is also very competitive, as it’s one of the few ways to get into the camp without being wealthy.

The Camp

The idea of the camp essentially (in the simplest terms that I’m allowing myself to think up) came from a lonely billionaire who kind of came to the conclusion at some point: “hey, we used to have a whole planet, then suddenly half of it was destroyed, now we will never be able to see the landscapes and nature of that part of the world. I think it would be important to show our youth the importance of the land we have. I know, I’ll make a program that brings the youth around the world.” Etc. etc. 

Little did they know that their program would turn into more of a ‘those lucky enough to get in that aren’t rich can brag about it to those who know they can’t’ type of thing, it’s still just a very popular program, but for some it’s kind of an achievement in life if they were able to go sometime before they got past the age of being a camper (then some will try to become a counselor, etc. etc.). It also kind of turned into a way for the wealthy to let their kids ‘let loose’ before joining ‘the world of the elite’ or whatever whatever, most will even treat it as a special 18th birthday celebration of ‘wow! Your an adult now, but before entering the workforce, enjoy this year long trip,’ not to mention that the program has been around for long enough that in modern days the parents of the kids had also gone when they were 18, and for some like Blyke’s father, they never get over the experience, and want it for their kids as well.

The Destinations

When the campers make it to their first destination, they make a stop at whatever town or city is closest to the train station and spend the night in a hotel, then the next day is when they make their way down to the camp, which is basically a piece of private land at each destination containing the cabins and a few other places. They bring whatever luggage they need for the first night while they wait for the rest of their luggage to be brought down and into their cabins, which they are then assigned and go to ‘move in and make it comfortable.’ 

Each cabin is about the size of a small apartment, and contains two bedrooms, two bathrooms with two built in showers, a small kitchen, four small closets, lots of storage space, and normally one empty room for the campers to decorate with furniture however they wish. 

Each cabin has four campers, boys and girls cannot stay in the same cabin for ~reasons~ but can come into other camper’s cabins during the day before curfew to hang out and whatnot. The only exception is the Counselors cabin, which is located at the lobby and treated more as a lodge, that in the sense that all the counselors from each group plus the head counselor have rooms in the lobby building (which is open to everyone). 

On the bottom floor is a kitchen, breakfast bar, the lobby itself, and several bathrooms. On the top floor are at least ten bedrooms and several bathrooms (the top floor is off limits to anyone unless the counselor is with them, only the bottom floor is open 24/7).

Besides the cabins, lobby, and a few miscellaneous spaces and areas, there isn’t much else to the campsite, as the main attractions are supposed to be the cities and tourist sites of said destination, and it is encouraged to get out of the camp as much as possible, so long as a counselor is present in the area (they don’t have to be breathing down the Camper’s necks, just in the general vicinity in case they are needed. Everyone has a phone and are supposed to exchange phone numbers and form a group chat at their train car, and are supposed to send pictures whenever they go to a different area and aren’t directly with a counselor).

Important Story Instances

*DISCLAIMER* these sections contain major spoilers for the main story plot, steer clear of these sections if you do not wish to be spoiled!

Ms. Samuels:

Ms. Samuels is the head counselor of Train Car Raven, but unknown to everyone for an undecided amount of time, she is actually a Shadow Creature named S. who has been using the guise of Head Counselor to pick out those with Echoes she deems ‘enjoyable.’ Ms. Samuels hunts her prey with the help of her Camera, a Tempt that can teleport anyone within the view of the lens with one click of a button. She uses this first to send away a few of those with Echoes she sees as ‘distasteful’ for other Shadow Creatures in the Split Dimension to deal with (most likely it’s going to be those not in rich households), she calls it “Feeding the Tinies.” She then continues the process of picking out her prey, preparing for her actual ‘feast.’

Butler:

Butler is a hawk Silo made ‘camp pet,’ for his refusal to leave Beau alone. He somehow followed Beau into the Split Dimension and turned out to be a Guardor who chose Beau as his target, hence why he wouldn’t leave him alone. 

Silk and Coby:

It is at one point realized that Coby is Silk’s producer, this is why she’s so protective over him, as she does not wish to disappear with him after the Echo Consumption process is completed, though she did still make a point by consuming as much of his Echo as she could.

Six’s Tempts:

Being a shadow creature of unknown age, Six has through his long lifespan of being a Shadow collected quite the vast range of Tempts, as such he will produce one when needed, like his Umbrella used to shift his form in the Normal World.

(More to be added)