Astral Plains is an as-yet unwritten play by Strix Obscuro.
Tucked away in the Hill Country in Texas is Astral Plains, a safe haven for people with superpowers seeking to recover from addictions or trauma. Here, former superhero Dr. Nihil tries to help patients Michael, Sasha, and Ayn with their respective issues - Ayn is an ex-antihero with a guilty conscience, Michael is a former sidekick who is not adjusting well to the death of his mentor, and Sasha is a traumatized girl who just wants to disappear. After Sasha mistakenly believes that she's about to be kicked out of Astral Plains, she tries to make herself disappear, and accidentally unleashes a monster into the facility.
This series contains examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Ayn wanted to hide any signs of weakness or vulnerability in herself, and as a consequence, she now comes off as an asshole to everyone, even when she doesn't intend to.
- Broken Ace: Michael is the current Cherub - essentially the Robin of the Astral Plains universe. As such, he is hugely respected in his hometown and works hard every day to live up to the title, and it's turned him into a nervous wreck, especially without his mentor around.
- Captain Ersatz: Since most of the main characters are based around comic-book characters, this trope is naturally in effect:
- Cherub's mentor, the Seraph, is essentially Batman, except that he's a doctor rather than a detective. Cherub himself is based on the Tim Drake version of Robin.
- Dr. Nihil is based on the token female from various Silver Age science-explorer teams, with her old team Freak Force being a version of Fantastic Four (with elements of Doom Patrol thrown in for good measure.)
- Sasha's old team, the Breakouts, are a mash-up of Runaways, Gen13, and Generation Zero.
- Driven to Suicide: As Sasha hits her lowest point at the end of the first half, she has a vision of Billie offering to take her away. Considering that Billie is at this point a figment of Sasha's imagination, it's entirely valid to read this scene as Sasha talking herself into a suicide attempt.
- Dysfunction Junction: The Breakouts, being expies of several teen teams, are very much this. June is bossy and egotistical, Niccolo is aloof and analytical, Maya was a wimp who let the others walk all over her, and Billie was mostly oblivious to the growing tensions between her teammates.
- Emotionless Girl: Ayn became really good at turning off her emotions as her survival mechanism, and now she's trying to relearn how to feel them again without letting them overwhelm her.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Sasha was inspired by the tendency in teen-hero series to discard and forget less popular characters.
- The Grotesque: Exposure to Lytonic energies has left Dr. Nihil deformed, but she has gained considerable mental abilities and has retained her intelligence.
- Hates Being Touched: As a consequence of the abuse she suffered, Sasha really doesn't like people touching her.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Sasha is a compulsive liar, so her account of her backstory is not entirely true. Problem is, the people poking holes in their story aren't terribly reliable, either.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The belief that she may have actually killed Billie is what finally sends Sasha careening over the edge.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Sasha's former teammate June shows up unannounced for a visit, she unintentionally causes Sasha to suffer a panic attack, which leads to Ayn helpfully telling her that she's about to be sent back into foster care.
- Shout-Out: Dr. Nihil's origins involve exposure to Lytonic energy. This is a nod to Edward Bulwer-Lytton and his novel, The Coming Race, which involved a subterranean race who had mastered Vril power.
