Art by 1apple-fox1
The Transcendence AU is a Fan Verse of Gravity Falls, in which a plot by Bill Cipher to unite the dream realm and the physical realm was foiled by Dipper and Mabel. The end of the world was prevented but the two worlds crossed over slightly, breaking the barriers around Gravity Falls and unleashing the weirdness on the rest of the world. Bill, severely weakened, sought refuge by possessing Dipper - a plan that backfired spectacularly when his demonic energy became fused to Dipper instead, killing Bill and causing Dipper to transform into a demon. Dipper retained his human form, but since he existed only in the mindscape, only Mabel could see him at first. He holds a greater affinity for the material plane and is less affected by normal demonic constraints due to his human origins, resulting in him becoming an incredibly powerful entity in a relatively short period of time.
This verse tends to deal with the aftermath of these events, known as the Transcendence, particularly years or decades into the future, and a large portion of the fanworks are considered canon within the AU or could easily fit into it.
http://transcendence-au.tumblr.com is the current community, where fic, art, discussion, and the general evolution of canon can be found, as well as an askbox for the blog moderators and creators of most of the AU. All Transcendence AU fics on Archive of Our Own can be found here.
The official in-character ask blog can be found at tau-cast.tumblr.com.
This page is under continual construction - due to the sheer volume of content produced, it is impossible to catch it all. If you know of fics that are not on the page, please add them (especially those not reblogged by the main blog as they may be missed entirely).
The Stories in the AU
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Main Stories
These links should be to stories considered canon within the AU community. Please organize in chronological order.
Home Again by Haberdashing
- Dipper and Mabel have a fateful conversation with their parents not long after Dipper's transformation.
Meeting With The Dean by Haberdashing
- While in college, Mabel has to have a meeting with the school's Dean of Students.
- Or, how Mabel Pines and Henry Corduroy wooed and won each other, but more importantly, how Dipper Pines despite his best efforts, gained a brother in law.
- Whereupon Dipper Pines, (aka Alcor, The Dream Bender, The Twin Star, and a hundred other names he can't remember) is the best dream demon uncle ever, Mabel Pines has her hands full of sweaters and babies, Grunkle Stan enjoys being retired, and Mabel's husband is the most patient human being on the planet.
- Ficlets and other slices of life in the expanded Pines household.
Explanations and Consequences by Seiya 234
- In where there is something a little different about Miss Willow Pines and oh shit, Dipper is going to have to explain this to his sister.
- Or, Henry gains a name and reputation for himself (and wishes he never had)
- In which Miss Willow Pines has a date that does not go well (and Dipper has some demon sheep in reserve)
Not so Gleeful part 2, 3, 4 by bronzewitch30928
- It was freshman year at Gravity Falls high school... The third week into school is when he showed up. Jeremiah Gleeful
Hank and His Supernatural Mafia by Seiya 234
- Where Hank accidentally founds a supernatural mafia in Portland, Willow and Acacia find their brother adorably clueless, Mabel is both super proud and slightly exasperated, and Dipper finds the whole thing rather funny.
Ice Cream and Isosceles by lunateluminosity
- "Can you help me calculate the hypotenuses of these triangles?"
Justin is the cutest dork by lunateluminosity
- Justin Reyes was confused indeed. But he was definitely joining.
Sweater Maintenance and its sequel by spooky-ace-bunny
- Dipper couldn’t remember when the sweater had first gotten so ragged around the edges.
Return, Rewind, Rewrite by Mary P Sue
- The first (and possible only) time Dipper willingly seals his memories in an attempt to “fake” reincarnation so he can grow up beside Mabel as a normal human once more. Things don’t go as planned.
Reincarnation Blues by Mary P Sue
- The first (human) Bill reincarnation that brings about several important revelations for an older Dipper.
Side Stories
These links should be to stories written within the AU that can fit in with the AU canon, but are neither part of the official canon or fit anywhere in particular on the timeline. Please attempt some kind of chronological order.
In Which Dipper's Fan Club Takes Things Way Too Far by cthulhu_with_a_fez
- Dipper and Mabel find out about the local chapter of the Cult of Alcor. Dipper is not amused by this. Dipper is even less amused when they step up from sacrificing rabbits.
A Cult of Dipping Sauce by Drifter (lightworlddrifter)
- Dipper in Mabel's body ends up cornered by gun-toting cultists when he feels a very powerful summons. A summons powerful enough to take his sister's physical form along with him. Normally this would be worrisome, if it weren't for the promise of rocky road.
Of Family and Normalcy by Acidwing
- The definition of "normalcy" is different for everyone, even more so for Pines family
Thank You for Flying “Alcor Airlines” by Acidwing
- When their car is broken, normal families use public transport. The Pines family chooses “Demon Express” instead
Disturbing Drawings of a Cute Little Girl by Acidwing
- An art teacher finds Acacia's sketchbook and is very disturbed by her drawings
Stars in Their Own Rights by volatileSoloiste
- It's been a while since the Transcendence, the cataclysm that introduced the supernatural confined to Gravity Falls to the rest of the world. It's been even longer since the Pines took down Gideon. Now, Gideon thinks he has a way to get his revenge.
The Cult of Dipping Sauce by Hybrid Zizi
- Cassie accidentally joins an Alcor cult.
Cultists and Caramel by lunateluminosity
- Mizar Branch of the Alcor cult comes to Alcorcon
Sleeping on the Job by callmegallifreya
- “Ah, hello gentlemen, ladies. I suppose it’s too late for the ‘Who dares summon me’ entrance?”
From the Heart by callmegallifreya
- Alcor gets an accidental summon, and a boy wants to get rid of night terrors.
One Day At Alcorcon (Part 1) by callmegallifreya
- A Q+A panel at Alcorcon.
The Quest for Blood Valley by reddpenn
- Or, How Acacia Pines Very Nearly Got to See an R-rated Movie, and Dipper Tried to be a Responsible Adult and Failed
I Won't Make You Fake ID's by notjustclassic
- Dipper/Alcor gets summoned by a couple of kids who want an easy ticket into a demonology convention.
Cookies & Terror by tsuruja (deleted)
- Jordan goes out to find something to help cure his fear but in the process finds something much worse.
The Scouring by Lady_Phenyx
- It's been nearly forty years since The Transcendence changed the world. In Gravity Falls, things have mostly settled down, and life is good. Quite a few people outside Gravity Falls still aren't happy, though. And there's a certain exile from Gravity Falls more than willing to help them achieve their goal...Namely, the undoing of The Transcendence - and their plans are finally ready to be put into motion.
Twin Souls
These links are to all the Trashy Romance Novel excerpts - in-universe fanfiction featuring Dipper/Alcor or related characters.
Twin Souls by haberdashing
- Mizar and Alcor become high school lovers.
Untitled Prompt Response by Clockworksinger
- In which Alcor is not evil, just misunderstood, and needs love
In the Arms of the Demon King by phenyxsnest
- He wasn’t evil, he could love, and he loved her.
Doubly Forbidden by phenyxsnest
- The illicit affair between The Woodsman and Alcor.
Summons and Submissives: aka Mabel regrets nothing and Dipper is so done by lunateluminosity
- She’s in love with a demon. He’s in love with causing pain. Can these lovers prevail?
Any Way You Want It by haberdashing
- Gliese and her lover explore the possibilities that shapeshifting provides.
Twin Souls by opalwhisker
- In which Mabel is exasperated with Dipper and gets her revenge.
Retellings of Canon Events
These links are to stories that have been confirmed to be part of the canon timeline, but have multiple versions. There may be a specific one of these that is considered canon, or all of them may be equally unconfirmed.
Things to Remember When Transcending: Don't Panic by avafalls (Link to Part 1)
- A more detailed and longer account of how the Transcendence happened.
Non-Canon Offshoots
These links should be to stories that do not fit in with the AU canon - if they just don't have a spot on the timeline, they go in Side Stories, if they clash or are said to be non-canon by mods, they go here.
Transcend by avafalls (Link to Part 1)
- An account of the Transcendence events, discontinued due to canon noncompliance in certain details, namely the demon Morsus's role in events.
Recognized offshoot AUs
Links to stories taking place in one of the A Us recognized by the Transcendence AU mods: Friends with Tax Benefits (where Mabel dies and Dipper friend-marries her husband Henry), Drift AU (where Dipper is invisible even to Mabel), and Integration AU (Dipper is visible and tangible to everyone from the start). Equivalence AU and Avarice AU fics do not belong.
To Become by iguessso (Link to Part 1)
- Fic following Dipper's descent into demonhood, one aspect at a time
Depravity by iguessso
- Mabel Pines dealing with her more-demon-than-not brother
Drift by avafalls (Link to Part 1)
- Slight variation of Drift AU where Dipper retains his sanity. His struggles to connect with his family and his sister when none of them can see him.
Other AUs
Links to stories which take place in variations of the Transcendence AU, such as the Equivalence AU (where Mabel becomes a demon instead of Dipper), Twin Starlets AU (Dipper and Mabel both become demons), Wayward Souls, (Instead of becoming a demon, Dipper becomes a "link" between the Mindscape and the physical world).
(where Mabel becomes a demon instead of Dipper), Twin Starlets AU (Dipper and Mabel both become demons), Wayward Souls, (Instead of becoming a demon, Dipper becomes a "link" between the Mindscape and the physical world).The series in general provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname:
- "Paz" for Pacifica.
- "Will" and "Wills" pops up for Willow.
- Alien Blood: Demons are shown to have different blood colors. For Dipper, his blood is now gold.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe in regards to Dipper/Alcor. Mabel and people close to him still see him as her lovable and dorky twin brother despite him now being a demon, most humans regarded him as a horrifying dream demon who caused the Transcendence, several of Alcor's cults and followers revered him as a literal god, and children see him as their protector and guardian.
- Aura Vision: Willow has it, as does Dipper due to his demon powers.
- Art Initiates Life: Zig-zagged with Acacia, who can make living statues, even though she's rubbish at making sculptures.
- Badass Family: The Pines family.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Sure, he's a demon now, but he's still Dipper.
- Blood Magic: Demon summoning generally involves this (even if it's just one drop).
- Body Horror: Brian the Organ Duck. He creeps out even other demons.
- Born Unlucky: Toby, thanks to Karma racked up as Bill Cipher. When his orphanage burns down, he loses his sister and eye. Then he gets adopted by an abusive family. He runs away and lives on the streets until he's taken in by a demon (a.k.a. Dipper) who holds a grudge against him he doesn't understand for crimes he can't remember committing. Things do get better, but he ultimately dies at a fairly young age.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Dipper suffers this in "The Scouring", being bound to a cross with wire among other things and the damage is so bad his family actually worries he might die.
- Complete Immortality: Demons can be killed, but it takes millennia to build up enough energy to do so, and by that time, Dipper will have gained enough power to stop anyone from doing so to him.
- Cool Uncle: Dipper.
- Creepy Child: The triplets can be seen as this, with their constant demon summoning and making deals (even if they are just asking their uncle to teleport them to school for a handful of candy).
- Deal with the Devil: Not a good idea, unless it's with Dipper (and you are one of his friends/family).
- It's deconstructed when it's shown that Dipper can't just do something for someone without making a deal, no matter how badly he wants to.
- Demon of Human Origin: Dipper is, well, a demon of human origin.
- Dream Land: Dipper has the same dream powers and access to the mindscape as Bill.
- Eldritch Abomination: P'logh of course.
- Equivalent Exchange: In every demon deals one must offer something to the demon in question which depends on what they ask for. It could range from a sacrifice, memories, a favor or worse their souls.
- Evil-Detecting Cat: Apparently, cats can see demons (which creeps Dipper out).
- Evil Is Not a Toy: In most cases of demon summoning, demons are more likely to screw with their summoners through their deals. Although not evil it also applies to Dipper too, as his more ill intended summoners would learn it the hard way.
- Exact Words: Demons use this to take advantage of their summoner. Dipper uses this to handle ill-meaning people who summon him by mostly twisting them back at the summoner.
- Eye Scream: Acacia ends up losing an eye; she just collects fancy eye patches to deal with it.
- Dipper suffers this when a young Acacia accidentally threw a bottle of holy water on his eyes during "The Quest For Blood Valley", but as a demon, he soon heals and recovers his sight.
- This also occurs with reincarnations of Bill, such as when Ian lost his eye in Reincarnation Blues, or Toby, who lost his eye in a fire.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: That's the world post-Transcendence.
- Fan Verse: A bit of an unusual case in that there's no central fic. The closest thing would be a blog on tumblr, the mods of which are the main authorities on what is or isn't canon for the verse (particularly Mod Z, a.k.a. Zilleniose), but in general the verse's canon is pretty loose and open to contribution from anyone, which is probably one of the reasons why it's growing at the frankly astounding rate that it is.
- Friend to All Children: Dipper has a soft spot for kids and will go out of his way to make a fair deal if he is summoned by a child (especially if for a good reason). If someone harms a child in his presence, or worse, tries to sacrifice a child to him... Well, they'll find out where Alcor gets his frightening reputation from really soon.
- G-Rated Drug: Yggdrasil is this for Dipper, possibly because of him being a former human. It makes him animalistic, but instead of going on a killing rampage like all demons normally would, he acts like a disgruntled cat until it wears off.
- Geometric Magic: Summoning requires magic circles and runes which vary depending on the demon (it's not unheard of to mess up the runes and get a completely different demon as a result). Imperfect circles make it easier for a demon to break free.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: In "The Scouring", Hank is the only member of the Pines family not trapped inside Gravity Falls so he tells his Dinner Crew to summon "everyone". Turns out everyone was more than he thought...as in "most of the magical world comes" more.
- Gossip Evolution: The stories about Alcor can be very far from truth, which leads to his Shrouded in Myth status.
- Happily Married: Henry and Mabel. Acacia and Reina are a
Les Yay example. - Hollywood Exorcism: Quite a few people who didn't know about the Pines' connection with Alcor have tried to do this with some of them.
- Holy Burns Evil: Holy water and objects that are holy to their owners' faith and beliefs can hurt or even banish demons. They cannot enter churches either. (Dipper can, but it makes him sick.) This is just for churches built on good faith, though. Churches built on hate (like the Westboro Baptist Church) are accessible to demons and may even enhance their powers.
- Honorary Aunt and Uncle: Mabel and Dipper to the children of Soos and Melody as well as Pacifica's adoptive son (Soos, Melody and Pacifica return the favor with the triplets). Mabel's thrilled; Dipper's nervous with Soos and Melody's firstborn but comes to adore his role.
- Human Sacrifice: Don't do it if you want to summon Alcor. Seriously, don't.
- Hunter of Monsters: If demons and other supernatural creatures exist, there sure will be hunters.
- I Have No Son!: Not quite in such words, but their parents didn't take the news of Dipper becoming a demon that well. At all.
- It Runs in the Family: The Pines can be considered weird or downright crazy (with Hank as the normal one, which he hates).
- Living Emotional Crutch: Mabel, Henry, the triplets, Stan and their friends are this to Dipper, being the anchors that help him retain and regain his humanity that he fears he will lose with his demonic nature. After Mabel's passing, Dipper relies on her reincarnations as his source of humanity.
- Explored and deconstructed with one of Mabel's reincarnations Bentley Farkas, showing just how unhealthy and emotionally draining it is to Bentley especially after an incident that strains his relationship with Dipper/Alcor. It takes both talking out their problems to each other that they reconcile.
- Magitek: MagiCore
- Mama Bear: Mabel. You do not mess with the triplets or any child under her care if you wish to continue breathing.
- Morality Pet: Again, Mabel and her reincarnations and the Pines Family serves as this to Dipper, reminding of his humanity and whenever he gets out of line.
- Mundane Utility: Summoning a demon to help with math problems, clean the house, put fussy children to sleep, etc. Sure, why not?
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Within the community, “Toby” might be referring to any of three characters: Toby Determined from original Gravity Falls cannon, Toby the troll, or a reincarnation of Bill Cipher.
- Original Character: A lot of them, but notably Henry Pines (né Corduroy), the triplets Willow, Hank and Acacia, Brian the Organ Duck, Cassie, Malala, Jeremiah Gleeful, Justin, Lepus the Rabbit and the demonic sheep, not to mention all of the reincarnations of canon characters, who all have their own separate lives and personalities.
- Our Demons Are Different: Dipper/Alcor for starters. While he's forced to make a deal no matter what, he'll go out of his way to help the innocent, especially if it's for the sake of a child and he always goes out of his way to screw over those who want to use him for nefarious purposes.
- Papa Wolf: Henry. He may be slow to anger, but if you threaten his family, he will show no mercy.
- Dipper too. And it extends to every child with extra points for descendants of the triplets and any Reincarnation of one of his loved ones.
- Psycho Serum: Yggdrasil (not related to THE Yggdrasil)is a herb infamously known to have a bad side-effect on demons. If a demon gets a whiff on the slightest scent of Yggdrasil on scented candles, results in the demon's inhabitation lowered, making them animalistic and going on a murderous rampage and killing anything on sight. Not even a contract will stop a demon and the only option is to wait until the drug is out of their system or to banish the demon.
- Dipper on the other hand doesn't go psycho when under the influence of Yggdrasil... but instead acts like a disgruntled cat.
- Reality Warper: All demons have some degree of this, but Alcor is arguably the most powerful.
- Reincarnation: In this AU, everyone's souls are part of the reincarnation cycle. Dipper often keeps track of Mabel's and other loved ones' reincarnations.
- Stages of Monster Grief: An undying element during Dipper's earlier days Post-Transcendence, as he learns to cope with his new status as a demon and struggles with his newfound demon insticts.
- Summoning Ritual: Anything from elaborate circles, candles, chants, and sacrifices to pricking your finger, wiping it on the apron with the circle stitched on it, and yelling "Hey, Dipper!"
- Underestimating Badassery: In the early years since Dipper's transformation to a demon, several demons thought that him being formerly human makes him weak or he's simply feeding off the crumbs left by Bill. What they don't know is that his human side gains him more affinity over the corporal plane, making him MUCH more powerful. Those who challenged eventually learn this the hard way.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Due to their connection to Dipper/Alcor, the Pines family got on the receiving end of this quite a few times.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Dipper can shift forms with ease and often uses this skill when he needs to blend in/pretend to be human.
- Was Once a Man: Dipper, once a regular human kid and now the demonic entity Alcor.
- Willing Channeler: In early years after the Transcendence Mabel often let Dipper possess her whenever they had to deal with supernatural stuff.
- With Friends Like These...: Dipper and Pacifica.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Being a demon, Dipper often shifts between this look at his immortality and Living Forever Is Awesome.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Demons consume souls, each having their own preferences. They can acquire souls through deals which allows them to gain control of them anytime they wish. Naturally, Dipper is no exception in consuming souls and soul taking but rarely makes deals that has the payment in souls unless he has to. One of the first souls that he acquired was Mabel's soul.
Specific stories provide examples of:
The fanverse community provides examples of:
- Corner of Woe: One of the most common in-jokes of the community. The mods of the blog will "banish" the creator of anything they find too sad or grim to The Corner (usually typed with Zalgo text). The Corner is said to have no wifi.
- Happy Place: The Cutie Corner, where those who produce fluffy fanworks are sent to enjoy beanbag chairs and wifi.
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Shrug of God: The mods often stress that the canon of this 'verse is flexible.
