Dream Woods
is an Original Character Tournament held on DeviantArt by doqmeat, which began on January 19th, 2017 and concluded in April 2018.
The plot is set in the titular Dream Woods, home to the goddess Leao and her brother, Milo. Leao is plagued with loneliness, so she decides to host a tournament as a means of making friends. She sends enchanted envelopes across multiple dimensions, which transports the recipients to her dimension. From there, they must fight in a tournament, with the winner being granted a wish, as well as the right to return home. The losers, however, must remain in the Dream Woods, and become Leao's friends.
This OCT contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Stella, Esta, Mary, Chou, Nora, and Ness.
- Anti-Villain: Leao. To call her evil, would be a stretch as she's not openly malicious and just wishes to have friends. Unfortunately, her plan involves forcing people to fight in a tournament, where the losers must remain in her forest—whether they want to or not.
- Artificial Limbs: Ness has a prosthetic right leg.
- Ax-Crazy: Cain and Resnick are the most violent and openly malevolent contestants in the tournament.
- Badass Adorable: Esta, Maus, Crizas, and Stella are particular standouts.
- Battle Butler: Alfred, to a tee. Not only is he a butler, but he's also an assassin with a liking for tea.
- Berserk Button:
- Pointing out that Malphus can't do magic is a surefire way to get on his bad side. That and reminding him of his past trauma.
- Witches, for Paxton. Justified in that a witch is the reason he's an immortal vessel for a malevolent Eldritch Abomination in the first place.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Alfred is a polite gentlemen who will hold doors open for ladies, kindly offer you tea, and chat with you about the weather. But if you're on his hit list or piss him off, you're going to have a very bad time.
- Maus is a cute cartoon mouse with a heroic heart. He's also packing light-based powers and a powered club that can do some serious damage.
- Esta is a shy but well-meaning princess, but she does have skills in combat, as well as a powerful electric rifle.
- Stella is a pretty sweet girl... until her emotions start to fly off the handle, in which they generate elemental powers based on said emotions.
- Big Bad: Technically, Leao. She's the host of the tournament where the contestants have to fight for their freedom with the losers being forced to stay with her. However, she's not actively trying to harm anyone and is just lonely. In reality, she's more of an Anti-Villain.
- Blood Knight: Resnick's occupation in Hell. He's basically a glorified Demon gladiator.
- Brains and Brawn: Malphus and Resnick. Malphus is the brains and Resnick is the brawn.
- I Call It "Vera": Resnick wields an enchanted shapeshifting blade named Dolore. It's his primary weapon and he often wields it as a dagger.
- Cloud Cuckoolander:
- Ness is in that straitjacketfor a reason. She's prone to mood swings and suffers hallucinations. Oh, and she tends to run her mouth a lot.
- Doll often says things he doesn't fully understand himself.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Resnick enjoys receiving pain as much as he does inflicting it. In fact, he's aroused by pain.
- The Cutie: Astrea, a nature goddess who also resides in the forest. She's very kind to the contestants and goes out of her way to help them if they need it.
- Divine Parentage: Milo references his and Leao's mother, who seems to be a Goddess.
- Eldritch Abomination: Cain's true form is this, though his only physical connection to our realm is Paxton's body.
- Elemental Powers: Stella's latent powers are centered around this. Each power is based on an emotion, like fire for anger, water for sadness, and so on.
- Enfant Terrible: Paxton, though not by his own volition. Even as a child, Cain forced him to murder his own family, and it only got worse from there.
- Eyescream: Esta's older brother has Pyrrhus's eye surgically removed after being insulted by him.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Paxton is a fairly normal-looking and sweet kid. Cain can also maintain a friendly facade before he slides in the knife.
- Family Theme Naming: Esta and her brother Cyrus, their names translate to "star" and "sun."
- Faux Affably Evil:
- Malphus tries to come off as polite and sophisticated... with mixed results.
- Cain will approach you with a happy-go-lucky facade, then slit your throat while you're asleep.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Milo seems to be doing Leao's job for her, for many aspects of the tournament.
- Freudian Excuse:
- Malphus' background says that he was trapped in an abyss for centuries, which did a number on his sanity.
- The Ghost: Leao and Milo's "mother" is mentioned a few times, but never appears.
- Guns Akimbo: Danial carries two pistols.
- Kids Are Cruel: Cain loves to say this, word for word. And he's very in touch with his inner child.
- Mad Scientist: Malphus. His years in the abyss didn't bode well for his mental state.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The cons can have traits from more than one animal.
- Our Demons Are Different: Malphus and Resnick are Pain Demons, whose purpose is to, well, inflict pain on the damned. However, Malphus has no real magic.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Cain is described as an ancient being with the mindset of an immature teenager. He's prone to vulgar language and throws horrific temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way.
- Resnick tends to act like a child in a candy shop when presented with the opportunity to fight someone.
- Physical God: All judges share this trope. They appear as human beings with godly powers, but they have also displayed some degree of shapeshifting.
- Really 700 Years Old: Because Cain inhabits his body, Paxton has essentially become immortal. He's been walking the earth as early as 1692. Cain himself is much older than that.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- Malphus tries to be the blue to Resnick's red, but he does a horrible job at it. They're really more shades of red.
- Stella is the red to Torio's blue.
- Mary is the fiery red to Danial's more reserved blue.
- Royally Screwed Up: Esta’s older brother attempted to assassinate her before she escaped into the tournament. This behavior is typical in her dynasty, as Aster sons (and more recently daughters) secure their place on the throne by being the last one alive.
- Serial Killer: Cain's been at it for over 300 years, and
his creator even states that he created legend of Jack the Ripper in his universe. He was Jack the Ripper. - Slasher Smile: Cain and Resnick. All the time.
- Species Surname: Maus the... Mouse.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Paxton Kramer's body is possessed by an Eldritch Abomination, who simply refers to himself as Cain. When in control, Cain is far stronger and more durable than Paxton.
- That Mysterious Thing: Leao and Milo constantly reference their mother in their interview pieces.
- Tournament Arc: True to form, just about everyone has their own storyline.
- Villain Protagonist: Cain is the biggest example, which makes him a unique standout. Most of the other contestants are heroic at best or jaded at worst. Cain is a straight up villain with nothing but ill intent for the Dream Woods and all who stand in his way to that wish. Malphus and Resnick also qualify to a lesser extent, however, the former just wants to return to Hell and has no interest in Leao's goals, while the latter is only in it for the chance to fight someone.
Contestants:
- AwesomeWaffle11 with Ness. Intro: [1]
- Blaze150 with Mary & Danial. Intro: [2]
- Geek-of-the-Week with Luis & Nora. Intro: [3]
- huffnut and Relyk-Arts with Catharsis & Maus. Intro: [4]
- Karn-sama with Alfred. Intro: [5]
- Kid-die with Stella. Intro: [6]
- Mcwuffles with Esta. Intro: [7]
- Mr-M7 with Damion & Nibiru. Intro: [8]
- nerak55 with Crizas. Intro: [9]
- NizhoniNochez with Chou. Intro: [10]
- Pepsi-Rabbit with Doll. Intro: [11]
- Plants-Clouds with Euka & The Kid. Intro: [12]
- StealRehn with Malphus & Resnick. Intro: [13]
- Toaster-Roaster with Lexer. Intro: [14]
- UnknownNemesis98 with Cain. Intro: [15]
- Warewolves with Marco (Polo). Intro: [16]
