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Chiasmata is an Interactive Comic by K25fF, featuring a group of 12 (or 16) people who wake up in a strange place with no memory of how they got there. Also, they have superpowers.

There is an ARG tying into the story, which gives slightly more detail on the universe and the characters therein.

Chiasmata is mirrored on the "MSPFA Page" and took commands on the ''Chiasmata Eagle-Time Forums" and "Kintsugi Forums". Chiasmata began the 5th of May 2013 at 4:04 PM on the "MSPAForums".


Tropes found in this universe include:

  • All There in the Manual: A lot of extra information can be found on K2's tumblr as well as in the various ARG components.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Cindersoul has so far only been referred to by he(?)/his(?) pronouns. Yes, always with the (?) after it, much like Notch adresses the Enderdragon.
    • 564 is they/them/their, as well as several other unrevealed characters.
  • Arc Number: 12, or 16? 3, or 4? What we certainly do know however, is that 564 means something, considering a mass-murderer carves it into people's flesh.
  • Bizarrchitecture: Our first Location. While not especially fancy, it's a (seemily?) huge place with 'doors' that act akin to in-house portals, multiple secret passageways, plus weird (and sometimes sadistic) puzzles, although a map was posted. Basically, like a disorienting not-quite-nightmare in Location form. If it weren't for the symbols on the walls, they would get lost everytime they turn a corner. And it's still unknown what the walls are made of.
    It can't burn the... concrete? Concrete-like substance? Pseudoconcrete? You're not sure. It looks a bit like concrete, but it's smoother and more evenly coloured, and it doesn't seem to be painted.
    • The second Location is even stranger, resembling a baby's 'put the blocks in the slots' puzzle. (From this page on)
    Daniel: "Confusing. Strange. Something's wrong with how everything's arranged."
    (...)
    You can hear Daniel talking to... Jacqueline, you think. She's the third person on this floor, which apparently bends the rules of space and geometry into pretzels. Each room borders the other two on two sides? Maybe? Your head hurts.
  • Blatant Lies: K25fF has absolutely no idea who this person is.
  • Body Horror: The things Duchess Epidermis does to people...yikes. The side effects of most powers can often be quite... unsettling as well;
    • Sam's fingers turn crystalline.
    • Aidan gets crumbly green callouses.
    • The limbs that Bonnie grows back definitely aren't human
    • Daniel's skin fragments.
    • Dawn's legs become dinosaur-like, and her fingers turn into claws.
    • Ash begins to leak acid from her eyes.
    • David gets a forked tongue.
    • Anders receives bony protrusions emerging from his skin.
    • Omar becomes a flaming skeleton.
    • Clara has circular sections of her body disappear.
    • Leo's colors drain, leaving him completely grayscale. He also loses his tangibility.
    • Jacqueline gets coral-like growths all over her body.
    • Other characters have confirmed side effects, like Saboteur. Whose skin splits open with sand pouring out.
    • And now we get to see one of the things that can happen when the Cammaerts axiom is breached, courtesy of Daniel His entire face's skin starts cracking apart and falling off, you can even see visible flesh/muscle in some places
  • Casting a Shadow: Dawn's powers.
  • Chaotic Stupid: Schism the sharply dressed, portal-slinging anarchist is frequently, hilariously referred to by characters and author alike as being bright much in the same way as a wet match.
  • Color-Coded Emotions: Brother Dearest seems to change colors based on how he's feeling. For example, at the time he angrily arrives here, the swirl above his head is red, but the minute his arm is cut off, it turns green with shame or fear.
  • Elemental Powers: Mistral has powers over air, Omar and Liana Feo have powers over fire, Sam can control electricity, Ash handles acid, Dawn can control darkness, Resonant has powers over metal, Device and Botnet command technical things, Augment can control her own flesh to let it grow back, Subject 010/Island Lady has powers over earth, Leo is shown to have at least some measure of Soul Power, Misanthrope is constantly covered in radiation, Clara, the Illusiory Miasmic (who is, if her name could not tell you, just like Flicker a Master of Illusion) and Anonymous use smoke and or gas, Daniel and Jacqueline are a Space Master and a Time Master, respectively, and Anders and possibly Ibrahim can control the minds of others.
  • Eye Motifs: As in the author's past works, eyes feature heavily in Chiasmata, both as a symbol and a body part. Which leads to...
  • Funny Background Event: Daniel immediately reacting when the Prokaryota introduce themselves:
    Daniel: Some people have the right ideas.
    Sam: Shut.
  • Genius Loci: Maybe. The ARG references the Location being killed, not destroyed.
  • Healing Factor: Bonnie's power. And Augment's.
    • Good Thing You Can Heal: Invoked by The Location to demonstrate the ability to both the readers and Bonnie herself. Augment's run-in with 564 is also notable because it demonstrates the extent of both her regenerative ability and 564's deadliness.
    • Feel No Pain: Tragically averted, as Augment is only confirmed to respond to no pain.
  • The Four Loves:
    • Eros: There's Ship Tease between Daniel and Bonnie (and as such Motor and Augment).
    • Storge: Between Jamila and Ibrahim. The Dark Triumvirate is also a family.
    • Philia: Brother and Enigma. Which might be Eros.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Holy, shit do the Villainous Three ever count. That is, if they can count as humanoid in their later...stages.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Most of the characters take a while to figure out how to control their powers. Anders, on the other hand, has trouble turning his off.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Misanthrope and the Forest Viewer, probably among many.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: The Devouring Hate certainly has this. Others such as Typhon likely did as well. Duchess Epidermis is a contender as well. But the the worst offender would probably be the Bonechild.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Archivist does something which leads to Sam heavily questioning them and Ash' eyes not focusing, on which Archivist says it's probably for the best. While the dialogue alone looks like they're masturbating, they're actually literally folding the fabric of reality.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: 564, of course. Cindersoul and the good Duchess count as well.
  • Only Six Faces: Well, a case of only six poses. When they finished the reference of Teratoma, they commented that Teratoma's pose looks like the one on the Adamant reference. Hilariously seen the differences between the two characters.
  • Ontological Mystery
  • Orcus on His Throne: Nihil, one of about 4 people who could MAYBE give 564 something to sweat about, "sat there like a lemon".
  • Mad Bomber: Cindersoul. Maybe?
  • Mad Oracle: Even when the Forest Viewer remembers who he is, he doesn't speak in the most lucid manner.
  • Mass Super-Empowering Event: The Cold Light rains.
  • Mind Control: Anders' power. Also, Anonymous...but that sort of overlaps with a bit of a Body Surf effect.
  • Misanthrope Supreme: Ironically, not Misanthrope. Teratoma fits the bill, though.
  • Mukokuseki: Averted. On the Japanese side, Island Lady/Subject 010 and Satyrid are from there, and are both accurately skinned (although we don't know if they're born there or not).
  • Mundane Utility: The comic is great for biology mnemonics.
    • The same user also used it for a genetics essay. note 
  • Multinational Team: Most continents get roughly equal representation among the cast.
  • The Nicknamer: The Forest Viewer likes to do this, as do The Villainous Three.
  • Noodle Incident: Device once found Harlequin stuck in a treetop. This crossover also speaks of a Noodle Incident:
    There has been an incident around Anders, which resulting in him a call for help, merging, six Soul Gems and a memory wipe later, being essentially an artificial lifeform and David, Dawn and Ash are currently preoccupied with him.
  • Non-Standard Game Over: Described, hilariously enough, as 564 and Hollow's sexualities. The freaks.
  • Noun Verber: Everyone's got this, but it's implied that these are the powers, and not the characters.
  • Personality Powers: Mostly averted, powers are given out completely arbitrarily. The only example so far of this being played straight is Holly, the artist with paint and ink producing powers.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Just about every supervillain has the tools to cause MASSIVE DAMAGE. Cold-Drinker, Cindersoul, Nilhil, 564, Teratoma, and Duchess Epidermis stand out however. They're more of natural disasters than people at this point.
  • Playing with Fire: Omar's powers.
  • Power Incontinence: Overuse of superpowers has consequences.
  • Powers That Be: "The Big Three" of the Chiasm Syndicate, Benefactor's League, and Third Network seem to be this on a terrestrial scale. But there's three far different beings that hold the real power. And that's not even including the Location and the somethings responsible for it.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Multiple.
    • Daniel (Red) and Bonnie (Blue). They invert when they become Augment and Motor.
    • Dawn (Red) and David (Blue).
    • Device (Red) and Adamant (Blue).
    • Aside from being elemental opposites, Cindersoul (Red) and Cold-Drinker (Blue).
  • Rule of Three: Aidan, Clara and Ash represent the three states of matter (solid, gas and liquid, respectively).
    • Time (Jacqueline who can slow down or accelerating the flow of time), Space (Daniel who can move things around freely) and Mind (Anders who can control others).
    • Life (Bonnie who can regenerate), Heart (Leonardo who can make ghosts to his whim, resembling him) and Hope (David who can swap things with his thoughts)
    • Also, between Anders, Ibrahim and Adamant, who share the same symbol. Anders is Pathos, even his door name states it. Ibrahim is Logos - he knows more than he should and is a person who relies on logic and makes Loophole Abuse sometimes. Adamant is Ethos, since she's the leader of the Benefactor's league, which carries some charisma.
  • Scooby-Dooby Doors: The Prokaryota, downplayed.
    You quickly duck into the room round the corner.
    Jacqueline: "Hey, can we quickly duck into a room, rather than discussing this in a corridor. I don't want to get incinerated any time soon. I'll block the door. Where's that ghost going?"
  • Single-Power Superheroes: Every powered character.
  • Shaped Like Itself: Where exactly are our characters? The Location, of course.
  • Shout-Out: Super Human Containment Units (SCUs) and liberally censored documents from a nefarious organization. Hmm, why does that sound familiar?
  • Shock and Awe: Sam's powers.
  • Stealth Pun: The color of the text added sometimes is #25fFA1 (the author has a longer name on Deviantart, k25ffAI)
  • Superpower Russian Roulette: The entire Cold Light system.
  • Super-Strength: Enforcer's powers.
  • Tarot Motifs: A full deck of them!
    • 0 - The Fool: Protagonist
    • I - The Magician/Bateleur: Ibrahim (Forest Viewer)
    • II - The High Priestess/Papesse note  : Alice Hemsley
    • III - The Empress: Duchess Epidermis
    • IV - The Emperor: Teratoma
    • V - The Hierophant: Device
    • VI - The Lovers: Brother and Enigma
    • VII - The Chariot: Motor/Daniel Fleming
    • VIII - Justice note  : Archivist
    • IX - The Hermit: Hollow
    • X - Wheel of Fortune/Chance: Cold Lights
    • XI - Strength: Susan Dachy and Subject 009/Isabel
    • XII - The Hanged Man note  : The Devouring Hate
    • XIII - Death: 564
    • XIV - Temperance: Archivist
    • XV - The Devil: The Dark Triumvirate
    • XVI - The Tower: Cindersoul
    • XVII - The Star: Adamant
    • XVIII - The Moon: Subject 003/Geist
    • XIX - The Sun: Augment/Bonnie Hallett
    • XX - Judgement/The Aeon note  : Nihil
    • XXI - The World - The Dark Triumvirate plus Archivist
    • As for the minor arcana, the cups are replaced by the Soul, giving it the element of Water. It's likely Voice, Body and Mind are representing Swords (Air), Wands (Fire) and Pentacles (Earth).
  • Team Shot: Here, here and here.
  • Theme Naming: The first three chapters of Chiasmata (and the three groups later on) are named after biological domains (Prokaryota, Eukaryota and Archaea), while the fourth one is called LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor. The series title refers to genetics - a term for the point in cellular division at which chromosomes exchange information. It's as of yet unclear as to the significance of this.
  • The Syndicate: Ironically enough, the Chiasm Syndicate isn't this. This is more of the Third Network's territory.
  • This Is a Work of Fiction: When the image of Isochrone and Haze was posted, a user directly saw they are very likely Jacqueline and Clara. Later, K25fF commented on this, saying: 'Any resemblance to other geneverse characters, living or dead, is purely coincidental and very suspicious.'
  • Technopath: Device. Maybe.
  • Thinking Up Portals: The Breach Cutter seems to be able to do this.
  • Understatement: 'And one of your fellow subjects has proven to be...difficult to reason with.' Cue this panel (a possible recall of this one).
  • Walking Wasteland: Misanthrope and Saboteur. Cindersoul desperately wants to make the world look like a glass bowl, but is stuck in his(?) snowglobe for the forseeable future.
  • We Work Well Together: A certain relationship seems to have warmed up significantly between Chiasmata and Electrophoresis.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: 564 is often described as 'the worst power in the worst package'. Nihil and Cindersoul probably count too. Actually, if you're a high enough threat class, you're not in the best mental state.
  • You Wake Up in a Room: Every main character starts this way.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: Anima's shtick...but she's trying to stop. They're just... so pretty.

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