What Could Have Been / The Arknverse

For various reasons, quite a bit of material from The Arknverse never saw the light of day.

Arknthology

General

• The Arkn Civil War arc was planned to tie together the individual plots that made up the Arknthology. The arc would have concluded with a massive battle, with many of the key characters coming to blows over Uriel’s betrayal (i.e. making a deal with the Carver to gain control over the Infernous). Uriel, Raphael, and Malek's Lust fragment (who was ready to slaughter anyone who didn’t stand behind his favorite Arkn king) would have have sided against Ellpagg and Gilgamesh (both aided by The Carver), with Raziel and Phoenix attempting quell the fighting. The characters would have parted ways to finish out their stories, then reunited for the Grand Finale. However, due to behind-the-scenes drama, all of the individual series^note save for Solar's Crimson and Medboy789 were left unfinished; as such, all the major players show up for the Final Battle without explanation, the events that led them there left untold.
• The Arknza roster (i.e. the "Seven Godly Blooded Beings") went through many changes and adjustments:
  • There were originally going to be only three Arknangels. When the creators realized they had characters who represented the four most well-known Archangels of Christian theology (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel), it was decided that the Arknza would be a core group of four. That number was later expanded to seven, to echo the Archangel grouping from Enoch I (very loosely: Raguel is the only other Arknza taken from Biblical literature).
  • At one point, Ellpagg was going to be a traditional Arknza (i.e. a Hethe-blooded Arkn fused with a human counterpart). In a variation of one of the original concepts for The Knight Shift (see below), DeathlyLogic planned to make Ellpagg's human half the Adam Spirit version of The Hooks Killer. Their converged Arknza name would have been Adama'ntim Ell'epagi Spirit (or the human variation, "Adam Ellpagg Spirit"); Ellpagg would have completely consumed Hooks's personality (behaving much like Carver-influenced Ellpagg does in Solar's Crimson) and healed his torn, scarred throat (getting rid of Hooks's signature raspy voice).
  • Seraphina was originally slated to be one of the Seven Arknza. Had Sarah Kestler Isn’t Dead continued, her character would have come to terms with her Arknangel status and fused with Sarah Kestler, becoming "Sarah Seraphina Kestler": the Arknza described in the prophecy as "a daughter sent to hell". After the character's writer and creator left the franchise, Seraphina was written out of the Arknthology. Her character receives some closure in the finale of MedBoy789 (which does hint at a convergence), but remains absent during the Battle of the Arknza.
  • Raziel was supposed to be killed by Ellpagg at the conclusion of the Civil War arc, with his son, Chamuel, ^note who canonically received some of The Carver’s Hethian blood at birth taking his place among the seven Arknza. Chamuel would then appear (along with his other father, Phoenix) in Season 2 of Solar's Crimson, and train with Redgrave's son Virgil to master his Dekn "brimstone rain" powers, setting up his role in the Grand Finale. When SC was cancelled, it was decided that Raziel would survive the Civil War and face The Carver himself (with the in-universe explanation that Chamuel was too young and hadn't mastered his powers well enough to face off against the Carver).
• The Storn (who were originally a trio, rather than a quartet) were intended to have a bigger, more important role in the Arknthology. In addition to being Arkn "gods" (a concept which was retained, but greatly downplayed) they would have represented very different aspects of humanity: Xerex was the God of Death, Murder, and Frogs; Barith was the Goddess of Nature, Life, and "the sound rain makes when it hits stone"; Eris was the God of Humanity, Choice, and "very very sharp objects".
  • At one point, the Storn were going to be not just "kin", but dark counterparts to the Paradox Players. To drive home the parallel, the Storn quartet would have taken possession of Cain Spirit (a.k.a. Medboy456), "Spooky Michael" (then an AU version of Michael), Starving4Truth's version of Alex Winter, and Azazel (the incarnation of Raziel's evil side) to form the "anti-Arknza". The idea was quickly scrapped when Type0Negative cancelled Starving4Truth.
  • Additionally, Xerex Storn and Az'uh'ra'el were going to be the same being, making him both a Storn and an Arknangel. Remnants of this, as well as the "Arknza vs Storn" plot, can be seen in No More Truths,^* "The Quest" in which Azrael identifies himself as a Storn ("[there are] three others and myself, Xerex") and describes the Arknangels as Storn counterparts or "kin". When the Arknza vs Storn plot was canned, Azrael was retconned into Gynesis's son; at that point, it was too late to remove or re-write the chapter from NMT, so it was left in.
  • There was also a planned scene of Ellpagg accidentally sealing Xerex inside of Michaelis Winter during a battle in a failed attempt to seal him in an Arkn Trap. This also would have explained Ellpagg's bleeding chest wound (which would have re-opened during their fight).
• The Persopheleums also went through a number of changes. There were originally going to be three of them, rather than four; they were conceived as brothers, with the third member of the group (presumably the one replaced by Vine) named "Dekstrom".
• Edgar Kharon was supposed to be, true to legend, a human-turned-Hethe who "fell" and lost his immortality, with Azrael ^note Michaelis as his Alex Winter-style human "counterpart", whom he created in .Reality prior to his death. At some point, DeathlyLogic retconned Azrael into an original character who had adopted Edgar Kharon's identity under the mistaken belief that he was Kharon’s reincarnation.
• At one point, there were discussions about having Luke Anton (or an alternate version of him) being possessed by Raziel for a minor side-arc/standalone episode.
• Originally, the Grand Finale of the Arknthology (i.e. the Battle of the Arknza) was going to be a live-action Massive Multi Player Crossover. Some of the proposed ideas included Legion and Asmodeus joining The Carver's forces, and Deebo revealing his awareness of the existence of other universes and realities (accompanied by overlayed clips from various web series, including several well-known Slenderverse vlogs); they also considered having Deebo mention a world where he's a fictional character — or rather, "a world where they think they created me as a work of fiction".
  • When it became clear that a live-action finale would be too difficult to coordinate and edit together,^note (most of the individual actors would be unable to get together in person, and would have to film their segments separately) an animated Short Film was proposed. TORossotron (the creator of VoiceOfLegion) agreed to produce it, and was planning to animate the battle in an Anime-esque style. This was also scrapped after it was deemed too difficult to execute.
  • The battle was also supposed to include some humorous momemrs: the Carver’s skeletal army^note  the "Inferknights", who are briefly overheard in TKS: ET would have had Italian accents (because The Carver found it funny), Jester (who originally had a larger role) would have announced his arrival by proclaiming, "The jig is up, Debbie!" to Deebo, and Uriel’s first effort in the battle would have been hurling an explosive device in Carver’s direction — and missing him by a wide margin ("Did I get him?"). There was also talk of having some characters be punched so hard that they would break through the walls of .reality and go flying through multiple timelines (accompanied by clips of said characters interrupting scenes from various vlogs).
    • Another far less humorous idea was also considered: The Carver would start the battle by destroying .Reality with a finger snap, declaring, "No distractions."
• Several different ideas were proposed for Raziel's death:
  • One version had Raziel dying at the end of the Arkn Civil War Arc. When the two factions came to blows, Raziel would have tried to talk sense into Ellpagg, only for Ellpagg to kill him in an attempt to absorb his Hethian power^note (much as he does during the Battle of the Arknza as described on the wiki); at the last second, Raziel's power would have transferred to Raguel, revitalizing him and restoring him to Arknza-hood.
  • After the Civil War arc was cancelled, DeathlyLogic considered having Raziel killed in the same manner during a fight between Azrael (Michaelis) and Ellpagg in the planned conclusion of Solar's Crimson. This idea was scrapped after the series' second cancellation.
• In early 2017, DeathlyLogic announced a number of upcoming projects. Among these were Pain and Torment (telling the tale of The Carver), Prince of Gold (telling Ellpagg's story), and The Journals of Redgrave (a blog telling the life story of — who else? — Persophelus Redgrave). While all of them ended up being scrapped, Redgrave's story did end up being told (in a very truncated form) in a chapter of the revived Arknthology Stories.
  • He also teased a project called Arknthology: A New Generation.

Vlogs

• The Knight Shift went through a number of conceptual changes during its planning and production
  • The series was originally conceived as a straightforward Haunted House story, completely unrelated to the Arkn Mythos. The series’ Theme Song, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This", was specifically chosen because the lyrics “Some of them want to use you” and “Some of them want to abuse you” invoke themes of ghostly possession and torment.
  • Another pre-Arknverse concept had the series set in the universe of the Creepypasta “Seven Days”. In this version of the story, Knight was an ordinary human ensnared by The Sender who was gradually losing his identity. JJTNinja, the author of “Seven Days”, had befriended DeathlyLogic, and had agreed to the crossover before DL decided to take the series in a different direction.
  • The Infernous/House was originally going to be called "The Dragon’s Den", to tie into the series' protagonist being “Knight”. (This concept was retained in the series’ first episode, which is called “Into the Dragon’s Den”.)
  • After TKS was re-worked to fit into The Arkn Mythos, it was initially a stand-alone vlog telling the story of the Hooks Killer’s Guardian Arkn. The original ending of the series would have seen Knight (who had no real name) escape from the Infernous and return to life, only to look in a mirror and discover that he’s wearing the Hooks Killer’s mask. While scripting the series' final act, DeathlyLogic decided to make Knight the Arkn Prince Ellpagg and wrote in references to the Arknangels and their whereabouts, establishing the series as part of the Arknthology. Traces of the original concept can be seen throughout the series, such as Ellpagg's "true" voice sounding raspy and the final scenes of "Ephellogue" (in which Ellpagg encounters an evil, murderous version of himself in a mirror who looks and sounds like Hooks, and says it's his real self).
  • A teaser image for the finale of TKS (created when the final episodes were still in the planning stage) reveals a number of discarded concepts for the series. Ellpagg was going to be one of three Arknza, and his damnation was a sacrifice made in fulfillment of a promise to the Dekn in order to secure the safety of mankind (and a step up from outright execution). Incidentally, this is very close to the backstory for how El'lepagi, Ellpagg's Arkn: Unity counterpart, was tricked into going into the Infernous.
    • It’s worth noting that the name of the Lord Dekn Master “X’anthr’estral” is very similar to Gilgamesh’s surname, Xeth’i’stral. It’s possible that the name was tweaked and re-used for Gilgamesh.
• The Knight Shift: End Times, the follow-up (and "final act") to TKS, was planned for a two-season run. Season 1 was set to end with the conclusion of the Arkn Civil War arc (and Ellpagg killing Raziel), while Season 2 would have paved the way for Ellpagg's role in the Battle of the Arknza. DeathlyLogic promised that the series would feature "a power struggle, many fights, and a major death". He also teased that the Hethe would be involved in some capacity, that Ellpagg would suffer worse than he had in TKS, and that by the end viewers would hate Ellpagg so much that "you won't even want to spit in his direction". The prequel episode, "0) A Message to the King",^note in which Knight threatens Uriel, and tears off his shirt to reveal corruption spreading across his body in the form of blackened veins was released April 10th, 2016, with Season 1 set to run through summer. Production was repeatedly delayed by the multiple departures (and returns) of FeralWasteland and Type0Negative, and the series was even cancelled in late 2016 (as DeathlyLogic announced that he found it impossible and felt "wrong" continuing the Arknthology without two of its biggest creators).

  • Production was revived after the return of TON and FW. The first episode, "[11] The Fib", was released March 8th, 2017. The second planned episode would have featured a fight between The Carver and Redgrave, in which Redgrave (in a monologue written by Penthepoet, one of the creators of Arkn: Legacy ) would reveal that the Arkn interfering in the lives of humans is causing .Reality to break down. Before the episode could finish production, the series was cancelled again — this time for good — when DL, TON, and FW had yet another falling out.
  • Another subplot would have had Ellpagg realize that his Guyliner is a side effect of The Carver possessing or controlling him. There was a planned scene in which Ellpagg, in the aftermath of his first "possession episode", tries desperately to wash off the "makeup", realizes that it can't be removed, and magically burn his eyes out just so they will heal over without it (much to The Carver's annoyance).

• Michael Knight was going to have a twin sister, Aralia Knight, who would have appeared Act III (originally called "Severance") of Michael's Camera. She would have been a Arknangel, Separated at Birth from Michael and raised in captivity as a hybrid under the number "566". Her role would eventually be filled by Michaelis, a "twin" of a different sort.
• Solar's Crimson was originally pitched as "Azrael rescues alternate versions of Michael (all of them victims of The Carver) from the Infernous". This idea was quickly scrapped to focus the series entirely on Azrael's humanity and role as an Arknangel.
  • Season 1 initially began as a prequel to Michael's Camera, showing how Michaelis became Azrael the Arknangel. The early videos introduced Xerex (revealing his backstory and his M.O.), and showed the beginning of the apocalypse of Michaelis's timeline (announced by a Red Filter of Doom, Emergency Broadcast alerts, and sirens). DL eventually decided to tweak the series to make it a true sequel; the establishing videos were removed, and "human" Michaelis was explained as the result of the Infernous's Lotus-Eater Machine causing Azrael to forget his life as an Arknza.
  • Season 2 was going to show Azrael training with Raziel and/or Phoenix, learning to better use his powers while coping with the trauma of his past.
  • The original series finale would have marked the conclusion of the Civil War arc. During the battle, Ellpagg would have squared off against Raziel and stabbed him with the Dragon Cane; Azrael would seize the cane and try to help Raziel, only to be corrupted by the sword via its connection to Leg'leg, who has just been consumed by Voidweb (Leg'leg's assimilation would be shown itself in an animated cutaway segment). Before the sword-controlled Azrael could kill Raziel, Raphael would show up and cut off Azrael's arm, preventing him from being further corrupted (and fulfilling events foreshadowed by Azrael's constantly-injured arm). Azrael's plot would have concluded in the final arc of MedBoy789, which would have featured a more angry, battle-scarred Azrael acting as a mentor to Toby Kessler.
    • After the Civil War arc was cancelled, DeathlyLogic heavily tweaked the finale so that it would lead directly into TKS: ET and a revised Arknthology finale (likely in blog or animated form). After DL decided to cancel TKS: ET, he revealed his revised end game for SC in a blog post.
  • Viewers expressed interest in a Spin-Off (or Spiritual Successor) to Solar's Crimson revolving around "Spooky Michael" (the creepy, rabbit mask-wearing specter that Michaelis encounters in the Infernous in Michael's Camera). DeathlyLogic showed interest in the project, and even posted a teaser image. Around that same time, he created a wiki page giving a potential origin for the character. DL eventually lost interest in the idea, however, and decided to make the character a manifestation of Azrael's (false) guilt over murdering Alex and shooting Michael — intending for the reveal to happen in Season 2 of Solar's Crimson. Season 2 was delayed, heavily retooled, and then cancelled (before being Uncancelled after several episodes, but DL has stated that he considers this to be the character's true origin.
• TheDestinyProject, another planned vlog series that never came to be. While little is known about the plot, the series would have introduced another one of Malek's shards and crossovers with all four of the Paradox Players' series. It would also have introduced "Scholar" (a beta version of Franz Faust) into the Arknthology, as well as the Legacy character Marchosias. The series was apparently scrapped after several creators (including FeralWasteland) criticized the plot, calling it "fanfic schlocky".

Blogs

• There were plans for a series of "breather" chapters in Arknthology Stories focusing on Ellpagg's first experience in .Reality after escaping the Infernous (immediately before going to train Michael). The stories would have featured Ellpagg "unwinding" in a .timeline set in the 1980s, picking up the slang and culture of the era (particularly the music), and would have expounded on the connection between Ellpagg and Adam Spirit.
• Ambriel's story would have gone on to explore her trials and tribulation while attempting to rule the new, utopian kingdom of Riviera (and facing the demons of her past).
• There was supposed to be a chapter of No More Truths depicting the death of the original Azrael (who would be killed after stepping in once again to defend Cedric from The Carver). DeathlyLogic never completed the chapter, and it was never posted; however, he has stated that Azrael's death is still canon to the Arknthology.
• Type0Negative was set to write The Broken Crown Saga: a trio of blogs relating Uriel's misadventures after his convergence with Alex, as well as his quest to find the Blank Canvas, a Hethian artifact (possibly related to the Scrolls) representing the untapped power of creation). Two of the blogs, "In the Wake of the Broken Crown" and "In the Court of the Traveling Crown" — the first and third installments of the anthology, respectively — were created and posted several entries each before Type0Negative cancelled the project and deleted them. The published entries can still be read, they have been decanonized, as has anything set in Maph’ridome (save for Sarah Kestler Isn't Dead).

Arkn Mythos Chronology

General

• The "Gonersverse", a new storyline focused on a race of powerful, Hethe-spawned creatures called the Deedrn, was supposed to debut in late 2016. The first major work in the series would have been a vlog called The Guarded Ones (see below).

Vlogs

• The figure in the mask in Dr. Ellis’s office in ACryFromWinter was originally going to be an integral character who saves Alex from The Path.
• A non-Arknthology crossover between Solar's Crimson, ACryFromWinter and 13rkingwond3rland was planned for late 2017 — early 2018. The plot (which was loosely inspired by Flashpoint) would have featured the Winter siblings being whisked away by Redgrave to a safe, isolated timeline which was free of both the Arkn and the Dekn, in order to prevent them from being killed by Carver-controlled Ellpagg. The trio would have struggled to come to terms with their respective pasts and their destinies (with Azrael learning to master his powers) while learning to live together as siblings, and eventually returned to their own timelines in time for the Final Battle. DeathlyLogic, Type0Negative and Arin M. were all enthusiastic about the project; unfortunately, it ended up being cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.
• The finale of handprintsofthedead was going to be followed up by a Short Film called "Redgod", which would wrap up the story of the Hooks Killer. The film was announced in February 2016 with a teaser trailer, with filming set to begin later that month and a proposed release date of November 2016. For unknown reasons, however, the film never materialized.
  • Redgod later morphed into a non-canon spinoff vlog series/Snapchat ARG about a Hooks fanboy named "Collin Clowney". The series began production in late summer 2017, with the first "episode" posted to the former Handprints channel on August 9th. The series only lasted a few months before being removed due to a copyright strike, and DeathlyLogic never revived it.
• At one point, there were plans for a series (with the proposed title COMEandSee about the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as "continuously reincarnated humans in .Reality with uncontrollable powers". It was set to be helmed by some of the members of Six Seams, a Creepypasta-themed YouTube troupe.
• theyallwantoutalive, a series/ARG inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, ACFW and Neverless Chronicles (another vlog series created by Type0Negative). Since it was first announced in the spring of 2017, nothing more has been said about it, and the creator's blog has been deleted.
• The "Gonersverse" storyline was set to kick off with The Guarded Ones: a vlog based on events teased in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of The Knight Shift, revolving around Ellpagg protecting a human girl named August from Indroi Facilis (IF), a Deedrn that has disguised itself as a family curse. The series would have followed Ellpagg's attempts to train his charge to use Arkn magic; his efforts would have proven ineffective (due in part to his brutal tactics), and the series would have ended with Ellpagg forcibly transforming August into a pseudo-Arkn, whom he leaves to rule Arkaissia in his absence and cover for him when he's off hunting for the Arknza. Ellpagg, having spent much of his time in .Reality in either The '50s (observing the Kestler family) or The '80s, would have sported a retro Greaser-inspired look, complete with slicked-back hair, a leather jacket and an affinity for Classic Rock music; IF, a Fan Boy of The Carver, would have taken an alternate version of Luke Anton (also played by Zayne Vaughn) as a vessel, and dressed and acted like Negan (even carrying a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire). The cast spent months plotting hyping the series, filmed test footage, and even teased the vlog in an episode of Michael’s Camera^note “Not that great of a situation”, in which Ellpagg informs Azrael, “I have to go guard a whiny bitch”. Unfortunately, the vlog was cancelled when DeathlyLogic and his co-star (who was also his fiancée) broke off their relationship.

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