"So, to provide information to people unfamiliar with Destiny: The Traveler answers the question of 'Why does God Need a Spaceship?' with 'What if God is a Spaceship?'"
"Hello Shinji. Yes, I am an Exo. You have many questions, so let me first start by telling you about your mother-" Which is all Gendo-1 gets out before Shinji drives his fist into his face.
— A sample of what to expect
Do you remember how Neon Genesis Evangelion had somewhat of a downer ending?
What if it was the catalyst for the Destiny's Traveler's awakening?
That premise, brought to you by Gregg Landsman, author of Nobody Dies and Glorious Shotgun Princess, spirals out into multiple Shinjis, Guardians from all the Angelic races, and Rei Ayanami with a sack full of doorknobs. So in other words, the special brand of crazy that only Gregg can bring.
Can be read here
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Tropes used for the GLORY OF THE CRUCIBLE! in the Extension of Evangelion...
- Alternate Universe: In this story, even though Third Impact resulted in the end of humanity...it also woke the Traveler up, allowing for humanity and the Angels to arise into new life.
- Brain Uploading: Gendo turned himself into an Exo. Warlock Shinji is also an Exo.
- Canon Welding:
- The White Moon/Adam and Black Moon/Lilith were the two halves of the Traveler, who divided itself when it arrived on earth. Third Impact reunited them, and thus woke it up.
- The Traveler resurrected the Angels upon its awakening. The Angels in-turn were responsible for terraforming the solar system, and in doing so, created new species based on themselves. When the Collapse happened, several of these "Angelim" turned on humanity, and became The Fallen.
- Clones Are People, Too: As stated before, there are multiple Shinji Ikari's running aroundnote . According to Ranger Ikari, it's because he (they?) was at ground zero of Third Impact. The others we meet appear to be fine with there being more that one of them, and The Speaker, the oldest of the Shinji's, says that he doesn't like to be thought of as the original.
- Death World: Zeruel turned Venus into this.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Angels might be good now, but they are still the Angels. Notably, when the Cabal first invaded Mars, the Vanguard intended to send in Zeruel to stop them, until they realized the collateral damage would include the whole of Mars itself.
- The Ghost: Rei hasn't been seen since Third Impact.
- Had to Be Sharp: The Zeruelim, on account of being created on Zeruel's Venus.
- Have You Seen My God?: Averted, unlike the Traveler, the Angels are still active in the Solar System.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Angels have gone from Apocalyptic-level Eldritch Abominations to Benevolent Gods that guided their respective races and protected humanity during The Collapse.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The various Shinjis tend to take their job as their first name, in order to differentiate between them.
- Painting the Fourth Wall: The Lelielim speak through various squeals and shrieks. To communicate this to the reader, their dialogue is shown as an emote followed by an exclamation mark.
- Physical God:
- Zeruel is literally known as the God of Might.
- The rest of the Angels are also basically worshipped for terraforming the Solar System and creating the Angelim.
- Ship Sinking: Played With. Asuka starts by telling Main!Shinji that she's gotten her issues sorted out and no longer wants to sleep with him... but she is in a relationship with The Speaker, the oldest of the Shinji's, and refers to him as "her Shinji"
- Starfish Aliens: The Angelim/The Fallen, on account of being based on the Angels. the Lelielim especially.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Played With. New!Shinji isn't fazed by finding out that Pen-Pen is a Guardian, but he is confused by Pen-Pen pulling a rocket launcher out of nowhere.
