hey tsath fan! you found the secret page on my Webbed Site for this fanfic. i've been bursting at the seams to talk about this fic but it's taking sooooooooo long to get anywhere so uhhhh heres where i am going to talk about SPOILERS. some of these are going to be small spoilers that you might not have even been wondering. but others will be BIG SPOILERS. i'm talking like "when this comes up in the fic it will literally change the direction of the narrative and also change every single character relationship". i mean like "this is the climax to a slow burn character arc that isn't going to happen until chapter 80". if you don't want to be spoiled, then start running!!

feel free to do whatever you want with this information, ok? you don't have to keep the link to yourself, though make sure the person you're about to share it with actually wants to be spoiled before you start dropping every future plot twist in the fic!

"these spoilers can't be TOO crazy, right?" bro i'm talking about answering questions like "what is robin's deal with the host?", "why is mewtwo like that?", and "TELL ME ALL THE HOST LORE" ok? so watch out. only proceed if you are ready to shoulder the responsibility.

(there will of course still be many things in the fanfic that will be a surprise! this is just a compilation of questions i see pop up in the fic comments, the discord, and also plot points i have just been yearning to talk about. if you contact me and tell me that you found this page, i'll answer any other spoiler questions you might have. :) if you're on the discord, i can also add you to a "tsath-spoilers" channel where we can freely talk about All The Things.)

BY THE WAY this page assumes you have caught up on not only the main fic "the Smashers and their Host" but also the side fic "the Mansion and the Smashanigans". if you came here immediately after catching the hint in chapter 25 (or somehow before that??) then you might want to go read the entire available fic series first so you aren't lost on any specific references i make. i update this page every now and then so there might be explainations for character arcs that aren't even hinted at until much later!

there will also be spoiler dumps for characters that haven't even been introduced yet (currently min min, sephiroth, pyra/mythra, kazuya, and sora). BY THE WAY: there are no spoilers here for each character's individual games that you wouldn't already know from the fanfic... EXCEPT i kind of spoil the kingdom hearts 3 ending in the sora section. Sorry.

• samus stuff: if you've been looking at the spreadsheet, you'll notice samus' thoughts about the host are all over the place. she was pretty friendly at the start! it's not very complicated and is actually talked about in one of the smashanigans chapters: it drives her CRAZY that people are just accepting ridley and dark samus as "part of the crew". it's nothing personal towards the host - though it bugs her that the host can't show some backbone and demand master hand kick them out of the tournament (not that she believes that would work, but it's the thought that counts). especially after ridley blew up the mansion! why, the host looked terrified in ch18 when samus encountered them! how can the host just accept them living there?? she prefers to distance herself than really try to "understand" anyone so she can be ready to fight and protect when people inevitably need her help because they didn't listen.


• what's up with pikachu? our pikachu is actually the pichu from melee! the pikachu in the first two tournaments retired, so pichu evolved and under master hand's recommendation, put up an act to pretend it was the same pikachu all along from brawl onwards. as a result, it pushes most people away to prevent them from finding out. a few smashers know about the secret: samus knows because they worked together in brawl and she gave pikachu tips on how to act. red knows because it was actually his pikachu who was originally in smash. mewtwo knows of course due to mind-reading, and it's for this reason why pikachu avoids mewtwo when it can. as for our pichu: it's a new one with no previous smash experience! that's why it's so wary around everyone.


• luigi's discomfort with the smash tournaments: i imagine most people just assume this is luigi being luigi, but he actually DOES want to enjoy being here, which is why he accepts the invite every season! so what's his deal? there has been a few mentions of the melee doubles tournament, where luigi & bowser narrowly beat ganondorf & donkey kong in the finals. the final match was actually RIGGED in luigi's favour. it's not something he has confirmation of, but he's always suspected something was wrong with that match and as a result he's wary about smash to this day, unsure if any other matches are being rigged. he's never told this to anyone. this will be revealed and addressed in one of the final arcs in the fic.


• are zelda and sheik definitely the same person? in case chapter 19 didn't answer this definitively for you: yes! they've always been the same person: it's just been an on-going joke with zelda and anyone else who is "in" on it to pretend they're not. zelda uses magic to change her face shape and other features to make sheik look distinct. in this fic's lore: zelda and sheik have NEVER been separate people. characters who explicitly know the truth (as of ch 27) include: peach, daisy, rosalina, samus, bayonetta, leaf, both wii fit trainers, rob, lucina, both robins, jigglypuff, palutena, isabelle, dark samus, f!corrin, ridley, kirby, mega man, dr mario, mewtwo, lucario, mr game & watch, villager, greninja, duck hunt duo, and ness. MEANWHILE: kazooie, joker, popo, wolf, young link, and richter suspect they are the same person but have not been given direct confirmation. everyone else either fully buys they are different people OR or don't care one way or the other.


• dr mario stuff: for some reason, it has never occurred to master hand to hire a therapist for some of these fighters. so ever since melee, dr mario has offered free counciling to all smashers. and a LOT of people have seen him over the years. ...anyways, that's all there is to share about dr mario! no other secrets whatsoever :)


• lucina stuff: anything f!robin says about lucina's feelings about the host is total bs. this mom is just trying to set up her daughter with people, whether platonically or romantically. the ch26 flowers were part of robin's scheme, lucina had nothing to do with them.


• young link is a little weirdo! this kid is from post-majora's mask so he's seen so many horrors and was even forced to physically be an adult for one of those adventures so he now has an irrational fear of growing older. he has pretty intense anxiety but hides it behind masks, which is why he refuses to speak when not wearing one.


• what's up with mewtwo? mewtwo is uncomfortable being near the host because while in their realm they can hear. their thoughts. all. the. Time. (the reason why for that is down below in the "host lore" section.) it is Forced upon the pokemon any time they try to use their abilities while in the realm. typically this wouldn't be a Huge deal, but as a result they know all of the host's secrets and it's kind of messed up to know so much about someone who didn't give you that info willingly!! but mewtwo is also entraced by their life in a personal way. because while they know all their sadness - some of which is relateable in a strange way - they also know of their kindness. so they want to be something of a silent protector/appreciator, because the host doesn't have anyone else like that in their life. and mewtwo knows what it's like to feel utterly alone. (p.s. mewtwo is the gifter of the mystery flowers in ch26!)


• roy stuff: he was a boy, they were a host. can i make it anymore obvious? whenever roy's actin up it's because he's got a big crush lol. HOWEVER FOR THE RECORD we do acknowledge he's like 15 so the host doesn't reciprocate even as he gets flung into similar romance cliches that others do. he's just lil bro. i wanted to put that out there in case anyone was worried about that!


• why does meta knight wear pants?? ok. so many years ago back in the days of Skype, me and three friends were chilling in a voice call. i don't remember the context but we came up with a bit about how funny it would be if meta knight wore pants. like how would he do it? how different would it be? this bit didn't last a super long time and we moved on to a different topic, but about 5 minutes later all four of us nearly simultaneously posted different drawings/edits of meta knight wearing pants. we all had the same brain cell and fixated enough on this joke to make content for it. so to this day, "meta-pants" has been a running joke in our friend group and it gives me great pleasure to include it in tsath.


• awesome facts about pit & dark pit: neither of them can read! pit gets by because his phone has text-to-speech, but dark pit is very self-conscious about it and does not use the smash chat apps as a result.


• snake stuff: he's just crazy about knowing where he's staying and about the people he's fighting... master hand keeps notes on everyone he works with, so the host having such scarce notes makes him suspicious. but for the record, he doesn't dislike the host or anything which is why he's willing to help out when he sees things are going badly for them (chapter 9). it probably wouldn't be good for anyone if their host died, right?


• where is alph?? so here's the bit: i COMPLETELY forgot about alph when i started the fanfic and was drafting out the chapter order and the tournament brackets. but i had already decided that unique alts were going to be separate characters, so instead of finding a way to squeeze him in, i decided he's on his own horrifying adventure: for some reason outside of tourney matches, he is simply Small. yup, he's at the mansion! just too small for most people to notice. some smashers have noticed, but the plan is that the host is Never going to meet him or find out what happened until the olimar/alph ending. sorry to alph fans!


• mega man stuff: mega man is in this weird spot where he's old enough that he could be hanging with the veterans, but somehow keeps getting grouped with the kids... and that bugs him! sometimes he's okay because he has his besties pit and simon (captain N is canon), but pit in particular has been gaining a LOT of new friends this smash season and mega man is feeling left out! (of course, a big part of this is pit gets commonly voted into chapters but mega man doesn't lol. audience participation is causing ill effects hehehehe!) this is why he's kind of dejected in many of his scenes.


• does rosalina know the host from somewhere? ya they were childhood friends. there's a bit more info in the "host lore" section below but they went to the same school as like 4-5 year olds but then rosalina went to space so the host never saw her again and gradually forgot about her. they've both changed a lot since then, so rosalina isn't sure it's really them...


• why does palutena know so much? honestly? it's funny :) in kid icarus: uprising they love to break the fourth wall, so i thought it would be a fun character quirk to include on our resident goddess. (pit does this in that game too and does it a little bit in the fanfic when prompted by palutena, but assume it's not a power he can use freely.) her knowledge is limited to what has been written in the narration thus far however, so she's completely in the dark about any mysteries that haven't been explained yet! (even if she pretends to know what's going on...)


• why does robin hate the host? he's met them before! in his timeline, the host comes from a post-tournament era to visit chrom. they get stuck there and they and chrom end up falling in love. the thing is... robin was also in love with chrom, though he never told him. at the time he was okay with it and was happy to see his bestie happy, but meeting the host in their realm before any of that happened (from the host's perspective) makes him a little bitter that: out of ALL the people the host could have pursued (because SO many smashers have obvious crushes on them!) and all the worlds they could have settled down in... they chose his. they chose HIS CHROM. not to mention, he realizes that the host KNEW about his feelings for chrom when they showed up in his world, so he takes it a little personally. :)


• f!corrin stuff: all explained in chapter 27. both corrins came to smash from the divergence point in their trailer: instead of choosing which family to go with, they chose "smash" (aka escaping the scene with the magic invitation they received earlier that day). while m!corrin went back after smash 4 and did the revelations path, uniting his families, f!corrin hitched a ride to A Different World and ended up going on a journey across the multiverse. she feels incredible guilt about leaving her family like that and is scared to find out what happened to them after she disappeared, so she has never gone back.


• byleth stuff: pretty much everything going on with byleth is spelled out in chapter 26! master hand tried to get two byleths like corrin/robin, but many byleths across the timelines rejected him! they didn't want help or glory from this mysterious hand monster, they wanted to live life with their own strength and build a better world with their peers. the only one he could convince was this one who somehow trapped themselves in a timeloop due to their dissatisfaction with how the war ends. btw, although as stated this byleth has taken all the paths, before going to smash they were on the crimson flower/silver snow route again since they believed convincing edelgard seemed like the most promising course of action in reducing casualties. (also, anything that might happen in three hopes has not happened to this byleth in any timeloops. i haven't played that game lol. if this changes i'll let you know.)


• mine craft: yeah so chapter 12-13 actually involved the host and the others accidentally ending up in the video game minecraft instead of a "minecraft world". this is why they had so much trouble getting home; when you beat the enderdragon and jump into the portal you get this like meta commentary nonsense? in-universe any meta-aware events are weak points in the worlds so it's easier to multiverse travel in those locations. our steve minecraft is some kid playing a video game. i don't really know how this works in the greater context of the world's mechanics, but i think it's funny. also: in-universe steve was supposed to be the first dlc fighter after piranha plant (a reference to how smash leakers were talking about minecraft as dlc before the game was even out) but joker stole the invite. steve was actually staying at the smash hotel with all the assists and no one noticed since the host, joker, and master hand are the only ones who knew steve was on the roster. and none of them bother with visiting the hotel...


• why are pyra/mythra in the host's dreams? these girls are coming from mid-xenoblade 2 and they are DEPRESSED and are yearning to go somewhere where their powers can't hurt people. so their dreams are linking up with the host's for roleswap reasons that you can read about below in the "host lore" section.


• The Michael Mouse Situation: in this story, mickey mouse is the owner of the multimedia company "Disney". he's grown so rich that he's started buying out other multimedia companies and has become somewhat of a capitalist menace in the multiverse. while sora's experiences are all real, unknowingly his life's adventures were slightly manufactured and turned into content. as a result, master hand cannot touch most of kingdom hearts content without going through mickey, but because sora is his own boy, master hand managed to find an opportunity to swipe him for the smash tournament where no disney content is in his way. unfortunately, this is after the events of kingdom hearts 3, where sora is "Dead", so this kid is kind of sad and lonely. the fic will probably never delve into how much of kingdom hearts is just showbiz and how much was real events because i think writing lonely sora is a little more interesting than writing in some of his friends (who would inevitably have more insight on the situation than sora will ever have), but at the very least i can confirm that cloud and sephiroth's parts were just an acting gig. all of the final fantasy characters are just actors actually.


• the characters who are actors: for most of the cast, their canon game events are all Real Things That Happened To Them and some of them realized they were multiverse-popular after smash. there are a few characters that are a little different though!
  • cloud & sephiroth: they are 100% actors. the events of ff7 are fictional.
  • dk, diddy, and k.rool: the events of their games are all real, but the donkey kong country show was a fictional show based on real events where the actual people involved got hired to play their own roles. by the time this show happened, k.rool was "reformed" and has not since tried to conquer the world or blow up the island. all three of them are in the entertainment business now: all three are actors but dk also has a solo singing career, diddy is in a band (which is on hiatus right now), and k.rool does both stage and movie roles (and also does singing).
  • pikachu: red's raichu is retired so this pikachu is currently the most famous pokemon in the pokemon world and frequently gets invited to various events (such as the Puzzle League or Pokken) and hired to act/model for promotional material.
  • banjo & kazooie: so it's not out of character for these guys to get kinda meta with their status as video game characters? so that's the main reason why they are like that. but for the record, their adventures are real and video games were made out of them. the two of them gained multiverse awareness somewhere down the line and kazooie got a big head after seeing forum posts of people who love their games.
  • sora: as mentioned just above, sora himself is not an actor but an unknown amount of his journey was dramaticized and fabricated for mickey mouse's movie filmed from hidden cameras. all the keyblade stuff is real tho.


• why do the fighters put up with each other? just for the thrill of the tournament? it's pretty clear there are a few characters who either don't fully want to be here or are in a situation where you have to wonder why they put up with the rules. in chapter 26 it is revealed that the secret prize for winning smash is "one wish", which can even be fate-defying or timeline-rendering. master hand has the power to grant this thanks to the fighting spirit that smash brings. when a large group of people with dreams so strong that they're willing to fight for them, it generates enough power to create a multidimensional miracle!


• on that note, let's talk about master hand's powers & lore: master hand and crazy hand are beings from the kirby universe who eventually moved into the "World of Trophies", which is a realm that was long abandoned before the hands moved in. in this world, death is an impossibility and instead people turn into "trophies" when they run out of energy. master hand himself has the power to connect worlds together no matter how far apart they are, so this is how he sets up "teleporters" for the smashers to use. he can also partially "overlap" his realm with another so it can share its non-death property, which is what he's done with the stadium built in the host's world so the fighters can battle with all of their strength without worry of death.


• crazy hand's powers? how does master hand fix the mansion so well? if we simplify it and say that master hand's power deal with "space", we can simplify crazy hand's powers into dealing with "time". while he generally seems to be on the destructive and chaotic side, he can actually perfectly replicate and recreate any object inside a world that the "World of Trophies" is currently connected to. it's something he can do seemingly without putting any focus on it, so none of the smashers actually know this is HIS power. also, while most attacks master & crazy hand use in combat (in the video game) are just other innate abilities they have, crazy hand's elemental attacks are because hes been studying to become a wizard. that's canon, sakurai told me himself.


• hey! how about master core? not real. master hand and crazy hand just felt like going crazy with the practical effects. they made a mech and everything! you can find the props in the smash bros warehouse.


• now hold on a second. if master hand has his own massive realm like everyone else, why doesn't he just build a smash mansion on that? he did for brawl! it was the first time his ambitions had gotten too big to rely on existing structures, so he settled on having it all done in his own world. but smash 4 was Bigger so he decided to rent out for the "business" aspect. when the smashers turned out to hate Mr. S and singlehandedly ruined future sponsorship opportunities with him, and after overhearing the smashers wax nostalgic about how they "missed Mr. King", master hand decided he'd rent out again, but this time with the following focuses: 1) an intriguing world (or series of neighbouring worlds) so the characters don't get bored and 2) a person on-deck that wouldn't be in it for the money/fame and could be a bit more personable with the smashers. reason 1 is why he doesn't just hire a host for a "World of Trophies" mansion because there's nothing left there for the smashers to study. also good lord he just wants to be able to go home and sleep in peace sometimes. anyways, despite the host worrying that they should be more professional towards the roster, master hand is pleased with the outcome. (NOTE: i believe in the fic i initially implied that this was tabuu's realm but i have since discovered that it's actually CANON that it's master hand's world. feel free to help out and point at any parts in the fic where this is brought up so i can fix it lol.)


• Sans Undertale: hes a skeleton. ...i just think he's funny. all interactions with sans are canon by the way so write that down


• can i get a list of all the smasher online usernames? yea sure i'll add it at the bottom of this page ONCE i've come up with them all. if you're here wondering why someone would want this: i've toyed with the idea of making a TSATH video game where there will be opportunities to read chatlogs from smashers by inputting their username. the idea is that you would either find the usernames in the game or pull them from the fanfic, but i'm sure there will be character usernames we'll never see either way either because they're technology-inept or anti-social. so when/if the game comes out, i will make sure they are all here.


• ROMANCE CHECK!!! you can gauge the smashers' feelings about the host via the spreadsheet but here's a quick definitive list for ya. obviously some smashers may have more complex feelings than this but this is just a general idea. this list is as of chapter 34, once all characters have been introduced:
  
  

• mushroom kingdom mall (super mario): this is meant to be a reference to stranger things season 3 where there's a secret sick n twisted lab hidden under the local mall. this was meant to be just a reference so i didn't come up with anything concrete that's there HOWEVER we will be coming back here for someone's focus chapter and it's going to have undertale true lab vibes. my default is that there's going to be shroobs here like bowser's basement in partners in time but the truth might get more evil when we arrive here. :)


• kanto's time period (pokemon): what year red/leaf's kanto is currently in is kind of a "floating timeline" type deal. the main points are that leaf wants to watch "future" kamen rider shows while she's got access to them but she also owns a nintendo switch and a lot of games for it. red's pikachu is old enough to have been the one from 64 and it's also a raichu now. both red and leaf are still minors despite there being a clearer passage of time compared to other worlds/smashers. just don't think about it...


• magicant (earthbound/mother): as hinted in chapter 26, ness remembers what happened when he and the host were in magicant in chapter 25, so it is a real dream world! earthbound & mother 1 establish that magicant is not really a "place", but a personalized product of a single person's consciousness. i guess to make a stage out of it, master hand had to get someone to create a new magicant for him...? and now the smashers can just slip inside it when sleeping. oops?


• minecraft world (minecraft): as mentioned above in steve's character section, the minecraft world our cast visited was actually just inside a video game. the host mulls over the seriousness fate-wise of killing the enderdragon, but in reality, it was just a video game world so it won't have a greater impact on anything at all!

• secret of the host's realm! what's in the basement? the "World of Emptiness" is noted in-fic to be shaped by the person who owns it. this is because it is LITERALLY bound to their soul! this is why there are weather and architecture changes whenever the host's mood or health goes haywire, and why they can only use most of their powers while at home. their powers that resemble super strength, telekinesis, teleportation, etc are actually just reality bending. their body is just an avatar being piloted from where the soul is hidden - which is in a secret room in the basement! mewtwo is currently the only character who knows about this, having followed the host's thoughts and used teleportation to access the basement area where the soul is located. "the basement" is basically an alternate way to describe the weird cavity in the dead center of the realm that exists to basically be a "room" for the host's soul. it's a room with no entrances or exits so there isn't supposed to be a way to get there without teleportation, but as the host gets more complacent, the answer-seeking smashers will find a way...


• how about the host's ancestors? how does the realm exchange ownership? they refer to people who owned the realm in the past! there's no blood or family relation to them, but the host acts like there is to avoid explaining the truth. in chapter 16 (the camping chapter) we witnessed a dream the host had where they were talking to two certain characters (spoilers thats pyra/mythra btw). dreams of those who want to escape their worlds can connect to the dreams of the "World of Emptiness" owner. if they both agree to the exchange, they can effectively "swap places". the host was one such person who wanted to leave their old life behind. when the realm owner starts feeling unrest and a desire to leave, they start getting these dream messages from people from other worlds. all it takes is a really strong desire to swap with them and the realm owner will wake up to find themselves in the other world and without their powers or realm connections anymore. ALTERNATIVELY, ownership can be exchanged via a written legal contract.


• host's memories? things from their old lives? the mementos in their room (as seen in the chapter 11 extra) are pieces of their memories that have manifested physically because they can't let go of certain things - but they dont necessarily manifest "perfectly", since it has been such a long time and memories tend to fade... the photos of old friends and family may be screwed up because the host can't remember their faces anymore, OR they are screwed up because the host is desperately trying to forget them and move on. as for "Who" the host is and where they came from: that's mostly up to the reader! the most this fic will eventually establish is that the host is from the same world as rosalina (which isn't necessarily the mario world, but can be if you want) and that they were unhappy enough to run away and become an immortal multidimensional homeowner, but everything else about them is left to the "reader-insert" part of the reader-insert fanfiction. :)


• how long has the host been in this realm? that's also up to you! consider how long it would take YOU to regret your decision of throwing your old life away for this one and that's the canon amount. it frankly doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things if it was five days or a thousand years because time in the multiverse is all relative. the only "canon" bit is that the host knew smash as a video game series before becoming This so they're at least from the same time period as us.


• wait, the host is from rosalina's world???? yeah! they're childhood friends. :) they don't recognize each other because they haven't seen each other since they were kids (and the host has the whole fading memory thing). not to mention, if YOU moved to a new world to escape your old life, wouldn't you also change your name and physical appearance so no one could ever recognize you?


• WAIT, where did this realm come from in the first place if it's formed by people's souls?? the origins of this realm go back far enough that it would probably be impossible to figure out how it came into existence or why it provides the abilities it does. it is important to note however that it will literally stop existing if left without an "owner" to connect to for long enough. in simon belmont's ending, the host will be looking for a way to break their ties to this realm without requiring someone to take their place, believing that this realm is a "curse" to anyone who tries using it as an escape.


• what is the Polyhedron and where did it come from? the polyhedron has always been there. what are you talking about.

• whats the deal with galeem's "World of Light"? the "World of Light" is basically a patchwork world made up of worlds that suffered some sort of event that caused ALL life to die/vanish/stop but the world itself remained. when this happens to a world, it will find itself mysteriously pulled in towards similar worlds and they will collide and merge together. basically, the "World of Light" is made from various nintendo worlds where, in at least one timeline, some kind of life-ending event happened, causing the world's fate to be indefinitely "frozen" because there were no sentient survivors to live there. it's a "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" situation!


• dang dude that's crazy. i'm sure dharkon's world isn't as scary though. the "World of Dark" (AKA "The Dark Realm") is similar but the opposite! instead, people were still alive in these worlds, but a cataclysmic event physically destroyed the world and its fragments were sucked into the black hole that is dharkon's realm. unlike galeem's world, there are actually souls who live here, but because of their despair and trauma from witnessing the end of the world, they typically don't want to interact with strangers.


• ok. wow. how about the "World of Chaos"? this is someone who has the same type of world as the Host (it is made from their soul and they can shape it to their whims) except they use their power to travel the multiverse and invade/consume/destroy other realms. at some point in the fic we'll see the cast enter this realm and get attacked by shadowy monsters - these are basically the realm owner's avatars (in the same way that the Host's body is an avatar being piloted by the soul in another location). they can implant parts of their avatars into people to control them even after they leave the realm. long story short, they have all the abilities that the Host has but simply chooses to use them for evil! we won't be dealing with the "World of Chaos" very much in the fic tbh! they're thankfully VERY patient when it comes to destroying the multiverse, so the Host doesn't have to worry about any attacks on their home in the foreseeable future. local god destroyer kirby will help us with it in his ending tho.


• this is the part where i rapidfire terms i've used that none of my readers understand because it's related to my ocs:
  • parasanguers: mentioned in chapter 16 by m!robin. this is a species in my oc world, which is basically a... well. robin explained it pretty well. but here's a fun fact regarding this line robin says about them: "They’re a real monster… somewhere in the multiverse. It’s impossible for them to be here though - their constitution is too fragile. They can’t exist in a world that’s physical like [...] mine, or Link’s. They need a world more… spiritual. Unified." he's basically saying that parasanguers can only exist in worlds that are made of magic or "energy". based on the above information: sounds a bit like the host's realm, huh? (note: this isn't "lore", it's just a fun quirky connection between tsath and my oc world! teehee)
  • society/sodality of the strange: first mentioned in chapter 16 by cloud. this is the title of an rp series that my friends and i (mostly my friends, i was a late joiner) did! beyond the general premise, i try to keep the explanations to only be about things my own characters did to avoid dragging my friends' works into my fanfic without permission lol. you unfortunately cannot read it to understand the references i'm making and will continue to make, but i promise it's a literary masterwork.
  • the storyteller/xalcian showdown: ok. this hasn't come up yet but at some point i am going to make a self-indulgent crossover chapter involving my ocs, who are ALSO doing a multiverse fighting tournament called "xalcian showdown". "the storyteller" is the "The Host" over there, aka the one who owns the realm and the mansion. they have very similar lore, right down to the way their realms work... which i actually came up with in my oc world first, then used it for tsath, then i went "hey i should make an oc world story like tsath/smash bros" so the cycle of influences here are infinite. anyways this chapter will happen when i release something involving that oc content, so uhhh... you might have to pay me real money to understand what's going on in that chapter? sorry for bein self-indulgent i just want my ocs to meet their favourite characters. in terms of current relevance: Aqua and Haven of "Sodality of the Strange" fame will be there! isn't that exciting?? (although their lore will be changed...)

• fanfic roadmap! buckle in because this is pretty long! this is ripped straight from my notes and is subject to change, but this is around when you can expect certain arcs and plot reveals. the numbers will probably change because keeping the schedule flexible helps me not burn out, so consider it more like a percentage line? so chapter 50 may not actually end up being chapter 50 but it will be about 50% through the fic, etc. i've bolded any important landmark chapters as well. as we get closer to certain chapters to the point where i can nail down their exact numbering, i'll add more details about them!
  
  • chapter 27: Corrin chapter. hot springs event. min min makes a cameo.
  • chapter 28: first official min min appearance. the host joins the "Kids' Club".
  • chapter 29: steve & sephiroth officially arrive at the mansion. the gang plays basketball.
  • chapter 30: first official pyra/mythra appearance. otherwise a filler chapter mostly for introducing the idea of the smash bros charity party
  • chapter 31: Kirby chapter. picnic in kirby's world
  • chapter 32: Red chapter. first kazuya appearance. the gang plays pokemon go. also the formal introduction of the smash bros chatroom.
  • chapter 33: sora arrives, and finally the roster is complete!
  • CHAPTER 34: the smash bros charity party! round 1 of the singles tournament is complete. this chapter will have a Game where all the smashers are in masks, and if any readers can puzzle out who the ~10 "disguised" smashers are (the rest of them get revealed during the chapter), then they can get characters of their choosing in the next chapter. in-universe, any smashers who evade having their identity found can pick one of the 12 moving onto round 2 of the tournament and challenge them for their spot. readers can basically choose if they prefer to Win and have their fav character get more appearances, or throw the game if they want to see a certain smasher thrive in the tournament. i suspect people would rather the prize for Winning but if a smasher goes undetected then that's what you can expect!
  • chapter 35: Inklings chapter. the gang plays splatoon in real life. also karaoke with the squid sisters!
  • chapter 36: the smashers start a band
  • chapter 37: Isabelle chapter. the host helps isabelle start a smash bros podcast. from here on, we may see podcast segments as chapter openers instead of tournament fights :)
  • chapter 38: Captain Falcon chapter. the first official date chapter.
  • mr. game & watch, ridley, sonic, rosalina, cloud, (jigglypuff+piranha plant), and bowser get focus chapters around here
  • (pikachu+pichu), pit, and k.rool get focus chapters around here
  • the singles tournament will end at some point among the above chapters and there's a small break before the doubles tournament starts. singles finals gets its own standalone chapter with the winner as the main hangout character. (note: this is the case with all five major tournaments, but i'm not going to point it out after this cuz i have no clue where the end of future tournaments will land!)
  • (shulk+lucas) focus chapters around here
  • chapter 48: THE GAME SHOW CHAPTER: a chapter that will be preceeded by a reader vote of the top 5 favourite romance candidates (all adult characters are eligible) and those five characters have to participate in a game show to win the host's heart. a vote may also be held for top 5 platonic/child characters and those 5 will be the judges.
  • chapter 49: THE CRAZY HAND DATE CHAPTER
  • chapter 50: Daisy chapter. this is also the chapter where the smashers learn about the true nature of the host and their realm (specifically about the soul aspect), which discussed a little more directly in the next chapter.
  • chapter 51: Mewtwo chapter
  • zelda, (rob+greninja) have their focus chapters around here
  • chapter 60: Ganondorf chapter. in which the host accidentally signs away ownership of their realm. the characters and the readers learn how the realm works first-hand while the host no longer owns it.
  • chapter 61: Pyra/Mythra chapter. this is somewhat a follow-up to what the audience learned in chapter 60 and has a focus on the "realm ownership exchange" aspect.
  • mario, and meta knight have their focus chapters around here.
  • around chapter 65?: stamina squad strike (3v3) tournament starts. unlike singles and doubles, this is an "optional" tournament that the fighters can choose to not sign up for so it'll be shorter than the previous two (on top of the fact that 3-person teams will make it way shorter). the main reason for this is because the numbers dont work out for 3v3 lol.
  • lucina, simon, link, (min min+ice climbers), dark pit, (wii fit trainers+little mac), diddy, and palutena have their focus chapters around here.
  • around chapter 75?: spirits tournament starts. this functions similar to the stamina tournament in that it'll be "optional participation" but it'll be singles so it might be a little long. i'll cut down the roster to 64 fighters so the brackets divide evenly :)
  • samus, peach, master hand, kazuya, robin, chrom, ken, roy, and falco have their focus chapters around here. kazuya's is important because i'd also say it's the end of the host's character arc. which feels kind of weird to announce when it's not the end of the fic? but uhhh yea
  • around chapter 89: the rare focus on a minor tournament - the popularity tournament! at the end of the previous chapter, the audience will get a poll with EVERY smash character on it and top 8 will compete in a traditional bracket for what is the last chance to get a spot in the final tournament. the chapter itself will focus on the characters rallying for votes in-universe, with the results revealed at the end.
  • chapter 90: THE FINAL TOURNAMENT STARTS. this is a tournament that exclusively features winners of previous singles tournaments, which includes ultimate's four major tournaments, any off-screen minor tournaments (check the spreadsheet for those), and the champions of past smash seasons (pikachu, ganondorf, and f!robin). the winner of this becomes the new champion of smash.
  • wolf, luigi, richter, and snake have their focus chapters around here. any characters who have not gotten their focus chapter yet will get it before chapter 98.
  • chapter 98: championship tournament finals & the resulting hangout with the winner.
  • chapter 99: the final day. the final "everyone is here" party.
  • chapter 100: epilogue
  • afterwards: there will be a separate fic that compiles endings for every single character (one chapter each ranging from 1k words to 4k words.), and finally a "harem" ending.
  
  ...SO YEAH. that's a rough outline of the whole fic. all characters who are not mentioned can have their focus chapter idea happen at any time independent of the plot or other characters' arcs, so those will happen spontaneously whenever i think the moment is right. if you're doing the math, you can probably tell there will have to be over 100 chapters of this fanfic if every character is going to get their own chapter they can star in (and admittedly some of them have to share with someone else! oops) but for the purposes of this draft i am pretending that we can end this with a nice round 100 chapters since that makes it clear how deep into the fic some of these events happen.


• plans for a sequel fic? for the next smash game? i've mentioned in public that when they inevitably make a new smash game, i plan on making a fic that's set after the "canon/neutral ending" (the master hand & crazy hand ending - they ask the host if they would lend out their realm for future tournaments) that features focus chapters for any newcomers and includes cameos from any returning characters. i choose the neutral ending over the harem ending because the neutral ending will imply that the host ends the fic on being "just friends" with all the characters, whereas the harem ending WHILE IT WOULD HAVE FUNNY ROMANCE DRAMA might take attention away from the new characters. in my mind i see it as a smaller fic where there's an introduction chapter, one or two chapters per new character, then a finale once the game's dlc dev cycle is done. the whole thing would just be trope-filled adventures instead of the overarcing plot we have in tsath. i'd definitely want to do cpu tournaments for it as well, so maybe we could get an extra chapter for the winner? anyways every day that passes i get more and more scared that a new smash game will come because HELP i am not ready for a new fanfic!! let me live, nintendo!!!


• other fic plans in the tsath universe? during the early days of the fanfic i was really ambitious and thought of a lot of different ideas. i wanted to do a non-canon spin-off with characters i wanted that didn't make it in. i had ideas for spin-offs about what certain characters were doing between games (like f!corrin's travels between smash 4 and ultimate). another idea was an ultimate reunion party at the host's mansion that turns into a legit murder mystery where the smash ultimate roster dies(!!) one person at a time every night until the crime is solved. however as of this current writing it has almost been 7 years since i started writing this fanfic and i have lost ambition for a lot of ideas and also simply want to be able to focus on other projects, so it'll just depend on if i get inspired by anything! i'd rather just focus on the main fic at this point and pray i can finish it before i wither away!


• do you actually expect to finish tsath?? HONESTLY? no (: i hate to admit it but: one hundred chapters is soooo many... i've actually never finished a multi-chapter fic before! but tsath is not only the one i've stuck with the longest and keep coming back to - it's also the one i've written the most for! thanks to there being so many characters, both the challenge and diversity always makes me feel like i'm writing something i've never done before, so i never feel like i've COMPLETELY lost the drive or the muse. there's literally always a character i'll be down to write, and that ropes me back in to write the other 99 characters. but like i mentioned above: i REALLY want to work on other projects too, so i'm sure one day i'll have to prematurely close this fanfic for good since my chapters are generally too long to write more than one a month. so until then, i hope my writings are providing you with a lot of enjoyment and are perhaps inspiring you to Create in some way of your own!!! and if i really dont finish, my promise to you is that i'll make all my notes public so y'all can at least have your questions answered!


• hey sometimes you say that all your fics are canon with one another. what. *i bring out my conspiracy board* EVERYTHING is canon. ok so with what you learned about the host from above, consider this timeline: (only considering my fics with reader-inserts because the rest don't matter) (BY THE WAY: ENDING SPOILERS FOR ALL MY FANFICS LOL. IF U CARE.)
  
  • "I Was Raised By Legendary Kamen Riders?!": this fic is literally all about the circumstances of the MC's birth so it has to be the first one. the reader-insert is a cyborg made by dai-shocker & an original villain group called "soulless" that was built to grow up and kill the kamen riders. this one is also the most canon because in smashanigans chapter "Free Time: Breakfast", the host mentions having an uncle who grew up in the amazon. this is a reference to kamen rider amazon. at the end of this kamen rider fic, the MC finds out the truth about themselves but their kamen rider dads still love them.
  
  
  • "The Fame Monster" series: so after the MC moves out from the kamen rider home, the kamen rider bank is what funds them living alone. meanwhile in another world, sans uses his machine and accidentally inserts the monsters into this world's Mt. Ebott. the monsters get free, become celebrities, sans accidentally transports more skeletons to this world, and years later MC meets sans undertale (and the other skeletons) and they become besties. kamen riders being real establishes why toby fox can be a dog in real life. important to note that monster & human relations are relatively chill because the kamen riders are there to defend everyone. its true look it up. (also yes this does mean that rosalina is from the kamen rider world. write that down.)
  
  
  • "What are you doing in my house?!": sans manages to send his AU counterparts back home. he also manages to send himself and the canon UT cast to another world, hopefully where they belong. with the undertale cast gone, MC goes into a depression but it's not long before smash characters suddenly start emerging from their nintendo switch! ignore the chapter where i got mad at my dad, that one isn't canon. i would never be mad at jin keisuke. they don't remember meeting smash characters later on due to memory loss.
  
  
  • AU TIMELINE: "WELCOME TO THE [[Fun House]]": this is the world sans sent himself and the canon UT cast to! an AU version of our MC is looking for a job to fund the repairs for their apartment due to the smash cast going wild (they don't want to tell their dads because they'll think it's a shocker plot and take away their nitnendo switch) and gets in contact with sans and papyrus. MC hasn't met them in this timeline. whether or not this is the world canon UT "belongs" in, i think sans would give up and would just be happy to be with his bestie again. as a result, this timeline is going Somewhere Else and probably wouldn't have any of the following fics after it. it just loops back into being mc x sans moments like "The Fame Monster". we'll leave this AU timeline and return to the main one where MC has depression.
  
  
  • "The Star(Platinum) Crusader": THIS ONE IS REALLY IMPORTANT. due to their cyborg roots and extended exposure to the undertale machine (theres a chapter in "The Fame Monster" where it literally gets turned on while they are in the room), the MC somehow gains the ability to go to another world (same ability that pulls characters from the video game into reality, just in reverse) and also see stands despite not being a stand user. THEY GET EXTREMELY TRAUMATIZED IN THIS ONE after seeing a lot of dead bodies and also experiencing time stops & dio. they also become besties with jotaro and kakyoin, so write that down. (aside: i think meeting jotaro again would have solved everything that happens after this and tsath would not have happened. MC and jotaro were each other's last lifelines. sakurai is a jojo fan so i cannot tell you how dangerous it would be to the tsath timeline if the first anime character in smash was a jojo. everything would have to change. no more harem it's just 100 chapters of trying to become friends with jotaro kujo.)
  
  
  • "Tea Party" & ""HOW TO STOP A MURDERER" - A Step-By-Step Guide by The Great Papyrus": The Void starts to come after MC for timespace crimes (saving the jojo characters that were supposed to die) and locks them in the undertale loops INSTEAD OF FRISK the next time frisk resets. every time they get out via the true pacifist ending, The Void does something to hurt them or the monsters and the despair causes MC to start over for the "good ending". after all, they saved everyone in the jojo world, why can't they save everyone here!!! the MC goes mad and somewhere - perhaps due to a damaged soul or to old shocker programming kicking in - they start thinking "oh boy! if i kill my besties sans and papyrus then i get to stay with them forever! no one can ever hurt us in the underground!" this eventually ends with papyrus convincing the MC to try true pacifist again, and in the new timeline, MC tells sans and papyrus everything.
  
  
  • "Temporal Enemy #1": MC and the monsters reach the surface and as an apology to their friends, MC lets The Void toss them into another timeline so that it will stop bothering this one. at this point, MC is not only an established badass thanks to the "raised by kamen riders" thing, but they are ALSO literally a kamen rider thanks to their "Heartstone Driver". where the Heartstone Driver comes from isn't established in this fic, but you can extrapolate that either A) the kamen riders gave it to MC in case they needed it one day or B) it's a result of their Stand ability, which manifested after jabbing themselves with the stand arrow found in dio's manor. anyways MC's shocker-soulless programming allows them to forge "soul bonds" with people, and combined with the heartstone driver they can use those bonds to get new kamen rider forms or cool weapons. anyways this is a timeline where undertale is not a video game it's just real, which throws a wrench in what MC knows about befriending them. MC is clearly not surprised to meet the skeletons BECAUSE THEY'VE MET BEFORE IN THE "THE FAME MONSTER" TIMELINE but thanks to the no mercy stories, they feel a lot of guilt and don't try to pretend they are still friends. this one ends with sans and MC going to another timeline together. for reasons.
  
  
  • "The Princess, the Skeletons, and the Dragon": excess timespace hopping can cause memory problems (this is hinted at in tsath with the host's memory) so one day after numerous timeline-hopping adventures together MC and sans end up in the 1500s or something and The Void's big trick to get rid of them this time is to just give them natural places in the world and let their memories rewrite themselves. neither of them remember each other or the past. MC is killed and both sans and papyrus (who are dragons now) fuse souls with them to save their life (THIS IS WHY THE HOST KEEPS SEEING SANS IN THEIR DREAMS!!!!! THEY'RE CONNECTED). the three of them are transferred to a new undertale timeline when a normal present-day sans activates the machine that brings all his AU counterparts into his timeline. this fic ends with MC learning magic after fully absorbing sans' and papyrus' souls, which would lead to them figuring out their cyborg and timeline powers again as their memory starts to come back.
  
  
  • "the Smashers and their Host": MC's memory eventually returns. they remember their family. they remember their friends. they remember not only the horrors that they experienced but also the horrors they have inflicted on others. the weight becomes too much and they yearn to escape, but the skeletons being absorbed into their soul prevents their timespace hopping power from working, because those guys are "locked" to the world (or at least papyrus is). so they accidentally reach out with their dreams. the previous owner of the realm swaps with them and... well. it's been decades and MC is still trying very hard to forget. and they've forgotten a lot, which is why The Void now leaves them alone (but this is why MC is so scared to go to other worlds and accidentally influence their plots)! but there are things that are difficult to let go of... perhaps the smashers can fix them?
  
  
  • ...and of course: the timeline after tsath splits 100 ways to account for every individual character ending, the neutral ending, and the harem ending. some of them would probably reference their past life. did you know there's an ending where one of the smashers becomes a kamen rider? yea there'll probably be something about fic 1 in that one. i'm sure of it.
  
  
  ...also this is NOT serious, do not consider this "real" canon to tsath. "the host's lore is whatever the reader wants it to be" is the primary canon, but this "canon" is just for multifandom freaks who enjoy my fanfics and like to be crazy. aka it's just for Me. if you're the type of person who has trouble relating to reader-inserts and would rather an established OC, then feel free to consider this canon! yea it does make the host a little sick and twisted but ummmm haha don't worry about it :)

• ARE MARIO AND DR MARIO THE SAME PERSON??? ok the spoiler talk is over. i have to go now. thank you for reading my silly little story!! :)