Alternate Universe: Difference between revisions
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An '''alternate universe''' (AU), in both canon fiction or fanfiction, is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with the canon series, but different in some fundamental way.
There
The [[Alter Ego|alter egos]] in the ''Daria'' credits show AU versions of the characters for a laugh: Daria as a happy cheerleader, O'Neill in Vietnam, Kevin as a punk rocker.
''Deliberate'' AU stories are seen more often since the show went off the air. A number of fanfics done while the series was ongoing - like [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]]/[[Trent Lane|Trent]] [[shipper]]s in which they actually date - have ended up as ''de facto'' AUs due to divergences in canon, but may or may not have been intended at the time to be an AU. A notable exception is [[Kara Wild]]'s [[Driven Wild Universe]], which was deliberately intended to split away from the ongoing canon.
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In the first, the
Three particular points in the series are often used as the diverging point in this AU. The first episode of the series in which Daria arrives in Lawndale and meets Jane, "[[Esteemsters]]," has received enormous attention and has been re-written many times. (See [[Esteemsters and Daria Fanfic|"Esteemsters" and ''Daria'' Fanfic]] - examples are "[[Victory Lane]]" by [[Brother Grimace]], [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29897&start=0 Iron Chef: Real Esteem].) The circumstances and fallout of [[The Kiss]] have also had great attention, being a significant (and divisive) moment in canon (see [[Dye! Dye! My Darling#Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic|Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic]]). Daria/Trent [[shipper]] tales that strengthen the crush into mature love and the entire Daria-Tom-Jane triangle have also been revisited on a regular basis, though the former less often of late - examples of this include "[[Vengeance]]" and "[[Out of the Slushpile]]" by [[Nemo Blank]].▼
An alteration to the family dynamic of a character can also cause an AU: a family member may be absent entirely ("[[Malice of Absence]]" by [[Renfield]]), have a different job or social circumstance ("[http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=367528#p367528 Jacob Morgendorffer, Esq]" by [[CAP]]), or simply have turned out different due to a small change.
▲Three particular points in the series are often used as the diverging point in this AU. The first episode
A popular subdivision of this AU are stories in which the sex of a major character is reversed (assuming the usual 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl with each birth); the [[John Lane series]], [[Finn Morgendorffer]] series, and "[[Darius]]" are examples, but earlier tales along this line have been told, such as [[MMan]]'s "[[Brother, I Asked for It]]," in which Daria [[dream world|dreams]] Quinn had turned out as Quint. It's most common to see a male version of Jane - there've been John, Jake, James and Zane Lanes - in order to see how the Daria/Jane dynamic would be with Jane as a male (and thus a potential love interest). Notably, when Daria or Quinn's gender is switched, the siblings are usually shown to have a ''better'' relationship than in canon, under the assumption that they'd be less 'in competition'; the Finn Morgendorffer series is a notable exception, with the relationship being far ''more'' vicious and ugly. ▼
▲A popular subdivision of this AU are stories in which [[genderswap|the sex of a major character is reversed
A specifically targeted version of this AU is the [[Alternate Ending]], where an author will often rewrite the ending of an episode to show what they'd have preferred to have happened. One of the earliest, "[[A Desperately Needed Ending (to "Depth Takes a Holiday")]]" by Kara Wild, was to make the then-recent "[[Depth Takes a Holiday]]" fit into the show's semi-realistic tone.▼
▲A specifically targeted version of this AU is the [[Alternate Ending]], where an author will often rewrite the ending of an episode to show what they'd have preferred to have happened. One of the earliest, "[[A Desperately Needed Ending (to "Depth Takes a Holiday")]]" by Kara Wild, was to make the then-recent "[[Depth Takes a Holiday]]" fit into the show's semi-realistic tone.
===Changed universe===
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In the second type of AU, a change to world history has taken place—the Confederacy wins the American Civil War, Nazi Germany wins World War II, etc.—and the story describes the possible consequences of such a change. "[[Gone]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] (Cuban Missile Crisis turns nuclear) and "[[The Other Side of Time]]" by [[The Sidhe]] (Confederacy wins) are two such examples. This kind of story is called '''alternate history''' or '''counterfactual history''' in mainstream science fiction. For details, see [[Science Fiction#Alternate History SF|alternate history SF]].
A subdivision of the second type is for the ''Daria'' characters to live in a clearly fantasy-based universe, either a crossover with another fiction or an original story. A key example would be the crossover "[[Esteeminator: The Daria Morgendorffer Chronicles]]", where Daria lives in the universe from the ''Terminator'' franchise. A more recent example is [[Daria In Morrowind]] by[[ WellTemperedClavier]] which, as the title suggests, takes place in the province of Morrowind from The Elder Scrolls franchise. There are many stories in this second subdivision about ''Daria'' characters as [[superheroes]]. Various canon characters are assigned roles as heroes or villains, depending on their behavior in the series. "[[Legion of Lawndale Heroes]]" is the longest running of these, though "[[Lawndale's Finest]]" (an explicit DC Comics crossover0 also has notable length.
An increasingly popular type of this second AU is one where the Daria cast exist in a different time: "[[Rocket Girls]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] moves Daria and Jane to the late-1940s, "[[Import/Export]]" by [[Brian Taylor]] is set during Prohibition. Some fanfics move the show forward from the 1990s to the present day - or what ''was'' the present day when it was written - to examine how things might be different as a result of the change, such as "[[Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope]]" by [[The Angst Guy]]
It is also possible to find two types of AU combined in a single fic, such as in the [[Daria Von Doom Series]]. Within events of the show, Daria breaks up with Tom early, during ''[[Is It Fall Yet?]]'' This occurs after Daria discovers that Tom hadn't included her in decisions about attending Sloane family activities, like the Starry Night Ball. In addition, the common history is different from the AU is different from regular ''Daria'' continuity by occurring within the [[Marvel Universe]], making the series a [[Crossover|crossover]] as well.
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[[Image:Flip69.gif|right|thumb|240px|Axis victory in World War II is one of the more common alternate histories.]]
In the broader science-fiction field, alternate-history stories have tended to support the idea that the present world represents the best of all possible outcomes in history. This view has been used in ''Daria'' fandom, too, though less stridently; [[Brother Grimace]]'s "[[Victory Lane]]" is representative of this approach. The [[John Lane Series|John Lane]] stories by [[Richard Lobinske]], however, reveal a [[Daria Fandom Lexicon|Dariaverse]] ''better'' overall than canon, as does [[Mystik Slacker]]'s "[[The Butterfly Storm]]." Worlds in which events change but the overall pro-and-con outcome is almost like canon can be seen in [[The Alchemist]]'s "[[Jane on the Side]]" and [[The Angst Guy]]'s "[[Click, Click, Boom]]"
Still, an idea persists that, as the series shows, Daria did more good than ill, and her removal would cause more trouble than her presence (e.g., "[[It Slipped Through My Hands, Like a Shadow, Like a Dream]]," "[[Daria's Addition]]," and "[[After the End]]" by [[The Angst Guy]]).
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While many AU's are one-off stories, it is also common to see an AU be the basis of a series of fanfictions. In the more fantastic AU's, these stories will rarely be based on specific episodes, as the world is highly different to canon and the cast may not even be at Lawndale High.
A few of the "canon-based" AUs, like the [[Driven Wild Universe]]
A more common approach by many authors with "canon-based" AUs is to show alternative versions of specific episodes, and how they've been changed (drastically or with minor elements) by the AU's diverging point. Often, these series start directly with Daria's arrival in Lawndale ([[John Lane]], [[Finn Morgendorffer]], [[God Save The Esteem]], [[The Jake Lane Chronicles]]) but can start later in canon ([[The Longest Year]]). The further the series lasts, the more divergent the AU-episodes might get until you end up with a wildly different end point ([[Finn Morgendorffer]]). Some series may mash up multiple episodes into one story (Jake Lane).
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Due to a widespread interest in sci-fi & fantasy among Daria fans, fanfic writers have created a number of organisations that look out for and patrol the various universes: often, they will be staffed by alternate versions of known characters. Several of these groups have become [[shared universe]] concepts, open to all writers: they include [[DELPHI]] (a covert intelligence organization within the U.S. Government on various worlds with inter-dimensional travel capabilities), the [[Ringbearers|Corps of Ringbearers]] (a pan-dimensional group similar to the Green Lantern Corps and the Lensmen, but with a focus on threats of supernatural origin, humanitarian relief efforts and covert intelligence-gathering operations), [[The Agency]] (another pan-dimensional organization that acts to maintain temporal/universal integrity, in the same vein as the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers! Voyagers]'' and ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Quantum_Leap Project Quantum Leap]''), and [[The Foundation]] (mystical group trying to keep the omniverse intact).
A ''vast'' amount of original characters exist in these fics (for a DariaWiki list of original AU ''Daria'' characters, go to [http://www.dariawiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Alternate_Universe_Characters Alternate Universe Characters]) and a number of them are either specific, highly divergent AU versions of canon characters, or a family member that only exists due to the divergent universe. Examples of the former include [[Judith]], a sociopathic supervillain Daria who crosses over into other universes; and [[Lynn Quinn Michaelis]], a Quinn distorted to ludicrous effect in "Joel Schumacher's" [[Daria the Movie]]. Examples of the latter include [[Veronica Morgendorffer]], a third Morgendorffer sibling who is younger than Quinn and is irritated that Daria keeps forgetting about her; [[Evelyn Veronica Morgendorffer|'Evie' Morgendorffer]], another third Morgendorffer sister who is unseen because she is a boarding student at [[Grove Hills]]; and [[Darren Appleton]], a Morgendorffer sibling who was stolen at birth and given to a wealthy couple.
Several of the original characters have appeared in fanfics set in different AUs and some have been used by several different writers, becoming shared universe characters.
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====AUs in ''Daria'' Fanfiction====
* [http://
* [http://
* [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31298 IC: What would Lawndale be like if...] ([[PPMB]])
====Miscellaneous====
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080515053530/http://www.the-wildone.com/dvdaria/
[[Category: Fanwork Conventions]]
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