Xat RP

The Xat RP (otherwise also known as The Nameless Xat RP) is an ongoing roleplay hosted on the flash-based chat site Xat. Originally nothing more than a "playground" for the chat-goers' characters, it quickly evolved into an RP in its own right, with its own gothic storyline and unique characters. GMed by SDM, it has also served as a testing ground or a waste dump of some of his scrapped ideas for the main RP series, with several characters and concepts making early debuts.

Recently, the Xat RP was officially recognized as a canon piece of the Anathemus Mythos, and as such now has stronger connections to other series (in particular the Hellgate Saga) within the mythos.

The RP is currently in its fourth "season," and SDM has said that it will end after the fifth.

History

 * Main Article: Season Zero

The origins of this RP can be traced back to the early days of Shifting Worlds, on the War of Light and Darkness Xat chat which was owned and maintained by SDM. During his infamous "meltdowns," he would often change to one of his character's personas, and act them out with full awareness that they were characters. Often this involved complaining about SDM and being stuck in his head. Eventually SDM started to argue and debate with his own characters. As time went on and the majorty of SW moved on to the Skype group, those who remained behind starting copying this behavior, leading to a "playground" of sorts in which the characters of the participants would interact with each other (while generally berating their players).

Season 1

 * Main Article: Season One

It is difficult to determine the line between what is being called "Season Zero" and what is being called "Season One," but for the sake of this article Season 1 is said to begin with the invention of the "Pony Gun." At that point, heavily inspired by the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic along with a fansong known as Rainbow Factory, SDM and Arachnos began to harass the chatgoers by forcibly turning them into ponies.

A very loose plot then followed, with sessions happening at random, oftentimes with long gaps in-between. The "story" was little more than the Factory and his chief engineer, Arachnos, performing dubious actions while pretending to be acting in the best interests of Equestria. On the heels of Season Zero, many characters were still aware of what they were, and were sometimes even the subjects of these malicious acts. Some significant events include the Factory's assault on Gotham City, and the attack on the "Generation 3" versions of My Little Pony.

Season 2

 * Main Article: Season Two

Season Two was marked by a sudden increase in interest, with sessions becoming much more common. The plot became much more defined, and over time became more and more solid. The line between the "Playground Era" and the world(s) the RP was set in was firmly established here, and has remained intact ever since.

Season Two can be said to begin with the reveal that Hellgate was in fact the CEO of Rainbow Factory Industries, thereby making him the Factory's boss. The earlier parts of the Season, behaving somewhere between Season 0/1 and the modern era were still sparse and loose, but gradually grew tighter as it became clear that Hellgate and Factory had a specific goal in mind (that being, the revival of Unicron, defeated sometime in Season Zero). Factory also fully embraced his ruthlessness, including breaking and twisting the kind character of Fluttershy into an efficient killer known as Agent F. The sudden appearance of the Red Brother threw a spanner into Hellgate's plans, and he was forced to align himself with even Arachna of all beings in order to repel him. Eventually, the conflict awakened the sleeping Anathemus, who then proceeded to destroy Equestria and the new world they were hiding out in.

Arachna was the only survivor. She fled to a different universe as Anathemus returned to sleep, and convinced everyone of this new world to surrender to Hellgate's demands lest he reawaken the dark god. Hellgate was then immediately thrust as the new ruler of Equestria, and he went on a rampage, killing almost everyone. Those he didn't kill he psychologically tortured, going so far as to make the Factory and his agents kill that world's Celestia and Luna themselves. When he grew bored of the ruined world, he ordered Arachnos to open a portal to yet a different Equestria, so that he may continue to spread carnage.

The portal led them to a technologically-advanced version of Equestria, and Hellgate found his reign of terror stopped by this world's Hellgate and Factory, who knew enough about Anathemus to dispell Arachna's misinformation. Hellgate then disappeared, and the agents of the other Equestria were melded into the Tecquestrian Factory's forces, with the other Factory being given a robot body named Executor.

Sometime later, a rift into a strange dimension was torn open, and four agents, O-Lynna, O-Arachnos, T-Arachnos, and Executor, went in to investigate. There, they encountered Nihilius and Anathemus, the latter of which threw them into yet another Equestria at war with the Nihilius Clan. The four agents were now Anathemites, pieces of the Dark One himself. This led the new world's Factory into a paranoid state, where he ordered their destruction. The Anathemites were ironically saved by the Nihilius Clan, who worshipped them as Gifts of Anathemus.

The Anathemites were not comfortable with leading the Clan on their genocidal rampage, and thus Executor came up with a complicated plan that involved setting himself up as a villain in order to draw the Factory's suspicion and hate to him and not the others.

It would be some time before this story was continued...

Season 3

 * Main Article: Season Three

Even though storyline-wise Season Three could be said to have begun around the time of the introduction of Techquestria, SDM has officially called everything after his return from homelessness as Season Three. This is because, according to him, up until he had become homeless he was not taking the RP seriously at all. After his return, he saw the RP in a new light and started devoting energy into actually planning it out. This was shown through the more organized storyline, with no trace of the randomness from the earlier seasons present, the weekly scheduled run time, and each session being fully contained within itself, as opposed to having vague beginnings and endings. It even gained an opening and closing theme (albeit accidentally)

Season Three resumes where Season Two left off, with the Anathemites putting Executor's plan into motion. Executor became the High Lord Executor, and led the Nihilius Clan on a very deadly campaign that resulted in much of Equestria being destroyed. Executor fully embraced his role as the villain, to the point where even his former friends were no longer sure of his intentions. This campaign was halted, however, by the sudden return of Nihilius. Needing to train their Nihility powers more, the Anathemites returned with Executor to the Nihilius Clan in order to learn. Meanwhile, back in Equestria, the Factory and company had to fend off Nihilius as he regained power.

When Nihilius was finally defeated, Executor kicked the Anathemites out of the Clan, and resumed the war. He met his death unexpectantly soon, but that was not the end of the Clan. Three months later, the Vocus Remnant surfaced and continued Executor's campaign, while secretly building a monstrous superweapon out of the moon itself.

Season 4

 * Main Article: Season Four

The current season of the RP. It was here in which SDM officially began to count each session as an "Episode" and each major overarcing storyline encompassing the sessions a "season" (though he had been counting them as such near the end of Season 3, but it wasn't until here that he made it official).

The episodes in this season are more scifi than gothic, a large change in the RP's style. This is to the point where SDM says that the main characters will eventually be leaving Equestria and going to other worlds (strangely mimicking what happened with the later stages of Hellgate 2).

The plot of this season revolves around the alien species known as Sayans. Following the final defeat of the Nihilius Clan and the Vocus Remnant at the end of the previous season, Hellgate returned, now seemingly on speaking terms with his other half. The two then enacted a scheme to "create" an artificial god aura by draining the planet of all life using their own version of the Pegasus Device. Thanks to the efforts of the Special A Unit and G Squadron from the Rebellion, along with the sacrifice of the Elements of Hamrony, the demonic houses were sealed away, and their evil dream silenced.

Meanwhile, another sinister force manipulated events from behind the scenes. An alien had come to Equestria, along with three others. The siblings, Jack, James, and Saiyo Greenspan. This being had the ability to alter the perception of others, allowing it a strange form of shape-shifting. This being, called a Sayan, had managed to infiltrate ERAC, posing as the deceased Aurion. After devouring James, it made Saiyo out to be a scapegoat, which allowed it to roam free while Saiyo came ever closer to execution. Thanks to the efforts of her surviving brother, the Sayan was exposed for what it really was and vanquished. Unfortunately, it had become clear that the one who sent the Sayan to Equestria was none other than The General.

Season 5
SDM had previously confirmed that this would be the final season. However, due to the restructuring of XRP and a re-application of the term "Season," this is no longer the case. SDM projects the final season will not be Season 7 or Season 8, depending.

Season 5 is set to debut "soon."

Participants
Players: Characters:
 * SDM (GM)
 * Arachnos
 * KanakoVoWG
 * Magmetor7 (Partial)
 * ShadowAurion (As of the Remnant Arc of Season 3)
 * SDM
 * The Factory
 * Hellgate
 * Executor
 * Patchouli Knowledge
 * Vocus
 * Vocus-Three
 * Vocus-Six
 * Valis Ail
 * Wolfgang
 * Jack Greenspan
 * Souichirou Kusakabe
 * Arachnos
 * Terminos
 * Oneiros
 * Kanako
 * Lynna
 * The White Father
 * The Red Brother
 * Mr. Hood
 * Aurion
 * Yeshaida
 * Daisuke
 * Maria

Solos

 * Main Article: Category: Solos

Starting with Season Three, the Xat RP gained its own brand of "Gaidens" called Solos. "Fallen Friend", by SDM, was the first Solo to be written and began a trend that continues to this very day. Solos, as their name implies, are single-author events, though occassionally done through a cooperative effort. Solos provide extra backtory and character moments that would not otherwise work in an RP format. Somewhat ironically, Solos are closer to the actual meaning of Gaiden than what the SW Gaidens are (with the latter sometimes having key information, the most egregious example being The Hellgate Gaiden).

Significance
Originally, the Xat RP was nothing more than something done to relax and have fun with characters. It was never taken seriously, even by SDM, up until near the end of the second season. SDM himself has used the RP as a testing ground for some of his ideas, sometimes introducing them early. An example of this is the character of Nihilius, of whom was set to debut in the RP of the same name. However, the long and troubled development of that RP led to SDM introducing the character and his main concept early. In fact, that concept wound up becoming the central driving force of the RP itself, that of being a figment of a god's imagination while he sleeps.

The RP, having a less rigid structure than its mainline bretheren, also allowed SDM to reintroduce older characters and give them a new take. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the Nihilius Clan. After their initial appearance in Hellgate 2 Part II, in which they were little more than a generic doomsday cult, the Clan recieved little further development aside from being "somehow" connected to Anathemus. Using the "Dream" concept, SDM expanded on what that connection actually was, adding much more depth to the group and its leader, Vocus. SDM declared that canon to the Hellgate version as well, but it wasn't until the warm reception of the new take did SDM begin to consider the RP itself as having more weight.

After the emotionally-driven success that was the Dark Beast Saga, SDM officially declared the Xat RP as canon to the Mythos, making the already somewhat-apparent connection solid. This has allowed SDM to further expand the RP with ideas from the mainline series and vice-versa, including introducing a younger version of Kusakabe to the Xat RP's G Squadron and confirming that the two versions are one in the same. This also means that, in the grand scheme of things, the Xat RP is set about ~20 years before the Hellgate Saga (despite several references to the events therein. SDM handwaves this as different universes operating at different times).

Trivia

 * As SDM's homeless became inevitable, the Xat RP was the only RP to be moving during that time. Feeling that he didn't need to put as much effort into it, it became a source of relief while his home life crumbled around him. This may have contributed to SDM's later grown interest in the RP.
 * The "Dark Beast Saga" of Season Three remains one of SDM's most well-recieved story arcs, and was a major factor in his decision to declare the RP canon. SDM even admits that it's one of his own personal favorites, as well.
 * Althought Kanako is one of the only members who still has characters act as if they are self-aware, this has been mitigated to two characters: Mr. Hood and O-Lynna. It should be noted that both of these characters have deific powers to them, and thus can be reasonably expected to work past the divide between the characters and the members.