Dasein

Dasein, originally referred to as the Nothing, was a mysterious sentient void originating from outside the Spiral that was brought to the Spiral when the Wizard pierced reality as the Divine Paradox. They were once studied by the Celestians, who called them Anti-Reality. During the Cabal's Grand Summit at the Von Trap Estate organized by the Old One, Dasein opened up a Cavity while searching for the Wizard that inadvertently swallowed the Old One. This Cavity was followed by several more in Sweetzburg, the Nibbleheim Mines, and the Black Licorice Forest. When the final Cavity opened up within the Executive Dining Room at Nana's Headquarters in Karamelle City, Dasein first encountered the Wizard and took the form of their Divine Paradox avatar, becoming the Aberrant Paradox and attacking them. Dasein was dispelled by the Wizard, who saved the Grand Nana in the process.
Sometime later, Dasein emerged from the Cavity and took on the physical form of the Old One as projection, whom they had absorbed into themself. Dasein had pangs to find Lemuria, and after unsuccessfully trying to get information from Sybil they traveled with the Wizard to Mirage to find proof of the world, which was found in the form of a mosaic that had been stolen by the Serpent Social Club. The quest for proof of Lemuria continued, with Dasein and the Wizard going to the Royal Museum in Marleybone City, where they would be directed to the museum's Storage Warehouse and find two more mosaics there. One of the mosaics had been discovered by Stallion Quartermane, causing Dasein to see the Old One's memory of a secret lab in the mountains of Polaris. They traveled there and found the lab with the help of Zoot, uncovering the mystery of Quartermane's lost expedition and finding the man himself frozen cryogenically in the lab after many years. With Quartermane by their side, the quest to find Lemuria continued as he found his old map to the world from the Quartermane Tower, directing them to the Warded Door to the Forbidden Wing in the Arcanum.
Using the Key to the Cage from the Arcanum's Dead Archive, the Warded Door was opened and the Old One's Office was finally accessed, containing the miniaturized world of Lemuria in an orb. The Wizard used a console to reverse the miniaturization, putting it into the Spiral and allowing the Spiral to provide Lemuria's Mana and Lifeforce rather than the failing World Synthesizer. Once inside Lemuria, Dasein had no further drive or impulse, as his need to save it was salved. But this also gave Dasein a newfound emptiness. However, being in Lemuria somehow stopped Dasein's negative effect on others, with Stallion Quartermane losing his headache. Dasein also felt different, though didn't know why. Dasein soon decided they wanted to exist as the Wizard does, and they agreed to help the Wizard find the World Synthesizer. Together, they collected the six Attunement Stones from the Old One's Monitoring Stations in the Wildlands, Ursai Village, Night Forest, Mandoria, Sky City, and Heap, unlocking the Harmonic Gates in Telos. After the Old One's Scion was defeated and the World Synthesizer was taken back to the Hall of Heroes, the Heroes turned on Dasein and the Wizard, not wanting the Synthesizer to be destroyed because of its power to create a better Lemuria. Once they were defeated, Dasein sacrificed himself by absorbing his projection into the World Synthesizer itself. The Synthesizer was taken back to the Arcanum and broken by Maulwurf von Trap, releasing something into the Spiral that resembles Dasein.
==Biography==
===Awakening===
Dasein existed as simply a singular point without any space around them, equipped with only their thoughts. When the Wizard became the Divine Paradox, Dasein's existence was breached and for the first time they were able to see outside of their own existence, forcing them to realize they were simply a sentient void, absent of anything.
===Cavity attacks===
In order to try to find the Divine Paradox, The Old One attempted to hold a Grand Summit to unify the Arcanum with the Cabal, but before the event could truly start Dasein opened a Cavity underneath the Old One on his platform, pulling him inside. These Cavity openings only continued, with more at the Gummy Plant in Sweetzburg, the mines of Nibbleheim, and the Black Licorice Forest.
===Dueling the Wizard===
Dasein opened the final Cavity within the Executive Dining Room at Nana's Headquarters in Karamelle City, pulling the Grand Nana, Copy Qhat, Quake Charmer, and Judge Veg inside. To save the Cabal, the Wizard and Maulwurf von Trap jumped inside the Cavity and rescued the Cabal members. The Wizard continued to hear strange noises, prompting Maulwurf to suggest they investigate while he and the other Cabal members went to the surface. Walking on a strange shadowy walkway to a platform, Dasein emerged from a void, took the form of the Wizard's Divine Paradox avatar and attacked. The Wizard was able to best them, causing Dasein's Divine Paradox avatar to turn bright blue before shattering and fading away.
Once the Wizard left the Cavity, Dasein turned their attention to the Old One, who was still inside the realm. Dasein became the Old One, merging him into themselves while taking on his physical form. At some point while in the Cavity, Sybil saw Dasein and called them "Nothing".
===Finding Lemuria===
====Emergence and pangs====
Not long after, Dasein emerged from the Cavity as the Old One, and went to the Arcanum to try to find the Wizard. They eventually came into contact with them and met them outside the Musicology Office. The Wizard believed that the Old One had died and that they were talking to the same individual from the Grand Summit, unaware that Dasein had actually merged with him. Dasein claimed he didn't remember the Cavity, only abstractions and thoughts that gnashed and gnawed and ached and hurt him, so he needed the Wizard's help to find the thing he needed to salve his pangs. To find it, he told the Wizard to ask Sybil about Lemuria, as she could see everything and had seen him in the Cavity. But to the Wizard's surprise, the Tree of Knowledge did not awaken, and Zander explained that the Tree of Knowledge would only speak when she deemed it totally necessary. Zander called Lemuria a fable, and left the room after stating that he had gotten a headache. Dasein disagreed with Zander's belief of Lemuria as simply a fable, implying that it was an invention instead. Since Sybil refused to speak, Dasein instead was set on finding solid proof of Lemuria. He remembered something in Mirage, so the Wizard headed there and Dasein said he would meet them there.
====Stolen antiquity====
In Caravan, Dasein expressed to the Wizard that it was more difficult to focus and sustain themselves there than it had been in the Arcanum. Nonetheless, they told the Wizard to go speak to the merchants of Caravan and ask about Lemuria. Talking with several individuals, the Wizard came across Feroz, a Dromel merchant who offered them information on Lemuria in exchange for returning his wares from the criminal Serpent Social Club, who had taken them to a nearby cave. The Wizard managed to defeat the two Snakes in the cave, Bushmaster and Cottonmouth, with the both of them threatening that the Wizard had been marked. Like Zander earlier, Cottonmouth received a headache. Dasein remarked that the encounter was violent, and that the cave they were in was not the correct one to find the proof of Lemuria. While he tried to find the right cave, he told the Wizard to return to Feroz.
The Dromel expressed gratitude for clearing out the Snakes, and went on to state that he did not believe the Serpent Social Club was an honest organization, naming off locations that they had expanded to. When Feroz mentioned Alkali Barrows, Dasein repeated the name in a loud and drawn out manner which Feroz was able to hear but didn't understand, instead mistaking it for the words of the Wizard. Before long, Feroz was left with a headache, and declared that he must rest. Dasein, however, was confident that the Alkali Barrows were where Lemuria could be found, or an Important Cave that pointed the way, and urged that they must go at once.
Just outside the cave, Dasein could feel the pangs of Lemuria, and so they entered with the Wizard. Inside, the Wizard fought off two Prickly Bears, and Dasein was briefly distraught at the proof not being where they thought it would be, before they found a remnant of a mosaic on the wall showing the Lemurs, the denizens of Lemuria. The mosaic had been stolen, and it caused Dasein to remember that the Old One was amused by the many homages made to him and the myths, rumors, and legends involving him. This line of thinking directed Dasein to the word antiquity, with the Wizard noting the Serpent Social Club dealt in antiquities, in turn leading Dasein to suspect the Snakes had stolen the mosaic. To find them, they headed off to the place where thieves go, the Thieves' Den.
At the Den, Dasein told the Wizard to speak with the Barkeep, as he kept up with all of the patrons. The Wizard asked for information on the Serpent Social Club, but the Barkeep insisted it was a "top shelf product" that wouldn't be cheap. Dasein yelled "WHERE ARE THEY?" to the Barkeep, immediately causing him to get a migraine and reveal that the Snakes were in the Thieves' Den's backroom. Inside, the Wizard and Dasein encountered Mrs. Viper and Diamondback, who Dasein noted were holding on to the mosaic of Lemuria that had been missing from the cave in the Alkali Barrows. Dasein's presence inflicted a headache onto Mrs. Viper, and she and Diamondback engaged in a fight with the Wizard but were defeated. Diamondback declared that the Wizard had only won because of his headache, and left the room. As Dasein continued to admire the Old One mosaic, Mrs. Viper explained its significance to the Wizard. She said she didn't believe the Old One was real, and the Wizard, believing Dasein to be the Old One, tried to say he was standing right beside her, but Mrs. Viper was unable see them. Her headache worsened, and she reiterated nobody was there; "Nothing." Dasein heard this, and noted that Sybil had called them the same thing. Mrs. Viper gave the Wizard the mosaic as a show of respect for their ability to defeat her, and told them to leave.
Back into the main room of the Thieves' Den, Dasein explained their origins to the Wizard, revealing to them that they had simply taken on the form of the real Old One, that the Divine Paradox had brought them into existence as they now understood it, and the truth of the events in Karamelle. Dasein said they were fading and couldn't sustain their form, as the Everything rejected Dasein. However, they urged that Lemuria must be found, and wished someone out there could see it. This prompted the Wizard to speak to Bartleby about Lemuria on Dasein's behalf, but Bartleby discovered that even though a land of Lemurs had existed, it had been blinked from existence centuries ago from under his notice.
====Learning the truth====
Not long after, Bartleby had new revelations about Lemuria. In the wake of the Lemurs' disappearance, he saw a trail of discordant notes that distorted the rhythm of existence and warped reality in order to obscure the theft of whole pieces of the Spiral. This information had been discovered by Dasein, whom Bartleby could not see, therefore making them not of the Spiral or even of worlds beyond. Bartleby informed the Wizard that the Old One was actually no more; he had absorbed into Dasein. Only the Wizard could follow Nothing to Lemuria, and Bartleby believed that it must be found and the song that brought it together silenced. Dasein understood the Old One's final wish; to save Lemuria, which he believed was dying. Dasein revealed that their thoughts and the Old One's were merged, and that they could see into his mind and his memories. To get more clues of Lemuria like the one found in Mirage, Dasein accompanied the Wizard to the Royal Museum in Marleybone City. Entering the museum's Storage Warehouse nearby, they managed to find two more Lemuria mosaics, one of which was marked as discovered by early Spiral explorer Stallion Quartermane. The murals depicted the Old One grabbing at the pieces of the Spiral that Bartleby described, stealing and combining them to create Lemuria.
Dasein was able to access the Old One's memories, which told of a "Project Lemuria" that Quartermane and Old One had been working on together, as well as a secret lab in the mountains of Polaris. The Wizard and Dasein went to Taylor Coleridge's Tiki Bar in Penguinonia and came into contact with Zoot, who directed them to find Quartermane's lost expedition in Madness Mountain. They fought through Crazy Eyes and even found the journal of Stallion Quartermane himself that detailed his frustration with the Old One and his quest to restore the stolen worlds. Inside the secret lab, the Wizard found a control panel that played a message from the Old One, where it was revealed that the Old One had a need for Lemuria to have people like Stallion Quartermane, so he froze him in a block of ice. The Wizard released Quartermane from the ice, and together they would go back to the Royal Museum to find Quartermane's map to Lemuria. They would then find themselves in the Stallion Quartermane Memorial Tower, and fought through the Rogue Engineer's Iron Golems to find the map. Stallion Quartermane and the Wizard went to the Arcanum, and there outside the Forbidden Wing in front of the Warded Door, Quartermane and Dasein explained that that behind the gate was the domain of the Old One, his office before the Great Schism of the old Arcanum and where he fragmented worlds to build Lemuria. It is behind the Warded Door that Quartermane believes Lemuria will be found.
==Relationships==
===Allies===
*Barkeep
*Feroz
*Old One †
*Olivia
*Stallion Quartermane
*Sybil
*Zoot
===Enemies===
*Rogue Engineer
*Serpent Social Club
**Bushmaster
**Cottonmouth
**Diamondback
**Mrs. Viper
==Abilities==
*Absorption: Dasein absorbed the Old One, merging the Old One's thoughts with theirs.
*Avatar creation: Dasein created several "abberant" duplicates of the Wizard that attacked them. They also became a copy of the Wizard's Divine Paradox form.
*Pain manipulation: Dasein's presence overloaded the brains of beings due to the incompatible signals they send. This is the reason why they couldn't see them and experienced discomfort or headaches, though the Wizard's atypical mind was immune from the signals.
*Spatial manipulation: Dasein has the ability to open holes through reality in the form of Cavities.
===Weaknesses===
*Manifestation struggle: It required a lot of focus for Dasein to stay within existence, and if they lost focus they would briefly disappear before focusing enough to appear again.
==Trivia==
*"Nothing" was first mentioned by Sybil at the end of Empyrea Part 2, who stated to the player and the other characters in the Arcanum that they had "Nothing to fear."
*The "Nothing Divine" concept was done by Adam Roush.
==Appearances==
*
==Notes and references==
==External links==
*
Category:Individuals of unspecified gender