Hands of Chaos

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Hands Of Chaos (abbreviated as HOC) is an Original Character Tournament hosted on Deviant ART. It opened to auditions on January 15, 2011, and officially kicked off on August 8 of the same year with sixteen competitors. The story takes place aboard a dimension-traversing ship called the Black Eden. The tournament is judged by several “Judge Characters” created by the host and co-judges – which, needless to say, are quite varied:

• Myzaraphiston Synderfell, “Founding Member of the Hands of Chaos, and an incarnate version of the Devil.” also, is a woman.
• Rache, “Water based Goddess of Revenge”
• Orion, “A ‘sweet, innocent girl’.”
• The Oracle, “Enigmatic seer and puppeteer of fate.”
• Grand Arsonist Cruul, “A pyromaniac Genie.”
• Siegfried von Eisenhower, “Heavy-handed Inquisitor”
• Ian Caker, “A delicious villain.”

The sixteen contenders are about as varied as they can possibly get. (Each * indicates the round they were eliminated at. The two remaining characters are, as of this writing, engaging in combat in the fourth and final round.)

• Gizmo** defeated by Wildcard
• Vronti Lysing* defeated by Gizmo
• Puzzle, Piear, and Solution* defeated by Dominic and Thurston
• Dreamcaster* defeated by Wildcard
• Raptura the Wall Shadow** defeated by Lilith
• Domnic Payne the Pirate/Werewolf/Vampire, and his Cyborg/Ninja/Butler, Thurston Thurstoner
• Lust* defeated by Lilith
• Anni and the Voice** defeated by Dominic and Thurston
• Wildcard*** defeated by Dominic and Thurston
• Francis & Nel* defeated by Anni and the Voice
• Brasken
• Aiden & Ellixandria* defeated by Raptura
• Vellek* defeated by Nezeki
• Lilith the Succubus*** defeated by Brasken
• Nezeki** defeated by Brasken
• Sven Svenson, the Swede* defeated by Brasken

The essential premise is an inversion of Heroes-R-Us; all of the competitors are among the most evil forces in existence. How evil? The judges threatened to refuse any competitor whose Original Character had even the slightest trace of performing a Heel Face Turn. Indeed, most of the competitors had been pushed beyond their Moral Event Horizon before the tournament began. Of course, it isn’t that simple. The actual plot, disregarding the actual fights, is rather complex, and rather than give it all away right here, it’s enough to say that the Judges (or rather, their Judge Characters ) are pretty evil themselves. The plot is discussed in the article, of course, but per usual, it’s in spoiler brackets. In any event, a few of the participants were able to guess what the eventual plot would be.

As of this writing, the Tournament is going through the final round, but there may or may not be a Sequel Hook leading to another tournament in the same canon.

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Tropes used in Hands of Chaos include:

Incarnation 1

• Affably Evil: Wildcard. Ian Caker, as well. Puzzle may also qualify.
• A God Am I: The ultimate goal of the Hands of Chaos.
• All There in the Manual: All of the information about the Hands Of Chaos is in a few of the journals posted on the group’s page.
  • The participants as well; everything you need to know about the contestants is in the reference sheets they submitted along with their audition. The judge characters likewise have a reference sheet for the contestants’ convenience.
• And I Must Scream: Wildcard feeds Dreamcaster to a carnivorous plant. (it turns out to be Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.) Seeing that she can regenerate tirelessly, it would appear as though she won’t escape any time soon.
  • Until the ship explodes, that is.
• Appropriated Appellation: Wildcard’s name, according to his profile.
• Back from the Dead: Piear.
• Badass Abnormal: Most of the judges qualify, but Orion is notable. She’s just a small, one-armed girl whose only ability is to manipulate the substance known as “powan,” which she carries in a small pouch on her person. In order to be on the same level – or even close – as the other Judges, she has to be badass!
  • Badass Normal: The Janitor.
• Berserk Button: Do NOT say the word “love” in front of Caker – the results can be unpredictable.
• Big Bad: It’s a tournament full of them.
  • Bigger Bad: Myzaraphiston, as captain of the Black Eden. This is also due to the ‘’real’’ reason she is holding the tournament.
• Bloody Murder: Brasken, whose blood is flamable.
• The Cameo: Audrey II.
• The Coats Are Off: Wildcard in Round Three. His shirt, as well. Subverted, though, as he is defeated in that round.
• Chekhov's Armory: The Blackhammer testing grounds. Subverted in Round 1 – Vellek had a bunch of weapons at his disposal but failed to win.
• Chessmaster: Myzaraphiston. For one thing, she managed to trap a god and use him as a power source for the Black Eden. Also, the whole point of the tournament is to get the souls of the participants who die – and being villainous, their souls yield more energy than the Average Joe. Then there’s her plan to blow up the ship and grant her (and her comrades) even more energy.
  • Oracle also qualifies.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Piear.
• Creepy Doll: Anni.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Anni/Voice VS Francis/Nel in Round 1.
• Cyborg: Gizmo
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: Myrazaphiston, to the point that she plans on penetrating the fourth wall in the next iteration.
• Deal with the Devil: Wildcard makes one after Round 2.
• Death by Irony: Nezeki, if you think about it. She managed to defeat Vellek, a were-shark with superpowers, by stabbing him in the back – only to be defeated by Brasken, a werewolf whose only abnormality was highly flammable blood, in spite of Nezeki actually using more of her psionic abilities this time.
• Eldritch Abomination: Raptura easily qualifies. Nobody was willing to fight him! Luckily, Lilith defeated him.
• Emergency Transformation: Gizmo can invoke this trope. Subverted upon his death.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Siegfried von Eisenhower refused to accept any share of the power he would obtain upon destroying the Black Eden in between the multi-verses. This has led to speculation that the winner would be given Siegfried's share of the power.
• Evil Tastes Good: Ian Caker.
• Healing Factor: Dreamcaster, Caker, and Gizmo have the capacity for this. Subverted by Raptura.
• Heel Face Turn: Averted, as the judges made it very clear that any character with the slightest trace of morality would not be accepted.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Oracle and the Librarian. Possibly the Janitor.
• Immortality: Dreamcaster has regenerative immortality; it is implied that she can invoke a resurrective type, as well.
  • The Oracle has this in the form of Body Surf, with a slight overlap between Legacy Immortality as well.
• It Only Works Once: The Oracle may lend its power to a contestant only once. Wildcard used his up right away.
• Karma Houdini: Wildcard lost the tournament, but was spared thanks to a Deal with the Devil.
  • Puzzle, Piear, and Solution also managed to survive.
  • Voice nearly got away, but was killed by Raptura.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Raptura.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Francis and Nel.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Two of them!
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Wildcard invites the winners of Round 2 to a tea party.
  • Oracle has his own seminar, as well.
• The Nth Doctor: Gizmo can invoke this trope. Subverted, of course, upon his defeat.
• Oh Crap: Wildcard, before he is attacked by Dreamcaster in Round 1.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Twice! We have Dominic Payne, a vampire-werewolf hybrid pirate vulnerable to the weaknesses of both, potentially – and then we have Brasken, a more standard werewolf who can fashion weapons out of his own blood (which is more awesome than it seems.
  • Ironically enough, both of them made it to the final round!
• Physical God: Vronti Lysing is a descendent of a thunder-god entity, but as he is not a true god, he’s still mortal, which allows for his death in the first round.
• Plaguemaster: Subverted by Nel. You'd think he'd qualify since he uses "Plague Bombs" as a weapon, but in actuality he's an absolute germaphobe to the point of never removing his full-body suit.
• Precision F-Strike: Wildcard.
  • Also the OCT's theme song, with the line "Good can go and fuck itself."
• Psychic Powers: Nezeki.
• Red Shirt: Everyone who was eliminated in the first round.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Wildcard is a subversion; even though he’s evil, he is at least polite about it.
• Scratch Damage: how Wildcard eventually defeats Dreamcaster.
• Shark Man: Vellek
• Shout-Out: Audrey II
  • “I CHOOSE YOU, PLAGUE BOMB!!”
• Stylistic Suck: their theme song.
• Super Mode: Per Word of God, one of the judges conceptualized a God Mode for each character.
  • He admitted that Raptura’s “wasn’t pretty. He ateYogsothoth.”
• Terms of Endangerment: Lilith and Wildcard.
• Unwitting Pawn: Siegfried, initially.
  • Every contender, to a certain degree. Wildcard discovered the scheme and opted to become a witting pawn instead.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Raptura was capable of this, but he never fully utilized this capability.
  • Subverted by Wildcard. His ability appears to be this, though it’s actually illusion.
• Xanatos Gambit: The judges’ true agenda consisted of this, regardless of who won the tournament.
  • Wildcard’s creator attempted to invoke one, as well.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: No matter who wins, the Judges win.

Incarnation 2

This is a work in progress. No tropes are available for this folder yet.

• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The essential premise.