The New World

El Goonish Shive Story Arcs
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The New World is the twenty-first story arc in the main canon of EGS. It opened Aug 20th 2018.

The Legend of Diane

When Diane was a child she was given a assignment at school to write about the person she admired the most and she chose her father since he adopted her and ger sister (Rhea) and she considered other men and boys jerks.

When Diane met Rhoda and Lucy at school on the Monday after she met Susan and saw the fight against the vampires they were surprised that she had had a haircut and wore a long-sleeved shirt. Rhoda asked her if she disguised herself to avoid attention due to killing a snake monster and Diane told them that it wasn't she who killed the monster, as it was actually Susan.

As Diane was hard to recognize due to her haircut she overheard two men saying that she was an easy sexual exploit and a woman telling another that Diane was so unlikable that the men could only be interested in her for sex. When Diane told Lucy and Rhoda what she had heard Lucy said that she shouldn't be surprised and that there were similar rumors about herself. Lucy was highly disappointed by Diane's failure to realize what other people said about them. When Diane noted that Lucy had become grumpier Rhoda said that Lucy had become nicer to her.

When Diane and Lucy went to junior high school Lucy complained about boys making fun of her for being tall and hitting on her. Diane comforted her and declared that they would find the good boys together. Diane told Lucy that she wanted her date to pay for her to show that they were willing to be providers for their future family and that dating experience was good for understanding boys. Later they realized that they and their boyfriends were too young for serious relationships and decided that their dates were more about hanging out together. When Diane introduced her new friend Rhoda to Lucy Lucy was jealous when Rhoda blushed from Diane's praise. Even later Diane admired Nanase but was embarrassed when Rhoda sugested that she was attracted to Nanase.

After Diane learned about the rumors about her she wondered how she could fail to realize there were such rumors and a childlike personification of her innocence appeared in her imagination and said that she was bad at introspection. Diane's inner child explained how she slowly stopped feeling close to the boys she dated as dating became a habit and pointed out that she once called Justin defective because he wouldn't date her since he was gay and because she was bitter about Rick being gay. Diane's inner child also pointed out that she already wanted something better, as shown by her interest in Nanase and Elliot, her helping Charlotte's Angels and her recent makeover back to her childhood look.

Diane thought about apologizing to the men she dated but concluded that they either didn't deserve or didn't need apologies but she should apologize to Justin. She thought that those who believed the rumors about her wouldn't believe her if she denied them but then remembered that there were rumors about Lucy too. She jumped onto a table in the cafeteria and told those present what she had overheard and that she was a virgin in the hope that those who lied about her would doubt what others said about Lucy. The men she had overheard accused each other of lying and admitted that they lied and so did others. Two other men at the cafeteria declared that everyone should stop judging each other for whether they are virgins and the others agreed.

Lucy realized that Diane denounced the rumors for her and said that she went on double dates to be with Diane and left to visit the school nurse. Diane caught up with Lucy and hugged her. Diane tried to say that she already had what she wanted and Lucy interrrupted her to say that she shouldn't have expected Diane to realize that she waas in love with her and declared "You will always be my light". Diane kissed Lucy. Diane said that she already had much of what she wanted with Lucy and that "You will always be my light" was the most romantic thing anyone ever said to her and they kiised again.

Rhoda told them that Catalina was her girlfriend and Diane and Lucy said that they had already realized that, which made Rhoda angry since she had kept her relationship with Catalina secret because she feared how they would react. Rhoda also asked them to go on a double date with her and Catalina.

Diane thought about why her birth mother didn't tell Adrian Raven she she was pregnant. She then remembered that Mr. Raven had lost his mother and decided to apologize to Justin instead of thinking of her biological grandmother. When Diane apologized to Justin he pretended that he didn't remember what she was apologizing for.

The Secret of Sam

Months ago Grace stared at Sam because she was surprised that someone was apparently a woman had a beard and Sam told her to look up "trans" and keep it secret. Later (Squirrel Prophet) Sarah asked out Sam for a maybe-date.

On the Wednesday after the minor change of magic Grace told Sarah that her clothes changed with her. When Grace mentioned the change Sarah became sad and to distract her from thoughts about Pandora Grace asked about her not-date with Sam. They watched a movie for the not-date but before they watched it they came up with a story based on the poster for the movie and they were disappointed by the actual movie. It was fun to talk about the movie but Sarah was disappointed by the lack of intimacy. Grace didn't tell her that Sam probably avoided hugging because Sarah might notice that he was trans. When Grace lay in bed she briefly felt guilt about not telling Sarah why Sam didn't hug her but decided not to out Sam.

On Friday Grace planned to smile at Sam at Salty Crackers Comics to make him feel safer since he knew that she knew his secret but she worried that he might think she was making fun of him. Luke asked her if there was anything weird going on like when she left after the lights that appeared in the sky. Grace felt uncomfortable about Luke knowing something of her secrets and realized that Sam might feel the same about her. When Sarah and Tedd arrived at the comicbook shop Sarah told Grace that Sam wouldn't be there that day. Sarah asked Luke about his date with Justin and Justin told her that they hadn't been on a date yet because of Justin's work schedule but they would date next Friday. Grace was tempted to give Sam magic transformation technology but realized that it would be a bad idea. During a Magickal Gatherings tournament Sarah and Tedd thought about Pandora and Grace hugged them.

When Grace and Justin were cleaning up the comicbook store a bag of dice fell on the floor and Grace morphed out her antennae to sense where the dice were. Tedd and Grace told Justin that the antennae helped Grace shapeshift precisely by enhancing her senses.

At the college dorms Luke's friend Camdin, who could transform into a cloud of smoke, asked Luke if he had learned anything new about magic. Camdin was disappointed by the lack of progress and said that he would gather information with his powers.

On Saturday while Grace and Ellen were at the mall Grace thought about Sam and Sarah and told Ellen that she didn't know what she should do. Ellen assumed that she felt guilty about not fighting the monsters at the mall and said that Grace's real power was her kindness. While they were hugging Grace saw Sam flee from her.

While Grace lay in bed on the night after Sunday she thought about Sam avoiding her and decided to get his phone number from the shop to contact him. When she was about to get his phone number on Monday she decided that she shouldn't. Then she heard that Sam was at the comicbook store and his voice had changed. After confirming that Sam was transformed Grace asked him if he had a magic mark since she was worried that he might be indebted to Voltaire.

They went outside and Sam told Grace that he avoided her and the comicbook store because they might notice that he was transformed and that he had a note from Pandora saying that she gave him the magic mark. Grace told Sam that she knew about Pandora and when she tried to reassure Sam that it was good that it was Pandora she started crying. She explained what happened to Pandora. Grace declared that she would leave Sam alone but Sam said that she wasn't bothering him since she had kept his secret and he had heard about her sheltered upbringing.

Sam asked to talk to Grace about being transgender. He told her that he used to identify as lesbian and didn't want to come out again. He said that he didn't want to be the first person whose coming out involves magic. He asked if Sarah knew about magic and Grace answered that Sarah knew about her magic but Sam didn't want to come out to her anyway. Sam said that he was unsure if he wanted to be in a relationship with Sarah and Grace said that he should talk about his feelings with Sarah.

A cloud of smoke who called themself Smoke overheard Sam mention transformation and asked him to show it. Grace offered to show her own transformation instead. When Grace changed into her omega form Smoke was surprised that it was an unfamiliar kind of magic. Smoke left and Grace realized that Smoke was a wizard. Grace transformed back and told Sam that Smoke probably wanted to learn a spell but couldn't learn hers. Sam said he would like to give everyone his spell. Grace told Sam that she was going to report the encounter with Smoke. Sam gave Grace his phone number and Grace told him that Sarah accepted her and she thought it would go well if Sam came out as trans to her but couldn't tell him most of her reasons for thinking so as they were secret.

When Grace told Edward Verres about Smoke he said that wizards, except seers, can't see any difference between spells they can't copy and seyunolu transformations. When she lay in bed Grace realized that it felt good to transform in public and she hated hiding what she is.

Q&A 8 - The Lord Of The Q&As

This Q&A session is set in a fantasy RPG-style dungeon and in addition to Amanda and Lisa, Sarah, Diane, Susan and Rhoda are there. It answered the following questions:

• Grace's face and figure recognition is heightened when her antennae is out. Is this because she's feeling their faces and bodies with her psychic antennae?
  • No, it's purely visual.
• What are Tedd's preferred gender pronouns?
  • Pronouns acknowledging his current form, or male pronouns if his current form is unknown.
• Does size transformation affect people's voices?
  • Yes, but shrink transformations don't change voices as much as much as if the obeyed the laws of physics or as much as height transformations.
• How does Tensaided's rental shop stay in business?
  • (Answered by Tensaided himself) Video rental stores still exist and EGS takes place in an unknown year in a different universe.
• How can we best tell Sarah and Diane apart?
  • They have different hair styles, Sarah has a round nose and a round jaw whereas Diane has pointed nose and jaw, and Sarah has more "junk in the trunk" than Diane.
• Why didn't Voltaire try to have Tedd killed rather than traumatize him?
  • (Answered by Voltaire) Tedd's parents were too dangerous to Voltaire and an upset Tedd could discredit his position.
• Is (insert several character names here) somewhere in the autistic spectrum?
  • Dan is not qualified to make that judgement.
• Speaking of research, how does Dan go about his for EGS?
• What sort of spells can't be copied by wizards?
  • Some spells, such as Sarah's simulated time stop, can only be copied by wizards with the right magic affinity. Seers can copy such spells but it would require a special wand.
• Can magic that teleports away things worn by a person remove piercings and implants?
  • Piercings can only be removed by spells specifically designed to remove piercings and implants can't be removed.
• Why are so many characters LGBT+? (No issue with it, just wondering)
  • Amanda questions if most characters are LGBT, mentioning Elliot, Susan and Sarah. Lisa points out that they are bisexual.
  • Gender fluidity and bisexuality feels like the default to Dan and he missed LGBT characters in the eighties and nineties.
• It's been established via the EGSNP storylines Marker and Escape From The Mall that name-based affinities, in which people can have affinities based on strange names, are a thing. Could you intentionally change your name in the hope of getting specific spells?
  • Changing your name to get a name-based affinity generally doesn't work but parents could name a child at birth to give them an affinity and if awakened magic users changed their names for that purpose it could affect what spells they get unless those spells require affinity.
  • (Added after complaints that birth names having magical effects is offensive to transgender people) If a person doesn't accept their birth name it will not give a magic affinity. Both first and last names have to be blatant puns to give a name-based affinity. If someone changes their first name for deeply personal reasons it could give a name-based affinity together with a pre-existing last name.
• What are Grace's antennae made of? Are they just hair?
  • They have a core not made of hair. What the core is made of is unknown.

Title Pending

On the Thursday after Elliot and Ashley's second date was interrupted by Magus and Sirleck they planned a new date but Ashley didn't want to go to Elliot's house again. When Elliot talked to Tedd on Saturday, after the date, he realized that Ashley needed friends to talk about magic and decided to throw a party next Saturday. Edward Verres decided to stay with Lavender for the weekend.

On Monday at school he told Sarah and Susan about the party but Susan didn't want to talk about magic. After Susan left Sarah told Elliot that Susan felt numb from too many feelings after the vampire attack at the mall.

When Ellen invited Nanase and Justin she told Nanase that she and Ashley are "dragon sisters". Nanase said that she hoped that the party would help her ge over her suspicion of Ashley and Justin pointed out that Grace and Elliot are much like Ashley.

Liz was worried about Ashley's feelings but Ashley couldn't tell her about her secrets. When Elliot invited Ashley to the party she asked him why they threw a party and he told her that the original idea was that she would get to know other magic users but emphasized that it wasn't the sole purpose of the party to avoid pressuring her.

On Tuesday Sarah told Grace that it felt weird that Elliot took the initiative of throwing a party for Ashley. When Sarah mentioned her hope for romance with Sam Grace, who recalled that Sam has told her that he was unsure if he wanted that kind of relationship with Sarah, asked when their next date would be. Tedd asked if Grace had told Sarah about her encounter with Smoke and Grace told her but withheld Sam's name. Sarah complimented Grace about keeping secrets and Grace hugged Sarah so that they fell off their couch just before Elliot entered the room.

At school Justin told Nanase that he and Luke were unsure what to do for their first date and Diane suggested bowling. Justin was disturbed by her resemblance to Susan.

When Ashley saw Sarah she wondered what magic she had and fantasized about Sarah turning her into a humanoid mouse. When a man rudely bumped into her she fantasized about using magic for revenge and felt ashamed since she would eventually be able to do magic. Ashley asked Liz if her fantasies were evil and Liz tried to reassure her that her fantasies were harmless and she shouldn't be ashamed of them.

When Grace met Rhoda she was tempted to tell her that she is an alien hybrid with transformation powers, hoping that Rhoda would tell her about her own and Catalina's magic, and invite Rhoda, Catalina, Diane and Lucy to the party but decided not to tell her anything because she might be wrong about Rhoda's magic, because Edward and the government would learn about Rhoda, because her friends had secrets that weren't hers to tell, because Arthur could take away Tedd's lab for revealing secrets and especially because Rhoda reaction to learning that Grace is part alien could be hostile.

Susan had an internal debate about whether to go to the party. Sarah told Tedd that she was worried about Susan's reaction if Sarah showed a curvy transformation.

After Ashley told Liz about the party Liz asked Sarah and Susan about Elliot and watched his review show, which convinced her that Elliot is a good guy. She demanded to talk to him. She told Elliot that she was concerned about the safety of the party and that she knew that he is Cheerleadra. Elliot tried to convince Liz that he wasn't Cheerleadra but she didn't believe him. Elliot instead reassured that the party would be safe as the house where the party would be belonged to someone in law enforcement and five of the guests were martial artists. When Liz brought up corrupt law enforcement Elliot didn't know what she was talking about and Liz found his reaction shockingly naive. Liz told Elliot that she met Ashley when she was trying to quit smoking and Ashley asked her if she was well when she was angry from withdrawal and offered to help quit smoking. Liz said that it was stupid to approach an a potentially dangerous stranger that way but Elliot was impressed by Ashley's selflessness. Before leaving Liz asked Elliot to research police misconduct. What Elliot learned made him so angry that he went to the school nurse's office.

Title Pending 2 - Even More Pending

On the day of the party Grace was worried about what Ashley would be like and annoyed that Edward asked her to keep uryuoms secret until later. When Sarah arrived Grace worried about her relationship with Sam but Sarah was happy about the date and said that it was a real date.

When Elliot and Ellen picked up Ashley Ellen called her "dragon sister" but then noted the awkward implications. Ashley told Elliot and Ellen that she had been to parties where others drinked too much and Elliot told her that there was no alcohol at this party and was surprised that Ashley's former friends had access to alcohol. When they arrived at Tedd's house Elliot told Ashley that Tedd is genderfluid and was likely in a female form and Ellen told her that all of the friends except herself changed sexes for Grace's Birthday Party. Elliot explained that Tedd has magic technology for transformation.

Nanase told Grace that she was baffled that Ashley didn't ask her any questions about magic and Grace suggested that Ashley was used to secrecy from stories. Then Nanase showed her new ability to change her fairy doll's clothes. Grace questioned why she wore skimpy clothing and Nanase explained that she thought sexy clothing is cool.

Sarah asked Justin about his date with Luke. Justin noted that she was being rude but was willing to tell her. He told her that they had a bowling date and their lane was beside Diane's. He also told her that Diane's uncanny resemblance to Susan was disturbing and Sarah felt the same about Diane's description. Meanwhile Susan was baffled by how suddenly Diane's relationship with Lucy began.

When Ashley entered Tedd's house she was shocked when she saw Jeremy. Then she tried to pet Jeremy but the hedge-cat fled.

When Ashley met the other party guests she didn't recognize Nanase. Nanase explained that she had stopped transforming her hair. When Ashley asked why she kept it transformed Nanase explained that did it to hide her hair color change when her magic burnout ended. She expressed her approval of Ashley asking questions. Ashley asked if mysterious hair colors are caused by magic. Since Grace hadn't learned about mysterious hair colors at school Nanase explained that some have genetically unexplainable hair and eye colors. Tedd told Ashley that it's likely that mysterious hair colors have something to do with magic but that he doesn't see any direct connection.

Ashley asked Justin and Grace about their work at Salty Crackers Comics. Ashley told them that she used to do soccer and ballet and Justin suggested that she should invent a martial art based on soccer and ballet. Ashley brought up Justin's fight against the fire monster and asked if he had super strength and Justin answered that he probably had an anime martial arts power boosting his attacks. Ashley compared anime martial arts to Ranma ½ but Nanase said that it's more like Dragon Ball. Ashley asked if all of the others were martial artists and Sarah and Tedd answered that they were not and Grace answered that she was. Ashley asked about her abilities and Grace answered that she transforms herself. Ashley asked if Grace turned into a bird to fly while looking for her, Elliot and Ellen. Grace said that she wished that she could turn into a bird like in The Sword in the Stone and she and Ashley bonded over that movie and especially a scene with squirrels. Grace told Ashley that she can transform into a squirrel because she is an alien-alien-human-squirrel hybrid and offered to show Ashley her transformation.

When Diane saw that Rhea, Rick and Elijah were at the video rental store she disguised herself with a wig and a pair of sunglasses and hid. When she told Susan that Rhea is her sister Susan understood that Diane hid because it was hard to explain how she was related to Susan. Susan also asked if Diane kept her relationship with Lucy secret and was surprised to learn that she had told her family because she usually doesn't keep secrets from them. Susan also mentioned that she hadn't talked to her friends about the events at the mall. Diane said that she should tell her friends since they already knew about magic and when Susan mentioned the party Diane declared that they should go to the party together. Susan objected that her friends were supposed to talk about magic at the party but Diane pointed out that she already knew some things about Susan's friends and Susan's latest secret was her secret too.

When Grace showed her squirrel form to Ashley her clothes shrank to fit her. After changing back to normal Grace told Ashley that she thought she would shrink out of her clothes. Ashley was impressed that she seemed to be too confident to be bothered by nudity and let slip that she had fantasized about shrinking out of her clothes and Grace, faking confidence to make Ashley feel better, said that fantasies about embarrassment make sense.

Susan sent a text message to Tedd asking to bring Diane to the party, which made Tedd scared. When Grace realized that Diane probably recognized her when she saw her three-tailed form she became very enthusiastic. Sarah and Justin were nervous about meeting Diane because of her uncanny resemblance to Susan but decided that wasn't a good reason to say no to Susan and the other guests had no objections to inviting Diane. A miserable Tedd said that she had to change before Diane and Susan arrived. Elliot hugged Tedd and reassured her that he accepted her as she is and Tedd decided not to change. Grace declared that she should have realized that Tedd would be uncomfortable with being a woman with strangers. Ashley asked why Tedd was't uncomfortable with her and Elliot explained Tedd knew that she likes sex change tranformations. Nanase, Ellen, Sarah and Justin said that they like sex changes too.

On the way to the party Diane asked why there was a party and Susan told her that it was for Ashley to get to know people who know about magic and also mentioned that Ashley, Elliot and Ellen were kidnapped by a vampire and an alternate of Elliot and that she had avoided asking questions about the details because she didn't want to talk about her own experiences.

Elliot asked Ashley what she thought about his friends and she said that she loved Grace but didn't want to date her since she was hetero-romantic. She also said that Nanase had hit on her since Nanase had shown her fairy doll with skimpy clothes to Ashley and offered to let Ashley hold the doll. Elliot thought Nanase tried too hard to be friendly or to impress Ashley. Meanwhile Nanase thought about how to impress Ashley.