Epithet Erased FAQ

Epithet Erased-related Questions that I am Tired of Answering.

If you ask anything that has already been answered on this page, it will be ignored and deleted!

Q: Will there be a Season 2?

A: I don’t know.

Currently there are no official plans for Season 2’s production. Epithet Erased cost about $300,000 to make and the majority of that came out of my own pocket. If you want another season your best bet is to help me rebuild my personal funds on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/jelloapocalypse) or by purchasing official merchandise like posters, shirts, (https://teespring.com/stores/jelloapocalypse) and the official soundtrack. (https://plasterbrain.bandcamp.com/) It would take somewhere between 2-3 years for me to build up savings to anywhere near that point on my own without additional funding.

If VRV was interested in funding a Season 2 then that would speed things up! Let them know you want another Season by using my link: http://vrv.co/jello

I don’t know the inner workings of VRV, but I’d imagine this doesn’t count for much unless you use the free trial and then *stick around afterwards* for at least a month. That way VRV knows they can actually make money off of this. You wanting a second season is nice and all, but they’re not going to be interested if it doesn’t profit them somehow.

Q: What words can and cannot be epithets?

A: Here are the epithet rules:

The characters don’t know this, but epithets exist in the Epithet Erased universe because everyone in this world speaks the exact same language. The in-universe rule is that once every member of a species speaks the same language, the words of that language begin to manifest physically because everybody understands them. This means that any word with a widely-understood meaning can become an epithet.

Yes, this includes slang. Yes, “Yeet” can be an epithet. I have literally gotten over 100 people asking me if “Yeet” can be an epithet.

A word needs to enter the collective public’s understanding before it can be an epithet. This means a word that only you and your friends use cannot be an epithet, but a slang term common across a major metropolitan area could be.

Brand names cannot be epithets. Your epithet cannot be “Wal-Mart”.

There is a small exception to this rule: If a brand name becomes so synonymous with a concept that it eclipses the brand itself and becomes a general term all on its own, THAT word can be an epithet. For example: “Thermos” is a household term for a specific object. That object is technically called a vacuum flask, but nobody knows that. So “Thermos” would be the epithet.

If a word acquires new meaning over time, that meaning can be used in an epithet’s powerset.

Once a word becomes a viable epithet, it never loses that status. This means that slang words from the 1920s nobody uses anymore like “horsefeathers”, “bushwa”, and “spifflicated” can still be someone’s Epithet. This means that a lot of “mundies” have epithets they don’t know about, but their words are so archaic that they’ll never realize it.

The Epithet cast doesn’t speak English, they speak a sort of “fantasy Esperanto” language formed by combining all their world’s languages together. This means that words in any language can be an epithet.

Epithets are traditionally *one* word, but there are exceptions. For instance, the term “Ice Cream” means something very specific that can only be expressed in English by putting two words together. Meanwhile in other languages such as Spanish it’s just one word, “Helado”. We can assume that any “two-word” epithets are represented by one word in the Epithet language.

Epithets consist of two parts: The word itself, and the concepts attached to that word.

If a word has multiple concepts or associations (such as Molly’s ‘Dumb”) then the user may tap into as many of these meanings as their creativity allows. Oftentimes users will tend to drift towards one specific connotation of their Epithet. For instance, Molly associates “Dumb” with the inability to speak, and thus her powers manifest as the ability to mute sounds. She can also use the other definitions, but she is not as skilled at these and typically does not tap into them unless she is under duress.

Q: How does “having an epithet” work?

A: Epithet Rules Part 2:

Inscribed people are born with their epithet attached to their soul at birth. It is completely randomized whether or not you will have one, and what your word will be.

Everyone’s epithet starts at “Level 1” and is extremely weak. To “level up” your epithet, you have to use it more. Epithets are primarily based on the user’s creativity and self-understanding, so they need to understand and experiment with their powers if they want to strengthen and diversify them. This means that a baby will not come out swinging with the ability to breath fire. The baby does not understand “fire”, and will have no chance of unlocking their epithet until they can comprehend basic concepts.

Genetics do not affect epithets. For example: Molly and her sister have epithets, but both of their parents are mundies. The reverse is also fairly common.

Under no circumstances can two people have the same epithet at the same time, even identical twins. Similar epithets are allowed to exist though, and depending on how the users train them they may end up having near-identical power sets.

Derivatives of words such as “Burn”, “Burning”, and “Burned” all count as the same epithet.

If an epithet user dies, their epithet becomes obtainable again and in the future someone may end up with the same epithet. This is extremely uncommon, but possible.

Epithets may affect or reflect their users mental or physical state (EX: Mera), or they may not (EX: Molly). It’s all in the luck of the draw.

Epithet powers are present whether the user is aware of them or not. This means that inscribed can feel the effects of their epithet or even accidentally use their own powers without knowing they even have them.

Similarly, inscribed can “level” their epithet without ever knowing they have one.

The stronger your epithet, the more it manifests on your body. This usually starts on or around the eyes, but not always. (EX: Zora’s “tattoos”, the crack in Mera’s irises).

People cannot “misinterpret their own epithet" and get a different power by, for instance, thinking their epithet is another word. Epithets are only “up to interpretation by the user” so far as the word actually works. For instance, Molly can use the word “Dumb” to stop people from speaking or to “dumb things down” (two definitions of the same word), but she cannot misinterpret her own word as “Drum” because it sounds similar and use her epithet to make a marching beat.

Q: How do characters learn that they have an epithet?

A: This is probably the most-asked question that I get. Epithets consist of a specific word and a general meaning. Inscribed tend to stumble on one first, then use that to explore the other.

Many inscribed discover their epithet by hearing their own word.

It’s hard to describe, but if an undiscovered inscribed hears their epithet spoken or sees it written down they may have an internal “spark”, like a sudden burst of inspiration. Almost like someone just complimented a part of themselves they didn’t even know they had. If they focus hard on that spark while thinking of their specific word or a concept adjacent to it, they may be able to unlock their epithet and begin experimenting with it.

This is much more common when they hear their epithet spoken aloud, so trying to sit down and skim through the entire dictionary is usually regarded as a bad idea. That doesn’t stop mundie kids from trying, but they usually give up around the Bs. You need to actively be paying attention, so if your mind starts to skim the words like you’re glossing over a restaurant menu it won’t actually work and you’ll just be wasting your time.

Undiscovered inscribed can stumble upon powers pertaining to their word without knowing what their specific epithet is. For example, an inscribed may have discovered that they can manipulate sand while at the beach, so they assume they have a beach-related word like sandcastle or crab. Little do they know their epithet is “arenology”, the study of sand.

Most inscribed figure out their epithet sometime between ages 8-18. A fair number of inscribed figure out their power in their 20s or 30s. A few figure it out late in life, and many never figure it out at all.

I really like the idea that inscribed can go undetected in society for years (purposefully or otherwise). That gives me a lot to play with in terms of worldbuilding and character reveals.

Q: Can [CHARACTER]’s epithet do [THING]?

A: Maybe.

Q: What is [CHARACTER]’s birthday/height/weight/favorite snack/etc.?

A: I have honestly never thought about these things and do not have an answer for you.

Q: Can you tell me more about Giovanni’s group of Banzai Blasters?

A: Dude I don’t know anything about these guys. These six were 100% characterized by their actors in the booth. Moments like Crusher’s “I LOVE YOU!!!” and subsequent crush on Giovanni were improvised. I don’t know their real names. I don’t know if they have epithets. I have put no more thought into these six people than what you see on screen and have no idea how to answer these questions.

Q: Okay but how about those kids in Molly’s class in the first episode who raised their hand when Mera asked if they have epithets? What about them?

A: https://twitter.com/brendanblaber/status/1204577213439447040?lang=en

Q: What do the politics/religions/historical conflicts of the world of Epithet Erased look like?

A: Sorry to keep giving this answer, but I have no idea. Epithet is a really unique series in terms of writing for me. It was collectively improvised over 70+ hours in a random stream with some friends, and now I’m slowly piecing the better jokes together so that they make a cohesive setting. Almost nothing is set in stone about this universe because I haven’t needed to set it yet.

The one answer I can give to this question is that there are only a small number of countries in the Epithet Erased universe. Most of them are named after biomes, and most races in this setting are named after the country they’re originally from.

They are:

TAIGA COUNTRY - All of S1 takes place here. Sweet Jazz City is the capital. Heavily forested areas between large cities. Very cold winters. This is the only country where it snows. “Taiga Race’’ are light-skinned with light hair. Percy and Phoenica are Taiga Race.

DEEPWOOD COUNTRY - North of Taiga country. The forests get thicker and eventually transition into jungles full of glowing flora. The second half of S2 will take place in Deepwood Country. “Deepwood Race” people have dark skin and hair. Arnold and Howie are deepwood race. Molly is a Deepwood-Taiga mix.

DESERT COUNTRY- West of Taiga country. A vast desert with two main practices: The solitary monks who live isolated in the stand, and the party-going new-age culture obsessed with neon lights and city life. Desert Country has a capital city similar to Las Vegas. Desert Race people have tanned skin and grey hair from birth. Indus is desert race.

SEASIDE COUNTRY- An archipelago of islands and isthmuses that make up a seafaring community based around trade and travel. Due to their international nature, Seaside Race people can be found everywhere and have a variety of appearances, but many of them have plain, dark hair. Mera is a Seaside-Taiga mix.

OCEAN COUNTRY - A mysterious country of wizards currently sunk at the bottom of the ocean. After years of discrimination for practicing dark magic, the magicians of the world formed a new colony at the bottom of the sea where they could practice their craft undisturbed. There are almost no pure-blooded Ocean Race people on the surface, but their descendents live in diaspora. Ocean Race people have dark skin and bright hair colored like poisonous sea creatures. Anyone with naturally pink, green, or purple hair likely has a little Ocean Race in their blood.

AUSTRALIA - This strange land lies on the far side of the ocean. Little is known about its strange inhabitants and their strange ways. Some say that these “Australian” people have whiskers and rodent-like appearances, but few have seen an Australian and lived to tell the tale…

Q: I hear this is based on a series of tabletop streams called Anime Campaign.

A: Yes.

Q: Can I watch Anime Campaign?

A: No.

Q: Why not!?

A: Anime Campaign is a giant mass of Epithet Erased spoilers that will literally ruin your experience if Epithet gets more seasons. Season 3 of Epithet will be a whodunnit investigation story arc. That core mystery is the entire plot of the season. There are multiple characters with important secret identities in regards to the mystery and if you know the twists beforehand you will simply not enjoy the season. It will be ruined for you.

I am trying to make sure that future viewers can have the best viewing experience possible, and after reviewing my options I decided that the best way to do that was to remove Anime Campaign from Twitch.

If Anime Campaign was a fully fleshed-out work that I was adapting from (i.e. a series of novels that I was adapting into a TV show) I would be happy to share it with people. That’s not what it is. It is not a complete story.

Anime Campaign was the first game that my friends and I ever streamed. It’s extremely rough and profoundly hard to watch. Our improvisation was not nearly as good as it is today. My GMing and voice work is horrible. The sound balancing is beyond atrocious and half of us are on laptop mics. In the first episode alone one of the PC’s microphones is peaking the entire time and Percy’s original actor is so quiet you literally can’t hear anything she says.

The sessions were 6-8 hours long. Half of that is turn-by-turn combat in badly designed scenarios. There is no overarching plot between episodes. They were standalone adventures based on different genres lazily tied together with loose connections. One episode ends with an antagonist picking up a bunch of the protagonists to throw them in jail, then in the next episode 80% of those characters had “already escaped” simply because their players weren’t involved in the upcoming game and they weren’t available so the cast just completely changed for no reason at all. Gameplay dictated story, and so the overall result is a mish-mosh for the first 60 hours of recording.

You are not missing out on any good jokes. I included all the good jokes from the Anime Campaign in Epithet Erased. I literally went through and wrote down anything noteworthy so we could keep it. There weren’t that many things!

It’s not just me who thinks this, either. All of the original players agree that Anime Campaign is one of the worst things we’ve ever done. If you are interested in seeing their current games you can check them out on SurpriseRoundRPG (https://www.twitch.tv/surpriseroundrpg).

If this was just some old garbage we made that you wanted to watch for funsies, then I would be fine with that. The problem is that watching Anime Campaign will ruin all the future twists and turns of Epithet Erased while being an objectively much worse watching experience. Some people are really gung-ho on getting the chance to see the original. You just have to trust me when I say that you do not want to do that. Please.

Think of yourselves like eager pet dogs trying to eat chocolate brownies off of my table. I know you THINK you want it and I know it makes you upset when I take it away, but trust me, it’s for your own good, because you will be way more upset if you do eat those brownies.

Thank you for understanding.

Q: I’ve already seen Anime Campaign. It meant a lot to me, and I would like to watch it again. I would really appreciate it if you reuploaded it!

A: I’m glad you enjoyed it so much, but no, sorry.

If I have to choose between allowing ~200 people re-experience something I made or allowing ~300,000 people get that chance to fully experience a new series, then I have to pick the latter. If you enjoyed Anime Campaign, then surely you of all people understand why I want to let a new batch of fans experience the same joy you felt when following the original story.

Q: I’m not satisfied by the above answers and have chosen to lash out by spreading Anime Campaign spoilers to Epithet Erased fans in order to ruin other people’s experience!

A: That is exceedingly lame of you.

Q: Is [CHARACTER] LGBT+?

A: Arnold and Crusher are gay. Giovanni and Zora are bisexual. Percy and Howie are asexual (Howie is also aromantic).

Q: If you get a Season 2 will you add a [LGBT+ rep] character?

A: I can try. Keep in mind this is an adaptation and I have a very set number of characters to work with. 95% of the cast is villains and 100% of the cast are nonsensical and over-the-top, so I have to be careful with the representation I plan to add. You can’t just slap a label on a character and think everyone will be cool with that.

That being said, I have plans for a trans character in S2 and at least one non-binary character in S3, if we get there.