WHAT IS THE ESPERVERSE?

Before we get into it, the Esperverse — or Guideverse as it's more commonly known — and the Omegaverse are not the same thing, while they're both alternate universe tropes, their foundation and worldbuilding is (vastly) different.

The Guideverse is a subtrope that is a combination of the Sentinel AU and the Hunterverse and while the trope has been mainly found in the Korean and Japanese BL fandom, it has grown into other fandoms over the years.

The Esperverse — or Guideverse — takes the concept of gateways, monsters and alien creatures, superhuman abilities, the manwha style rankings and the game-like systems from the Hunterverse and the concept of animal spirits, spirit worlds, sentinels and guides, destined mates and soulbonding/imprinting from the Sentinel AU (though mostly from fanon).

Most Esperverse — or Guideverse — also have a matching system where Guides and Espers with high matching rate are considered to be "destined mates". In some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories the Espers are referred to as "Sentinels", and in others they're referred to as "Espers", but the Guides are always called "Guides" no matter which descriptor of the Esper you choose to utilise in your worldbuilding.

There are two commonly seen interpretations when it comes to the Esperverse (or Guideverse) — but there could be more OR you can even come up with your own. Either they take the route more inclined with the concepts of "gateways/portals", "dungeons and dungeon scavenging", "monster fighting", the "game-like systems" "guilds" and the "manwha style ranking systems" from the Hunterverse.

Or they take the route more inclined with the concepts of "animal spirits" (or quantum/spirit beasts or spiritual bodies), "psychic/spiritual abilities", "zone-out" and "spikes", "spirit worlds" (or mental seas) and the "military/cop" concepts — in some futuristic Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, this is commonly interpreted as planets being at war with other alien species and the "Sentinels" and "Guides" being the ones on the battlefield — from the Sentinel AU.

There are also those who combine the two interpretations by taking the concepts they like best from either tropes and building their worlds around them. In the Esperverse — or Guideverse — while Espers get these cool supernatural abilities to save the world from monsters and alien creatures, there is a drawback to their abilities.

In exchange for this power they possess, their mental and emotional stability can deteriorate drastically if their powers are used over a long period of time, especially if they don’t receive guidance from a Guide in time and this is called a mental (or spiritual) rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state).

In some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories that utilise the military/cop theme from the Sentinel AU, Espers who are close to a rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state), are usually sent off to the battlefield for an honourable send off.

In the Sentinel AU, Sentinels get these things which are commonly called "Zone-outs". These are moments when the Sentinel becomes so focused on one sense alone, that they subconsciously close off all input from their other senses. This leads to the Sentinel getting ‘lost’ in that one sense, falling into a catatonic state (and becoming incredibly vulnerable to attack).

The Sentinel can usually not get out of a zone-out alone, as at least one other sense has to be stimulated for the Sentinel to stop focusing on the one that they're zoned on in.

In the Sentinel AU, these "zone-outs" aren't world or life threatening, neither do they necessarily have any drastic effects on the mental, emotional and spiritual stability of the Sentinel. In the Esperverse — or Guideverse — however, these "zone-outs" are known as a rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state), have less to do with a Esper’s senses and more to do with their abilities and the damage the constant use of said abilities can cause to their mental, emotional and spiritual stability.

And unlike in the Sentinel AU, an Esper’s rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state) in the Esperverse — or Guideverse — can be world and life threatening. This is essentially where the Guide comes in.

(Side note: Again, it should also be noted that the Guide and their role in the Sentinel AU as a concept is mostly, if not completely, fanon, but it's fanon that is accepted by The Sentinel fandom as a trope. A Guide is considered a "destined partner" to the Sentinel in most interpretations too.)

A Guide is someone who watches the Sentinel’s back and helps them control their heightened senses and helps them handle these "inputs" more. A Guide will ground the Sentinel, be a calming influence on them, and in Fanon, they are often the only ones who can get the Sentinel out of a "zone-out", or ease a particularly bad "spike" (or even prevent these spikes from happening.)

Again, while a lot of interpretations of Guides and Sentinels in the Sentinel AU have it worldbuilt that only a Guide can calm a Sentinel, they aren't exactly a necessity or a requirement, especially in The Sentinel canon. Any calming techniques and external support could technically get the Sentinel out of a zone-out.

However, in the Esperverse — or Guideverse — it's a completely different story. Just like how an Esper is the only one able to deal with the monsters and alien creatures that threaten humanity and close the gateways — if your worldbuilding includes the gateways and dungeons. In the Esperverse — or Guideverse — Guides are a societal necessity, especially to the Espers that need their “guidance”, because only a Guide can calm an Esper's rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state).

To help Espers not reach their breaking points and ultimately destroy the world along with the dangers they're protecting humanity from, Guides were "born". Guides have the ability to essentially "guide" Espers "away" from their rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state), and this is called "guiding".

They can either disperse the Esper’s negative energy or absorb it, and because of this Espers are always in need of a Guide, and Guides in return are protected — and cherished (for the most part) — by the Espers and society as a whole.

In some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories a sign of an Espers being close to a rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state), is through the intensity or their eye colour or their eyes can turn red (or gold).

There are two ways a guiding can happen, either internally or externally and this is all dependent on whichever interpretation you're basing your Guideverse worldbuilding on.

Internal guiding is more commonly seen in the Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories more leaning towards the Sentinel AU and the concepts of "animal spirits" (or quantum/spirit beasts or spiritual bodies), "psychic/spiritual abilities", "zone-outs" and "spikes", "spirit worlds" (or mental seas) and so on. Internal guiding happens on a more "spiritual" level with the Guide having to connect and tap into the spiritual sea of the Sentinel and deal with the source of their corruption.

A common interpretation of internal guiding is the Esper’s source of power being like a tree root that extends all throughout their body and the corruption is tiny black tendrils, or even a toxic smoke-like substance that's wrapped tightly around the Esper's roots and trapping all that negative energies inside the root and therefore corroding it.

A Guide will then come in and clear away this corrosion, either with their own root-like tentacles that entangle and break away the corrosion or it'll be a manifestation of their spiritual beasts that comes in and absorbs the Esper's corruption.

External guiding is more physical and a lot more seen then internal guiding, especially in bl/queer Esperverse — or Guideverse — manhwas. External guiding happens mainly when a Guide physically touches an Esper with the intention of guiding out the Esper's excess (and sometimes) violent energy with their own calming energy.

External Guiding can happen with a Guide simply touching a Esper's hand (or another part of their body, for the most part, near or on the parts where the corroding energy is most concentrated), but the more intimate the touching the more efficient the guiding is, so many Espers and Guides do have intercourse and perform other intimate acts on each other for a more efficient guiding.

In some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories Guides can also have special abilities like Espers, though without the rampage (or rage or riot or berserker state) aspect and their abilities aren't usually suited for battling monsters and are more defensive than offensive.

In some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories that utilises the ranking system from the Hunterverse, most Espers can only be guided by Guides of the same/similar ranking as them, or they only want to be guided by their "destined" Guide (if you utilise the fated mate concept in your worldbuilding).

In other Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories there's also the soulbonding/imprinting trope popularly used in the werewolf/shifter genre, though in some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, soulbonding/imprinting isn't usually advised or promoted, especially by the government or the corporation who want to control Espers and Guides, because bonded Espers or Guides are only able to be guided by/guide their bonded partner — though in some stories bonded Guides can still guide other Espers that they aren't bonded to, again, it all depends on your worldbuilding.

The specific method of soulbonding/imprinting isn't really talked about or explained that much in most Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, but some say that soulbonding/imprinting can happen when an Esper "releases" in a Guide during a (external) guiding session or when an Esper and Guide forms a bonding contract by tapping into each others spiritual sea.

There are also matching systems (which is a concept that can also be found in some Omegaverse stories), where Guides and Espers with a high matching rate are considered to be "destined mates" and have a stronger, or the strongest, chance of being able to imprint on each other.

Unlike in the Hunterverse though, In most Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, the gateways and monsters and levelling up their ranks and abilities aren't the main theme in the Esperverse — or Guideverse — (there are some Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories that don't even mention gateways, dungeons, monsters and so on). These Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories are more focused on the romantic/sexual relationship between the Guides and Espers.

Though dungeons, battling monsters, the social politics of Guides and Espers getting together, guilds and such is still mentioned in these Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, it's just not the main theme most of the time. HOWEVER, that isn’t saying your Esperverse — or Guideverse — story can't focus more on the dungeons, battles, monsters and rankings, instead of the romantic/sexual undertones of Guides and Guiding. It's your story and you can worldbuild your Esperverse — or Guideverse — however you'd like.

I've sometimes seen readers confuse/conflate the Esperverse — or Guideverse — and the Omegaverse because of the similar themes, mainly with the classifications (or "designations") and the concept of soulbonding/imprinting. But they aren't the same, even if they do have similar sounding/share similar concepts.

Again, the Esperverse — or Guideverse — is a subtrope that was created by the combination of two other alternate universe tropes whose origins stem from different fandoms — one of which predates the OV (i.e. the Sentinelverse) — than the Omegaverse (which originates from the supernatural fandom + has dynamics and themes inspired by the werewolf genre).

Neither does the Esperverse — or Guideverse — feature mpreg (which is also its own trope outside of the Omegaverse), estrus cycles, nesting/denning, mating/bonding marks, pack dynamics and the other foundational concepts that make up the Omegaverse.

And from my research, there isn't even a term for a group of Espers who work together as a team, or even the actual concept of Espers forming teams beyond group assignments from whatever corporation or guild they're under, because Espers are known to be EXTREMELY territorial and are known to only work alone. BUT!!! This just means that this is another aspect of the Esperverse — or Guideverse — that's a blank slate and that you can do whatever you want with it, because I'd personally LOVE to see more whychoose/poly Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories.

Generally, in most Esperverse — or Guideverse — stories, the terms "Espers" and "Guides" are just titles and descriptors, but I have also seen in other Guideverse stories where they've described Espers and Guides as secondary genders — or designations — like they do in the Omegaverse.

Honestly, if you want to describe them as just titles or job descriptions or as secondary genders — or designations — go for it! It all depends on you and your worldbuilding! You can have fun with it.

Again, I can see how the Omegaverse can be used to make sense of the Esperverse — or Guideverse —, or at least the bare bones basics of it, but if you want a more clearer understanding of the Esperverse — or Guideverse — then I do recommend checking out the Hunterverse and the Sentinel AU tropes which the Esperverse — or Guideverse — is a combination of. But honestly, do whatever you want and use what works for you!

Some examples of the Guideverse — or Esperverse — include, but definitely aren't limited to the B-class guide (I love this one), Guiding hazard, How that guide is loved, Profundis, A trace of wonder, How to reject my obsessive ex-husband and so so many more.

If you have any questions and such related to the Esperverse feel free to comment them below