Another awesome commission done by my friend lmcroal https://www.deviantart.com/lmcroal , this time of my OC, my persona, my power fantasy, whatever you want to call it; Me.

I've always wondered what a 4th Wall character would be like if they were a bit more serious. None of that "Lol Chimichanga so random" humor, but instead how would the knowledge of being fictional effect someone mentally? The fact that everything they do, and everything around them, is fake, an amalgamation of peoples imagination and storytelling? An exploration of existentialism at it's most extreme.

I decided to explore that concept by creating a character named Lanif, an extension of me as a person, but in fictional form, and thought about how I would react. At first, upon realizing that he, and by extension, his whole world, his whole life, is dictated by the imagination of an unknown force, would there be despair, nihilism, maybe even suicidal thoughts?

I'd like to think Lanif would take it a different way. At first there would be the initial, obvious shock, like a religious person disillusioned by their belief system into becoming an atheist, but Lanif would take a more Ubermench approach with a twist; by knowing that nothing is real and Nothing is True and Everything is Permitted (cookie for you if you know that reference), he would instead feel free to do whatever he pleases. There's no Right or Wrong, no moral ambiguity, because everything he interacts with is not real, and since nothing is impossible in fiction, there is no limit to what he can do in his own story.

It would be like a lucid dream that you have complete control over, but can never "wake up" from; a master of your own little "Matrix" of sorts. Lanif has the ability to manipulate fiction however he wishes, with no restrictions from the laws of physics, immersion or rules of storytelling quality. He's not all-knowing, since his knowledge is limited to my own knowledge and imagination, but can do anything with a thought. There would be no need to fear your nightmares, as you can't be harmed or killed, and you can create and destroy as you will in your own fiction.

It sounds a lot like being a God, but my character Lanif has no interest in that. If there was one thing I could do if I can do anything I wished, it would be to obtain a life of hyper wealth and luxury, as over the top as possible with no regard to inflation or economic rules. With a thought, Lanif could create a ludicrously large vault, similar to Scrooge McDuck, but even sillier, being over 6,900 feet tall and filled with countless gold, money and various expensive gems, crystals and diamonds.

Lanif lets some parts of his immature side show, like his favorite number being 69 and Sextillion, for obvious reasons. Therefore, he always has a net worth of 69 Sextillion dollars ready at his disposal, which is more than the value of planet Earth itself.

However, unlike me, Lanif is still young, and there is only so many times you can conjure up unlimited wealth before you get bored of it. So I'm going to use my character Lanif to explore the world and enjoy the Freedom of Fiction. Heck, why stop at just exploring Earth? It's a massive universe out there, and that's not taking into account the theory of other worlds, other timelines, other realities.

Despite having limitless power, Lanif has no desire to rule or dominate the worlds or people he comes across. Nor is he going to be some Mary Sue hero that saves people. He simply wants to peacefully explore fiction, see what worlds imagination can create, and use that knowledge to take a stab at doing the first of many impossible things; creating a Utopia.

A few ground rules and tidbits about Lanif :

- No matter what he does, no matter how powerful he is, one major flaw about his power of reality manipulation is that, in exchange for all this power, Lanif never, EVER wants to effect someone else's fiction in a canonical sense. Essentially, to make things even more existential, everything he does is filler, and ultimately has no lasting effect on a character or world he visits, unless it's a world he created. He won't participate someone else's story because of how broken of a character he is. He's a walking Deus Ex Machina, able to create literal plot armor and plot devices at will, and his presence would defeat the purpose of someones character development or a stories stakes. At best, he would probably make a harmless cameo, but never effect a story or character in a meaningful way. All bets are off when he's in his own fiction.

-Lanif is not omnipotent, and does not have telepathy. He can create devices or use a story gimmick to read minds, but can't do it himself without the use of a plot device.

-However, Lanif has knowledge of storytelling mechanics, and can use it to his advantage . His favorite trick is using a McMuffin as a Mcguffin to manipulate the plot of stories he's able to fully effect.

-Lanif has an obsession with wealth and luxury, and will usually focus on manipulating fiction to generate more wealth for the sake of it. He's more than willing to exploit time and space to make even more unnecessary money for himself.

-He has a female counterpart named Devina Angelkiss that I'm working on.

-I will add more to him as I develop him more. Metafictional characters are a lot harder to work with than I thought....