what is guideverse?

guideverse is a fandom-created universe about sentinels/espers and guides. each story tends to develop its own internal logics, but in general, guideverse shares a lot of similarities with omegaverse. typical tropes include fated mates/soulmates, forced proximity, bonding, imprinting, obsession, overprotectiveness, possessiveness, touched-starved, and mutual pining.

what are sentinels/espers?

alpha-coded (usually). when they use their abilities too much, they zone out, rampage, or go berserk and become a danger to themselves and others. this also makes them a little shifter-coded. in this state, they're often feral and follow more primal drives. unless they receive guiding, they’ll die and in the process possibly kill others. they’re called either sentinels or espers; they’re typically called sentinels when they have enhanced senses and called espers when they have supernatural powers (like esp—you get it).

what are guides?

omega-coded (sorta). they give guiding to sentinels/espers to prevent them from rampaging. the effectiveness of guiding depends on compatibility. the effectiveness can also increase depending on level of intimacy. yes, guides can save the life of sentinels/espers through intimate contact (yes, intimate contact is a euphemism—you get it). usually guides don't have any other ability other than guiding, but they might sometimes have empathic abilities.

what's the typical sentinel-guide/esper-guide dynamic?

this is where the tropes come into play the most. because sentinels/espers need guiding, they're often forced into proximity of guides. either by the powers-that-be (their boss) or just by primal need. sentinels/espers are always looking for their guide—their fated mate, their soulmate, the only person who can bring them from the edge when it matters most. big on the "only you can save me." sentinels/espers often crave bonding with their guide or imprinting with their guide. either way, they're alway overprotective and obsessed and possessive over their guide. some sentinels/espers are really sensitive to guiding, so they're starved for it when they finally find their guide. guides are also typically looking for their sentinel/esper—their protector, the one person they can help more than anyone else. big on the "only i can save/fix them." they can also crave bonding/imprinting, get overprotective, obsessed, and possessive. they just need each other, ok? believe me. please.

what makes it contemporary fantasy?

like omegaverse, a lot of guideverse stories are set in our contemporary world with an additional speculative and/or fantastical element (or elements). for example, in omegaverse, people manifest their secondary gender usually during puberty; likewise, in guideverse, sentinels/espers and guides usually "awaken" their abilities before they become an adult. typically, these abilities awaken when it's necessary for survival, which is what happens in the TV show that inspired the fanfiction that created the concept. in some stories (usually with espers), these abilities awaken when monsters and/or dungeons start appearing all over the world.

what's the symbiontverse?

yeah, no one is asking this, but i'm sneaking it on here because if you've made it this far, i think you might be interested. symbiontverse is what i'm calling my version of guideverse that features sentinels and guides (for now—i love a good near-future setting and room for worldbuilding growth). in symbiontverse, people "awaken" when a near-death experience triggers dormant survivor symbionts in their bodies to integrate with their neural and sensory systems, making them either a sentinel or a guide. usually they're triggered rather young and the event leaves them orphaned. as long as they're under the age of 18, they're sent to a local center (basically high school), where they're ranked from S-Class to C-Class. as C-Class or weak B-Class, they can elect to be regular citizens, but most B-Class and all A-Class and above must attend an academy (college au) from the age of 18-22. once they graduate, they either go into a government job, join the military, or find a career in private security (office romance potential).

what's out there already?

there's almost no guideverse in Western romance right now, but there's a fair amount in Eastern romance, mostly MM/BL (choose your preferred term) but recently there's been some MF. we've got flexibility here—high stakes, unhinged, cozy, dark, sweet. someday i'll make a list or a goodreads shelf.