I've realized, what with my fanfiction and my still unfinished YWT shrine, that who is original and who came from the manga is sort of a blur, probably very confusing to anyone who isn't me.^_^ So on this page I will endeavor to explain everything as clearly as possible. (This little page, by the way, was written with the idea that whoever reads this will go on to read my stories. If you aren't planning to read the fiction, then don't bother reading this.)

First of all, as to what is canon and what isn't. With the exception of the Sentinel, Charon, and Satan (the three characters who have their own sections in my YWT shrine), all the immortals are original characters. This includes Thanatos and Nemesis, though the latter needs further explanation, because some parts of her didn't come from me.^_^;

Yoko Matsumoto has written much more than just Yami Wa Tsudou, obviously, and all of her works are either mystery or horror. In one of her two volume stories, called Mienai Kao, or Unseen Face ("The Sixth Sense Murder" in the Mandarin version), there is a short story at the end called "Nemesis: Goddess of Vengeance." This story is where the inspiration for my Nemesis came from. However, as the role Matsumoto-sensei's Nemesis played in the story was purely pychological (meaning the character never actually appeared but was mentioned through out as a way to add intrigue and suspense in the story), she is a very 2-D, un-fleshed out character. Obviously the Nemesis in Upperworld (my Nemesis) is not so.

This was because I had the idea, after reading the story, to put all the immortals in Matsumoto-sensei's works in the same universe, thus introducing the character "Nemesis" into my stories. At the time I wrote Nemesis into Upperworld, however, I wasn't in possession of Mienai Kao, so I had to go by memory on what Nemesis looked like.^_^; Unfortunately, my memory's not all that reliable, so when I finally got the books, I found subtle differences in the appearance of my Nemesis, and the appearance of Matsumoto-sensei's Nemesis, even though they should technically be the same immortal. (Specifically, her clothes, her eye color, and the style of her bangs were different.) In later stories, I will probably mention my Nemesis' so-called "Final Form," which is basically what she looks like in the manga. Her "regular" form is what I thought she looked like from memory. (Basically this was me reconciling the mistakes of my bad memory and twisting them around so that they are no longer mistakes, but actually part of the stories. Improvising is great.^_^) Specific details of this whole "final form" thing will be explained when I mention them in my stories.

And obviously, my Nemesis' personality is purely conjecture; Matsumoto-sensei's Nemesis really had no personality. Thus, though Nemesis (who is currently only in my multi-part, Yami no Oozora) is mainly my creation, I can't claim all the credit because the idea for her came from Matsumoto-sensei. (As far as I know, btw, Matsumoto-sensei's Nemesis isn't that much like the Nemesis of Greek Mythology in the weapons, clothes, and looks department.^^)

Some explanation is also needed for the other three immortals, namely the Sentinel (aka Ban Nin), Charon (aka "Shinigami"), and Thanatos. As previously mentioned, only Thanatos is a purely original character. His name, however, was borrowed from the Greek god Thanatos--brother of Hypnos (Sleep), son of Nyx (Night)--in short, the Greek god of death. Although the Sentinel and Charon are not original, a lot of their personality (especially Charon's, b/c he only appeared in one story in the manga) are educated guess and deductions made by yours truly, judging from their behavior in the manga. Even their 'best friends' relationship was only a deduction/wishful thinking^^, created after only two scenes of character interaction. (Which nevertheless was quite informative!^_^) As for the relationship between the Sentinel and Satan...it's enough to say that those two can't stand each other. Satan probably won't appear in my stories much, but when he does, you can bet that the interaction between him and the Sentinel will be the most canon, simply because it's the simplest.^^ They're enemies. They hate each other. Period.

Next, the defensive and offensive powers of the immortals (except for the ones mentioned in the character profiles at the "Darkness gathers" section) are all non-canon. Yami Wa Tsudou is not an action-filled manga; there is no need for any of the immortals in there to have fighting skills. When an affront occurs between two immortals, the battle is always a battle of wits and cunning, not strength. But since the Sentinel, Charon, Satan, and the canon Nemesis all gave me a feeling of hidden, mysterious, and awesome power, I decided to make up some special fighting abilities for them. Hence, what you will read about in Yami no Oozora involving shields, auras, power levels, and special abilities are all my own creation, unless it's a power mentioned in the character profiles on my site. (Special note for Nemesis: her weapons in my stories, namely 6 bejeweled daggers, are purely canon; they appeared in the short manga story. Her powers of possessing a mortal to carry out her duty of exacting vengeance is also canon. Besides those two, anything else I mention about Nemesis using her power is non-canon.)

Also, in the course of my non-canon stories there will be the constant presense of two coined words: Daitra and Beryllus, each respectively standing for Darkness and Light. These names, the concepts behind them, and all related ideas are mine. Less often mentioned but extremely related to Daitra and Beryllus is the term Omnus, an idea/being that is also my creation. Future writings will serve to explain the identities and relations of all these very strange terms.^_^

Another thing: in all my stories about the immortals, the four main characters will not fall in love. This is because of a stipulation that I created, which basically boils down to the fact that the Souls' Immortals (another coined name; referring to the Sentinel, Charon, Thanatos, Nemesis), and other immortals like them, do not love, at least in the sense of 'falling' for someone. The Souls' Immortals are also all celibate, the reason for which is obviously related to that 'no-love' thing and will be more minutely explained in my stories... albeit slowly.^^;;

Now for the legitimacy of locations in my stories. The darkness, where the Sentinel works, and his room are completely canon, but those two places are the only ones which are canon. Everywhere else, including all of Upperworld, is non-canon and therefore mine.

After I've bored you all to tears with that rambling, I'd just like to say that since so many things in my stories are from my mind and not the manga, I'd appreciate it if you people stay away from them. It'd be cool to see YWT fics springing up on the net, but I would get pretty angry if I saw someone using the concepts I spent so long thinking up and working out without even so much as a by-your-leave. Anything that's canon of course, is not mine and therefore all yours to use in any fic, as long as you mention that it's from Matsumoto-sensei's Yami wa Tsudou, like you would with any other series. (For more detailed canon information, visit the YWT shrine.) At any rate, hopefully this helped clear things up about what's canon and what's not in my stories, which was the purpose of this blurb in the first place.^_^;