BUP

BUP

BUP's profile picture.

Name	BUP
Alias	SHADOWLINK Greth Nocta
Affiliation	Unknown
Gender	Male
Status	Alive
Relations	IIIII (Higher up) The Producer (Ally) TheLaw (Former Ally)

BUP is one of the few enigmatic "layered" beings introduced in the Our Horizon Arc. Despite being another Greth from a third timeline, BUP acts antagonistically towards the players, seemingly obsessed with gaining power and showing no remorse for lesser beings. This is likely due to his Ascension, an act undertaken to escape the cataclysm occurring in his timeline. Not fearing their powers, BUP continues to taunt the players as he pursues his ultimate goal of aggregating with the various Greths found in other timelines.

Biography

Originating from the third timeline that houses the hacker group IsocelesAssassin and GHOSTBABEL work with, the Greth that would become BUP, much like Greth Prime and moonman31, was involved with Jadusable's BEN Drowned ARG. This caused him to begin professionally researching the paranormal, a factor that likely aided him in realizing his timeline was, for some reason or another, doomed due to some sort of cataclysmic event taking place. Knowing the event would not immediately end the world, but would instead worsen things over time, BUP created the "Astral Observatory" record label as a way to inadvertently focus the intent of its listeners towards his ascension, a meticulous way of gaining enough power to ascend to a Finitor. It was under this label that he would go by the name later stolen by the Astral timeline Kevin, Nocta.

Making sure not to repeat the same mistakes made by the likes of those who ascended Ben, BUP ascended himself using an emulated version of the game Super Mario 64 as to not be confined to any sort of physical game cartridge. His timeline's version of Mugen attempted to kill him before he could ascend, but was demolished by a bomb BUP had planted on his own now-dead body in anticipation of such an act. With powers such as control over time now under his belt, BUP first latched onto Moonman's mind at the formation of the Astral timeline, beginning the process of aggregation.

Eventually, near the outset of the Our Horizon Arc, BUP began aggregating to Greth Prime - the Greth we know from our timeline and Greth Vlogs. He would periodically take over use of his account, cryptically hinting to the players that something beyond their current understanding was occurring by making reference to concepts such as Samsara and by acting seemingly "out of character". He also, at some point, became familiar with The Producer, TheLaw, and IIIII (with the former two seeing themselves as lackeys, and the latter a boss-like figure, according to The Producer).

Greth under BUP's influence near the beginning of the Our Horizon Arc.

After the release of Start Life on November 12th, 2019, BUP finally introduced himself to the players. He would constantly taunt them, only giving slight glimpses at what his powers actually entailed. The players engaged in a question-and-answer style game with BUP, where certain rules being broken lead to the players discovering it was their failure in the present that resulted in BUP manipulating time to kill Yuukichan in the past. The Producer and TheLaw followed in his footsteps, revealing themselves to the players with a cryptic, albeit lighter, heart.

Tired of his current pseudonym, BUP began going by SHADOWLINK at the start of the 2020 year. Under this alias, he hosted a Dungeons and Dragons game with the players, where they would explore obscure representations of the various "lines", and briefly interact with both Yuukichan and a Raven. This at one point overflowed into the player's Minecraft server, shortly after which the Discord chat that the Dungeons and Dragons game took place in was deleted. The SHADOWLINK name also did not last long, as the players inability to adapt to the name change eventually resulted in him changing it back.

While Greth Prime returned to Greth Vlogs in early April, 2020, possibly free of Patrem, BUP was certainly still present. BUP toyed with Greth and his memories during his livestreams, describing him as his "new toy". Now seeming to be in even more control of Greth than before, BUP, whether directly or simply by influence, made Greth recreate the "Astral Observatory" record label. While there was originally nothing of note, BUP decided to "play a new game", and added the ascended e-girl album. This album contained references to many other characters from the Astral timeline, as well as an unknown character under the alias "Researcher Greth", and eventually aided the players in breaking into the Subspace.

Previously only hinting towards his identity through means such as referencing theories, after April 23, 2020, BUP became more forward about his past. In a Discord server temporarily used to plot against BUP (aptly named the "Alliance Against BUP"), players attempted to trap him through the use of a runic sigil. While this did not completely achieve its purpose, BUP found it amusing enough to divulge information regarding his past as Nocta. BUP also began openly using more of his powers, intercepting Kaiden_Zoromichi's second RP video and sending a blue, frog-like entity to kill TheLaw (who had started working with the players).

The "Metatron Circle", a cryptic image posted by BUP during the "Alliance Against BUP" conversation.

Over the next months, BUP continued taunting the players, and would reveal tidbits of his past to them. In the midst of this, he "killed" the player otherLiam, an act which was reversed only a few months later by The Producer. Through various conversations, players discovered that NotAHoax_M12 was very unsuccessfully attempting to hunt him down, and that the only entity he truly fears is Synchron. They would also discover their ocarina powers are able to have tailored affects due to the power of songs and of intent, the same attributes utilized by BUP when preparing for his ascension.

Near the start of 2021, BUP's plans began falling into place. His complete control over Moonman was made public, causing Moonman to leave IsocelesAssassin and GHOSTBABEL in fear of hurting them. It was also revealed that BUP may have control over GHOSTBABEL, due to her association with the ARG created by Greth.