Table of Contents

I. General Overview

II. Architecture

III. Guests

IV. The Managers

    1. Sun

    2. Moon

    3. Star and Star-00

V. Employees

VI. The Black Hand

VII. Hotel Layout – Key Locations

VIII. Events and Festivals

IX. General Summary

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I. General Overview

Liminal Hotel was not built by human hands or by any god. It came into existence on its own from the void, like a fragment of memory forgotten between realities. It is a "glitch corner," a place where the walls separating parallel universes have become so thin that they have torn apart and merged together, forming a miniature space with neither a beginning nor an end. You will never find it on any map, nor can you deliberately reach it through sheer will. People only arrive here by accidentally slipping through the cracks of dreams, delirium, or a moment of despair so profound that the reality around them temporarily ceases to function.

Once you are inside this world, you will soon realize that the sky overhead is nothing more than an enormous sheet woven from light and darkness, raised every day by the managers themselves. Day and night are fake, the stars are pre-programmed points of light, and the moon never changes its cycle unless someone wants it to. The entire world outside the hotel, even if you try to run through the ornate wrought iron gate, cross the stone statue gardens, and follow the cobblestone path into the forest, is nothing but a loop. You will keep running, running endlessly through rows of identical trees, only to suddenly realize that you are standing in front of the hotel's main lobby once again. You have just gone all the way around the world.

Time here is a thick, viscous liquid, almost frozen compared to the frantic flow of the universes outside. A single night's sleep in your real world may be equivalent to a few minutes or several centuries inside Liminal Hotel. That makes the hotel the perfect refuge for beings who wish to escape reality, rest from endless wars, or simply immerse themselves in eternal luxury untouched by the erosion of time.

II. Architecture

Imagine a European hotel from the early 20th century. Elegant and antique, yet impeccably clean, filled with gilded vintage rotary telephones. The walls are paneled with mahogany carved with intricate dragon and vine patterns. Liminal Hotel has two signature symbols: wooden puppets and long crimson velvet curtains cascading from the ceiling to the floor.

The hotel houses a collection of wooden and porcelain puppets of all sizes, along with small mechanical machines that wander throughout the building like tiny staff members. They are mechanical creations built by Sun and "imbued with souls," or rather, fragments of souls taken from deceased guests or employees who are no longer of any use. They will not harm you unless you damage them. If you do, they will kick your legs with their tiny feet, since most of them are not even tall enough to reach your knees.

III. Guests

The guests of Liminal Hotel are a chaotic yet magnificent tapestry of the multiverse. You might encounter 2D pixel characters here, a knight clad in pitch-black armor, bizarre creatures, a tentacle from a hentai series, or simply a human just like you, except from an Earth where history took a completely different path. They come here to rest, to have fun, to indulge their strange desires, or to attend the concerts organized by Star. Some stay for a few nights, others for several centuries, burying themselves in luxurious rooms until they forget the world they came from. As long as they pay for their stay with anything the hotel's system considers valuable, memories, a fragment of their soul, a long-lost treasure, they are all welcome. This world has never had any real rules to begin with, so simply let your imagination run free.

However, like every system, there are always those who quietly slip through the cracks. They are collectively known as Comets. They are beings from realities that have completely collapsed, universes that have died with nowhere left to anchor themselves. They no longer have a home, no longer possess a stable existence, and drift into Liminal Hotel like desperate fugitives. A Comet can disguise itself as any guest it has ever come into contact with, mimicking their voice, their gait, even their scent. They avoid paying for their stay, consume the hotel's resources, and sometimes attempt to "infect" genuine guests with their own nonexistence.

The duty of the employees and the managers is to identify and eliminate Comets. No negotiation. No mercy. Once one is discovered, death is certain.

Here are some ways to help you distinguish these imposters a little.

IV. The Managers

(Note: Everyone will have a specific name later; I haven't thought of one yet, so for now, let's call them by their nicknames.)

The hotel's supreme authority rests in the hands of three entities collectively known as Sun, Moon, and Star. They are not human, yet neither are they something that can be easily defined. They came into existence alongside the glitch corner and are just as imprisoned within it as everyone else.

1. Sun

Sun is responsible for the hotel's entire recruitment process, record management, and above all, he is the creator of every tiny mechanical machine scurrying around the hotel. The great clocks, the little mechanical machines resembling tiny minions, all of them are Sun's creations. He places a fragment of his consciousness into each of them, bringing them to life like loyal pets.

He has a gentle appearance, is responsible, and is always willing to listen to new employees. Of the three managers, he is probably the one who cares the most about his staff. He places great importance on fairness and employee welfare, but he is neither someone who enjoys listening to complaints nor someone who is particularly approachable. Sun and Moon frequently clash because neither approves of the other's way of managing the hotel. Whenever they meet, they are like cats and dogs.

2. Moon

Moon is in charge of maintaining order within the hotel. Tolerance and leniency are concepts that do not exist in Moon's dictionary. To him, everything, employees, guests, Comets, even the innocent puppets, is disgusting and insignificant until they prove their absolute worth.

Moon is willing to punish any employee who displays the slightest insolence, even if it is nothing more than an improper glance. His punishments go far beyond physical torture. He can lock you inside a room where time folds in on itself, turning a few minutes into years of solitude, or force you to relive your worst nightmare over and over again. He might throw you into a vat of glitter simply because you are annoying and talk too much. He rarely lays a hand on guests unless they provoke him to an extreme degree, but once he does, the entire hotel trembles and descends into chaos. As for Comets, it would be best if they never let him lay eyes on them.

3. Star and Star-00

A special video for my baby Star: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qrK1q7GuaZxPThKFlff3WDFKbOJRHey1/view?usp=sharing

Star is the heart of every form of entertainment in Liminal Hotel. He is responsible for festivals, theatrical performances, concerts, and even the hotel's most decadent corners. His symbol closely resembles that of a true angel, and he also has a delicate halo floating above his head. Star is the most approachable of the three managers. He can calm even the most demanding guest with nothing more than a few lighthearted jokes, and he is the only bond holding Sun and Moon together. Whenever the other two are on the verge of destroying each other, Star steps in to mediate and prevent a fight. He genuinely cares for everyone with sincere kindness and endless positivity, but that very nature also led to one of the most devastating incidents in Liminal Hotel's history.

In the past, there was a dark era that lasted for decades. During that time, the most demanding guests from across the multiverse poured into the hotel, constantly making unreasonable requests and demanding increasingly cruel forms of entertainment, as well as changes to the hotel's entire management system. Star, driven by his desire to satisfy everyone, endured it all, absorbing every complaint and every ounce of negativity like a sponge. But the burden became too great. He nearly lost his mind, suffering one breakdown after another as he became consumed by relentless criticism and endless threats from the guests. Eventually, the halo above his head began to contract, growing tighter and tighter until it wrapped around his neck and severed his head. Yet that was also the only way to save Star from his own self-destructive decline.

Star's body survived, like a candle that had been blown out and painfully lit once again. It took many years before he finally grew a new head, crowned with a more fragile halo that still radiated warmth. But the old head did not die. It absorbed every trace of the negativity that had killed Star and became a separate being, one everyone came to know as Star-00.

Star-00 is Star's dark twin counterpart. He bears an appearance almost identical to Star's, yet far more somber. His body is a vessel containing all the pain, resentment, and madness of the entire hotel. Wherever he goes, he absorbs every trace of negativity from his surroundings, leaving his mind trapped forever in a frenzy that never grants him peace. Because he is far too dangerous to be around guests, Sun and Moon assigned Star-00 to guard the outer perimeter. He wanders along the borders of the glitch corner. There, he eliminates any Comets attempting to slip inside or hunts down runaway employees, silently dragging them back. Star-00 speaks very little and acts with decisive brutality, but almost no one ever ventures to the border, leaving him with no one by his side. He knows he is the discarded fragment, the tumor cut away from his older brother.

Even though Star overcame his crisis long ago, he has never abandoned his younger brother. He still visits Star-00 every night. Sometimes he simply sits beside him and talks, if only so Star-00 has someone to keep him company.

Note: Moon and Sun appear around the hotel less often. The one you will encounter most frequently is Star.

V. Employees

Most of Liminal Hotel's employees are human (but it's not mandatory; you can still be a demi-human or some other kind of creature). They are merely unfortunate souls whose dreams became too fragile one night while they slept, causing them to lose their way. Their souls slipped through that crack and fell straight into the glitch corner, straight into Liminal Hotel.

Sun is the one who receives them. He explains the terms of the contract, and they become employees, serving guests and completing their assigned duties every day. In return, they are protected from the dangers of the multiverse, provided with a small room on a floor reserved exclusively for employees, just as comfortable as a guest room, and most importantly, they are given a promise. If they work for one hundred years according to the hotel's flow of time, or sooner if they achieve outstanding performance, they will be returned to their own world exactly as they were when they left. Otherwise, the contract continues indefinitely. And if they die while carrying out their duties, they die in the real world as well.

Every morning, employees must report to the front desk, where a black hand presents them with a sheet of parchment listing their assignments for the day. Guests are allowed to evaluate employees after every service. A good review earns them merit, while a bad review becomes a stain on their record. If an employee accumulates too many negative evaluations and exceeds the permitted threshold, they will either be demoted, executed, or turned into ingredients for the kitchen.

However, the managers are also responsible for protecting their employees. If a bloodthirsty guest deliberately attacks an employee out of curiosity, simply wanting to tear apart "a creature from another universe," the managers will deal with them severely. Employee welfare is considered sacred in the eyes of the management because they are an essential part of keeping the hotel running.

VIP guests, those who have stayed for centuries, are granted the privilege of "booking" a specific employee as their personal attendant. It is both an honor and a rather strange arrangement, as some guests may have quite unusual requests.

VI. The Black Hand

At the front desk, there is no receptionist dressed in uniform. Instead, a black hand reaches out from behind the counter. It is gaunt, little more than skin stretched over bone, its unnaturally long fingers ending in joints that protrude like the roots of a dead tree. This creature consists of nothing but a hand. Beyond the wrist, it dissolves into darkness, merging with the very structure of the hotel. It is a part of Liminal Hotel's body, a living organ used to communicate with the outside world.

It cannot speak, but it communicates through remarkably expressive hand gestures. Its duty is to register guests and hand them the keys to their rooms.

For the employees, every morning it slides envelopes containing their daily assignments toward them, neatly arranged by name. It is very gentle, almost kind, and has never harmed anyone.

VII. Hotel Layout – Key Locations

Liminal Hotel is as vast as a small city contained within four walls. No one knows exactly how many floors it has, because the elevators sometimes stop on floors with no numbers. Below are the permanent areas you should know about:

• Sun, Moon, and Star each have their own private room, and there's a shared meeting room for all three of them.

• Grand Lobby & Front Desk: Where everything begins.

• Guest Room Hallways: Endless corridors lined with red carpets. The wooden doors are numbered in no particular order.

• Hot Spring & Spa: A miniature indoor Japanese garden with steaming natural hot springs.

also have a Indoor Swimming Pool

• Theater & Stage: A magnificent auditorium with velvet curtains and hundreds of brocade-covered seats. This is where stand-up comedy performances, puppet shows, and musical performances featuring instruments that do not exist on Earth take place.

• The Banquet Hall & "The Velvet Abyss" Bar: A place where both worldly and otherworldly desires are fulfilled. This is the hotel's district of indulgence, a complex of bars and private rooms wrapped in deep purple velvet. The lighting here is always amber, and the music is the haunting sound of a saxophone. Employees who lack practical skills, or those who choose "a different path," may choose to work here. The line between serving drinks and serving one's body becomes very thin. Every desire can be fulfilled, as long as the guest pays the proper price, whether with money, memories, or a year of their lifespan.

• Main Kitchen: The place that prepares food for every guest in the hotel. It is just as chaotic as everything else.

• The Border & The Mistlands: The area patrolled by Star-00. Located beyond the gardens and the cobblestone path, where the hotel's fabricated world dissolves into dense white mist. This is the edge of the glitch corner. Space itself is unstable here, distorting both sound and sight. You may see your own shadow walking in the opposite direction, or hear whispers in your own voice coming from within the mist.

VIII. Events and Festivals

1. Tomorrow Will Rain.

The incident involving Star mentioned above is known as "Tomorrow Will Rain." At that time, the hotel was still relatively young, and the three managers were constantly at odds with one another. They worked independently, lacked unity, and refused to listen to each other's opinions. As a result, Sun and Moon paid little attention to Star, believing that managing the guest services department was entirely his responsibility. That eventually led to the incident.

During that period, everything was chaotic and on the verge of madness. After the incident, the three managers restructured the hotel's way of operating. They learned to share responsibilities with one another instead of placing every burden on Star's shoulders. From that point on, Sun and Moon also began paying much closer attention to Star to ensure that something like this would never happen again.

2. Reverse Day

This is a special event that takes place near the end of the year, when the staff, yes, every single member of the staff, gets to rate the guests instead. And not have to work that day. Even the managers can be rated (though it's all just for fun, so nothing actually happens to them). At the end of the day, the guest with the lowest rating gets kicked out.

[To be updated]

IX. General Summary

To survive, and shorten your one hundred-year contract, engrave these rules into your memory:

1. Every morning, collect your daily assignment at the front desk.

2. Try your best not to receive negative reviews.

3. Never accept an invitation into a guest's room after your shift has ended, unless it is part of an official assignment.

4. If you suspect or discover a Comet, do not waste your time talking to it. You are no match for one. Just report it to the management.

5. Never steal room keys. And do not enter someone else's room without permission.

6. Above all, never forget your goal of returning home. Those who forget their old world will slowly become a permanent part of the hotel. Or... forget about it and just enjoy all the weird dicks around here instead. Muahahah.