District of the Stars: Danger Rally



District of the Stars: Danger Rally (previously known as District of the Stars: Danger Days, and shortened to DOTS: DR) is the main story of the DOTSverse. It is also considered one of Mana's most important (possibly even the most important) stories, as Mana had been working on DOTS for 5+ years. DOTS: DR focuses on a generation of the "Color Paladins", who have reincarnated into modern day.

Symbol
The symbol for DOTS: DR is a heart shape, alluding to the heart motif of the DOTSverse. The heart represents the souls of the DOTSverse, which are in a heart shape.

The use of the heart without wings separates the heart shape from Iris (who is represented by the version with wings), making the heart shape symbolizing normal, modern society in Juno.

Chris
DOTS: DR was the first of Mana's stories to feature dual Chrises, with Cobalt Zaffre and Turquoise Sky.

Cobalt and Turquoise, also referred to as "Turqbalt" by Mana (and possibly as an in-universe nickname) is the Blue Paladin and a variation of the Azure Paladin. As an Azure Paladin, Cobalt has both the souls of the Blue Paladin and the Cyan Paladin, but is Blue-dominant. He is the deuteragonist of the series, with Ruby Raleigh as the main protagonist.

Cobalt Zaffre is known as a prodigy within the Hyperion Republic's Neocity, having 3 elements and a 16x streak of tournament wins. His character explores the apparent struggles of celebrity life, such as the lack of privacy, intimate admiration, and the stress of living up to expectations. Turquoise, while not a separate character, is a shapeshifted alter-ego of his to help him escape the pressures of being Neocity's prodigy.

Description
In Neocity of the Hyperion Republic, Ruby Raleigh and her friends are casual citizens and recent graduates of fighter academy. Ruby's always been passionate about tournament fighting though has never been able to compete in one, especially when the prodigious Cobalt Zaffre is known to win every time. When Ruby starts showing signs of great power, Ruby catches the attention of Neocity's ruler, Mayor Lavender... alongside the rising plague of the Algea, who now realize that the Paladins have returned once more.

The story is separated into three arcs:

Arc 1: Aster

Arc 2: Arke

Arc 3: Eris

While most recent developments of DOTS: DR are mostly in terms of backstory and character arcs, the main plot of each arc could be summarized with basic premises.

Arc 1: Aster
Ruby and her friends have just graduated from their professional fighting school, with Ruby now looking forward to seeing the prodigious Cobalt Zaffre in the next Zodiac tournament. After seeking justice for a crime she witnesses, Ruby gathers the attention of Mayor Lavender, who asks for her to participate in the Zodiac tournament! She seeks help from her friends for her first-ever tournament fights, though suddenly becomes wrapped up with the mystery of the amnesiac girl she found in the forest as well as a revenge plot from the same criminal she had faced in the first place.

Arc 2: Arke
Dealing with the aftermath of the first Zodiac tournament in the summer, Ruby unites with the newly formed Paladins to fend off the plague of monsters in Neocity. As the Paladins struggle to hold them back, a new cult rises to prove the Paladins' creator is nothing more than a puppet master.

Arc 3: Eris
The Paladins reach their greatest foe yet, the one who had been lurking in the shadows their whole Paladin career. Not only are the Paladins cracking under stress, but are insulted at their worst enemy playing with their lives as if they were a part of a grand game.

List of Characters
Ruby Raleigh (Red Paladin)

Jacinthe "Jay" Helenium (Orange Paladin)

Blaze Saffron (Yellow Paladin)

Rina Midoriya (Green Paladin)

Turquoise "Turq" Sky (Cyan Paladin)/Cobalt Zaffre (Blue Paladin)

Amethyst "Ame" Violetta (Violet Paladin)

Rose Morganite (Pink/Magenta Paladin)

Shiro (Dog, certified Good Boy)

Lavender Ultra-Viola

Aster Heliotrope

Iris Thaumantias

Arke Thaumantias

Eris Erebus

Yin Blake

Yang Blake

Marengo Payne

Trivia

 * The concept of DOTS: DR actually is a fusion between three of Mana's oldest stories, two versions of District of the Stars (one of these versions containing the original character bases for the modern Paladins except for Rose, who was made in the other version), and Defenders of the Universe.
 * District of the Stars ver.1 was a RWBY-inspired story regarding 4 girls in a fighting school, with side characters Blake and Alexander being their mentors who would've been connected to the plot that would've emerged. Rose originated from this version of DOTS, presumably being the main protagonist. Blake was initially turned into the Orange Paladin, but was later scrapped with Jacinthe being made by Mana's friend Raven to be the Orange Paladin. Alexander was the Chris of the story, who was replaced by Cobalt.
 * District of the Stars ver.2 had the biggest amount of development in terms of story and characters, having all Paladin concepts (except for Rose) as well as Aster, Arke, Iris, and Eris. The story itself also had two variations. The first version was a cyberpunk story about friendship fighting against technological gods (where the versions of Aster, Arke, Iris, and Eris originated from). The second version was surrounding Ruby as a delinquent from a rival empire to Cobalt's, who was prince of the Lunar Terrain at the time. Ruby would've been convicted of murdering the prince after an accident happens in an airship and convinces the Lunar Terrain of Cobalt's death, with the new princess tracking down Ruby. However, Cobalt would've been alive and disguised as Turq, being enlightened by accidentally meeting Ruby while on the road.
 * Defenders of the Universe was where the Paladin concept came from, inspiring some of the stories in DOTS ver.2 #2. DOTU was also the inspiration for the minor space themes and motifs of the DOTSverse, being heroes in space called Paladins. No plot was ever given to DOTU, however, much like DOTS ver.1.
 * Because the character concepts were made before being assigned "Paladin Colors", some Paladins have been switched around. Rina was originally the Yellow Paladin, and Blaze was originally the Orange Paladin.
 * Throughout the variations of DOTS: DR, Blaze has gone through the most changes. Her hair had always varied in short hairstyles, was put into a long ponytail at some point, changed skin, hair, and eye colors, and had even changed body type as she was initially meant to be small and lanky but was changed to be one of the tallest and more bulky Paladins. Her personality had also changed drastically, as she was initially more reasonable and soft but became more reckless and tough to be less of a carbon copy of Rina. Her job also switched from being a waitress at Vanilla Cream Cafe to being a full-on tournament fighter.
 * Even the Orange Paladin, whose character arc and personality had large amounts of changes can't amount to Blaze's, as they always had tan skin, blue eyes, and brown hair and were some sort of "tough loser" archetype.
 * The original title and longest-held title of DOTS: DR had been District of the Stars: Danger Days, named after the My Chemical Romance album of the same name. However, Mana realized the name could spell copyright issues, and had struggled to rename it without changing her entire organization rules on her Tumblr pages.
 * In early 2020, Mana had been joking to herself that DOTS:DD would have color puns for the episode titles, leading up to her finding color puns for the title itself. Mana settled with "Danger Rally", as a rally means for a group of troops to come together again in order to continue fighting after being defeated, referencing how the Paladins will come together to fight evil. In terms of color puns, "Rally" is a pun on Ruby's surname, Raleigh, after thinking up of running gags of characters getting her name wrong to be "Ruby Rally" or Ruby using the world "Rally" in screen names and possible wrestler-like tournament aliases.
 * DOTS: DR has been the story Mana has spent the longest time on, with its earliest variants originating in Mana's 4th-5th grade years.
 * Ruby and Cobalt are considered Mana's oldest OCs. Their original names had been Jade Yuki and Chris Fujiwara in their earliest variants, though they have also gone by Michael/Mikey and Chris in other versions of the story.
 * Mana has revamped DOTS: DR a total of 5 times.
 * Mana's friend Raven has designed characters for the DOTSverse, specifically DOTS: DR. Mana attributes Raven's amazing designs for making Cobalt into one of her favorite OCs.
 * Some of Mana's inspiration for the tone of DOTS: DR include Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Both the music album and comics), Sonic the Hedgehog, and RWBY.
 * Mana claims that if DOTS: DR was a professional production, the show would have RWBY-esque ways of mixing vocal rock tracks into the background music.
 * Mana would also like to make a music album for DOTS: DR character themes, with each theme's title being a color pun. For example, Ruby's theme song would be "Reddy To Go" to reference her excitable attitude and her soul color, red.
 * It is canon that Ruby started a rock band with Blaze, Rina, and Turquoise in high school called "Prism Prison". Ruby played guitar and did vocals, Blaze was a second guitarist, Rina was a bassist, and Turquoise acted as drummer.
 * It is unknown if the band is on hiatus by the time the series starts, though Ruby still plays guitar and writes music in the present.
 * Jacinthe and Amethyst are included as unofficial members, as Jay would play violin and Ame would mainly play piano but also be able to play guitar and drums.
 * The story of the original Paladins was actually made after DOTS: DR was created, with Mana developing their origins alongside the story itself.
 * Arke and Aster have been the longest main antagonists of DOTS: DR's creation, with Eris only being a minor nuisance until being changed to be the main antagonist.
 * Aster's character originated in some of the earliest stages of DOTS. However, her character had gone under major changes. Aster was changed to be a more impulsive, almost immature villain when she used to be a more cunning and strategic one. Her character design had also changed from a towering, intimidating Dominatrix-like woman, to a more younger and punk looking villain, especially to blend in with the youth of the Paladins.
 * Ironically, Eris had been given the opposite treatment from Aster. While she was also meant to be Dominatrix-like, Eris' design was more younger looking and small. Mana got the sudden idea to revamp Eris, giving her a more androgynous look as well as making her look tougher and more intimidating. She was also given the status of DOTS' main villain, much like Aster's early concepts. Aster's new design was also inspired by early designs of Eris.
 * Arke's character had always existed in modern DOTS: DR, and was always meant to be a foil to Iris who represented colorlessness but had only recently been given more development into a solid concept. Her original name was "Xanadu", named for the color gray and the letter X, going by "Xana" for short. When Mana decided to emphasize the Greek mythology inspirations, she found out about Arke, Iris' twin sister who supposedly represented the faded rainbow and had been thrown into Tartarus after getting her wings ripped off. Mana felt that the concept was the perfect foil to Iris, and changed Xana to be Arke and eventually made her a solid design with the help of her friends Raven and Finn.
 * Some of modern DOTS: DR's concepts were scrapped, only to be used once again later in its more recent form.
 * Ruby initially had short fluffy hair, but was changed to a large ponytail for aesthetic reasons. When Mana revamped DOTS: DR to its latest form, she wanted to emphasize the Party Poison inspiration for Ruby. She was granted short fluffy hair again, but her hair is less curly than its initial variant.
 * Cobalt's amputation scene had gone through various drafts, but has recently brought back the idea of being crushed by a building. Its initial concept was made when Cobalt was more prideful, with him challenging Ruby to a private fight. He would launch an attack at her as a surprise, only for Ruby to parry it and accidentally hit the building behind him, causing Cobalt to be buried in debris. In its newest form, the building is still hit by an attack, but it's an intentional one specifically meant to crush Cobalt under the rubble. The initial concept had Cobalt's hubris be his downfall, though the most recent concept is solely tragedy as Cobalt had long-since became a more humble character.
 * There has been a joke of a DOTS: DR sequel entitled DOTS: Phoenix Riders, in an even more cyberpunk-esque era than DR. The idea would be a parody of the Sonic Riders series in a DOTS storyline.