Like 'Ego Abilities', this is an info-dump to help understand my fic 'The Outside' better! This one is to tell what types of Figments there are, that way it can be understood better if someone brings up something other than an Ego.
Next up will be one about auras, as well as continuation for Abilities, as it's still lacking a lot of Egos.
There were five types of Figments in their plane. There always had been.
Links and Mascots were the weakest of them all. They were followed closely by Thoughts. Guardians and Egos held the most power, but with Guardians planted in a single location.
Links were as their name implied: Linked to another Figment. To Egos. If said Ego was to die or sever their link, a Link Figment itself would fade from existence. Chase Brody's children and ex-wife were Links. And, because his link to his ex had been severed when he gained full custody of their kids, Stacy had been quick to fade.
Mascots were much the same, but instead linked to something Outside: In the humans' plane. Be it a game, a television series, a YouTube channel, or something else entirely. Once their own link was canceled, a Mascot would fade unless they had enough attention from fans to survive—such as Wilford Warfstache technically being both a Mascot and an Ego. Septic Eye Sam and Tiny Box Tim were Mascots.
Thoughts were only considered stronger than the other two because they didn't have to rely on something else to survive. They could be created in similar ways, through the belief of humans, through writing, but they wouldn't fade if their original source or link was gone; only if they were forgotten. Characters from books and cartoons often became Thoughts, and were the most abundant. They were the ones to often end up dead when Egos went looking for trouble due to their sheer number.
Guardians often took the forms of buildings: Offices, houses, apartments, whatever best fit their need. They were the only sort of Figment that couldn't be thought up in the humans' world, and would just sort of appear seemingly out of nowhere. They accompanied the creation of Egos when a single person gained enough of them, and acted as their homes. They would protect the Egos, give them a bridge to the Outside if they so needed it. The buildings were conscious, but immobile, and Ego magic had no affect on them. Egos Incorporated and Ego Central were some of the largest Guardians within their plane.
Then came the Egos. The most powerful sort of Figment to exist in their plane. Some of them were created based off characters stars played on the big screen. Others were created by YouTubers or their fans. Those were the most troublesome. They often didn't have as much backstory as big-screen Egos. They weren't as well characterized. It made them dangerous, unpredictable. It gave them very few Links to hold them back, and they were more likely to change out of nowhere due to fan or creator doings. And there was almost always more than one. The Ipliers, Markiplier's Egos, were one of the largest groups of them.
Guardians would form in rural locations of their plane, to keep YouTube Egos as far away from other Figments as possible. Keep the casualties of Mascots, Links, Thoughts, and big-screen Egos low. Or, as low as it could get when some purposefully would seek out other Figments.
It didn't mean all Egos were bad. Some were even created as heroes, and did what they could to keep things from harming other Figments.
Others were meant to cause havoc, and did a pretty damn good job of it.