#Atlas is trans! He loves fashion though | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mythologyfolklore · 3 years

Text

Born to be a kleptomaniac!

(A/N: My take on how Hermes stole Apollon’s cows. Bad news: this includes transphobia. Good news: Zeus and Apollon say trans rights.)

He had just been born – though through his eyes, his birth hadn't been as joyful as it should have been.

“My daughter! My pride and joy! I will call you Hermione¹ and you will be my beautiful baby girl!”

That had been her first words onto laying eyes on her newborn.

But everything about it sounded wrong, so wrong.

Daughter … little girl … and Hermione?! Really???

Gods came into the world with fully developed minds and knowledge beyond mortal ken and they grew up extremely quickly. That was how this little boy knew who he was – and who his mother thought he was.

Speaking of her, she had just cleaned up the mess from his birth and gone to sleep off her exhaustion, after placing him in a crib.

However, the baby boy refused to just lie in his crib and be bored out of his mind – especially, when his mother had upset him so in the very first minute of his life.

So off he crawled and out of the cave (how? He was a god, that's how!), leaving his sleeping mother alone inside. She would be fine.

Once out in the sun, he couldn't help but be in awe. What a beautiful place the world was! So wide, so colourful, so full of life!

Suddenly, he tripped and fell. As he looked around, sniffling because his knees hurt, he found that he had tripped over a peacefully grazing tortoise. The pain was instantly forgotten.

The little boy laughed, as he picked the tortoise up: “Hello, little thing!”

Then he carried his new-found toy off and killed it. Poor tortoise, but her afterlife would be awesome! After scratching off the flesh, he took the shell, the sinews and a few small bones and fashioned out of them a brand new instrument. “Lyre”, he named it.

For a little while, he tried his new instrument out, plucking the strings and composing little songs.

Then he got hungry.

And wandered off to find some food.

It wasn't long until he came across a giant herd of cattle. Now that was it! Perfect lunch!

The little god grinned mischievously and hatched a plan.

With great care, he selected fifty cows that were grazing separately from the herd. And with a snap of his fingers, he twisted their hoofs backwards to make it look as if they were walking into the opposite direction (damn, was he a genius or what?).

He let them feed some more, while he lit a sacrificial fire, then picked two of them and slit their throats. After butchering them, he portioned their meat into twelve and sacrificed the portions. Eleven for the Olympians, one for himself.

Then he made haste to get home before nightfall.

Sadly, his mother was already awake, as he crawled back into the cave.

“Hermione! There you are, I was so worried! What have you been up to?”, she scolded.

The divine baby frowned at her. “Don't call me that! I'm not Hermione! Also, I haven't been up to anything! I just wanted to look at the world!”

“Of course you're Hermione! Also, you're lying! My own daughter!”

“I'm a boy!”

“No, you're not! Don't argue with me, I gave birth to you! Now tell me, what have you done?! No honest person is out at night!”

He bit his lips (yes, he already had teeth). Why did his own mother not understand? It was true, she had given birth to him and he loved her for that, but she just didn't-

“Answer me!”

He sighed: “Alright, fine! I stole a few cows from some random huge herd I found in Pieria and sacrificed two of them to the Olympians! Happy now?”

“YOU WHAT?! HERMIONE, THAT WAS THE CATTLE OF APOLLON, THE BOW WIELDING GOD OF LIGHT AND PLAGUES!!! HE WILL HAVE YOUR HIDE FOR THIS!!!”

But “Hermione” snickered, because “she” already had a plan.

“Don't worry”, he giggled. “I'll be fine and so will you! I just don't want to live in this dark and gloomy cave for the rest of my immortal life! I want more! I want to be an Olympian! And if Dad says no, I will just become a thief for real and steal their stuff, until they give in! And if Apollon gives us Tartaros, I will just bust into Delphi and steal all the pretty stuff they have there, just for you! Don't wreck your head, I have everything planned out!”

“Sweetie …”, Maia sighed and pinched her nose. Just what kind of goddess had she given birth to?!

In the morning Apollon descended onto the Earth to check on his cattle. But as he counted them, he found to his horror, that fifty of them were missing! But there was no way they could have just wandered off! Someone had stolen them! So the god of light went off to look for clues.

Nearby he encountered an old man, who was tending to his grapevines. Apollon assumed an innocuous mortal form and approached the old man.

“Excuse me, can you help me? I was tending to my cattle in Pieria – a herd of white cows with curved horns – but some of them have gone missing. Strangely, my bull and herding dogs are still where I left them, but my cows have strayed. Did you perchance see anything out of the ordinary? Anyone taking them away?”

The old man thought for a moment and scratched his head. “Hmm … now that you mention it, there was something. Last evening, I was digging around my vine plot to check for vermin, when something strange happened. I saw a little child – a toddler at most, can you believe this? – driving a group of cows just like the ones you described. The infant had a staff and kept jumping from side to side and driving them backwards. I know that sounds insane, but-”

“Thank you, that's quite enough”, Apollon interrupted him. “Thanks for the help. Have a nice day!”

Then the light god hurried away to find the … uh, cow-stealing infant. It was a newborn god, without a doubt – probably a new half-brother, Apollon suspected. And sure enough, a bird with long wings (underneath the sunlight he couldn't tell what species it was) flew above him and confirmed his suspicion. Apollon was the god of prophecy, he knew an omen when he saw one.

And there on the ground he found another clue: the tracks of cow hooves. The tracks were pointing into the direction of the meadow, where they had been grazing.

Beside them, there was a different set of footprint: those of a tiny child. Weirdly enough, they were pointing into the opposite direction.

In less than a second the blond god put two and two together and grew even angrier.

“That little brat is going to get it!”, he hissed and followed the child's footprints, until he arrived at a small cave in Kyllene, Arkadia.

Despite his anger he couldn't help but frown, that a small child was living in a cave – still, justice had to be served. He climbed down through the opening and was greeted by the startled face of a goddess. He knew her: Maia, one of the starry-haired daughters of Atlas and Pleione and one of Apollon's many (many) second cousins.

Right after apologising for the sudden intrusion and telling her what the matter was, he demanded to see the baby.

She shifted uncomfortably. “My daughter Hermione? She would never-”

“Let me see her”, he repeated firmly.

Unwillingly Maia stepped to the side, revealing the crib which her child lay, seemingly sleeping.

The little one had curled up and pretended to sleep, as soon as he had sensed a foreign presence.

He kept his eyes tightly shut and simply concentrated on the voice of his mother and the other one, which clearly belonged to a grown man (and was definitely the loveliest sound he had heard so far in his young life, but this wasn't the moment for that). That voice belonged to Apollon, no doubt.

Steps that weren't his mother's approached his crib and stopped in front of him.

He could tell, that he was being looked over, but instead of talking to him, Apollon turned to Maia: “Cousin, didn't you say this child is your daughter?”

“… Yes? Why are you asking?”

“Because this is not a girl.”

The boy's heart skipped a beat – could it possibly be …

“What is that supposed to mean?! How can you possibly know my child better than I, who gave birth to her?!”

“Him”, Apollon corrected coolly. “I'm the god of prophecy, that's how I know. And if you love your son, you will deal with it. Now, back to you, you little rascal. Stop feigning slumber. I know that you're awake.”

Damn it!

Slowly the infant cracked his eyes open and tried to look confu- holy Khaos! That expression was nothing short of murderous!

The baby had to think fast and in an attempt to appear totally cute and innocent, he stretched out his tiny arms and pretended to be completely entranced by the beauty of the older god's countenance.

“Pwettieeee!”, he squealed.

For a few seconds the older god did look disconcerted. Sadly it didn't last long.

“Nice try, but I'm not falling for that. Now …” his murderous scowl of murder returned (such a shame, it didn't suit that pretty face), “… where. Are. My. Cows? I know you took them! Spill it, or else.”

The infant pouted: “Why those mean words? I'm just a wittle baby, I was just born yesterday! I couldn't take cows! What are they anyway? I don't know them, all I know is my metera²!”

Apollon laughed, but clearly didn't believe him.

Damn it times two!

“God of lies and thieves!”, the blond chuckled. “That's what you are, little one! That's what your title will be among the Athanatoi³, you mischievous little cattle thief!”

Apollon gathered him in his arms and proceeded to carry him off, despite Maia's very vocal protests and pleas.

Still the little god was smirking on the inside, because everything was going just as planned!

He wriggled around, as if struggling in the older god's hold and with a wave of his hand sent forth an omen (how? Divine magic, that's how!). Startled, Apollon dropped him, but he landed safely on the ground. The light god descended and picked him back up, not without teasing.

The little boy pulled his wraps closer to himself, demanded to know, where his older brother was taking him and kept insisting, that he was innocent of any accusation of thievery.

Apollon only frowned: “Stop lying to me, you little brat! You stole something that belongs to me and I will get it back and you will face the consequences!”

They kept bickering like this and getting increasingly frustrated, until at last, they arrived on Olympos and bust right into an assembly.

Zeus didn't seem surprised in the least, when his favourite son strode in with a child in his arms.

The Scale of Judgement behind his throne certainly wasn't – the weights (each resembling one of the quarrellers) were swinging up and down, awaiting the decree of Moiragetês⁴.

The new-born god couldn't help but note, that Apollon was almost Zeus' splitting image (unlike himself) – same long, blond curls and body type, same knowing glance, even though Apollon's pale skin and golden eyes differed from their father's black eyes and tan.

“Hi, Dad!”, the infant cried cheerfully and unwrapped one of his arms to wave.

The King of the Skies chuckled and waved back. “Hello there, little guy!”

“ZEUS!!!”, Hera screamed and jumped up from her throne. “NOT AGAIN!!!”

“Not now, my drop-dead gorgeous, stunning wife”, Zeus cut her off and turned to Apollon: “Well, my son, what matter is it, that you're bringing in front of the Olympian Council?”

Apollon glared at the baby, before explaining to their father: “This little criminal here stole my cattle!”

“Did not!”, said criminal protested.

“Did too!”, the god of prophecy spat, “And then he had the nerve to act innocent and tell me that he didn't know, what I was accusing him of!”

“I didn't steal anything!”, the child whined. “Dad! He just burst into my Mama's cave and made false accusations and threatened me, even though I was just born yesterday! Help me, he's crazy!”

“Excuse me, how dare y-”

But Apollon broke off, when Zeus burst into roaring laughter.

The King of the Gods laughed so hard, that it began to thunder outside and he could hardly keep himself sitting on his throne. Just like Apollon, he saw right through the ruse – yet he still couldn't help but be incredibly amused by his newest spawn's antics.

His laughter was contagious, some of the other Olympians snickered along.

Even Hera couldn't help but grin. “He pulled a prank on Apollon and called him crazy? I like this one!”, she chuckled.

With these words Zeus' good mood was doubled.

“Why, you cheeky little rascal!”, he snickered. “Oh, you're my son, alright! Seriously though, give your brother his cows back. And you, Apollon, calm down. Siblings shouldn't have a falling-out over trivial matters like this. By the way, little one, you made a sacrifice to us Olympians last evening, didn't you? But you sacrificed twelve parts, instead of just eleven.”

“YOU SLAUGHTERED MY COWS???!”, Apollon roared, flaring with fury. “FATHER, HAVE HIM LOCKED AWAY THIS INSTANT!!! TAKE AWAY HIS IMMORTALITY! THROW HIM INTO TARTAROS!!! ANYTHING!!! HE HAS TO PAY!!!”

Zeus held up his hand. “Apollon, I thought I told you to calm down. Now, my youngest, won't you tell me, who the twelfth portion was for?”

The baby beamed at his father. “It was for me!”, he cried cheerfully.

Kronion grinned proudly and fondly: “Ah, I see! You sly little fellow, you!”

He took his newest child from Apollon's hands and held him up.

“My dear fellow gods!”, he addressed the assembled, “We shall be the Council of Eleven no more. From now on, we will be the Dodekathoi, the Big Twelve. So, what is the name of our newest member, my son?”

Of course Zeus knew, that Maia had given their child a name – but he also knew that it was the wrong one.

And sure enough, the baby shook his head.

“Very well, then. I will give you one: from now on you're an Olympian and your name shall be Hermes. Welcome, dear Hermes, to our crazy family! Still though, lead your older brother to where you hid his cows and give them back.”

The little boy was ecstatic: he had accomplished his goal to become a member of the council and he had a name – the perfect name!

The only thing that blemished his happiness now was Apollon – or to be specific, the light god's extreme moroseness.

Hermes lead his older brother to the hidden cattle, just like Zeus had told him to, but the blond just didn't stop frowning!

But as he drew them outside for Apollon to see, the light god seemed to relax just as little bit – however, that lasted only until he finished counting them and glowered at Hermes.

“It's only forty-eight. Where are the last two?”

Awkwardly the youngest god pointed to a nearby rock. The hides of the cows he had sacrificed still lay there, drying in the sun.

“Well, my sacrifice had to come from somewhere …”

Apollon gasped, stared at the hides, then at his new baby brother.

“Th-th – h-how?!”, he stuttered. “How the Tartaros did you – how did an infant flay and butcher two grown cows?!”

Hermes shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, well …”

But his nonchalant expression turned into a frown, when he saw how Apollon tore his own hair.

“Letoides, stop! You'll ruin your pretty hair-”

“Holy Khaos, you're already this strong! Only a few hours old and already a cattle thief strong enough to kill two adult cows! That's terrifying! How will it be, when you're grown up?! By Tartaros, you need to be restrained!”

And before Hermes knew it, he was being fettered.

Alone, he laughed, shook the binds off himself and transferred them onto the cows instead.

The light god gawked at this display of magical power, then his face darkened yet again.

Hermes was about to tell him to stop sulking over some stupid cows, when he saw the genuine distress in the older god's eyes.

“Well, that's just peachy!”, Apollon cried, distraught, and resumed tearing his hair (lovely, rich and long tresses of gold, flowing from his shoulders like cascades). “So I can't even make you face the consequences of your actions! No, you just get to do whatever you want without repercussion, whilst I don't even get the satisfaction of making you pay for what you've done! I'm the aggrieved party! You robbed me! Where is the justice in this?!”

The god of light took his anger out on a massive boulder, hitting it with so much energy that it melted.

For a moment Hermes was genuinely scared, but only until the other just plopped down on a rock and buried his face in his hands. Sadly he regarded his older brother. This wasn't right. He didn't want him to be so upset about something stupid like this.

Suddenly he had an idea. From underneath his swaddles, he pulled out his lyre tuned it.

Apollon looked up in interest.

Hermes strummed the strings with his stubby little fingers and began to sing:

“Praise to the Mousai, fair-voiced daughters of Mnemosyne and of cloud-gathering Zeus!

Praise to the richly tressed daughter of Gaia and Ouranos who gave birth to song and dance!

Hail the goddesses of the fine arts and may they inspire me in my endeavour!

Hail to the happy Olympians, the gloriously crowned, golden-throned gods … ”

And he sang of what he knew about the gods, the sky and the earth, the dawn of creation and how everyone had received their portion and domain.

Throughout his singing he perceived, how Apollon's expression gradually softened, until the god of light was completely and utterly entranced by the music.

For good measure Hermes improvised a little hymn to Apollon to dispel any remains of resentment. The blond blinked in (evidently) pleasant surprise and laughed heartily, when the child started to wax poetic about how pretty he was.

“Am I being serenaded by a toddler?!”, the blond asked incredulously. “This is messed up!”

“No, no! I'm not trying anything weird, I just want to cheer you up! Please don't be angry anymore. I didn't mean to make you so upset by stealing those cows.”

“Those?” Apollon motioned towards the nearby cows, which were still grazing despite the osier roots keeping their legs in place. He sighed: “You know what, just … keep the stupid cows. I have so many of them anyway.”

Hermes beamed up to his older half-brother: “Really?”

“Really. But tell me, you wily, little trickster, where did you learn this? And where did you get this marvellous thing? I have never heard anything like it!”

“That's because I invented it yesterday”, Hermes explained proudly. “I'm calling it lyre.”

“I adore it!”, Apollon exclaimed, “I'm friends with the Mousai, but even their music has never touched my heart like yours just did! Such a crafty little genius you are and you've just been born!”

“Awww, thanks! You're a genius too!”

Apollon chuckled and patted his thighs. “Come here, you little coaxer.”

“Yaaaay!”, Hermes squealed and jumped onto the Archer's lap, lyre still in hand.

“I see a great future ahead of you”, the blond prophesied. “I see glory in your name. I see you as a worthy member of our Council, a proud occupant of a golden throne. I see you and your mother honoured among all the gods. And I shall shower you with rich gifts and see to it, that all of this comes to fruition, if you will listen to me.”

“You mean you won't throw me into Tartaros?”, the little trickster grinned.

The Far-Shooter chuckled: “No. No, I won't.”

“Yay! Hey, if I give you my lyre and teach you how to play it, can I be the god of shepherding instead of you? And then you can be the god of music?”

“Very well”, Apollon nodded, summoned his whip in his hands and handed it to Hermes. “From now on you're the god of animal husbandry.”

The brunet laughed heartily, handed his lyre to Apollon and taught him how to play it.

Then they drove the cattle to where they had been before and returned to Olympos.

Thenceforth the Archer and the Trickster were always of one mind.

---

1) If you're stumbling over this name, Hermione is, in fact, an ancient Greek name and the female version of Hermes. In the epic cycle around the Trojan War, Menélaos and Helene of Sparta (whom you might know as Helen of Troy) have a single child named Hermione. 2) metera - Greek for "mother" 3) Athanatoi - plural form of Athanatos ("Deathless/Undying/Immortal") 4) Moiragetês - "Leader of the Moirai (the Fates)/Guide of Fate", an epithet of Zeus (and Apollon, but mostly Zeus)

#Greek Mythology #hermes #apollon #zeus #hera #transgender hermes #tw: transphobia #maia is not a good parent #apollon and zeus say trans rights #and so do i #just to make this clear #also if you tag this as slash i will kick you #hermes is a baby ffs!#and yes i know ppl who would tag it as slash

8 notes · View notes

farsight-the-char · 5 years

Text

Fun Facts about my RWBY ocs.

Kaine Jamesdottir

She is trans. She came out as trans in her first year at beacon. She was accepted by all and started HTR soon after coming out. Took her a while to find a good name though which leads to the next point.

She started following the faith of the Earth Mother thanks to Sebastian. While not as devout as he, she came to chose the name Kaine from it. Kaine is an aspect of the Earth Mother, representing evolution and change. I am not revealing her deadname, though it also started with K so the team has always been team KNGS.

James (not Ironwood) was the man who rescued her from the cult that created her. James raised her and she took up the last name Jamesdottir to reference this.

Really loves girly things. Initially got into make up with the help of Nissa to help her pass, she came to love goofing around with it. She is very much femme.

Got into Remnent’s equivalent of 40k (I shall call it Grimm Wars). Finds assembling and painting fun and calming while the game is fun.

Is currently a stay-at-home mom of 3, being married to Nissa. Their oldest is soon to enter Signal. She still does Huntsress stuff when called on but prefers to be a parent.

Was assigned to be leader by the headmaster, but only really came into such a role in the last year at Beacon.

Nissa Grey

Stole her first gun from gangsters. Was basically a vigilante/thief before being accepting into Beacon.

Left her abusive parents home at age 8, stayed mostly at an Earth Mother temple to hide from authorities. Was gifted her rapier “Sara” by the priestess who managed the temple and Vivian named the weapon after the priestess.

Discovered her semblance the night she ran away from her parents. When they were going to beat her she let out a hyper-sonic scream, which knocked back and permanently deafened her parents, allowing her to escape.

Butch. Once she was allowed to experiment with fashion she took to fine suits like fish to water.

Has a friendly rivalry with Sebastian. They attended Signal together and were close friends then, bonding over being gay and poor. The rivalry started when both were at tied for top of the class and were trying to out do each other. Still try to one up each other to this day. Still very friendly.

Currently married to Kaine and works as a huntress. 2 adopted children and one bio-child with Kaine as the other mother.

Voice of reason on the team, and combat leader against human foes.

Gold Godwin

Family moved to Vale from Atlas after she accidentally set the SDC lab her family lived at on fire designing what would later become her weapon TIM. No one was hurt, but the SDC paid them to leave to escape the dirty looks they got in Atlas.

Discovered her barrier semblance the day she set the lab on fire.

Does not really care about looks, with the exception of her hair. Big Afro she is very determined to protect and maintain. (She is what we would describe as a black person).

Wealthy and basically bankrolled the rest of the team out of poverty. Helped improve their weapons and taught them how to better maintain them.

Study leader, in charge of ensuring the team could have talents outside of murder.

Currently a weapons tech designer who goes hunting to field test new toys. Also a parent of a single son named Robert to whom Sebastian is the bio-dad.

Sebastian Magdalene

Tends to refer to people by their first name even when it would be strange to do so. A habit he picked up because he was taught by his mothers to refer to by first name.

Collects hard copies of Holy Books, not just ones dedicated to the Earth Mother but of all of Remnent’s religions.

Will not ask people to convert, but will gladly accept people wanting to learn about the Earth Mother. This is how Kaine came into the faith of the Earth Mother.

Hates shaving, though does do proper hair and beard maintenance.

Tends not to settle down

Helped fund his mothers out of poverty when he started earning huntsmen money. Sif now owns a distillery and Barda a marital arts gym. They had another 2 children after they got out of poverty, Jack and David, who are now attending Signal.

#Kaine Jamesdottir #nissa grey #gold godwin #sebastian magdalene #rwby #rwby oc #my characters #writing mode

2 notes · View notes

littlerobinwriter · 6 years

Text

Projects of 2017

Nobody actually asked for this, but I figured I’d be relatively self indulgent today and make up a list of all my projects from this past year, whether completed or not.

‘Silver and Gold’

Status: Completed

Date Started: 1st April 2017

Date Completed: 8th April 2017

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Word Count: 15k

Summary: When the god Apollo is captured by long time enemy, Python, it is left up to his twin sister, Artemis, to save him and his sunlight, or else see the world frozen forever. With the assistance of warriors from across the lands - Cyrene, Atalanta, and Otrera, she will set out on an epic quest to save her brother.

Characters:

Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt.

Lord Apollo, god of healing.

Queen Otrera, queen of the Amazons.

Princess Atalanta, princess of Arcadia.

Cyrene, warrior princess and lover of the gods.

‘Every Pretty Colour’

Status: Incomplete

Date Started: 1st of June 2017

Date Completed: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Word Count: 36k

Summary: Ariadne Bellerose had her Dunaran life all planned out. But when she meets and befriends Raven Maple, crown prince of Dunara, her entire world shatters before her and she is plunged into a war no one in her kingdom ever wanted. What’s a dragon loving elf to do?

Characters:

Ariadne Bellerose, rider of dragons and young elf.

Atlas Allard, Dunaran elf with a love for baking.

Helios McDougal, elven healer.

Raven Maple, faery prince of Dunara.

Persephone McDougal, elven warrior.

Alexandra Vasile, vampiric revolutionary.

Daniela Negrescu, vampire physicist.

‘All the Words for Red’

Status: Incomplete and on hiatus.

Date Started: 14th of July, 2017

Date Completed: N/A

Genre: Romance

Word Count: 18k

Summary: When Red moves to a new school, she simply merged into the crowd, until the school dance when she is invited into the friend group of Céline Lyon. Through this, she meets people she never thought she would ever talk to, but is this what she truly wants?

Characters:

Red Laurens, youngest daughter of two work obsessed lawyers.

Céline Lyon, child of French parents and twin sister of Cyrus, avid reader.

Autumn James, only child and aspiring journalist.

Cyrus Lyon, theatre kid who hates lettuce with a passion, twin brother of Céline.

Sakura Ito, passionate director, completely awful at making toast.

Hana Ito, wannabe model and lover of music.

Maya Cruz, possibly the smartest girl in the school, passionate about particles.

Jiu Wu, Hana’s boyfriend, will fight anyone and everyone but also loves everyone too much.

Lucas Santos, teenager battling cancer, dirtiest mind in existence.

Yasmine Latey, daughter of a director, best friend of Zoya and entirely done with everyone’s bullshit.

Zoya Idris, Muslim girl with a love for psychology, favourite colour is pink.

‘Bound in Blood’

Status: Incomplete

Date Started: 4th December, 2017

Date Completed: N/A

Genre: Fantasy/Sci fi

Words: 16k

Summary: Calla and Rowan Laurel have always lived normal lives in the kingdom of Warbun, east of the White Mountains. They understand science, they understand maths: they don’t understand how the Iron Guard Of Naran has taken them from their country and decided that they want their heads on a platter. Drawn into the land of magic on the wrong side of the mountains, in a world that they’ve always been scared of, neither twin can find their feet, let alone fight whatever evil they’ve been told they have to. Caught up in lies, prophecies, and poisons, the twins will have to fight the world and theirselves. If they can.

Characters:

Calla Laurel, can only really do alchemy and seeing, much prefers Warbun’s science to Naran’s magic nonsense, will fight you and then feel bad about it, really shy. Looks like a cinnamon roll but would actually kill a man if they gave her reason to, bisexual as hell. Thinks magic is dumb and would much rather study normal things, like radioactivity and atoms, gets really scared really easily.

Rowan Laurel, gifted in defensive magic and physics, loves his home country but also thinks magic is great, if you insult his sister he will destroy you in fifteen different ways, really a sweetie though?? Survives mostly on bread, pasta and heterosexual tears. Very self sacrificing, won’t tell anyone his plan until he’s carried it all out.

Veronica McDonald, very very badass, very very loud, won’t take any of her brother’s shit, always underestimated but she is legitimately incredibly caring and powerful as all hell. Can’t do maths. Almost as stubborn as Sam is, refuses to believe anything bad about people she cares about.

Hayden Wren, gay af, loves science and if you talk about biology to him he will not shut up for five years. Do not insult physics in front of him please.

Elara Darling, also underestimated, looks all innocent and sounds like she has no idea what’s going on, but actually is one of the smartest people, one of the few Naranians who understand science. Very gay, has a keen interest in flowers, and is an exceptional charms mistress.

Samuel McDonald, thinks he’s smarter than he is, still can’t do maths more advanced than addition and subtraction no matter how many times Rowan tries to explain it, refuses to learn maths because ‘its impractical’. Really strategic mind, but often sacrifices others for the sake of his plans, stubborn as anything.

Kayleigh Kovac, welcoming but unbearably proud, exceedingly loyal and will fight for her friends and what she believes in until her dying breath.

Helena Dare, loves everyone and everything, seems stuck up but would do anything for her friends, hates seeming weak in front of others, finds it hard to talk about her emotions. Seriously pansexual, trans girl and loves fashion, great hair.

Delilah Arende, pretty as hell, incredibly loyal but she takes a while to warm up to people, amazing at transformation spells, loves animals especially dragons.

Ross Fisher, very bisexual, amazing hair, smiles like all the time, loves all of his friends and is essentially a magical Jack Harkness.

Nadiyah Napier, very witchy witch, so in touch with nature and does a lot of herbal magic, wants to be a healer but is too nervous to tell anyone, really friendly but isn’t very good at reading people’s emotions?? Can never tell if people like her or not.

#every pretty colour #all the words for red #silver and gold #bound by blood #writing #my projects #wip #about me #about my writing #information literally no one asked for

2 notes · View notes

scarlet-shattering · 7 years

Text

Tora

The first shard of Lacera is a place called Tora. The shard is Lacera’s version of the Prime Material Plane, that is, where most mundane and mortal beings exist. Its most notable feature is that it has the most natural barriers of any other continent, boasting not one, but two natural mountain ranges, and even a (relatively) large sea. Tora is home to most humans in Lacera. It consists of several city-states, which are listed below: Brinewater: A rough-and-tumble port town famous for its crime and piracy. However, most trade between Tora’s island nations and the mainland go through the city, so it has a prominent upper class. The most prominent member is the city’s elected mayor and unofficial crime boss, Edna VanLee, the Lady of Jade. Inspired by Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Bilgewater, from League of Legends Damaria: The largest city-state in Tora is also the most intimidating. It’s a massive and dense place, with its most notable feature being its great Fire Eternal, a huge brazier in the center of the city. The theocratic society claims that this fire was placed by the gods to give the city light and order, but it bears no marking from any deity known to Lacera. The city is ruled by its oppressive Consulate and its lead member, Archbishop Rolf, whose anti-mage and anti-nonhuman doctrines permeate the city. Inspired by Novigrad from the Witcher 3 and somewhat by Magic the Gathering’s Aether Revolt storyline The Isles of Sin: Far to the east of Tora’s Ancient Sea lies a location that officially does not exist. The Isles of Sin are the last remnants of a great island nation that existed before the Shattering. They lie at the very end of the continent, where a gigantic waterfall flows off the edge of the planet into nothingness. All that remains is a half-sunken castle that is likely crawling with undead when the players first visit it. The place is shrouded in a constant fog, and seems to radiate with a sedentary evil. Inspired by League Of Legends’ Shadow Isles The Triple Peaks: At the northernmost end of the continent lie three great mountains. Constantly swirling with blizzards, the peaks mark the end of civilization for many. For a few, though, life still yet thrives. Scattered barbarian tribes that all make up one greater society dot the peaks’ southern edge, and they surround the ruins of old monasteries long forgotten and abandoned. However, a few of the barbarian chiefs still summit the mountain every few years, as the ancient monks used to do as a pilgrimage. Inspired by: Literally the name from a name generator Worldsend: North of even the Triple Peaks, on their far side, lies a simple and small cluster of huts and igloos. The society itself is unassuming, but their tiny settlement surrounds a gigantic anchor for a gigantic chain. From the very summit of the Triple Peaks, one can see the great chain as it stretches from the surface of Tora all the way into the heavens, attached to the gigantic secondary planet known by select few. This captive planet is called Satellite, and its existence is one that the elders of Worldsend protect and keep secret. The gigantic Triple Peaks just barely block view of the Satellite from the rest of the continent, and the elders of Worldsend are told from birth that it is their duty to maintain that great secret. Inspired by: Mostly my idea but the planet-chained-to-planet thing is from Sonic CD (seriously) Littlewharf: This small southwestern trading town is on the very edge of the Ancient Sea, near the Erstall Plains. It’s a town known for its fine jewelry and simple, laid-back lifestyle. Inspired by: A player needed a place of origin lol

Iron Highlands: The second mountain range on Tora is to the far west. The only Dwarven stronghold on the continent, the Iron Highlands is a very regimented and orderly society. There are very few non-Dwarves that live there, and outsiders are rarely trusted. Every Dwarf on Tora can trace their lineage back to the Highlands if they go far back enough, and Highlands Dwarves are extensively proud of that. There are few other places on Tora where one can find a society with smiths as refined as those in the Highlands, so whenever its residents need something from the outside world (which is rare) they pay for it with beautifully crafted steel. Inspired by: Sooooort of the Lonely Mountain from LOTR but mostly just Standard Dwarf Stuff Vesura: Only recently has Vesura been anything other than just another city-state trying to get by. There was nothing too remarkable about the place until, as the story goes, two women, one in red, one in white, essentially waltzed their way into the city’s ruling class and eventually became its queens. Ever since their reign began, Vesura has prospered, though a murky cloud of darkness always seems to surround the city. Inspired by: Okay so I found the name “Vesura” on a name generator and figured I’d need it for player backstory but I didn’t, so I left it undeveloped until I randomly woke up at 3 AM one morning, grabbed my phone, and typed “Vesura has lesbian vampire queens” into a D&D document and then fell back asleep and that’s how this happened Ravenna: This city is recognizable from far off by its great ebony clock tower. Its current king, Darius Drake, has somewhat fashioned the city after his patron, the Raven Queen, but the city is far from evil. It feels more melancholy than it does morose. One of the more powerful mages on the continent, Lady Rosalind, lives in and maintains the clock tower. Inspired by: (barely) Twilight Town from Paper Mario TTYD, Big Ben in London, Castle Ravenloft from Curse of Strahd (literally just the name). Also Lady Rosalind is my self-insert character and she’s a trans lesbian oneiromancer aka Dream Witch Terrason Woods: The Terrason Woods are the only remaining druidic society on Tora. Depending on which set of players we’re using, they may or may not have burned down, but while they did exist, they were home to many elvish druids and rangers. They’re the only remaining druidic society on all of Lacera that practices turning its members into Wood Woads. Inspired by: Player’s idea, this was me talking him down from making a Wood Woad player character. It was atlas-prime, who I’m not gonna @ because he’s not supposed to see the rest of this post Scaov Pilajan: Another northern society of elves, but this one contrasts the Terrason Woods because it’s a refined and cultured city-state. Its nobility is rather famously wealthy, and it is a mostly self-sufficient nation. Its relationship with Ravenna has been tense recently, because the nobility married off a younger princess to its king, Darius Drakeand she died rather quickly after the birth of her only child, Jason Drake, who wants nothing to do with his mother’s nation. Inspired by: Player backstory city that I expanded on a lot, also Darius and his (still unnamed) wife had a happy and consensual marriage out of love, no bullshit arranged marriages here, Jason also doesn’t hate his mom’s legacy he just wants to adventure Ihr Atma and Ihr Atoll: Islands in-between the Isles of Sin and Brinewater. Underdeveloped at the moment, but inspired by Skellige from the Witcher 3 probably Closed Forest: Basically a “don’t walk to the edge of the continent” thing, so random assholes donn’t learn that the world was shattered. Inspired by: A Yugioh field spell (seriously look it up)

Divisum: Same thing as the Closed Forest but it’s a big fuckin’ canyon Erstall Plains: A sea of grass where a barbarian tribe roams and lives off the land. Inspired by: PC needed a place of origin and was lazy about it

Clearsky Hills: A small secluded set of hills where the party’s house currently is. It’s called Clearsky Hideout, which is inspired by a Skyrim mod of the same name. More detail on that later but I dare you to have a more #lit party hideout than this one

And that is Tora, the first continent of Lacera! Holy butts it has a lot of places. But yeah it’s mostly humans or less scary nonhuman races like elves, halflings, and gnomes, though it has scattered half-orcs, Goliaths, Dragonborn, and Tieflings. The most notable thing about the continent (other than Worldsend) is that the societies of Tora are mostly unaware of the Shattering, where other continents tell children about the event as a part of basic history instruction. Very few people on Tora know the world is wounded, and even fewer have traveled to the other shards.

#d&d #worldbuilding

1 note · View note

ourimpavidheroine · 7 years

Note

Hello favorite author of mine! Here's a question that you don't have to answer if there are spoilers involved (and if so I'll ask again later, but I can't help but try now because I'm NOSY): I know you've said that Qi just appeared on the page while writing the 5 Times fic, so at what point did you realize what Qi's future in relation to Wu and Mako would be? Was it prior to writing ASoSaA?

So because you are you, I’ll give the long answer instead of the short one!

There may be some mildish spoilers ahead - so read or not as you please.

I’ve said before that I have set myself some challenges as a writer. Please Excuse My Penmanship was me tackling the dreaded letter fic (and there are still some people who will not touch it with a ten foot pole because of it) and I decided early on that Wu as a character would do really well with a first-person diary format (even though, again, there is a lot of hate out there for first-person fanfic and people won’t read it because of that).

LoLo was planned, absolutely. I wanted someone for Lin, and I wrote that character specifically as someone I thought would be a good match for her (or at least my version of her). All of the kids were planned as well - oh, there might have been some waffling about names (I went back and forth between Poppy and Lily for a long time but in the end I think Poppy suits her better) and even gender (Goba was supposed to be a girl but I just kept writing “he” over and over again and finally gave it up and let him be the boy he so clearly wants to be) but they were planned. (It’s why I know so much about Sayuri as well as Ikki’s kids). Naoki was written as my way of trying to take a character like Azula - a brilliant prodigy - and put her into a loving and supportive family, and see where that would take her. Would she be boring if she didn’t have that villain arc? Or didn’t have a redemption arc like Zuko? Could I make her the best bender of her age and still make her real? Likable? A character people resonate with? A character that people want to read more about? That was my own challenge when it came to the Butterfly, right down to making her a firebender who will eventually be jumping right into a Chosen One trope.

I had characters that were supposed to be relatively unimportant just take off. Nuo is a fine example of that. I was going to write about Wu searching for a secretary but realized it would bog the story down. (Wu’s recounting of it for Iris in AtWtPHM was my original idea that I had to scrap.) So I had to create this secretary for him out of nowhere. She was never meant to be as instantly engaging as she was; there was no plan at all to have Wing fall so hard for her. She quite literally just started happening in Dear Diary; I just got the fuck out of her way and let her run her part of the story. (It’s always best to let Nuo do that anyhow.)

Baatar Junior is my redemption arc, of course. His attraction to Ikki kind of hit me upside the head and I was like…no way! This could never work! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. (He was also a gift for my betareader - he’s her favorite character of all of mine, and so I knew I had to do right by him, as difficult as he is. And he is! He’s the most difficult of all of my characters, canon and OC alike, to write.)

So that leaves me with my Qi. That scruffy kid of non-determinate gender who showed up sitting in the chair next to a hungry Mako’s desk. As I’ve said before, I never planned for Qi. Qi just showed up on the page and I let them. I had no idea what was going to become of that kid; they took over the story like Nuo did, but in a totally different way. I realized very early on who Nuo was and what her future would be - she was going to stamp her way right into Wing and Zaofu’s heart.

But Qi?

Qi was a slippery little koi fish. I could never quite grab ahold of them - I tried to determine gender and it just wasn’t happening and I realized to myself that it was because this kid was actively rejecting gender and I knew I needed to let that happen. I did not set out to write a nonbinary character the way I did a trans character (and yes, I have an OC that is trans that not even my betareader knows about yet, because they will be coming out as part of the storyline). Qi made themselves nonbinary and as a writer I had to respect what the character wanted for themselves. And that’s how it has always been with Qi. I realized early on that this character wanted to write themselves and I made a conscious choice to let that happen instead of planning things out for them. How would this work for me as a writer? Would it be a red hot mess? Or would the character just keep unfolding, like a flower? Hopefully the latter.

My betareader can tell you that there have been several times that she has read something and said, Wait, I thought Qi was going to that other thing instead of this! And all I can do is shrug my shoulders and say, I know! But what can I do? Qi tells their own story. Qi doesn’t really care all that much for my careful planning, either.

It was during AsoSaA that Qi let me know that Qi was actually in love with Wu - that it had gone way past the mostly grateful crush that Qi had been sporting for Wu for years. Qi also made it clear that there were feelings for Mako as well. And it kept going from there. Qi’s changes as Qi gained confidence and an understanding of their place in the world - the learning to read and write, changing the accent, the true and unique fashion sense - were never planned. I just let Qi lead the way. There a few things I do know about Qi’s future; one or two things that are set in stone already. But Qi IS a slippery koi and just when I think I have grasped something about them they are out of my hands and swimming somewhere new and unexpected. I’m just following along as best I can. So what I’m saying to you is that I still don’t know what all Qi’s future holds for them. I really don’t. Qi will tell me when Qi is ready to as Qi always has.

I’ve had some questions from readers about the whole polyamory thing. Ikki is in a traditional Tibetan fraternal polyandry relationship; I wrote it deliberately that way. (So to be clear: There is no incest happening. Baatar and Huan are not sleeping together and they won’t be having any threesomes with Ikki, either. I’m not kinkshaming, it’s just not what I am writing.) It’s why the folks in Baidi Village are completely fine with the whole thing - it is the cultural norm for them. Because of this, their relationship is never going to cause much comment up north where the temple is. (That is obviously not the case elsewhere.) I am not writing my fic for kids and I have unlimited time and space for it so I can delve into some of those more traditional and geographical influences far more than Bryke ever could, of course. Most ATLA/TLOK fanfic relies heavily on Chinese and Japanese influences; I wanted something different. Asian influence, of course, but something outside the mainstream. Thus Baidi village was born.

My Wu, on the other hand, has been strongly influenced by Imperial China. Which the canon Wu was as well, of course. The Earth Monarch was clearly based on that. I’ve run with it. (I’ve researched and then talked so much about Imperial China that I finally sat down and re-watched The Last Emperor with my son. The movie does have its issues, of course, but it’s meant a whole lot of really interesting dialogue about racism and colonialism with him.) It makes me want to throw my hands up into the air and kick people when I get the comments I do about polygamy. “I’m not into it” or “The characters would never do that” or even “This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.” Polygamy is a real thing in many non-western cultures. The ATLA/TLOK universe is not set on our Earth; it is not Asia, but rather Asian-influenced. But I will tell you one thing it isn’t, and that’s Christian. Western Judeo-Christian influences do not apply. Wu being a King in a dynasty that was clearly based on Imperial China would have had a consort and concubines. It’s just how it is. He’s not the king any longer, but he is a prince, and in his mind, having more than one partner is not only normal, it is to be expected. Qi obviously just swam their way right into that!

So this is my incredibly long-winded way of telling you that I really can’t nail down a specific time when Qi told me they were going to have a relationship with Wu and Mako! I still haven’t written the whole Qi and Mako thing out because Qi just hasn’t gotten around to telling me what it is yet. I am sure they will. When they do, I will write it down for the rest of you!

#my fanfic #ask the writer #mild spoilers #marezelle

3 notes · View notes