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bloededhoine · 4 years

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world building cause twn doesn't part 4: elves!

everyone loves elves! they're a fantasy genre mainstay, archery is so sexy, and they have those E A R S. plus, they play a pretty important part in the witcher universe!

series masterpost

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

background

i'd recommend going through the last parts, or at least the tl;dr's first

elves arrived on the continent about 2000 years before humans, and are divided into 5 distinct cultures of varying importance: aen undod, aen elle, aen seidhe, black seidhe, and aen woedde

elves only came to the continent in one group, but not all of that group stayed. the different branches based on where they settled make up the different cultures

the main two languages in the witcher are common speech and elder speech (aka hen llinge), the former used by most humans and the latter used by the elder races

aen undod

the aen undod are the oldest elven culture, having existed years before the conjunction of spheres

their home world faced some huge catastrophe, so the aen undod left in search of new worlds, leaving their descendants to become all the future elven cultures.

the aen undod spoke the oldest dialect of elder speech, laith aen undod, or one speech

aen elle

the aen elle use a language derived from hen llinge called ellylon, in which their name means "of the alders"

they don't actually live on the continent, having abandoned it years ago for their own world.

however, when the aen elle arrived in this new world, it was already populated by humans and unicorns. unfortunately, these elves are notoriously ruthless and both the native species were eradicated.

the capital of the aen elle world is tir ná lia, and is described as stunningly beautiful, featuring open air buildings made of marble, alabaster, and malachite. here it is in the third witcher video game, by djkovrik on nexus. their screenshots are amazing btw.

[ID: screenshot from wild hunt showing tir ná lia. the city is built on cliffs above a sea, there are waterfalls falling from the cliffs and bridges connecting them. there are mountains in the background and the buildings are fairly small and out of focus, they seem to be in the gothic revival style with ornate windows and steeped roofs. end ID]

the ruler of the aen elle was auberon muircetach, king of the alders and aen saevherne (aen saevherne is the honorary title of an elven mage who has extensive knowledge of magic, geneology, history, and many other subjects). auberon was also ciri's 5 times great grandfather. this gwent card pretty much sums up his vibe: scary yet sexy.

[ID: illustration of elven man with long white hair on a brown horse. he has defined cheekbones and facial features and is wearing a gold crown and blue robes with a red sash, gold belt, and leather boots. he is holding a white unicorn head in one hand. the unicorn's horn is cut off, and is bloody around its neck and where its horn was. end ID]

auberon's consort was another aen elle named shiadhal, with whom he had one daughter, lara dorren. lara is so so so important for the witcher, as she is the beginning of the elder blood, or hen ichaer.

hen ichaer is a gene that carries incredibly powerful magic, and those who have it are usually sources. i talk more abt this in part 3.

for better or for worse, lara dorren fell in love with a human sorcerer, cregennan of lod, and left tir ná lia for him. auberon took this as cregennan "stealing" his daughter and therefore the hen ichaer, and developed a pretty hefty vengeance and dedication to "take back" what was his (yikes).

this also set a precedent of people "claiming" the lives of carriers of the hen ichaer

auberon also formed an elven cavalry known as the red riders or wild hunt (dearg ruadhri in ellylon) and he appointed eredin bréacc glas as their commander. the initial purpose of the wild hunt was to travel to different worlds and capture slaves for tir ná lia, although they later became auberon's tool to find and exploit carriers of hen ichaer.

the wild hunt also uses specially trained mages known as navigators to open portals to other worlds, the most notable of these navigators is caranthir ar-feiniel, who doubled as one of eredin's most trusted men.

the aen elle also live a pretty long time, average is around 650 years, so the timelines are kinda hard to keep track of.

notable aen elle include: auberon muircetach, shiadhal, lara dorren, eredin breácc glas, crevan espane aep caomhan macha (aka avallac'h, also an aen saevherne and lara dorren's ex), caranthir ar-feiniel (also avallac'h's foster son), ge'els (the viceroy of tir ná lia), and imlerith (general of the wild hunt)

aen seidhe

put simply, the aen seidhe are the elves that did not leave when the aen elle did

the aen seidhe don't really have a society like the aen elle, they're pretty dispersed across the world. but, there are certain areas the aen seidhe have claimed as their own.

one of these little civilizations is dol blathanna, also known as the valley of flowers. unfortunately, it's not an independent state, as it was conquered by aedirn in the 1150s. however, then-king baldwin thyssen did allow the elves to retain a lot of their cultural identity and live in peace.

dol blathanna includes the village posada and the capital silver towers, which is where filavandrel aén findháil is from. he's that sexy man right there

[ID: photo of white elf man with blonde hair going to his shoulders. he is wearing tattered green robes and is looking slightly to the side with his lips pursed. end ID]

not that anyone cares, but here's him in the hexer. it's not important to the lore or twn it's just fuckin funny

[ID: old man with white frizzy wig. he is wearing a headband that appears to be rocks on a string. he has what looks like a potato sack tied around his shoulders over a green tunic. he is scowling. end ID]

outside of dol blathanna, there aren't really any places where elves can live with minimal human interaction, although the blue mountains are home to a few incredibly powerful elves

side note: dol blathanna is technically part of the blue mountains, but is in the far southern foothills so they're usually treated as separate entities.

the blue mountains are also a natural border dividing the northern kingdoms from the far east, and where filavandrel went to live after he got fed up with dol blathanna.

they're also the home of ida emean aep sivney, who's also an aen saevherne and future member of the lodge of sorceresses.

next season, we're going to meet the beautiful elven sorceress francesca findabair, also known as enid an gleanna (hen llinge for daisy of the valley)

here she is with fringilla vigo (nilfgaardian sorceress) in twn season 2. note that enid is preggers! that's very odd and i will go into detail on it later

[ID: photo of two women walking side by side. the one on the left is black and has black hair in braids going over one shoulder. she is wearing a silver dress with a similarly coloured floor length coat. the one on the right is biracial and has strawberry blonde hair in a braided updo. she is wearing a floor length blue gown with gold embroidery and a metallic brown cloak. she is pregnant. end ID]

enid is crazy interesting and important for the story of the witcher (and confirmed for season two!), so i won't go too in depth about her now

as i mentioned in part 2, nilfgaard tends to favour elves, leading to a lot of militaristic forces allied with nilfgaard. most notably, the scoia'tael, or squirrels. the scoia'tael are an incredibly ruthless and effective nonhuman guerilla force, generally divided into commandos, units that patrol a given area and eliminate the northern (or simply human) threat.

there are a lot of scoia'tael, so i'll just give you the commanders for now: angus bri cri, coinneach dá reo, iorveth, isengrim faoiltiarna, riordain, and toruviel.

you might remember toruviel as this sexy angry lady from twn, and she is possibly going to get a much bigger role later... pay attention to toruviel.

[ID: young elf woman with white skin and red hair tied over her shoulder. she has a bloody nose and is wearing a light green top with a dark brown leather studded belt. her belt is also around an olive green coat. she looks quite angry. end ID]

the scoia'tael were very well organized, but also quite dispersed, so when nilfgaard needed more specific tasks done, they would assemble specific military units (usually led by some of our favourite squirrels)

the vrihedd brigade was the most important of these units. they were especially notorious for their cruelty in the second northern war, so i'm sure we'll meet at least a few members next season.

their leader was colonel isengrim faoiltiarna (aka the iron wolf), and his officers coinneach, iorveth, riordain, and angus.

francesca findabair is not directly involved with either the scoia'tael or the vrihedd brigade, but she does work quite closely with them very often.

also important to note that not all scoia'tael are aen seidhe elves, most (including all higher ranking commanders and officers) are, but there are a number of nonhumans including dwarves and halflings.

unfortunately, the aen seidhe are slowly going extinct, both from years of genocide from humans and their slow reproductive cycles (elves live a Long time, but can only have children towards the beginning of their lives)

that's why it's so surprising to me that enid is preggers! we don't exactly know her age, but by my calculations she was over 150 in twn (pretty far past the age elves can have children).

because of this, elves are pretty divided between fighting against human rule and seeking coexistence. there are arguments for both camps, mainly that humans are colonizers and should not be trusted for the former, and that elves are dying out already and need to live with humans to survive for the latter.

the most prominent stand for the fight was in the 1060s when an aen seidhe named aelireen led an uprising against humans. most of the elders told her that it wouldn't end well, but she didn't listen and led hundreds of young elves into battle. it was an utter massacre, and basically all elves who could have children died.

yikes

unfortunately, the movement for coexistence was just as unsuccessful. it was led by our man cregennan of lod, lara dorren's husband. the poor simp just wanted to live in peace with his wife, but a lot of humans thought he was a traitor because he married an elf, and he and lara were murdered in 1137 in redania.

the last real push for independence was with the formation of the scoia'tael in the 1260s. I say 1260s because the very beginnings of the scoia'tael were right around 1262-1236 (the start of ciri's timeline) but they became majorly important around 1267. although, even the scoia'tael realized they needed humans to survive and began working with nilfgaard.

however, some scoia'tael are less keen on being nilfgaard's attack dogs, leading to further division amongst the aen seidhe.

black seidhe

remember the elves i talked about in part 2 as being the ancestors of the albans? this is them!

the black seidhe are native to the south, more particularly the valley around the alba river. they are practically extinct, but the nilfgaardians carry a lot of their cultural identity in the nilfgaardian language, a variation of hen llinge.

aen woedde

the wood elves, or aen woedde, is the elven culture we know the least about, they primarily live in the areas around nilfgaardian forests and speak hen llinge.

the only notable wood elf is aenyeweddien, or iskra, a member of the rats, a gang of semi violent youths in the northern realms. we'll learn more about the rats in future seasons.

tl;dr: elves, especially the aen seidhe and aen elle cultures, make up a large part of witcher lore. they are most notable for their long lifespans, magical and historical knowledge, and militaristic alliances with nilfgaard.

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therealtsk · 4 years

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okay so i think before I really start delving into this fandom I wanna give my thoughts on the game itself. so MUCHO SPOILERS FOR CONTROL. IF YOU WANNA EXPERIENCE THIS AMAZING GAME YOURSELF DO NOT READ THIS POST. You good? Alright, let’s go.

So. First, I wanna talk about the game-play of CONTROL. It’s fucking amazing. In a year where I played five incredibly strong games (Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War and of course, CONTROL), it was my favorite game. In fact, I think it might be my favorite game of 2019. It has something that all of the other games lacked, with the possible exception of U4...the core gameplay was inherently fun. The word “Next-gen” gets tossed around a lot in the gaming world, but this was the first thing I played that truly felt like it. The gameplay of CONTROL is at once simple and wildly different: I think I speak for most people when I say that the Launch ability is my favorite gameplay aspect: it just feels amazing to use, even after a year of playing it. It’s the closest I think a game has ever come to truly come (for me) to making me understand the sort of power the character wields in a way that isn’t superficial. From the sound design to the rumbles of the controller, to the superb animation, all of it comes together to make you feel powerful. It’s amazing. Okay so now that’s over, let’s talk about the world, characters, and story, the biggest reasons I love this game. As a long time fan of the more surreal and ethereal types of the supernatural, CONTROL immediately stood out to me with it’s central location: The Oldest House. What an incredible setting for a game, but also just what an incredible setting in general? When I walk through the hallowed halls of the House, I never feel at ease. I think it’s a fantastic combination of visual and audio design, but the House has a way of making you feel both unwanted and watched: even with all of the human touches the Bureau has scattered throughout the map, The House feels starkly inhuman- the ceiling too high,the doorways slightly too broad. Even after centuries of co-existing with humanity, the House has not quite adapted to humans. And yet there’s something also irresistibly compelling about wandering a place you know, logically, you probably shouldn’t be. It’s a fantastic way of putting you inside Jesse’s shoes: you feel both her fear and the powerful call of the unknown that beckons her to the darkest corners of the House. The Altered Items themselves are also just...fascinating. The twisting of the mundane into the paranormal- there’s a word I’m looking for, but I can’t find at the moment. I know some people got annoyed with all of the reading in the game, but personally, I loved scanning through every document, case file, and correspondence. Dead Letters in particular caught my imagination: I’ve never stopped thinking about the woman trapped in the phone since I read about it, I even turned it into an original short story. CONTROL’s world feels very much lived-in, like it has history and activity outside of the game’s story, which is crucial to the livelihood of any setting. Now, for the characters: Jesse Faden is perhaps my favorite video game character to date. I love her so much, words can’t describe, but I’m gonna try anyway. I love her sass, her jump-down-and-figure-out-a-plan-on-the-way-there attitude, her frustration and quiet sadness, her anxieties and ultimately- her love. Jesse Faden loves her brother so much that she literally threw away any chance she could have had at a normal, peaceful life and risked everything for him, not even knowing if he was still alive. As a proud brother of two siblings, It’s nice to see familial ties being just as strong in games as romantic ones. Speaking of romantic ones, Emily freaking Pope am I right??? The minute Jesse and her sat down at the table I was like :eyes: “these vibes...the chemistry...the delivery...” I don’t care what anyone says Jesse and Emily are gay for each other and you cannot tell me otherwise, just look at all of their interactions. Remedy thank you for giving me another ship to stan until i die The other characters are also amazing! I love my bois Simon Arish and Fredrick Langston, adorable dorks that they are. RIP Marshall but damn you were badass- also your long coat. Remedy make merch so I can buy it pls. As for the more supernatural characters: Polaris. Oh my god I love Polaris. My first assumption was that Jesse was speaking to us, the player, but learning the truth about what Polaris was and her own character was so fantastic- I would literally watch so much of just Jesse and Polaris communicating, the idea of humans and these...ethereal life-forms co-existing is just fascinating. And then there’s the Hiss. I have been obsessed with the Hiss since I first heard those words. You are a worm through time. Like...the idea of a malignant radio wave, burring into your mind and planting itself within you, overriding your thoughts with song...just fucking chills. I can’t wait to write about this audible horror.

Also just something I wanna note before I wrap this rambling thing up: CONTROL was not a game I expected this from, but I love how they handled representation in it: they never call attention to it or try to get clout for it, but they have a wide scattering of nationalities and a very even split of women and men: it was just so nice to have a game that didn’t feel dominated by dudes, you know? Anyway: the story. I think this is where the game lost a lot of people, but I thought the way that it unfolded was fantastic, and every ending (Base game, Foundation, AWE) has left me excited to see more. I think my favorite plotlines thus far comes from the DLC’s: The Astral Politics and, of course- Alan. Fucking. Wake.

But more on that in a bit. I think The Board and the presentation of them was fantastic: It’s so hard to for humans to write utterly in-human mindsets and persons, but I think Remedy’s team did a truly amazing job with The Board. Down to the method of communication alone, blasting divided concepts into Jesse’s thoughts that are literally shattering into synonyms because they don’t quite understand human language is just...aaaaaaahhhh, so good. And then The Foundation, my favorite DLC out of the two: So much expansion on the lore of both The Board and The House itself. The implication that The Board may, in fact, be just as much of an intruder as the Hiss are is chilling, and of course, The Foundation gave us even more Emily/Jesse ship fuel and development so like come on. As for the AWE DLC: I know a lot of people were disappointing with it, and I get that! Don’t get me wrong, when it ended, I literally went: “Wait, that’s it? That can’t be it.” I was expecting something roughly around the same length as the Foundation, and I think other people were too. Once I got over the initial surge, though, I sat down and really thought about it. Story and content wise, Foundation is 100% the better DLC. But gameplay-wise? Oh man, AWE was so much more thrilling. I think this lends to Remedy’s incredibly atmosphere building, but after spending hours of Control feeling like an unstoppable badass, for them to completely turn it on it’s head and make me feel like a rat trapped in a maze, desperately lunging for any light and being utterly terrified of the dark: god, what an amazing fight the entire Third Thing was. The Service Tunnel in particular had me shook, man. Was AWE short and felt more like a teaser trailer for Alan Wake 2? Yeah. Was it still really fun? Yes. And also, I think people missed out on how much lore we got for CONTROL, as well! Two words: Chester Bless. So, to sum this completely chaotic post up: I adore CONTROL, every bit of it, and I can’t wait to talk to you y’all about theories, fics, and the like.

#CONTROL #Control spoilers #The Foundation #AWE #Remedy

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darksunrising · 4 years

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Sola Gratia (11/?)

Masterlist

Rating / Warnings : Graphic descriptions of violence, Viewer discretion is advised (short paragraph)

Fandom : Bram Stoker’s Dracula, BBC’s Dracula, various Dracula and vampire lore.

Part 11/? (2247 words)

Author’s notes : The end of the second act draws nigh ! (also, I see some new followers, if you wanna be added to the taglist, feel free to ask !)

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

“Eris, anyone home ?”

Leah's soft voice dragged me out of the void I'd been staring into for the past... Well, Gods know how long. I raised my head to meet her slightly worried gaze.

“Yeah, sorry. You wouldn't believe how many of those can't make the difference between a century and a millennium, it's appalling.”

She didn't seem that amused at my sorry excuse for a justification.

“Have you seen the bags under your eyes ?”, she reprimanded me in a hushed voice. “How long since you had a decent night of sleep ? You're so pale, you look like a damn vampire.”

I had a dry laugh. She wasn't wrong, to be fair. For the past four days, I barely got any sleep, any noise waking me up in a cold sweat, when I just didn't lay frozen in bed, unable to close my eyes, for hours on end, until the sun got up. Mostly, I only stayed up because of a carefully thought-out blend of coffee and anxiety.

“I'm fine, Leah. I just didn't put on any makeup this morning. That is my face”, I told her, trying to sound offended.

“Don't bullshit me. Go. Home.”

Her tone didn't invite arguing about it. She reached across the table, and took my hand in hers, smiling. She proposed calling me an Uber, but I figured walking would clear my head. I put away my stuff, leaving her to her books.

The library was almost entirely empty at this hour, and the normally automatic lights didn't even turn on as I passed through the halls. I slapped my badge on the door to get it open, and was welcomed by a gush of freezing air from the outside. The sun had only just set, and the orange lamp posts had everything seem grey, except the deep red of the sky, near the horizon. Everything was quiet, save from the intermittent cawing of a crow, or the rustling of leaves, in the light, but biting breeze that had set in with the night.

I started walking. The sound of my boots echoed in the empty campus' streets. At this time, there was about a tram every twenty minutes. If I walked fast, I'd catch the next one. As I started walking faster, I couldn't help but feel followed. That feeling, once it crossed your mind, could only set, seeping into every pore of your being, until you... I turned back. Nothing. Not even a shadow at the corner of a building, a suspiciously flickering light. Nothing. Even so, my chest felt too tight to breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out.

I kept on going toward the tram stop. Focus on that, the tram stop. Breathe in. I stopped, pushing my back against a post. Breathe out. I turned my head, trying to relax my tense muscles. In the corner of my eye, a shadow. I screamed, jumped back.

“I dream of a day where your first reaction to seeing me won't be that of a deer in headlights.”

He stepped in the light, as elegant as always, in his long, dark coat. He looked exceptionally well, about as much as I had to look dreadful. He took a step forward, and I instinctively took one back. He stopped, a look of disbelief painted on his features. He looked almost hurt by me pulling back.

“Is something wrong, Eris ?”, he asked, concerned, but equally demanding.

I tried to find an answer. Yes. Yes, something's wrong. Everything is goddamn fucking wrong.

“I'm gonna miss my tram”, I muttered.

I turned back to the way I was going, and in a second, I felt his hand on my arm stop me. My heart sank to my stomach, and I broke free of his grasp. My heart beat so fast I was almost gasping for air.

“Did something happen while I was gone ?”

“It's just- I don't- Nothing hap-”

My words came stuck in my throat. I didn't even know what to say. Where to start. He placed both his hands on my shoulders, calmly asking me to look up at him.

“You... You are shaking, what on earth... Am I causing this ? Do I scare you ?”

I raised my head to meet his gaze, jaws clenched not to have my teeth chatter. He looked so genuinely confused, I was finally able to take a deep breath.

“Can I trust you ?”, I managed to whisper.

He didn't answer a moment, seeming less ton consider his answer, than what prompted the question.

“Without question.” He was looking straight into my eyes, the intensity of his gaze leaving no place for a lie. Fuck, I wanted to believe him. The weight of his hands on my shoulders made me feel safe. How could it make me feel safe ? Wasn't that just another trick ? Another way to make me trust him, just to make the job easier ?

Tears I didn't notice building up burned my cheeks as they rolled down. He moved a hand to my face, and erased them with his thumb, softly.

“What happened ?”, he asked again.

If we are to stop this creature, we need your full support. For some reason, he trusts you more than most. You cannot tell him about your knowledge of this place.

I gently pulled myself from his grasp, and stepped back, forcing a smile.

“Nothing happened. I'm just tired”, I told him. “I really have to catch my tram, Vlad.”

“Nonsense, I'm bringing you home”, he insisted. “You are very obviously distressed, and lying to me. Get in the car.”

The authoritative tone had me shiver. I knew I didn't have any choice, in the end, and nodded. He opened the door for me, as always. I sat down, buckled up. Focused on the line of led lights, moving in a slow, red wave.

“If you refuse to talk to me”, Vlad began as he started the car, “I can only assume this has something to do with me. Now, understand that I could take a minute and find out, but I meant what I said, when I told you you could trust me.”

He kept focused on the road. I could tell him everything. That would be a risk. If he really was who MINA said he was, if he did... If he did what they said he did... That would most likely be my death warrant. If he started being too suspicious, he could just read my mind, and given how deeply those images were engraved into my brain, it wouldn't be too hard. I had no idea how to go about this.

“I found out the reason why Stephan was putting me off.”

“And that is ?”

“We looked into his family tree, and his mother is a Mary Van Helsing, from the Murray Institute for the Neutralization of Abnormalities.”

I said that on a single breath, and awaited his reaction. His face didn't betray any emotion, but his silence was speaking volumes.

“They found us out pretty fast”, I continued, figuring I was on too deep already. “We were taken to their headquarters, or whatever that bunker was. They were suspicious that I was acquainted with a vampire, posing as the respectable professor Vlad Balaur.”

“And what did you tell them ?”

His tone was frighteningly neutral. “For some reason I still can't explain, nothing”, I replied. “I had them believe I had no idea such things existed, less so that you were one.”

He had a short hum, but remained silent.

“They told me you were posing as a vampire they killed in 1896, Count Dracula, who apparently is quite the messiah in the Vampire World”, I jabbed at him. “That you probably manipulated my memories, my emotions, just so I'd end up like the others !”

Tears were streaming down my face, and despite my best efforts, my voice was shaking in anger. I couldn't help but think he could pull over and snap my neck at any moment. Might as well make the best of my last moments.

“Would you please clarify what you mean by 'the others' ?”

He sounded so calm, so composed. I tried not to think on the implications.

“They showed me the pictures, Vlad.” My chest hurt so bad. I barely was able to keep taking. “In retrospect, you were pretty clean with the horse. I guess he deserved better than human beings do, right ?”

“Eris, I don't understand-”

“Don't fucking lie to me !” My voice broke. I had no way to remain calm, the taste of bile going up my throat. “I saw it, I fucking saw the- the-” I slapped my hand over my mouth, desperately trying to catch my breath.

Vlad had the turning signal on, and pulled over. I couldn't stop crying, my face buried into my hands, unable to form any coherent sentence. The car stopped. He didn't say anything. At any moment, I thought I'd feel his hands around my neck, or his teeth. Instead, he only called out my name, softly, barely audible through my sobbing.

“Eris, please.”

I dried up my face as best I could with my scarf.

“You promised. You promised you wouldn't hurt anybody”, I managed to stammer between hiccups.

“I have not-”

“I saw the pictures !”, I repeated. “They showed me- So much blood-”

I turned my head to his. He slowly raised a hand to my face, hesitantly, waiting for a rebuffal. I did nothing, and he pushed strands of hair off my forehead, and cupped my cheek. His touch was so soothing. Not a bad feeling to die on.

“And you believed them ?”

“I- I- Of course, they just- Who else ?”

“I have no idea”, he admitted, his voice soft, and calm. “Eris, I have not, not a single time, done anything contrary to our agreement. I have not taken a life since our second meeting.”

I wanted to believe him, so bad. I wanted to believe he wasn't the monster responsible for the contents of Mary Van Helsing's case-file.

“How can I believe you ? How can I be certain you're not lying to me ?”, I breathed out, still resting my head onto his hand.

“You can't. You can only trust me.” He leaned in, placing a light kiss on my forehead, as was his habit. He pulled away, keeping close. “Do you trust me ?”

“Yes”, I replied, without thinking about it.

I did. As stupid, dangerously stupid as it was, I did. What else could I do ? What was the better option ? Were the MINA guys that much more trustworthy ? Well, if you took into account the fact that they didn't try to kill me yet, probably.

“As for the fact that I would be my own usurper, I don't know how to argue for it, to be honest. I have rarely been faced with the task of proving my identity.”

He sat back behind the wheel, and started the car.

“You would do well to remember that MINA was founded by people who were so terrified of me, they left without assuring themselves of the success of their mission, which led to accounts of my death being greatly exaggerated.”

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

“There, I like that better.”

The rest of the ride was mostly silent, which was still arguably better than crying. Vlad finally pulled over in front of my building. I got out of the car, took a few steps, but didn't go further than that. Behind me, I head his door open.

“Should I wait for you on your balcony ?”

I took a deep breath. “No.” I turned on my heels to face him. “You're taking the stairs, for once.”

“I... Beg your pardon ?”

“Just follow me, will you ?”

He shut his door, and I went to open my building's door. I buzzed us in, holding the door for him. Guess he didn't need an invitation for the whole building, huh. What the hell was I doing ? There's a difference between not thinking someone does gruesome murders in his spare time, and inviting them over for a cup of tea ! Especially if their drink of choice isn't your damn Russian Earl Grey !

Well, too late to turn back now. I tried to keep a sense of dignity as we climbed the stairs. It didn't seem to put any strain on him, all the while I'd been living here for years, and was still dying inside. Catching my breath as gracefully as I could, I unlocked my door. Zardoz came running at me, agressively rubbing himself agaisnt my boots, screaming bloody murder, or, in that case, famine.

“You have a... cat”, Vlad stated.

I had a short laugh as I picked up the protesting beast. “What, are you allergic ?”

“They... Don't like me.”

He looked at the animal with some sort of defiance.

“Well, this one hates everyone, don't feel like it's personal.”

He stood at the door, nearly taking up all the space of the frame. Holding the cat in my arms gave me courage, as I felt his low purr against my hands. I took a few steps back, and had a curteous bow.

“Voivode Vlad Dracula Tepes, me and this cat welcome you into our home.”

He smiled, and stepped in.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Taglist : @carydorse @angelicdestieldemon @bloodhon3yx @thewondernanazombie @battocar @moony691 @mjlock @thebeautyofdisorder @festering-queen @paracosmfantasy

#Sola Gratia #Sola Gratia part 11 #fanfiction #fanfic #dracula fanfic #dracula fanfiction #dracula #dracula castlevania #dracula netflix #dracula bbc #dracula bram stoker #castlevania #vampire #vampire x human #romance #slow burn #enemies to friends to lovers #enemies to lovers #dracula x OC

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spiritcompanionship · 5 years

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Exclusive: Drip Shadows

Appearance

Drip Shadows have a deep black coloration, allowing for them to blend in perfectly with the darkness, hence the shadow title. They have no discernible features besides their slightly glowing eyes and their mouths when they open them. Unlike normal shadows, however, they aren’t just one solid mass. Drip shadows have a sort of smoky quality to them, their edges blurred a bit with a faint trail of black smoke trailing behind their movements. The substance that hovers around their bodies is neither a liquid nor a solid, but a mixture all in one. Drip Shadows have the ability to manipulate and command the trails at will, though they prefer to keep the smoke like substance close to themselves. They are also able to change the state of their trails, making it ‘drip’ at will into an ink like substance, or reverting it back to its smoke like state. The trails are thick to the touch, almost like moving through water for anyone who isn’t a Drip Shadow.

Average Age

Drip Shadows can reach tens of thousands of years old. If the conditions are right for them to reach that age. There are certain issues that might prohibit them from reaching their full age potential.

Familial Habits

Drip Shadows don’t really engage in too many familial events. Though parents raise their children in a loving environment, when they’re older families tend to drift apart. Drip Shadows have the capacity to be the most loving of individuals, it’s just that the childhood family life they had isn’t one they want to continue to have. They keep in touch with their family members, however, just without the gatherings and the overly loving atmosphere.

Rarities/Outliers

A rare occurrence for Drip Shadows is a colored tint to their smoky trails. Drip Shadows are pitch black in most of the people. So a colored tint, no matter how dark or light is a rare sight to see. Most of these tints would reflect the color of the Shadow’s eyes. A rarer coloration is a Drip Shadow having a smoky trail colored differently from their eyes. The rarest form is a Drip Shadow having white mixed in with their trails. Very few have had this coloration.

Gender Averages

Female - 32%

Male - 63%

NB - 5%

General Seasonal Preference

The most commonly preferred season among Drip Shadows is winter as the darkness lasts longer and gives them more ‘cover’ to move around more freely. This is of course only the general consensus for a generalized reason.

Music

Melodic music is most widely accepted by Drip Shadows. The soothing sounds flow with the gentle movement of their smoke trails. Performers dance to more melodic music, manipulating their trails to flow more cohesively with their movements. Dance styles range from something akin to ballet, to different forms of belly dancing.

Origins

Their creation lore is as follows:

A Vampire Lord has an affair with a Shadow woman of lower ranking birth. Their romance was passionate and short lived, but heated nonetheless. From this secret romance the Shadow became pregnant. Overjoyed she rushed to the Lord, wishing to share the good news with him. What she stumbled upon was a sort of celebration for him, and another woman who was meant to be his fiancée. Heartbroken the Shadow left the event and waited outside the estate, collapsed on a bench by the fountain. Unaware that someone was approaching her, she wailed into the night, drowning out any footsteps. A sickeningly sweet voice rang out behind her, drawing her attention to the owner. It was the woman from before. Saddened by her appearance, the Shadow stood to face her, one hand covering her stomach protectively. Aware of what this must mean, the woman stepped closer to the Shadow, raking her dagger like nails across the Shadows waist. Blood was drawn, splattering across the snow causing it to melt in a small mound of steam underneath. The Shadow tried to escape as the woman kept on with her onslaught. Finally, she got what she was aiming for. It was a grisly sight, the Shadow harmed to her womb, the woman smiling at the damage she had done. Blood littered the ground around them, a mixture of the Shadows’ as well as the Lord’s. The mixture didn’t settle well. When the Shadow fell to the snow, barely able to sob anymore, figures rose from the splattered blood. They weren’t like their “mother.” Not fully at least. They were something different, something new. They had normal Shadow aspects, but with more control. They could command aspects of themselves that normal shadows couldn’t. The first thing they did, to avenge their ‘mother’ despite it being the cause of their creation, was turn on the woman.

Government and Culture

There isn’t any obvious government set up among the Drip Shadows. They keep to themselves or to small groups usually, only coming together truly when one of them is in trouble. Due to their lore, they are very much in to protecting one another and place value in their well being and preservation. As such, war between one another is strictly prohibited, not that there has been a cause for war or enforcement of law thus far. Though they keep to small group or drift away from their own families, they are peaceful amongst themselves and have a strong sense of community.

Average magic/specialties

Drip Shadows don’t have any special magical ability. Nothing worthy of note at least. They are able to manipulate their own substance, in whichever way they deem fit. They are also proficient in glamour of sorts, when it comes to causing confusion and hiding/protecting themselves and others.

Elemental Association/Preference

Though they don’t have a clear preference, Drip Shadows don’t connect to Earth as they would the other three elements. Whereas Fire creates shadows, Air carries them and their trails and Water is another state option for their trails, Earth has no major role in their existence.

Recommended Companion Level

Intermediate to Advanced companions are recommended for these beings. They need a firm and experienced companion to work with their ups and downs. House rules are also recommended.

(While they aren’t dangerous, they can be tricksters.)

° Mod Angel works with Drip Shadows

#shop exclusive #shop exclusives #exclusive #Drip Shadow #Drip Shadows #spirit adoption #spirit work

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radcatcrown · 5 years

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Stephen’s Cosmos

Alternative title: My frustrations with Steven Universe coalesced into form in an AU

So Steven Universe: The Movie came out and after months of slumber, it woke my gripes with the series due to stuff that happened within the movie that irked me. I’ve had my problems with Steven Universe for some time now, and it's not that the movie is the straw the broke the camel's back, but hey, seems like a good time as any to do this.

Statement of Purpose: My main problem with Steven Universe is not an issue of the attempt at redeeming villains, for a dude like myself that grew up on an anime media diet, villains getting turned good is old hat. I’ve seen it better done than SU and worse than SU. The idea that yes, somebody that has done wrong in the past and has recognized the error of their ways has a possibility to atone is a good message. The problem is with SU scale, because of its insistence of going cosmic and having most serious problems have the sake of the world in the balance as an allegory for family issues makes it less credible, and more than a tad reprehensive. So this is an AU that remixes the show to do away with it. Mind you this is just a basic, vague, ranty pitch, probably not going to write out any episodes. We good? Ok. Let's begin.

Premise and Setting: In the interest of cutting down on the ‘epic’ scale of original SU, I’ll have this set mostly on modern-day earth and maybe other realms if necessary. Stephen’s Cosmos would have more of a straight-up magic/fantasy feel than the sci-fi magi-tech the show uses. This is because we’re not using aliens here, we’re using witches. And since we’re going for differences I’ll be using a Floral/herbal naming scheme for these witches, maybe even have them have developed plant-like features, but having them be human women at least as a basis. The backstory would go like so; existing for centuries in the shadows there would be a coven of powerful Witches known as the Chrysanthemum Circle, composed of the Elder Sister; White Chrysanthemum, Middle Sisters; Blue and Yellow/Golden Chrysanthemum and the youngest Red Chrysanthemum. They would rule over a pseudo-amazonian secret island in the middle of the pacific ocean, where they have built a society of witches that work under them, basically for both the preservation of the society itself and for them to be able to live in luxury. Red would be treated as a child by the other three instead of an equal, constantly the victim of abuse and punishment for her oddities in her sister’s eyes. This causes her to run away a few times before burning bridges in an impulsive manner, escaping and taking a few like-minded witches with her, namely her handmaiden and confidant Lily, the mysterious Sunflower, and a few others. Red would shed her imperious persona for a softer, friendlier Pink Rose. From there they would wander the world of man, picking up a young human girl that would come to name herself Carnation. They would settle and build a temple in the small coastal city of Beach City eventually, where they would live until the foreseeable future as the coven of the Wild Flowers. There Pink would find Mr. Universe and things would progress as cannon... except Pink doesn’t need to die here. So we have Pink Rose as part of the secondary cast. The main premise of the story would be to have an episodic structure with monster/problem-of-the-week setups(depending on how much action it makes sense to have in it), slowly integrating Stephen and the Flowers into the quirky town of Beach City, as well as learning lore and having the Flowers help with the strange occurrences in this town. These episodic seasons would get broken up with two-parter season finale to have a nice bombastic event. It would get slightly more serialized as it goes along, more-less the Avatar: The Last Airbender model. There would be a reveal of who Rose is about halfway through where Lily reveals it under dire circumstances and would fragment the Wild Flowers. Why not go with a completely mundane plot? Because flora is pretty, witches are cool and lesbian witches are double cool. (If you must though it's actually not that hard, the Diamonds are an old money/noble family, staunchly elitist and traditionalist, have them be in Europe where they rule over a township. Rose runs away due to similar situations and we’d have her and other runaways come to Beach City and slowly get integrated with ensuing hijinks and slice-of-life situations.)

Characters

Red Chrysanthemum/Pink Rose: Ok this is the big one so we better get it out of the way first. Since she’s going to be around her main impact on the show is actually being able to be there and explain herself but also deal with the fallout of her own choices. Her personality would be very nice, motherly, soft and friendly but in a way that she seems above it all, careless and perhaps a little too hands-off. Her main flaw to be dealt with is her selfishness. Her main arc would be raising Steven, and recognizing other people as her equals that she loves instead of her inferiors to be protected. The secondary arc would be having to deal with the repercussions of her past actions and her secrets.

Stephen: If one’s theme is generational abuse then exploring the next generation is crucial. Stephen would serve as an instigator to get the Flowers closer to the regular human population, and the audience closer to the bizarre and mysterious Wild Flowers. Stephen’s arc or arcs rather would focus on many things, but the main one being on his growth is the best of both worlds, his mother and father’s better qualities without the baggage that brought them into being, having to struggle with his identity between two worlds and the friction therein. He would eventually mature to be better than Pink.

Lily: Lily would be Pearl’s equivalent, a Handmaiden literally sworn to serve Red; now Pink. The first thing that was done after their escape was to break her oath. We’d keep her arc of her having unrequited feelings for Pink, and her issues with her self worth and need for outside stimuli and approval. Her feelings would eventually need to be confronted and her dependency issues would be dealt with by her efforts to own her own person, be well with herself by being independent, and find maybe a new love?

Sunflower: Sunflower would be the fusion between two witches in love, separated by their classes back in the Island; the knightly and flaming Poppy and the serene seer Tulip. They wanted to be together with such fervor that when they were ordered to stay separated due to their social standings they performed a forbidden ritual that bound them both as one sole entity, sort of as a witchy marriage. The Chrysanthemums banned this ritual due to the exponential increase in power between the two participants, fearing it may topple them, so they declared it forbidden and decadent due to the ‘loss of two precious lives to bring in one tortured life’. The ritual cannot be sustained forever and it would be dissolved every new moon, and the preparations to properly perform it take a few days at least. This allows the two cute lesbians to be cute together. There would be parallels between them and the Rose/Lily relationship, but also serve to contrast them. Their arcs would mostly be relationship-based, regarding if they are codependent, if their relationship is healthy, they would have their rough patches and arguments like any married couple and hopefully a second more human wedding.

Amy Thistle Aka Carnation: Carnation would be a neophyte witch kicked out of her foster home due to her magical inclinations. Finding a kindred spirit in their search for freedom Rose takes her under her wing. Carnation turns out to have the more ‘normal’ demeanor of the three witches. She would have parallels with Rose in the sense that even after Stephen’s around she’s treated like the kid and even not a ‘proper’ witch, this results in aggravating the self-worth and self hate issues she had. Rose’s words of ‘you’re perfect as you are’ would soothe her but in the long run, it just put obstacles in her development. She would grow to have frictions with Stephen, but would resolve them together with him.

Connie: Basically the same but make her parents actually overbearing or traditionalist as to make parallels with the Chrysanthemums.

Lavender: A cloudshaper that got caught up in a riot against the Chrysanthemums, was sealed in a mirror until Stephen liberates her accidentally. Once out she lashes out against even the ones that gave her a helping hand. Her way to cope with her own trauma due to being sealed for hundreds of years would be violent and volatile. Her arc would be of her working through that trauma and for her to serve as a MASSIVE red flag for Rose of what her sisters’ deeper sins may be.

Mint: Keep Peridot’s arc and just adjust for lower scale. Her whole arc should be about broken misconceptions about the society outside the Island, and breaking through the behaviors that repressive society has ingrained. Parallels with Rose on that one.

Oak: Oak would have more-less Jasper’s role in the story at large, first as a weapon for the Chrysanthemums and later as a recurring antagonist. Functionally she would begin to show to Rose and the others the consequences of her running away and other past actions since Oak was a member of her former court.

Peony: An original member of the Wild Flowers that was found by Stephen as he messed around with portals. Her conflict with Rose originally would be more-less the same than Bismuth, their ideological differences, in this case, Peony has created a garment that would sever one’s connection with magic, reducing the user to a regular human. As with the original, she would be right in wanting justice and revenge. She wanted to use that to topple the Chrysanthemums and have them face the people’s justice. Rose exiled her before, and kept her secret. When she appears again old wounds are opened, and it is Peony that plants the seeds of direct rebellion within the Wild Flowers.

Townies: Most of these are fine and we don’t need to touch it, there are three major changes to be done though; Kevin, who should get a rehabilitation arc from a douche creep to a decent person, as a sort of practice for Stephen to help everybody else. Lars, since he can no longer be of the Stars, would become a part of the human contingent of Wild Flowers, mostly out of a search for purpose and adventure. Ronaldo would be rehabilitated from a self-important conspiracy buff into another, Dipper Pine’s-ish Wildflower.

The Chrysanthemums: Ok now the big bads. The Chrysanthemums would be aristocratic and authoritarian, capable of atrocities and overall believe themselves to be superior to everybody else. They would be the center of a “Diamond-Days”-esque arc in which Stephen, Rose and the other Wild Flowers go back to the Island with the explicit purpose of changing things for the best. They would need to test the lessons learned by Rose and her growth. General personality for the three? Yellow should be be imperius and ruthless, Blue should feel sublime, like the serene calm for a perpetual storm. White would actually have a god complex; she thinks of herself as perfect and eternal. They have been ‘mourning’ Red since she ran away, but the mourn an idealized version of her, the Red they wish they had lived with. From here during their story arc we would slowly begin to find out that Blue and Yellow act the way they act out of fear, though there is a degree of them that did buy into White’s beliefs. They’ve seen what White is capable and they know they’re not powerful enough even combined. Rose would end up confronting all three of them about the trauma they put her through, not only that but for the combined suffering and pain their rule of repression has caused to the witches in the island. She would reach through to Blue and Yellow… but not White. White reacts how an angry god might. They would manage to repel her and she would become the true antagonist, a goddess ousted from her temple. Blue and Yellow over the course of the next seasons begin to realize the true extent of their actions and set upon trying to fix and atone, but it would be made clear that hundreds of years of oppression cannot be easily wiped away. White herself would end up being defeated, depowered, and put on trial. Ultimately she would be sealed away.

So yeah, that’s it, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#su #steven universe #su critical #steven #universe #AU

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quanticlub · 5 years

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Long Lore Rant

... Needs to be reformatted into something pretty rip

Background:

Aight so as per the great and infallible wikipedia, Taoist cosmology states that everything started with wújí and then created yǒu jí. The former means limitless and comes from the words "nothingness" and "reaching the end" ... so nothingness at the end aka no boundaries

the latter was the limited. it's only briefly mentioned as its conception brought on a polarity to the universe - yin and yang

taiji itself is the boundary embodied by you-ji with respect to the infinite wuji and represents the Absolute

The split into yin and yang has a the connotations listed above in the pic ((except... for tikki and plagg the feminine vs masculine seem to be switched cuz from the description, tikki is more closely associated with yang)). Yang is represented by one long dash –– while yin is two small broken ones - - . Now, in the middle column where there are category names for what yin and yang represent the wu xing category (elements, second from the bottom) has earth listed as neither. It also doesn't include air, which the wu xing doesnt include in general but is included by almost every other major culture when classifying the elements.

Kwami Origins: Null

In the beginning there was a great big nothingness and then came a tiny blip of umm... everythingness? making the Absolute. This gave the nothingness and everythingness a consciousness. (wow lots of -ness words here). The nothingness part of the absolute became Null. The everythingness got no name cuz it quickly split off into the rest of creation.

Null's concept art is a three-eyed little creature with two kwami tendrils. I propose Null as the glowing white kwami they originally made but with all black eyes and The Other One as the all black kwami but with glowing white eyes. The prior emptiness/nothingness was energy while the delineation/everythingnes was matter(?). when they created the Absolute, parts of themselves mixed i na typical yin-yang fashion, thus the eyes being like those of the others. This gave them power over the nature of the other sorta???? hard to explain

For Null, he had power over mass, time, and space - matter is anything that has mass and takes up space at a given moment. The Other One (imma call them Higgs bc of the Higgs boson particle but it wouldnt be the real name) had power over tendencies of energy*. So. energy can be used up to build something (creative force - in human metabolism it's an anabolic reaction), released to tear something apart (destructive force - in human metabolism it's a catabolic reaction). bBt it can also be stored/dissipate with no specific purpose, instead being available for all sorts of possible things later (chaotic force?)

idea is that Higgs, upon consciousness, sacrificed themselves to give rise to existence. The Big Bang. they justs sorta fucked off to become a bunch of cool rocks/stardust floating in space and initiated the course of time (which could theoretically be split into different timelines? idk time travel is weird and this is superfluous to my current ramble)

the three aspects of Null that Higgs had gained powers from became concepts that would gain sentience of their own. The yin and yang markings are, technically, three lines. not two. cuz yin is split ( –– vs - - ).

* = this bit's a little less science-y except for keeping with the triad thing bc neutron, electron, and proton

Three, Not Two: Tikki, Plagg, & ...Hexx?

I imagine Null took up the developing concepts and nurtured them sorta. like they were incubating under Null's protection. Tikki emerged out of Null's sphere first; she had the most power from Higgs though all three were pretty closely matched. she was the creative force.

Plagg came out of Null's sphere last. He was the destructive force. Sorta. It was actually coser to... decay? Plagg is really more of a kwami of decay than destruction. He doesnt just obliterate things, he accelerates their decomposition. when his powers act on metal, for instance, it rusts. thats not destruction it's just the wear-and-tear expected to happen over time. Destruction as a concept opposite to that of Creation and Order involves more entropy and plagg really isnt as chaotic as would be expected. While he represents destruction in the sense that the thing is ceasing to function as a unit, the chaos would fall more under hexx.

The third force, the one that embodied possibility, was too erratic. they got out of Null's care first but remained in the sphere for a while longer. they didn't get out til after Tikki. I'm thinking maybe emerged from Null's domain just a few seconds before Plagg (time is still wonky at this point). while Tikki is yang ( –– ), Plagg and #3, henceforth referred to as Hexx, are both yin ( - - ). Plagg is slightly weaker cuz he was "overcooked" and Hexx was "undercooked". Tikki came out just right like a yummy batch of cookies ;)

While Plagg is the biggest cuz he stayed with Null for so long, Hexx is the smallest. Even more so than Tikki but only by a little. I was thinking of him looking like a mix of Tikki and Plagg. More cat-like but with red accents and maybe blue eyes instead of green.

That’s the gist of it with a quick reminder note that time still affects kwamis differently like they mentioned in Sandboy or whatever. so they might be around ten billion years old be the time earth shows up but theyve been very immature. like little kids. and unlike kids that go to school to learn how things work, they were given immense amounts of power and 0 instruction so they have to figure out what they can do, what their identity is, and what purpose they want to have in existence

Tikki has a very do-good attitude and wants to help (even if shes proven sometimes she doesnt give the best advice) and be a Good Kwami. But Plagg isn't a bad kwami. The opposite of love isn't hate after all; it's apathy. Plagg just doesnt really care and will follow Tikki around bc he enjoys her company and his primary concern is himself. Oblivio was a good example of this cuz he's like "no fuck you whats in it for me" but still gets affected by tikki's words and comes back to do as she says eventually.

Hexx would be the "bad apple" though kwamis dont really have moralities cuz those were human constructs and are incredibly subjective. He wouldnt be hatred in the analogy with love, but rather fire-y emotions that are still more negative. quick anger and stuff. usually happy go-lucky. temperamental goes with the nature of being THE force of chaos. while he doesnt wanna help necessarily, he still wants to DO. he's the one that instigates mischief and wants to fuck around for the fun of it.

Making the Miraculous

So from the dinosaur ordeal we know the kwamis DID have effects on earth, but they couldnt consistently intervene - at least not in a controlled fashion. and they couldnt really communicate with humans cuz different field of existence. but their presence became known even if the humans didnt know what they were exactly

the set from the miracle box was made my a mage in china for the purpose of conquests. Hexx’s mischief and meddling probably gave the humans access to the magic/knowledge/whatever they’d need for making the Miraculous. The pitch to get these baby gods to agree was that tikki would have greater control of her powers and could communicate and help! tikki was down. It seemed like a Good Thing and she wanted to do good. Plagg was meh but might as well cuz tikki insisted. hexx wasn't convinced. they werent warned theyd be confined to the miraculous and essentially trapped. plaggs agreement was more out of ignorance of this fact. he figured he could make tikki happy but still fuck off to do what he wanted. never imagined that he'd be subject to another's will.

tikki was happy regardless bc very young (developmentally) and naive and honestly believing that the human knew best and it's what was best for both the kwamis and humanity. she had so much power her jewel had to be split into two - thus, earrings. all other kwamis inhabit a singular miraculous.

when hexx was being trapped it was against his will, unlike plagg and the others. he fought it. he still got trapped but the miraculous wasnt like the others. the nature was different... it was corrupted. Cue: cursed miraculous(es) ((still not sure of the plural)). If he has to suffer then by Null so do the humans who did this. Thus the name Hexx. Opened the option for kwamis to try to fight it or go for it. Werewolves perhaps stem from a group of cursed canid kwamis? The Miracle Box is basically the kwamis who were aight with the idea but other cursed kwamis exist.

The nature of a miraculous depends on the "recipe" used to make the jewels and the kwami's receptiveness to being basically enslaved. The Miracle Box miraculous were all made by the same mage mentioned earlier so they had the same recipe so to speak. All the kwamis in the miracle box fall under yin or yang. Including the elements. So the Zodiac and Wu Xing kwamis are all in either tikki or plagg's domains. Except for one. I propose trixx as the exception, even if they dont fit the traits of earth. i was thinking for the other supporting kwami to hexx there could be one that also refused to join the mage... the kwami representing air (wu xing is basically the only philosophy without air as an element in some shape or form). Possible name: Jinxx, a crow. The fox/crow/cat are all typical tricksters in myths.

The way the kwamis’ powers can be manipulated varies and the cursed kwamis offer the least control to their wielders - and the greatest side effects. I imagine jinxx just fucks off to follow hexx's miraculous, wherever it may be. Hexx is closer to the original curse on pv chat noir... the curse is possibly activated and summoned by the use of tikki or plagg's powers outside their miraculous? And dormant after death of wielder or kiss from LB or something. So that would mean Plagg activated him in style queen and then helping him get a better location/target with the smaller cataclysm in i think catalyst (when he's like "ive been practicing!).

Together, plagg and tikki have that OP wish granting ability but they cant truly summon Null to the this dimension without Hexx, who adamantly refuses. it's not like Hexx's miraculous can be stolen cuz it's cursed onto the subject. As a summary of combined powers... Tikki + Plagg = wish granting? ... Hexx + Tikki = good luck ... Hexx + Plagg = bad luck ... cuz Hexx is about possibility and consequences. So creation-related effects tend to manifest as what humans deem to be good while destruction-related ones are seen as bad.

Hexx Making an Appearance

For the current Mari/Adri plot I thought of Hexx cursing Felix or sth and bringing him onto the hero scene. Comes with the benefit of jealous CN. Maybe a scene where cat-ish Felix tells Chat Noir that he’s not interested in LB, only Mari and they have some sorta agreement to respect that (would work best in the half brother’s thing if Adri found out). All hell would break loose if/when LBs identity came out.

Also I like the idea of Hexx having been locked in Pandora's jar with other angry ~cursed~ miraculous and the others immediately fucked off and scattered their miraculous but Hexx remained. possibility and consequence does not mean bad things. it's the uncertainty of the future that allows for hope, which is what pandora found. the greek tales also have varying connotations on whether finding hope was a blessing or a curse depending on how you looked at it

#ref: ml lore revamp #ref: ml kwami revamp

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strands-of-starlight · 6 years

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Clow Sorcery: Clear Card Edition

Alright, so I recently caught up on the CCS: Clear Card manga and am therefore back on my bullshit with regard to Clow sorcery stuff. I have a lot of thoughts on various aspects of this arc and what the potential implications are for those of us who like to play in that magical sandbox, but for now I’d like to start with taking a look at the original Clow cards in comparison with the Clear cards. Specifically, I want to delve into what these two systems (because yes, I am about to argue that they are in fact separate systems) can tell us about a) the types of magic present in this paradigm and b) the different types of magicians we’re working with.

As a note, this post will be somewhat image-heavy so I apologize for that in advance. Additionally, I will be discussing SPOILERS UP TO MANGA VOLUME 5 since that’s where we really start to have a clearer picture of things. I won’t be addressing anything specific to the anime because I’ve not watched it yet and have discovered via discussions with other fans a number of divergences on some key plot points, so I’m leaving that alone atm. Be advised.

Now, we have concrete confirmation that the Clear cards are the sole product of Sakura’s power and imagination (something which I speculated on nearly a year ago, so I feel rather validated on that front). For anyone who has been dipping into Clow sorcery, this is kind of a big deal on multiple levels. First and foremost being, they are not Clow cards. These new card spirits exist wholly outside of the original framework that governed the Clow. This is evidenced by a few things, starting with the names and appearances of the respective spirits.

A large majority of the Clow cards were anthropomorphic/humanoid in appearance. Only a handful of them did not fit into this category, and even most of those could be identified as an object of some sort. With the exception of the Illusion and the Wave, every Clow spirit had a definitive and recognizable form that personified its inherent power. The Clear cards, on the other hand, are largely abstract. Even those that are described as birds (Gale, Aqua, Blaze) are not any kind of bird that is immediately identifiable as such. To date, the only truly humanoid Clear card spirit is one that is directly inspired by a Clow card, and consequently shares the original spirit’s name (Mirror).

You may be asking why any of this matters. Obviously they needed a new #aesthetic to hook people, so that covers that, right? Well, I think it’s a little more significant than that, especially since Sakura responded so well to the original cards and developed a decided friendly relationship with them. Why, then, would her own cards be so different to the friends she had already made?

I believe it boils down to a key difference between Sakura’s and Clow’s magic which becomes pretty apparent when you examine their respective mahoujin. Looking at Clow Reed’s magic circle, we see a TON of different magical elements. At first glance, we clearly have some astrology, some sacred geometry, the kanji for the four cardinal directions, and a host of symbols, sigils, and script all divided neatly into sections that obviously have some type of mystical correspondences. This mahoujin is absolutely packed with occult knowledge that Clow spent years painstakingly crafting into a coherent system, the final product of which were the original Clow cards.

Some of this detail and structure is maintained in the magic circle Sakura ends up using in the second half of the series, but some of it is also lost. We retain the astrological symbols and the Sun, Moon, Star motif (slightly rearranged to reflect the source of Sakura’s power). We still have the cardinal directions and the interlocking geometric designs, but the rest of the glyphs and magical script have gone missing. Looking at this mahoujin, there are enough similarities to clearly show these magicians are still working within the same paradigm. One is a little more heavy on the elements you might expect to pick up over a life-long study of the occult, while the other has been parred down to reflect a magician who is still growing into their craft.

Virtually all of this changes with the Clear cards, though. Absolutely everything about the original mahoujin, save for the presence of the Sun and Moon, has been edged out by the dominance of the Star. Even the four kanji representing the cardinal directions have been replaced by the kanji for Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. Perhaps even more fascinating, the circle no longer even manages to contain the whole of the design. This magic circle is literally bursting with Sakura’s own power, and very little else.

What this says to me is: Sakura is not only stronger than Clow was, but she is also an entirely different type of magician. While Clow relied heavily on various elements of ceremonial magic and established lore to create a new system that married Eastern and Western philosophies, Sakura isn’t so much creating a new system as she is unconsciously harnessing raw elemental power through sheer force of will.

This is also demonstrated in the different incantations for unleashing the Wand. Both the original incantation and the one Sakura uses in the latter half of the series call upon a very specific force - the “power of the Dark” or the “power of the Stars”. In the Clear card arc, however, she calls upon the “Force without Master” to release her staff and secure the new cards. Honestly, I suspect the only reason the new cards are even cards at all is because she is mimicking a familiar template without realizing it.

The point is, this explains a hell of a lot. The reason the Clear cards are more abstract is because they haven’t been refined by any formal rules or tools beyond the power that is required to wield them. It also explains the disparity in the range of their application as compared to the original Clow. Clow spirits all had a very narrow set of skills and parameters specific to their nature. By contrast, the Clear cards have a broader range precisely because they are, in essence, still very raw. Which is understandable, since it takes years of learning and practice to develop the control necessary to work with fine lines as opposed to broad strokes.

But what this proves is that Sakura’s power is far more chaotic than anyone except perhaps Eriol may have realized, simply because she has no boundaries to contain it.

I’m still not entirely sure what all this means for practitioners of Clow Sorcery, but there are a few things I can say with relative certainty. The first is that I absolutely believe one can choose to work with the new cards without having to give up the Clow. The second, is that anyone who does decide to work with the Clear cards should probably keep in mind that they are an entirely different beast born of a much wilder magic than the original Clow, and therefore may not necessarily play by all the same rules.

Tune in next time...

#clow sorcery #ccs: clear card spoilers #ccs: clear card arc #pop culture witchcraft #geekomancy

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shachathabrah · 6 years

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“Starfetched. I get it. Like starcrossed and farfetched. Which I guess is kinda what most people hooking up are.”

The angel stood in a small clearing, naked and half-naked trees reaching into a yawning canopy above him. A warm sunlight trickled through what leaves remained, interrupted intermittently by a cool, wispy breeze. He’d never heard of this part of the Nevernever before, nor the reigning high Sidhe - though upon looking around for more than a minute, it became abundantly clear that Edea was the queen of the short-lived, often chilly, midseason court. The ruling fae of Autumn. Wild.

“Both destined to be, and unlikely so. To be Starfetched is entirely an act of fate. To imagine that anyone could find someone they are truly meant to be with, crossing hundreds of miles or oceans or traversing the many realms to do so… It is truly something.” She was taller than Cath - then again, most were - and, like most in this realm, possessed an unnatural, almost feline-like grace. Her hair spun in spirals down to the small of her back, bits of leaves and other natural debris arranged in it more artfully than one might expect.

Cath nodded slowly in reply. “Yeah, it really is. Something. But it’s why I’m here. I’m requesting a… what should I call it. A reading? I couldn’t translate some of the writings on the process. I wanna get the deets on my relationship with him. We’re ready to take it to the next level.”

“It would appear as though you have already taken to the idea without our influence,” she mused, lips the colour of dead Autumn leaves curling ever so slightly at their corners, gesturing at his left hand. Cath knew at once she was motioning towards the ring Kay had given him. Well, the troll certainly had gotten his wish of wanting anyone that saw it to think ‘Wow, that fellow sure is engaged.’ Hastily, the angel clenched his fist, slicing the air in a ‘cut the shit’ motion with his other hand.

“You know as well as I do what it means.” Anger swelled, a sour taste on his tongue. “Like I’d be able to set foot inside a house of worship without being smited where I stood.” The determination in his expression faltered. “...Smited? Smote? Is ‘smote’ a word?” His bitterness melted into momentary confusion, his penchant for getting sidetracked brought out in full force by the general hazy and confuddling atmosphere of the Nevernever. Edea only giggled, shoulders bouncing, curled locks of fire engine red hair spilling over her shoulders as she did so.

“But your mind has been made up,” she offered, gliding closer to him. “The pair of you are set to be wed by any means, what ever would a reading tell you that you don’t already know?”

To this, Cath’s stance dropped; his shoulders lowering as he thought about it. Really, not much. He’d had his fears worked over by Kay often enough to be sure about this, assured beyond all shadow of a doubt that this was what they wanted. But… Beyond… all shadow of a doubt…? He chewed his lip gently, eyes never leaving the shifting pools of weathered copper the fae watched him through. “If I’m right. We’re - if we’re right. For each other, I guess.” Showing any kind of weakness before a fae was generally a really stupid idea, but he couldn’t - Cath had to be sure. If the powers in his life that ruled over most everything he knew and believed could give him some firm insight, he was hoping the last of the dying embers of doubt would grow cold, and just let him enjoy what had been gifted to him. This life, this love. He had to be sure.

“I’ve read it can do that. Prove that what we have is… Is worthy of being joined as one. It isn’t the same as being married, but it’s the closest thing something like me is gonna be able to get.” He did his best to recall up the notes he’d taken, not wanting to deface Daud’s book. (Even though he deserved to have a few dicks drawn in it. The motherfucker.) “And if I pass the test, we’re allowed the ceremony.”

In his heart, he knew Kay deserved more. Always the wedding planner, never the star. But the fae could put on one hell of a shindig, and maybe, lost in the beauty that the fae (despite being treacherous, nasty, vile, nasty, evil creatures) could produce, he might forgive Cath for being unable to give him what he truly deserved. “And,” he began again, lifting his chin once more, sticking out his chest just a little bit, “it’s the one thing you’re not allowed to bargain for. This is a freebie to those that seek it.” Knowledge was something powerful to the fae, something they had in spades, and they were never ones to give it freely. The Starfetched reading, however, was different. It was something the fae themselves had personal interest in, and it was how lore of married fae couples came to be. Humans, most of the time, had a very basic understanding of the bond magical beings shared - simply put, Titania and Oberon were married. No convoluted reading or ceremony required. It was beyond what patience they had to look beyond the label to find out what was really going on there.

He almost expected Edea to give him lip over it, but instead those lips stretched into a leonine grin. “You are correct,” she acquiesced with a bow of her head. “We are not required nor encouraged to seek payment for this service.” Though her eyes glittered as her head lifted again. “It is taxing enough on those who experience it.”

The angel swallowed. He hadn’t taken into consideration the reading might be dangerous in some way. Hell, it might kill him. The book hadn’t talked about the risks involved, it had only outlined the basic practice. Fae were nigh indestructible, save a severe allergy to cold iron. Reflexively, he touched the heart-shaped ring of his collar. Pseudo outsiders, however… Well. Shit. Kay couldn’t get hitched to a quivering pile of ectoplasmic goo, or a lump of smouldering feathers. But Cath was determined to see it through. “This will be the first time anyone of your ilk has attempted this reading.” There was almost something savage in her tone, though he could not place it. “Should you survive it, I daresay having witnessed it would be payment enough.”

Scared of fae as he was, Cath was not one to give into intimidation tactics. “Then you’ll have witnessed something no other fae has seen, yeah. So, let’s get to it. Enough chat. I hate being here and I gotta say I’m not too keen on you either.” The fae’s look took on a bit more ice, but the smile didn’t fade. “And for some reason you’re the only one in this dump that can do it.” He tilted his head a little. “Why?” Generally, fae didn’t give knowledge without something in return, but they sure did love talking about themselves.

“As seasons change, the summer and winter courts are at a mutual weakness. For a very brief period of time, I am in power. That power also happens to coincide with Samhain. The spirit world and the mortal world brush closest, and the barriers wear thin. Who better to deal with matters of the spirit, soul, and heart than someone in my position?” Said with no small amount of smugness, Cath noted. She certainly seemed to be more than willing to toot her own horn. But he had to give her some credit, no one else would ever really consider the fact of a smaller court in the fae realm. Hell, this was all news to him. But her logic was frustratingly sound. Not like he was jumping out of his skin to talk to the other ladies or queens about this, or anything, either. He liked them right where they were. None the wiser. Though he was sure that once this was completed, word would travel fast. There was nothing he could do about that.

“...Have you ever been in love, Edea?” The angel asked suddenly, his own voice taking on a tone much softer than he’d had initially, losing much of the edge and normal vitriol reserved for this place. “I mean like. The real thing.”

That seemed to strike some kind of chord, and the fae queen glanced away momentarily. “While it is not irregular for us here in the Nevernever to find ourselves in such a situation, It has never happened to myself.” She sounded… Sad, almost. Far be it from Cath to actually feel sympathy or pity for things that existed here, but he found his brows knitting gently.

“It’s because no one can do this for you, isn’t it.” He shifted his weight uneasily as the realization came to him. “No one can perform this rite, this.. seance, this ceremony for you. So you can’t even know if what you feel, if you’ve ever felt anything, can be considered true.” A little ‘huh’ sound left him. “That sucks a big fat one for you.”

Whatever he was expecting from her, it was not a laugh - one neither filled with anger nor malice, or anything negative directed towards him. It was still sharp and all edges, but it was a genuine laugh. “You’ve picked up quite the colourful tongue from living amongst humans, dear Shachath. It is no wonder that love has ailed you so.”

His face screwed up a little at that. Ailed him, huh. There may have been a reason it was called ‘lovesick’. He hadn’t considered it until now. He’d done a lot of things for this love. Faced some of his greatest fears, even, without even thinking of being repaid for his actions. He’d just done them, just like that, because doing it would help someone he loved. Very dearly, at that. Someone he’d do anything for.

Very, very briefly, he wondered if Edea - or the Sidhe in general, had people they knew like that. Their very state of being operated on a different level entirely, but Titania and Oberon were together. He was at least reasonably certain other creatures of the Nevernever could court and find love, too. But how far did their affections stretch? He found he could just as easily imagine Titania waxing poetic about her husband as he could imagine her ripping his throat out over a something as tame as what to have for dinner. But then again, as he’d learned, even the faerie queens were mortal once.

“Maybe it has ailed me. I dunno. But… I do know that I want it to work out. And your little ritual thingy will tell me if it can.”

“Child, no matter what the reading tells you, you’re going to keep doing what you’re doing anyway.” Her tone chided him slightly, though she made no further presses to dissuade him.

“You’re fucking right I am.” Reading tea leaves or tossing sand in a circle could tell him no more than what he felt in his heart. Even if it told him they weren’t… Starfetched, they weren’t soulmates, they weren’t some other form of word that essentially meant they belonged together, right now, they did. They were together right now, and however long it lasted was all that mattered to him. Even if it did scare him a little. He’d spent so long feeling temporary, just a placeholder for the next iteration of him to come along. Many, many versions of himself had come and gone. 26 - almost 27, now - years strong in this form had him… Antsy. He knew it was highly unlikely he’d go anywhere this time, but that ever-present fear lingered. Had he changed enough to be good for this? Had he changed at all?

And then there was still the whole fact that he might not survive the reading. Knowledge was a powerful thing, especially to the fae. It was probably their most valuable asset, and their strongest bargaining chip. Knowledge could make or break someone. Topple cities. End civilizations. Maybe, just maybe, his pathetic little human slash bird brain just wasn’t equipped to handle what vast knowledge Edea was going to forcefully shove into it. Maybe he’d survive. Maybe it’d drive him mad. Maybe that danger was the real reason the service was “free”. Nothing was free. He knew better than that.

Yet here he was.

For a long few minutes Edea regarded him with little more than amused boredom, watching the angel process things. His choice was obvious, even to him - though he didn’t want to seem all too eager to jump into bed with her. Metaphorically speaking. Eventually he nodded, sighing, letting his arms drop to his sides. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s do it.”

Almost instantly, complete and total darkness engulfed him, and he let out a startled cry - stumbling on nothing and falling flat on his ass with a hard thud. It wasn’t uncommon knowledge that he hated complete darkness, though through his scrambled thoughts he couldn’t think of any reason why she’d be doing this to him. It set his heart racing, and it was only moments after that he felt an icy vice grip on his arm. Another sound left him as four pinpricks of pain blossomed from his bicep, sending a numbing chill through him. An instant later he was dizzy, struggling to free himself as the dimness around him faded - like a lone fluorescent bulb slowly bathing a room as it warmed up.

“The fuck,” he managed, free arm coming to support himself on the ground, eyes adjusting. The forest was exactly as it had been moments ago, and Edea herself was standing a few feet away. Her look suggested that of watching a child tucker itself out through a tantrum, and to fit the bill Cath scowled at her. “What the fuck was that for?” Eyes raked around again for some sort of answer, and he realized that it was perhaps an enchantment to blind him momentarily, rather than bathe everything in darkness. Which, of course, scared him more than anything: Edea hadn’t said a word, or made any move to do so. She’d simply willed him blind and it had happened. He quietly filed her under yet another ‘Fae to not fuck with’.

“It is very foolish of you to think that just because you are here to partake in this that you can handle it as you are,” she upbraided, removing a number of things he couldn’t quite focus on from somewhere behind a tree stump. “To put it simply, I’ve drugged you. An altered consciousness is required to… partake in this. I know you don’t use your brain quite so often, Shachath, but unlocking some extra rooms among those grey matter folds is necessary.” She tutted then, shaking her head. “Humans are so unfortunate.”

He really couldn’t argue, all things considered. Humans were unfortunate, and he had read something at some point about brain functionality being limited in a completely sober state. But this wasn’t like any drug he’d ever been on before. He mostly just felt dizzy, awake and sleepy all at the same time, like he was straining to focus on something that may or may not have been there. “So you had to scare the shit out of me first?”

“Blood flow quickens with the pulse, does it not? At least that is what I’m led to believe.” She sounded uncertain for a moment, and Cath had to wonder, briefly, what exactly made up the biology of a fae. But even still, he rolled his eyes and grunted in annoyance.

“Couldn’t you just have dropped a porn mag in my lap or something?”

At that, he actually got a scowl from Edea. “Ezra Shachath,” she began in a tone meant to deride children, “and you’re here to prove your love, too.”

Unable to help his uneasy grin, it faded quickly with a sigh. So, she’d made him blind to drug him, and scared the shit out of him to make it quick. He really didn’t like where this was heading, but it was probably a decent testament to her character that she hadn’t done anything else to him. For now. That could change in an instant.

Edea continued gathering her things, Cath watching in dazed silence as the forest spun gently around him. He counted his lucky stars that the drug he’d been given wasn’t doing much more than making him acutely aware of everything around him… It could have been a lot worse. And he’d bet dollars to donuts it wasn’t just some piddly human drug, either. Fae shit was dangerous. Strong. The stuff he made was comparable but at least it wasn’t ever considered deadly.

A figurative age passed by before Edea had settled in front of him, kneeling at a shallow table she’d set up between them. A large, completely smooth stone about the size of a post card but oval shaped sat on a what looked to be something like a dinner plate. The notion made him giggle, suddenly and uncontrollably, rocking back on his hands as the sound turned into a belly laugh. “It’s like. It’s like. You’re serving it up to me. Where’s the knife and fork? Lemme just cut a slice.” He didn’t see Edea roll her eyes, but he could practically hear it, and it only made him laugh harder.

When his laughter finally subsided, he sighed, wiping tears from his eyes. Hoo. Okay. He was calm. He could focus. Which he did. To the best of his abilities. Several stones had been placed around the plate (teehee), varying colours and sizes, all seeming important while appearing innocuous at the same time. She held her hands, palm up, an inch or so above the table, looking at him almost expectantly. “Your hands, Shachath.”

He hesitated, but eventually laid his own hands on hers with his palms down. It made him twitch, feeling the connection between them link suddenly. Some part of him knew that was just the drugs, but another part swore up and down it was fae magic bullshit. “Okay. Not what?” Impatient. High on fae drugs. He wanted to get this done and go.

“Close your eyes and focus on the stone before you in your mind. Take in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and count to ten.”

When he opened his eyes, he was greeted to being assaulted on every front and every sense with… everything. He could see so much, almost too much - he understood what Edea meant about needing to unlock more of his brain very suddenly. It was as if he was watching a hundred, thousand, impossibly more than that movies at once. All of them showing him Kay, and himself.

But things were… different. In one of the visions, they were meeting by chance, one of them having missed a train. The vision culminated to them in a coffee shop some time later, confessing their feelings. In another, Cath was a private investigator trying to prove Kay innocent of a crime. Unsurprisingly, they fell in love. In another still, the angel, merely a human here, was the lone cause of a zombie apocalypse, and Kay was the only person immune to his deadly influence.

There were too many to keep track of, but somehow he managed to watch them all, all at once, from start to finish. Cath sang karaoke. Kay was a prince, and Cath his knight. In one they were both angels. In most, they ended up hooking up in one way or another, happy and in love. For every one time they didn’t, a dozen other scenarios came up to soothe the heartbreak Cath felt in their instances. It was surreal. It was bizarre. It was almost too much to handle and the meek part of his bird brain that had squawked ‘It must be the drugs!!’ was saying the same thing again here. Unbeknownst to him, his nose had started to bleed, and he was breathing fairly heavily. Though his brain dutifully ignored the peasantry that was his semi-mortal body, plodding on with the task it had been given by the fae. He couldn’t stop watching. He wasn’t even sure he’d blinked in the past however long it had been. Every vision he saw was simultaneously over in an instant and took an eternity to complete.

It was a nightmare. It was hell.

It was so, so beautiful.

He didn’t remember collapsing, or how long it had been since the reading had started. His recollections were choppy at best, of Edea picking him up and sliding the stone into his hoodie pocket, now an almost impossibly deep shade of black. The forest around them seemed to melt as his consciousness slipped, mumbling incongruously to no one as darkness aggressively swamped his vision.

The home Edea found herself in was exactly that - a home. She felt a significant portion of her power dissolve as she crossed through the Way just to deliver the fallen angel back peacefully, though it bothered her little. She’d traced his origin point rather simply, and felt it maybe necessary to chide him at a later date for making himself so easy to find. At the bedside, she noted the sleeping figure already occupying the large bed. That… must be the one this had all been for. Fascinating. He seemed quite normal from this vantage, far more normal than someone she’d peg Shachath to be interested in. He always seemed so… Flighty, for lack of a better term. Not the kind to settle down in any sense of the word. Hum.

Silently, she placed the KO’d fallen onto the bed, moving to lower herself to a sit next to the other sleeping figure. He seemed strange, from this angle; like nothing she’d seen before. Maybe he wasn’t as normal as she’d initially thought. Though her curiosity got the better of her - a hand gently reached out, placing itself on his forehead (between horns, no less) and closing her eyes.

In an instant, she was standing no more than four feet from him, looking around and taking inventory of the sight.

“Well,” she said, tone loud enough to hear but not loud enough to disrupt, “this certainly isn’t what I’d been expecting.”

#drabble;#long post;#very long post;#sorry mobile users #i meant to post this last week but forgot

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ravenpie52 · 3 years

Text

With Domicile’s Conclusion:

I’m writing a wrap-up of sorts here, explaining all the lore and background info for the series (and where it might go?) in a fully transparent manner. Don’t read this if you want to puzzle some of it out first after finishing the series. I’m posting the art assets I drew at the bottom too.

Prepare for a long one.

1. Series Lore

First off, the most important thing. Raven is not a true “Player.” I categorize Players as beings separate from mobs that sorta just, appear (though they all have their own backstories). They have a lot of power at their fingertips. They can manipulate the world drastically, travel between worlds, and set up worlds as “hubs” (servers) for others to gather in. The existence of a Player influences the world around them. Worlds are literally made for Players, and can barely exist without them.

So what happens when a world lacks a Player? Well. Mob AI is fundamentally changed, for one. They do not aggro on beings that aren’t mobs unless provoked. Therefore, all hostile mobs ignore Raven’s existence because they are not recognized as anything worth paying attention to. Things also got messy and the world deferred a sort of “awakening” to those of the highest “power,” Evokers, in order to try and pick up the slack in a way. (Though the world doesn’t have thoughts, I’m just personifying it for ease of explanation.)

Evokers in Raven’s world have a higher “sense of self,” and in doing so took on a fraction of Player abilities (building/exploration/crafting skill and world manipulation). Many of them banded together into the Evoker Collective to try and figure out what’s going on with the world. There are legends of “Players” that all sapient mobs know, and yet....there is no trace of one...

Eventually, one such Evoker got the idea to try and MAKE a Player, or at least, create an entity that could try to fill the void. Enter our dear shapeshifter. Unfortunately, Raven either accidentally killed both their creator and work partner in their eldritchy infancy without realizing, or scared the two off for good. I’m leaving that for others to decide. Thankfully they started learning life lessons from passive mobs and ended up in a village in a form where they were mistaken for an actual Player and could learn about it.

Secondly, in a broken world, the connection between the dimensions is super fragile. This is why Raven didn’t get any dimension-related advancements. They don’t exist. All knowledge regarding the Nether and the mobs within was left vague or nonexistent and Evokers had to figure it out themselves. At most, villagers know of a far off place that is very warm and red. And they know of a hard, purple rock, that when made into an upright square...does something... Only Evokers actually ended up getting there.

When it comes to the End, that’s a complete mystery, though they did find a stronghold containing a portal. Unfortunately, they didn’t know enough about Endermen (named “Warpers” instead) to figure out the whole deal with the frame.

There is no Enderdragon. With no Player to defeat her, she does not exist, nor do her pillars, her crystals, or her egg. And with no dragon to defeat, there are no End Cities. The only thing that exists is the anchor point, the bedrock fountain.

IN COME CYAN AND GREEN: residents of The Liminal, the space between worlds and dimensions. You know that dirt screen you see whenever Minecraft is loading, showing an error message, looking through options, playing the credits, etc.? That’s a place. You can fully enter it only after hopping into the fountain the first time in a world. All those other times you’re kinda just a blip.

It’s implied in my custom End Poem that it is possible to acclimate yourself to The Liminal better and eventually stay there without being pulled away. Furthermore, it is being said that Raven has the possibility to join the ranks of Cyan and Green since Raven’s also somewhat detached from the universe (due to being made from its own cracks). However, that will take, like, hundreds to thousands of years.

Cyan and Green gave Raven a boon after being impressed by their ability to be, well, a person. They gave them the knowledge and ability to world-hop, like Players, so Raven can now go to other worlds as well as servers and isn’t stuck in a broken one, hooray! All the other worlds they visit will be actually made for Non-mob Beings, so there’s proper mob aggro, regular dimension stuff, etc. There’s gonna be a violent few lessons Raven’s gonna have to learn fast. Good thing the other ability that Cyan and Green gave Raven was the ability to respawn in other worlds. Yep! Raven was unknowingly in hardcore mode this whole time and didn’t realize there was anything different!

Despite getting a slight power boost, Raven is still unable to shapeshift properly. They can only get forms slightly right. They worked really hard to maintain their zombie mimicry at this level of finesse (even if it isn’t perfect), so they’re unlikely to change shape unless it’s necessary or accidental. People are more receptive to Raven in this form, after all. This is my excuse for why Raven doesn’t shapeshift in-game at any time....there are no mods for this.

2. Out of Character Stuff

Here’s a previous OOC post I made regarding some of the filming stuff.

Domicile was always meant to be Raven’s backstory. It’s something I could point to when people might go: “What’s their story?” It was just for fun, but I put a lot of work into it, and it has felt very rewarding. For example, I’d been trying to figure out how to present the flashback of episode 6 and the custom End Poem for episode 7 for aaaages and getting those all settled has been great.

If you’re wondering why I have silent moments for montages in my videos and didn’t see the answer anywhere else, there were times where it just didn’t work out to use the webcam microphone I was borrowing, or said microphone messed up the audio (I’m FINALLY getting a replacement mic in a few weeks). At a certain point I decided it was a feature to have montages with only in-game sounds. Like, asmr or something.

None of the mods I installed changed generation. Everything that looks different from vanilla I made happen in creative mode. I made the mini-mansion in the roofed forest, the temple topper and stairs for the stronghold, fixed up Hometown to be nicer, and got rid of all the obsidian End pillars with creative mode punches. The pillars still stick out of the bottom of the island, I couldn’t be bothered to do that too. ( >3>)

One of my rules for the RP was to keep all knowledge in-universe. Raven had to only know things they could conceivably find out from villagers or their books. (And sometimes they just straight up forgot some of it.) After this, there’s gonna be a time skip where Raven learns a whole bunch of Minecraft basics from faceless Players. So in the future I won’t have to pay quite as much attention to what gets called its proper in-game name or not.

Also I had to hold back from singing any real life song lyrics to myself and I couldn’t give anything a name that alludes to our world. The orange tower is called Traffic Cone in my head but Raven can only call it a tower. That sort of thing I can be way more lenient with from now on.

I want to make future RP content with my character, but I have no friends who are fitting that particular niche to roleplay with me for a multiplayer series. I’m keeping an eye out for potential roleplay servers and such for outside of video RP. But at this point, I think that if I am to make a multiplayer video series, I’m gonna have to wait for someone to approach me with an offer.

Though, I’m still gonna post art of the character here, no doubt.

By the way, since this is working as an archive of sorts, here’s the link for the written piece that started me on the track to making the series. I’m thinking of changing the canon time Raven spent wandering around the tundra thinking they were a mob to be a bit while longer than a day.

More stuff involving my Minesona can be found under the #Domicile tag, but later I’m just gonna tag all new stuff as just #minesona.

3. Art Assets

Here are the assets I made for the videos, excluding the blurry picture of the Evokers, that one’s kinda not worth much, lol. I’ve posted the first two elsewhere, but thought this would be a good archive.

The thumbnail:

The title card:

Raven falling from The Liminal, losing their form a bit after Green and Cyan’s influence and Raven’s emotional bewilderment:

(You can really tell that I loosely traced a reference photo of someone falling, lol. I have no shame, this pose rocks.)

For fun, here’s the skin I use! I didn’t make it, but I’ve used it for years, so it’s me now. >:)

Here’s the Skindex link.

Once again, thank you all so much for anyone who watched the series. Every view means a lot to me. I’m so happy that people watched my stuff and liked it. Thanks for reading this! <3

#Domicile #Minecraft #Minesona

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wyrdsistersofthedas · 7 years

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Death in the Fade: A “Baroness” of Purpose - Justice Outside of the Fade (Part 3 of 3)

Last part of the Death in the Fade series:

Part 1: Death in the Fade

Part 2: If a Sylvan Falls In a Forest…

Part 3: A Baroness of Purpose - Justice Outside of the Fade

Theses (I don’t often get to use the plural!): Justice is trapped in the mortal world due to his own desire to fulfill his purpose, his (mostly) mistaken belief that he will fade away and die without a host body, and his growing fascination with the waking world. The spirits and demons that possess sylvans and corpses return to the Fade as energy, like any other spirit, unless outside forces intervene to continue their purpose.

A Baroness of Purpose: Justice Outside of the Fade

We’ve established that only spirits and demons with a strong will/sense of self and a desire to enter the waking world can push through the Veil of their own free will. Cole and Solas say that this type of crossing can cause the spirit or demon to become more potent and powerful, even to develop a personality. (One can only imagine how many times Imshael has gone back and forth over the ages. He certainly has more ‘personality’ than many mortals!) Weaker spirits can do the same where the Veil is thin or torn, but they often don’t have enough “self” to avoid being buffeted or driven mad. Some dodn’t even want to come to the mortal world, but they were pulled in. Such is the case with Justice.

Justice was almost certainly powerful enough to push across, but he had absolutely no desire to visit the mortal world. He didn’t envy mortals. He and other spirits pity them, thinking them trapped in a world devoid of beauty (video). When the Baroness used the First’s life to rip open the Veil, she pulled the Warden, companions, and Justice along for the ride. His will is strong enough to keep his mind intact during the initial shock, and his driving purpose to get justice for all the villagers of the Blackmarsh keeps him focused enough to hold it together in Kristoff’s body. You actually can immediately offer to ‘double kill Kristoff’ (as you so perfectly put it), but he doesn’t particularly care for the idea:

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You can hear the fear and uncertainty in Justice’s voice when he refuses my kind offer to just kill him. He knows almost nothing about crossing the Veil (video). Is this lack of knowledge what keeps him pinned in Kristoff’s body and from being able to return to the Fade? He does seem to be rather clueless about the Veil and the mortal world. Comparing Justice’s circumstances with the few other spirits who experience something similar might provide some answers.

Command seems to be the most direct analogue to Justice’s situation. Although it is never explicitly stated, Command doesn’t seem to have come to the waking world of her own free will. It is likely that the Veil tear in Crestwood pulled Command across. Once she is in the mortal world, she was confused and upset, but not immediately malevolent, another similarity between her situation and Justice’s. She also seems trapped, partially because of her devotion to her purpose.

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Unlike Justice, however, Command does seem to know how to go back to Fade. She just refuses to do so until something in the waking world obeys her command. Once her purpose is fulfilled, she goes back to the Fade with ease (video). Is that all it takes? Finish whatever goal or purpose brought the spirit to the waking world, and then slip back through? Surprisingly, there are several pieces of lore that indicate it may be that simple. It’s so easy, a wisp can do it (and Command and Cole).

“Gathering his magic, [Rhys] reached his mind across the Veil and summoned a spirit through. It was tiny, a wisp of a creature with barely any consciousness to call its own. The shimmering orb hovered over the palm of his hand, its magical hum tickling the hairs on the back of his neck.

“I need you to be quiet,” he whispered. “You can do that, can’t you?”

The wisp bobbed excitedly and dimmed. He barely even saw it now. Tossing it up into the air, he sensed its excitement as it floated out into the commons. Even such a small spirit took great joy in coming into the real world. They found the oddest things of endless fascination: a wooden chair, a piece of steak, a feather. Left to its own devices, a wisp would bob around random objects for hours making strange trilling noises as it explored its environment.

The templars frowned on the use of even such benign spirits, although it was not strictly forbidden. The best healers, after all, summoned spirits of compassion to assist them. Such spirits did not linger and immediately returned whence they came, but the Chantry looked upon any who had the talent to contact them with suspicion -such as himself. Still, it had its uses.

Rhys waited. Just as he was beginning to fear the wisp had become distracted, he sensed its return. It came to rest on his open palm emitting an odd set of excited sounds. He closed his eyes and tried to gather what impressions he could from its memory. The first images he saw were confused, and made it seem like the commons was filled with a dozen or more templars. Then he realized it had been looking at the statues, and couldn’t tell the difference. Typical.

But one of the figures had moved. He focused on that one sighting and received enough impressions from the wisp to figure it out. A sentry on the far side of the staircase. The hall was being watched after all.

“I need you to do one more favor for me,” he quietly asked it. The wisp floated off his hand, already quivering with anticipation. “I need you to lead the man away. It doesn’t matter where. Just a few minutes and you’re free to return to the Fade.”

It was a fairly complex command. The wisp twirled in place, shimmering slightly as it considered, and then floated off once again. Within minutes, Rhys heard a muted swear from the unseen guard. Footsteps followed, heading down the stairs at a rapid pace. Good. That would give Rhys the time he needed.” (Dragon Age: Asunder, pgs. 58-59)

Rhys doesn’t keep the wisp in the mortal world with force, he just asks it to do something. Once the task is fulfilled, the wisp goes back to the fade with ease. The same as Command. The same as Cole, in fact (More on this in a minute). So why not Justice? There are several hints as to why Justice still can’t return to the Fade in the conversation that immediately follows the defeat of the Baroness:

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Thing one: Justice is still confused about being in Kristoff’s body. He can’t figure out how to release himself from it, but that is only a temporary confusion. If you piss him off enough, he will extricate himself from Kristoff’s body right in front of you (video, not ours), and there are several possible epilogues in which Justice will do the same thing, but in less negative circumstances. And then there is this conversation with Velanna:

Velanna: What will happen to you once Kristoff's body has fully decayed?

Justice: I do not know. Perhaps I will be drawn back to the Fade?

Velanna: Or remain here, bound to the tiny motes of dust that once were Kristoff.

Justice: Do you think that's possible?

Velanna: I know less about this than you. How securely is your spirit bound to this body? Can you leave it?

Justice: I could, if I chose to.

Velanna: Do you want to leave it?

Justice: I... do not know anymore.

Justice knows pretty early on that he could leave Kristoff’s body if he wanted to, but he doesn’t. Why?

That leads us to thing two: The warden can immediately give Justice a new purpose to fulfill after defeating the Baroness. The spirit will avenge Kristoff’s death and help the Warden defeat the Mother. This new purpose effectively sabotages Justice’s ability to return to the Fade, and the longer he is in the mortal world, the more causes he finds! Aura. Mages. (Maybe someday it will be the elves’ turn...) Goals keep him focused, but grounded. He can’t be clear enough in his thoughts to figure out how to go back to the Fade when he has a purpose that needs to be fulfilled.

And that leads to thing three: Justice doesn’t believe he can survive in the mortal world without a host body. And he doesn’t know what will happen to him if he dies in the waking world (video). This explains why he won’t drop Kristoff, and why he keeps distracting himself from his predicament with more causes. There seem to be several reasons why Justice believes he’ll die without a body to possess. In the first conversation with him outside the Fade, Justice says that no spirit that has crossed the Veil has ever returned, which doesn’t quite jive with the lore we have especially mages summoning wisps and spirits (which spirit healers are known to do) and then releasing back to the Fade, but does reveal an interesting tidbit about Justice’s inner mind. While he typically will say that it is possible that he could one day return to the Fade, in practical terms, he knows of no other spirits who have accomplished the task. That would make anyone hesitant to try. And the warden’s other companions do nothing to alleviate this fear. Every time someone brings up the possibility of Justice separating from Kristoff, the conversation contains elements that prompt Justice to look for another host or fear for his own existence. Thanks for that Sigrun.

Justice: So you believe you will die soon.

Sigrun: Won't we all?

Justice: I will not die. Not as you die.

Sigrun: Spirits such as yourself can be slain in this world. Maybe you can, too.

Justice: That... is a disturbing thought.

Sigrun: Glad to be of service!

Then there are these little chats with Nathaniel:

Nathaniel: What happens when this body of yours...expires?

Justice: How long does such a process take?

Nathaniel: I don't know. Can you still walk around once you're simply bones?

Justice: So I'm led to believe, yes.

Nathaniel: That is incredibly disturbing.

───────

Nathaniel: Will you ever need to switch bodies, Justice?

Justice: I did not even wish to possess this one. Why would I switch to another?

Nathaniel: You might need to. Unless you wish to look even more obviously like a corpse.

Justice: I...would prefer not to think of it.

───────

Justice: This... thing you spoke of. Switching bodies.

Nathaniel: Not a favorite topic of yours, I take it?

Justice: Would such a thing be permitted? Would it not be considered... abominable?

Nathaniel: If they're dead, it's not as if they need the body, Justice.

Justice: But I can still feel the man who once lived. I know his life, his... It is not just a body.

Nathaniel: That's...good, isn't it? I'd rather you felt that way.

Justice: Perhaps you are right.

───────

Nathaniel: What if you found a living body to possess?

Justice: Even if I knew how, I would not possess the living. Such is an act for demons.

Nathaniel: What if the person were willing?

Justice: Why would a mortal ever allow such a thing?

Nathaniel: For life. For love. Perhaps together, you can do what they cannot do alone. If you gave instead of taking, I would consider you no demon.

Justice: It is...something to consider. Thank you, Nathaniel.

These trains of thought are continued in conversations Justice has with Velanna, but she adds observations that note how much Justice seems to be like the mortal world:

Velanna: What will happen to you once Kristoff's body has fully decayed?

Justice: I do not know. Perhaps I will be drawn back to the Fade?

Velanna: Or remain here, bound to the tiny motes of dust that once were Kristoff.

Justice: Do you think that's possible?

Velanna: I know less about this than you. How securely is your spirit bound to this body? Can you leave it?

Justice: I could, if I chose to.

Velanna: Do you want to leave it?

Justice: I... do not know anymore.

───────

Velanna: It seems you actually like this world.

Justice: I do. I have had experiences I cannot even begin to explain.

Velanna: A pity that you'll soon fall apart.

Justice: I could find and inhabit another corpse. A female body might offer a different perspective, wouldn't you think?

Velanna: If I die in your presence, you stay away from my body, you hear me?

Justice: Your objection is noted.

Oghren even suggests that Justice is missing out on the full mortal experience because he doesn’t have a living human body.

Justice: You speak often of bodily functions.

Oghren: (Grunts) Not half as often as they happen.

Justice: But why this preoccupation? I have a mortal body, yet it provides me no such amusement.

Oghren: You have a dead mortal body. Try a living one sometime, and then we'll talk.

Justice: Possess a living host? I would never!

Oghren: Tough break. Enjoy the corpse love.

Result of all of this?

me: Guys! You fucked up a perfectly good spirit. Look at him. He’s got anxiety!!

None of Justice’s companions belief he can exist in the waking world without possessing a body, and this belief shapes Justice’s experiences in the waking world. A similar situation occurs with Cole in Dragon Age: Asunder. And that belief has power to affect Justice in dramatic ways if/when he does leave Kristoff’s body. In Asunder Cole believed he needed to kill people who were in pain in order to exist. He didn’t, but that belief shaped his reality enough to make him feel like he was fading away when he went for extended periods of time without killing. It is very likely that Justice experiences something similar if the Warden kills him at Drake’s Fall or if he is killed at an non-upgraded Vigil’s Keep. He believes he can’t live for long outside of the Fade without a body and he doesn’t know how to go back, so he approaches Anders with the offer to join. Anders, ironically, never talks with Justice about the possibility of the spirit switching bodies, but conversations in Dragon Age 2 reveal that Anders also believed that Justice would die without a host.

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In the case of Cole, Rhys eventually convinces him that it is wrong to kill and that he doesn’t need to do it in order to be remembered. This change in belief has a dramatic effect. Cole no longer feels like he is fading. Could the trip to Adamant, his focus on Rhys, and their trip to the Fade have affected Cole too? Possible, but they seem to have only distracted Cole from his unconscious spirit/demon purpose rather than changing his belief about his existence. It is only after Cole learns that he is, in fact, a spirit from Lord Seeker Lambert, that he begins to truly manifest like a spirit again. He remembers pushing through the Veil, he remembers the real Cole, and fears what he has become. He still wants to help people and will kill to protect innocents (Lambert), but he doesn’t want to go back to the demon-like being he was in Asunder. He stays with the templars so that they can kill him if he “goes dark” again. Hence the Cole we meet in Inquisition. Spirit, but a bit more because the mortal world is ‘sticking’ to him. He remembers Cole’s pain as if it was his own. It’s these painful memories that prevent him from going back to the Fade. He actually knows how to return, but he is stuck.

Cole: Solas doesn't fear spirits, Vivienne. Why do you?

Vivienne: Your apostate friend did not benefit from formal training in a Circle.

Solas: How unfortunate for me.

Cole: The Circle makes you afraid? Are the demons stronger there?

Vivienne: The Circle taught me the tricks demons play to gain the trust of any mage foolish enough to listen.

Vivienne: Solas seems to trust you. How long before you turn on him?

Cole: Solas is my friend!

Vivienne: But you'd like to be more, wouldn't you? You could be together forever if you possessed him.

Vivienne: Is that not truly what you want? A body to claim your own, so you never have to return to the Fade?

(If Cole is made more human, or if his personal quest has not yet been completed)

Cole: I can't return to the Fade. Sometimes I wish I could.

Solas: Ignore her, Cole. She would hurt what she does not understand.

If the Inquisitor makes Cole more spirit, he immediately sheds all of that pain, forgives the templar who killed real Cole, and can go back to the Fade at any time.

Solas: Do you wish you can return to the Fade, Cole?

Cole: I can. I am light, unlittered. I can slip back across a small kind thing.

Solas: Yet, you remain.

Cole: I can help here.

Solas: Then for as long as you remain, I am glad of your company.

Spirit Cole chooses to stay because he wants to continue fulfilling his purpose. The spirit of Command stays in the mortal world for the same reason. She can return, but refuses to go until something in the waking world obeys her.

If Justice believed he could remain in the mortal world without a host, he would in all likelihood become like spirit Cole. (Or the Baroness (video). Or Imshael.) Justice is no ordinary spirit. He is more like Inquisition Cole, the Baroness, or Imshael than he probably would like. He wants to evolve and become more. He is learning from his companions, remembering more and more complex ideas. And he is feeling things his life in the Fade could not have prepared him for, especially concerning Aura, Kristoff’s wife (video).

Justice’s thoughts are becoming much more complex. He remembers more. He comes to think that the mortal world is beautiful and worthwhile (video). He admits several times that his thoughts dwell on Aura. He says he wants to evolve and grow. Honestly, he was on the path to pulling a Cole. Given enough time, and the ability to hold his form, he would likely have become fully human. The problem is he doesn't know such a thing is possible. He doesn’t have Solas and Varric pulling at him, showing him what is possible. Everything Justice knows suggests he will die without a host. He also appears to be doubting his own choices. No matter what the warden tells him in their final conversation, it is clear that Justice is concerned about whether the feelings and experiences he is having in Kristoff’s body could someday cause him to become “perverted” by those desires and become a demon. Maybe Justice even thought that a connection to a living host, who understood mortal feelings and experiences, would help him understand those feelings and keep them in check.

All of this adds up to a spirit who believes his existence is in peril, and by the time we get to the end of Awakening, it seems like Justice really wants to stay! Over time, Justice develops a love for the mortal world and a desire to right the many wrongs he sees in Thedas. This chain of events is what prevents Justice from returning to the Fade and sets him on the path towards his merger with Anders in DA2.

That’s what the evidence suggests to us, anyway. Anyone else have some thoughts to add?

-MM

#dragon age #dragon age awakening #dragon age asunder #dragon age 2 #dragon age spirits #dragon age demons #dragon age fade #dragon age veil #Justice #Cole #Solas #Anders #dragon age meta #morta's musings #wend the wyrds a wondering #long post

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aconvenientenemy · 5 years

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The Cities of Blood and Ashes

The line for fruit was twice as long as Nada normally saw it. She had been in town for near two weeks and this was the longest hold up she had seen. Someone had to be haggling. That had to be it. This wasn't a place you haggled in. The prices were set here. Even most travelers knew that because the signs were everywhere. It was in the tourist brochures for willow's sake.

The line moved finally. After Nada had started playing a game of counting the travelers like her through the crowds. You could always tell by the shoes. And from the newer ones, their backpacks and map cases. She had counted 28 by the time the line started moving.

"A 30 for the basket or 40 to fill your own." She was told when she reached the front.

"Are there apples in the basket?"

"Can be, for an extra 2."

No haggling, she chided herself before she could ask for a different deal. "Done." She gave her 32 and took her basket, breaking out of line and running into a masked figure on the street immediately. "I'm so sorry." She apologized, steadying him by his arm.

"No it was my fault, sorry." He countered, grabbing her other arm to steady her as well.

It was a con job and she almost laughed as she saw him grab an apple and pocket it, patting her arm as she picked it back and put it on the side of her basket where he couldn't see it.

She patted his arm too and sent him on his way. "It was both our faults. Have a good day!"

He nodded and walked off quickly. Adjusting his face mask as he went.

"It's cute." She said, not looking up from her apple and coffee, watching the cream gradually mix into her bitter drink.

"How did you know?" The masked man asked her, standing on the outside of the little gate sequestering the cafe from the street. It wasn't a full hour after the run in. She had hoped he would try to find her.

"Your mask I mean." She told him, looking up and tapping her mouth. "I like the little smile on it."

He nodded, gray eyes sharp and trained on her face. "Thank you. How did you know? And how did you get it back so quick?"

"It was mine." She shrugged. "I wasn't going to let my apple get stolen."

"You're an adventurer?" He opened the gate and stood next to her table.

She looked him over. He was a local. If not from the town itself at least from nearby. He wasn't ragged but he also wasn't proper. His clothes were together but by no means formal wear. She could see him living in a tent somewhere.

He had a jacket and a small pack on him. Capable of carrying only trinkets or money, maybe a handful of snacks.

"No." She squinted looking up at him. "Sit. You're making my eyes hurt."

He pulled the chair out and sat down. Nada waved for a server and gestured to him. "Whatever he wants, with me."

He made unsure eye contact with her and ordered a blueberry tea with a straw.

"That it?"

He nodded.

The server left to get his order and once gone, Nada leaned forward a little. "I'm a tourist."

He rolled his eyes. "Tourists don't know how to pick my pockets."

She sat back in her seat. "Maybe you just don't know how to keep things in your pockets."

"Can you just tell me how? And I'll leave you alone. I promise. I just want to know how you did it."

"Would you believe it was a curse?"

"Yes." He answered immediately. "But I don't think it was."

She laughed. "Kinda the opposite of believing, wouldn't you say?"

He slouched in his chair, crossing his arms, angry eyes but smiling mask. "I'd believe it if it were a curse. But I don't think it is. I know curses and that didn't feel like one."

She raised her eyebrows, a little shocked, a little impressed. "What curses do you know?"

He sat back up. The smile on his mask feeling more apt now. "A trade? Information for information?"

She nodded. "Deal." It was the easiest deal she had made this whole year.

They shook hands and he introduced himself after the tea came. "Name's Kit."

"Nada."

"No name? That's cool. What's that then? Lost your name in a trade?"

She laughed. "My name is Nada."

"Oh. That's also cool." He slipped the straw under his face mask, holding his drink in such a way that one of his fingers hung inside the tea, and swallowed down about half his drink before he started speaking again. "So what brings a tourist like yourself down here to the edge of Aiko? It's the fruit right? Its gotta be. People come to Aiko proper for the good stuff but here on the edge we have the same quality just less of the fame."

Nada turned the apple in her hand over. It looked normal. Sure it tasted crisper than she was used to, but she figured it was just in season. "Aiko is known for its fruit?"

Kit nodded. "Its vegetation. Anything grown here. It's like, the highest tier. City of Ashes at its finest. You just can't ship it out. If it crosses the border further than a day it molds. Turns to pulp. It goes rot almost like that." He snaps. "It's one of our more well known legends. A blessing and a curse in one."

Nada had perked up at the title 'City of Ashes'. She knew that name from somewhere. A contact maybe. She took out her notebook from her side satchel and nodded for Kit to continue while she flipped through it.

"Also can't make a killer by shipping the food out, but it still makes more than enough on tourists who know the watered down legend. Or on people who know the real thing, the deeper lore, and like that sort of stuff. Either way. Most people are willing to spend a good deal of coin here."

She looked up from her notes. "Deeper lore?"

Kit nodded again. "Buy me a meal and slip me an apple, I'll tell you the legend."

Nada couldn't help but feel like the smile on his mask was mocking her now. But. It had been a while since someone gave her a story and she was damn near starving for it. She agreed to his terms and his eyes practically glimmered. Kit excused himself to the counter to place his order and to change his face mask.

"If I wear one for too long it starts to smell like sweat." He said by way of explanation. He returned with another black mask but this one had a slightly wider, sharp toothed, open grin on it. He sat back in his seat and leaned forward on the table. Nada sat back in her chair, pulling her knees up the her chest to settle in. "So."

It's actually two cities. Two cities with histories so deeply stained by ash and drowned in blood. Two cities who prosper financially and agriculturally. One flush with healthy vegetables and beautiful fruit forests. The other known vastly for its ways of trade and range of taught skills.

We start in the other one. Legend has it there was a fierce ruler named Valeria who rose to command during an amazing and long drawn out power struggle. She grew tired of the fighting throughout the land. Deciding to take it into her own hands, she killed all who opposed the change she tried to enact. She soon had no one in the land who challenged her, at least, to her face.

Small sects and malicious groups rose up but were quickly struck down. The land itself prospered. The people no longer went hungry or wanted for shelter. But still, some considered her rule too fierce, too restrictive.

She had no family besides one brother, Aiko, and those who knew of her legacy knew they wouldn't prosper against her face to face. So they turned to the brother. The people of the land warned them. They said Valeria cared for nothing and no one besides her power. That Aiko could fend for himself and Valeria wouldn't care either way. The opposition didn't listen.

Multiple kidnap attempts were tried and multiple failed. Either Aiko would escape or he would be held for so long with no response from Queen Valeria that they would just release him.

Or so the stories said.

In the shadows of her rulership, Valeria had a secret task force with the sole mission of watching over her brother, Aiko. This task force kept him alive and killed many people doing so.

There is a more widely known variation of Valeria’s story that tells of the only successful kidnap of her brother. The story that explains a neighboring kingdom drowned in blood and set ablaze. Cleansed from the earth in a righteous angry fire and reborn anew with the name of her fallen brother.

Queen Valeria’s task force failed. They were struck down and the last to fall was brought down by Valeria's own hand as he explained the details of Aiko’s kidnapping.

Valeria rode for days to reach the kingdom, taking a small army for backup. The small kingdom was ready. The little lord ruled only three years and thought himself worthy of an upgrade. He wanted Valeria's kingdom, the Kingdom of Blood as they called it, and he was holding her brother's throat to it. He had an army half the population of his land.

The details get very murky or very explicit depending on who's telling this story but the short of it is, her small army slaughtered everyone in his militia. They took the ones who did not resist out of the city and she took the self righteous lord's life out of this plane of existence. In a panic, he had forgotten to hold Aiko's throat hostage and slashed it as soon as he saw Valeria's shadow down his hallways.

He laid in the blood of her brother as she sliced his skin open. He watched through glassy eyes as she mixed their blood and cursed his family line both ways into eternity, the light from his land being set ablaze behind her like she was an angel of death. She said few words but took great satisfaction in the terror on his face as she promised him days of this treatment.

She asked him one day, his last day, amidst his screaming and his pleading and blood dripping, if he thought it had been worth it.

He spoke through red stained teeth and a ripped ragged throat. “I thought you would fold. They said you didn't care.”

She looked him in his bloodshot eyes before she answered, calmly and quietly. “He was my morality.”

His life ended that day. The city, burned to ash days ago. She had the old residents as well as the strongest in her army to come and rebuild. They made a new land. Using the ashes of the old as fertilizer. She ruled over both kingdoms as a killer. Renamed the new land for Aiko. No one dared to challenge her again. And no one spoke a word against her in her kingdoms. Either out of fear or respect.

Both lands prospered and the Kingdom of Ashes, Aiko, is known far and wide as the best place to get farm fresh produce while the first kingdom of Valeria is known for its strength and happiness of subjects. Everyone builds their own houses, plants their own food, shares with the travelers. It still prospers to this day.

"Such a grim history for a city known for it's nice fruit." Nada commented.

Kit shrugged. "Its not really history. It can't be verified. If it happened, it happened thousands of years ago. Neither city is a Kingdom, Valeria's been through so many rulers, Aiko has its own law now, and there's the flood that took out the library so all the historical documents are gone. It's legend because it's word of mouth. But the curse is real, the blessing is real, and the story had to start somewhere. It's cool, isn't it?" His grey eyes shimmered, sharp toothed mask seeming to match his expression.

"Yeah, pretty cool."

#nada florentheo #in progress #this ones a part 1 #i meant to write about Kit's actual curse #but Kit knew the history and i wanted to get it down #Aiko is one of my favorite places besides Gabrielle's hometown #just because i like fruit tho. like seriously i just like it because of the produce #part 2 will either be later this month or just pushed to next months

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perception-6 · 7 years

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(Photo Creds to Goodreads!!)

Review: Lament, by Maggie Stiefvater

Overall rating: 4/5 stars (it’d probably be higher if I’d been reading it more constantly but that’s true of pretty much any Stiefvater book that I rate below 4.5 stars lol)

No spoilers below!

Lament is the debut novel of Maggie Stiefvater. Stiefvater is one of Tumblr’s favorite authors, and one of mine as well (follow her at @maggie-stiefvater like even if you don’t read her books there’s so much valuable advice, laughs, car talk, etc. on her blog). Oddly, in my two-year relationship with her books, including Shiver, The Raven Boys, and The Scorpio Races, I’ve not seen extensive talk of this first book, or its sequel Ballad, really anywhere on the Internet- I mean, type “Lament” and “Stiefvater” into Tumblr’s search bar, and you do get a nice cluster of posts; both covers I’ve seen of this book do photograph quite nicely, and it’s got a ton of poignant quotes and phrases, the kind that people pass on to others through the web.

Soooo… going into this book? I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t certain what I should expect, given the lack of Internet preparations, but then again, I thought, some of my past favorite books have been way below the surface of mainstream Booklr, so why not give Lament that same chance? All things considered, this book was really well done and enjoyable, but it did take me a solid 4 weeks to finish because I took a pretty long break between the first and second halves of the book. Honestly, my biggest complaint about this book was that until I reached a certain point, the story didn’t keep me thinking about it outside of the pages for too long.

If I had any concerns over my putting too much pressure on Lament because of how much I love Stiefvater’s other books, those concerns were truly unnecessary. Lament doesn’t feel like a duplicate of the other books in any way, even if there are some aesthetic overlaps (all three characters have some pretty major differences but Deirdre’s attitude towards different people reminds me of Grace at some moments and of Blue at others). It has its own world and set of magical rules, actually taking on a slightly darker feel than anything I’ve read from Stiefvater before. The threatening nature of the supernatural world feels more direct and imminent than in the first book of any other of her series, and I don’t think any other of them builds up so much suspense so quickly.

My second-biggest complaint about Lament (which isn’t really a complaint it’s just an observation that I actually thought was executed pretty well) is that, character-wise and plot-wise, it starts out in an almost-formulaic Paranormal Romance style; Main character meets supernaturally-affiliated being, becomes swiftly captivated, has their new dream-like reality shattered by the introduction of life-threatening circumstances, etc. Regardless of the book’s slightly tropey appearance, Maggie does a phenomenal job of making every aspect of Lament her own in every respect; The main character Deirdre, her best friend James, the love interest Luke, her mother and aunt, the faeries (who have a delightful spectrum that goes from “mischievous and vaguely threatening” to “brutally sadistic, fun to watch”), all are well-rounded, never one-dimensional, fleshed-out and so effin easy to empathize with (or virulently hate depending on the circumstances).

Deirdre herself is super witty, plucky, and generally well-suited in terms of having a reader inside of her head for 300+ pages at a time. Her interactions with and feelings towards Luke don’t feel rushed, even though the book doesn’t take place over such a long period of time; when they aren’t fighting for dear life, they feel more or less like a normal teenage couple, and their affections and banter are, respectively, cute and hilarious. Deirdre’s best friend James is vigorously loyal through all the dangers their friendship puts him through, and I can honestly say that he’s too innocent and kind deserve to be a part of any of the situation (yes maybe this role is a trope but like the others MS takes it and makes it her own and anyway I’m not complaining because I freaking love it). There isn’t really a good-fitting place to mention this, but I’ll go ahead and say here that James’ and Deirdre’s experiences with music remind me of Jandy Nelson The Sky is Everywhere, which I read last year and loved.

Again, I really loved seeing Maggie’s version of the world of faerie; I’ve got a bit of a mixed history with the genre, and I can safely say that hers is one of the better takes on the mythology that I’ve seen. There just seems like so much to this world, way more than this book touches on, and it kind of makes me want to research more into it on my own. I could tell that Maggie drew a lot on Irish history and lore (a lot like how she uses Welsh lore in The Raven Cycle), and it made these supernatural elements feel oddly realistic, like there are traces of their existence in the real world. It also made the fey feel more archaic and powerful, which is always a nice aesthetic for antagonistic forces.

As for the writing, I think it’s been established that I love MS’ way with words, and Lament is no exception. If I hadn’t let myself fall out of step with this world and take a break from this book, I would have finished it pretty quickly because this world lends itself easily to the reader’s emotional investment. In the periods when I was in a nice groove with this book, a couple of times I put it down for too long, interacted with the world, then turned around and was like “WHERE THE FUCK IS DEIRDRE. IS SHE OKAY. I CAN’T RIGHT NOW I NEED TO CHECK ON THEM.” That being said, I can tell that Maggie grew as a writer between Lament and The Raven King. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. Writers grow from book to book, and often the debut can get lost among the later, more popular releases. Do I think TRC, etc. deserve the publicity they get? Hell, yes!! Again, it’s clear that Maggie learned a lot about writing from this book to the latest ones. Still, even if she says she’d write Lament differently now, I think that, based off Lament, MS had honed her writing skills pretty aggressively before becoming a published author. Lament was, overall, well-crafted with an intriguing plot and characters both bubbly and vicious.

#lament #maggie stiefvater #books of faerie #ballad #requiem #luke dillon #sara madison #james the piper #idr his last name?#book review #deirdre monaghan

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f4-of-lucis · 7 years

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Oh goodness >w< And since we’re talking about the older version of Iggy, Gladio, and Prompto, I’m assuming that it’ll be the 10 year timeskip of themselves (meaning a Blind!Ignis as well).

This is gonna be really, really long, I tell you XDD Why? Because that’s an amazing idea right there and I over-elaborated the story— perhaps, too much.

I’m sorry it took a while, though!

And because this became a reader-insert, try out the module below :D (NOTE: It might not work on dashboard and mobile, so you might need to be in my actual blog site.)

Your name: submit What is this?

// <![CDATA[ document.getElementById("submit").addEventListener('click', myHandler); function myHandler() { var v = document.body.innerHTML; var input = document.getElementById("inputTxt").value; v = v.replace(/\by\/n\b|\(y\/n\)/ig, input); document.body.innerHTML = v; } // ]]>

Time and Love don’t go well together, it seems (Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto)

There was once a myth passed around the kingdom of Lucis. An old lore to the commoners; an urban legend to the servants of the Lucian Royal Family— especially those directly connected to the Crystal, such as the Crownsguards.

The myth has varied over the time, but essentially stated the following:

“Every hundred years, a strange phenomenon happens within the walls of the Citadel, home of the Lucian Royal Family. The Crystal— bestowed upon by the Divine Beings to humanity, casts its mystical powers to the worthiest of its protectors.

What happens to the chosen is unclear. Some had disappeared and caused unexplained anomalies, yet some returned with gifts of knowledge of the distant future.

A dangerous power the Crystal grants to the worthy outside of the Royal Family. The reason is unclear and unknown to humanity yet known only by the Crystal itself which shall be recognized by the compelled.”

Sounded like a bedtime story. With the strange phenomenon happening once every hundreds of years, no one had solid proof it actually happens. Not even to the Lucian Royal Family, though they know of its existence.

... Not for long, I tell you (otherwise, this long-ass fanfic/scenario won’t be here XD).

Shortly after the restoration of Light to Lucis and the reclaim of the Insomnian throne, the Crystal had decided to reward its devoted protectors: the three Crownsguard who stood by Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV, current King of Lucis, since the beginning: Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia, and Prompto Argentum.

With Noctis crowned as the new King, all that’s left to do is serve him— as Crownsguards and as devoted friends. For Noct, it was the end of his adventure. For the three men? It obviously wasn’t. A single night and a dream was enough to spark a new adventure for Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto.

One they wouldn’t expect— not even in their wildest of imaginations.

In the morning following that night, the three men met by the Citadel hall, each not knowing the dream of the other, until one obvious someone spoke up about it. Prompto talked about his dream, which matched with both Gladio’s and Ignis’ own dreams. They were rather intrigued, especially the Crystal were “talking to them” through their dreams.

The morning after the second night was when their adventure began.

Instead of waking up in their respective quarters, the three men found themselves in the Crystal Room, all suited up in Kingsglaive attire. No wonder a certain someone complained about how heavy he felt waking up.

The three were undeniably surprised upon fully waking up and realizing where they were. Ignis didn’t need his sight to know he wasn’t laying down on his bed in his room (like waking up on a cold, hard ground wasn’t enough XD).

It was the room where the Crystal was kept, but something was... different about it. The machines were more sophisticated at best. “What are we doing here?!” asked a slightly panicked Prompto. “We didn’t sleepwalked here, did we?!” he continued. “Even if we did, that wouldn’t explain how we got past the tightly-secure vault!” answered Gladio. “And like hell I sleepwalk!”

Unlike the two, Ignis remained calm and asked, albeit with a slightly louder voice to catch Gladio and Prompto’s attention. “Where are we, exactly?”

“In the Crystal Room!”

And just then, a group of men, presumably guards or soldiers, entered the room. They were of military attire. Neither Gladio nor Prompto recognized anyone in the group.

“These men must be what the Oracle was talking about. Bring them to the Queen”

“The Queen?” Ignis asked, which was met with a quick answer by one of the guards. “Yes, the current queen of Insomnia.”

The three were taken aback. Queen? But Noctis was crowned as King not long ago. “What’s going on?” Well, their question was then again met with an answer as they were escorted to the throne room. The Citadel was similar yet different in more ways than one. Not long after, they reached the throne room.

On the throne sat a young woman clad in an attire visually similar to that of the former King Regis, except it was designed in such a way it was a dress. Her physical appearance uncannily resembled that of Noctis’, especially the eyes. Yet what set the two apart, other than their genders of course, was that the female had a much more gentler face.

“Whoa...” said Prompto with a low voice, bewildered by the sight before him. Gladiolus was just as equally as baffled as the blond man. As for Ignis, well, while he can’t see the very person the other two men were shocked to see, he knew it wasn’t Noctis on the throne. It was someone else.

“Three men clad in Kingsglaive attire... just as the Oracle had said. I welcome you three to “future” Lucis, as you might say.” started the young woman, her gentle voice soothing the three men but still confused once “future Lucis” was mentioned. “Future Lucis??” whispered the blond man to Ignis, to which latter replied with “It would seem we traveled to the future, just as the Crystal in our dreams said.”

The Queen stood up as she introduced herself. “My name is (Y/N) Lucis Caelum, CCXV. Might I ask yours?”

Before answering the queen, the three men were taken aback once again. How far into the future did the Crystal threw them into? CCXV? As in the 215th Ruler of Lucis? They were sure as hell Noctis is only CXIV, the 114th Ruler.

“O-Oh uh, Prompto Argentum, your Majesty.” “Ignis Scientia, your Majesty" “Gladiolus Amicitia”

(Y/N) nodded and wasted no time explaining the situation to the three men. “Allow me to explain the situation. Over a century ago, the empire Niflheim has seized almost all of Eos with the exception of Insomnia, the Crown City. I trust you know of this?”

They nodded respectfully. Of course. The three knew that full well. They were there the entire time it happened to Lucis.

“Niflheim was supposed to annex the entirety of Lucis, had it not been for the intervention of the 114th King of Lucis— Noctis Lucis Caelum, and thanks to him, the Niflheim empire has fallen apart since then. Yet, according to written records in the archive, Lucis still succumbed into years of darkness.”

Iggy, Gladio, and Prompto were there too. Those agonizing ten years of night.

“Fortunately, Noctis seemed to have saved all of Lucis from darkness. He’s indeed such a noble King. But now, I fear the same thing might happen soon. It seems that Niflheim has returned from its ashes. The Oracle has warned me of its coming, and predicted that ‘help will come from time’s past’. I figured it was help from the past, and she was right. The Crystal has taken you from your timeline to aid us and warn you of a coming trouble in your time.”

Their purpose was slowly being revealed to them, just as the Crystal said.

“And so I ask you, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto. Will you lend us your aid in defending Lucis?”

Who were they to turn down the plea of the Queen and the will of the Crystal?

Prompto Argentum Oh Lord, let me tell you— Prompto fell head over heels for (Y/N) the moment he laid eyes on her. She seemed like an angel to the poor blondie. Anyways, Prompto served the future Kingsglaive, actually being one of the most talented long-ranged fighter. Ten years worth of practice and this was the fruit.

Much to his surprise, Prompto found himself in the presence of the Lucian queen most of the time. Especially during camping. (Y/N) had enjoyed Prompto’s company, seeing how the blond man always seemed to be full of energy, a slight contrast to her more gentle self.

Since he knew that (Y/N) knows they were from the past, Prompto would show the young queen pictures of him and his friends with her predecessor, Noctis Lucis Caelum, much to (Y/N)’s interest in seeing the savior of Lucis during their time.

Alright, the pistol-wielding blondie knew he liked Lucis’ Queen. Like, a lot. Of course, he knew how (Y/N) deserved better. She’s a queen for crying out loud, and he’s just... a commoner. A Kingsglaive, sure, but still just a commoner. Not only that, she’s from the future.

Prompto has the habit of looking at other girls, sure (especially Cindy), but never did his heart completely loved a woman. He badly wanted to stay by her side and make her smile, but Ignis had pointed out (time and time again) that doing so would cause anomalies in the present day. He knew that. He watched one too many movies to know how changing the future would also change the past.

The day before he and his two other friends returned to present day Lucis, Prompto just had to say it.

“(Y/N), you know I have to go back tomorrow, right? Before that, I wanted to tell you something. You’re the most amazing person I’ve met. I mean— you’re really sweet and kind, you know? But your also really gentle and elegant. And you laugh at my jokes. Not a lot do that! And you made me feel like.. I was at your level. You didn’t look down on me. For once in my life, all my insecurities disappeared when I’m with you. You’re...perfect. I-I guess what I’m saying is... I really fell in love with you, (Y/N). I really love you.”

Mustering all the courage he can get from all the deities (thank Bahamut he actually mustered any strength XD), Prompto— as he embraced (Y/N) albeit tightly, gave her a kiss full of genuine love.

Before he left with Ignis and Gladio, Prompto decided to take one last selfie with (Y/N). One that would serve a memento of their bond.

Ignis Scientia He served as the strategist of the future Kingsglaive and royal adviser to (Y/N). The young woman was actually amazed at how well Ignis can do his role perfectly even without his eye sight.

... much more when (Y/N) found out Iggy could cook without his sight.

Ignis found himself cooking for the young Queen once in a while during his free time and camping times for when (Y/N) decides they needed the four of them (herself included) in the field. It brought happiness to the mother hen of a cook, seeing how the young woman enjoyed his cooking.

Often, the two would end up cooking together. Ignis personally enjoyed teaching (Y/N) the recipes he knew, even more when he discovered new recipes as well.

Overtime, Iggy realized he had developed feelings for (Y/N). He knew it was wrong. He’s from the present and she was from the future. The very flow of time separates them form one another. If he decided to stay, time and space will be messed up. Only then he realized the meaning of that one line in the myth: Some had disappeared and caused unexplained anomalies.

Meaning, some of the chosen had actually decided to stay in the future, therefore changing the present forever. Along with this is the series of unforeseen events.

It pained him. Ignis had loved (Y/N), the Queen of future Lucis, but he had to do the right thing. A long time had passed since the three of them left the present day Lucis. They’ve left Noctis far too long. So he decided to return once everything was over.

On the day of their return to present day Lucis, Ignis made sure he told (Y/N) how he felt. How he loved her. How he was truly happy to find a woman who cared for him just as much as he does for her despite his inability to see.

“I’m genuinely happy to have found a woman who loved me despite my inability. I’ve spent the last ten years of my life in darkness, but you came into my life and became my light. I truly wish I could stay with you, but... I can’t. But you must know that I love you, (Y/N).”

Lastly, Ignis cupped (Y/N)’s face with his hands and planted a long kiss on her soft lips (I mean, if he can cook without his eyesight, definitely he can kiss you XD). That was his first and last time he’ll be able to do it, for the woman he loved lived in a different timeline.

Gladiolus Amicitia Similar to how he served Noctis and— in his youth, former King Regis, Gladio acted as (Y/N)’s shield whilst serving the future Kingsglaive. He wasn’t explicitly told to do so, but the man felt like he should. Whether it was his bloodline as an Amicitia or his personal choice that made him do it, only he himself knows... maybe both.

It felt weird at first for Gladio that someone who looked like Noctis acted like Regis. Because the Noctis he knew was a tad bit different from the Prince’s father.

Even with her shield, the Queen still needs to defend herself, and so Gladio and (Y/N) would often train together. The young woman admitted to learning much thanks to Gladio’s training, much to the man’s content. Despite her calmer demeanor compared to Noctis, (Y/N) still had a form of friendly rivalry with Gladio. A proof of a growing bond between them.

As time went by and the tension between Lucis and Niflheim growing, Gladio couldn’t deny he started to love (Y/N). He wanted to continue being her shield, being by her side to protect her, especially with the war drawing closer between the two nations.

Ever since he arrived in future Lucis, Gladio’s been loyal to his duties to protecting the Lucian Royal Family, and (Y/N) was no exception. Perhaps, his want to be by her side was something beyond his duties as an Amicitia.

It was his true feelings. Gladio knew he had to go back to his original timeline, but he also knew he couldn’t just leave (Y/N) without telling her everything he felt, lest he’ll find himself contemplating to why he didn’t.

After the battle between Lucis and Niflheim, the victory of Lucis is ensured and so is its future. During those times, Gladiolus took the opportunity to tell (Y/N) what he needed to get off his chest. He tried to take it lightly... tried. Gladio found it hard to get his feelings off his chest, which is surprising for a confident man such as himself

“You know, (Y/N), you’re an amazing queen. You’ve risked everything for your kingdom, even your own life, so don’t go looking down on yourself, alright? And don’t put yourself in too much risk. Heck I had to save you almost all the time, and I’d stay by your side as your shield if I could, but we all know I can’t do that. Alright, I‘m just gonna say that I love you, (Y/N). I meant it when I said that if I could stay by your side as your shield, I would. That’s how you mean to me, ‘my queen’.”

On the day of his departure from future Lucis, he gave (Y/N) a passionate parting kiss. He loved her, but he knows he shouldn’t further mess up with and time and space. ____________

... I’m sorry it didn’t end a happy ending ; A ;

#final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #prompto argentum #prompto #gladiolus amicitia #gladio #ignis stupeo scientia #ignis scentia #ignis #spoilers #ffxv scenario #reader insert

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icaruscreates · 4 years

Text

Star of Hope Worldbuilding/Lore

I’ve been sitting on this for a while and decided to finish most of it because homework ain’t happening. This will be long so hopefully, the “read more” thing works...

Race - Celestials (Star Folk)

Realm - Star

Types of Star Folk -

Ancient

Pure

Halflings

Appearances -

Ancient - They are very ethereal in appearance. The Ancient Stars are slender and full of grace. While they do share the paleness with the Pure Stars, their markings and eyes have a tendency to glow. Ancients age very slowly if at all.

Pure - Originally pale with silver or white hair and light blue or grey eyes. Intricate markings line their skin in the color of their magic. Pures have long ears similar to Fae. With the cross between the Realms, the Pures living in the Mundane Realm have lost the typical features besides the markings and ears. Pure Stars age slow compared to Halflings but not as slow as the Ancients.

Halflings - appearance varies but mainly a mixture between the parents. Slightly pointed ears and the typical Star Mark without the intricate markings on the skin. Very rare to see a pale Halfling. (Albinism is different here)

Types of Magic - (what is known at the moment)

Tera - healers, guards, farmers or builders.

Aqua - healers,

Electric - roles unknown. Rare magic that is hard to control.

Astral - Orcales, Seers, Illusionists

Flame - Aid with farmers, Purifiers,

Social Classes/Ranks -

High Lord/Lady (Similar to a King or Queen)

-The role of the High Lord/Lady is by far more stressful than anyone thought. They are in charge of keeping the peace, ensuring their people are safe and fed, overseeing any and all treaties, and ensuring the magic is replenished. Due to this, only those with high levels of magic are able to safely serve as the High Lord/Lady. Should the High Lord/Lady fall and no Heir is claimed, the magic of the Star Realm will drain until it fractures and withers into nothing.

Vessel

-role forgotten through time. Few believe they were a Priest/Priestess while others believe to be a mistranslation of ruined scrolls.

Heir

-Other titles: Arch Princess/Prince, Grand Princess/Prince, Grand Duchass etc depending on if there are multiple children)

The children of the High Lord and Lady or those crowned next in line should something happen to them. If multiple children are born to the High Lord and Lady the child showcasing the most promise will be crowned the next in line, regardless of age. In some cases, a cousin or childhood friend will be claimed Heir if the current High Lord/Lady is childless.

Elites

-Typically the ones you find in the High Lord/Lady’s court. Very strong Celestials who can also serve as personal guards for the Royal family. Upper class.

Nobles

-They are normally not as strong as Elites but mainly made up of Pure’s, with the occasional Halfling. Typically the households that oversee personal companies and employ the Common Folk. Upper-middle class.

Common Folk

-The lesser of all Celestials. Working and lower class. Very rarely is there a Pure family in the mix. They make up the workers and servants for the other classes. While they are normally weaker in power, a few stronger Common Folk have been recorded in history.

Language -

Common Tongue - newest form of Celestic. Created solely to help unify the Nine Realms.

Astralic (Language of the Ancients) - first language of the Celestials. Almost forgotten. Dialects varied from tribes.

Celestic (Current language of the Celestials) - language formed by the first High Lady and her husband to help better unite their kin.

Basic information -

The Celestials, more commonly known as Star Folk, exist peacefully in the Realm between the Mundane and the Shadow Realm. The Star Folk are responsible for the stars that shine throughout the Nine Realms. A class of people typically ruled under one overlaying force known as the High Lord/Lady. Normally, the High Lord/Lady is responsible for protecting and ensuring the peace for generations to come; however, that changed with the crowning of High Lady Lunae.

History -

The Star Folk were once a nomad race, existing in small clusters after the formation of the Realms. Lifespan was short and order was nonexistent outside the small clusters. Around two generations later, one Star rose up and united her people. Her name was Celeste, the first High Lady. High Lady Celeste had seen how her kin suffered with no guidance, heard the Elders talk in hushed tones to the Keepers and Magnus’, yet nothing came from the Keeper’s plans. So she put together her own plan.

Years of hard work later, Celeste and her husband, Brendan, had successfully created a common language for all Star Folk, better training of magic, medicine, and the food shortage. The Star Folk looked to them for everything now. Thus, the role of High Lord/Lady was created.

The Celestial Kingdom was the next to be built. Located to the south of the Misty Cliffs, and east of the woods that would later be known as Aedaem Woods and the Solar Lake, the kingdom was built in the center of the Star Realm. Proper roads were paved to the newly built cities to the far north, south, east and west to ensure safe travels. The Kingdom is a central hub for all Star Folk while larger cities remained nearby. High Lady Celeste designed the Kingdom to serve a special meaning, known only by her and her closest allies, to house a secret until it was no more.

There was one more place built not by High Lady Celeste and High Lord Brendan, but by Celeste’s sister. While the location and purpose is unknown to the general public, Chaska made sure it would stay hidden.

The fall of High Lady Celeste and High Lord Brendan came without warning. What started as a peaceful exploration of the Realm’s edges ended in tragedy. High Lady Celeste, High Lord Brendan, and Aedaem were reported missing and signs of them gone. A few guards that escaped reported black mist that surrounded the party and screams ensured. No one could get in or out and as soon the screams stopped, the hearts of the survivors dropped. Without the ability to properly mourn, the Celestials looked to the sole heir, Vahlin.

Unable to cope with the loss of her sister, brother in law and husband, Chaska faded from the memories of the Celestials.

Not even a few moons after taking his parent’s place, Vahlin soon disappeared under strange circumstances.

His childhood friend took the mantle shortly after and the reign of Lunae began…

When the Gateways between Realms opened, the Star Folk were hopeful to live in peace with the Mundane; however, that dream died fast. The Mundane were quick to fear the unknown and soon a one-sided war began. Countless Star Folk trying to flee Lunae’s iron fist died and the few Mundane that supported the Star Folk died as well. The war ended when High Lady Lunae’s Right Hand had enough and defied orders to stay out of the fight. She risked her life to end the bloodshed by planting herself in the middle of the main fighting and created two separate magical shields around the two forces, blocking them in and keeping others from joining. Refusing the lower them until peace was considered and after four days a treaty was formed. Tension between the two remains but they are finally allowed to live in a form of peace.

The Celestial City in the Mundane Realm serves as a hub for the main Gateway between the two Realms. Ships travel back and forth and are lifted via canals to the outer ring that makes up the main trade place and forges. Staircases lead out to the Lower District and bridges lead to the Upper District. It’s a circular city that is entirely self sufficient thanks to the aqueducts that run throughout. In the center of the City lies the Temple that houses the Gateway and beneath it holds the filtration system that pulls in sea water, purifies it, and sends it out through the seven main aqueducts that flow until they reach the City's edge where it is purified again and returned to the ocean via waterfall.

Four enormous statues house special devices that, when activated, form a powerful barrier that completely encompases the City. They work solely through cause and effect. When danger arises, bells from the Temple ring and the aqueducts glow red and the statues become animated, summoning the barrier. A few believe the statues to be in the likeness of High Lady Celeste, High Lord Brendan, Lord Aedaem, and Lady Chaska. It’s never mentioned outloud out of fear of Lunae.

The Upper District houses the few Elites and Nobles while the Lower District houses the Common Folk. The Lower District has been left to rot and is overcrowded with lack of food and illness running rampage.

Holidays -

Longest Night - By far the most important of all. The festival marks a time of rest and togetherness among the Star Folk. Families and friends gather round to enjoy one another’s company and replenish any spent magic over the year. In the fields surrounding the kingdom and cities, golden flowers grow in abundance and give off a gentle glow. When brewed, the tea restores magic. The petals can be grounded into a paste that will heal wounds without mark. Occasionally, the flowers are made into candies and fragrances.

Held in the plaza of the Kingdom, it’s a large market during the festival. All are welcome to sell their handmade goods. Music and dancing follow.

Spring Festival - Similar to changing of the season festivals in the Mundane Realm, the Star Folk celebrate the Spring Equinox and make a fun day out of it. Flame Stars help melt any lingering snow while the Aqua Stars will whisk it away. In the surrounding fields of the Celestial Kingdom, Tera Stars bring spring by helping the fields bloom. These flowers only bloom during the Spring Equinox and a small portion is collected to preserve for later use. Nests and feeders for birds are made by the younger Stars while others help set them up. Flower garlands are typically worn by all with the addition

Other events include Flower Dances, the Spring Gala, garden parties and personal/community gardens are prepared and planted. Gifts of flowers and seeds are common to receive from friends, family, or even strangers.

Summer Festival - Summer Equinox. The longest day of the year. The day is spent with the community to welcome the new season.

Harvest Festival - Happy harvesting time! The start of the three week harvest period. Bonfires at dawn that continue to burn until dusk. All hands on deck to ensure everything is harvested on time while children gather fall leaves to make dream catchers and decorations. Acorns are made into necklaces and used in straw dolls. At the end of the harvest, everyone gathers around the bonfires to dance, drink and eat the night away.

Samhain - A day to remember family traditions. The time to start planning for the Day of Mourning and Day of Silence. Family stories are told around the table and at sunset, children are allowed to dress up as who they wish to be the coming year and go round collecting candies or trinkets. Many take this day to enjoy nature and host group meals.

Day of Silence - The day is spent remembering the loss of any one of importance. Similar to the Day of Mourning but the Celestials refuse to speak for the entire day.

Day of Mourning - To remember those lost in the war and lost to the Star Eater. Flowers and lanterns are placed in the water to help guide lost souls to the Veil and graves are cleaned up.

Names are subjected to change as I work on building the languages but for now, I’m glad to have this written out! Updated character intros will follow soon after I finish my homework! Afterward, I think either the Keepers or Magnus are up next for this.

Tag list (I legit lost my old one, I’m sorry! If you want to be added or removed, send me an ask or dm!) @sirlandy

#star of hope #worldbuilding and lore #wip worldbuilding #worldbuilding #writeblr #Star Folk #tbh my cousin joked saying the Star Folk are like a cross between Fae and High Elves and I mean #sure lol

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lunaelumens · 6 years

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“Starfetched. I get it. Like starcrossed and farfetched. Which I guess is kinda what most people hooking up are.”

“But your mind has been made up,” she offered, gliding closer to him. “The pair of you are set to be wed by any means, what ever would a reading tell you that you don’t already know?”

“Maybe it has ailed me. I dunno. But… I do know that I want it to work out. And your little ritual thingy will tell me if it can.”

“Child, no matter what the reading tells you, you’re going to keep doing what you’re doing anyway.” Her tone chided him slightly, though she made no further presses to dissuade him.

Yet here he was.

“Couldn’t you just have dropped a porn mag in my lap or something?”

At that, he actually got a scowl from Edea. “Ezra Shachath,” she began in a tone meant to deride children, “and you’re here to prove your love, too.”

“Close your eyes and focus on the stone before you in your mind. Take in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and count to ten.”

It was a nightmare. It was hell.

It was so, so beautiful.

He didn’t remember collapsing, or how long it had been since the reading had started. His recollections were choppy at best, of Edea picking him up and sliding the stone into his hoodie pocket, now an almost impossibly deep shade of black. The forest around them seemed to melt as his consciousness slipped, mumbling incongruently to no one as darkness aggressively swamped his vision.

In an instant, she was standing no more than four feet from him, looking around and taking inventory of the sight.

“Well,” she said, tone loud enough to hear but not loud enough to disrupt, “this certainly isn’t what I’d been expecting.”

#[drabble for safe keeping]

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