#<- mostly for stuff in the original ask

[valtsv]

being someone who's passionate about their interests when you're a horror fan really is a special layer of hell because every interaction you have with another person where the conversation turns to your hobbies and personal entertainments is a trial where if you show too much unrepentant glee at getting an opportunity to talk about your preferred subject you get to watch them mentally move you onto their list of untrustworthy individuals to avoid in the future in real time

[lautity]

response to ur tags abt grace getting over her purity issues. this got so long. im so sorry you don't have to read it all LOL. obvious cw for homophobia/internalized homophobia/religious guilt stuff

sometimes. i think i don't understand grace as a character at all. sometimes i think nobody does, including the langs. sometimes i think maybe this is because she's a character with a lot of complex motivations from a comedy series. so this is how i write her and how i choose to interpret her motivations. i would not say it's canon compliant so much as  vaguely influenced by canon and a choice reading of her as a super autistic lesbian w/ Problems. she's just like me fr

best place to start is probably w/ the fundamental basis of how evangelicalism keeps people in line, which is fear. grace acts the way she does because she's afraid of going to hell, and she tries to enforce that on everyone around her 'for their own good' so they don't go to hell. she justifies everything she does by blaming other people or finding a way to rationalize it as 'good', because she is scared. everything starts w/ that

i'm not convinced that she knows why she believes what she believes. she pushes back against attempts to confront her faith + refuses to consider them, deflects and moralizes but cannot actually argue her side because she doesn't know why sins are sins, just that they are, and that makes them bad.

she is so repressed. repression concentrated. she behaves as she does in a zealous attempt to bury herself and her desires and the sin she was born with under meticulous layers of Good and Godly acts. it doesn't matter if people don't like her, as long as she follows the rules. easy, simple guidelines that prevent her from becoming a monster, from acting on base urges, from dooming herself. i don't know if her strict adherence is so much a love and trust in god as it is a mortifying fear of what would happen if she stopped holding those standards as the primary guide for her life. 

this is... basically idolatry, because she holds her purity/chastity above all else. preserving her virtues is the most important thing, her ticket into heaven, her key to god's good graces, what makes her so ideal. she worships the concept of being good more than the deity who wills her to be. she wants to be perfect. she has to be perfect. god wouldn't choose anyone less than that for her task. she's special, she's chosen, she's god's personal elect to save the souls of hatchetfield.

she needs to believe that she is special. if god loves her then everything shes ever done, her loneliness and her fear and all the hate she's put into the world, those are all justified by a greater purpose. she isn't just an unlikable person. her horrible thoughts are a test, and she's passing, and any day now god will whisk them away and she'll be free to live the life laid out for her. she's always been praised for her obedience and her servitude, for resisting her vices, for sacrificing her agency and her privacy and companionship and her self-worth to be clean. she's so tired of losing pieces of herself. she doesn't feel any better. she doesn't feel like someone cares about her. but she has to keep trying.

as she gets older i think she gets worse. as mental illness and weird lesbian thoughts tend to. resultingly she gets More Intense about her proselytizing, simultaneously w/ her peers getting More Judgmental, and it's just this miserable feedback loop for her. she tries harder and they bully her more and she has to rely further on her only comfort. everything sucks, and everyone hates her except god, and all she can do is the same thing as ever in the hopes that, eventually, repenting will work and the plague of sin she's enduring will finally end. she's scared that it never will. she's scared that she's stuck like this forever. obviously in her mind so much as kissing a girl would be a grievous act of assault, so the bar is super low even before she starts dealing with more intrusive thoughts and unwanted desires.* and it isn't even necessarily an empathy thing, not wanting someone else to feel pain, as much as it's a fear of what it says about grace if she's capable of inflicting it. if she does it once she can do it again, if she does it again she'll never stop, and then she'll go to hell. the only way to stay good is to never let herself get even close to what she wants

*and she often can't tell the difference. sometimes there is no difference. she wants things, but she has no way to rationalize it or justify it, no framework to place it in. so it just torments her.

so. what do we have. girl who is haunted by her own thoughts and desperately pouring herself into her religion to try and counter them. using her faith as a way to purify her soul over and over until the stain is gone. girl with no friends and no prospects and no community outside of her church. steadily getting worse. doubting if the things she reassures herself with are true.

fundamentally, i think there are two scenarios that will cause her to "sin" (on purpose/voluntarily)

A) a realization that she's been lied to or mislead, spotting the dissonance between the actual teachings of the bible and how she's been taught to treat people, or generally pulling at a thread that unravels what she's been indoctrinated into

B) something convinces her that she's already irreversibly damned

these don't necessarily lead to her deconstructing her purity culture mindset, but they do lead her to do things she would initially have refused on the grounds of her faith.

jerries in AC resemble situation A; they cause her to doubt the people she had placed on a pedestal as Good and Faithful and Pure. they're hypocrites. her conclusion here is that she can only trust herself not to sin; she's clearly the only one capable of resisting. reaffirms that she's special to god and that she's been singled out, maybe lets her think that she personally has more leeway in terms of sin because she's doing it "for the betterment of the collective".

but. right. we aren't making her kill (or threaten to kill) people, we're making her a dyke. i think A is generally the preferable direction to go in for most holyphone stuff. getting over her Issues particularly w/ being gay likely only happens after she's out of hatchetfield/away from her family. when i pitch it happening in a npmd-y timeframe/during highschool, i usually throw out:

classic 'befriending queer people and realizing they're not monsters'. genuinely meeting ppl who have been demonized and realizing they're Just People is so vital to deprogramming

other classic 'having a conversation w/ another religious queer person who tells her things she's desperately needed to hear'; particularly if she's already done something and is regretting it

religious figure/someone she trusts deeply being outed as a sinner (i.e. the jerries) + shaking her faith in the people who raised and taught her

doing something comphet-y and being like holy fuck i can never do that again, abort plan, mission 'just try to ride it out' failed, need to consider other options

traumatic event or tragedy makes her realize she is not actually special or protected and that she's basically just been lucky her entire life and she is still very much mortal (near death experience? losing a loved one? something she thinks god shouldn't allow happens? idk)

encountering some sort of magic in hatchetfield that she cannot attribute to the christian god (i think she's already inclined to believe stuff like this based on what she says in the waylon house)

having any sort of queer mentor (girl jeri miss holloway. maybe alice woodward could work. the lib would be funny. you can kill for us but you will not do it with homophobia in your heart.)

she's never really had any actual reason behind it other than 'god says', so i think once she's actively questioning her beliefs/if what she was raised with is truly god's will, one of the first things to crumble is the idea that being gay is a choice (it certainly doesn't seem to be for her, because god knows she's tried to choose otherwise) and that it's inherently sinful. it becomes "being gay is wrong [only when grace does it]", which is a marginal improvement.

she sort of views herself in an 'abhorrent admirer' type frame; she's been told that lesbians are not only dangerous, but also universally ugly and desperate and just can't get men. even if it isn't a sin, it's still something to be ashamed of. even once she starts doing like. gay things. she's still constantly constantly fighting the "this is gross and i'm disgusting for doing/liking it" response. the "i'm actually hurting this person, and also i'm responsible for the sin they're doing rn" hits sometimes as well. she has to go really slow and she needs a Lot of reassurance. steph can fix her. trust

i'm not usually a canon timeline guy but i do think quite a few people have written pretty compelling stuff for post-npmd/lib-influenced grace ending up w/ steph. its awesome when they kill men together and we need more of this always

the situation i pitch post-burnerphone lautity in is scenario B (grace is convinced that she's already damned) compounded by major depression. my insanely ooc wip beloved.

conclusion i truly don't know why it's harder to justify this character kissing a girl than actually killing people. that doesn't seem right. especially because she really wants to kiss girls and doesn't particularly want to kill people. sigh.

i cant believe we havent talked abt lautity at all....they're like my thing...... i offer you my insane obscure post burnerphone dynamic for them ↓

i have thoughts abt steph being like. can i ever be satisfied with this normal extremely vanilla life. grace is sweet, and steph likes her, but also the total whiplash from her last long term relationship being this fucked awful thing makes it hard to. relax. girl who has forgotten how to be normal. and grace obviously doesnt know what healthy dating is like so there's the constant overarching what if i'm accidentally overstepping + being super fucked up to this girl who has 0 basis to recognize a toxic relationship. again w the ruined for other people, doesn't even know what functional looks like, doesn't know if she'll ever be capable of it again. thanks, lex!

also worried abt eventually having to explain the scars and the rehab and the lex situation in general. it's like. grace is clearly too nervous to do it early on, but one day she Will ask. and once she knows she'll obviously think it's all gross and scary and leave. steph is sort of trying to ride it out. the 'do nothing and hope it never comes up' approach. but she's worried abt it + feels like the end of their relationship is inevitable because of this secret she's keeping + generally just feels really gross about it all. chat does she know (grace is having a completely separate solo crisis over sadistic thoughts she doesn't understand) (girl who has not so much as imagined the concept of bdsm) (0 idea why she's suddenly attracted to scars) (they are extremely compatible but deeply unaware of it/convinced the other is going to think they're a freak)

^ both of them lol. ok. sorry. ive written So Much about this it's actually embarassing. apologies if its wildly ooc. im just a little silly abt them hopefully you can see the vision. totally understandable if not. sighhh

can i be so honest with you i wasn't. Super big on lautity before this. i mean i LOVED them in theory & definitely do think grace has feelings for steph in every possible universe, especially in ac dear god, however. i never really thought grace would be able to let go of her puritan ideals & actually let herself love steph. but fuckkkk holy fuck. Okay

the whole. both of them thinking "oh god she can Never find out i'm a freak or else she'll leave me" is soo delicious. also SADIST grace i'm SORRY yes please. hello. fucking dies???????

lex having "ruined" steph & then this sadistic churchgirl with pigtails & clips in her hair comes along like ohkay this is an entirely new LEVEL of fucked up. jesus

i think steph just needs a little bit of order. not peace. just structure, and honesty. and god can grace help her with that.

[kiwibirdlafayette]

✨Starborne Kingdom of Dianite Masterpost ✨

This AU consists primarily of worldbuilding inspired by and expanding on Captainsparklez's starborne prince from the discontinued Origins SMP :D It pulls inspiration from the lore of Mianite Season 2 and worldbuilding from my SMP Multiverse theory, as well as draws motifs and themes from classic arthuriana

This AU is centered around OSMP Sparklez + Scott, and also features characters from Mianite, Empires, Life Series and Hermitcraft (treating this as a relative alternate universe)

Main Tag --> #starborne kingdom of dianite AU

Lore and Worldbuilding

A Brief History of the Starborne Kingdom

Galactic Avians + Jimmy

Character Dynamic Chart (Mianite/Royals)

Hermittopia Cast + Relationship Chart

SMP Multiverse Lore (related to how the structure of the realm works)

Cast Art

King Dianite, Nobles Mianite and Ianite, and the Princes

Queen Khailani

Tiem Reester

Anphidhea of the DMCA + Tom

The Fyerians (Fyre UK Wizards)

Syndisparklez Cosplay MV

Prince Jordan Sparklez Cosplay (Final Design)

Etho and Bdubs

Main Relationships- Captainsparklez/SynHD (main ship) Smajor/Solidarity (one sided sorta its complicated), Tangotek/Solidarity, Captainsparklez & Smajor, Ethoslab/Bdoubleo100

Other Ships- Lizzie/Joel, Mot/Dianite, Spark/Ianite, Capsize/Sonja, Mumbo/Scar/Grian, Gem/Pearl

[cozymochi]

Do you have any advice on how to emulate the twist style? I'm genuinely struggling to wrap my head around it.

NOPE! I wish I did! Because! I’m not sure how to describe what I’m doing in the first place. I just kinda… go. (And anyone who has watched any drawing stream of mine can probably attest to that. Assuming anyone watched them actively, I doubt it sometimes.)

I was just formally taught how to draw what I see (this applies to real-life stuff too, it kinda goes hand in hand), and I just have a nasty lifelong habit regarding stuff I like. If it looks a certain way, I wanna draw it the same way or at least as close as I feasibly can get to it. 😩 This is like…. Years worth of somewhat unrelated knowledge + training just being applied to this goofy stuff. I draw wildly different art styles as a habit hobby.

For twst in particular, I’ve mentioned it elsewhere a couple times, but I did spend a good 2-ish years just trying to acclimate myself into training my hand to get used to how it works at all. It really is just… 80% staring at their model sheets or generic renders, and 20% me just… GOING!

I think people can easily tell when I’m not staring at a model sheet vs when I am lol. I do really like Toboso and her staffs artwork, and I’d like to get closer to understanding it, but there are things that she and her staff know how to do that I still don’t know how to accomplish. And those “things” are elements that I’m currently not able to identify in theory or in practice. Let alone articulate in words either if my meandering and vague way of talking about it is any indication lol. (Im not trying to be 1:1, that’s literally impossible for any human to do)

All I do is just look at it. A lot. I just try to draw what I see and go. Though, I’m sure that’s not exactly helpful or even practical “advice”, especially in just typing. Believe it or not I also can only wrap my head around it so much. And even then, I’m still not satisfied nor confident with where I’m at. Mostly due to my own limits. It’s not easy.

….

Then again I also don’t know how to explain or give “advice” on the fly on something that broad just in general. I wish I could be more useful with a more satisfying answer but, I’m not sure how I would. I wanna be helpful but I’m genuinely drawing a blank.

[wanologic]

Your art style is.awsom. keeeep going.

By the way do you have any ocs? If you do could you show a reference of them?

Thanks, it is impossible to stop so i will keep trudging along hahaha

I have a ton of ocs, but my main ocverse is collateral damage.

You can find it all in the #collateral damage tag, which is actually pretty extensive. Theres not really like, reference sheets for each of them, but this post is a lineup with the full extended cast.

I've also explored a little with an ex-young adult adventurer/protagonist named logan and the transition from Very Important Teen to jaded adult with baggage.

Lastly ive got a project all written out and half designed about a magic university - it was supposed to be a 2023 project that i started, but i was hit super hard with a bunch of really intense life stuff last year (I didn't draw much bc of it) so its a bit tainted with that at the moment - no plans to finish right now. might come back to it eventually.

Theres a few stragglers that i have designs for as well like alice and blair but they dont really have much of an internet life beyond a few posts here and there.

[aceghostsarchive]

WIP Ask Game

I was tagged by @commander-krios to do this! Thank you for tagging me!

Tagging (Opt in/out): @bbrocklesnar, @sergeiravenov, @alexxmason, @tommyarashikage, @voidika,

@imogenkol, @confidentandgood, @strangefable, @carlosoliveiraa, @clicheantagonist,

@socially-awkward-skeleton, @theelderhazelnut, @cassietrn, @direwombat, @raresvtm,

@captastra, @cloudofbutterflies92, @katsigian, @simplegenius042, @roofgeese,

@g0dspeeed, @chyrstis, and anyone else who would like to do this!

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

It should come as no surprise to all of you that it's mainly CP2077 fics. Some of these are NSFW so I marked them with an asterisk in case you wanted to ask about something SFW.

FICS

First Time*

Celebrity News

Relic Malfunction

Hellman Fic

Overdressed*

Elevator*

Kiss Prompt

Parade/Betrayal Fic

Protection Prompt

Jack AU

Whumptober Prompt

Alone*

Mr. Hands & the Kid

[raindrvq]

if Bully didn't take place at a boarding school in a tiny little town where there's really no need for a car, Hunter would be the driver friend. he crams everyone into his car and is like "we'll be fine we can all fit". there are ppl sitting on the floor. ppl are sitting on each other's laps. someone's stuck in the trunk. everyone spends the entire ride praying they don't pass by any cops. someone complains abt it and he just starts going on about how much he loves his car and how its not a big deal. its not that tight of a fit. his center console is filled with mixtapes he carefully crafted and probably got 20 viruses downloading the music off limewire. dreaming of the day he can get a cd changer. theres fuzzy dice hanging from his mirror. he has a cd holder hanging from the visor. his keys have way too many keychains and they're so loud. its 12am and him and all his buddies are all crammed in his car in the jack in the box drive thru abt to order the whole ass menu

[kyouka-supremacy]

Why are you tagging posts with dates from last year? Did you queue them last year?

… I did.

[b1ttersweet-dreams]

been thinking of making a separate blog for either just my ocs, or like rambles, wips and sketches (for some reason cant bear to post any of them here). and like idk just pondering this thought inconclusively or should i just suddenly start posting it all here

[circus-k]

worlds most microscopic design changes

+ tech explanations cause i don't think i've even once said anything about what they do

[al-luviec]

still haven't moved on from zane in this episode (aka I hit tag limit again and am unhappy about it)

[maulfucker]

I saw you had a post where you thought abt Dathomirian culture and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how specifically Dathomirian queer culture manifests. I'd like to come up with things myself but I don't actually know a lot in general abt Dathomir yet, so I want other opinions. I've got two ideas tho

-Dathomirian queer ppl call each other "family" like some queer ppl did in our world

-Trans men might like earn their horns thru hunting and using animal bones and stuff as their horns? Idk like I said I don't know much

Good question! I haven't actually thought that much about queer culture in Dathomir despite having a gay nightbrother oc,,

I think the calling each other family thing probably wouldn't work very well since they already treat their clan as family and call each other brother and sister even without blood relation, but I love the idea of trans nightbrothers earning their horns! Dathomirians as a whole seem to be pretty open to body modifications, with tattoos being so natural in their culture, so hunting animals to use their bones or teeth or something to produce "prosthetic" horns sounds very fitting. It could be a whole thing for both trans and cis nightbrothers, using the extra horns as a way to show off their strength. plus it opens up the possibility of nightbrothers implanting horns in whimsical shapes such as smiley faces, stars or penises

I think as a people composed of multiple isolated communities, there's probably not a uniform queer culture across the planet. But also as people who tend to live in single-sex communities they are likely far more queer on average than what we see in the rest of the galaxy, like how cowboys were famously queer. They supposedly spend most of their lives around the same gender, so it wouldn't be unusual for that to be the gender they express attraction to more often. Though, much like how cowboys have been "reinterpreted" as a symbol of straight white masculinity, there's probably also a popular misconstruction of their culture as extremely straight, and/or extremely celibate. The "Nightsisters rule over Nightbrothers" reading of their culture is very obviously meant to show them as a reverse-sexist society, making the nightsisters a sort of "girl power" icon — they are strong independent women who can pick any man they want (implying that they do want men), which is like saying cowboys are strong fearless men who woo every damsel that crosses their path. which. sure, cowboys did have sex with women. sure, nightsisters do have sex with men. but more often than not they will be around other nightsisters, so they will more often than not have relationships with women (even if they're not really gay).

but I am not usamerican and my brain has the consistency of molten ice cream, so my knowledge of american cowboy culture is. basically just that. (the brazilian cowboy culture is quite different, especially considering there's like three distinct cowboy "sub"cultures, each with their different history, territory, and associations) So that's as far as I can take the cowboy comparison, but cowboys can be a pretty good source of inspiration I think. maybe look into that?

A quick look into medieval monasteries (another famously gender-segregated culture) says they were also pretty gay. And that the sexual persecution that is so commonplace in christianity today was not really a thing yet back then, which is also something to consider when trying to conceive the queer culture of a people who have nothing to do with our modern (overwhelmingly christian) society — do they have a reason to reject queer people and relationships, or are we just projecting our own worldviews and experiences onto a people who have none of the sociohistorical context that shaped our experiences?

I think homosexual/romantic and even polyamorous relationships would be pretty normalized, since there's not really any reason to only accept hetero relationships if they rarely ever live in mixed-sex communities. That said, there's probably still some expectation of heterosexual activity, in the form of the Selection and its implied procreation purposes. Dathomir is a very isolationist world, so to keep their population stable they need to procreate, even if it "goes against" an individual's sexuality. And this is where I think polyamorous relationships have reason to be encouraged: if a nightsister or nightbrother who already has a partner takes part in a Selection, why not bring their partner(s) into the relationship as well and increase the likelihood of producing offsprings?

As for the gender side of queerness.... well that's probably A Lot more complicated than I have time to discuss here. The gender binary seems pretty enforced in their culture from what little we see, and their sexual dimorphism probably makes trans and/or intersex people stand out A Lot more

I've mentioned this before, but I headcanon that the skin color difference is not a sex-chromosome-bound characteristic, but instead a sex-hormone-related expression of pigmentation, like in some birds such as peacocks. Both males and females are shown to have a range of skin tones, but in females it manifests as grayscale while in males it manifests as a color scale from red to yellow. So intersex people might have colors that are in-between, or that don't "match" their apparent sex, and trans people who undergo their equivalent of hrt might slowly change skin colors over time.

As for how nonbinary people work.... well as someone who is from a latin american country and speaks a romance language, I would like to imagine their "nonbinary" is a lot like ours — there is no "neutral" gender, they simply play with their presentation to be between one and the other, leaning towards whichever one might be considered more "transgressive" at the moment.

I don't think trans people would be forced out of their clans for being a different gender than everyone else, but it's possible their role in the clan might change to something more "befitting" of their new gender I also think there's probably a lot more contact between different clans than just the Selection, so it's possible for people who decide to start over as a new gender to take one of these moments of contact as an opportunity to "visit" another clan and never come back.

..... aaand it's almost 2 am so I gotta hit post

[natestars-corner-of-curiosities]

At first I was like “what if I made 11 sibling OCs for the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland and named them all after months of the year” as a joke. But bro, I don’t think it’s a joke anymore.

[shoechoe]

(Referring to that last post)

Apologies, but I don't usually share my OCs with people because they're either 1. only really sensical as part of a larger story that also exists in my head that isn't really finished enough to share, 2. Mostly like, self inserts I make of myself that reflect personal traits of mine lol... or 3. Basically bare concepts that aren't developed enough to share as a character

Sorry if that last reblog got some people curious it was just supposed to be a "haha me lol" one off thing

[pyrriax]

hello here to ask about the seraphim au again lol

what are wisps? how is disability handled among seraphs? what is the most common way for them to get disabled? how fucked up is spoke exactly? like does he have abnormally long limbs? does he have limbs that he really shouldnt? is there a way for the ones in the fray to get up to the vesper esp with all the ruin? are there any other weapons of war lying around aside from centurions?

this au is really interesting and i love finding out more about it :D

Hello welcome back! I'm happy to answer your questions i love talking about this thing ^_^

Yet another long post ahead, but I've gone ahead and answered all of your questions in as much detail as I can without fully spoiling anything! 👍

What is a Wisp? (Where do they come from, what're they like?)

Wisps are another common creature, originating from cast magic. They vary in size, shape, color, and type, although the most common are ones which have a tendency to either cause small explosions, or light fires. Because of the way their bodies are comprised primarily of magic, they are constantly expending this energy, and thus don't accumulate it the same way that most things do.

These wisps are a common pest in the Vesper, a little like rats, but also a bit more potentially damaging, as they're drawn to places with a high magic content and flow. Although, they're rarely found at the pools in the Fray. This is mostly because Centurions have taken to killing them on sight, since they are quite fond of feeding off the energy which is used to keep them functional. It's a special thing, and it's their favorite.

Once upon a time, they actually had a use, but now they're just considered a bit of a waste product from magic casting.

(Although, that hasn't stopped some curious Seraphs from wondering if it'd be possible to domesticate them in a sense. They aren't inherently harmful, even if they have a habit of starting little fires or blowing cracks in walls. Some wisps simply sap energy and laze about, and though they become rarer later on, these are the ones that stick around places the longest.)

Certain wisps expend their excess energy with mimicry and shapeshifting, some of my references for them are birds like European Starlings and Superb Lyrebirds. Often times, their mimicry can make them even more of a nuisance, especially before the Seraph's extinction, as they were known to lead Seraphim astray by mimicking distress calls and even the sounds of clashing metal. Shapeshifting-wise, they tended to prefer creatures of a similar mass, so most often they'd take forms no bigger than medium sized cats, since anything larger is significantly bigger than any typical wisp. These ones didn't often last long after being created, but they were well documented.

They used to be kept out of important places in the Vesper with gates and small spells, but as those diminished, they began to creep in once again. Their presence sped up the collapse, but it couldn't exactly be prevented.

How is disability handled among seraphs? (Along with a brief explanation of some pieces of Seraphim culture)

Overall, it's treated as something to be respected, as it tends to be the result of actions not the Seraph's own, or of actions that were for the greater good of either the Seraph, or the Vesper as a whole. But, there are certain things which are much more looked down upon, and that is typically things like blindness or missing wings. These types of injuries, and related disabilities (stunted flight, limited vision [in cases where the blindness is partial], etc.), are viewed as almost childish, due to the fact they're especially common occurrences for Seraphim youth.

Older Seraphs commonly deal with lower mobility, at least in comparison to their younger counterparts. While Seraphs will snip and bite at each other (both literally and metaphorically), they are still a social species and care for their ill and disabled. Typically, any care being done for a Seraph will be done by those closer to them, mostly their inner circle and occasionally those associated with those Seraphs.

In cases of lost limbs, for any reason (regardless of how it may be viewed), if all the injury does is heal over and become more of a typical stump, the spot will be adorned with jewelry, and even tattoos or specifically dyed feathers, depending on the specific spot. Rather than being something hidden, these things are typically decorated, highlighted as a show of life and living. This is a bit of a remnant of an old myth which was lost long before anything was written, but it speaks of highlighting these losses as a triumph of life. It's a little bit of a "this is our gift from the stars [in reference to an almost-god] and we must show our appreciation, lest it be taken from us." Along with that, it's viewed as a way of warding off Wisps and other pests from these vulnerable spots.

Common patterns & symbols in these types of jewelry include but aren't limited to: ferns / laurel, flowers (varying types depending on the city, although the most common ones in Vesper are lily of the valley and bleeding hearts), spirals, and insects (again, of varying types depending on the city, the most common ones in Vesper are beetles or millipedes, although the latter are much less common.)

These pieces are made out of a variety of materials, but typically the basis is metals, either cast and shaped or twisted wire, depending on the Seraph's preferences. Pieces of the grown stars used for Centurions are also common place, along with common crystals. Everything used is subject to change, as these are personal to the Seraphs and will reflect their preferences, and even their favorite things. Over time, this jewelry may be reforged and adapted to better suit the Seraph, as time goes on.

What is the most common way for Seraphs to end up disabled? (And maybe a little hint of lore, as a treat)

So, I've mentioned some of the most commonly disabling things, but how the hell does that even happen?

Seraphs have their nasty habit of fighting amongst themselves, which is only more common with the younger of the bunch. While it isn't pleasant, it isn't unheard of for these fights to reach the point of weak points being clawed at/out. Which often entails wings being at the least taken out of their sockets, and at worst clawed off. In the same thread, eyes are also a common spot to be gone after.

But, as time went on, these types of fights became less common, so scars and marks from these fights are more often seen on the fully grown Seraphs. At least, this is the most accepted answer. Though, the truth of it is that usually, Seraphs lost limb and life to the fights which were so often instigated. While it's been most attributed to overly violent youth, it was much more an effect of war. At least, that was before the Centurions.

After them, however, things shifted. Without nearly as many Seraphs out actively participating in the fight aside from those that remained to ensure the Centurions' function, the most commonly disabling occurrences were related to either overexertion of magic over a long period of time (leading to effects a little similar to chronic fatigue & pain) and flight related injury. Though, that was tied with... Poaching related damage to stars.

Damaged stars? Poaching?

As I've already mentioned briefly here, Seraphim stars became a useful weapon due to their properties. While I won't elaborate much more than that for some mild spoiler reasons, let it be known that Seraphs were once revered as gods, but this began to turn into resentment over time. But, what does a damaged star entail for them?

A Seraph with a damaged star (whether it be cracked or chipped, both having different but lasting effects) doesn't often live more than a handful of years longer, as the magic that typically circulates through their body will begin to stagnate. This causes to formation of a sediment of sorts that accumulates in extremities and places like the eyes, mouth, and will even begin to seep into the keratin in their body, as well as their bones/marrow, coloring any new growth anything from pink to deep blues and greens.

While Seraphs are known for having a variety of colors which naturally and commonly occur in their feathers and flesh, these colors are associated heavily with this type of ailment, and those with these colors are often avoided by some of the more paranoid. (There is no risk to other Seraphim, this is a lot like how people will avoid those they perceive as ill / sick even when they know it won't affect them.)

Cracked Stars (All pieces present, but with slight separation or small fragments loose): Slower overall progression, characterized by weakness and general lethargy, along with sharp pain and numbness in extremities as time goes on, since the magic that Seraphs rely on doesn't flow quite how it's supposed to, along with the appearance of the aforementioned colors, since they tend to live long enough for it to completely change their appearance.

Chipped Stars (Pieces are missing, typically from failed removal attempts): Much faster progression, often to an almost violent effect, as instead of accumulating slowly, the magic which would form a sediment will instead begin to crystalize rapidly, making them only really able to live about a year after at most. This can also be the most sudden, as a chipped star likely won't be noticed until there are Wisps circling the Seraph, and sharp pain and complete loss of feeling (a side effect of the magic that's basically pouring out of them, which will make them much like the Centurions in this regard, as they cannot contain the magic.)

Malformed Stars (Not injury based, but included due to the relation and similarities): Some Seraphs are born with malformed stars and will have coloration associated with cracked stars from the very start. Although, it's entirely possible that they can live for a while longer than those whose stars get cracked, as their bodies are given the opportunity to properly adjust, as well as the lack of excess magic directly leaking into their bodies. Varying from Seraph to Seraph, they can have much more volatile magic, or that's less potent than is typical.

So what the fuck is the deal with Spoke? (Why is he like that?)

Spoke is a case of a potentially good thing being used in the worst way possible. Grown stars (or artificial stars, or anything to that degree) are perfect for Centurions, being able to be used as a baseline for the creation of pseudo-personage, a pseudo-soul, if you will. But, the problem is when they interact with another soul. Natural souls will eat away at artificial ones, and this lead to an extremely volatile reaction within Spoke. Along with the issue of souls, human bodies are not exactly made to regulate the magic that comes with these stars, and it causes... Complications.

Caught in an odd place where he both does and doesn't even physically exist at all, Spoke is a little like the ghosts that've taken to haunting the library in the absence of Seraphs. Varying even minute to minute, he can go from looking a little off (almost a little uncanny, in a way. Limbs slightly the wrong proportions, just enough to ring as odd, but not completely distorted) to being almost unrecognizable as human at all, practically surrounded by a thick layer of ambient magic, which can make him look like a bit like a shadow.

Although, as time goes on, this becomes much less varied, and instead, it manifests in the beginnings of Seraph-like features, including an additional set of non-functional eyes. As well, there is a certain dark-green-almost-black that makes his extremities look almost necrotic, although they aren't. This is just a manifestation of the excess magic, much like how it looks for Seraphim with cracked stars. For a period of time, he had grown the beginnings of an additional limb (although, it never got far, as it began to become excruciatingly painful for him), but it was removed.

Spoke is basically in limbo between being alive and dead, which has had its own interesting effects on his psyche, and really, if any true Seraph were there, he likely would've been mercy killed to spare him from this. But, he's happy as can be, despite the agonies. Much like any other human with a star place in them, there is most definitely a noticeable mark that resulted from it, something which has only grown over time. A little like what could've just been a scar at the start begins to morph into creeping vines, looking more and more like they've been struck with lightning.

(This is probably the most subject-to-change-as-i-write thing here, since I'm not 100% set on the primary appearance of it. There are major differences between Seraphim-stars and Grown-stars, and one of those major differences is that Seraphim-stars are much more stable, as they've had a long period of time to be refined and cultivated. Meanwhile grown-stars aren't given that kind of time, and are only an approximation of the real thing. While they can heal and prolong life, they lack the rhyme or reason that Seraphim ones will abide by. They don't know when to quit. They will form tumors and create what I can only describe as an excess of life, they make people sick, they shouldn't be used on organic things even if it's the only option. There's a reason Seraphs will sooner die than use one. They are viable for Centurions purely because of the lack of organic growth.)

Let's talk the Fray (and a little bit about the War, shall we?)

is there a way for the ones in the fray to get up to the vesper esp with all the ruin?

Really, it depends on the scenario! Before the death of the Seraphs, going between the two places was inconvenient, but possible. Typically it involved making some kind of trade with one of the Seraphim in order to be brought to the Vesper, although this was rare. The handful of human mages that did exist were able to move freely between the two places, but they disappeared not long after they began to be noticed. Though, they made a little bit of a resurgence as almost ghost-like figures, after the Seraphs' death.

Seraphim were able to go between the two places, as they never lost their flight, but even those who struggled with it were able to use their magic in order to go between. Centurions were unable to go between the two, as they were designated their places and functionally left to continue that task ad infinium. Humans were a rare sight, but on occasion human merchants were known to get up to the Vesper, usually using crude airships.

are there any other weapons of war lying around aside from centurions?

To be a little ominous for the sake of not spoiling too much: yes. Yes, there are, and they are only getting worse for wear, and even if their creators are long dead, they are not. They're still there, waiting to be called upon once again, to lay the world to even greater waste. Slumbering giants, if you will. I'll be elaborating on these especially in the main fic I have planned, so this is a "wait and see" kind of deal ^_^

Also if you've gotten this far I want to point you toward some art that vaguely inspired the baseline I have for wisps because I love this art and it fascinates me!

first piece is by ida lissner, second by tealnewcombart on etsy, third by tracy debenport!

i couldn't find the much more vibrantly colored type of almost psychedelic art that i've really drawn a fair bit of inspiration from, at least with the colors, these show a lot of the Shapes that i think of with them