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fountainpenguin · 3 months ago

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Hi! So I read your fic that focused on preening from the POV of Sanderson, and I was curious about the thing mentioned there about pixies going off to start their own companies when they grow up and have their own kids - I haven’t read everything, granted, but I don’t think I saw anything about that in your pixie worldbuilding and it sounds interesting, so I’d love if you could elaborate! Also, what do you think Pixie world would look like after a generation or two of this?

Thanks for your interest! (Heads up for minor #ridspoilers related to Origin of the Pixies, 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash, and Devil's Backbone)

Useful Knowledge

- 130 Prompt #37 - "Grooming" - One-shot about Sanderson (who has separation anxiety) anxiously waiting for H.P. to call him in for their evening grooming / preening ritual - Gyne & drone mindset info - If you don't know what gynes are, my replies won't make much sense. - List of Gen 2 Pixies - I namedrop pixies below. Not required, but it may be useful to have their numbers and vague details - Vice President Longwood's bio & main blog tag - Not required to understand this post, but there are some interesting old posts like "How do other pixies view the Longwood vs Sanderson rivalry?" & "What is Longwood's leadership style?" - It's also helpful to know what Wolbachia pipientis is, but the only thing you really need to know is that Pixies reproduce asexually when they come of age, whether they want to or not.

Background

"I was curious about the thing mentioned there about pixies going off to start their own companies when they grow up and have their own kids [...] so I’d love if you could elaborate!"

Aside from Sanderson giving sneak peeks of what he knows of H.P.'s plans in "Grooming" (and occasional other glimpses into his mind), we actually don't get to this part of the lore until Arc 4 of 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash.

For reference, I'm looking at the 130 summaries page and the next 'fic I post will kick off Arc 3, so it'll be a while.

Where we are in modern times (i.e. Timmy's time period), H.P. is down to his last offspring before his Wolbachia-forced fertility fades out- that's why Finley and Southmark - his final two children - are born tomtes: i.e., Fae without magic. Like a printer, he ran out of ink.

Art from the Eclipse House roommates post - Sammy, Poof, Foop, Finley

Coincidentally, Sanderson's Wolbachia-forced fertility kicks on right around the time, as he had come into adulthood and his body finished setting up everything it needed to inside him.

Those who've been around a while probably know exactly who Sanderson's first clone offspring is... Who's that pixie?

Art from the 2019 music meme post

It's... Cavatina Sanderson!

He's our cover image character for the Gray Train story arc and made his first in-story appearance as a teen (at Goldie's coronation) in "All I Ever Wanted." He is hands-down my favorite FOP OC, whom I've had since 2016 but have said little about since we've not reached his arc, and I love him very much.

Let's talk about companies, logos, some things we can expect from Vice President Longwood and Chief Pixie Smith, and a little about Cavatina... without getting TOO spoilery, of course.

Companies and Business

I can't say much, but I can confirm Sanderson opens a music store after becoming a dad and Cavatina often hangs out with him there.

The music store means a lot to Sanderson as it's the only place that's truly his (seeing as he shares an apartment with Hawkins, Longwood, and Wilcox for most of his life).

The funny thing about Cavatina is that he also likes tagging around after H.P., so you can imagine what that looks like. Duckling instinct strikes again...

Company Logos

A group of pixies can be called a company- not every pixie needs to run a business, but they're identified by special marks that organize them in family groups... Well, companies in a culture that doesn't like acknowledging family connections.

In other words, pixies have tattoos on their wrists that identify them despite being otherwise identical. These are Sanderson's:

From this post

These marks are called logos and are tattooed on the undersides of Sanderson’s wrists- He's Pixie 002 in H.P.’s company (left wrist) and Pixie 001 of his own company (right wrist).

Sanderson’s offspring have his logo tattooed on the undersides of their left wrists; they do not have H.P.’s logo at all. When they're old enough for their own company, they'll add their logo to their right wrist and their offspring will have that same logo on left wrist, so on and so forth.

While forcibly tattooing little kids may sound cruel... There is a good reason for it. DNA tests are absolutely useless in Pixie World because pixies are genetically identical. Every pixie is, technically, the child of Ambrosine and Solara- H.P.'s parents (which is why all pixies are tied to the same yoo-doo doll). Their pheromones vary slightly, but brand marks are the only reliable way to identify who a pixie is.

Worldbuilding detail- Fae heal quickly, but washing injuries (like tattoo pinpricks) in rosewater will prevent them from healing. Sanderson vaguely alludes to this in "Grooming."

H.P. had 507 (surviving) offspring, and he began reproducing when he was 491,536 years old. He was the first pixie infected with Wolbachia. H.P. wasn't born with Wolbachia- he was only infected late in life (human equivalent of 43). His offspring are born every time he would be coming into heat if non-infected, so his offspring are 500 years apart (give or take a year, with rare exceptions).

But Gen 2 (H.P.'s offspring) were born with Wolbachia, so they start reproducing shortly after adulthood (human equivalent of 22 or 23, give or take for the individual).

And there are a LOT of pixies coming into age around that time. Which is a huge population concern.

Near the end of my "7 Billion Years in 15,000 Words" post, I mentioned that after Foop makes the connection between royal jelly and gynes, that news gets out. Fairy parents experiment with feeding jelly to their kids, leading to a boom of gynes in the cloudlands (Playing into that culture of gynes being viewed "more attractive" and "smarter" and "more desirable kids" than drones... Obviously all social stereotypes, but that's the unfortunate way of the world). That has a lot of problems in its own- Most notably, the fact that dominance instincts set gynes up to fight to the death and now there are a lot of them in Fairy World. -> Foop actually... did not want that news to go public. For all his faults, he's very thoughtful and meticulous and he wanted to think over his discovery before people knew about it. It's devastating to him and he carries the emotional burden of his research for a long time. Specifically, I said in that post that there aren't enough fairy drones to go around since many drakes developed into gynes, so a lot of them would probably seek the pixies, thus luring them out of Pixie World and integrating them more into Fairy World I still think that's the most likely fate. There are simply too many pixies for Pixie World to thrive with an exponentially increasing population in a very small space.

Where Are We Going?

"Also, what do you think Pixie world would look like after a generation or two of this?"

I really like the Pixie expansion plot I have going on. H.P. is a gyne, and as his few gyne offspring grow older, the smart move is to separate them so they won't kill each other (or him). The vibe here is "princess" bees going off to be queens of their own colony, which is fairly accurate to a real bee or wasp hive, which I like.

Longwood Mayfleet was H.P.'s first gyne offspring and is due to take over Pixies Inc. after H.P. (and even become Head Pixie II someday).

That's all well and good, but that still leaves us with a handful of other gynes who need to go somewhere. Most famously, we have Darius Smith- The next oldest gyne after Longwood.

Who is Smith?

Smith is always butting heads with H.P., to the point that he's not even allowed inside Pixies Inc. most of the time. He oversees the warehouses and cloudships.

I also have a pheromone post scheduled for Sunday on the sideblog that discusses Smith's unique pheromones. Check that out for bonus info.

Smith's a really interesting character to me. He wasn't old enough to fight in the War of the Angels, so he's actually in charge of Pixie World during that whole arc (and comes into his adult wings during that time, his biology kicking in early since he was forced to take the reins young. It's a wonder he didn't start reproducing as soon as he became the dominant one...

Although he gives control back to H.P. (reluctantly) when he returns from war, this brief stint at running Pixie World really gets to Smith and his instincts... which is why he has a whole takeover plot later on where he chases H.P. out and takes control. Here's an upcoming scene I think is funny (and tells you everything you need to know about the H.P.-Smith dynamic):

While I lingered on the fringes of Pixie society, Smith struggled beneath a mountain of papers and politics. The Anti-Coppertalon dynasty fell six days after Commelina’s birth, and First General Anti-Cosmo rose to take the High Count seat. Good on him. Smith had a hundred questions, and Emery relayed messages between us as a neutral party. I responded to each one in the same flat way: “You’re in charge. Figure it out. Maintain the professional brand image I spent your life building up. Don’t be dumb.” But by Lugh’s spear, were they on a massive time crunch to plow through all that paperwork. According to Da Rules, midnight wasn’t to fall on the Lia Fáil while a major position of power lay vacant. Emery said Smith pulled every pixie together in the food court and had a job that normally would have taken a week (minus procrastinating) finished in hardly four hours. “Good boy,” I said when Emery told me, sitting in my rocking chair with Commelina dozing in my arms. “Good boy.”

Origin of the Pixies - "The Fading of Light"

"Queen bee" pixie raising his own successor who wants to kill him and being so proud of him for almost doing so, my beloved...

Shout-out to what this does to Anti-Cosmo's backstory in Frayed Knots, where A.C. is going through one of the most intense things he's ever faced, but can't turn to H.P. for support.

So, that's Smith... Smith's two largest roles in the Prompts are in "Dignity" - where he's married off against his will (Mid Arc 3) - and "The Other One," where he's preparing to leave Pixie World (Arc 3's finale).

Fun Fact! I've had that Prompt's announcement in my queue for 6 years... Not my drafts. My queue:

I might redraw it when we get there, I might not, but... There's Smith!

So... What's going on with Smith? What's up with these hoops he's jumping through?

Smith is being set up to become the first Chief Pixie- a CEO of a subsidiary company outside Pixie World (Not counting Wish Fixers, which has been in H.P.'s family for generations).

Specifically, Smith will be running PixieCo in Hawthorn Haven: the cloudland colony that surrounds Planet Delk.

Sound familiar? If so, good eyes... We'll talk about it more later.

The thing about gynes is that only one can be dominant in the area at a time. They're eusocial insect people and their pheromones suppress other gynes' ability to reproduce.

Leaving Pixie World for Hawthorn Haven means Smith will become dominant and gain the ability to reproduce (thus making it useful to have a partner to help him raise kids, despite Smith's reluctance to marry).

We get some really interesting scenes because of that-

“It’s amazing to think I’m going to be the dominant gyne around, with my own drones to look after. And even more amazing to think that since I’ll be both dominant and of age, I’ll start reproducing within the decade. H.P. will be getting grandnymphs after all. Long-lasting ones, I hope.” Sanderson said nothing. As Smith straightened up with the box in his arms, he glanced over his shoulder. “Am I treading on your turf a bit, Mr. Firstborn?” Sanderson leaned his hands against the counter behind him, his fingers curling over the front edge. “Not necessarily. After all, I did beat you by a long shot.” “Human children don’t count,” Smith argued, bending to grab a folder that had slipped to the floor. He almost felt the asterisk fizzle into existence over his head. Wait… Turning back, he found Sanderson still leaning in the same position, now with his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheek. “Oh. You weren’t talking about humans.” “No.” Sanderson took a coffee cup from the stack and held it beneath the nozzle for grape soda. With his thumb, he pressed the lever. Cool purple liquid splashed against the sides. “It hasn’t been confirmed professionally, but I’ve watched how H.P. handles himself during pregnancy long enough to feel comfortable admitting it.” Smith’s wings quivered for a single jealous beat, then stopped. “I assume you’ve told him.” Sanderson’s eyes rolled above his shades. “You know the boss. If a bus rolls into town, he wants to be the first one to board it. If he attends a funeral, he wants to be the murderer. If one of his friends is expecting, he wants to be the father. He’s been so busy marketing PixieCo lately. With the official public reveal coming up, he’ll be furious if I steal all the attention. I’m waiting for the right time.”

"The Other One"

And that's where we kick off Arc 4!

Cavatina Mentions

Cavatina is one of the most notable things about the time period you're asking about- Pixies growing up to have kids - and he's also the reason I haven't shared much about this era.

I still won't share much because I've waited this long and I'm not spilling the details now, but I can compile some things we know about Cavatina into one place, and you can start putting the pieces together from there.

Keep in mind that 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash is ongoing. You don't have all the info, but this is what you do have:

- His full name is Cavatina Klangfarbenmelodie Sanderson. He's Sanderson's firstborn son. - He wears a green dragonfly pin, and has done so ever since he was a little kid. - In "You'll Never Know," Foop claims the Pixies don't trust him anymore, but "compared to what the Head Anti-Pixie did, he's a saint." - In "You'll Never Know," Foop claims Cavatina is selectively mute and that it disturbs him Anti-Cavatina doesn't chatter constantly, implying Cavatina didn't get quiet until sometime after his counterpart was born. - In "Shadow," Foop's alternate personality (Hiccup) faced pressure to speak about Cavatina. Among other things, he hints Foop "misused pottery tools" in a past encounter with Cavatina. He also hinted Foop "meets Cavatina's parents" every time there's a Council meeting. - Foop seems to be very paranoid about Cavatina, as he spent his time before the school dance in "Approval" searching everywhere for him. - Cavatina appeared in "All I Ever Wanted." Poof claimed he was "twice as buff [as Poof]," "bad at small talk," and noted that Cavatina's dragonfly pin "made him famous." Most notably, Cavatina claimed he'd have Poof's head on a silver platter 5 years from that point, which Poof laughed off. - According to Anti-Coriander's sideblog bio, she and Foop first meet at the Autumn Masquerade. Foop's commentary in "Approval" confirms Cavatina attacked Poof there. - Apparently, Cavatina has a squirrel familiar (a familiar being a witch who finished mortal life and is now an animal body piloted by witch magic). -> We know Foop has Denzel and Kevin as his familiars... Who do I know is a witch, associated with pixies, and possibly associated with squirrels?

Do with this info what you will.

I picked up my draft for "In Confidence" earlier this week, hoping to post it soon, but it's one of those weird timeline pieces that makes me hesitate. I'm not sure readers have enough context to make it hit yet. I might post it soon, I might not, but Cavatina and Poof both appear as small children (joining Mama Cosma and Sanderson at a dinner event), which is a pretty interesting dynamic.

I showed more sneak-peek scenes of Cavatina in that link, so... browse that "In Confidence" blog tag if you wish, but do so knowing those haven't been posted on FFN / AO3 yet.

What is Devil's Backbone?

Devil's Backbone is my far future ‘fic that picks up immediately following the 130 Prompt “Reality Doesn’t Work that Way” (the 2nd to last Prompt of the series- 130 Sums page).

It heavily focuses on Pixie World as well as things going on with the von Strangle family and the quest to find a successor... plus the closing of drama in the Celebrity Kids (Lavender Train) arc that we haven't gotten to yet.

Unless I decide to write one more closing ‘fic after this one, this is the finale of my Cloudlands AU works, so its target audience is readers who have read all the other Cloudlands AU pieces, as it brings multiple storylines together.

It has a complete outline, but one that can be shifted if I change plot points. My intention is to write a decent-sized multi-chapter - maybe 12 to 16 chapters. We'll see! It's possible I'll condense it (or split some of the scenes off into one-shots) depending on what feels right when we get there.

This story takes place during an era where there are many pixies and a new Head Pixie is in charge of Pixies Inc. It covers the plot points I mentioned earlier about the population boom and some next gen characters, many of whom are pixies.

One of our most important characters is Longwood's son, Blackwood Longwood, whom I do not have art of. I checked my drafts, but I don't have any scenes I can share that aren't full of spoilers, so... Just know that he exists, I guess.

Blackwood is a very hard worker and I think he's cute. He has a strong sense of wanting to do what's right and wanting to protect others. He's pretty emotional for a pixie, but it's underlaid with cold logical expectations... He's very "We have to do this because it's the right thing to do even if it hurts, but I know it hurts, so I'll be right there with you." I hope you guys like him.

Like Cavatina, I designed him in 2016 and even wrote the ending scene of Devil's Backbone back then, as Blackwood is our very pivotal guy and lives up to his main character position there.

You may have guessed it from the hints above, but Cavatina starts out as a sharp, friendly, and humble kid, quickly consumed by a thirst for revenge... Justice is everything to Cavatina. From the released info, it's not yet clear what seemingly justifies this level of vitriol, though I'm always open to hearing guesses. In contrast, Blackwood is stoic... Pursuing dreams of honor, justice, and duty. They're really fun to use together in a world that's seeing pixie families for the first time and doesn't know what to make of them. Blackwood will probably have been an OC of mine for over 10 years by the time you guys see him... idk how to feel about that. If anyone was wondering, yes I do get whiplashed every time I see the name Martin Blackwood cross my dash, but I only heard about that character in the last 1 or 2 years and I'm not changing this kid's name now, haha.

I'm not sure the 2016 ending will still be the ending of the actual 'fic, but there is definitely drama in Blackwood's character arc that I think is unique and fun. It's very tied to my lore and not something I'll ever get to repeat, so despite my hesitations that "oh, it might be weird, maybe people won't like it," I do think it's worth sharing as a story point. It's hyperspecific and I love it for that :)

Devil's Backbone plot points - including the finale moment - are actually foreshadowed several times in Origin of the Pixies and a couple other pieces. You probably won't catch them without the context of the 'fic itself, but kudos if you do!

So, that's an overview of things and that time period, and an explanation of why this lore about Pixie families comes really late in the timeline.

It's a tricky question to answer. "What will happen to the Pixies once H.P.'s strength and influence fade?" is probably the biggest "haunts the narrative" question in Cloudlands AU (and it's the big thing we're working up to), so it's inherently spoilery... but hopefully this is a satisfactory response.

Thanks for enjoying my work! :)

#Fairly OddParents #FOP Sanderson #FOP Pixies #Head Pixie #We're Pixies!#130 Prompts #ridwriting #ridspoilers #Sanderson is neat #I'm wasp dad trash #Origin of the Pixies #Cavatina #Devil's Backbone #Gamer pixie #Cedar toothpick #spookyfurybouquet #asks #Nerdy blue bat son

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