#How long have I been gone?... [WORLDBUILDING/LORE]

[ask-order-firebrand]

*there's a small whirring noise nearby, and when it stopped, a black cat trotted out from the shadows. It was very fluffy, with a very pretty and decorated collar, and seafoam green eyes. It pawed at the deity's feet, begging for pets*

~ a mysterious messenger

oh! You must be the little cat I’ve been told about!

(he bends down with a small grunt, right.. a bit wounded still. But nonetheless he gives the cat a tentative pat, he’s.. not used to his hands being burnt out like this- it’s almost strange to him.. the fact he can just.. touch things as of right now without the help of gloves nor the fear of burning anything.)

[anythingforstories]

Currently reading Lord of the Rings for the first time. Never seen the movies (I want to read the book first) and the majority of my LOTR knowledge comes through memes and spoilers on Tumblr analysis posts. I've made it through Fellowship of the Ring and am now in The Two Towers, specifically the chapter where Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard.

Thoughts and predictions at this point (contains spoilers, but it's been out since 1954, so deal with it):

-So I guess "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard" was Merry and Pippin? In which case, they did not end up taking the hobbits to Isengard. Pity.

-(No but really, I had thought that referred to Frodo and Sam because I think they're slaves at some point? IDK. Maybe they're slaves in Mordor. I shall have to wait and see.)

-I am happy that Merry and Pippin have had more page time and got to have a clever escape. I was beginning to wonder why they were there in the story. I do like them, though.

-I wonder if Treebeard is important?

-During the entire second half of Fellowship of the Ring, I was thinking, "Surely Legolas has a bigger role, based upon the number of fangirls?" I now see that he does have more page time, though still at this point, I feel his fangirls may have overinflated his role within the story. Perhaps he shall do more later, though. Still a cool dude, in any case, sleeping while walking and all that.

-Gandalf's defeat was less dramatic than I'd always imagined. Pretty sure he's not gone forever, based mostly upon memes and fanart. And also the fact that he seems to be rather too important to be gone this soon.

-I'd honestly anticipated a long redemption arc for Boromir. Based upon all the analysis I've seen about him, I had vaguely known he sacrificed himself for the hobbits, but didn't expect it to be this soon. Not sure how I feel about this. (I did cry, and then I cried again when Aragorn didn't reveal what he'd been up to to Legolas and Gimli. I didn't actually expect to cry while reading LOTR. But the tragedy hit hard.)

-I know there's gonna be a romance between an elf-lady and a man, but I'm not sure who with whom. I don't think there's been a single hint of that yet. Maybe I'm wrong.

-Pretty sure they're going to see the ocean?

-"I am no man!" (Or something along those lines. I hope that wasn't movie-original; I think I've seen pictures of that text in the books? But it sounds very epic.)

-Gollum is a persistent chap. I rather like him. I do, unfortunately, know his fate. My sisters watched the movies when they were little and that's one of the only things they can remember.

-It's definitely picked up compared to the first book! Unlike many people, though, I did read through all those pages of pure worldbuilding lore at the beginning. It was boring and yet delightful.

-I need a map. I'm borrowing a friend's version where there's all the books in one cover with lots of illustrations and such. There was a map of the Shire but not of everything. I could easily look it up online, but I'm stubborn and want to see if the book will have one at some point.

-Can't wait for Aragorn to come back as king. I assume this shall happen in Return of the King. It would make sense. He seems a good fit for the job.

-I would DEVOUR an anime of this series. Specifically, a book-accurate one.

-Sam is excellent.

-Lots of fantasy seems so much less original after reading LOTR :P

[dailydragons]

I am not immune to this propaganda…

Do you like long fantasy series, but are tired of authors never finishing them?

Do you like interesting magic systems?

Do you like when characters form intense even psychic bonds with animal companions?

Do you like your heart getting ripped out of your chest and then stuffed back in full to bursting and but then ripped out again to get stomped on but it turns out you like that too uhhh let's call it... intense yearning

Do you like dragons? Of course you do, why else would you be on this blog!

WELL DO I HAVE THE BOOK SERIES FOR YOU!

The Realm of the Elderlings is a 16-book series is comprised of four trilogies and a quartet. All of which have been finished. Yes that's right, Robin Hobb saw other authors who can't seem to finish their multi-book fantasy epics and said "I will finish mine 4 different times to show you it's incredibly easy actually." She also has written multiple other series (some under the pen name Megan Lindholm), set in different universes.

So, where to start?

The components of RotE are:

The Farseer Trilogy

The Liveship Traders Trilogy

The Tawny Man Trilogy

The Rain Wild Chronicles

Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

The three bolded trilogies above are told from the perspective of FitzChivalry Farseer, one of the main/major characters in this universe and my eternal blorbo. The Liveship Traders trilogy and Rain Wild Chronicles are told from several points of view, and happen in chronological order between the series above and flesh out the worldbuilding, lore, history, etc.

For the most complete look at the universe, you can of course read everything. However if you want to stick with just one character, you can read the three bolded trilogies only. And of course, if you don't want to commit to a metric ton of words either way, you can just read the first trilogy and see what you think. Though I do think the levels of joy/pain/adoration increase with each work as you get more invested in the characters, of course.

OR. You can in fact read the Liveship Traders trilogy or the Rain Wild Chronicles quartet completely independently of the others. I actually started with Rain Wild Chronicles because those books have the highest concentration of dragons--it was actually a follower of this blog who recommended them to me, and I decided to jump into those rather than commit to The Whole Series (which at the time was only 13 books not 16). But I loved the writing style and wanted to learn more about the world, so got into the rest, and now I actually think the Rainwilds books are the weakest of the bunch (though I still enjoyed them initially)!

But You're Following This Blog, DailyDragons, So Here's The Part Of The Pitch You're Actually Invested In

Now I will be up front that you don't get many dragons in the first trilogy. There are a kind of dragons that appear at the end but dragons are not the main focus of this one. However Hobb learns from her mistakes about not including tons of dragons in her fantasy world and you get more in the next parts of the series.

The Liveship books deal with sea serpents and dragons in very interesting ways I don't want to spoil, though it's a slow build. But VERY fascinating reveals into the dragon's biology, life history, and magic.

The plot of the later half of the Tawny Man Trilogy revolves around dealing with how the world of this story used to have dragons but they have practically gone extinct. Less direct contact with dragons but still a dragon-centric last book.

Rainwilds is chock full of dragons. Including as POV characters. Can't complain about lack of dragons here at all.

Fitz & The Fool Trilogy is lighter on the dragons at first and then they show up en force at the end. Ta da!

anyway please read these books and join me in my eternal suffering. wait, suffering? nevermind who said that. shhh. it's fine. you will love fitzchivalry farseer. you will love the fool. you will never be the same again.

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

Introductions (2.1.1)

About me:

↪ Leah, she/her/any pronouns

↪ In my early 20s

↪ Reader, writer, sometime animator and artist

↪ Big cannibalism fan. Huge, really ;)

↪ Been doing martial arts for over a decade

↪Fan of CJ Cherryh

↪I reblog stuff from @leahpardo-pa-potato

My writing:

↪ Generally horror, with sides of fantasy

↪Posted in regular chunks of 500-1k words

↪I love tag games, esp OC ones :)

↪I do mini-series, one-shots, and novels

↪I will love you forever if you send me an ask

↪See my full list of one-shots here and my longer pieces below

My art and animation:

↪Masterpost here

↪Mostly blender 3d animations, though I do a bit of drawing too

↪ Don't expect it quite as often as my writing ;)

↪Just interact here to join the taglist!

WIPs / Longer stories

The Unwanted Visitor: (Completed)

Aida's house has been haunted by a spirit for as long as she can remember. Thing is, she's grown used to her Unwanted Visitor (or Vis, as she likes to call him). So when exorcists come after him, she does what any sane person would: protect her brother friend.

↪ Urban fantasy-comedy, very light-hearted

↪A lot of found family and sibling squabbling

↪If you like teens causing chaos, this is for you!

↪Final bit here

A Perfectly Normal Schoolgirl: (Completed)

All Katherine wants is to eat mortal food, bask in the warmth, and be a normal schoolgirl. But when a boy begs her to help him save her parents, she finds herself fighting for her (and his) life once more.

↪Urban fantasy with a side of horror

↪ Basically an inversion of a bunch of tropes

↪My attempt at writing fantasy without mentioning magic by name

↪Full thing here

Convenience Store Vampire: (Completed)

You'd expect vampires to be imposing and terrifying, masters of the night and princes of darkness. But that's not Davie, no siree. He's stuck down by Sunny Mart, working all day to scrape by. The last thing he wants is any trouble. Unfortunately for him, that's exactly what he's getting.

↪Silly urban fantasy shenanigans

↪ What it says on the tin + slice of life

↪Full thing here

A Tale for A Mouse: (Completed)

Who doesn't like to listen to evil old dark lords monologue about their childhood? Take a seat and come hear the story of the Spirit Emperor, as told by the man himself!

↪Cannibalism. Lots of it. World building too :D

↪High fantasy told via monologue

↪I cannot stress how proud I am of this.

↪Full thing here

Fast Food:

An embarrassment to his entire tribe, Hash is lazy and uninterested in anything. So, when he reaches majority, he gets unceremoniously booted out of home. Follow his adventures through Triworld, as he somehow ends up in every single single conflict across the continent.

↪High fantasy with a side of humour

↪Very heavy Lore™ and Worldbuilding™

↪ My excuse to ramble about fictional history

↪Latest bit here :) Also have @/illarian-rambling's rendition of Hash and her OC Elsind!

A Tale of Love, Death, and Maggots (Completed):

Doc's been wandering through hell for a good twenty years, now. He thought he'd seen it all. He thought he'd felt it all. He thought he'd lost it all. But it turns out love just has a way of crawling back into his chest and breaking his heart again.

↪ Tragedy?, fantasy?, horror?, Idk it's a weird little thing

↪I hope you like death because this sure has a lot of it

↪Full thing here, here's a moodboard of it and here is some fanart @/illarian-rambling made!

Lich-Queen (Completed):

Iraela has all but won: the King of Ceredell and his bride are gone, the cities fallen to her army of undead, and the way to the throne cleared for her. But her coronation, and her sanity threaten to fall apart under the weight of duty. Can she hold it together until she truly becomes Lich-Queen?

↪High, dark fantasy with some horror and gore

↪Watch Ira slowly lose her mind in real-time

↪If you like cannibalism, you'll love this

↪Full thing here, and here is fanart the lovely @/vampirelover890 drew?

The Novel™ (Mind of a Mercenary):

Luna, Terror of Garvenoi, mind-mage extraordinaire, has been caught at last. Whilst everyone celebrates, she is given an ultimatum: Be an indentured hunter for the government, or die. But when she signs on with them, she finds that perhaps death might have been a better choice...

↪ Urban Fantasy set in a Non-Earth world

↪Starring a sassy, mean-girl villain protagonist

↪Enjoy several hundred pages of Luna trying and failing to run from her duties

↪Find snippets here (find the others on my masterlist of writing)

Finally, my taglist! If you interacted with this post/already asked me to add you, and you don't see yourself here, please remind me! I may have accidentally missed you :')

Oh pls kill me I felt so silly doing this- Anyways bye guys hope to see y'all around don't judge me for this

[definitelynotshouting]

just read thru ur hunger au loredoc and now am going to read the fic…. LOVE the worldbuilding, aaaahhhh……

a couple of curious questions now though!

do ender dragons serve any specific purpose/have connections within the ecosystem at large, or are they just kinda like… internal organs for servers as Entities?

is there any particular way that game updates manifest, or is it sort of a presumption that they were there “the whole time”? and if the former, where are the updates coming from? 👁️👁️

and last! are there any servers outside of those connected to grian‘s specific arc that you have had any interesting thoughts about? ie empires, new life, vault hunters, dsmp, origins, mianite, etc

This has been sitting in my inbox for MONTHS but i finally have some brainpower to answer it so!!! Firstly i really hope you ended up enjoying the fic if youve gotten around to reading it :]] and im really glad you like all the worldbuilding and lore!! These are such great questions so im gonna try my best to do them justice >:]]

So i only recently puzzled this out with the Ender Dragon's role in the overall universe's ecosystem, but to explain it i need to go on a bit of a tangent. So if youve been through my loredoc, then you probably already know that Players are what drive the creation of server worlds-- ive likened this before to the protective shell of an egg, surrounding a Spawned Player to shield it from the inhospitable environment of the in-between. For the purposes of this analogy, we'll say a server is like the eggshell, while the Player inside it is the chick growing within. Once a Player has developed enough, gone through the majority of their progression advancements, the universe will direct them to one last task-- kill the Ender Dragon. This is the egg-tooth, what will essentially hatch the Player so they can emerge from their shell and enter the universe at large (aka join and discover other servers, mingle with other Players, etc etc).

The way Ender Dragons function in servers is that they essentially lock travel to and from them-- while the dragon is alive, nothing comes in, and nothing comes out. Once killed, the return gateway at the center island is opened up to the overworld-- but thats not the only function it has. Return gateways can actually serve as a portal to other open servers!! Players can adjust the server address via their comm, and spawn in at a completely different location than the server they just left. This is how basic intra-server travel occurs!!

Relatedly, Hypixel is what i consider a "hub" server-- aka a large, traffic-heavy server that acts as a bridge point for Players hopping between distant worlds. The distance between two servers is a very distinct factor in how easy it is to travel between them, and after a certain point, you cant hop directly across that gap without needing to use a hub server as a bridge. Its sorta like a rest stop during long road trips, if you look at it sideways. Because of this Hypixel is very touristy in my mind and hosts a lot of constant entertainment for Players who stop there on their way to another destination!!!

(an additional fun little fact for you: when MCC isnt hosting its monthly tournament, it acts as a hub server as well!! Noxcrew are in charge of upkeeping its maintenance :] )

For servers other than those already mentioned, ive definitely had some thoughts about empires and dsmp. Most of them boil down to the fact that 90% of what Players do is basically LARP 😂😂😂 so Empires??? Entirely LARPing. These guys are living their best lives just making shit up and my gods are they having fun with it. My thoughts on DSMP are actually on a similar note, with one key difference: i think it started out as pure LARPing, and then everyone just got a little... too into it, per se. Like huge case of "got too invested and now theres actual emotional stakes here in what was supposed to be a silly play-pretend conflict" and then things just started spiraling out of control. I havent put a WHOLE ton of thought into it beyond that tho

As for updates, my thoughts are a bit complex-- for things that arent mobs (aka structures), im operating more on the basis of "theyve always been there"-- but for mobs themselves, i think the process is sorta akin to randomized and rapid evolution. New mobs arent uniformly pushed out into server worlds-- i think they just sometimes appear, and then gradually more and more Players begin to encounter them; sorta like randomized rollouts, in a way. Newer worlds are more likely to host newer mobs, while older ones may not see them soon or even at all, depending on where theyre at in their own life cycles. Smth ive also been thinking a lot about lately which i promise is vaguely related to this is that Player-kept information isnt centralized!! They dont really have the internet like we do, so any news about new mobs showing up in vanilla worlds has to be spread purely by word-of-mouth

I hope these answered your questions well!! Thank you for being so patient with me while i cooked :]]❤️

[withered-tears]

Ok imma just make a new post so i can keep my MD Transformers AU ideas all tidy in one place itdkskgz

J, N and V

Uzi

Tessa and Cyn

Cyntessa

Doll and Lizzy (plus flashback NJV)

Nori and Yeva

AU Lore under the cut!

OKAY SO, BASIC WORLDBUILDING:

Just like MD takes place way in the future, this AU takes place waaaay into cybertron's future.

The Optimus and Megatron are long gone history figureheads, most cybertronians never even heard about them. The primes are also long gone, Optimus was the last bearer of the matrix, so no chosen one either.

Cybertron is ruled by The Senate (*lmao its not. But more on that later ahuhuhu) and "Decepticon" is literally just the official designation for any and all cybetronian who goes against the senate in any way (basically the senate took a name and insignia from the history books that mean "the bad guys" and slapped it into anyone who causes them trouble)

Copper 9 is actually, just like in MD, a small exoplanet with a mining operation going on. The vast majority of the miners are disposables/monoformers minibots (AKA worker drones)

Now, SOMETHING (haven't actually. Figured out what yet) happens on Copper 9, that makes the bots there pretty much uhhh whats the english word for when a colony wants to separate from the country, liberate themselves?

Basically Copper 9 tells cybertron to fuck off and wants to become its own government.

Senate is like uhhh no you fukin dont.

Marks the entire colony as Decepticons, and sents the DDD to wipe them out.

Now on to some more character concepts:

UZI: Uzi is a minibot (around rewind size or so, maybe sliiiightly bigger?) Shes an outcast for a number of reasons, but the main one if because she actually modded herself with an experimental T-cog she designed AND built herself out of trash.

Her altmode is the Railgun (her knockoff T-cog is the reason behind the 30 mins cool down, is she were to try and rapidfire, it would literally burnt out her spark)

Just like in cannon, she thinks that hiding from the DDD is dumb and they should fight them instead.

(Her altmode being a gun is also to emphasize her loneliness/solicitude from the rest of the colony. She has the means to fight but no one willing/she trusts to weild her)

I dont know what to do about khan tho, not huge into cybertronians having parents myself? so, dunno. I'll figure it out later.

NORI: i got two potential ideas for Nori, one, she was actually secretly a headmaster, and thats how she survived the DDD, by leaving her body behind.

Or two, (and the one il most likely go with) she, just like minimus and dominus, was secretly a loadbearing miniMINIbot, her irreducible form being a beastformer (an ant maybe? Some kind of bug most likely)

Dunno what to make of her relation with Uzi tho, maybe she was a beloved mentor/only friend who taught Uzi how to built stuff?

And Khan was her Conjux? And he took in Uzi cuz he promised Nori he would look after her if something happened to her?

Could be, could be.

Now, onto the JUICY stuff, ahuhuh.

The Senate, and the senate's public speaking figurehead, Senator Tessa (dunno if i should change her name to something more cybertronian sounding, Senator Tesseract maybe?)

Unknown to cybertron's population, and to N and V, the entire senate has been dead for millenia.

Senator Tessa's body has been hijacked and controlled by Cyn, who is pretty much the Anti-prime ouo

She was chosen and brought back to life by unicron himself, to spread chaos and gain control of cybertron, with the end goal of devouring primus himself.

Cyn was originally another disposable minibot, but she died with such contempt to the world around her that her spark called to Unicron himself, who saw great potential for chaos in her.

Unicron was right, too right in fact, because Cyn would eventually consume him ouo she eventually ate him.

Once her story is known, cybertron gives her the tittle Daughter of Unicron, God eater.

@inkyprince thats pretty much all i got so far?

Imma doodle Uzi, Cyn And Tessa (and cyntessa) later today uwu

[junglefurytrash]

Starlight Express Headcanons/AU Canons Part 3 - Totally Professional Starlight Chatroom Edition

After writing the Electric Storm Arc and 30 whole chapters of TPSC (holy shit), I decided that since I had a lot of stuff that was on my mind regarding little random character info bits, old plans, and other random assorted facts and worldbuilding stuff that I've yet to incorporate into chapters, mentioned but not gone into detail over, or just can't fit anywhere naturally.

So I decided to make this to put down a bunch of fun facts and info for everyone in the form of headcanons/actual AU canon fun facts! I think a lot of this will be going into the eventual Google Doc of AU World Lore as well as a Google Doc for Character Files I'm slowly planning out.

This is all stuff relating to my StEx Chatfic, so for those who haven't read it and are wondering what half of these are on about, I'd highly recommend reading up on that! Especially the Electric Storm Arc where lots of plot and lore happened.

As an aside, life has been kicking my ass with stuff over the last 4 weeks, but with things roughly settling down now, I should be able to get the next chapter of TPSC out sometime! :D

The group chat/server everyone uses is basically Discord, or at least a version of it.

All of the events since the Pride Party have happened over the course of about 2 weeks.

Tassita is Transgender, female to male! I really enjoy this headcanon, especially because Tassita was female originally in the Workshop they stem from but are now male in the actual Revival Show. Just makes so much sense to me. :)

Originally, the resolution chapters of the Electric Storm Arc were going to be just one chapter, Chapter 29, where everyone talks about what to do with Galvanic & co and if they still want them in the group chat server, before deciding at the end and leaving things there. I didn't think it was a good enough resolution for the arc though.

^ Adding onto this: Chapter 29 would've actually been chapter 30. There was going to be a sort of filler chapter that'd be Coach-focused, with Buffy, Dinah, and some of the others talking about the menu for the yard diner, Volta and Joule come in and chat for a bit, and then the whole topic of Dinah bringing over some goodies would be brought up and lead into that whole thing. I decided to ultimately merge that in with Thundercab's introduction chapter via way of the group talking about Forbidden Snacks.

There was also another filler chapter about the group talking about Pokemon Sun & Moon.. Until I realised the plot is still happening in the summer and Gen 7 came out in like November, so that got moved and 2 more plot chapters got merged (which is why Chapter 28 is LONG AS FUCK). The Pokemon chapter will come later though!

Slick has Mild ADHD and Conduct Disorder, both having been gone undiagnosed and untreated. Her behaviour got chalked up to her being just a troubled child, who Mum (2024 Momma) tried her best to help and teach and look after, but struggled to do so while also focusing on Corry's own physical health being precarious. Slick's Conduct Disorder is why she took to vandalism, bullying, and setting things on fire intentionally (those are all signs/symptoms of CD).

When the Electrics get angry enough, they produce enough static electricity to make people's hair stand on end.

Dinah started the Conspiracy of the Secret Karen Organisation meme a few years prior to the Championship, and it's a regular shitpost between the Coaches.

Everyone is very defensive of Ashley, who's one of the few Smoking Coaches that didn't undergo conversion after the Smoking Ban on transport and in the workplace between 2005 and 2007. Ashley however is more than capable of looking after herself (though she loves the other Coaches and how they look out for her).

Mum (aka 2024 Momma) is Slick's legal guardian and has been since Slick was about 9-10 years old due to her parents being troubled in their own rights and being unable to look after their daughter. This makes her Corry's adopted little sister!

Caboose has Hypomania and PTSD. Both stem from his older brother, BV (Brake Van, aka 2018 Caboose) getting CB at a young age into doing damage and crashing Trainfolks, and egging him on/being "proud" of CB when he did hurt people. While BV crashed Trainfolks out of greed (and in some sense a way to better keep a roof over his younger brother's head), CB ended up continuing his crimes for the Hypomania adrenaline rush.

Radial has been pining for Dolly since she met them at the Wembley Park Trainyard Races, but absolutely sucks at managing her own feelings (she views herself very unfavourably and as irrelevant) and doesn't want to do anything to ruin Dolly's relationship with Thundercab (who she thinks would deck her if she found out Radial had feelings for Dolly). ENJOY YOUR SLOW-BURN, PEOPLE!

The Electric Racing Commission are a global presence, with different branches for Electrics registered under them in nearly every country with Trainfolks in it. It's an organisation created from exploiting Electric Trainfolks' fear of humans back in the 1850s when Trainfolks in general had less rights in human society. They, generally, are not very good people, as even in the present day in-universe they still somewhat treat Electrics as lesser - The American Branch that took in Galvanic and their Components is one of the worser branches in terms of mistreatment.

Greaseball and Thundercab very much have a big-brother-little-sister vibe after TC joins the Apollo Victoria Yard. Pretty much joins his Gang (which are less of a GANG gang and more now of a group of close-knit friends, mainly Diesels and Freights, who do workout together too).

Gets mentioned in the chapters anyway, but Hydra is an Electric/Freight Hybrid Trainfolk! He has an Electric Engine mother and a Water Tanker dad. His mother has been an Off-The-Grid Electric since birth - Off-The-Grid Electric being a term referring to Electric Engines who don't work for the Racing Commission. His strange heritage and different nature is part of why the other Freight take a while to fully warm up to him.

The Hall of Cursed Things was started by Pearl after one too many late-night-group-shower-thought-rambles. (Said "Hall of Cursed Things" is a channel in the groupchat/server where people will put screenshots of said Cursed Thing that someone else said/posted).

Belle and Moonstone are both Autistic! Belle hyperfixates on various drinks and mixology as a whole naturally, but she also hyperfixates a lot on other random miscellaneous stuff like Star Wars, constellations, and types of flowers. Moonstone meanwhile hyperfixates on her scrapbooking and photography hobbies mainly, though she also has hyperfixated on animals - mainly dog breeds and bird types.

Panda the Cat from Chapter 22 looks kind of like a mix of these two cats.

Memphis Belle is around in this AU, and she's like a wise old Aunt to the AV Trainyard. She and Poppa are old racing besties, and she's also his emotional support while he tries to find his missing-in-action wife (Momma).

The moment they get their freedom Post-Chapter-30, Ampera gets explorative and adventurous pretty much immediately; Hair extensions until her hair grows back to full length, cool shades, red hair dye, bracelets, anklets, the full 9 yards. The others in their group take a little more time.

Galvanic is the most socially stunted out of the Electric Engines, mainly because they only very recently got a bit of common sense and grounding to reality via losing the Wembley Yard race and also the Electric Storm Arc.

"Star-Touched" is a term across Vehiclefolks (but primarily the Trainfolks) for those who have been met in some way by the Starlight Express. Those in the main cast who've been Star-Touched are Rusty and Corry (of course), Charge (happened in her side-fic I wrote), Dustin and Hydra (being visited by The Starlight to go help Rusty/Corry respectively), and Electra as of Chapter 30.

Movie Nights started sometime after the Championships by Dinah and Rusty as an attempt to help everybody get along a bit better after the Championships and start forming friendships.

Just Dance is the equivalent of Monopoly for the cast - Competition ensues, everyone gets VERY into it, chaos breaks out as everyone tries to beat one another's scores.

Thundercab likes giving nicknames to everyone. It started teasingly with Corry and affectionately with Dolly, but it turned into just a habit she has with everyone.

Purse likes those old 2010-2012 internet memes and that's how he bonded more with some of the AV Trainyard crew.

The Freight love piercings the most out of the cast - Slick, Hydra, Lumber, and Porter all have their ears pierced, and Slick also has a nose piercing she sometimes has in, while Flat-Top just has a lot of piercings in general as do the Hoppers. The Rockies have a few piercings, but they have to take them out or put tape over them often so they don't come out during their sport activities.

How much would I break people's hearts if I said that Radial is heavily implied to be inspired by, if not outright related to, OLC Wrench, the version of Wrench prior to the character getting the helmet addition? That's why her hair is described as "once red and fiery curls" in Chapter 21. As shown in her eventual post-arc design I did here, her hair won't be the same for a long time due to having to bleach her hair regularly as per the other R.C Branch's regulations, but she will gradually regain SOME of the curly red colour - Whether it returns fully to its full fiery glory is uncertain.

^ The same goes for Hardwire! His hair is actually naturally a dark grey/black, just like Killerwatt's and Krupp's, but constant bleaching per regulation rules has damaged it just like Radial's hair has been damaged. He'll get his colour back too though.

[isabelofespero]

Cyberchase Retcons: The Northern Frontier

A word of advice: Don't look too deep into the worldbuilding of Cyberchase. When a show has been running for 22 years, there are going to be retcons. The lore has been whatever the writers have needed it to be for a long time.

So anyways I'm going to look too deep into the worldbuilding of Cyberchase.

The show's pivot into environmental science has led to some of interesting retcons. One of which is the layout of the Northern Frontier.

I believe the first time we see it outside of Hacker's Hangar is in "The Flying Parallinis," where we see Mount Wayupthere.

A few episodes later we get to see the kids explore the Northern Frontier in "On the Line." It's pretty much what you'd expect to see from Hacker's home.

We have a creepy desert

A forest of dead trees

And we get a bird's eye view

It's very obvious that the Northern Frontier is a bleak, creepy wasteland. Even when later seasons sent the kids back there, the new locations they added mostly fit the same aesthetic.

"Blowin in the Wind" gives us these spots

They're not quite as barren-looking as the season five episode's locations, but they still look like they fit. They were at least putting effort into making sure the Northern Frontier was cohesive.

And then "Hacker Hugs a Tree" happens. We've gone for 11 seasons with the Northern Frontier being a barren wasteland. As I mentioned at the start, the pivot towards environmental science led to retcons. Here's one of them

Behold the new Northern Frontier

A bleak, barren wasteland. Oh, and also the Cyber Redwoods apparently.

Yeah, 1/3 of the site is now a lush forest. This episode is fun because the characters actually point out the retcons. Matt says he didn't think there was anything on the Northern Frontier just before the picture is shown.

Later we get to hear Hacker talk about his backstory, where he arrives alone and seeks comfort in the trees. Digit then say "I don't buy it."

Now according to the "How it all started" comics, Digit arrived on the Northern Frontier with Hacker. The show never confirms this, but Digit definitely worked with Hacker at one point. In this episode, Hacker does take Buzz and Delete to the forest with him. So we can assume that Hacker would have taken Digit with him at some point too, right? So why doesn't Digit believe Hacker's story here? Something's not right.

The writers knew they were doing a massive retcon with this episode. They wouldn't have had Matt be surprised by the trees if they didn't. Digit is pointing out the fact that this episode does not align with the backstory he and Hacker are supposed to have.

I dunno, it's just funny to me that they take the time to point out the retcons here. They don't do it in "Watts of Halloween Trouble" a season prior. I know they add more locations to the Northern Frontier in at least one other episode, but I personally haven't seen it yet.

Maybe another time I'll go into how Hacker's backstory is a mess when you look at it. And maybe how the show's timeline is a mess(We've had four whole Halloween episodes).

I just wanted to ramble about this one little worldbuilding thing for a bit.

[agenericplaceholdername]

2024 Masterpost

With the start of 2025, I thought I’d compile some of my posts from 2024.

Theories

Why Jay and Nya Can Remember Skybound

Wu and Morro and the Allied Armor, oh my!

Frak's Pies and the Crystalized->Merge Time Jump

Without the Blood Moon, Ras Would Have Succeeded

Mistress Obscuria, Elemental Heritability, and the Ninjago Timeline

Long-ish Posts

This back and forth with @parachutingkitten outlines most of my thoughts on Dragons Rising S1-S2

The Five Endings of Ninjago

How Dragons Rising Handles the Ensemble

DRS2 v Dreamzzz YouTube Views

Were the Sacred Flutes Created During the Serpentine War?

Where did the Serpentine Come From?

The Tournament of Elements vs The Tournament of Sources

What Does "Shattering Goodness" Mean?

Why the FSM Lineage Shouldn’t Be Royalty

Would Kai be Overprotective of Wyldfyre?

DR S1 E1-5, S1 E6-10, S1 E11-15, S1 E16-20, S2 E1-5, and S2 E6-10 Thoughts

Ninjago Ideas Without "Wasted Potential"

Shorter posts

My Issue with "Snaketastrophy" (Harumi)

When Will the Live-Action Movie Release?

Rapton and Lloyd in DRS2E11

The Missing Moon

Wu's Growth from S1 to S15

Other

Election Night in Ninjago

Dinner at the Monastery

Video edits (the ones I'm most proud of)

Arin and the Ninja

Arin and the Ninja (ft. "Elements of Betrayal")

Sora and Jordana

Who Caused the Merge?

"The Fall of the Green Ninja"

"Princess" Vania

For the new year, I’ve got several longer analysis/criticism posts that I’ve been sitting on for some time, outlining how the Ice Chapter and Crystalized fail to live up to the ideas they set up, but also some of my potential changes. This is well trodden fandom ground, but I haven’t seen anyone suggesting what I’ve been thinking. Maybe I’ll finally finish those. 

Also looking at an analysis of Skybound (again, well covered) that covers a specific angle I also haven’t seen anyone discuss in depth (though considering how much discussion of Skybound exists, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had). 

Before DR S3P1 airs I’ll post my thoughts on DRS2P2, both episode by episode and an analysis of how S4 handles its mysteries better. Probably do some DRS3 predictions before the whole season gets leaked.

Last, I’m thinking about building on my “Election Night” post with a full deep dive into my (as canon-compliant as possible) look into what Ninjago politics might look like. Worldbuilding in Ninjago tends more toward fleshing out ancient lore, but I think the average citizen’s perspective to the events of the show is cool to think about. 

Will I get all this stuff done? Probably not, this list is more of a way to set goals. A lot of my earlier posts were clips with some of my own analysis. Those aren't gonna be gone but I'm definitely cutting back on them, mainly because I only have so many ideas. A new post a day with an accompanying video just wasn't sustainable. But if you’re interested in longer-form Ninjago analysis, feel free to follow and at some point it should show up in your feed! 

Here's some other stuff:

Favorite Ninja: Zane from S1-4, Lloyd from S8-present. 

Favorite Seasons: I’m a big fan of S1, S4, S8, S9, S14, and DRS1. Don’t think these are particularly hot takes. If I had to pick I’d go with S8 but could be persuaded otherwise

Started watching: Back in 2012 as S2 was airing

That’s all I’ve got! If you ever see a post of mine and disagree, please (constructively!) do so—would always welcome a dialogue. (and ofc if you agree or just like the post, feel free to like it or reblog or whatever is most comfortable.) I'm still fairly new to this site but this whole experience has been great.

[silverchronicler]

HELLO and thank you @potatos-are-best for taking my bait and encouraging me to talk about my ideas because I've been thinking about them on and off for like a year or so now

So. I think a lot about this game and specifically its worldbuilding, and my ideas revolve a lot around one thing:

Warframe is a game that is set up with one protagonist: You. All these cool interesting things happen To You specifically and You are the one who gets the cool rewards and is trusted by everyone.

But if You are the one with all the plot, then what's everyone else doing?

If there's theoretically somewhere between thousands to millions of Tenno in canon, what happens when eight of them show up to a distress call? What happens if four of them get involved in a quest? What if Ballas was confronted with twenty tenno that he had to throw into the void?? What if they DON'T all get thrown into the void? how does this change things?

And if so much knowledge from Orokin times has been lost, then what does Tenno culture look like now when all these young people become found and have chances to communicate again? What is New Tenno Culture?

I call it the Many Tenno Theory, or tentatively the Many Tenno AU. It's about the same as the lore of the game, but there's more variety in things, especially in quest stuff, because there's a lot of tenno all potentially able to get involved.

(this might be a little long so I might put some of it under a cut)

The only thing I have as NOT adapted for Many Tenno so far is Umbra, but I think that makes it more interesting. One Tenno gets Umbra, and goes through the majority of the Sacrifice, basically because he was the first one there. So like I have one Tenno who acts like he's The Protagonist, but he's not actually the protagonist of the story. Because it's about everyone else and multiple people who live different lives and how every Tenno has different experiences but they all live through these cornerstone events- second dream, the sacrifice, the new war- and how the story changes if different Tenno make different decisions.

I have.... fffffive? main Tenno characters I've got some fun in depth ideas for and a couple secondary characters but I imagine I'd make up a lot of casual characters for actually writing this because to me that's half the fun. And I don't have as much about their drifters yet but Duviri is another interesting can of worms that I've been thinking about.

Like, Duviri is very much set up around The Drifter being the one suffering the loop, and everyone else they knew is gone/somewhere else/mysteriously disappeared and they're taking on Dominus Thrax alone. But what if they're not totally alone? Where are the other Drifters? I've been playing with the idea of potentially the Drifters like, one person gets to play The Drifter at a time in a given loop, and the others are playing the roles of the Duvirians, or potentially multiple loops going on at the same time but sometimes they manage to sense each other in some way. They know others are Somewhere, they just can't access them much. But I think it'd also be interesting for the Drifters to be able to interact with each other somewhat, but not in the same way Tenno do with each other. So I'm still sort of playing around with that for What Happens In Duviri but I know there's an interesting answer there. What if they leave notes for each other in their loops? What if they work together to get one of them on the throne to free them all? What if they see the face of their friend behind a mask and know that they're not fully there because they're caught by the Storybook? How does this effect their relationships after they get out? I have a lot of thoughts, there's a lot of potential there for telling an interesting story.

That would also open the possibility of Drifters having different relationships between themselves than the Tenno do, and I think that could lead to some interesting dynamics.

I also like thinking a lot about like, Tenno creating a culture. Some people try to find out what Old Tenno Culture was like and recreate it, some people don't want to do that because that was heavily influenced by the Orokin, it would just be acting like their lapdogs again. People make clans and make little bases on planets, people hang out at relays and outside of Cetus and try to dig up the old forgotten secrets of the system before the Orokin rose to power. They align with different syndicates and adopt their philosophies, or don't. What kind of culture do they have? Do you think some clans get together in Orb Vallis for K-Drive rallies? For fun?? Do you think they do deep sea diving on Uranus to dig up old relics? How do you think the Tenno's personalities change after they've been awake for years and they get used to being People again? How do you think they have fun???

There's a lot to expand on here. I might start by describing some of my characters before I get into anything too specific but I've had a lot of ideas over time on some interesting events and ways to do things so if you have any questions I'd love to hear and answer them.

[grifff17]

Audio Drama Sunday 8/18/2024

There was so much new stuff this week. Midnight Burger, Worlds Beyond Number, World Gone Wrong, and Wanderer's Journal all release an episode every other Tuesday, and this Tuesday was that day. Then on Wednesday 3 actual play released new episodes. I didn't actually get through everything new this week, the rest will come next week.

NEW SHOW ALERT Starwhal: Odyssey, a spelljammer-inspired actual play from the cast of Skyjacks Couriers Call, is no longer Patreon exclusive! I really liked the first 2 episodes of this show, I love the way these people do collaborative storytelling. The little things like the rent collections robot and the streaming rat were so good. At the end of the episode, the mental vision of Saach teleporting into the gamer chair was so vivid. Also, I've never heard more revulsion in a credits sequence than them crediting Wizards of the Coast for the Spelljammer setting. I'm curious about the system they're going to move to for the later episodes.

In @midnightburgr I love the new set of characters, I bet the next spinoff series going to be the Paradise. However, they can’t keep ending episodes like this. I’ve never been happier to hear the sound of the diner jumping, but Ava and the Mucklewains are gone. At least this time Ava isn't totally alone in a jerry rigged space suit. And David is joining the main cast, at least for the rest of the season!

So much happens in every @worldsbeyondpod episode, and this one had even more than most. The audio design for the opening scene goes so hard, Taylor does such an incredible job. When listening to other APs, I can't help but compare them to WBN. The King of Night loredrop was insane, Orima is apparently sworn to him? I like how the core conflict - Witches and Spirits vs Wizards - is designed to create tension and strife between the PCs. I love the intrigue of this arc so much, but Ame lying to the coven was such a massive misstep. I still think my favorite part of the show might be whenever Suvi uses identify on something plot relevant. The smell of soap from Ursulon was so mean by Brennan, callbacks to the Children's Adventure like that always break me.

I didn’t realize the new season of @storiesfromylelmore was starting already, when I saw it pop up in my feed I went to bed early to go listen to it. Despite what Keryth says, her moms are super cool. Can't wait to learn more about them. Keryth’s parents giving her a magic item to make her quiet reminds me of a lot of my childhood. What my mom wouldn't have given for a silence bubble spell. There was so much worldbuilding in this episode, the quote “I don’t know what they do with them, but I think it’s better if they don’t have pieces of you” was terrifying. The final scene of the episode created such a vivid mental image, I could see the three of them in the backseat.

I also listened to ItMe's other show besides Ylelmore and InCo, Of Gods and Lanterns. It was short but sweet, with a total runtime of less than 30 minutes runtime. I really like the world, I would listen to 100 more episodes of this show.

I listened to parts 3 and 4 of the Spout Lore Critshow crossover. The Spout Lore cast on earth is so funny. The two shows really mesh so well together, this has to be the most "natural" crossover I've ever listened to.

The new season of Second Fiddles also started this week and woah the ending. I'm guessing that everyone forgot about Tammie, but Linus’s mom was unaffected because she was in the book. IIRC we've only met one character who can erase people memories, and she could only do it to one person at a time, not everyone, so I suspect 4th Wall/Macguffin shenanigans.

I also started The Cryptonaturalist this week. The tone of this show is so unique. I love the narrator. I also very quickly found that this is a perfect podcast to fall asleep to.

This post ended up really long this week. No judgement if people don't want to read the whole thing. Next week will be a lot shorter I think.

[ask-order-firebrand]

(After a while of scrambling out of the black depths of Blackrock’s underbelly, his eyes squint at the light of day flooding into his vision. Giving a hiss at how bright it was for him… how.. long has he been down there?… as soon as his eyes adjusted, he takes a small look around, did… everything usually look this wrecked?…)

(He.. can ponder about that later. He gives a sigh, his breath seen against the cold of the Blackrockian mountains, he was almost tempted to stare at the pale puff he gave out if he wasn’t so focused on getting out….)

(He trudged on, having passed the beast down below. He expected to be jumped by one of the others up above but…. He.. doesn’t?.. not a blue or pink glow to be seen, not that he would’ve seen them with how suddenly bright the uppermost layer of the facility was. Natural lighting was something he would to have to get used to again after being locked down in the basement for so long…)

(On his way out the facility, actually taking his time as he’s.. not exactly in the state to be running at this moment, he managed to grab a phone! Not.. his preferred method of communication but it will do- especially since now his hands can’t burn anything.)

(X1 phone has been added to your inventory!)

(He can now send and receive messages!)

ACHIVEMENT UNLOCKED:

THE DRAGON AND THE PHONE: Obtain a phone, are you SURE you can use it well?

[mothscribe]

a return, soft and unfinished

It’s been a long time since I used this space.

Some of you might remember when I was trying to build a game by myself — and how quickly that started eating me alive. I had the world, the vision, the ghosts. But doing it alone burned me out. I disappeared. Quietly.

For a while, I thought that might be it. That I’d just lost whatever made me capable of making anything.

But lately, things have started shifting. Slowly. Unevenly. Not in some grand, magical way — just… finally getting the help I should’ve had a long time ago.

And that help? It’s been changing me. I’m not fixed. I’m not finished. But I’m healing. And healing means I can return to the thing that’s been waiting for me for over a decade.

Thesha.

A world where gods remember. Where devotion can undo you. Where memory is sacred and nothing stays buried for long.

It’s the story that lives under my skin. The one that never left, even when I did.

It’s a world that’s gone through many versions and names — many failed attempts to shape it into something that actually matched the thing in my head.

But now, finally, it’s forming into something real.

So I’m back here now. Not to perform. Not to hustle. Just to share. To make. To remember.

You’ll find:

lore fragments and divine profiles

worldbuilding notes and rambling

thoughts on storytelling, belief, and the slow work of returning

maybe some unhinged things about gods, obsession, and the psychology of being known too deeply

and whatever else leaks through the cracks

If you’re still here, thank you.

If you’re new, welcome.

If you’re also trying to claw your way back into the work that made you feel alive, I see you.

Here’s to building slowly, softly, sacredly.

Thread by thread.

[ark-inkweaving]

Happy WBW! In Revolve, what makes the world "dark fantasy" to you? What aspects of stereotypical fantasy have you included/excluded to achieve this and why? Alternatively, just ramble about your favourite "dark" piece of Revolve worldbuilding :)

happy WBW to you, and thanks for the ask!

ngl, a decent chunk of the dark fantasy in Revolve comes from the story and characters themselves. pick any other cast of character in a different situation and things are... not idyllic, but fairly neutral. however, as my worldbuilding is the "set up" for the story and characters, there is a lot of dark stuff under the surface. and the ground is soft once you start digging

i think the starting point from which i darken the world is actually the magic system. people's elemental resonance can change, and it would be totally out of their control. most magic that isn't elemental is really difficult, rather than used careleslly. if you see someone using their magic for simple things, they're fucking powerful

and then, in addition to that, there's the whole issue of the gods. they're not guiding lights and they're not beacons of hope. for starters, Venmar, the Void, is an actual threat to the Universe. its magic is unstable and spreads quickly, and that spells a rapid death for anyone that doesn't have the means to contain it, even though it is not evil itself. even so, any possible involvement of the Void and it's creatures is breeding ground for fear and resentment. it's the entire reason why the people of Izerko are so disliked on the other Realms

the Elder Gods — the most powerful aside from Void and Universe and only ones that had, at some point cared for mortals — are gone. two of them were banished into the Void and... well Vehile, Life, may not be dead in spirit, but her physical body is and it has been possesed by Death. so that's not much better

as for the Great Forces, they're more akin to Cthulhu or Yig in lovecraftian lore, if those had a job. their true forms could drive a mortal mad, and the only reason they don't (usually) show them is just that it's impractical. they hold neither love nor hatred for mortal lives, and only care to keep the Universe safe. which means that they only really work together out of practicality, and will often inderectly influence humans to do their bidding

and then the Livi are a case study in horror. they can't be killed, because they have no physical body to harm. instead they will "possess" a sapient host and slowly take over their body much in the same way a parasite does. you can either learn to live and cooperate with them, or be locked away in your own body, never to take conscience again

something very similar happens to my authority figures and their relative kingdoms/empires/nations. there isn't an evil emperor; Wytia is a magnanimus ruler with a protective streak over his people, but he's naive and doesn't really plan for the long run. there isn't a one true king; Lukiat is a mediator by title, and when he gains power due to the state of emergency he exists in a constant loop of "how far is too far?". the Opal Queen is benevolent and kind and has lied and turned a blind eye to many crimes for the sake of her people. every country has its own criminal landscape, and there isn't one that is worse than the other. they're all the same

basically, i don't work as much with or without the "classic elements" as much as i twist them. it makes for a far more eerie and unsettling experience. and that works really well for the tone i'm going for

❊

✵ Revolve Taglist ✵ @corinneglass @aalinaaaaaa

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

Short Story Masterlist!

These are all my longer short stories :) Enjoy!

The Unwanted Visitor: (Completed)

Aida's house has been haunted by a spirit for as long as she can remember. Thing is, she's grown used to her Unwanted Visitor (or Vis, as she likes to call him). So when exorcists come after him, she does what any sane person would: protect her brother friend.

↪ Urban fantasy-comedy, very light-hearted

↪A lot of found family and sibling squabbling

↪If you like teens causing chaos, this is for you!

↪Final bit here

A Perfectly Normal Schoolgirl: (Completed)

All Katherine wants is to eat mortal food, bask in the warmth, and be a normal schoolgirl. But when a boy begs her to help him save her parents, she finds herself fighting for her (and his) life once more.

↪Urban fantasy with a side of horror

↪ Basically an inversion of a bunch of tropes

↪My attempt at writing fantasy without mentioning magic by name

↪Full thing here

The False Oracles (completed)

Rinather needs to save the world. He's a Hero, after all. And Heroes get help from wise old Oracles. Except these Oracles have other plans.

↪ Urban fantasy

↪ Lots of fourth wall breaking, I'm quite pleased with it

↪ Full thing here

Convenience Store Vampire: (Completed)

You'd expect vampires to be imposing and terrifying, masters of the night and princes of darkness. But that's not Davie, no siree. He's stuck down by Sunny Mart, working all day to scrape by. The last thing he wants is any trouble. Unfortunately for him, that's exactly what he's getting.

↪Silly urban fantasy shenanigans

↪ What it says on the tin + slice of life

↪Full thing here

Ciaran's Wonderful Day Out

A sequel of sorts to Convenience Store Vampire. Ciaran just wants to get through his day. Unfortunately, the Exorcists are convinced he robbed a bank. The evidence? A video of him committing the crime, seemingly realistic. There's just one problem: He's a vampire. He doesn't show up on cameras.

↪ Equally wacky slice of fantasy shenanigans

↪ You don't gotta read CSV but it features partially the same cast :3

↪ Latest bit here

A Tale for A Mouse: (Completed)

Who doesn't like to listen to evil old dark lords monologue about their childhood? Take a seat and come hear the story of the Spirit Emperor, as told by the man himself!

↪Cannibalism. Lots of it. World building too :D

↪High fantasy told via monologue

↪I cannot stress how proud I am of this.

↪Full thing here

A Straightforward and Simple Task

Set in the same time as A Tale For A Mouse, Captain Cefalin of the Spirit Emperor's Royal Guard has been ordered to perform an impossible assault on the most impenetrable fortress of the great and mighty Godhuntress. Why?

↪ A story about good people doing good things, which is unusual for me

↪ High fantasy that reads like a weird western

↪ Latest bit here

Fast Food:

An embarrassment to his entire tribe, Hash is lazy and uninterested in anything. So, when he reaches majority, he gets unceremoniously booted out of home. Follow his adventures through Triworld, as he somehow ends up in every single single conflict across the continent.

↪High fantasy with a side of humour

↪Very heavy Lore™ and Worldbuilding™

↪ My excuse to ramble about fictional history

↪Latest bit here :) Also have @/illarian-rambling's rendition of Hash and her OC Elsind!

Lich-Queen (Completed):

Iraela has all but won: the King of Ceredell and his bride are gone, the cities fallen to her army of undead, and the way to the throne cleared for her. But her coronation, and her sanity threaten to fall apart under the weight of duty. Can she hold it together until she truly becomes Lich-Queen?

↪High, dark fantasy with some horror and gore

↪Watch Ira slowly lose her mind in real-time

↪If you like cannibalism, you'll love this

↪Full thing here, and here is fanart the lovely @/vampirelover890 drew?

The Wanderer: A series of short stories about the trains that take you to impossible places, and two women trapped in them. A deeply atmospheric story that I've since abandoned, though I may start them up again.

↪ Fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk, and everything in between.

↪ An ode to escapism

↪ Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Impossibility, Home, Homesick

The Saga of Maizen, Shatterer of Worlds

Maizen fell into the Void long ago. She's not the same woman she once was. Rage flows through her veins, tattooing her with silver strength. Is that a bad thing? There's not enough of her left to remember. Abandoned

↪ High Fantasy

↪ Rage, The Serpent: part 1, Part 2, Part 3

[swankitty]

The Shadow of What Was Lost Halfway Point Review - Chapter 32

At the halfway point of this book, my current opinion summed up is that I’m entertained, but not particularly invested. Organizing my thoughts in this post. Spoilers ahead.

By the end of Chapter 32, which is approximately right after the main travelling group escapes Deilannis, Davian time travels into the past, and Asha is kidnapped by (and then escapes from) the Shadraehin goons. By this point in the story, all POV characters (I assume) have been introduced and gotten screentime, the plot is properly unfolding, and more and more plot threads are being introduced and teased. We are starting to get a sense of all the different factions and parties of interest and how they fit against each other.

I’m enjoying the plot developments so far. It feels like a pretty standard fantasy journey/save the world plot, but there are enough interesting things being thrown into the mix. The time travel plot threads, the mystery of the Boundary, some good old visions of the future, the promise of future politicking. I like the threat of the sha’teth, and the introduction of more fantastical creatures that aren’t just humans. This book definitely started to hit its stride around Chapter 11-12, and the characters have started to settle too. I’ll talk more about the characters later.

Something interesting is that most secrets have not been kept for long – I can’t tell if I enjoy or am annoyed by the fact that people are being so (relatively) honest and truthful with each other. Asha agreeing to the Shadraehin’s deal, then near-immediately agreeing to turncoat and trust the Northwarden after he tells her about Wirr, Wirr explaining his identity to the party, Taeris explaining the secret connection between him and Davian (and the truth of their first encounter). Malshash’s openness toward answering most of Davian’s questions. I know that each of these has in-universe explanations. The main travelling party also seems to be composed of good people who don’t really have ulterior motives against other members, amnesia and suspicious backstories notwithstanding. (Taeris…I’m still not entirely sure what he deal is? His goals seem to be a) sever or do something about his connection with Davian and b) sound the alarm about the Boundary/prepare to repair or defend it. I’m not really sure if he has another goal that has been hinted towards and not revealed yet). However…it almost feels like the trust has come too easy. I know that mechanically we’ve gone through the steps of distrust -> learning about each other -> life & death situations -> coming clean, but emotionally the payoff just doesn’t hit.

Of course, people are still keeping secrets and there are still mysteries to be solved (wtf is up with Malshash), but there’s been multiple confession scenes of people spilling the beans about something or another. It’s an way to avoid the miscommunication/keeping-secrets-leading-to-disaster trope I guess? I would like to see something happen with this in the future. I want to see real payoff from this trust that’s been given, either it being affirmed by the narrative as a reason that things don’t go to shit, or it being a reason for things to fall apart.

I’m not well versed in fantasy/high fantasy. The worldbuilding and magic system feels rather typical to me, with magic being packaged under a different name and special rules. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and I’m not particularly wow’d by any of the lore surrounding the Gifted. This is fine in isolation, but there were some points where I felt that the “rules” for Gifted magic didn’t have much consistency, and Essence/Augur abilities could do whatever was needed to advance the plot. I think the point of Augur abilities (visions of the future, plus what seems to be unique abilities for each person) is that they are varied and powerful, which made them so dangerous to the old world order, but…hmm. It just felt a little strange. There was a whole infodump about how Essence is magic that can interact with physical space (while Kan is a step outside of that, using something else to interact with the physical space), but outside of fighting and blasting spells I don’t really have an impression of what Gifted magic can really do, or what exactly is special about it. I may just be too unfamiliar with this sort of worldbuilding?

The most promising and interesting aspect about this book is the time travel. We’ve only just started to see it integrate into the story – Davian’s trip into Deilannis’s past, future!Davian meeting Asha. I hope it becomes more and more relevant! I do love me themes about cyclic fates and breaking out of predestined futures (or being doomed by them!). I’ve read a review or two talking about the time travel, so (perhaps to my detriment), I have high hopes for it. I want to see satisfying time travels looping into each other, I want to see pasts and futures intersecting at points that make everything fall into place.

About the characters…I can feel that the author has made a conscious effort to create well-rounded characters with nuance and depth. I do not know if he entirely succeeded. This may also be a side effect of the writing style of this book, which reads as a little flat to me. Technically, the writing gets the job done. There are emotional beats that develop the characters, I’m pulled through the plot and location changes without too much trouble understanding things, and the mysterious and secrets left untold do compel me to continue reading to see where the plot is headed. But, I’m still not particularly invested in any of the characters beyond a standard curiosity for what will happen to them.

So far, I feel like Wirr has been fleshed out the most. We see him grappling with his identity, his self-guilt, the burdens of his future responsibilities, and all this at least makes for a character that has interesting traits and potential for being front-and-center of a politicking plotline. Due to his identity, he can have interesting interactions with people outside the main cast – the princess, the swordsman/sister duo sent as guards to accompany them, and in the future any royalty the party comes across. The other characters currently haven’t shown much of this potential at all.

Asha is kind of just…there. Things seem to simply be happening to her. Being made a Shadow, being carted to that first Tol to be traumatized, then to the castle to be a pawn in someone else’s game, and then being kidnapped to be traumatized again. I think her mental strength is being showcased here, as well as her grief and worries that try to flesh her out as a rounded character, but I’m not picking up on much else from her. I really hope she gets more time to shine and develop.

Davian is…the main character I Guess. Going from a naive kid to learning more about The World and his Chosen One Destiny is…fine, I guess, but nothing about him particularly compels me yet. His grief for Asha isn’t lingered upon, so I didn’t even get the sense that he’s pulling himself together for the sake of Moving Forward. His natural curiosity and stubbornness is a strong trait (reading all those books while at school, being excited about the Deilannis library & learning about Kan), but that alone isn’t interesting enough for me to care much about him.

Caeden…is also currently at He’s Okay I Guess. He at least has a mysterious backstory going for him! And how his Tal’Kamar life and his history with Aarkein Devaed will come into play. But as “Caeden”, I don’t feel much about him at all. There was a little bit of him also struggling with self-guilt and self-loathing, but there was no lasting emotional impact. I believe that at his point he’s had much fewer POV chapters, so perhaps my opinion will change in the future.

And one final musing. I have not really been keeping up with the Proper Nouns in this book and am heavily relying on context clues to remember the importance of most of them. I have been studying the map every so often when what sounds like a particularly important location is being mentioned, but there are still some words that I could not explain if if I saw them by themself. I blame this on my unfamiliarity with high fantasy, and also my bad memory, I don’t think this is a failing of the book. So far, the book has been pretty kind with introducing new terms/using established ones for skill issue readers like me.

This is the author’s debut novel, and it’s an ambitious one at that. The writing and narrative definitely show a lot of promise, and I’ve seen people say that book two only gets better. I’ll decide if I want to keep on reading after finishing book 1!