#Imm sorry for the long post I’m on mobile and I apparantly don’t know my password anymore

[parasite-core]

@aggressivewolfstarshipper Thank you so much for the OC questions :) I hope you don’t mind I answer them here, it got a bit long to answer in chat.

When does each OC go to bed?

Aiden: Is a morning person by necessity. He goes to bed early and gets up early. He had a lot of work to do daily, starting early and lasting for much of the day. He would fish early in the morning at dawn, help with mending tools and making new ones, and lend a hand with farming or hunting when needed.

Lyra: Is a deep sleeper who would be a night owl and late riser if she could get away with it, but is generally woken up early to help with chores around the house, sewing and mending, and taking care of the animals.

Ceron: Huge night owl. He loves nothing more than the quiet hours in the dead of night when nothing is expected of the few people still awake, and he can peacefully read his books or work on his research uninterrupted.

Dawn: Neither a night owl nor an early bird by virtue of living underground with no sense of day or night. Her people simply sleep when they’re tired. The fact that different people have different natural sleep cycles works in their favor, since some people will always be awake when others are asleep, so there’s always someone with eyes open for a possible Diaske attack.

Where do they live?

I’m going off where they grew up, because a few of them end up unable to return home early in the story so some of this changes early on.

Aiden and Lyra: The Valentia siblings grew up in a small coastal village called Grymora. It’s a self sufficient little village that doesn’t have much contact with the larger cities to the north due to the danger Diaske raiding parties present to travelers moving between towns. Much of their livelihood is made from fishing and farming.

The village is kept safe from the Diaske raids because once a decade they draw lots and sacrifice a dozen people between the ages 16-60 by throwing them into the Abyss for the Diaske to take. These sacrifices keep the Diaske appeased. It’s considered the highest act of cowardice to run away from your duty if you’re chosen, and it’s also the most noble act to volunteer to be chosen. Those who volunteer exempt the rest of their family from the lot for that decade’s drawing, and this is often chosen by people nearing 60 who don’t want to put their younger family members in the line of danger.

They’re led by a council of elders, who are all people who have lived past the age to be eligible for sacrifice. ‘Strangely’ it seems some families make it to this age more often than others, which has created an unofficial ruling class within the village.

Ceron: Ceron grew up in the largest human city on the continent Tymprase. It’s been able to reach a higher level of prosperity than the smaller villages because it’s under the direct protection of the Twilisk, who keep the Diaske raiders at bay. Unlike the smaller towns, people in Tymprase can travel to trade with other human settlements, as followers of the Order of Twilight can get members of the Twilisk to escort them safely outside the city walls. The city is dedicated to learning, science, and the growth of humanity.

In exchange for their protection, the people of Tymprase follow the edicts of the Twilisk. While the majority of people in town are just regular people going about their business and casually following the Twilisk as much or little as they feel is socially acceptable, there’s a very large portion of people fully dedicated to the teachings of the Twilisk, and anyone with any sway in the city is a follower. The Order of Twilight is the most powerful group in town, the Shineblood at the head of the city’s temple is the closest thing to a ruler they have. The goal of members of the temple is to master themselves enough to be seen as worthy to ascend by the Twilisk, to be taken to the Isle of Twilight to become Shineblooded themselves, and return as something more than human. Only a select few have ever been chosen, and even fewer have ever returned, but the promise of self actualization and power beyond human comprehension keeps people reaching for this goal.

Dawn: Dawn is from The Abyss. Specifically a small settlement called Jra’Starr, settled by Shadowblooded rebels who call themselves Elves, in reference to an ancient story of a race of immortals said to have been sent by the Twilisk at the dawn of time to drive the Diaske to the Abyss. This settlement is made up of former humans who became trapped in the Abyss for one reason or another, and who eventually succumbed to becoming Shadowblooded out of their hatred and desire for revenge against the Diaske in the Abyss who tortured and hunted them at every turn. They took the name of those who bested the Diaske once before, and swore to become the avengers of humanity within the Abyss. The majority of them have no desire to return to the surface anymore, in part because they fear their new forms will be hideous to former loved ones, and in part because their desire to destroy the Diaske has become so integral to their being that the idea of leaving the fight to return home isn’t even an option in their minds.

Jra’Starr has little in the way of commerce or sustenance, as a rogue settlement in the heart of the Abyss. The elves primarily scavenge and hunt for food, although there are some edible fungi and roots that they’ve cultivated within their village to help ease the need for dangerous scavenging missions. All members of the elven people old enough to learn a weapon are trained as warriors and hunters by necessity, as they’re a small settlement in the heart of enemy territory, always one attack away from being wiped out.

Which ones have mental disorders they refuse to address?

This is a tough one, in part because these characters haven’t fully settled so answers to something like this might change, in part because I’m not neurotypical so I don’t think I’ve ever written a single wholly neurotypical character in my life (although I don’t always have the knowledge to say what a character would have in reality if they were to be diagnosed with something), and in part because of the setting. They’re not in a setting where mental disorders are treated well, especially in the human society, so even if they knew and had the right language for it, it would be difficult to seek legitimate help. A lot of this is because of humanity following the Twilisk, who believe emotions are a weakness and a poison, so many mental disorders are waved off by followers of the Path of Twilight as the person’s weakness and inability to better control their mental state, rather than being taken seriously as something they have no control over.

For instance Lyra and Aiden’s mother has severe depression, but is considered anywhere from lazy to cursed rather than being given the sympathy and help she needs, and as a result Lyra ends up in some difficult situations without her mother’s help, because her mother isn’t in a fit mental state to be the mother Lyra needs. This also causes Lyra and Aiden to mask any similar symptoms they might have, in fear of being treated the same, which wears on a person over time.

Ceron has a lot going on in his head and wouldn’t go looking for help for any of it. He was raised in the Order of Twilight temple, so he was submerged from a young age in the teachings that emotions are dirty evil things that humanity needs to purge to ascend to greater heights. He isn’t good at controlling and masking his emotions at all, he wears his heart on his sleeve whether he wants to or not, which causes him a lot of self loathing and guilt, because he’s trying his hardest to live up to the Twilisk’s edicts but still falling short. He feels like anywhere from a failure to a monster depending on the day, which makes him try even harder to hide his feelings, which in turn inevitably leads to his emotions exploding when it’s too much and him circling back around to feeling terrible about ‘losing control’.

Aiden and Ceron both have some level of anxiety. Ceron’s is more generalized anxiety, while Aiden’s is more about how others view him. Aiden has a great deal of self doubt he masks by trying to act tougher and braver than everyone else, because it tears him apart to even think someone might think he’s a coward like his father. Lyra and Aiden both have some level of abandonment issues from their father leaving. Aiden shows it more, becoming a bit clingy with people he gets close to and stressing when they leave, whereas Lyra bottles it up and gets distant when she starts getting scared she’s going to be abandoned. Essentially beat them to the punch of cutting ties, make it on her own terms in her perception.

Dawn is probably the most well adjusted of the main cast, but she was still taught as a child how to be a warrior and that fighting the Diaske is the most noble cause she should always strive for, so there’s definitely still some issues there. Probably some PTSD from fighting and killing from a young age, and a bit of a dangerous hero complex, if nothing else.