#MOTHER. ███ 夜曲 ⋮ i could sleep inside the cold of you.

[vantablade]

❚ ⋮ ☆ 006: O’ wingless bird

@the27percent asks: Death ー describe a time she felt she lost a major part of herself?

There is a scene in my mindーa trauma of the grand, theatrical and severe sortーthat played as soon as I read this prompt, but alas because it is very spoilery I can’t quite say what happens. This may change if I consider making a ‘verse dependent on it, but we’ll see. For now, just know that there are few things that make her feel loss like betrayal, for though she knows that while death is inevitable, a death brought earlier than what seems to be naturalーespecially if carried on the betrayer’s bladeーis something that devastates her. Again, it ties into her rejection of power and control, but it also strikes her as profoundly cruel, and while she is no stranger to ruthlessness, witnessing cruelty in such extremes does upset the still-present innocence within her. Cruelty hurts, and it never stops hurting herーshe never becomes desensitized to the presence of evil, rather than it seems to happen in reverse; she, at first, is convinced of only evil, and when introduced to the presence of real and genuine good, the idea of evil becomes far more abstract to her. Witnessing this betrayal, it threatens to send her back into that dark and unreachable place of worldly distrust. 

But, in an event that has already happened at this blog’s current timeline, and one I don’t mind talking about, is the dewinging, inflicted upon her by Ryuko Ametsuchi, Kazumi’s righthand woman. This occurred when Nocturne was eighteen years old, which is the age in which she fully challenged and confronted her mother. Her mother is entirely deluded by a God Complex, as I mentioned before, and her fatal flaw is hubrisーso, when her daughter (upon whom her entire plan is orchestrated around and dependent on) challenges her, rather than nipping it in the bud and utilizing protective precautions for her grand scheme, she indulges her. Why? Because it’d be more funーnothing would amuse her more than the breaking of Nocturne’s spirit, and her worship would be inevitable due to the fact she would have no hope left. In a way, Kazumi is influenced by iconic villains such as Hannibal Lecterーparticularly Mads Mikkelsens’ portrayal, in Bryan Fuller’s Hannibalーdue to the fact her actions are often influenced by whimsy. 

So, Nocturne challenges her: she can escape, and if her mother cannot find her within the month, she has no claim over her body, her soul, her lifeー she forfeits her duty as Prophet, and in turn has freedom to do as she wishes. This, of course, negates her role as Heir, and makes her functionally a political nobody, but Nocturne has no interest in games of politics nor is she particularly interested in being a monarch, especially a monarch who is so obviously controlled. It would be a Gilded Cage situation. Kazumi laughs in the face of Nocturne’s challengeー it is so cute, how generous she is. A month, when the High King is convinced that Nocturne won’t even last an hour. Of course, there is a limitation: Kazumi cannot use her sound manipulationーher control over which is immenseーto bring Nocturne back, since the likes of which would be close to “cheating” due to the fact all Umushi under the rule of a High King are particularly susceptible to their Monarch’s song. 

This does give Nocturne a fighting chance, which is also what Kazumi wants (again, she doesn’t want an easy victoryーshe’d rather Nocturne believe she has a chance and have it ripped from her), and so she escapes. A customary hour of a head start is given, but Kazumi has a secret weapon: a [redacted] that Nocturne is entirely unaware of, who goes by the name of RYUKO AMETSUCHI, and is a relentless, brutal woman. Unbeknownst to Nocturne, this Ryuko is a pyrokinetic Umushiーa thing of which had never existed beforeーand she is unstoppable, torturous and sadistic. She intends to bring Nocturne back to Kazumi, but broken, sufficiently. 

Now, don’t get me wrongーat age eighteen, Nocturne is powerful. Her whole life has been devoted to becoming powerful, at becoming an incredible swordswoman with a fantastic grasp of aquakinesis and combat strategy, as well as her hidden ability to create a pocket dimension, but Ryuko is surprising. There’s an element about Ryuko that I can’t describe here, but know that it deeply unsettled Nocturne and threw her entirely off her game. She is still so naive, and it really was her Achilles’ heel in this battleーwhich effectively was a curbstomp battle, because had it not been intervened by the Coven of the Underbelly of the World (or just Unders), Nocturne would have been brutalised beyond belief and taken back to her mother to recuperate.

[tw for the following paragraph: mentions of graphic violence!] 

However, they did not intervene early enough to prevent Ryuko from tearing open Nocturne’s back with a blade, deep enough into the muscle and sinew to puncture through her Glamour and reach into the very essence of herself. Note that Umushi have thin, almost indetectable lines in their backs to allow wings to slide in and out of, and that these slots where what Ryuko puncturedーexceptionally vulnerable places, and it was an utter and total betrayal of their likenesses. No Umushi before had ever been violated in such a way, and the idea of it being because of each other, their family, was madnessーsacrilege! And yet, it occurred. Ryuko not only sawed off the immensity of her wings, but cauterised the wound so that no depth of healing could allow her Glamour to recover or grow againーshe only has, in her essential form, burnt, rotted stumps, from which only poor copies can grow from, rotted and mutilated and useless. 

This loss was awfulー she literally lost a part of herself, but she also went through a brutal torturous event. She fully almost died, and had she not been saved by the Unders, she would have only survived due to her mother, which would have fostered codependency (Kazumi’s modus operandi) and eliminated all of her autonomy. It was a difficult thing to process, because often it is easy to believe you still love your abuser (and they love you, even despite the cruelty), but that action was so intense that it decimated it. Nocturne believed she lived in a loveless world, and is currently still afflicted by chronic pain. Thankfully, she no longer believes in a loveless world, but she still has an intimate understanding of violence and evil. An innocence was lost, one that had survived even the loss of her eye, and it is doubtful she will ever return to that place of innocence again. 

[vantablade]

❚ ⋮ ☆ 008: Names & Identity

Nocturne, as I’ve written before, is an adopted name. It is inherited by her ship, the Atlas Nocturne, a cargo ship in the Atlas fleet (ultimately under the command of High Commander Clarion Crux). Referenced in that headcanon is the fact that she, prior, did not have a name. Her mother, Kazumi Ametsuchi, never gave her one; to name something, in the philosophy of the brute High King, is to give something power... to give it an identity, a direction, a path. There is a reason that everyone is inspired to search the meaning of their name, to see if it fits, or why parents are so fixated on the ‘perfect name’ for their childー they avoid names of past lovers, of high school bullies, of annoying coworkers, of abusive family members. Why some children are given names to honour their parents’ loved ones. On some subconscious level, we recognise that there is energy in a name. In Numerology, there is the belief that one can predict or decipher a soul’s purpose through the numerical value of a name. 

Kazumi did name her other children; befitting names, too: her Oracle, Hitomi, was named after the quality of her eyes (and thus, her sightー though technically, her oracular abilities are not done through literal sight, only metaphorically), and her heir was named Kimiko, noble child. Ryuko, the most unusual of Umushi, was named after her draconic features (when Umushi typically have avian attributes). Names are typically important in Umushi culture, but not overwhelmingly so; usually, they are named after some sort of musical skill, some power, or a bird. Kazumi’s own name means “beautiful melody”, and it only seems appropriate that her command over sound, including her own voice, is one of the most impressive for a long time. However, each of these had a purpose, a philosophy: Hitomi was to be her eyes, Kimiko to be her heir, and Ryuko to be her “Dragon” (a common trope archetype referring to the Villain’s right-hand). Nocturne was never to have a purpose except to be an extension of Kazumi’s own self, the equivalent of a weaponー her having an independent identity was never part of the plan. Hence why she was raised in isolation, whereas her siblings were allowed (to some extent) to socialize. Nocturne’s autonomy was robbed from her, as much as her eye, wings and name was.

But though she was hardly a Mother (more a God in her own perception), she expressed a cruel version of maternal affection through patronising nicknames: 〝little bird＂most commonly, apt considering the birdcage she was essentially raised in. At times, she referred to her as her Prophet; in Kazumi’s mind, the Prophet was an idol for a deity, a carrier and messenger of her message. That is all she intended Nocturne to be. As it was, for many yearsーQuadracosm begins its narrative when Nocturne is eighteenーNocturne is nameless, often referred to in vague terms that usually call into play the only known facet of her identity: the Prince, the Ametsuchi, the one-eyed girl... none attempt to give unto her a name, for she doesn’t take too kindly to nicknames (at least as much as she expresses). It was only when she discovered the Atlas Nocturne, and the Cthylle Captains’ philosophy, that she finally, finally had a name for herself.

But I’ll say this. Nocturne is not the last name she will ever have. 

[vantablade]

❚ ⋮ ☆ 007: Of Heaven & Earth

Ametsuchi is comprised of “rain” (Ame) and “Earth” (tsuchi), and while can literally be read as “rain earth” is more commonly read as “Heaven and Earth”ー alternatively interpreted as the Universe. The name represents the Ametsuchis being the first clan to unite Earthlings with a native alien species (humanーand othersーwith the Living Sea).

TL;DR : The Ametsuchi clan are synonymous with their species (the Umushi), and are headed by Kazumi, the High King. Once, their numbers were great; but after the High King massacred most, and experimented on the survivors until only a handful remained, they are now more desolate than they had ever been. Typically, they are regarded as enigmatic, odd and inevitable. Kazumi’s violence has not harmed her public relations, and instead she is adored, due to class tension and clever manipulation. But rebellion stirs from within.

Nocturne belongs to the Ametsuchi familyーthe singular royal family of Izanami, with a unique tie to the Living Sea. Each and every single Ametsuchi (bar one) is an Umushi, and the circumstances for how this species came into existence is laid out in the referenced headcanon. There areーas of this pointーno noble families within Izanami besides the Ametsuchi family, because once upon a time they were entirely, utterly dominant. They had been widespread, with various branches that dictated their proximity to the throne, and thus their power. Some had barely been related, but were known by their clan name due to the fact that it was synonymous with their species. However, since the Massacre that took place long before Nocturne’s time, the family has never been smallerーexcept in its genesisーand this is all due to the fact her Motherーthe current High King of Izanamiーstaged a coup d’etat in alliance with another planet that rendered the majority of its people null, thrown to the mercy of the sea. A treacherous event of this level had never before occurred, and it sent a cultural shockwave throughout the country. What Ametsuchi that were not slaughtered indiscriminately bent the knee, but most of them succumbed to a fate worse than death due to Kazumi’s experimentations with Chaos Magic. 

Chaos Magic is (likely) a temporary title, and it is, at this current moment, the most actively dangerous magical force in the entire Cosmos. Kazumi is not playing with any large amount; she is incapable of using it directly, certainly not capable of intramagic, and her continued usage of it over the years has subjected her to her own mutations, albeit her growing skill in utilising it has made the alterations subtle. She is, in her mind, the Chosen of the Goliathー the Eldritch Abomination that is the reason the Milky Way has ceased to exist (to our understanding)ー who decided, on a whim, to let Kazumi have a taste of Chaos. She has used her minute amounts to experiment on her own kind, and her earliest experiments were... highly unpleasant. Chaos, in this context, is not the Chaos of our own Universe; it is not the fabric in which the world has been created out of. It is entirely and utterly alien, incomprehensible on a microcosmic level, and when exposed to creatures of the Universe it is usually the dominant force. It seeks only to reproduce what it understands, and its concept of life and existence is completely and utterly foreign to us; it is unlike anything that we know, and evades description entirely. So you can imagine the mess that Kazumi made.

Of the survivors, there are very few; currently, the (named) Ametsuchi are Kazumi, who reigns supreme; Hitomi, her eldest daughter and the Oracle; Kimiko, her rebellious heir, who currently allies herself with Nocturne; Nocturne herself; Ryuko, Kazumi’s right-hand woman; Karasu and Hato, twins who are the primary religious leaders in Izanami; and Rainotori and Suzume. There is a bastard, due to the fact Kazumi did make a literal deal with the devilー to sacrifice a child, like all fairytales, and while she assumed her daughter died, she most certainly has not. All of the current, surviving Ametsuchi have some sort of genetic mutation that adds to their existing abilities; all excepting Ryuko, who is the one of two Umushi to be incapable of aquakinesis. So while there are less, they are more powerful than those who had passed.

Kazumi has remained entirely unchallenged by the public. One might assume that due to her sheer, unparalleled violenceー against her own kind, no lessー that someone might have stood against her, but the truth is that the public adore her. Her only enemies come from within her family, because Kazumi, violent as she is, is not an idiot. Her motivations for the Massacre were purely, utterly, for power. If she had turned the world against her, she would have never gained any amount of power. Rather, she had waited for the world to turesponding torn against her targets: her mother was feared (not loved), and while highly respected, the charming Kazumi was seen as infinitely a much kinder, benefic ruler in comparisonー an underdog, especially when she rid the world of her disliked elder sisters, who were the closest to being rulers. It was not a small logical leap in the minds of the public to accept her matricide necessitating the murder of her siblings, because they would have rathered her than them, and there was no democracy in place. The fact that she spared her youngest sister and their children also added to her good reputation. The slaughter of her other relatives was marketed, instead, as responding to violent rebellions against her. It helped that Kazumi had interplanetary alliesー it helped her branding as forward-thinking, as someone who would bring the then-struggling Izanami into a bright and wonderful age. She waited until her people were angry, until they were starving, until they were neglected by their rulers, and then she claimed the title of “hero”. While her experimentations went on behind closed doors, because the public numbers did not go down, she went entirely unseenー for the Ametsuchi had always been private in their affairs, and the public were accustomed to mysteries when it came to the royal family. All that mattered was that her actions did make things better; she was a good ruler, because her power complex relied on it. 

Hence why the only rebellions against her come from within, and she is aware of two of them. She is biding her time. While not a rebellion, her actions are inspiring a strain between the Ametsuchi and the Living Sea. So while the people of Izanamiーparticularly Yomi, its capitalーfeel they are thriving under a great, compassionate ruler... the heat death of their country is set in motion, and an entropic death is inevitable. The only question is how everything is going to fall apart.