#THANK YOU FOR SUCH A FUN GAME AELSA

[ejunkiet]

James's need to protect is counterbalanced by Reese's resolve to fight; they both care about you in different ways.

JR route from the Fernweh Saga by @lacunafiction !!

>:3 @evilbunnyking and I teamed up to commission @mariemarion as THESE TWO okay. Gods, this is gorgeous. Love this game, love these characters!!

[lacunafiction]

Some homecomings feel more like rude awakenings, but this one will become a waking nightmare. Find love while exposing the secrets of your eerie hometown!

The wait is finally over; Book One of The Fernweh Saga is out now for you to experience! 💚

✨DEMO✨ | GooglePlay, Steam , Apple, Choice of Games

If you enjoy TFS, please consider leaving a review/rating. It does wonders for the series and draws new readers into Fernweh, helping our community grow.

🌲TFS Patreon🌲 (New, alpha content from Book Two available!🎉)

TFS: Book One Achievement and Stat Guide 🏆📊

Thank you for your support and reblogs of this post are appreciated! 😊

The Fernweh Saga: Book One is a 600,000-word interactive, romantic thriller novel by Aelsa Trevelyan. It's entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Return to a small town that you now feel a stranger in. It has been years since you were sent away following the tragic house fire that claimed your parents' lives, but the death of your grandfather has brought you back. While grim circumstances overshadow the visit you never planned on making, there are also opportunities to reminisce, reconnect, and reunite with old childhood friends, rivals, and neighbors. Familiar faces are all around, but will they aid or hinder you as your return trip spirals into a dark mystery and you start experiencing vivid nightmares? Begin to unravel what is going on in this seemingly idyllic, forested town.

A feeling of unease grows with each sleepless night spent within Fernweh's borders, but you can't leave yet…

It won't let you.

Play as male, female, or non-binary–with options to be gay, straight, bi, asexual, or poly.

Develop the beginning of a unique and enduring romance with 5 potential love interests.

Influence relationship dynamics with a cast of characters from your past and present.

Experience how your personality, habits, decisions, and relationships impact your visit to Fernweh and how you confront what lurks within the town.

Discover that things aren't always what they seem by making connections and noticing links.

Fight, resist, flee, struggle, or give in to whatever is invading your nightmares and the town; there is more to it than a boring ole monster…Much more.

Fall in love, forge friendships, and uncover your past while spiraling into a mystery.

Reblogs of this post and spreading the good news are immensely appreciated. I'm grateful for all of your support, and I hope you have fun in Fernweh! 🌲💚

[lokiofnone]

Chapter 3 Maybe?

It was all going wonderfully well. After months of opposition, he had finally managed to move to the next phase of conquering Alfheim! How exciting.

It had all taken so much longer than he expected, but that didn’t bother him much. He had been alive for so long now, he was prepared to wait as long as it took to get what was his. It did, however, bother him that at every turn, he was opposed. The enemy seemed to be almost too swift in their reactions to his attacks, as if they knew of it in advance. Though if they had, would they not have prevented it from ever happening? Unless they knew that would give them away. The League of Realms were few, and none were his match in subterfuge. The light elves themselves were no threat in anything but a petunia competition. So why?

Many nights he had pondered that question, producing theory after theory, though none gaining traction. Every move of his was met equally, as though he were merely playing a game of strategy with an opponent who was similarly clever to him. It felt like an inside job, but none of his chosen allies were smart enough to light a candle (with the noted exception of Cindr, if only because she was literally made of fire), much less keep him running in circles. Though he hated to admit it, for it set him back terribly, he did rather enjoy the chase. His opponent, unseen and unheard, was skilled, but their actions didn’t seem to have a point. They were just stalling his inevitable victory. They were just playing games.

And finally, finally, he had outmaneuvered them. In a few decisive moves he had entrenched his army into the light elf capital and sieged the castle. It was a shame that his allies couldn’t see this moment of victory, but if they couldn’t be trusted, they couldn’t be present. Still, despite the various snags, the time was now. The path to victory over all of Asgard was clear now that the queen was in his grasp, and Malekith the Accursed had never been happier.

He led his newlywed bride out to the veranda, her hand clammy in his grasp. With their marriage, the light and dark elves were finally, impossibly, united under one banner. His banner.

“How sad that you bowed so readily,” Malekith peered over the marble railing at the sullen faces of Alfheim’s citizens, “This could have been much messier.”

Queen Aelsa Featherwine was a vision of pure, disgusting light, no less so for the stiff set of her jaw and the look of pure hatred in her eyes. “I will do what I must to save my people.”

“Oh yes, about that,” He raised a hand high into the air, and there was a slight stir through the crowd before each of his dark elves in attendance turned and unceremoniously drove their blades into the nearest light elf. Chaos erupted. Screams tore through the air like a physical force, and he basked in it, spreading his arms wide before him. “Vengeance! Now that I am the king of all elves, I see no further need for -”

The remaining words were torn from his throat as he was suddenly thrown to the side by an unimaginably strong force - no, not unimaginably. He knew that kind of strength, but he didn’t have much chance to consider that before his face smacked against the stone railing. He fell to the floor, grasping at his side, only to wince as he located a dagger buried to the hilt in his abdomen.

Queen Featherwine took a long step and crouched before him like a lion descending on its prey. “Yeah, about that.” She quipped with a wide smirk, but...no. This wasn’t right.

She reached a swift hand forward, grabbing the dagger in an iron grip and pushing it still further into his gut. This was definitely not Queen Featherwine. “Ah, stay with me, let’s not have you turning to smoke just yet. You know how I do love to chat.” Her smile rippled, smeared, and changed into one that was nearly familiar, though different. Younger than he remembered, but no less mischievous.

He should have known. But how could he? Loki had never opposed him so directly, and as far as anyone knew, they were out of the game. Banished to Midgard and living quietly. He should have known.

“Now, for all the contempt I have for just about everything that you stand for, I have to admit that it was fun playing with you, for a while.” They twisted the knife to the left, drinking in his shallow cries of pain. The sounds of combat continued below as they continued, “But it did get boring. You’ve done and said all of this before, and just as before, the heroes are powerless to stop you until after you’ve won. Doesn’t seem right. Doesn’t seem fair to all the people who get hurt in the meantime, while you’re acting out this ridiculous repetitive drama. Now, I -”

“LOKI!” Queen Featherwine (the real one, Malekith supposed) burst out onto the veranda, looking quite frazzled, as though she had been hiding somewhere uncomfortable.

The god rolled their eyes and turned slightly to see her, “Kind of in the middle of something, here.” They turned the knife back to the right without bothering to watch him scream this time.

“You promised that my people would be unharmed, yet Malekith attacks.” The queen answered with a stern lip.

“I promised that you would be unharmed. Don’t blame me because you misinterpreted my words.”

Malekith’s vision was blurring. The pain was keeping him present, certainly, but there was something more. Something that made his mind too soft to perform a spell. “This knife,” He said through gritted teeth.

Loki turned back to him with raised eyebrows. “Poisoned, yes. I made it myself. You know, I rather think that in another life, I may have made it to kill Freyja. It’s a pretty funny story, that -”

Thunder interrupted them, and this time it was Loki’s turn to be thrown in the middle of a monologue. They flew back into the wide door to the Queen’s chambers, crashing into an armoir before Mjolnir came back to greet its mistress. Thor - the current Thor - alighted on the veranda and give a cold glance to the situation before checking on Featherwine. The melee below was doubtless being joined by the rest of the League.

Coughing, Loki pushed themselves out of the rubble and brushed some dust from their coat. “Can no one let me finish talking?”

Thor took a step toward them, her face twisted into a scowl. Meanwhile, Malekith had gotten enough of a reprieve to manage an escape, evaporating to smoke and howling away into the distance.

Loki jogged out to the open doorway and gestured to his retreating form, “I wasn’t done with him!”

“Thou art done with everything, snake.” Thor replied, pushing Mjolnir against their chest.

“Is that any way to talk to the god who just saved Alfheim?” Loki sidestepped away from the hammer, breaking into a smile. “Wait till my husband hears about this.”

She looked out onto the horizon, and Loki imagined her gaze could pierce even the thickest uru. “You killed him?”

“No, definitely not, but I did injure him. Quite grievously. I imagine it won’t be some time before he comes back, and in the meantime,” They took a quick step over to retrieve their dagger, “You lot don’t have to deal with him. You’re welcome.”

Featherwine turned sharply, “I give you no thanks. You promised to help, but my people suffer.”

“And believing me was only your first mistake. Still, you’ll be fine. I’ve evened the playing field, to some degree. The enemy no longer has Malekith, and you - well, you never really had me to begin with.”

Thor gazed at them, and it was hard to tell her expression behind the mask, but they guessed it wasn’t happy. “Why did you do this?”

“Interesting question!” Loki took a few ambling steps to the side. “Really, I just think this whole war nonsense is so passe. You know, someone attacks Asgard, and through unsurmountable odds, Asgard wins out. I mean, maybe it wouldn’t be exactly like that, but you get my meaning. And what about everyone else? It accomplishes nothing, and it’s quite boring. We’ve all acted out this charade before. So I helped a bit, and then when that got boring, I thought, what would Thor do? Not you, I mean the artist formerly known as Thor. Odinson. Not like there aren’t three of those.”

“Loki,” The contempt in her voice was clear as day.

“Oh, no need to celebrate my accomplishments. Really, I’ve become quite humble, and also, you should probably do something about the big fight going on behind you. Why, I haven’t seen Kurse kill that many people in at least ten years.”

The two women turned to look out at the battlefield, and with that Loki took the opportunity to beat their own retreat.

[missmisanthropic]

Medieval/Fantasy names are hard. What would you name yourself? Who would most likely be your best friend(s) at the Academy? The girl who defied her peasant parents' wishes and earned a place through a scholarship; born to a pair of nobles but dreams of being a knight instead of a lady; who's also an orphan and is often bullied; someone else. Would you continue your education after the death of your parents, assuming students only graduate at age 18?

Hi Anon! :-) 

Hope your day/night is going well.

I’d go with Aelsa as my character’s first name since it’s my go to video game/COG/i’ve-been-using-it-for-years-so-i-have-a-soft-spot-for-it name. Idk if that fits with Medieval time, but it sounds cool to me. 

I want them all. They all sound so neat.

Hmm, I don’t see my character as being the type to make friends easily.

The boarding school would likely be prestigious, but also pretentious so I think her parents’ assassination would impact her reputation. It’s not wholly unexpected, but does make things a lil’ awkward especially with other nobles since at that age throwing your last name around is pretty common. Using your parents’ clout is how some of the kids  justify their worth present themselves to others. If it’s because of haughtiness, insecurity, or it’s what they were taught to do, varies by person. Forming alliances through friendship would also be encouraged, so a house lacking its patriarch/matriarch would not be ideal. 

I think the above reasons that would thin the selection of possible friends for Aelsa, her reserved personality (which does not help things in the slightest. Like ohmygosh why are you like this??? Wait. I created you) aside. Or at least the noble^tm friends would largely be out.

I love your options so much! 

“The girl born to a pair of nobles but dreams of being a knight instead of a lady”: I could see the two bonding over not wanting the typical noble life. Aelsa would admire the girl for working towards that goal, rather than putting her down about it. I would like to imagine the would-be-knight maybe noticed that, like herself, Aelsa doesn’t participate in typical boarding school machinations/social hierarchy and that’s why she approached her. Declaring you would want to be a knight would not be looked on favorably by most teachers/students, so maybe the knight-girl hoped for some commonality. I could def see Aelsa being the type to sit and listen to her talk about her plans, what kind of sword/armor she wants, where she wants to travel, etc. all while encouraging her or trying to help her. Honestly, feel the would-be-knight just needs someone to listen to her…since she’s been shutdown so much in regards to her dream.

Ok, if the girl is also kind of outgoing, sweet, brave, gallant, kind, persistent, other-words-typically-associated-with-badass-knights-who are-actually-softies-, it’d be a quickburn friendship. Also, something Aelsa would probably question if she deserved at times.  

 “The individual who’s also an orphan and is often bullied”: I think there would be an understanding between the two that may grow into a friendship. Like the Dead Parents^tm club, but the circumstances around the death of their parents might color how they view Aelsa. Did they love their parents? Was it a sickness or flu, rather than a politically motivated thing? It wouldn’t be an obvious friendship. Maybe picking up a book that was knocked out of their hands, handing it to them, and then going about her day would be the initial interaction. Perhaps, they would sit near Aelsa one day at supper; no words are exchanged. Lots of small things that eventually became more routine, until there’s actual some degree of care for each other developed. Slow burn friendship.

“The girl who defied her peasant parents’ wishes and earned a place through a scholarship”: I feel like this character herself would be interesting. She’d be a natural target for the nobles given the circumstances, so that may make her caustic (bc dealing with it for years) towards them and leery of them…all of them. I think this peasant-girl would grow to have a sharp tongue as well as an even more brilliant mind. She got in on merit, but has to deal with snide comments while also knowing she went against her parents. I think Aelsa would admire her, not that that would ever be communicated. 

Aelsa would probably be hesitant to make /initial/ effort even with the would-be-sunshine-personified-knight so…hmm. It would need to be established that Aelsa is not going to inherently look down on the peasant-girl for anything to really form there. Like: After being paired together for something, the girl makes a knee-jerk sarcastic remark  because she hates group projects so damn much  and Aelsa’s just like ‘i really don’t care about your blood’ full on deadpan and then ‘let’s just brew the potion’. Some stereotypical forced situation from fic, basically. XD Rival-y-acquaintanceship until Aelsa gains enough of her trust to initiate a friendship, which may or may not happen.

Oh, yeah! She would certainly finish her education. While the boarding school environment is not all that stellar, it does delay Aelsa having to make decisions about her house/name/court/future. It provides a predictable structure and order as well as a bit of protection too. Also, she does value the skills she’s learning.

Thank you for the ask! I was tempted to write longer bits with scenes for each, but contained myself. It was fun to think about, so thanks again. :-D  

Heh, I just imagined the cafeteria scene from Mean Girls being applied to the boarding school. XD   

[lacunafiction]

Hi Aelsa, I've been meaning to ask you...Will the game be touching on MC's past, that is to say, before they return to fernweh? Because I'd like to write a bit about my mc's life before returning (mostly for myself and mostly in order to develop their character) but I'd like to stick as close to canon as possible, if that makes sense? Thank you!

Hi Anon,

I hope you're doing well! 💐

Writing more about your MC's past to further flesh them out sounds like so much fun. I'm actually giddy that you would want to. :D

Their past is going to be left relatively vague within TFS proper to let you all develop what their life was like outside of Fernweh. This is very intentional on my part because I want you to feel a sense of loss while within the town in addition to giving you freedom to build your character. I've met some university MCs, kindergarten teacher MCs, hot mess (affectionate) MCs, lepidopterist MCs, etc. among many other Returning Visitors I've had the pleasure to learn about. 🥰

Fernweh is only your origin; you tried to make a life outside of it...

How well that went is up to you—there is some trauma inherent with the TFS Returning Visitor, but even that can be shaped by choices.

So, their past outside of town is mostly yours to shape aside from a few facts like B is your friend and the need to eventually return home due to the grandfather's death which kicks off Book One. There will be choices/events about their childhood within the series as we can see within Book One like with the playdate or some of the grandfather's entries. Even then, you still have some freedom with it.

I hope this helps and happy writing! 💚