#acotar worldbuilding

[kataraavatara]

i know i said i’d shut up about acotar but i’ve never seen a fantasy society so primed for a populist revolution as the night court. all the wealthy merchants and artists are from one single city while a disenfranchised rural population is expected to provide the armies and die for them without seeing any of that wealth? not to mention the fact that the wealthy city elite don’t have to go to war? “oh nooo our greatest threat is koschei the deathless sorcerererrrr” your greatest threat is your citizens discovering class consciousness.

[extremely-judgemental]

I’m prone to ignore world-building issues in a romantasy, but my god, is ACOTAR a lost potential. Night could be so much cooler if SJM didn’t go for the urban aesthetics. Different levels of darkness depending on the different phases of the moon. Eerie silence at all times except for where the civilisation exists. Creatures are light and sound sensitive. Most of them should be dark skinned because camouflage. But then again no sun, no melanin, so pale skin. They all would have this thin, fragile voice that is creepy and mysterious. Night vision but levels of efficiency depending on their species, but definitely better than other courts. Can’t deal with normal heat from daylight. Also, they would be the epitome of fae stillness, so much so it’s unsettling for other courts. Most of the infrastructure would be with open spaces. They might prefer camps like in Illyria, but better of course. Or reinforced buildings to protect themselves from creatures on the prowl all the time. Rhysand should be making mini suns or glowing clouds or whatever with that “star-speckled darkness”. Put that “most powerful High Lord to ever exist” powers to use. The only thing that makes sense to me is the dangerous creatures under the dungeons.

And “under the mountain city” is so Day coded. Perpetual daylight everywhere, so it’s pointless to have a city on ground. Maybe they have a few buildings for occasional use. But imagine, barren fields above and an entire court exists under. Holes would be drilled into the ground to allow natural sunlight, you know like street lamps. They rarely need faelight. Everyone would be blind af in real darkness. They hate silences. Helion should be able to adjust the intensity of sunlight at will, not to complete dark though.

I have no idea what Dawn or Dusk would be like. But yeah, it would have been interesting.

[violetasteracademic]

ATTN: ACOTAR FIC READERS

Critically important ACOTAR word building poll- is it your impression there is coffee in ACOTAR, or only tea? The word coffee is only used once out of all 4.5 books and it is to describe a room smelling of coffee:

What do we think? Do you picture the Fae drinking coffee or does it take you out of it?

[veenvss]

The Illyrians

History 1/?

main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by its execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I thought, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Illyrians and their history.

Before the introduction of the Courts in Prythian, the Illyrians controlled most of what is modern-day Night Court. They lived as nomads across the Southern Steppe and the Illyrian Mountains, before the Fae turned them into the violent warfaring people that they are known as now.

The Illyrians in the Steppe emphasised nomadic pastoralism, breeding horses and cattle. They were well known for their horse riding, horse archery and cavalry, despite the wings that were on their backs. Their inventions, such as the chariot and wagons benefitted the people they traded with, in permanent settlements around the Steppe.

The women in these tribes were often married off to men from other tribes, which was a big way that the different tribes created alliances.

These groups favoured the young males in their tribes, and as a result they harshly treated their elders. Some groups withheld food from older people if it was scarce and a few tribes were even noted to have executed their elderly once they became to old to work.

The nomadic Illyrians of the step all shared common cosmological beliefs, which were centred around sky worship. Shamans were highly valued members of tribes and were believed to be able to interact with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness. This was to direct spirits or their energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination or to aid human beings in some other way. In Illyrian antiquity, there have been reports of a third gender, men with more feminine characteristics. These transgender people wore female clothing and adopted their mannerisms. They were often highly esteemed due to the belief that they had better shamanistic abilities than the average Illyrian.

In the mountainous regions of Illyria, where pastoralism isn't as widely available due to the terrain, they were more likely to be hunter-gatherers, foraging for food in forests and streams. Coastal tribes were more likely to fish than hunt other animals. All groups also gathered nuts and berries and other food before hunting for meat. Many of these tribes centred on fish-rich environments, so they didn't have to travel around to find food throughout the year.

It's commonly believed between historians that the hunter-gatherers didn't have a set hierarchy or permanent leaders. Instead, it was believed that the person taking initiative depended on the task that was being performed.

Despite a large amount of their time being spent gathering food, there was also a large focus on gathering other resources, such as firewood, as well as preparing food that needed to be cooked. Despite modern people believing this was a woman's job, this has been shown to actually be their own bias. While women were less likely to hunt large game, they were often out hunting smaller game for children and as a form of social activity with other women.

Once the Fae became a large-scale force among most Pre-Court Prythian, they started driving the Steppe Illyrian north towards the Northern Mountains, taking the steppe for themselves. This created a large issue between the two separate groups, as it created less space for people to forage, and made resources less available due to high demand. This created a lot of inter-tribe violence as they fought for resources.

Eventually the rest of Prythian were split into their separate courts, but at this time Illyrians were still considered their own group of people and independent from the Night Court, which was then considerably smaller than its modern size.

Overtime the Fae continued to push into Illyrian territory, causing a string of battles and wars, known as the "Illyrian Wars" which lasted for 200 years. It ended with Fae control over Illyria, causing the Night Court to be the biggest court by landmass. The wars had destroyed most of the Illyrian land as the Fae preferred to use violent tactics to gain control, such as using the "scorched Earth" technique, spreading famine and disease through the surviving Illyrians.

Fae started to settle across the Night Court. However, the Illyrians were unwilling to give up the land they still had, so they became violent towards the settling Fae. This caused the High Lord and the government to give the Illyrians curfews and restrictions on where they could go. They punished the Illyrians who broke those rules harshly and rewarded the ones who followed their rules with supplies to help the Illyrians heal from the damage the Fae caused.

The Illyrians were forced to play into the Fae's hand to be able to recover from the wars. Illyrian tribes along the northern coast, further away from the Fae's southern control, tried to rally the Illyrians into a rebellion, to gain freedom from the Fae and recover their lost land. The rebellion was shortlived, not many Illyrian tribes joined together and the ones that did had differing views on how to fight the Fae. Once the Night Court government dispelled the revolution, they created a violent punishment, they clipped the wings of every female in Illyria, and for years afterwards, had Fae soldiers stationed in Illyria to clip the females once they reached maturity. It became a ceremony. All the Illyrians in the tribe were gathered and forced to watch as the Fae soldiers clipped the wings. It was used as a show of power, to show the Illyrians the extent of what the Fae could, and would, do to the Illyrians if they kept rebelling against them.

Over time, the Illyrians adopted the Fae punishments into their culture, as a way to keep the Night Court happy, which gave the Illyrians as much freedom as possible. With the adoption of things like wing clipping into their culture, the Night Court used it as a sort of propaganda against the Illyrians, in order to discourage other courts from possibly aiding the Illyrians in the future. They told the other courts that the Illyrians clipped the wings of others of their own choice and that they were brutal, in order to isolate Illyrians and keep them under control.

The War created issues among the army, as Illyrians were forced to fight for a group of people they had no connection with, purely because the Night Court told them to. The Illyrians had some of the biggest casualty counts of everyone, and they didn't receive the same post-war funding and help as other regions did either. Disease spread quickly through the camps and the Illyrians lost more people. This created more issues between the Night Court and Illyria, as the Fae refused to aid the Illyrians, claiming they had their own post-war efforts to deal with. Eventually, the Illyrians were able to recover but it created a larger gap between the Illyrians and the Night Court, as the Illyrians struggled to recover from the war despite the wealth of the Night Court because of their abandonment.

Once Amarantha gained control of the High Lords, the Illyrians, isolated from the rest of Prythian, saw their High Lord, who they were forced to follow, willingly follow Amarantha and her regime. Once again, in order to regain as much freedom as possible, they followed their High Lord and mirrored themselves to him in order to escape punishment, from Amarantha or Rhysand himself.

Amarantha was defeated, and the High Lords returned to full power, The entire time Rhysand was just acting in order to through Amarantha off his court, which only extended to the Fae. He murdered the Illyrians for allying with Amarantha, which they only did to please him and keep the limited freedom that they had gained since the war.

Between murdering them and then forcing them to fight in another war, where once again they suffered one of the highest mortality rates, the Night Court fell worse into favour with the Illyrians than before. This was only further amplified by the fact that two of the most important Illyrians in the Night Court preferred the Fae over their traditional culture and beliefs, which were still hidden among the Fae-influenced culture.

The threat of a new Illyrian rebellion looms near, as they recover from the diseases that spread after the war. The Illyrian distaste for the Fae rule that has plagued them for nearly a thousand years, and the "traitors" that rule over them a fuel for a deadly and violent revolution.

i feel like i'm just writing gibberish at this point because i'm trying to focus on this and then also trying to focus on one piece at the same time

[goforth-ladymidnight]

Fellow ACOTAR Book 1 fans! I could use some help visualizing Feyre's dress in ACOTAR ch. 22:

“Don’t know if I should be pleased or worried,” Alis said the next night as she slid the golden underdress over my upraised arms, then tugged it down.

I smiled a bit, marveling at the intricate metallic lace that clung to my arms and torso like a second skin before falling loosely to the rug. “It’s just a dress,” I said, lifting my arms again as she brought over the gossamer turquoise overgown. It was sheer enough to see the gleaming gold mesh beneath, and light and airy and full of movement, as if it flowed on an invisible current.

If SJM hadn't deleted her Pinterest account, I might have a better idea of what she had in mind, but as it is, this is what I found that I think matches the overall description (in silhouette, not necessarily the color):

I really like the Edwardian Art Nouveau influence, but is it faerie enough? Or should it be more "medieval" looking?

Thoughts?

[me-amora]

Feyre's Power Magnitude - (Lost) Potential for Raw Magic

I don't understand why Feyre is as powerful as she is. No, I don't hate Feyre. This is more of a criticism to the world building.

She received a small kernel of power from each High Lord. Although High Lords are immensely powerful, I don't believe that a small kernel would be enough to make her "equal" to Rhysand, who is the most powerful high lord.

But SJM, and a big part of the fandom, acted almost as if she received a huge chunk from each High Lord. While the quantity she received was so small that they were willing to give it TWICE (for her and Rhysand). And believe me, no High Lord would be willing to give out much of their power, much less to Rhysand who they don't trust. Besides that, Helion and Beron noticed that something was slightly "off" after giving Feyre a kernel, but it was so insignificant that even BERON ignored it.

So instead of making her ultra powerful (which I can only justify if the power is able to somewhat grow inside her into something bigger) . It would have been interesting to make her super skillful instead. It could be a cool trope that she isn't insanely powerful, but because she has a bit of every power, she can combine it in the most creative but also lethal ways. And make people fear her, and respect her, not for her power's depth, but her power's uniqueness and unpredictability.

That would be one way of doing it. BUT, I believe something else should have happened.

I defend that instead of gaining a huge list of powers from the HLs, that their powers combined should have created a new power. That new power being Raw Magic.

SPOILER FOR BOOK 1, 2 (AND 3?) OF THRONE OF GLASS AHEAD

In Throne of Glass, Dorian has what is called Raw Magic. And his magic can be manipulated in any way, so it can "copy" all other specific manifestations of magic such as ice, shapeshifting, shadows, daemanti, etc... That is basically SORT OF what Feyre is capable of doing anyway. But wouldn't it be much cooler to give Feyre her own unique type of magic?

Other than giving Feyre raw magic. It would've made a lot of sense for Nesta to have it. As we know she took from the cauldron, and it would be logical if her magic was "everything", all types of magic and none at the same time – raw magic. But SJM had different plans for both.

Overall, I think the concept of Raw Magic is really cool and interesting, and I would've liked seeing Sarah implementing such a unique power again. (I'm in the middle of CC2 so there could be something like that in CC but I'm not yet finished).

[shadowqueenjude]

about the dawn court people being east Asia inspired - feyre says something when she sees Nuan at the high lord meeting about how Amren must have chosen a fae form similar to Nuan's bloodline. If Amren is east-asian coded, so is Nuan and thesan too, having at least one parent hailing from xian (am i reading too far into xian sounding so stereotypical, maybe, do i care rn, no). they also say that a majority of the dawn court hails from xian. thesan is supposed to have brown skin (again, please give a better descriptor) so he's mixed.

no one's clothes or architecture reflects anything concrete regarding their inspiration and its such a hodge podge it's so painful to try to discern where the differentiation between courts are. Spring court - because of the name tamlin correlates to a myth about a guy named tam lin who is kind of being held captive by the queen of faeries who needs to be rescued by his mortal lover that he met like suuuper recently, I'm placing the spring court in a place that reflects a medieval scotland. clothes are fairly accurate not in detail but in the sense of material and idk just general existence (women wear dress, man wear breeches, idk) I love that! so simple! Everything makes sense! So then why in dawn are we having technological advances in a steampunk sort of way and similar "old fashioned" clothes to spring, but then in the night court (velaris, the other's i think are fairly period accurate), there are all these advancements in fashion like leggings and pullover sweaters and whatever else she's wearing in the last two books, yet they have the same tech as everyone else barring dawn. (Doing a small pass on the bodysuit armor things because I'm just assuming that's people's artistic interpretations of her visions)

ALSO, how are they self sufficient if they're a closed off city? They aren't harboring secret technology that helps their city run, they are one city and also A CITY so like, no resources, no agriculture. who tf are they getting their things from if they are an invisible city that no one knows about? same thing with how they're getting trades that they wouldn't have been able to make themselves. Also, at this point I would like to propose the idea of wing armor. you have siphons which can idk make shields. HAVE YOU TRIED SHIELDING YOU'RE VERY SENSITIVE AND MASSIVELY TARGETED WINGS FROM DANGER?? in conclusion I'm tired and also a fashion/history nerd, okay bye

Ahhhh yes I see what you mean about Dawn now! Yeah, I always imagine Spring to be like medieval Scotland, and I'm guessing Autumn is medieval England? Rhysand is a Welsh name I believe, so Night is supposed to be Wales??? But the Illyrians are also supposedly POC and there's some evidence of Indian influence there too (barf, night is NOT indian at all), so I'm stuck on that one. Dawn is East Asian while Day is...Middle Eastern? Winter maybe Norway or some Scandinavian country? And Summer I'm assuming is supposed to be from some place in Africa, but it's all very vague. Also more points about Velaris: how is their fashion sense so...modern? Since everything is so closed off...shouldn't their fashion be stuck in the 1600s or whenever they closed their borders? Why don't they open their borders to Dawn since they're sooooo close to the Solar courts supposedly??? Has it not occurred to them that Nuan, who made Lucien's metal eye, could also construct new wings for the Illyrian ladies who got theirs cut off? Or do they just not care? They don't but SJM is trying to convince us they do.

Yeah how in the flying fuck is Night surviving on no industry whatsoever? No trade? No agriculture, nada? Because we have no evidence of the Illyrians producing anything either, besides "warriors." My explanation for this is kind of inspired by @kateprincessofbluewhales 's headcanon, but what if the Illyrians are like mercenaries? They're hired to fight for other courts and in exchange they receive all of their necessities and more which the Illyrians then send back home to their wives and children. This still doesn't explain how Velaris operates, but I'm sure Rhysand crutches on the Illyrians' profits to keep shit going and that's part of why they resent him. I'VE BEEN SAYING IT FOR AGES. WINGS ARE SUCH A VULNERABILITY. THEY MAKE YOU SUCH AN EASY TARGET. WHY IS THERE NO WING ARMOR??? THAT WOULD BE SO COOL TOO. BUT NO, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO JUST ACCEPT THERE'S NOTHING COOL ABOUT THE WINGS AT ALL AND MOVE ON.

[goldenspringmornings]

sooooo excited for this fic to get to a place i'm comfortable actually posting it (im notoriously bad a finishing fic unfortunately) because i wanna talk about my illyrian worldbuilding😭

[kataraavatara]

“obviously people in the modern day can recognize what nesta did as verbal abuse even if they didn’t have the words for it in univers-” well if we’re using modern day terms Rhysand and Feyre are segregationists who allow child soldiers and are enacting both collective and multigenerational punishment on an entire city of people. so why don’t you ruminate on that for a little bit.

[veenvss]

Magic in Seasonal Prythian

solar magic | main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by it's execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I though, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Seasonal Courts and their magic.

Prythian is often split into two, Seasonal and Solar, with an area known as the Middle to geographically split them as well. The magic between the courts differs, yet they're also quite similar. Each court relies on each other in order to make their magic effective. Summer is the start of the harvest, which allows for things to survive during winter. Autumn is where animals and plants retreat to save their strength for the minimal amount of nutrients in winter, so they come back and flourish in the spring.

AUTUMN

FIRE

the ability to create and manipulate fire. some may be able to generate fire from thin air, no matter the environment, whereas others may only be able to control a fire that already exists. these limitations can be overcome, such as every settlement has an eternal fire that they keep burning to allow people to use their power, the rich could afford to have their own eternal flame burning consistently in their private residences, although this could be manipulated, such as the rich charging the poor for the use of the flame. another way it can be overcome is through flint and steel, as seen in the red queen series, cal and maven have special bracelets which create sparks for them to manipulate into a bigger flame and attacks. people who are only able to control already existing fire would have some sort of lighters on them at all times.

as seen in acowar, eris seemed to be able to control the temperature of his flames, as the flames he was using to restrain feyre were warm, but not burning. i think this would be an advanced use of the power. generating and simply controlling the fire would be hard enough, but being able to not only do that, but also control the temperature of said flames would be a good way to show off skill. this can also bring about the idea of coloured flames, as the hotter the flames get, they go from orange, to white, to blue.

there are a lot of extra magic that comes with fire magic, with the use of flames. an example of this would be pyromancy, divination through the means of fire or flames. i think this use would be limited to the priestesses in autumn, as it revolves around using fire as a way to see visions or insights of time, which is stereotypical of priestesses.

another use of master level fire control would be the use of merging it with other elements, such as combining it with rocks and tone to create molten rock, which would stick to its enemies and be a forceful weapon. alternatively, the fire user could use their control over fire to create a firestorm, large and destructive, although this would be incredibly rare due to the overall power needed to create something like this.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

i think this section would be specific to a high lord, as it requires a large amount of power that i don’t think would be readily available for a regular fae without outside assistance. what i mean by seasonal specifics is magic or abilities that are specific to autumn, and its high lord, so the manipulation or induction of the season.

the air gets colder in autumn, like waking up to frost or fog. this would allow for the ability to manipulate cold air, which is why i think these sorts of magic would be specific for the ultra powerful or the high lord, to go directly against the heat that fire brings would cause issues for the other fae. as i said, autumn brings fog, that settles in the morning, which would allow the user to escape or attack their enemies without being seen.

the temperature changes in autumn creates storms, which can become violent and deadly, as we’ve seen in america recently with the hurricanes helene and milton, especially helene, which stayed destructive all the way inland, which is unusual for water-based storms. being high lord of autumn would come with the ability to generate storms and rain, especially. thick, heavy rain that would be difficult to see through, with heavy drops that fall so hard it hurts when it hits your skin.

autumn is well known for its harshness. food has already been harvested, set in storage for the winter months, and anything else that isn’t preserved or evolutionally set up for it, will start to wilt away and die. this would allow for the high lord to induce death, causing plants to rot away and decompose. at strength, maybe even sections, or entire, living bodies. this could also allow for the control or manipulation of certain forms of fungi, those which play a role in decomposition, cycling nutrients within the environment. the ability to control decomposition could also effect the food storages, causing the preserved grains to grow mold and rot away, deliberately causing famines.

alternatively, instead of directly causing famines by causing food to rot, they user could also be able to induce hunger, a direct result of the food shortages the season holds. this could in turn be expanded to being able to control all feelings or bodily functions typical in autumn. one of these could be the inducement of sleep. autumn is typically the time a lot of animals start to hibernate in order to conserve their energy during the winter months. the user could force someone to sleep, for either a few hours or continuously, for as long as they see fit. they could also manipulate the emotions that comes with autumn, such as the melancholy thoughts, creating despair or feelings of isolation.

OTHER

this is the section for ideas that i didn’t know whether to put in “general” fire use or the high lord seasonal specific magic, such as the ability to create or control smoke. all fire comes with smoke, a natural reaction. the ability to control smoke could come with multiple effects, such as intoxication causing death or severe bodily harm. with the ability to control smoke comes with the ability to use smoke as a form of divination, which i think, once again, would be limited to the priestesses who are the only ones who have a need to use divination.

another divination ability i believe could be commonly found in autumn would be necromancy. as i mentioned above, autumn comes with the ability to manipulation the life cycles of natural objects. necromancy is the ability to communicate with the dead for the purpose of divination, to discover future events or to discover hidden knowledge, only known to the dead, possibly to combat corruption or political violence. although, this ability would most be used by the priestesses, i believe that it would be mostly utilised by the high priestesses who have the magical ability to use this sort of magic. i also think, that although it would be accepted in autumn, as a natural part of divination, as in winter, i think it would be frowned upon in other courts, especially those that prioritise life, happiness and wellbeing.

SPRING COURT

as a preface to the spring court, most of this is entirely fanon, as i’m pretty sure we’ve never actually seen the regular people of spring use their magic before. and also as a preface to the rest of the post which i probably should’ve put at the beginning of the post and not now, whoops, anything i say is high lord specific doesn’t have to be high lord specific, just that i think using that sort of magic would take a lot of magic power and a great deal of control i doubt would be found normally outside of being a high lord (i will touch on this again in like 2 paragraphs technically kinda pls continue reading his has taken a while)

PLANTS

i think a given ability in the spring court would be the ability to manipulate or create plants and flowers. like autumn and the ability to create and manipulate fire, there would be levels to the ability to manipulate plants. the weaker fae would only be able to manipulate plants that are already growing or exist. but there would also be ways around this, such as being able to carry seeds and bulbs with them, throwing them at an opponent and making them fully grow in a matter of seconds, like using vines to trap an opponent. a stronger fae would be able to just create plants in seconds, without the needs for external help.

the powers could be manipulated to become weapons, such as tree branches or vines, or even poisonous pollen or fungi, especially in a fantasy setting such as prythian which could have alternative plants to what we have here. this could create groups of poison users, like how there are public gardens filled with poisonous flowers and plants.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

i think the same way autumn can create rain and storms, spring can as well. they’re both seasons with very alternating temperatures, creating violent storms, such as the tornado season which happens in spring. this would allow for the generation of rain or winds, or just air manipulation in general. high wind speeds would be destructive and violent, causing damage to infrastructure, and the rains that come with it could be detrimental to the harvest that occurs later in the year.

although spring starts cold and bitter, it slowly grows warmer. this would allow for the user to manipulate warm air, to thaw ice or snow and make way for the blossoms that happen in early spring. and although this sounds like a comforting power, this could turn violent at any given time, using air hot enough to incinerates the opponent where they stand.

once again, in the same way that autumn is able to induce rot and death, i think that spring would have the opposite effect, being able to heal fatal injuries and possible even restore dead plants, or maybe even dead animals. this would cause the opposite effects of autumn’s power. instead of causing famines and destruction, it would help recover from those. rotting food storages would be refilled and there would be plenty of harvest to go around, allowing people to live without a fear of starvation.

with spring, and the warmer weather that comes with it, would be the ability to manipulate positive emotions, and sleep patterns. the ability to forcibly wake people, keeping them awake longer than possible by making them think that they’re more awake than they are, even though their body is screaming for rest. it would also bring along a feeling of hope and peace, with the warmer weather leading to the harvest in the summer. the ability to manipulate someone's hope and peace so much that you manipulate their own beliefs, forcing them to worship and become so wholly devoted to an ideal that doesn't even exist. the ability to make people feel safe and welcomed, to allow them to break down their defences and let others in, even at the detriment to their wellbeing. this could be a good cause for a two-faced court. to the outsiders, it seems welcoming, everyone who’s ever been has come back in pleasant spirits, talking wildly of the joys of spring, yet it ends up being a little more sinister than expected.

OTHER

one of the only canonical abilities we have of spring is shapeshifting, which is said to be used by tamlin only, as the high lord. the ability to turn himself, and others (rip andras) into other animals. i think this ability would be reserved to only change into other species, not be able to disguise themselves as another person, just another species or animal.

the ability to shapeshift could also come with the ability to talk to animals, which is why I placed this here, as regular fae can be shapeshifted and also be able to communicate with the animal species they were turned into. i think the high lord would be able to talk to all animals, regardless of form, just due to their abilities.

SUMMER COURT

WATER

canonically, the summer court uses water magic, seen when tarquin drowns the hybernian soldiers miles inland (king best high lord love him to bits) or when feyre uses the water wolves. water can be such a versatile weapon.

lower level users could only be able to control the water around them, keeping pouches of water somewhere on their body, like katara in avatar. and then slowly, as their mastery evolves, this could extend into manipulating the water in different states, such as vapour. this could lead into manipulating just the water in the air (that scene in avatar is so cool), letting them rely on the water in the air instead of needing to carry around a container of water all the time. obviously, this has limitations, such as in warmer, dryer climates where there isn’t a lot of moisture in the air.

the ability to manipulate water could also lead to the ability to manipulate the weather, or water-based weather patterns, like clouds and storms or rain and other forms of precipitation, like hail or snow. they could be able to high pressure waterjets (like juvia’s water nebula in fairy tail) to pierce their opponents. they could drown their enemies inland, like my high king tarquin or just simply drain their targets and turn them into husks of a person.

water magic could also be used as a mode of transportation, surfing on waves or using water to sustain themselves in the air. it could also allow for transportation by turning the water in the ice and using that to move across (like aojiki’s bicycle in one piece).

the control over water could allow for the user to manipulate most liquids, especially if it contains a large quantity of water, like liquid poisons or even blood, which could allow for them to control the person’s body without using mind control (essentially blood bending).

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

summer are the warmest months of the year, perfectly allowing for the ability to control heat and warmth. this could be used for comfort, such as warming up in a colder court, or as i mentioned in spring, incinerating people on the spot with a large blast of burning air.

the ability to manipulate the heat could also provide some sort of control over droughts, which often occur during the summer. this would be to dry out the land, to make it inhospitable for plants to grow until the next storm, and with the ability to manipulate thunderstorms, who knows where that would be. thunderstorms thrive on the heat of the summer months, allowing for the user to generate destructive thunderstorms and lightning, as well as heavy rain, to counteract the droughts they just brought.

i think controlling “summer” as an ideology, they would also be able to manipulate light, maybe not generate it, but manipulate the light there. in a cave, take all the available light and just make it brighter, so they can find their way around, or just make a ball of light so bright that it burns their opponents eyes, the way it would if they were to stare at the sun on the beach.

summer would bring instant life, colourful flowers and green trees everywhere, invoking a sense of joy and a sweet smell throughout the air.

the same way that spring and autumn can manipulate people’s feelings, summer could as well. they would be able to induce intense happiness and peace, pure joy in the people around them. maybe its their aura, their entire presence just radiates joy, in comparison to autumn and winter, who bring seclusion and misery.

and disgustingly, summer could bring along the ability to control insects. flies and most other insects thrive on the warm weather and daylight in order to breed and just move in general. this could allow for the ability to control them, like some acotar version of antman, calling swarms of flies and other flying bugs.

OTHER

i believe that because of the overall heat of summer, that would impact the ability to manipulate or generate ice, but then also vice versa for winter so it cancels out.

WINTER COURT

ICE

like i stated just above, i don’t think that summer, despite their ability to control water, would be able to control ice simply due to the warmth just associated with them, i also don't think that winter would be able to control liquid water, simply because it is just too cold. maybe they would be able to turn it to ice, but not the other way around, similar for summer, being able to turn it into a liquid again but not being able to turn it to ice.

ice magic users would be able to create anything from ice. like anything. ice sculptures? weapons? sharp spears and icicles that penetrate the skin and organs. thick and heavy hammers to come crashing down on their opponents head (if you need any inspiration, gray fullbuster from fairy tail is a great place to start). they could even freeze their opponents and then shatter them into pieces, or create lifelike ice statues of their enemies. they could be able to make ice storms. storms of ice so sharp and strong that it could shatter windows and kill within seconds.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

with winter comes the ability to manipulate storms, as the others can. cold blizzards that trap the people in a matter of minutes, harsh and rough to the point where its difficult to breath. they turn the air cold by just appearing, a strict chill that settles in the air.

winter could any living plant just on arrival, in comparison to autumn, where it slowly withers away. it’s dead in an instant, rotten dirt that's covered in frost and ice. and like autumn, it could cause an endless sleep, anywhere at anytime for however long it wants. they could cause to fall asleep outside, to freeze to death in an endless sleep without feeling a thing.

winter’s ability to manipulate emotions could come with two side effects. winter represents loneliness, being alone in the cold and the dark. this would allow them to manipulate negative emotions, anything to represent death and isolation. but then, winter is also a time for resting, regeneration in the earth. this could allow for a sense of peace, inner warmth when thinking back on the year.

like summer, I think winter would be able to manipulate darkness. make the shadows darker, consuming all light around them. the shadows themselves bring their own darkness, but to add winter’s control over ice would be an even deadlier combination.

i did have a think about air magic but i left that for the solar courts (which is out at some point lmao idk)

[autumnhares]

This.

patriarchal society where females are sold off into marriages when they bleed and are constantly downtrodden by their husbands/fathers but:

the high lord's wife and daughter travel without protection

the steward's only daughter who is betrothed to the autumn court heir can visit illyria whenever she wants and stay the night there unchaperoned

[goforth-ladymidnight]

On ACOTAR Faeries and Names

For some reason, SJM undoes most, if not all, of traditional faerie lore in her books. (I haven't read TOG or CC so I can't comment on those.) The cynical part of me thinks it's because faeries can be difficult to write well, therefore she took the easy route; the more forgiving part of me thinks it's because she set out to explore why humans believed certain myths about faeries, but then lost interest as she spent more and more time in the realm of the Night Court. (Side note: I find it odd that SJM chose to emphasize that the Illyrians are NOT really faeries, whether High or "lesser". I honestly wonder why that is.) Regardless, there's nothing very faerie about SJM's High Fae, etc. except for their ethereal beauty and pointed ears and the fact that they can do magic, I guess.

I've already written about Aging and Lying when it comes to ACOTAR's Faeries, and I thought I'd touch on another aspect of faerie lore that SJM chooses to ignore. (Heh, that rhymes.)

Names.

His [Rhysand's] eyes shifted to my face. “What’s your name, love?” Giving him my name—and my family name—would lead only to more pain and suffering. He might very well find my family and drag them into Prythian to torment, just to amuse himself. But he could steal my name from my mind if I hesitated for too long. Keeping my mind blank and calm, I blurted the first name that came to mind, a village friend of my sisters’ whom I’d never spoken to and whose face I couldn’t recall. “Clare Beddor.” My voice was nothing more than a gasp. ~ACOTAR ch. 26

Clare and her family are killed because Rhys revealed that name to Amarantha, even though he admitted later (in the next book) that he thought she made it up. So, Feyre's fears were not unfounded, but once she is Under the Mountain with everyone else, she is still reluctant to give her name when Amarantha asks for it.

Lucien is even brought forward and refuses to give away Feyre's name. For his defiance, Amarantha orders Rhysand to shatter his mind before Feyre finally gives in and shouts her name for everyone to hear. The Lady of Autumn even repays her sacrifice by helping her with one of Amarantha's "household tasks".

What is the sacrifice, though? It would seem that the only reason Amarantha wants to know her name is because Feyre knows hers, and wants to address her "properly":

“Feyre,” Amarantha said, testing my name, the taste of the two syllables on her tongue. “An old name—from our earlier dialects. Well, Feyre,” she said. I could have wept with relief when she didn’t ask for my family name. “I promised you a riddle.” ~ACOTAR ch. 35

In traditional faerie lore, it is said that names have power, so giving a faerie your name gives them power over you. (It is important to note that they cannot take anything from you. It has to be given.)

There is a scene in Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic in which the young protagonist Chihiro signs a contract to work for the sorceress Yubaba. In a beautifully animated sequence, her signature floats away and into Yubaba's waiting palm. She literally signed away her name. Chihiro is then given a new name in exchange: Sen. By the next day, she has already forgotten her original name and her purpose (freeing her enchanted parents). It is only when another ensorcelled young man gives her the bundle of her old clothes with a card in the pocket (with her name written on it) that she remembers who she was, and why she's there.

I just think it could have been very interesting to give Feyre a similar plotline in ACOTAR. By giving Amarantha her name, she no longer has it, and can no longer remember it. (And since the story is told in first person, it's easier to convey.)

How she gets her name back could be handled in one of two ways: Lucien gives back her name like the true friend he is, or she doesn't remember it until the very end.

If we explore the second option, this is what I'm thinking: Amarantha sought to break Feyre in mind, body, and spirit. The one thing she could never take from Feyre was her love for Tamlin.

“I love you,” I said. “No matter what she says about it, no matter if it’s only with my insignificant human heart. Even when they burn my body, I’ll love you.” My lips trembled, and my vision clouded before several warm tears slipped down my chilled face. I didn’t wipe them away. ~ACOTAR ch. 43

In my Faeries and Lying essay (linked above), I think it would have been more powerful for Amarantha to want Feyre to admit to lying about her love for Tamlin. In the same vein, I think it would be that much more impactful for Feyre to admit that even if she does not know her own name, she knows she loves Tamlin, and that's enough.

It's the one thing Amarantha couldn't take from her. It's the reason Feyre went Under the Mountain in the first place. And most importantly, it's the answer to the riddle. Love. And that's enough.

[courtofwander]

the cool part about writing acotar fics is that sjm is so ass at world building that nothing matters and i can do what i want!

[goldenspringmornings]

semi serious question: what’s the faerie equivalent of crocodile/alligator tears? ya know that kinda crying where you can tell the person is being overdramatic on purpose? yeah what would that be in a believable acotar setting??

[alintalzin]

Neat!

Okay I'm a blabber, I cave, I wanna talk about the rewrite with y'all

Spoilers for the REWRITE, obv, but if you do read through, please let me know what you think (good or bad, I won't be hurt I promise)

*please note that fae are not immortal in the rewrite and each current HL is either the child or grandchild of the ruler who was alive during the War

*also, pre- Amarantha's rule, the Courts were ruled by Kings and Queens, during her rule they call themselves HLs but their heirs are still called Princes and Princesses

*if I use the word Aspect and you either can't remember or have never seen me explain the REWRITE lore, just know it's basically a magical saint kinda

I'll add the map at the end because I'm shy and because it's very chaotic - no one is surprised, just know that I can't draw lol

Seasonal Courts

Spring

Spring has two rivers that start on each end of the continent, Lixus and Neda, and they intercept and form an island. This site is holy to the Spring Court and it's where they hold Rites like Calanmai

Tamlin is the only son of Prince Lachlan and Lady Roisin.

(his brothers don't exist in this, sorry)

During the build up to the War, the elderly King Iain didn't want to pick a side but when Lachlan saw that Jurian was basically at their border, he challenged his father to an ancient Spring Rite in the form of a duel and won

Lachlan bargained with Amarantha because he believed her to be an Aspect, giving up a drop of his power, and relinquishing his title.

Tamlin did not share his father's beliefs.

Spring remains the only court in open rebellion.

Autumn

During the war Autumn was ruled by King Sebastian Vanserra

He died in battle defending the humans but Autumn suffered severe casualties, their armies were in disarray and the King's heir was just shy of adulthood

So an upstart lower noble and a brilliant tactician named Beron stepped in, rallied the armies to retreat, convinced Princess Delphine to bargain with Amarantha (certain they couldn't win against her) and became regent

Delphine would bear 5 sons though only 3 are still alive: Eris, Marcel and Lucien

She holds court for the nobility from Vancour, the Forest House, while Marcel oversees things like trade from the city of Ambreville.

Beron and Eris are both UtM

Summer

Summer and the UnderSea share the Isle of Adriata as a capital

During the war it was ruled by Queen Ceto who gave birth to the twins, Proteus and Nereus.

When Proteus realised and admitted he couldn't bow to Amarantha, even to save his people, he gave up his crown and became a commoner.

Prince Nereus fathered the twins, Cresseida and Varian but when he died, the power did not come to them

Instead it went to a young, half-merling man. The son of Proteus.

Winter

The young king of Winter went against his queen-mother's advice and bargained with Amarantha but while her son was away, Queen Aurora sunk the heart of the Court under the ice and turned the surface into a desolate tundra, leaving only the boarders habitable by anyone not born to Winter

The stubborn young king erected a city called Konigshaven and ruled from there

UtM, Winter is represented by the knight, Kallias who maintains that there is no way to force the hidden Court to the surface as no one is strong enough to challenge Queen Aurora

In reality, Aurora has been dead for decades and it is her granddaughter, High Lady Viviane who maintains the Frost

Kallias fought and won the honour to be her (secret) champion

*both Tarquin and Viviane have white hair because they are half merling but the trait is not universal in their courts

Lmao, sorry, I really can't draw so this is all I could do to visualise what I'm saying. This is half the map of Prythian on one A4 page

Ignore the mortal lands for now 💀

[bayonettesque]

i have a really big issue with the priestess library because the idea we’re supposed to have of it vs the problems that are alarmingly obvious once you examine the concept even slightly are like… sooo different it’s scary. sjm clearly intended for it to be rhysand’s woke king abuse survivor utopia except when you think about it, it’s an isolated camp for heavily traumatised women to live with zero programs in place to overcome their trauma or work towards returning to the outside world— instead, they swear an oath to provide labor for rhys (presumably without pay, because what and where would they spend it?) and be bound to a religious order they don’t really have room to question or leave because defecting from the religion would lead to obvious social isolation and exclusion. it’s an almost cultish setup because like… imagine if a priestess wanted to leave— she has nothing, no family, money, accomodations, or familiarity with the “outside world”. leaving means departing from everything you know, likely to never return, not having learnt to defend yourself or cope with your severe trauma. 

the excuse that “things work differently for the fae” doesn’t exist here because acosf gives us a perfect case study of how these priestesses are quintessentially the same as an average real human woman, wherein yoga, meditation, doing some exercise, getting fresh air, and hanging out with your girlies is enough to apparently re-integrate you into the real world via GWYN and all the other priestesses. WHY is this apparently the first time in like 500 years the powers-that-be have considered a program to rehabilitate the priestesses and give them their own power??? (well. it was NESTA’S idea lmfao the ic would never do that on their own) if sjm wanted this priestess library to actually be the ethical feminist fantasy she thinks it is, couldn’t it have been that the library is supposed to be a transitional place where the ultimate goal is to heal and leave to live a fulfilling, independent, healthy life?? if rhys were the villain this would so easily be a “he keeps traumatised women as slaves to work in his isolated library camp” it’s not even funny holy shit