#alternate kwami lore

[taldigi]

So, with the fae in Fashion Club changed to needing a sun or moon stone to transform people, does this mean akumas in Fashion Club have returned to how they originally worked?

In this world, there are two makes of life. Mortal and Magic.

Mortal Beings are beasts, plants, all things that breathe and hunger and crave.

Some beasts have the fortune to have just a touch of magic. Some more than others. But beasts are still creatures of opportunity.

Humans, on the other hand, are beasts in origin, but are equal parts Mortal and Magic. (Why, What a piece of work is a man!) Capable of such acts of kindness... and of cruelty. Every human feels that magic in different ways, and some consider such a state to be a curse.

Magic Beings are the fae. Emotional, vibrant. The true shape of the fae is that of a spark of light. A laugh on the wind, a sob in the distance, a Whisp. They are beings of emotion and emotion alone- with nothing tangible.

To bond with a human is to become a little bit mortal. It is a desirable state for Faeries. The ability to taste, to dream, to experience time- to feel soft sheets and the ability to feel warm after a cold day. It's not all happiness and sweets, but it's that divine experience that draws Fae to humans- just magical enough to form a symbiotic connection.

The faeries take just a bit from their chosen one- that bit becoming their shapes, their personalities, their preferences. Not all Faeries are born of good folk, and some are capable of cruelty... But most people are good people, and as such, so are Faeries.

So, what are Akuma? A being known as Null is sort of that white space outside the dichotomy of mortal and magic: though it may take the shape of a faerie, it very much is something other. It has developed the ability to create Akuma (which take the form of butterflies) by ripping out the innate magic within a human, rendering them Nullified.. no drive to do anything, no emotions to feel.

Magic attracts magic. The Akuma are drawn to Faeries, and when contact is made, it infects them. Overloading their own magic ability and forcefully transforming their chosen one into a Monster influenced by a mix of the Faerie's influence and the emotional state of the Akuma.

To disperse an Akuma infestation, the emotions must be addressed and resolved, or the monster must be exhausted (read, beaten up). This restores the magic to the Nullified. Akuma, if unable to infest something, will disperse after some time, achieving the same effect.

So, what of the Sun and Moonstones? They are basically elements made of pure magic. They are what the Faewild is made of- their pure energy is what kept Faeries from burning out without a shape to take. or human to bond to. They are a more, distilled form of magic, and so- let the Faeries and their bonded human become one, at least temporarily, to become something greater.

"There is a reason why the fae approach humans." Pollen looked up from her thimble of honey-lemon tea, "They are part beast, part divine. They are fae like us, but nothing like us all at the same time. They are beasts that think, that understand, comprehend.. that dream, imagine, create, destroy... they love, they hate... Why, even if a fae were to bless a beast, they would not be able to utilize our blessings, let alone comprehend them... it is also why we reach out as well. The fae are incapable of things that beasts enjoy. No fae truly needs food or rest- we thrive on the ley lines within the earth itself.. But to be in contact with humans, is to be in contact with passion, and with love- no matter the form it takes." Pollen smiled up at her chosen, then took a sip from her thimble and made a delighted buzz, her wings blurring as they vibrated, "In that, I am pleased, my dear, that your love comes in the form of honey tea and thoughtful cup sizes."

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for answering my Origins Dragon!Marinette and Turtle!Adrien question! Please don’t worry about disagreeing with the idea; I asked for YOUR opinion and analysis on why it would OR wouldn’t work, and that’s what I got. 😌 It also made me consider meta and in-show stuff that I hadn’t before, which is cool. You mentioned wanting all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set of two or more, and I’d love to hear what those sets are in your head going down the full Chinese Miracle Box list and why you’d pair them together with consideration towards both the Kwami themselves and their Powers.

(Post this ask is referring to)

Oh good, I'm glad that you found it useful and not discouraging!

Talking about how to pair the Kwamis is a little tricky because of an issue that I've discussed before. That issue being that the "Chinese" miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies. That makes me uncomfortable because - as far as I'm aware - the Chinese zodiac is a major part of Chinese beliefs and traditions. As such, I personally feel like the box should reflect those beliefs and traditions, but I also don't know those beliefs and traditions, so I can't tell you how I'd effectively group the zodiac Kwamis in order to honor their cultural origins. I can't even be sure if my criticism is valid or just me being overly cautious!

In an ideal world where I had money to invest in this sort of thing, I'd hire a cultural consultant to work with me to design a Chinese miracle box that feels Chinese (or to tell me that I'm overthinking this and to just do whatever I want). Assuming that I'm not overreacting, this would probably mean redesigning a lot of the powers and looks so that they honor Chinese lore and not Western lore.

For example, one thing that I know for sure is that black cats are not unlucky in China. They're actually symbols of good luck (all cats are), so a Chinese box would not have the implied good luck/bad luck thing that we get with Ladybug and Chat Noir. My limited research has also raised some doubts about ladybugs being a go-to symbol of good luck or creation in China, but I'm a lot less confident about that one being a bad choice as the association may exist. I couldn't find anything definitive one way or the other. This leads me to think that, if the association exists, then it's probably a bit obscure, meaning that a Chinese box would probably go with a different animal if we were trying to be culturally accurate to what a Chinese-inspired box would really look like.

I can say with reasonable certainty that Creation is associated with the masculine yang and Destruction is associated with the feminine yin, so Tikki should possibly feel masculine to feminine Plagg. At the very least, their spots in the miracle box should probably be reversed with Plagg in the black and Tikki in the white since yin is black and yang is white?

[Image Description: center of the original miracle box showing that ladybug earrings are placed in the black part of the yin yang symbol while the black cat ring is in the white]

I also known that white rabbits being associated with time, watches, and umbrellas comes from Alice in Wonderland and not China. Are you starting to see why I'm doubting the cultural accuracy of the miracle box?

The alternate way to approach this is to remove the possible issue of Chinese culture being treated as "mystical" or nothing more than ornamentation by making the Chinese miracle box into the miracle box of no specified culture. Since that's kind of what the box already is in terms of deeper meanings and cultural ties, I think we can go that route for this discussion since we have taken a moment to acknowledge the potential issues with the box's existing design and why that's leading me to take this route as - to me - this seems to be the only way to stick to canon's lore while avoiding potential further insults to Chinese culture.

If we went to my ideal extremes with this approach, we'd actually massively cut down the number of miraculous in the box because I think that there are way too many miraculous! Who needs nineteen "unique" powers to arm and fight one villain? This is extra true since there's no real theme to the miraculous beyond the initial setup of Creation/Destruction + five random powers followed by the addition twelve more random powers with no clear ties to any culture or theme other than the look of the Kwamis that grant the powers.

But that's getting real extreme, so for this ask, we won't go there. Instead, I'll talk about some general ideas for grouping the powers that we already have and some ideas for how you could fix the randomness of our current powers to make them feel like they make sense.

To start, I love the fact that our two main heroes are supposed to be a pair power wise. That's a lovely way to approach your lore and is why I think that they should have grouped the other miraculous, too. Why are Creation and Destruction the only set? Why aren't the others in any sort of group? Why do these miraculous have the powers they do? What ties them to this box and not another box?

There are a few ways to approach pairing the other miraculous. You can come at it from a theme perspective such as the fact that both the snake and the rabbit are all about time. You can also look for opposites such as the turtle being all about defense and the dragon being more about offense. You can even go more broad and say that a given group of miraculous is all aspects of one type of power such as the peacock, the goat, and the ladybug all feeling like aspects of creation. There's really no clear way to go about this because the current powers are so freaking random!

When I approach this stuff, I don't just come up with powers. I come up with the lore and let that help guide the powers or I shape the lore around the powers I want to use until both things make sense. For example, it makes sense that Creation would have some magical being guiding it. It also makes sense that Creation would either create Destruction for balance or that they both popped into existence together so that there was always a balance. Once you have that, you say, "Okay, what other Forces would these two want in order to help guide the universe? What can't they do or what do they do consistently enough that they might want to hand it off?"

Going from there, you start to come up with ideas like maybe they wanted Time to have a physical embodiment so that they could get some guidance on the long term effects of the things that they were making, so that's Fluff coming online. But Time is a lot and they liked their balance, so maybe Sass was brought online too in order to balance Fluff with Fluff being focused on what was and what could be while Sass is focused on what is, thereby giving Fluff someone to ground her. Or maybe you even add in a third Kwami to be some sort of historian who remembers the past while Fluff is the future and Sass is the now.

Another thought path is that most things are not pure Creation or pure Destruction. You must destroy to create. When you make bread, yeast consumes sugar to create air bubbles. Creation and Destruction working together. So maybe Tikki and Plagg wanted to make "children" who could do what they couldn't do solo and that's how we got the peacock?

No matter how you go about this, I really don't think that there's a great way to explain/group all nineteen miraculous, especially if you add in the eagle and Fei's wacky prodigious with it's animal abilities. It's just too random! But I do think that there's a lot of potential in strong subsets of the ones we get in canon, especially if you're allowed to edit the powers or the Forces a bit to make them fit their supposed Force or granted power better. I've talked before about how I'd mess with Lucky Charm to remove the odd Luck association and focus on Creation and that's what I'd do with most of the miraculous because, right now, most of them don't make much sense.

For example, Ziggy - the goat - is supposed to be the Kwami of Passion and that somehow gives the power to create anything you want? I know creatives are passionate, but that still doesn't fit in my mind. It would make more sense for this to be an inspiration power like the pig or for the Force to change to Creation and Ziggy is just a lesser ladybug for some reason? And Stompp - the Ox - is Determination, but I'd actually label his shield power as an aspect of Protection, making him in some sort of pairing with the turtle. Self defense verses defense of others?

In short, the canon lore is a disaster that needs major work to feel solid which leads to lots of paths for fixing the mess. In my opinion, the best way to go about fixing it is to take the element that worked best - the Creation/Destruction pairing - and expand that out to make strong, logical lore for the other Kwamis and their associated powers. Lore that probably won't be rooted in any one culture because no culture seems to be a solid match for the lore that canon is using, which is only concerning because of the current obvious associations with China and that's not even touching on the whole Tibetan monks + Chinese culture issue. Go check out the post I linked at the start for my thoughts on that which basically sum up to, "I am not even remotely qualified to talk about this one, but it seems like a terrible idea."

(Once again, reminder that I'm not Chinese or otherwise deeply informed on Chinese culture. I'm just a person who tries her best to respect other cultures and the miracle box sets off a lot of warning bells for me. Those warning bells could always be a false positive, so you shouldn't take my thoughts as some sort of final say on this topic. Please feel free to look into this on your own and form your own opinions.

If you are Chinese or otherwise educated in these topics, then please feel free to reblog this or send an ask giving me some additional context as I really do love learning about this stuff, but it's near impossible to research! I spent a good hour talking to a local librarian trying to find books or articles in our library that talked about the Chinese zodiac from an academic perspective and we found nothing. I've got a few interlibrary loan requests out to academic libraries in our library network though and I'll follow up on this if those books end up having information that adds to the discussion.)

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 80K - 125K Words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

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Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done."

Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.”

“I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said.

Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

This starts off as a mostly slice-of-life fluff fic, but about halfway through things turn dramatic when Monarch learns some things he really shouldn’t and takes action. I had a lot of fun with it as it was coming out, it’s worth a read.

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Kwami Magi Homura Magica by Crossoverpairinglover

After eighty-four loops in time, Homura Akemi takes a new path to Paris to save her friends.

The sixty-third loop after that, Homura arrived at the Agreste Mansion.

After clash after clash with the heroes of Paris and its greatest menace, events have reached a tipping point.

Ladybug faces someone verging on a second wish, a wish that endangers space and time to save a friend.

This was an absolutely AMAZING story that crossoverpairinglover dropped out of NOWHERE. Seriously, if you like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Miraculous Ladybug, this is a real treat - but be prepared to sit down and binge, because it’s over 100,000 words and only has three chapters. 

Anyway, I adore the care that’s taken with going through Homura’s mindset here, she gets a lot of character focus. And the lore! There’s some good explanations here for the history behind kwamis and Incubators’ interactions, and the Order of the Guardians normally treats Magical Girls, and why the Incubators are wrong in their assessment of the universe needing more energy to stave off entropy (hint: it involves Plagg), and just... there was a lot of love put into this.

And the action! Most Miraculous fics don’t have much in the way of fight scenes, and what they do have is mostly just functional. This is one of the rare exceptions. There’s some really long, detailed fight scenes in this (roughly the entire second half of the second chapter has one between Ladybug and Homura), which are a treat to read! 

We also get some glimpses into a variety of other universes here, other timelines, alternate ways things could have gone down - I’m especially partial to the rather detailed view we get of one where Homura sent a message asking for help to the Ladyblog on her third time loop, and how things progressed from there. 

The ending I also thought was really good, a happy ending that generally made sense and dealt with the issue of the Incubators. 

If you can’t tell I’m really happy with this fic, it was incredible and unexpected. The length of the individual chapters can be daunting, but if you’re up for the task, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

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If I Let Myself Love You by @uptoolateart

It’s hard to be a normal girl with a normal life when your mother has terminal cancer. And when fashion model Adrien Agreste moves back to Paris and wants to be Marinette’s friend – or maybe even more – her life is turned upside down again.

How can she risk opening her heart to love when her whole world is falling apart? Especially when Adrien is hiding a dark secret of his own….

- COMPLETE FIC – updates on Sundays

*** No kwamis AU - 100% Adrinette. About half of it is fluffy and half heavy. Please read tags for trigger warnings. ***

This fic can be rough, definitely pay attention to the tags. There’s no villains in this story, it mostly centers around themes of dealing with illness - both being sick and having a loved one who’s terminally ill - and death, grieving someone who’s lost, and how difficult that can be. It can get pretty gut-wrenching at times, especially as you slowly discover more layers of what’s really going on, what both Adrien and Marinette are hiding, both from others and from themselves in order to help cope with their circumstances. But they still move forwards together, regardless.

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Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

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Between the Heavens and the Embers by @readersmoon

Everyone in Paris remembers the fateful night of January 16, when the city was attacked by the most powerful and destructive akuma ever created. The assault, which lasted for hours, resulted in the death of 439 people.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was among the casualties.

Years later, Adrien hasn't been able to move on, haunted by the memories of her broken body. So, when the opportunity to leave Paris for a while presents itself, he doesn't hesitate. But this trip might end up giving him more than he ever dreamt of.

This is a fantastic fic, though a serious and a dark one - make sure to mind the tags, and it’s M-rated for a reason. Vee - or rather, Marinette - is going through a horror story here. Imagine finding out that your life is a lie, that everyone you thought you could trust was manipulating you, that you were just being continually gaslit for years. 

As for Adrien, Alya, and Nino... well, none of them took Marinette’s “death” all that well, especially Adrien. Finding out that she’s been alive all this time, in these horrible circumstances, and they had no clue... it’s hard on them as well.

I love how this fic goes into how much trauma everyone has even after the immediate danger’s dealt with, you don’t just walk off this kind of experience, especially with how many years this lasted.

[imthepunchlord]

A thought: why not make the Prodigious (or maybe a different set) be one creature that was split apart to seal it away and contain its powers? The danger comes from overusing one of them or using more than one, opening up the user for possession.

Another alternative is that you keep both Prodigious and Miraculous as magical jewelry with a little being tied to them, and they can be related in the origins of their creation by being created by the same person/people, but make changes on those origins and what they're tied to.

Prodigious by definition means big in size or quantity, being extraordinarily amazing/marvelous, having great power/force, and being ominous and monstrous.

Miraculous in turn means miracle, being super, wonderful, and amazing, and being supernatural.

One is tied to great size in quantity and echoes that nature of yin and yang, teetering between positive and negative. The other is tied to salvation and being beneficial and magical, and also suggests rarity.

it could've been that the Miraculous are tied to Europe though idk yet on what they could be based on, maybe virtues? Miraculous stress the importance of being used for good and to consider the majority over the one, and are a smaller scale group, one that Ladybug could've easily be apart and would fit into more naturally as it has a lot more weight and significance in European countries. By being a smaller group, they could've been a lot more equal in power.

The Prodigious in turn could be tied to China and Taoism, as there are a lot of potential groups to work off: the Zodiac which could be made up of 12 or 13 (if Cat is apart of it), Bagua which could have 8 to 9 members, Wu Xing + Yin-Yang to make 7. If doing more than 1 group, they could've had tiers of power to work off of. These could've been a lot more neutral, making it easier to misuse them with these kwamis being more chaotic and having faith that karma will bring in their due, which could be how Gabriel is able to do so with the Butterfly despite Nooroo forewarning consequences in Origins that we never see, to the point you think there are no consequences.

It can be that in terms of power, Miraculous do have the edge over Prodigious by quality over quantity, which is why Ladybug will always have the edge over Butterfly despite the chaotic power it has. And there could've been tension/complicated relations between the two groups of kwamis and how they go about things with Miraculous kwamis more about the majority while Prodigious kwamis are more about the individual, which is why Tikki and Plagg clash, especially if going that Cat's a Prodigious, as it's a lot more neutral and chaotic and doesn't value the majority over the one, and Plagg will encourage rebellion and being selfish and being dicey on responsibility.

And it could be that s1 hints at the two groups and then s2 will expand upon them, which could be started off by Fu coming in and having the Turtle Prodigious and having a few other Prodigious with him. And as Fu didn't bring in much in s1 and his tests are kinda dicey, it could've been Miraculous kwamis that pick heroes, could reveal that Miraculous don't have a Guardian due to their smaller numbers and being harder to misuse as these kwamis are so virtuous. But Prodigious do require Guardianship due to their numbers and more chaotic power and having more morally grey kwamis.

If Miraculous and Prodigious were to exist and be related, this is something else that could've been done.

It could've been a great way to expand on Miraculous lore, and adding some uniqueness to the kwamis and how they work off each other. And it would also work off it being set in Europe while having ties to China. Could've done Marinette dual wielding a Miraculous and Prodigious to work off her mixed heritage. And if so, Gabrieel could've been somewhat of a foil if he had the Peafowl Miraculous and Butterfly Prodigious.

This is what I would've voted for or would've done.

[tammulberry]

MIRACULOUS DYNASTIES: Introduction to an AU by T.A.M. Mulberry

READ THE 1ST CHAPTER HERE

Long ago, before the rise of machines, there were miracles… 

For centuries, worthy heroes were given jewels that granted extraordinary magic from beyond this world. There are two miracle jewels, however, that stand on top of the hierarchy. The Ladybug of Creation and the Black Cat of Destruction. Juxtaposed for eternity — as one cannot live without the other. 

Legend has it — that when both these jewels are used at the same time, one will have the power to alter reality itself. 

“Are you willing to pay the price of absolute power?”

Copyright © 2024 by T.A.M. Mulberry

OVERVIEW

I started working on this AU by the time Season 3 was still airing. It is basically an alternate universe exploring a different timeline, origin and conflict for Marinette, Adrien and the rest of the crew. I've been wanting to share it for the past few years but never got around to doing it. Might as well do it later than never.

There won't be any major spoilers here since I have an entire story for this AU laid out for the world to see so if you ever find this post, make sure to stay tuned to any updates on le prologue chapter.

GENERAL CHANGES

Marinette and Adrien start out as 18-19 year old students that go to a Lycée Francoise Dupont of the Fine Arts instead .

The setting is in a post-modern futuristic Paris with advanced technology.

Most of the people in the story are from the Uptown area in Paris, because one of the themes in the story explores the superficiality of fame and money along with the dark side of being a celebrity.

The general tone and mood is darker but it's still cute and wholesome.

Miraculous and Miraculi are used interchangeably due to an in AU translation error by past historians.

The inheritance of Miraculi operate on a dynastic cycle that can be overthrown.

Less villains but are reoccurring

POWER SYSTEM

So this is my take on the Miraculous power system for this AU. I wanted it to be a lot grander and powerful so that the risks of wielding one will be even more apparent. This will only be showing a brief history, the kwami name change + other definition of terms and the types of miraculous.

DIFFERENT TERMS & ADDED TERMS

Chi / Qi: It is the general term for the power within someone.

Tianshi Energy: This is pure energy and it loosely translates to angel. It is a force that is created after a sacrifice.

Mogui Energy: Similar to an akuma, a Mogui translates to devil in Mandarin. It is a dark force that is created from the inner evil of human souls.

Qiji: The name change of the Kwamis. It means "miracle."

Miànshā: The veil that keeps the identities of Miraculous holders hidden.

ENERGY BALANCE / CHI

Because of an event that had happened in Ancient China that involved someone using both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous to grant them the wish to drive out anyone that wanted to overthrow the Middle Kingdom, there was a sudden surge in Mogui energy that overthrew the Tianshi Energy. Overtime, this corrupted the state of the world as it continued to spread. That was, until Piao Chong and Hei Mao brought the balance back.

THE QIJI

For this AU, the kwamis are known by a Chinese term instead to be consistent with the lore of the Miracle Box because its roots in China will be explored.

The Qijis (pronounced: CHEE-jee) were first discovered by an Ancient Chinese Monk and they were the first ones to be converted into Miraculi, meaning that they were the oldest ones made. In English, it roughly translates to miracle which is why the Miraculi today are known as — well, Miraculous.

"Maybe we got lost in translation."

"You can't just insert a reference with no correlation to the topic at hand."

TYPES OF MIRACULOUS

YIN AND YANG MIRACULOUS

These are the first Qijis that manifested into existence. They are the most powerful Miraculi to be created and they were made to balance each other out. Only Creation can restore Destruction and only Destruction can completely destroy Creation. Even if they are individually more powerful than any of the other Miraculi, they need to simultaneously exist with each other to keep the balance.

Ladybug & Black Cat

LOTUS MIRACULOUS

These are the Miraculous that manifested from both the concepts of Creation and Destruction. They are not as powerful but they do have more specific applications. They are based on the different aspects of a human psyche and represent the different Chinese elements. Because they rely on both Yin and Yang aspects that have stemmed from the Ladybug and Black Cat, they also have passive abilities when they are detransformed.

Turtle, Moth, Peacock, Fox & Bee

ZODIAC MIRACULOUS

Now these are the Miraculi that stemmed from the Lotus Miraculi. While the ones mentioned are based on the Human Psyche, the Zodiac is based on the natural world and the abiotic elements of it. They all have different forms that change depending on the season, natural phenomena or internal balance. However, their fifth forms all give them a limit of 5 Minutes to use before transforming back and they cannot switch between forms while in transformation.

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog & Pig

TIMELINE

PREHISTORY - The Eons of Wild

“Eons have passed, floating in space Without a name and without a face The avatar of creation had nothing to create Until destruction birthed another with no name.”

— a passage from the ancient days

ANCIENT HISTORY – The Age of Miracles

"It was only during then that the beings that have existed longer than all of human history were given names. They started to embody the traits that early humans possessed and observed them from birth to death. A fragile existence."

— an excerpt from historical research

MIDDLE AGES – The War of Regimes

"Elite families were originally chosen by the monk that created the jewels. However, just as dynasties can be overthrown, so can the families of ancient history."

— an excerpt from historical research

MODERN HISTORY - The Rise of Machines

"Revolution. Industry. Progress. Suppression. The future. The rise of machines was the fall of the old world. The fall of miracles."

— an excerpt from a monk.

MAIN TIMELINE — The Convergence

As the leaves began to fall, it was a sign that school was back in session; and for the eager high school students of Lycée Françoise Dupont of the Fine Arts, it was another opportunity to make it big in the industry. The hustle and bustle of aspiring musicians, actors and authors showed just how everyone was determined to make it there on time.

At least … most students were.

— an excerpt from Chapter 1

Stay tuned for more updates on this AU! I hope that you'll find something enjoyable about it once it comes out.

T.A.M. Mulberry

[grimalkinscratches]

Ao3 Link through the here (x)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Other Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Relationship: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix (PV), Félix (PV) & Nino Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire & Félix (PV), Chloé Bourgeois & Félix (PV) Character: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Félix (Miraculous Ladybug PV), Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, the most AU of AUs, Fix-It of Sorts, No Miracle Box We Thrive In Chaos, Kwami Swap, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, Not Canon Compliant

Chapter Excerpt:

The same two notes. They played in his head, over and over. A second’s worth of audio, drilling into his head again, again, and again.

“You are getting closer to your masterpiece, Bravura,” his patron hummed, smugly oblivious to the pain Bravura was in from feeling the same. Two. Notes. “Keep pushing.”

“I am,” Bravura muttered, reaching for the light-wire keys in front of him. But all that came to his mind were two notes. Just the two. And he played them, again and again, trying desperately to push through the thick layer of fog at the centre of his mind, trying to find the rhythm to continue. But also- he remembered how his لوالدة noted that alarms were music in themselves. Despite being only two notes. And only the two. “Stay Away,” he remembered her saying as she translated out a voiceless alarm for him when he was younger, afraid of loud noises. “Go-to safe-ty.”

His heart stopped, hearing footsteps. He turned, starting to protest, but the protest died on his lips as a voice started to sing. The quality wasn’t the best: she wasn’t perfect, she wasn’t some unshone star dramatically coming to light in a narrative climax. But, there was an amateur's passion in her voice, and it. It was sincere. Bravura could tell. He could almost taste her sincerity because he knew- 

Music was where people’s feelings came to shine. To be communicated beyond just words. This was true, especially as he was now a fairy of music.

“Should their cup runneth over,” she sang, and his fingers, without his conscious input, moved to a third note. A fourth. They kept up with her as she sang, “the loss is not of wine.”

His eyes locked on her. Her face was like a half-forgotten memory before the fog seeped in a lifetime ago. The sharp angles of it were lit with the auditorium’s lights (all of them moving to his mind’s reflex like a limb detached but still listening for his art) like a masquerade mask, and her pale-green eyes seemed like a cut of dew to slash the fog away. Her song spoke even in her body, in the careful positioning of her shoulders, the way she didn’t shiver at him like the others had as they had run from the auditorium.

Bravura’s feet began to move, the gentle click of his new fine leather shoes against the stage. They circled each other as she continued to sing.

He reached out, a light-wire guitar from his patron touching his hand, and a fast-paced Spanish-styled guitar began to play, adding an air of energy and tension, the two of them increasing their pace as they circled and circled but never met.

“Their throne was once so golden.” She flourished her hands, extending her arms out like wings. “But the tarnish taints us all in time.”

A gentle drum beat began to play to the beat of their steps, he made sure of it. As the art came to him, cutting through the fog, he made sure to lay it out as quickly as it came to him, like a memory unlocked from years of decay and rot.

“As they revel in their decadent excess, to their will I bend no knee,” his muse sang. She gestured to him. “Do we stand with the damned or the blessed? Or find some land between?”

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

The Princess Problem

The Princess Problem by Azuracity

15th July, 2003.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of Thomas and Sabine Dupain-Cheng, is born to an ancient line of mythical miraculous wielders, who coincidentally also happen to be the same ancient line of royalty who rule the affluent island nation, Maan.

Brought up in a different world, this Marinette is slightly colder, slightly harsher, and armed with not one but two life-changing secrets as she tries to survive school life at College François-Dupont.

Amidst a series of twists that life keeps throwing at her, a persistently annoying Chat Noir, and growing political turmoil in her home country, how will Marinette come to embrace her heritage, as both the Miraculous Ladybug and as Heir presumptive to the throne? For how funny would it be for Paris’ sweetheart superhero to also be the daughter of the lost princess of Maan?

Words: 2781, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug's Parents, Original Cheng Character(s), Original Dupain-Cheng Character(s), Chloé Bourgeois, André Bourgeois, Gabriel Agreste, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Master Fu, Order of the Guardians, Luka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Caline Bustier's Class, Original Miraculous Ladybug Character(s)

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug's Parents, Gabriel Agreste & Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Original Character(s), Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Original Character(s)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Partners to Lovers, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Rich Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, world building, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Family Drama, Family Shenanigans, Literally created a new country, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Not Beta Read, How Do I Tag, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47747239

[taldigi]

More violence to fill your time with: 2, 11, 18, 24?

YESSS

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

ML is a story about relationships and love. But Felix takes this to a whole other level- he's madly in love with Maribug. He adores her- he'd die for her if asked. 10 years into their relationship and he's giving her roses and love poems: Whatever Marinette wants, he'll give it to her if it's within his power- (even then...)

Whatever he does: topping or bottoming- he does in in service of Marinette. Whatever she wants, he wants. She wants to lie in his lap and have her hair brushed? Of course! She wants to tie him up? Gladly.

Alternatively: He parades around paris in cat ears, skintight leather, a bell, and thigh highs. He's no top, and if it is, he's getting power bottomed.

number of fandom-related words you've filtered

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Again, Nooroo!! But also Lila Redemption stories.

Overall.... Precanon in general. So much good stuff! The greater lore is often totally ignored for PV-only/Felibri, the angst of the Ring Curse, and Quantic Kids.

Notably, stuff like the buggettes and marinette's extended suite of gadgets and powers are really cool. Also the Kwami Orb > Akuma ANY DAY!!!

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

Either: Criticizing Adrien(ette) or Criticizing a LGBT aspect. (Also, any positive Lila content.)

criticism isn't baseless hate, it's taking a closer look at something to see the cracks. Criticism is there to help fix things or improve them- or to acknowledge a fault so it doesn't end up hurting you.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

the things that keep you from falling apart !!!PODFIC!!!

by ThatBluePencilCrayon

Ra's al Ghul should have been more careful when using the Miraculous to create the Lazarus Pits.

OR,

A DamiNette Arranged Marriage/Penpal AU.

!!!PODFIC!!!

Words: 42, Chapters: 1/60, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug, Batman - All Media Types, DCU

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Damian Wayne, Talia al Ghul, Tom Dupain, Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Caline Bustier, Caline Bustier's Class, Chloé Bourgeois, Kagami Tsurugi, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Nyssa Raatko, Nathalie Sancoeur, Emilie Agreste, Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)

Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Batfamily Members & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Roy Harper/Jason Todd, Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Childhood Friends, Letters, Reunions, Established Relationship, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Miraculous Side Effects, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Batfamily (DCU) Feels, POV Alternating, Damian Wayne Has a Heart, Designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Alya Césaire Bashing, Canon-Typical Violence, Good Grandparent Alfred Pennyworth, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Uncle Jagged Stone (Miraculous Ladybug), Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Smart Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Angst, Fluff, Nathalie Sancoeur Redemption, Good Aunt Nyssa al Ghul, Emilie Agreste Lives, Protective Nyssa al Ghul, Bad Teacher Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev is a Good Teacher (Miraculous Ladybug), Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Visits Gotham City, Good Friend Juleka Couffaine, Lila Rossi Faces Consequences, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/45481900

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Good point on the kwami swap. For me, I think if Adrien did get a different Miraculous, I probably would've voted Turtle or Horse.

Adrien's a natural protector by heart, which can work with Turtle's role, but the big issue is that he can be reckless and sacrificing with it, which I think Turtle could provide solutions for. For sure, it can give him protection while he's covering for another, and there could be a possibility he could learn to be more cautious or to learn to think a little more through Wayzz. Ideally as I think kwamis should've been mentors/advisers.

And Horse can work off that want for freedom, literally granting him freedom and to go wherever he pleases. Adrien and Kaalki also could've been a fun pair given he can also be a bit of a show pony, but also have his goofy moments to work off a more sophisticated kwami. I think he's actually the most color coded for Horse (fair hair, green eyes, and dark and white mix that Kaalki echoes); though color coding doesn't seem to really matter, which I think is a shame.

Do you have any other alternatives you like?

The turtle is one of my go-to choices as well! I'm a big fan of the idea that every Kwami should have an ideal holder, but that there may be acceptable backups who can do it in a pinch. I view Adrien as a decent backup for the turtle because of his protective streak, but not an idea holder because, as you said, he's a little too reckless.

I also consider him a great backup for the dragon, though that is influenced by my "fix" for the dragon. The canon dragon doesn't have clear rules about what makes a good holder like the initial miraculous did. I miss those days. The lore was fun back then.

Because of this lore issue, I don't really have thoughts on Adrien and most of the canon miraculous simply because we don't have any idea what those miraculous look for in a holder. What makes a good horse? Who knows! I did like your show pony line, though. That would be a good name for him.

[imthepunchlord]

Different nonnie, but Liiri always looked like a cute but bland little nugget to me, so I totally get liking Ying Ying’s character design better. The red-and-yellow glowing color palette that all the Renlings have made it harder to appreciate square-on, so I’m glad you’re switching the colors up too.

Your full answer to that ask reminds me, concerning which of your Miraculous WIPs you’d want to use this three-tier Miraculous setup on, you could honestly just have the Wish made by someone using the canon Ladybug and Black Cat in any of the MULTIPLE in-show close calls up to this point and then just alter and/or rewind reality from there, because SCREW all the unnecessary changes, additions, and retcons that this show’s lore has pulled over the last five seasons. The Prodigious, Order of the Guardians, Native American Miraculous, Miraculous potions, time travel, and so on were obviously far too complex ideas for the ML crew to handle properly, and now they’ve decided to delve even further into the idea of alternate universes for the upcoming Miraculous Paris special on top of all of that, so forget it, might as well use the one still-useful canon-established setup of a Wish to clean it all up so you can use your new lineup in any idea you want. After Wish AU? An accidental dual-Wish is already built into the premise, with Adrien wanting things to be different and Marinette rejecting that, and you get to play with the PV world’s interesting plot setups, a main cast whose characters are slightly to-the-left in terms of personality and looks, and a Marinette who remembers everything contrasting an Adrien who remembers nothing. Off to Italy AU? Maybe it’s later in Season 4 or 5 where Marinette is just tired and she Wishes she had gotten the chance to be a hero with actual support and/or really live her life with trustworthy friends and family at the start of it all, with both the Miraculous powers and her grandmother’s availability to take her to live in Milan with her shifting accordingly. Fortune Favors the Brave AU? Maybe Alya swipes Chat Noir’s Miraculous in Hack-san during their brief introduction-tussle and has the “bright” idea of making the Wish to make herself the Ladybug hero from the beginning only to find that a) main hero life is a lot harder than it’s cracked up to be, b) she’s now one of the five most powerful instead of the two most powerful as Karma for making the Wish without considering others, pressing the importance of teamwork in this new life even more than in the old one, and c) her new kwami is understandably NOT happy about how Alya not only betrayed her former owner’s trust but also reset the universe’s established power balances due to her Wish being too broad. And these are just three examples off the top of my head. All this to say that you’ve been a wonderful part of the fandom even if you don’t interact with it as much anymore, and I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much about which idea to fit your new Miraculous system into when the time comes given your writing track record. With all the grief that the canon plot has given you and everyone else, it’s only fair that you get to use its built-in Deus ex machina to your advantage.

I'll say that chances are I wouldn't do an After Wish au for a lot of the ideas, cause most I want to work off starting off fresh and no one having any recollection of a previous timeline and acting like this is the norm.

Like, the Off to series would have this set up since "Lady Lion" would be a character for Off to Milan, and Pixie Girl or Butterfly Girl will have Mantis. And Off to London, Sebastian the waiter is planned to have Songbird.

So Off to series will either be splitting up the Bagua set or it'll be all randomized on where Miraculous are, and Fu only has a few.

But After Wish au could happen for some ideas, especially since I do like @nobodyfamousposts Lament ideas and their take on the Wish. How the new reality deals with you can depend on your actions, where fighting against the new setting and not liking the changes makes things worse for you, and how rough a set up you'll have can depend on how selfish or selfless a Wish is. It's a fun set up and scenario to think about.

And oh yeah, full agree with all the choices and directions the show went. I'm certain a lot of it came down to doing what other superhero studios were doing. Like Marvel is trying to get the multiverse going and DC dabbled in it with that Flash movie, so clearly ML has to do it too! Which, I will say, there is potential in playing with the multiverse. Back when the show just started, this was the show for aus. Any au you could think of existed. ML being a tv show and the cast are all actors, kwami swap au, inverse/pastel au that just swapped or changed up their colors, personality swaps, life swaps, reverse love square, enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, ect..

So Ml could work off the multiverse and have fun with it, but that does require creativity and a passion for the show, which given their lazy or odd choices, you got to wonder how invested they are.