#ancestral trolls

[artstar1997]

Trolls: Origins

Long long ago, in a more peaceful time, all the troll tribes lived together in harmony. At the eve of silence, the trolls created the strings and life became one big party. Each troll formed a tribe based on the music they love, pop, funk, classical, techno, country, and hard rock, but one tribe stood out. The hybrid trolls came together and formed the platinum tribe, one tribe that loved all kinds of music. All of the tribes look up to the elders, who lead them in their everyday lives. Each elder is known for their excellence and skill. 

“Elder Bass, you are here!” A funk troll said. 

“I have troubles, Elder Thunder!” a hard rock troll asked his elder.

“What can I do, Elder Scylla?” a techno troll asked hers.

It was all well for the trolls as generations of elders that came were always there for the tribes when they needed help but in that particular era, everything is going to change. A wedding was held for two pop trolls, their current pop elder Brook and her husband. All of the trolls were celebrating their wedding in a huge party like no other. 

“Congratulations!” one of the country trolls said. 

“We are so proud of you,” a funk troll added.

The trouble started on the night of the Pop Elder’s wedding. Elder Brooks’s cousin Tansy stood on top of a pillar and addressed the crowd of trolls. He was an orange Pop troll with blue hair wearing a striped mantle and maroon dhoti pants. Actual tansy flowers decorated his mantle. He announced to them;

“Ladies and gentle-trolls, give it up for the bride and groom!” He gestured to the stage behind him, on which sat the sacred harp with the six strings of the oldest and most powerful tribes. In front of the harp, Elder Brook and her new consort Leaf stepped before it. Both of them wore matching gold and white robes. The crowd cheered for them as they raised their clasped hands together. 

Brook had pinkish purple skin, a pink nose, teal hair and eyes with yellow sclera and green irises. Leaf was solid green over his entire body, save for his eyes which were violet. 

“Congratulations!” They all cheered. 

Joining the happy couple onstage was the Grand Priest Cygnus. He is a white haired troll with pastel purple skin, pastel blue, golden tattoos, and silver eyes, wearing a pastel rainbow colored robe and a swan feather headdress.

“By the power vested in me by the Platinum Tribe and by the Great Creator Harmonia, I bless this Union! And now, let the couple’s first dance commence!” Upon saying this, he strummed all the strings on the harp. A beautiful stream of music notes floated over the happy crowd. 

Soon, Brook and Leaf danced together, and were soon joined by the other tribal elders and their spouses. Tansy watched them from his perch as a rose gold haired troll with soft pink skin and a flamingo pink nose, wearing a luminous, hologram-colored tube dress with silver tattoos, approached him.

“Hey Tansy, aren't you gonna dance with me?” she asked him. 

“Lyra, you're here? Aren't you supposed to be with your brother?” he asked her. 

“He’s fine with Miri,” she answered as she watched Cygnus dancing with his fianceé, a bipedal seafoam colored funk troll with emerald hair, turquoise stripes, and violet limbs, wearing gold jewelry.

“So, are you up to dancing with me?” he asked her. 

“Lead the way,” she answered and went to the party to dance. 

They danced an elaborate waltz to the music. Their feet felt lighter than air, like the winged Classical Trolls. 

“This is wonderful,” Tansy exclaimed. 

“Yeah it is,” Lyra agreed. 

Onstage, Elder Brook pressed herself against Leaf’s shoulder as they danced in circles. 

“Truly you are the only one who understands me,” Brook whispered in his ear. 

“Of course I do, I will do anything to make you happy,” he responded. 

“I know you will,” she said as she kissed him. 

“It’s so nice that Brook finally found someone,” Cygnus said to Miri. 

“They are very lucky,” the classical elder added.

“I wish I could be next,” the country elder squealed. 

“I'll be the first one to get it!” the hard rock elder bragged. 

“No, me!” the techno elder giggled. 

“Just be patient guys, love will find a way for us,” the funk elder told them. 

As time passed by, their happiness was prolonged when Brook and Leaf were finally expecting and the tribes celebrated them for the achievement when the egg was laid. A few weeks later, Tansy watched Elder Brook give a speech to her fellow Pop Trolls. 

“While the other genres pride themselves on their distinct sounds and unique melodies. We have something I like to call “Mass Appeal”. We don’t settle for a niche fanbase, we aspire to satisfy everyone! That’s why our music has such a wonderful blend of elements, best best parts of all the genres. We must never forget that or fail to be proud of it.” 

“Oh, Brook,” Tansy sighed. 

“Your cousin is quite the talker,” said Cygnus as he came up next to him. 

“Yeah, she always talks about how great pop music is,” he sighed. 

“I love all kinds of music but it often depends on my feelings and expressions,” Cygnus said. 

“My brother is right about music,” Lyra agreed.

“Sometimes I worry about her,” said Tansy. “She always has to be right about everything.”

“What is wrong?” she asked him. 

“It’s Brook,” he said. “Lately she’s been saying some creepy things about the harp and accessing its ‘full power’.”

“But that's not right!” Cygnus gasped. “Nobody can play that harp because if anyone from our tribe plays the strings there, they'll take over all of the music.”

“I know,” said Tansy. “I thought marrying Leaf would snap her out of it, but I guess he can’t get through to her.” 

“All of the elders of the platinum tribe passed the warning from parent to child, and I have a bad feeling about what might happen if it ever happens,” he said. 

“Calm down, brother, we just have to be prepared, in case this happens,” Lyra said as she tried to calm Cygnus.

“Maybe we should get the other elders to talk to her,” Tansy suggested. “She might listen to them.” 

“All this nonsense, there’s unforeseen consequences when anyone plays the strings,” Cygnus complained.

“How did you know?” He asked his best friend.

“The secret was passed down from our parents to us, which spanned way back to our ancestors,” he answered.

“Since Cygnus and I are the current tribe leaders of the Platinum Tribe, we are the only ones who know about the secret of the strings,” Lyra added. 

“I’m worried about Brook, maybe we should meet up with the other troll elders to discuss this,” Tansy said. 

“Got it,” the siblings agreed with him.

Soon, the three trolls gathered with the other troll elders to discuss Elder Brook’s delusional speeches. 

“This is getting suspicious,” the funk elder said. 

“What is this meeting about?” the techno elder asked them.

“Elder Brook is turning the Pop Trolls against the other genres,” Tansy told them all. 

“I knew it!” the hard rock elder shouted. 

“But why would she do that?” the classical elder asked her. 

“I don't know but whatever she is planning, we’ll be ready,” Cygnus said. 

“She’s not planning anything,” Tansy insisted. “We just need to talk to her. Stage an intervention. Make her see reason.” 

“Ok, how will we do it?” the funk elder asked him.

“First, we’d better include Leaf in the plan…” Tansy began speaking but was interrupted by a tremor in the earth. All the trolls were stunned by the quaking earth. 

“What is happening??” the techno elder gasped. 

“Everybody, whatever we do, don't get out,” Cygnus warned them. 

Tansy and Lyra held hands and braced themselves against the quake. After a few hours, the shaking stopped.

“Oh my goodness,” gasped the country elder. “That was terrifying!”

“Is everybody okay?” Tansy asked them. 

Cygnus looked around at the others. “I think so,” he said. 

Suddenly, two trolls ran into the meeting place. They were a lesbian couple; one a blue colored rock troll with a leopard print top and leather jeans, the other a pop troll with mint green skin and swirly lilac hair, wearing a dress made from a lace doily. 

“Come quick! There’s been a horrible tragedy!” one of them shouted. 

“What happened, Fira?” Tansy asked her. 

“There was a landslide near Pop Village, and Leaf was swept away!” Fira's wife answered. 

“Willow, lead the way,” Cygnus said. 

They went to the site of the landslide and there, a lot of trolls huddled around it. Some were digging through the dirt, trying to find a body. 

“I'll go and help them,” The rock elder said as she rushed to help them dig. Soon, they are able to find Leaf but he is already dead.

“Oh no!!” Cygnus gasped. 

“It's too late,” Lyra added.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Brook screamed as she threw herself onto Leaf’s body. She sobbed heavily, her body shaking. Around them, trolls were bowing their heads in mourning or pressing their hands together in prayer. At one point, Brook looked up and noticed a techno troll floating nearby. 

“YOU!” she screamed as she pointed a finger at him. “You were with him gathering wood! This is your fault!” The techno troll flinched away at her accusation. 

“Cousin! You know that’s not true,” Tansy said as he clasped her hand in his. “No one could have seen this coming. It was an accident out of our control.” 

“Yes, nobody can manipulate death and nature because it happens randomly, we cannot bring him back, it has to happen,” Cygnus added.

“Oh shut up you stuck-up self-important…” Brook broke down crying again before she could finish. Tansy patted her back and helped her stand up. 

“Come on, let’s get you to your pod,” he told her. The crowd parted for them as he led her away. 

On the day after the incident, a funeral was being prepared by the troll tribes as everybody was pitching in to arrange it but Elder Brook stayed behind in her pod. Tansy went to see her, and found her sitting on the floor muttering to herself, surrounded by pictures of Leaf.  

“Brook,” he spoke as he approached her. “The funeral is being prepared. You should come say goodbye.” 

“I can fix it,” Brook muttered. 

“What?” Tansy asked. 

“I can fix it,” Brook said as she jumped up. “The sacred harp can be used for healing, right? We can use it to heal Leaf!” 

“No we can’t! There’s no bringing back the dead! That’s unnatural!” 

“How do you know? No one’s ever done it before.” 

“Because it’s wrong!” 

“No, it’s because they’re all cowards! Not visionaries like us!” 

“Us? Don’t tell me you’re including the tribe in this idea?” 

Brook stood completely still for a second, like a wild predator caught in the act of hunting. Then she laughed cheerfully and told him, “Of course not. It was just a thought. I wouldn’t really do something like that.” 

“Okay,” he said warily. “Don’t scare me like that again. I know losing him is hard but you still have so much to live for. You guys had an egg right? That egg’s going to need all the love you can give it.”

“Right, of course.” Brook said as she glanced at the colorful troll egg sitting on her bed.

“I warn you Brook, nobody can bring anyone back from death,” Tansy warned her. “It’s not natural.”

“Yes, yes. I understand,” she responded without paying attention. 

“So, you’ll come to the funeral?” he asked her.

“I'll think about it,” she answered.

As the preparations were on the way, Brook was thinking about something. She wandered deep into the forest until she wandered to the other side of the woods. There she saw a massive, almost tree-sized stone. 

“What’s this?” Brook wondered out loud. She explored around the stone and on one side, she saw an elaborate inscription. 

HERE BE THE INSTRUCTIONS ON CALLING BACK THE DEAD FROM THE ETERNAL AFTERPARTY. 

“Calling back the dead? As in resurrection? So it is possible!” Brook said as she smiled a terrible smile. “And if it’s possible, that means it's natural. Which means I can do it!” 

She wrote down the instructions and started preparing for the ritual. She went back to her pod and listed the ingredients that she would need for it. One of the ingredients was something called “the perfect musical harmony.” Well, she knew exactly what that meant! All she had to do was get the harp. 

Meanwhile, at the funeral, everybody was preparing to say goodbye to Elder Leaf. Everybody wore black and were carrying flowers to place around Elder Leaf’s coffin.

“Tansy, I’m sorry for your loss,” Cygnus said. 

“Thank you,” said Tansy. “It’s such a loss. He was such a good troll.” 

“It’s alright, we’re here for you,” Lyra added. 

“All of us are,” Miri nodded.

“Is Elder Brook here?” Cygnus asked his best friend. 

“I don’t know, she’s been heartbroken and disillusioned at the same time,” he answered. 

“I tried to visit her but she wasn’t there,” Lyra added. 

While they were talking, no one noticed a figure in a black veil, making her way to the sacred harp. She lifted the entire thing with her hair and played an eerie chord. 

“Come with me, my Poppets!” She called out, and some of the Pop trolls in the crowd became hypnotized by the music. Everyone at the funeral gasped and covered their ears.

“Brook?” Tansy asked but she paid no attention to him. 

“Pick up Elder Leaf’s coffin and bring him with us,” Brook instructed her mind-controlled subjects. They did so. And before anyone could stop her, she played a rondo on the harp. Then she and her followers disappeared in a whirlwind of hair. 

“Don’t tell me that Brook is going to revive her husband? That’s not the natural way of life!” Cygnus gasped as he removed his headdress in anger and gathered the remaining elders with Tansy, Lyra, Miri, and the other troll tribes in his pod. 

“She is crazy and disillusioned, so she would go through that forbidden process to do it,” a hard rock troll agreed with him. “I say we will fight them and take back the harp!” 

“No, we will each steal the string,” the hard rock elder answered. 

“But elder Storm, why do you want each of you to get the string representing your music?” Another rock troll asked him. 

“But why do the tribes have to separate?” One of the pop trolls butted in.

“It’s the only way we won’t let the resurrection ritual happen again,” Cygnus answered. “We have to stop Brook’s madness once and for all.” 

The five elders, led by Cygnus and Tansy went into the caverns and began the forging. The funk and techno elders provided the metal. The rock elder heated the fire and the classical and country elders helped beat the metal. Cygnus and Tansy worked together to shape the blade, flatten it, heat and cool it with the hard rock and techno elders, sanding the blade, and strengthening and sharpening it. When they finished creating the hilt, Lyra showed Cygnus a box of gems, in which a round, white gem stood out. The platinum troll embedded the round gem on the hilt and the elders used their magic to combine the sword. As the round gem itself was embedded with magic, the others gems were empowered with magic as well. Now, it is finally ready.

“It’s ready,” Cygnus said when he held it up. 

“But who will wield it?” Tansy asked him.

“It should be Cygnus of course,” said the classical elder. 

“But I don't know if I can lead the trolls, the only thing I did were spiritual duties, I don’t know how to fight,” Cygnus responded in fear.

“But Cygnus, you were always there for me when I was down and you supported me through my struggles and trials,” Lyra said. “You're the best older brother that I have.”

“And the best friend I ever had,” Tansy added.

“You believe I can lead all of the trolls?” He asked all of them.

“We don’t just believe,” said the funk elder. 

“We know you can,” finished the rock elder. 

“Thank you all,” said Cygnus as he held the sword. “Alright, time to make our move!” 

Soon, the troll elders and the other trolls are sneaking into the location where Elder Brook and her followers are.

“Oh no, we’re too late!” Tansy gasped.

“But not for long,” Cygnus said as he took the sword and led them to the place where Elder Brook is conducting the resurrection ritual. She was playing a haunting melody on the harp. Cygnus called out to her. 

“BROOK!! Stop this madness!” 

Brook glanced up from her playing. “Hello Cyg,” she said calmly. 

“I can’t believe you’re doing this!” Tansy growled out of hate. “What you are doing is going against the circle of life!” 

“What I’m doing is improving the circle of life. I’m going to free us all from death and war.” 

“Improving? No! You’re doing it the wrong way, death is a part of life,” Tansy added. “And when you bring someone to life, Leaf will never be the same when he is raised from the dead!” 

“And how do you know that?”

“I know about this because it was a warning that my parents told me,” Cygnus said as he used his sword to fight her. She tried to defend herself with the harp but he knocked it away with just one slash. 

“Defend me, my subjects!” Brook called to the mind-controlled Pop trolls. They all came and stood in front of her. 

“This is gonna be fun!” The rock elder smirked as he, Tansy, Lyra, Miri, and the elders blasted them away with their musical instruments.

“Thanks guys!” Cygnus said 

The troll elders continued to use their music against the mind-controlled pop trolls while Tansy, Lyra, Miri, and Cygnus continued their forward. 

“Tansy, it’s been so long since we fell in love, if our tribes separate, I’m afraid I won’t see you again,” Lyra said. 

“No, I can’t let go of you, you are the only troll I loved and if the tribes were to separate after this, we would always be together and you’ll join us,” Tansy said. 

“I know, I’ll tell Cygnus about my decision to be with you,” she said. “I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Tansy said as they both kissed and continued fighting the mind controlled pop trolls. 

When Cygnus reached Brook, he started to fight her as she tried to continue the ritual but she couldn’t because of Cygnus’s attacks.

“I can’t believe all this just to get Leaf back from the dead? You are nothing but a delusional idiot!” Cygnus said as he used soundwave attacks on Brook. 

“And you are a backwards thinking priest pretending to be king,” Brook said as she dodged his attacks. “Your opinion means nothing to me.” 

“Too bad I’m the king of this troll kingdom now,” he said as he kicked her into the center of the resurrection ritual while the troll elders sneaked in and stole the strings from the harp. Tansy grabbed the harp while the remaining five pulled the strings in different positions.

“YOU!” Brook screamed as she faced them, her hair flailing out like blue fire. “Give those back!” With those words, she leaped at them, looking vicious and frightening. 

“Not a chance!” Cygnus said as he swung his sword at Brook to protect his best friend and the troll elders but as soon as the strings were forcefully removed, one of them emitted a lightning bolt that completed the ritual. Leaf’s corpse gasped as breath returned to his body, and he sat up in his coffin. 

“Leaf!” Brook cried out as she ran towards him. All the fighting came to a halt as the mind-controlled pop trolls were snapped free from the trance. 

“Brook, that’s not Leaf!” Tansy tried to warn her. 

As soon as Brook went to her resurrected husband, the corpse took a bite on her arm. Tansy and Lyra both gasped in shock. 

“This is why bringing someone from the dead is evil,” Cygnus said. He used his sword to emit a huge blast that disintegrated the corpse but it also killed Brook as well. 

“What happened to Elder Brook?” One of the pop trolls asked them. 

“She did the most taboo thing by trying to raise Leaf from the dead and paid the price, let this incident be a lesson for all of us,” Cygnus said. “Her delusional leadership will be an example for all of us leaders, and, I will not only be the leader of my tribe, I will be the leader of all the trolls.” 

“What?” asked a pop troll. 

“You’re lying!” Yelled another. 

“He has a sword!” A female shouted. 

“Stay away from us!” A male screamed as most of the Pop trolls ran away from Cygnus. 

“Wait! Come back!” Tansy called to them, as they tried to run away as they bumped into the six troll tribes who arrived at the place where the resurrection ritual was held. The trolls tried to spread the lies to the other trolls but Tansy appeared behind them. He is now wearing his new king regalia with Lyra beside him. 

“Because you don’t know the truth why he killed Brook, she made you all help her resurrect Leaf, which is just an anomaly that is meant to be locked away and never learned,” he said. “He did this to save you all from being eaten by the corpse.” 

The pop trolls stopped when they saw Tansy and Lyra together.

“But the sword in Cygnus’s hand?” the female pop troll explained. 

“Me and the troll elders forged it so that we can stop Brook’s plans in disrupting the balance of nature,” Tansy scolded them. 

“All of you were manipulated into following her delusional plans and look at what happened, her actions have led to her downfall and she only brought shame to our tribe” Lyra added. 

The pop trolls felt ashamed for what had happened and looked at Tansy and Lyra. 

“If Elder Brook is gone, who will lead us?” The male pop troll asked him. 

“Our beloved Elder Brook is dead, now it’s a new era for all the trolls,” Tansy announced to them. “The pop trolls needed a leader who would not be swayed by delusions or corruption, a beacon of light in these dark times……..I will be your new king.” 

All of the pop trolls bowed before Tansy and Lyra in respect upon realization. Meanwhile, the new high king of the trolls was filled with hate towards Brook because of her misdeeds and King Tansy went to see him. 

“High king Cygnus, or should I say, brother,” Lyra said. “My love here wants to see you.” 

“Cygnus,” He said as he approached the new high king.

“King Tansy of the pop tribe,” the new high king responded.

“Cygnus, Elder Brook must be given respect and honor, the rites must be observed,” King Tansy said. 

“There will be no rites,” King Cygnus responded. 

“But Elder Brook…” King Tansy stammered. 

“She is a traitor, she stole the strings just to bring Leaf back from the dead and her selfishness only led to our tribes’ further separation!” He explained angrily. “She must be made an example, we will burn her.” 

“No, Cygnus, don’t escalate this tension just because of what she had done, it would only make things worse,” he said. “For your first act as the new high king of the troll kingdom, please grant me the permission to handle the proper funeral rites for Elder Brook.” 

“Very well then, do what you can, and let her story be an example for all of the troll tribes and the troll leaders so that this mistake cannot be repeated again,” Cygnus agreed.

“Thank you Cygnus, you are a true best friend, and I want to ask permission and your blessing to marry your sister, Lyra,” he added. 

“You don’t need my permission and you already have my blessing to have her, please take care of her for me,” Cygnus said. 

“I will,” he answered. 

Soon, Tansy did what was necessary to make sure the rites were observed as everybody attended the funeral. He told all of the trolls the whole story to the crowd and explained how Brook’s delusional thinking and selfishness had led to the scars that they cannot escape from.

“Because of Brook’s deeds, all of the resurrection rituals will be deemed as a taboo because of what would happen, may her story be told for generations to come so that this mistake won't happen again,” He said. “As a beginning of this formation of the troll kingdom, I want to give this as a gift to the first high king, Cygnus.” 

Everybody gasped in awe as he showed the new high king a golden crown. It has eight rays that look like flower petals and pointed with drop pearls adorning the tips. There are also eight rounded etchings at the middle of each petal. 

“Is that the….” Cygnus gasped. 

“The crown of harmony,” Tansy answered.

“We want to give this to you as a thank you,” The new funk king said.

“Wait, I don't know if I am worthy to wear it,” he said.

“Of course you’re worthy to wear it,” said the new rock king. “You united us to protect our people as well as yours.”

“You value all forms of music and the trolls that play them,” the classical queen added. 

“We’ve all decided you are the best possible leader,” the techno king told him. 

“Awww, everybody, thank you for having faith in me,” King Cygnus said as he cried tears of joy while Miri comforted him. 

After Brook was given the rites to be at peace, all of the troll tribes were assembled as the first coronation of the first high king was conducted. Tansy, the new king of the pop trolls and the troll elders, now kings and queens placed the gems on the crown of harmony and finally, the high king, Cygnus was officially crowned.

“Because of Elder Brook’s actions, we have no choice but to take our tribes in separate ways for the sake of our strings to be kept safe,” he announced. “We will choose what lands will they settle and build our kingdoms there. The leaders will only come together when my future heir or any heirs will select a bride or groom and when a new high king or high queen will be crowned. As my first act as the high king of the troll kingdom, I will entrust the formerly sacred harp and the pop string to my best friend and my sister.” 

With that, King Cygnus held the white harp that still has the pop string in it and gave it to King Tansy. 

“We will protect it with all our might,” Tansy said as he and Lyra held the harp up. 

Everyone cheered for their newly crowned royalty. 

“King Tansy, fellow troll leaders, please protect the strings so that we don’t let the same mistake happen again,” King Cygnus said. 

All the troll leaders promised to protect the strings with their lives before they gathered their respective tribes and go their separate ways. It turned out to be a story that Queen Rose was telling to the kids and all of her friends in the prism castle.

“And so, the trolls lived separately in different kingdoms with Tansy marrying his best friend’s sister, Lyra, and King Cygnus has his wife, Miri as his queen. The troll leaders also got married and had kids. When the high king’s eldest son, the crown prince, came of age, the troll leaders selected eligible trolls to marry him, and it became a new tradition,” Queen Rose read the book. “King Cygnus ruled his people wisely and he lived up to a good old age until his death, where the crown prince had the jewel beetles take seven of the gems and have it delivered respectively to each of the six troll tribes but the green gem is always entrusted to the subtribe trolls that the heir is trusting with. As the years passed by, each generation of leaders came to the throne and the troll tribes never lived in harmony. It had been that way for so long, up until now, when Queen Barb’s rockpocalpyse eventually led me to take back the throne and unite all of the troll tribes under my reign as the high queen, leading the troll kingdom to the age of unity.” 

“Wow, Rose, you seem to have a sharp memory when it comes to history,” Queen Poppy complimented her. 

“Thanks, my tutors loved to tell me this story when I was a little troll, it reminds me that selfishness and delusions would only lead to irreparable consequences,” she answered. “The story is told over and over to the next generation so that we don’t forget the past and never repeat the mistakes that Brook did.” 

“Is that why you fought so hard to defeat Barb when she stole the strings?” Queen Poppy asked. 

“Yes,” said Queen Rose. 

They looked at the statue of King Cygnus, which stood in the middle of Platinum City as it shows the first high king of the trolls, pointing his sword upward, overlooking the entire troll kingdom proudly. 

Thanks @georgi-girl for helping me make this fanfic.

[secretlilycookie]

and if these ancestors somehow got corrupted and this problem will pass through generations

Maybe that same corruption ended up killing them, and would occur in current trolls when they repress strong negative emotions.

How does this present itself physically? maybe a mutation, if anything like, they get stressed and turn into somewhat omnipresent monsters, they would be considered dangerous but not exactly unconscious (?

Edit

I will still take out the drawings of the other ancestors👍

[creatureheart]

Made an updated version of this with a bit more info on things and a few tweaks, so go check out that version here!

I've made a few posts talking about things in the nonhuman and alterhuman communities recently, mostly just brief looks into them, so I thought I would share this one.

The info may not be all that much, and could easily be expanded upon, but I did my best for a simple bit of info for certain things.

All pictures have ALT text included, but I shall post the text also here, under a cut, cause it's a bit long, lol

Nonhuman as an identity: To identify as not human either fully or partially. (hate/trolls will be reported and deleted)

Reminder: These are all personal identities and why someone identifies as nonhuman and what term someone decides to use for themself is exclusively their business. In the end it is what makes the most sense to the individual and not up to others. Now, onto some of the communities that are included under the nonhuman identity:

Otherkin: from the term "otherkind" - an identity which typically encompasses being wholly or partially a nonhuman entity. Usually understood to cover those who identify as mythical creatures and other fantastical things. Also covers those that fall outside of beings and creatures.

Examples of non-being or creature based identities: Conceptkin: an identity where one identifies as a concept such as the concept of night or fire. Objectkin: and identity where one identifies as an object. Songkin: an identity where one identifies as a song.

Examples of being and creature based identities: Therianthropy: usually shortened to therian - where one identifies AS a nonhuman animal. Some will say that this term refers to only earthen animals, living or extinct, but it has never only encompassed earthly animals. The community's language came from those who identify as werecreatures. Theriomythic: an alternate identity term for one who identifies in some intrinsic was as a mythical creature. Paleotherian: an identity term for one who identifies as a now extinct earthly animal, like a dinosaur or mammoth.

Cladotherian or Cladokin: an identity term for one who does not identify as a distinct species, but a broader identity encompassing an entire genus or larger grouping. Cladomythic: an identity term for one who identifies as a group (clade) of animalistic mythical creatures.

Fictionkin: an identity term that covers all things fictional. For those who identify as something fictional like characters, animals, species, objects, etc. These can be from books, shows, video games, etc, but not always! Original fictional characters and such are also possible.

There are many other identities that fall under the nonhuman umbrella which is why it's important to do your own research to figure out if a certain term works for you. All these identities share the trait of being involuntary. You cannot choose to be therian, otherkin, or the other mentioned identities.

While the already mentioned identities are involuntary, there are some identities that fall under being voluntary. Otherlink: an identity where one voluntarily identifies as nonhuman. Copinglink: an identity where one voluntarily identifies as nonhuman to copes with things such as trauma, stress, etc.

A lot of people may also say that it is impossible to become a therian, otherkin, etc. While the identity is involuntary, things like trauma and neurodivergence can cause an individual to take on a nonhuman identity when they had not had one previously.

Most will usually see people explain that these identities are spiritual or psychological, but these are only some of the ways that individuals may experience them. Some other experiences of nonhumanity: Symbolic Metaphorical Ancestral Physical (Yes this is an actual reason for some and they are just as much a part of the community as anyone else. Physical and Ancestral nonhumans are part of the community's history and some of its founders.)

For those looking for more information, and community places, here are some places to check out! Werelist Nonhuman National Park Alterhuman Archive The Chimera's Library. The above are forums and archives of information on the community. Most archived information is thanks to who-is-page, liongoatsnake and frameacloud on tumblr.

While this is a brief look into the nonhuman identity that I could share, I do hope it has been helpful in some way. Remember to be true to yourself, and don't let anyone tell you how to feel. Ignore, report, delete and block the haters!

Yeen out~

[autumnalfallingleaves]

Okay, so I've been thinking. Season 3 gave us so much in terms of magic and the origins of magic, specifically, which got me thinking-- it's stated that all magic originally came from Fairy Country, and, following that, all magical creatures came from there, which should include things like trolls and nisse, right? But young Johanna states that the sun never truly sets in Fairy Country, which wouldn't work for trolls, unless they were constantly in hiding. However, that wouldn't really seem good evolution-wise. Seems kind of weird, right? And nisse are another matter-- they are spirits, which suggests Wild Magic, but are primarily found in domestic spaces, thus suggesting a use of at least some Domestic Magic. Last I checked, Fairy Country doesn't seem to really have any houses (save for Phinium and Lydia's) or uses for house spirits. So what's the common denominator for two species that don't seem to have any common threads? And why do trolls and nisse seem to stand out in particular for being specifically not geared to Fairy Country, evolution notwithstanding?

One word: giants.

What about them? you ask. For that, we need to turn to the original Hilda: Hildafolk's Hilda and the Midnight Giant.

In the back of the graphic novel, we are presented with a visual guide to the mountain giants, which you can find me yelling about here. In that guide, we get this guy:

Who is named Björg, and, according to the book, was "the outcast of the group. He was fearful of the other giants and not well liked. When the others left he went into hiding. Trolls and nisse are descended from him." So this guy is the common link, giving trolls and nisse a common ancestor and a reason for why they may be the outliers in terms of magical beings. The mountain giants are now show canon, per the Faratok Tree episode, and seem to be lifted nearly 1:1 from the book.

From left to right are Halldór, Sigmund, Einarr, Valfreyja (who actually has a slightly different design from the graphic novels), Gertl, Aldinn, Bliða, Heimskr, and Jaðarrok. This basically confirms that all the giants listed in the graphic novel exist in the show, which means that we can extrapolate that Björg also exists, and seems to be in hiding, as the blurb suggests. I'm also thinking, based on the fact that the giants were on Earth really before humans were, that they left Fairy Country thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of years ago, shaping Earth to their liking through the years. This may mean that, while the other giants stayed together, Björg went off and did his own thing, which, I'm thinking, perhaps may have been creating the species that would go on to split and become trolls and nisse respectively.

With the two species being so well-suited to Earth, my guess, taking all of this, is that they were created and Earth and were never native to Fairy Country-- they've got ancestral roots there, but it was never their true home. That's how we get a species that can only live in the dark, and evolved to do so, and a species that has a symbiotic relationships with humans and their houses, which create Nowhere Space.

Now, to go further, my guess is that nisse evolved into their own species later than trolls, as trolls were likely present before humans. The nisse branched off as their own species likely when a particularly small, particularly hairy, and particularly magical troll managed to get into the newly-created Nowhere Space and made a home out of it, which then became the nisse as we know them now.

Anyway. This magic system. I've got Thoughts™️

[eugeneplace]

I proudly present to you... My most recent writer delirium... And a thing me and @2blueberrylover2 made together...

"You've Haunted Me All My Life" Au

Summary:

Branch has been the only guardian of the Pop Trolls for many years... but what happens when he's in danger?

It is time for the other spirit guardians to return... and save their little brother

Okey so- Basically, Branch and his brothers have this whole... "Being the vessels of ancestral guardian spirits of nature" thing going on(?

They left to live their own lives (Literally), thinking that he had not inherited the curse BLESSING. Buuuuuut...

Yeah, you can see how that went down

Oh! And grandma is alive in this one! She made the blanket that Forest Spirit Branch uses as a cape

[aeshnacyanea2000]

Koom Valley wasn’t really a place now, not any more. It was a state of mind. If you wanted the bare facts, it was where the dwarfs had ambushed the trolls and/or the trolls had ambushed the dwarfs, one ill-famed day under unkind stars. Oh, they’d fought one another since Creation, as far as Vimes understood it, but at the Battle of Koom Valley that mutual hatred became, as it were, Official, and as such had developed a kind of mobile geography. Where any dwarf fought any troll, there was Koom Valley. Even if it was a punch-up in a pub, it was Koom Valley. It was part of the mythology of both races, a rallying cry, the ancestral reason why you couldn’t trust those short, bearded/big, rocky bastards.

-- Terry Pratchett - Thud!

[dingodad]

i want the whole latter half of homestuck 2 to be a protracted rosemary custody battle. do you see my vision

the middle act will be an extended sequence figuring out how to reconcile the human and troll legal systems for this unique case.. there will be laughs (resurrection of his honorable tyranny who becomes the group's lovable animal mascot, everyone pretends they can understand what he's saying) there will be loss (they have to put his honorably tyranny down when they realise you can't really put a big hungry monster in a position of care over children) but most of all there will be the lingering feeling that if we put vrissy in a family court situation her ancestral urges may kick in and prompt her to kill everyone in the jury before running away to a pirate sanctuary in the middle of the ocean

[lailoken]

"The Swedish language contains many words specific to the practice of folk magic, for which there are no precise English equivalents. These terms can be literally rendered into conventional English, but a great deal of the cultural basis of the tradition is lost by doing so. Just as African American hoodoo practitioners speak in their own culturally-mediated dialect when they use words like fixed, dressed, goofered, jinxed, and tricked, so do Swedish trolldom practitioners have a culture-specific context for words like förgjord, tyda, gnidträd, tomte, and makt. Because literal translations do not convey these magical meanings, Swedish words are retained throughout this book, resulting in an intentionally "Swede-lish" text similar to the spoken English of old-time Swedish-Americans.

• Älvaeld (elf-fire): Skin diseases and rashes said to be caused by älvor burning a person. See also Älvablåst.

• Älvablåst (wind from the elves): Skin rashes and diseases said to be caused by älvor blowing on a person. See also Älvaeld.

• Älvakvarn, älvkvarnar (elven quern, elven mills): Huge blocks of stone into which small pits have been carved. These have been in use as sacrificial spots from the Stone Age up until modern days. The most common sacrifice is a doll. The small pits are usually anointed with butter before anything is placed in them. In Sweden prior to the mid-1800s it was recorded that when times were hard and the crops failed people used to have sex on these stones and leave the semen in the pits as a sacrifice.

• Alver, alv, älvor (elf): A spiritual ancestor; also a species of small nature spirit almost identical to the fairies of the British Isles, if those were also considered to be ancestral spirits. Alver make their homes in ancient Scandinavian burial mounds. The smallest of them are amused by playing with young children and are reputed to suck their blood.

• Ångerstål (steel of regret): A murder weapon or a sharp metal tool that has accidentally broken. It is generally used to make magical tools but also occurs in spells for protection.

• Aning (hunches, suspicions): Vague feelings of spiritual distress, often associated with worry or nervousness. A tyda of the inner senses.

• Återställa (recovering, restoring): Bringing an item that has been förgjord (destroyed) back to normal. See also Bota.

• Besvärja (to speak about something): The recitation of troll formulas, also the process of conjuring spirits.

• Besvärjelseformen, maning (the incantation formula; exhortation, command, conjuration): An adjuration at the end of a troll formula.

• Bjära, bese (carrier spirit): A spirit in the form of a ball or a doll.

• Bot, bota (cure, healing or curing): The process of restoring something that has been förgjord (destroyed). See also Återställa.

• Brännvin (burnt wine): Clear, strong grain or potato vodka; it is used as a scrying medium in some forms of spådom.

• Cyprianus (Saint Cyprian book): See Svartkonstbok.

• Djävulen (the Devil): Other names for him are Den Onde, Fan, Pocker, Skam, Hin Håle, Gamle Erik, and Hornpelle.

• Döva (to deafen, to make still): A method used to render weapons harmless, to quell love, to make something numb and still.

• Drömsyner (dream visions): Dreaming true does not only refer to sleeping visions; in trolldom, daydreams or vakendrömmar (waking dreams) are also considered to be tydor of the inner senses.

• Dyfvelsträck (devil's dung): Ferula asafoetida; devil's dung is a common English name given to this foul-smelling plant.

• Fassna (stuck): A condition in which something is magically fastened to a person; usually considered a harmful situation.

• Fegljus (death light): A very small light appearing close to a person who is about to die. A tyda of the inner senses.

• Femudd, femhörning (pentagram star drawn in one stroke): A sign of protection used to bind spirits; symbol of the Virgin Mary.

• Flygrönn (flying rowan): A rowan tree that has grown in another tree and never touched ground.

• Förgjord (un-made, destroyed): Unable to function; bewitched; rendered useless due to curses, hostile trolldom, the evil eye, or spiritual attack. Restoration is via Återställa or Bota. See also Skämma.

• Förtrollad (enchanted, en-trolled): Often used as a synonym to Förgjord (destroyed), it can also mean enchanted in general.

• Fylgia (monitors): Personal guardian spirits. See also Vard.

• Gand (airborne spell): A spell cast into air and sent a great distance.

• Gast (ghost): A visible spirit of the dead; it may occur as a prefix in the names of negative conditions like gastkramad (squeezed by a ghost).

• Gnideld (rubbing fire): See Vrideld.

• Gnidträd (rubbing tree): A tree with two branches or trunks that rub against one another. Such a tree makes a squeaking sound when the wind blows, and is therefore also known as a knarrträd (creaking tree).

• Göra före (to do before): To place something in another's future.

• Hambel, hamn (one's appearance): This refers to the physical appearance as a shroud around the spirit or vålne.

• Hård (hard): The result of a spell to make oneself invulnerable.

• Håg (hag): In English, a hag is a witch who rides people or animals at night, but in trolldom, the håg of a person consists of their desire and mind. To change someone's mind is called hågvända (turning the håg).

• Hågvända (turning the håg): See Håg.

• Ingivelse (spirit-sent impulse): An impulse to act that has been sent by a person's vard or fylgia (guardian spirits) or by other benevolent spirits. As tydor of the inner senses, ingivelser can occur suddenly, without conscious thought or action.

• Jätta (threaten) - Jätta för ont (threaten for evil): To threaten with a curse, which is regarded as a method of cursing a person in itself.

• Jordfast sten (earthbound rock): A rock too large to lift from the soil.

• Kasta ut (cast out): To remove evil by throwing it out, usually at a crossroads or cemetery. Other than speaking a troll formula, the work is silent, and it is not mentioned to others until one night's sleep has passed.

• Klok, kloke (clever): Wise and intelligent; in a magical context it also means well-versed in trolldom.

• Knarrträd, knarrtall, knarrgran (creaking tree, creaking pine, creaking fir): See Gnidträd.

• Kusad (quelled): This dialect term derives from a synonym for trolldom - kuschleri - and means quelled or quenched by trolldom.

• Likfassna (corpse stuck): A negative condition in which the spirit of a dead person is afflicting a living person. See also Likkrosa.

• Likkrosa (corpse crushed): The negative condition of being held down by a spirit of the dead. See also Likfassna.

• Lövjeri (leaf-craft): The use of herbs to cure and remove evil.

• Makt (power): Might, power, and force, in a magical sense.

• Maktstjäla (to steal power) - Maktstulen (robbed of power): The act of stealing another's magical power and the condition of one whose power has been stolen. See also Modstjäla.

• Maning (exhortation): See Besvärjelseformen.

• Mara (night-gaunt): A spirit who torments people at night or in their dreams. The same root appears as "mare" in the English word nightmare.

• Mäta, mätning (measure, measuring): A category of spells using measured strings and tied knots. Magical measuring can be traced back

• Modstjäla (to steal courage) - Modstulen (robbed of courage): Stealing one's courage is a sorcerous act. The term also describes one who suffers from depression or feels low in spirits. See also Maktstjäla.

• Motskott (countershot): A counter-remedy against trollskott.

• Näcken (Nix): A naked spiritual being who resides in streams, rivers, or lakes. He is a shape-shifter and he drowns people, but he also teaches magic and music. In Scandinavia there is only one Nix, who can appear in any body of water, but among the Germans and English, there are many nixes, and the females are called nixies.

• Namnlösa fingret (the nameless finger): The ring finger on the left hand; it is believed to have a direct link to the heart and therefore to a person's power, might, courage, and håg, which reside in the heart.

• Natur (nature): A person's sexuality and capability for procreation.

• Nedsätta (to reduce, to set down) - sätta ned (to put down): The magical destruction of a person's love life or chances to get married. The term may also refer to the destruction of other areas of a person's life.

• Nisse (brownie): See Tomte.

• Ofärdsspådom (oppressive divination): The act of predicting or foretelling harmful events in the future. See Spå.

• Offring (sacrifice, offering): To cure problems through sacrifice, to appease elves, or to offer a spirit something and get something in return.

• Rå, rådare (spiritual ruler): Spirits who act as caretakers and guardians. of a place. They are named after the locations where they reside, such as skogsrå (forest rå), sjörå (lake rå), havsrå (sea rå), bergrå (mountain rå) gruvrå (mining rå), skatters rå (treasure rå), vägrå (road rå), kyrkogårdsrå (cemetery rå), and kyrkrå (church rå). See also Tomte.

• Runa, runor, runkafle (rune, runes, a stick carved with runes): The letters of the Old Norse alphabet are called runes. The same word also refers to charms written in runes or other alphabetic or non-alphabetic characters. To rune can also mean to cast a spell. See also Trollformel.

• Sänningar (sendings): This refers to things by magic or cast upon someone from a distance.

• Sedel (ticket): A slip of paper used for written runes and talismans.

• Sejd, seiðr (sorcery): Used in the Nordic sagas to signify trolldom, this obsolete word has recently been revived by adherents of Asatru.

• Signeri (signs, symbols, marks): To read or speak troll formulas aloud or silently, or to sign or mark something with the cross. The latter may be done "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" or silently. See also Välsigna.

• Skämma (shame, taint), skämd (having been shamed): A magical method to render someone powerless and cursed. See also Förgjord.

• Skärsel (garden riddle, flour sifter): A divinatory method using a sieve, sifter, or riddle.

• Smörjning (anointing): The use of ointments to cure and remove evil.

• Solv (string heddle eyes of a loom): There is a very old belief that the world and all the events in it were created by weavers. Therefore, string healds or heddle eyes that are cut off the heddle frame of a loom are magically dangerous because they are outside the world of the weavers. It should be noted that to cut these from the loom can be regarded as a transgressive act.

• Söm (horseshoe nail): a square iron horseshoe nail.

• Sortebog (black arts book): See Svartkonstbok.

• Spå (to predict, to foretell), spådom (divination): The art of foretelling the future, also used as a general synonym for trolldom. The word spå survives in the Scottish term spaewife, meaning a fortune-telling woman. See also Ofärdsspådom and Tyda.

• Spiritus, spertus (spirit): A spirit, often kept in a box, bottle, or pouch.

• Ställa (to stall, to stand still): The method of making a thief or anyone else stand still and be unable to move from a location. It can also be used to stop game animals from moving, when hunting.

• Stämma (to staunch, to summon, to command): This word meansvto staunch, as in staunching blood, but also to summon people or animals to a place. In the old days, the stämning was announced in the powerful trinity of bedpost, threshold, and ting or court. When someone was stämd to the ting, the messenger first read the summons by the bedpost of the person being called, then a second time at his threshold, and finally at the ting.

• Skogsfru (female forest guardian spirit): Rådare means caretaker or guardian spirit. In the case of the forests, the guardians are usually described as female and may go by names such as the Skogsfru (Forest. Lady) or Skogsrå (Rå of the forest).

• Stöpa (steeping, melting, reshaping): The method of pouring melted lead, tin, wax, or a similar melted liquid into a container of water while holding the water over a person, to cure and remove evil. Stöpa is used for divinatory purposes as well, in which case the various forms and shapes made by the coagulated material are read as signs.

• Svartebog (black book): See Svartkonstbok.

• Svartkonstbok (black arts book): A grimoire or book of sorcery. Other names for this type of book are svartebog (black book), sortebog (black book in Danish), and Cyprianus (a book attributed to Saint Cyprian, the patron saint of occultists and necromancers).

• Svärdsbrev (sword-letter): A written talisman carried on the person for protection from harm. See also Trollbrev.

• Syn (vision), synsk (a visionary): A person who has the ability to see visions (syn) is said to be a synsk or visionary. The word synsk is synonymous with clairvoyant or second-sighted, but in casual conversation, the work synsk is often used to describe those with related abilities who would be known in English as clairsentient, clairaudient, claircognizant, or just plain psychic. An inherited ability, it is a tyda of the inner senses.

• Ting (legislative assembly, court): The word ting is used in this book to describe these assemblies as they were constituted in the old days in Sweden, before Christianity arrived, circa the 9th century. The tings were often held at crossroads or where three borders crossed.These meeting places were commonly the locations of old burial sites and grave mounds. The spirits of the ancestors took part in the procedures of the ting by determining the outcome of various ordeals set before two opponents in a court proceeding.

• Tomte, nisse, gårdsrå, bol-vatte (brownie, land-spirit, house-elf, house-wight): Tomte is the title for, or position given to, a spirit who takes care of a household. The tomte is responsible for the luck in the house and the work done around the home. Originally a spirit of the dead, in modern times the tomte has been popularized as a cute kind of nature spirit. Other names for this spirit are gårdsrå (rå of a farm), nisse (brownie), or bol-vätte (land-wight).

• Torvigg (the lightning bolt of Thor): This name refers to a flint axe of the kind that was made in the Stone Age and was used for cutting and hunting. In Swedish folklore it was said that these ancient axes appeared when lightning bolts from the Norse thunder god Thor struck the ground and that they were his weapons against evil. The torvigg is highly valued in trolldom. It is used to protect oneself from harm and from sorcery and to prevent one from being overpowered by other people or spirits.

• Tránsjuka (obsessive love-sickness): This condition renders one unable to let go of a lover, either due to mental obsession or because one has been förgjord (destroyed through sorcery).

• Troll (troll, goblin, ogre): A class of ancient magical spirits, their sorcery, and the magic performed with their aid. As a prefix, it may be roughly translated as "magical" but in this book the Swedish word is retained in terms like troll-bundle, troll-letter, and troll formula.

• Trolldom (trolldom): folk magic, the Scandinavian equivalent to the folk magic of other nations, such as sorcery, hexerei, braucherei, brujeria, stregoneria, hechicería, hoodoo, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork.

• Trollaktig (troll-like): A person who behaves as if he or she is wise or knowledgeable in trolldom; a practitioner; someone who is trollkunnig.

• Trollbrev (troll-letter): The generic name for a written talisman for any purpose. A trollbrev may be rolled up and worn in a cylinder hanging around the neck, sewn into clothes so that the symbol is facing outwards, or carried in the inner pocket of a jacket. In modern times it may be worn in a woman's bra. Sewing a trollbrev not meant for curing into your clothes is pointless unless it is for a single occasion, since the paper disintegrates during laundering. See also Svärdsbrev and Värnebrev.

• Trollformel (troll formula): A spoken spell or incantation, either rhyming or in free verse. The wording of each troll formula is kept as a closely guarded secret that is transmitted only to those who inherit an elder practitioner's power and craft. Teaching a troll formula to a student has traditionally meant that the teacher loses the power to use the formula successfully. This is still true today, although, due to the publication of so many troll formulas in books during the past hundred years, contemporary teachers never need give away the specific incantations that they themselves use; instead they can teach their students alternative versions. This is not difficult, as there are more than 50,000 collected troll formulas in Swedish folklore archives alone, and many thousands more in the archives of Norway, Denmark, and the Swedish-speaking part of Finland. The word runa (rune), meaning a written spell, may be used as a synonym for trollformel.

• Trollhare (troll hare): A hare-spirit that is used to draw material goods to a specific place or to steal milk or butter. See also Trollkatt.

• Trollkatt (troll cat): A cat-spirit that is used to draw material goods to a specific place or to steal milk or butter. See also Trollhare.

• Trollknyte (troll bundle): A magical bundle wrapped in cloth and tied shut; knyte is cognate to the English word knotted. See also Trollpåse.

• Trollkunnig (troll-skilled): A person who is skilled in magic; one who is knowledgeable, well-versed, or cunning in trolldom.

• Trollpåse (troll pouch, troll bag): A small pouch made of cloth or chamois skin in which magical articles are contained. See also Trollknyte.

• Trollskott (troll shot): A magical shot to cause harm. It can be done by humans, various spirits, or even forces of nature.

• Tyda, tydor (omen, meanings): Magical indications, decipherments, readings, interpretations, or visions. The word is cognate to the English tidings, meaning messages. Tydor are messages from the world of spirit.

• Utesittning, utiseita (sitting outside): A vision-quest to awaken trolls.

• Våd-eld (accidental fire): A fire resulting from human carelessness.

• Vålne, vålnad (wraith): The spiritual part of a person that survives the death of the physical body.

• Välsigna (signs or marks for well-being): Blessings. See also Signeri.

• Vard (ward): Personal guardian spirit.

• Värnebrev (shielding letter, guardian letter): A written talisman used to protect the wearer from harm. See also Trollbrev.

• Varsel (warning spirits), varsla (forewarning): Tydor that predict evil or tell of evil at another location are called varsel. A dying person's vard or vålnad may carry the forewarning or a tomte may tell of it.

• Vättar (gnomes): An old word meaning spirits in general or spirits who reside in and are a part of nature and the elements.

• Vigt silver (dedicated silver): A piece of jewelry or a coin that has been worn at a wedding.

• Vite (penalty) - Vita (trolldom): Vite, a court-ordered punishment, gave rise to the words vita (a term describing trolldom as a way to magically mete out justice) and han vitar (he casts a justified curse).

• Vrideld (twisted fire): Fire-drilling with a twisting motion. A wooden pole is held horizontally against a vertical wooden surface such as a door, and twisted until the heat of friction produces fire. This fire is used to drive off evil spirits and to remove curses and the evil eye. Also called Gnideld.

• Wittenberg: A German town in which Scandinavian priests studied theology. It is associated with magic, the Jewish kabbalah, and folkloric legends connected to trolldom, magical words, and black arts books."

—

Trolldom:

Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk Magic Tradition

'GLOSSARY

by Johannes Gårdbäck

[deathbydarkelves]

I figured out how elves got their two extra fingers

I need to lay down some basic concepts in irl tetrapod evolution real quick though.

The basic plan for real Earth tetrapods is five digits on each foot/hand. And in evolution you can only modify what you already have. You cannot spontaneously create entirely new structures. In real life, all extant tetrapods have five or fewer unique digits. They either retain the ancestral condition or lose/fuse digits. That, of course, presents a problem when it comes to the evolution of five-fingered elves from three-fingered ancestors. Until now I had to settle for an unsatisfying "it's magic" explanation.

BUT THERE'S A WAY.

Each of those five digits in real tetrapods has a distinct genetic identifier that differentiates it from the others. We can tell, for example, that birds (which have three forelimb digits max) specifically retained digits 2, 3, and 4 by looking at those markers.

Look at a limb of Acanthostega, an extinct stem-tetrapod and one of the first vertebrates to develop pronounced limbs:

Look at all of those digits. This is what happens when you have a limb that's not quite done being a fin. Fish fins have a lot of repeating structures to fill out their form. They're not made of a bunch of unique pieces. For structures like that it's much easier to just duplicate one piece over and over again (in that case, fin rays). All animals are segmented in some way. Our spines are the most obviously duplicated part of us, for example, and snakes are so long because they duplicate their vertebrate so many more times.

And that's what's happening in Acanthostega; those inner five digits (the colored ones in the right image) are the five unique digits tetrapods have today. The three other uncolored ones are just duplicates of digit 1 (on the left) and digit 5 (on the right). It's simply "intentional" polydactyly. (("Intentional" is in quotations because genetics and evolution have no intentions, they simply exist))

And I'm explaining elf hands with that same concept. The Well of Eternity's arcane radiation induced polydactyly, specifically of the second and third digits. Thus on a genetic level, elves only have three distinct digits. This is what the hands of the first "stem-elves" likely would've looked like, with the digits numbered:

The duplication was much more obvious. Also, digits 2 and 3 probably didn't start duplicating at the same time lol. It was probably one and then the other but that's not super important.

Eventually the digits started changing length*, but are still duplicates and genetically identical to their origins (and you can see different lengths in Acanthostega). If you could put colored markers on the genetic identifiers of the developing digits in an embryo, you'd see the pointer and middle are the same and the ring and pinky are the same. For completion here's your typical modern elf hand with the numbered digits:

This also means it's probably not unheard for some elves to be born with fingers that are all about the same length because in the womb -- for whatever reason -- they went through the duplication step but not the length adjusting step, at least not fully. Something like this:

Just some super minor individual variation that hints at this sort of evolutionary history. There are probably some who are only born with three fingers because they didn't get to duplication in the first place. Embryology is sort of a microcosm of evolution, it's fascinating.

I LOVE this shit, I love when irl evolution does these sorts of weird things. This solution to this old problem is making me lowkey giddy. There's something so satisfying about it for me.

*In real primates our different finger lengths are for grasping branches better, being arboreal or derived from arboreal ancestors. This could be carried over 1:1 if elves were derived from forest trolls or were arboreal, but they're not. Perhaps it's classic structural reduction to keep the hand smaller and improve fine motor control? If they could make smaller tools they could have a slightly different diet and fill a different niche than trolls. Not implying troll hands are somehow inherently inferior, just that they're perhaps better for larger tools for larger jobs. Maybe early elves with their smaller hands and smaller spears/etc. were better at handling deer while their troll neighbors with their bigger weapons took the local megafauna instead. I hesitate to get too deep into "selection pressures" and such because these are sentient beings and that can get... weird quick, but to me this feels reasonable enough. I'm not an archaeologist or anthropologist though, and maybe if I was I'd have more to say on that.

[chronotopes]

⭐ tell me everything. (atp wise but honestly it'd also be really funny if you talked about your hs fanfics as well)

HI ALARY i fell asleep last night and now we're so back

yall have gotta stop giving me choices it ends with me staring into my own novel for an hour like i'm narcissus in the pond. also i'm super biased towards later chapters right now because those are the ones i have most recently finished. all that being said, let's talk about one of my favorite parts of chapter 6: aivide in stelad's apartment.

Maybe you should have gone back to Teavon after all. But there’s no good in being afraid of your own apartment. Your apartment, not Nora’s or Donnah’s or the AMHL’s. Surely that counts for something. Besides the two rooms you’ve seen, what it counts for is a small bedroom furnished with a desk and a twin-sized bed, very much like what you’ve slept on all your life, and a bathroom about the size of Donnah’s. You note with some distress that there are a few trinkets left in the desk drawers – hair ties, a pair of reading glasses, a broken stylus, a half-empty tube of what you gather, from the faded packaging, had once been vanilla-scented hand lotion. Opening drawers and cabinets more deliberately now, you find more of your mom’s ancient ephemera in the bathroom. A tin of cheap bath salts, a comb, a tangle of bobby pins. Headache pills, expired just under two hundred sweeps ago. A candle, mostly burned out. A single pearl earring. In the closet, you find – fuck, the Directrix had not been exaggerating – a number of identical blouses, several tasteful black pencil skirts, a long, warm coat that looks quite like your own, and a mysterious garment bag. It’s barely a surprise when the latter turns out to contain a floor-length flared gown made of shining teal fabric. Gala wear. Fuck, if anyone had bothered to tell you that you had an ancestral gown, Nora could have saved herself a little money. It’s disquieting. The apartment is too full of items to have feasibly been professionally cleared out after your ancestor’s death, but empty enough that it triggers questions in itself. There’s nothing written, nothing with pictures. No college memorabilia, no old name badges from her job, no jewelry except the pearl earring that, stupidly, you’d slipped into your pocket. There are several logical assumptions. That your ancestor, for whatever reason, had cleared out those things herself. Not completely far-fetched, though your apartment in Seilat had contained a few boxes of her things. That whoever cleans teal apartments doesn’t do so with great zeal, isn’t given a lot of time. Possible. Or that someone else has been here before you, has gathered anything truly memento-like for themself.

Ever since leaving Donnah's place, this has been an extremely dialogue-heavy section of the novel – and not just any dialogue but her 'job interview' with Eubala (Eubala, of course, would have hired her on the basis of ancestry no matter what. The rumor come out does Aivide is a nepo baby??). A consistent theme of Chapter 6 is that, as far back as her graduation, Aivide is reconsidering Stelad as more of a real troll and less of someone who was just Born Cruel And Evil.

The little graduation ceremony takes place in the Savant Latoil Library and Archival Center on the morning of New Sweep’s Eve, and doesn’t last very long. Still, the Provost reads off your name when she acknowledges the cohort’s top ten TECQE performers. Still, when she pins the little medal to your chest, designating you as a formal graduate of the AMHL, she gives you a little smile of what you think is recognition. As you walk back to where you’re standing with Sieala and Turabi, you catch sight of your ancestor’s portrait on the wall. When she graduated, you know she must have already had a job with Malcos Enterprises, which she would work for in several capacities for the next hundred eighty sweeps. You wonder if she had already ended her relationship with the handsome teal woman you saw in that picture, whether her eyes had already lost their soft light. Whether she, too, had wondered if she was going to spend the rest of her life alone in some capacity.

We've been setting up for this change in Aivide's outlook towards her ancestor – from one of 'I'll never be like you! Look how much I'll never be like you! I have to never be like you or I'll die' to 'fuck, what if you were like me? what if you had messy breakups and self-isolating impulses and lengthy depressive spells?' for several chapters, most notably in chapters 3 and 4, which are the pre-chapter 6 chapter to engage most directly with Stelad's humanity. These are kind of the dual preoccupations of the novel – chapters 1, 3, 4, and 6 are aggressively concerned with Stelad's World And How It Impacts Aivide's World, whereas chapters 2, 4, and 5 are aggressively concerned with Nora's World* And How It Impacts Aivide's World.

(*more pertinently to the audience, vinbre's world is also the key driver of chapters 2 and 4, but aivide doesn't know that! #neverforget that when aivide and nora fuck it's technically a result of vinbre's actions. knowing this helps nobody but it is funny)

Tangent aside, though, part of what's going on in this frantic search for remnants of Aivide's mother is Aivide accessing a part of herself that only comes out by accident – the part that calls Stelad 'Mom' rather than 'Stelad' or 'my ancestor,' unwilling to completely renounce that ancestral closeness and search for understanding. Aivide is more comfortable see Stelad as the type of pearls-twirling* villain that had a great time doing everything she did than as someone who did everything she did and was still left deeply unhappy by it. She doesn't like confronting the idea that someone can be cruel and unhappy at the same time, which is a shame because she's about to get a direct line into the psyche of eubala malcos, one of the cruelest and unhappiest people on the entire planet.

(*mustache twirling, For Her!)

But anyway context aside I think several more important takeaways from this scene are the following:

1 - the extremely unsubtle implication that eubala went through this apartment and picked up a bunch of mementos for herself, which aivide has realized by the end of this passage but doesn't want to admit to herself because it feels like a fucking crazy to admit, and

2 - As she walks through this apartment and finds her mom's old stuff, Aivide deterministically assigns herself Stelad's fate. If I walked into and agreed to being called the Optimizer, it means I have earned the same miserable life as the last one. If Aivide had returned to Donnah's apartment first, if the two of them had explored the place together with a fair amount of humor about the whole thing... it's not 100% that they would have stayed together, but there's more of a chance there. In that way the choice to see the apartment before calling Donnah is the same kind of point of departure as Aivide choosing to call Annise for relationship advice in chapter 4 instead of telling Donnah and her friends the truth about what happens. Aivide continually avoids making the choices that would set her up to have an easier time of things, more at 10.

3 - this is the gown aivide finds. No modifications or anything it just looks exactly like that.

[raventroll80]

G/T July Day 2: Studying

(aka) Doom Vignette 1

First entry for G/T July! Wooo! For this entry I'm trying to get back into the swing of things for the troll au! Here we get a small glimpse into Slayers time on Argent D'Nur.

It was a quiet day at the Slayer’s keep, folks were winding down from a recent deployment. Valen was writing up a report, his son was sparing in the courtyard with some other soldiers. The Slayer however, was nestled deep withing the castle sprawled atop his makeshift bed. Great blankets and furs were strewn about, though only one fur was atop the Great Slayer, his cape, and wrapped within that cape was his dearest of Sentinels. The Argenta in question wore a dark green-teal tunic and warm brown pants. His hair was tied back revealing a face littered with small scars. The man occasionally glancing up at the massive beast.

In his hands sat a sketchbook, and on its pages were various drawings of the Slayer in various stages of sleep, though there was also the occasional anatomy sketch of what the man though his skull would look like. The Argenta was familiar with the anatomy of beasts and man alike, but Verndar was a weird mix of both. He was similar in ways to the Ancestrals, but still too different to be one. Not even the Slayer himself knew what he was, though he didn’t mind. The Slayer yawned; his massive teeth were exposed as his jaw opened wide. The Argenta stared intently, watching in awe, and suddenly he figured out what the subject of his next study piece.

Carefully the young man scooted forwards, careful not to wake Verndar. Good thing the big guy slept like the dead. Gently, Arve placed his knee on the Slayer’s chin, and with his hands he gently opened his mouth, revealing the Slayer’s teeth. His massive teeth gently reflecting the soft light from fire. His incisors were like that of any Argenta, but that was where the similarities ended. His canines were huge, Arve reckoned each one was about the length of his hand. The bottom canines appeared almost tusk-like in appearance, jutting forwards ever slightly. The premolars were similar to that of a wolf or bear’s, jagged like a mountain almost, meanwhile the molars themselves were broad and flat, and Arve had seen him use them to crush both bone and plant alike.

As Arve continued to sketch Verdar’s teeth he was continually drawn to the giant’s canines time and time again. Gently he closed his notebook and set it aside before leaning even closer, the Slayer’s warm breath washing over him. Ever so gently, Arve reached out his hand and placed it on the Slayer’s tooth. The tusk felt strong and sturdy, yet also somewhat worn from years of use though certainly not dull. As Arve continued to study the tooth, inspecting how it had almost become dyed from blood and tubers, when the Slayer’s jaws gently closed on Arve’s hand. Arve tried to gently remove his hand from Vern’s mouth and just as he was about to free his hand a large tongue ran up his neck and face.

“AUGH! Verndar you cheeky feral bastard!”

The massive man let out a deep chuckle before scooping Arve up in his arms and rolled over onto his chest, pinning the man into a bear hug.

“Mrrph, you were awake this whole time, weren’t you.” Arve asked, but all he got in response was a contented huff from the Slayer before the giant flopped his head down on Arve’s chest, seemingly ready to actually go to sleep.

Arve sighed and pressed his forehead against Verndar’s before settling down himself for a proper nap, the deep steady hum emanating from the giant lulling the Argenta to sleep.

[apenitentialprayer]

Okay, I could get behind "Ancestral Sin and Original Sin are different," even if no one could explain to me the difference... ... but "the Immaculate Conception is a Roman heresy, but some Orthodox believe in the Dispassionate Conception" really does make it sound like you're trolling us, guys :/

[bracketsoffear]

Thud! Propaganda, a passage from the book

"Koom Valley wasn’t really a place now, not any more. It was a state of mind. If you wanted the bare facts, it was where the dwarfs had ambushed the trolls and/or the trolls had ambushed the dwarfs, one ill-famed day under unkind stars. Oh, they’d fought one another since Creation, as far as Vimes understood it, but at the Battle of Koom Valley that mutual hatred became, as it were, Official, and as such had developed a kind of mobile geography. Where any dwarf fought any troll, there was Koom Valley. Even if it was a punch-up in a pub, it was Koom Valley. It was part of the mythology of both races, a rallying cry, the ancestral reason why you couldn’t trust those short, bearded/big, rocky bastards."

.

[autisticsupervillain]

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Stats Equalized!

This Episode is...

Vriska Serket vs Asajj Ventress!

Conditions:

God-Tier Vriska. Ancestral Awakening Restricted. Legends Asajj Ventress. Dubiously Canon and Disney Canon materials (TCW included) will be completely ignored for Vriska and Ventress Respectively.

Scenario:

After Asajj botches a crucial mission to assassinate a member of the Jedi Council, Dooku contemplates replacing her for a more effective assassin. Learning of the mysterious planet Alternia just beyond the Outer Rim, he starts monitoring the planet for Force Adepts. After discarding the possibility of Gamzee Makara and Sollux Captor for various reasons, Dooku pegs Vriska as the best possible replacement and gives Asajj the ultimatum to either kill Vriska in combat or be replaced by her.

Analysis: Vriska

Alternia. The heart of the cruel and rotten Alternian Empire. Designed from the ground up by malicious trickster gods hiding behind the scenes to turn Trollkind's children into killers. In this task, it has seen no greater success than Vriska Serket.

After landing on Alternia as one of the twelve trolls destined to see the planet's apocalypse, Vriska was taken in and raised by a giant monsterous spider. While being raised by effectively a giant feral animal, a lusus, was customary for her species, the cruelty she experienced at its hands was not. Vriska was made, from the very minute she could walk, to venture out and kill her fellow children to satiate her mother's monsterous appetite least she be eaten instead. She became a dreaded figure on Alternia, feared even by the standard of her high blood caste, with thousands of bodies to her name by the time she hit thirteen.

Naturally, that kind of experience makes for a fucking awful childhood. Unwilling to ever see herself as a victim, for such weakness could get her killed, Vriska projected her identity onto her bloodthirsty Ancestor Mindfang and embraced her role as a killer. Quite literally, as she literally roleplayed as her Ancestor while doing it. Fatal Live Action Roleplay. This mindset lead directly to her committing several atrocities that destroyed her friend group forever and hurt many of the people she loved, including throwing Tavros off a cliff, mind controlling Sollux into vaporizing his own girlfriend Aradia, and tricking Terezi into starring dead on at the sun and burning her own eyes out. It was a pointless circle of revenge that left everyone involved worse off for it and her grudge against Tavros, justified in her mind as "toughening him up", lead her to harass him for years after crippling him.

She was able to achieve all of this through the abilities inherent to her caste. As a cerulean blood, third highest land dwelling caste on the hemospectrum, Vriska possesses incredible psychic abilities, controlling the minds of any blood color ranked below her with ease and resisting any psychic incursion from the same. She also possesses a mutated eight pupled eye, granting her x-ray vision and, like many of her species, seems to possess a superhuman endurance to pain. During the afformentioned rotation of revenge, Terezi got back at Vriska by getting her blown up jn an explosion that severed her arm and seemingly obliterated her eye. Vriska proceeded to get up more pissed off than hurt and walked around like that for hours before finally passing out, having the missing parts replaced with prosthetics. Even before that, she was tough enough to withstand atmospheric re-entry as a baby and her blood caste can live up to thousands of years naturally.

This impressive combination of skills was put to the test when Vriska and her friends were thrust inside a deadly game that put them in charge of creating a universe and defeating the Black Kingdom of Derse. The Dersites had been fighting their rival kingdom Prospit ever since their reality came into being in eternal stalemate, yet the trolls completely crushed them with ease. Perhaps owing to the video gamey powers the team inherited.

Vriska lives in a world that runs on video game logic, so she levels up and gets stronger and utilizes a video game inventory called a specibus, allowing her to carry items far too big for her to conceal on her person in a sort of hammerspace. Within which she stores her main weapons, a sword and the Fluorite Octet, a set of magically enhanced dice with 16,777,216 possible outcomes, each corresponding to a different potential attack or effect. This coincided well with her God-Tier abilities as a Thief of Light. After being beaten to death by Aradia - deserved - Vriska was brought to her God-Tier bed and resurrected on it as a full on God, regrowing her old arm and eye and giving her the ability to manipulate luck, and therefore, her roles, to her whims. She could decapitate you with a Guillotine, create blizzards, put you to sleep, reroll to attack multiple times in a row, and push her into her Ancestral Awakening superform - a form that can fight off the nigh omniscient First Guardians, godly beings powered by the extra dimensional Green Sun that all of the multiverse rotates around!

Despite packing this much power, Vriska and her team still lost. Tripped at the finish line by a nigh omnipotent demon hunting them across time and space. With nothing much left to do but wait to die, Vriska interacted with the humans in the universe they just created. And, without the weight of her hellish society and terrible mother weighing down on her, she found herself admitting she might not have minded growing up on a more peaceful planet like Earth. As she befriended shy, dorky, normal human boy John Egbert, she found herself wondering if she could've been content with a normal life like he was in another time and another place.

Sadly, that time and place wouldn't be here. Creating the very demon hunting them through complicated time travel shenanigans, Vriska would go to face it to prove her own worth. You didn't have to be a good person to be the hero and she would prove it.

Terezi struck her down before she could. Vriska would've only died if she had gone to fight snd gotten everyone else killed with her. It had to be done. In the end, Vriska's ego was too big to admit to the scared kid she really was under it all.

Vriska isn't a good person or a hero, really, though she only ever pretends to be one of those things. Beneath all of the bluster, she could simply never admit she was another victim - of Alternia, her mother, and herself. Her fascade hides a lot of crippling weaknesses both physical and psychological. Her short temper leads her to respond to defiance and set backs with brutal violence with horrifying consequences for all involved, herself included. It was how she was raised to react, after all. Beyond that, she believes her own fascade so thoroughly that she frequently bites off more than she can chew and then throws a tantrum when it bites her. This pride and ingrained refusal to admit weakness lead to ger refusing to ask for help even as she was actively bleeding out and later was romantically exploited, leading to her being... groomed in the afterlife by an adult six years her senior.

On the practical level, while her mind control is more than sufficient to control other aliens and has the range to work across universes, her unfamiliarity with human brain structures in particular leaves her unable to do any more than put them to sleep. Though it is possible for her to grow past this with practice, as other troll psychics aren't shown to have this issue. Finally, while her godhood makes her immortal and eventually unaging when she hits adulthood, she can be permanently killed if her death is Heroic, dying while committing a heroic act, or Just, dying for selfish reasons, as her own death was ruled.

Regardless, Vriska would find redemption after death. In one timeline, learning the error of her ways after seeing her Ancestor's selfish cruelty firsthand and in another being given a second chance at life to repair her bond with her friends and victims. Both Vriskas would assist in their own ways in bringing down Lord English, the mastermind behind all the death spanning the multiverse, before finally reuniting with Terezi, the one girl she truly loved, to step into a brand new universe and a brand new life.

Vriska had always been many things. A pirate, a killer, a god, and by her own admission, never a hero. Maybe, now that all the death was behind her, she could finally admit that she was a victim too.

Analysis: Ventress

The extended continuity of Star Wars's Clones Wars era is.... complicated, because there's technically three of them. There's the original 80-90's Star Wars multimedia project detailed in the New Extended Guide to Chronology.... that when then retconned The Clone Wars series came out..... which was then retconned further by Disney buying everything and creating the Legends continuity. So we have Original!Clone Wars, Legends!TCW!Clone Wars and Disney!TCW!Clone Wars, which creates a tangled mess of canon. For example, Season 7 of TCW is canon to Disney but not to Legends, while various tie in video games to TCW like Lightsaber Duels and Republic Heroes are considered solely Legends canon. It's.... complicated.

For the sake of simplicity, I'll be using the original Legends version of Ventress before TCW, as that's the version of the character who is most capable in combat.

Classic Ventress was a Rattataki warlord rather than a Dathomerian Nightsister as in TCW, though most of her origin follows the same beats. She was initially adopted and raised by a crash landed Jedi Knight, whom she trained under to help liberate her homeworld. When her father figure was killed before her eyes, Asajj fell to the Dark Side on the spot, swearing bloody revenge against his killers and developing a deep seated hatred for the Jedi for, in her mind, "abandoning" her by being too "weak".

Asajj launched a campaign of bloody terror against her rival warlords, the tattoos on the sides of her head being a death count of personally slain competitors, before catching the eye of Count Dooku at a gladiatorial arena and becoming his apprentice. In exchange for the full military support of the CIS in conquering Rattatak, Ventress would become Dooku's personal assassin against the Jedi.

To this end, Dooku would gift Ventress with the sabers of his former, now dead, Jedi Apprentice. Two curved hilted dueling lightsabers that could clip together into a saber staff that protruded two blood red sith blades, granting the weapons superior cutting power at the expense of some maneuverability.

Dooku was a master swordsman and he passed on many of his skills to Ventress, teaching her in the dual fencing lightsaber form Jar Kai and the precision fencing form Makashi to turn her into a highly unorthodox fighter who picked her opponents apart with precision and unpredictable grace. The results speak for themselves. Ventress has fought both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, even both at once, several times, battled against Jedi Council Master Plo Koon, flat out defeated Council Master Kit Fisto, and, most impressively, forced an already exhausted Mace Windu to use all of his skills to defeat her.

Granted, Mace had just fought Sora Bulk, the former Jedi Battlemaster and one of only three Jedi to know the lightsaber form of Vaapad, so it's not like he in peak condition in that fight, but still. There are precious few in Star Wars who can hang in the same fight as Jedi Sam Jackson.

As a disposable apprentice, Dooku didn't want Ventress to potentially upstage him, so he only taught her the basics. Ventress's telekinesis and mental capabilities were themselves completely serviceable, but she wielded them with a sinister creativity. Thrown projectiles in the middle of combat, destroying the ground beneath an opponent, ragdolling every loose object she can find to hit you in the back. All the while using hit and run ambush tactics to jump at you from the shadows and back again, sadistically taunting you all the while.

Great tactics in a vacuum, but she has a habit of flat out overconfident gloating when things are going her way, accidentally pissing her enemies off instead of unbalancing them. Like when she was able to break into Padme's house and discover her secret marriage to Anakin Skywalker... and nearly get deep fried by Anakin's force lightning when she smugly revealed herself. And when these tactics fail, she either flys into a rage or cowardly flees.

Despite that, Ventress was a brilliant Sith assassin, even going as far to learn Sith Sorcery. With it, she could resurrect the dead and rip her enemies apart with an army of zombies, so long as some corpses happen to be nearby.

Despite her potential, she was only ever a pawn. One time, her obsession with killing Obi-Wan specifically got her too far away from the Separatist evacuation point and Dooku, not wanting her captured, coldly had her sniped dead. Asajj revealed Dooku's plans in her final moments, before dying kn Kenobi's arms...

...Or, so it would seem. Ventress instead used a meditation trance to fake her death, stopping her heartbeat, before hijacking the shuttle her corpse was stowed on and disappearing into the star. Her ultimate fate from here is unknown....

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

Both of these characters are, fundamentally, traumatized little girls playing the role of serial killers. But in this circumstance, one of them plays it better.

Asajj's psychological warfare tactics would work wonders against Vriska, as she's not known to work too well under pressure at the best of times, undermining her ego and driving her into a rage. But, this can go both ways. Vriska does smugly gloat whenever she gets the chance and Ventress is just as susptuble to it as Vriska is. This fight is going to start out with both smugly gloating and end with both snarling and screaming.

Ventress's Force skillset makes a good foil for most of Vriska's moves, resisting her telepathy and potentially disarming her of her dice once she realizes how they work with telekinesis. But, Trollkind's seemingly resistance to heat makes Ventress's lightsabers much less immediately lethal than they would be otherwise and Vriska has experience against similarly unorthodox fighting styles and weaponry, namely Terezi with her cane that can become both nunchucks and two swords.

I give Vriska the endurance advantage as a whole. Ventress is hardy, but not to Vriska's level of "staying conscious after being dismembered by an explosion". As a whole, Ventress's tactics will become less effective as the fight goes on. Luck drain will gradually undercut Asajj's subtle use of telekinesis, making her attacks suddenly go wide, while x-ray vision counters out stealth and ambush.

This all culminates in the fact that Ventress simply doesn't have the means to end this fight quickly. She's not going to immediately understand God-Tier immortality and has no way of easily exploiting its vulnerabilities even if she did. She'd have to rely on circumstantial factors. Similarly, while Ventress's necromancy might come up in a battle taking place on *Alternia* the same could easily be said of Vriska turning nearby trolls into an army for her. Both could come up, but both are circumstantial and could counter each other out if they did.

Ventress's lesser endurance means her wounds will tire her out faster, her tactics exploit Vriska's vulnerabilities, but Vriska can easily exploit hers in turn, and she has no answer to Vriska's most prominent advantages as they stack up over the course of the fight. Asajj is skilled, talented, and deadly enough to make Vriska work fir her victory, this will be a long fight... but the assassin doesn't bring enough to keep Vriska down.

Hope Dooku doesn't underestimate his new apprentice. I don't think the galaxy is prepared for Darth Mindfang.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Vriska Serket!

[nw-of-dark]

Seattle (by Night)

Demographics

In Seattle, the supernatural community is comprised of various factions with distinct demographics. The Camarilla vampires are the dominant vampire group in the city, consisting of 1,000 members. They are organized and adhere to a strict hierarchy and set of rules. On the other hand, the Anarchs, a more rebellious and independent vampire faction, have a smaller presence with 127 members. They reject the Camarilla's authority and seek more personal freedom.

The Awakened, referring to mages who possess mystical abilities, make up a population of 1,110 individuals in Seattle. Among them, the Bridge Trolls cabal comprises 23 individuals. These mages lead a clandestine existence among the homeless population and actively resist the Technocratic Union's control. Seattle is home to a significant Garou population, with 160,956 werewolves residing in the city. However, the majority of Garou, approximately 160,000, are found in the outskirts and rural areas surrounding Seattle. These werewolves have adapted to the wilderness and protect the natural world from supernatural threats. In contrast, 956 Garou have adapted to urban life, likely due to the encroachment of cities on their ancestral territories.

The population of changelings in Seattle is relatively small, consisting of 199 individuals. Changelings are beings with a mix of fae and mortal nature and are tied to the realm of dreams. They often dwell in hidden enclaves, interacting with both the mortal and supernatural realms. However, the changeling population in Seattle is dispersed throughout the city, making it more challenging for them to unite and confront their internal conflicts.

Government

The Seattle Camarilla is the dominant faction of vampires in the city, characterized by their structured hierarchy and adherence to a set of rules and traditions. Unlike some other vampire factions, the Camarilla in Seattle generally avoids direct involvement in human politics unless it directly impacts their interests or business. At the time, the Camarilla is under the rule of Prince Alec Cross, who ascended to power after a period of unstable leadership by the late Lou Grand. Prince Alec Cross allowed the Tremere clan, a clan known for their mastery of blood magic, into the city during his early days as ruler. This decision indicates his willingness to forge alliances and embrace the benefits that the Tremere can bring to Seattle.

As part of rebuilding his authority and strengthening his rule, Prince Alec is in the process of reestablishing the Primogen Council. The Primogen Council is composed of representatives from the various vampire clans, acting as advisers and wielding influence within the Camarilla's power structure. These council members play a crucial role in decision-making and ensuring the interests of their respective clans are represented.

Additionally, Prince Alec is actively seeking a Seneschal, who serves as his second-in-command and assists with the day-to-day affairs of ruling the Camarilla. The Seneschal acts as a trusted adviser and administrator, supporting the Prince in maintaining order and overseeing the city's vampire population.

To maintain control and enforce the Prince's authority throughout Seattle, Sheriffs are appointed to each district. Sheriffs are responsible for upholding the Prince's laws, maintaining order, and dealing with any threats or breaches of the Camarilla's rules within their respective districts.

Lastly, the Prince employs a Herald, whose role is to disseminate information, announcements, and decrees on behalf of the Prince. The Herald acts as a messenger, ensuring that the Prince's ascension to power and his rulings are communicated to the vampire population and beyond.

Factions

Project Upside-Down is a specialized team operating within the Border Corps Division of the Void Engineers (Technocratic Union) in Seattle. This team is dedicated to investigating and responding to incursions of Wyrm-related entities within the Washington State area. The Wyrm is a corrupting force in the supernatural world, representing decay, corruption, and destruction.

The primary objective of Project Upside-Down is to identify and neutralize any Wyrm-related threats that pose a risk to the region. The team members are highly trained in both magical and technological methods, allowing them to combat and contain these malevolent entities effectively. They possess a deep understanding of the Wyrm's influence, its minions, and the strategies required to counteract its corrupting presence.

The Bridge Trolls are a distinctive cabal of 23 mages who lead an unconventional and clandestine existence within the homeless population of Seattle. They have established their sanctum in the tent-city located under The Troll's Bridge, utilizing the hidden space as their base of operations and safe haven. The cabal's sigil, the troll, represents their identity and serves as a symbol of their resistance against the Technocratic Union. As members of the larger Free Council, the Bridge Trolls dedicate themselves to challenging and thwarting the operations of the Technocracy, often employing tactics of sabotage and distraction to disrupt their plans and agendas.

The Duchy of Evergreen is a significant subdivision within the Kingdom of Pacifica, a crypto-nation existing within the realms of changelings. The duchy encompasses the regions of Washington and Oregon, with a concentration of changelings residing in the cities of Portland and Seattle.

In Seattle, a criminal gang known as the Worcester Knights, led by Finney Fallon, operates within the boundaries of the Duchy of Evergreen. This gang, notorious among the changeling community, targets universities and art districts as their hunting grounds. Their activities involve preying on creative mortals and draining their Glamour energy, which poses a threat to the realm of mortal dreams. The presence of the Worcester Knights creates an atmosphere of danger and instability within the supernatural community of Seattle.

Points of Interest

The Troll's Bridge serves as the codename for a specific bridge where the Bridge Trolls cabal of mages holds their clandestine meetings. The actual name of the bridge is known to the public, but the secret gathering place remains hidden, accessible only to those who are part of or familiar with the cabal. To identify the Troll's Bridge, one must look for a distinct marker: a graffiti troll located at the entrance to the underside of the bridge. The graffiti troll serves as a hidden symbol, blending in with other street art and potentially deceiving those who are unaware of its significance. This unique marker acts as a subtle indication to members of the Bridge Trolls cabal that they have arrived at their meeting place.

The bridge itself likely possesses certain characteristics that make it an ideal meeting spot for the mages. It may provide a secluded and discreet location, shielded from prying eyes and unwanted attention. The underside of the bridge might offer cover and privacy, allowing the cabal to gather and discuss their plans without interference.

The choice to use a bridge as a meeting place could also hold symbolic meaning. Bridges are often seen as connectors, linking different areas or realms together. In this case, the Bridge Trolls cabal may see themselves as bridging the gap between the mortal and supernatural worlds, utilizing their magical abilities to navigate and influence both realms.

The Menagerie Caern is a sacred and hidden space nestled within Discovery Park, serving as a gathering point for the Garou, werewolves bound to protect the natural world. Located near a small petting zoo, the Menagerie Caern remains concealed from the general public, allowing the Garou to commune with the spirits and perform their sacred rituals undisturbed. At the heart of the Menagerie Caern is a cairn, a pile of stones or rocks carefully arranged to mark and consecrate the location. The cairn serves as a physical and spiritual focal point, symbolizing the connection between the Garou and the natural spirits that reside in the area. It acts as a gateway for communication and communion with the spiritual realm.

Surrounded by the lush and vibrant environment of Discovery Park, the Menagerie Caern exudes a profound sense of natural energy. It is a place where the Garou can gather to perform rituals, seek guidance from the spirits, and strengthen their bond with nature. The Caern is infused with the essence of the wild, serving as a sanctuary for the Garou and a source of power for their spiritual and physical endeavors. The Menagerie Caern's hidden location within Discovery Park provides a level of protection and secrecy, ensuring that it remains undisturbed by those who are unaware of its significance. This hidden nature allows the Garou to safeguard the sacred space and maintain the delicate balance between the physical and spiritual worlds.