#arcburn: the city of sins

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Ayyyyy Pinned Post!

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Arcburn: The City of Sins Masterpost (eventually... in a few hours days)

I haven't really taken the proper time to talk about Arcburn and I think it's time I do so! So here's both an intro and masterpost!

Introduction Below The Cut:

To start, I actually have a complete different version of Arcburn on my AO3 still up with the prologue and the first two chapters. But, this isn't the version of Arcburn I am talking about now, if anything that was just a warm-up.

This version of Arcburn is what I am calling the "true" version of Arcburn, as it's what I actually really want, instead of trying and failing to come up with a story that I thought would appeal to others. Which is a tad dumb looking back because I was already into MCYT which is a shameless fandom (I love being there it's so fun) and then not months later was talking about anime (Demon Slayer owns my soul). Hell, the first fandom I was on here for was Voltron, in 2021. Since 2022 I've learned to accept my ideas and have some great IRL friends who encourage my bullshit. Which has led to this point.

As said, what was holding me back originally was that I was not inserting any new and fun ideas I had into Arcburn. Which was making it a pain in the ass to do anything for because I wanted to think about the new and fun stuff I was coming up with. This time, no holding back!

I originally called this my "self-indulgent" version of Arcburn as it was essentially a giant fandom mashup, but since then this has shifted over time as I gain more ideas and implement them. And sure, the original core idea of Arcburn has always been teenage girl annihilates government with help of friends, but the process of getting there is very different in each version. Originally, it was just a stumble into information given by her long dead parents, now it's a simmering rage that has lasted for 9-10 years by the time the story starts, (not to mention the stumbling into info on top of all that differently this time around).

Anyway, sidetrack aside, this was originally some messy MHA, Demon Slayer, MCYT mashup of stuff, while still fun to think about, was in no way cohesive. I managed to rid the Demon Slayer quickly because really I was adding solely for a wind breathing form that I created myself (favourite fight move I have ever come up with btw). MCYT was literally used for character concepts, as I found it difficult to come up with ideas for a hefty bunch of super villains. Eventually they have evolved as well, into a set of character's I'm really liking with only aesthetics and a basis for power ideas linking it back to MCYT, which was my intention anyway. MHA was the hardest to rid of, and I did have an entire Japan Arc planned out (I'm still having a travel arc, but I might change the location, might not), as I could NOT think of any way to get it out of the way. I was just planning on embracing it and having fun with it, as the power system is simple but versatile, which is what I wanted. But in the past few weeks I have actually come up with a power system that's versatile but still my own in a sense with the added bonus of religious imagery. (Despite the fact that many ideas nowadays aren't original but are based off of something else, which is what happened for character concepts here, but they do feel very original now).

I think the power system deserves its own post, same with the worldbuilding that comes with that (that's still fucked, I need to literally come up with new ores now for armour and shit because I blatantly used minecraft worldbuilding for funsies).

As said earlier, the main concept has remained the same all the way through. Along with a couple other ideas, like a core trio of friends, and the school's name is actually still Monarchy!

But that's kind of a history run-down of Arcburn to this point! I'm going to make an introduction post to Cassandra (the MC) right after this, so that will be the first post that shows up after this one. If you have made it this far congrats and thanks for listening to my ramblings!

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I AM WRITING CHAPTER 1 OF ARCBURN

I REPEAT I AM WRITING CHAPTER 1 OF ARCBURN

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Cassandra, to Reyna: You know, Diana can be really aggressive, so it's important to take all the necessary precautions when approaching. Cassandra: *blows airhorn at Diana* GET FUCKED!

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I have noticed a few things about my writing while I was rereading through Arcburn after a while of not touching it:

I am great at including humour in my writing

I am a sucker for foreshadowing, symbolism, and subtle cues at facts hinted throughout my writing

I suck at dialogue

I am great at descriptive writing and including a character's thoughts and personality

I suck at dialogue

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I read the chapters of Arcburn that you have released so far, so Diana for the character ask game? :D

Thanks for reading Arcburn! HMMmmm let me think without spoiling much...

Fluffy/Funny

She's on the shorter side, 5'4. Constantly made fun of for it by friends and enemies.

While in Vigilante costume, not a soul can figure out what gender Diana is because she got herself a voice modulator and her armour suggests nothing in any way other than a slim build. Everybody just picks a set of pronouns and rolls with it. Diana doesn't care (gender apathetic)

Her favourite animals are jackals and falcons. Partially because of vibes, but also her last name (Peregrine)

Mythology and history buff. You'll see what I mean when it comes to vigilante names in what I think will be chapter 5/6

Really enjoys sponge toffee and chocolate, in general.

Angsty

After her parent's death (which was literally told in the prologue, so it's not a spoiler) the police gave her the few belongings they could find left, including their wedding rings, she wears them both on a chain hidden.

Tiffany (if you haven't already picked up on it) is actually kind of an asshole. She ignores Diana most of the time except for house changes, blames Diana for the house changes and not the people who have hurt her, and overall just makes Diana sound terrible to the public's eye. Diana knows and picked up on it quick, but she feels like she owes Tiffany a debt for putting up with her.

Diana has spent nights out on the streets in Arcburn, at one point she spent a week out there on her own.

Patricia (The switchblade) was a gift from a dying homeless man she came across, she had tried to help the man, but he died anyway. Before his death, he gifted her Patricia and told her to stay safe.

Most people are afraid of Diana after they meet her and get to know her a little. It's rare when someone is not afraid of her.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I find it funny that I have at least 3 different versions of Arcburn.

What I have written down

AU where Diana's mom is the top hero in Arcburn (instead of being the top villain and dead) and Diana plays her double life a little more dangerously

Diana's mom is a nobody and Diana just runs around the streets fucking around and finding out

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Okay! So!

Kratos was the god of strength or power, and he is the straight-up personification of that. Kratos works under Zeus, essentially as an agent.

When Prometheus gives the people fire, Zeus ordered Kratos and Bia, (his sister) to bring Prometheus to the rock in which Heaphateus would tie Prometheus up.

Let's consider this, Kratos essentially works as a bounty hunter for Zeus in this.

A bounty hunter, hunting a god.

Godhunter.

If you remember any of my spiels from my old blog about my one fic that still wanders around in my head Gods and Hunters, you'll know my main character is aliased as Godhunter.

In Arcburn: The City of Sins, my main character takes up the alias of Kratos.

I unintentionally went to Wikipedia way back months ago and went through Greek god names, I found Kratos and found that having a set of sibling god names would be good for a group of vigilantes (Nike, Kratos, Bia).

Not too long ago, I had come to the realization that I had out of pure coincidence gave my character the alias of Godhunter once again.

Congrats to me, you little shit.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I have gone 'fuck it lets rewrite Arcburn.'

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Damian: What do I get? Diana: A night of fashion, mischief, mayhem, and possible death. Damian: Ooh, check, check, and check; not sure about that last one. Diana: It won't be you. Damian: I'll get my coat.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

I remember in Gods and Hunters that I had the most fucked up little funky dude named Damian and I want to bring him into Arcburn for shits and giggles

[the-arson-author-gamer]

HOLY SHIT!! I COULD BE DONE CHAPTER 2 OF ARCBURN BY EITHER TONIGHT OR TOMORROW

[the-arson-author-gamer]

🌹🌹🌹

She continues, “I guess the police figured that I hadn’t beat them on my own, because when the fight was broke up, and they arrived, they interrogated me all to-” a pause, she glances at the boy again “-heck,” she finishes her sentence awkwardly.

Stephanie blinks in surprise from the corner of Diana’s eye, probably expecting her to be some delinquent teen and swear in front of her 7-year-old. She was an asshole, but not a complete asshole.

“And now you’re here,” the old man finished for her, Diana nodded, not having any other words to say. 

Diana is talking to an old man at a law firm. I'm kind of stuck here, I'll admit.

Pushing through this rough patch, though. I might skip ahead to the next scene and then come back to this one.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Ayo what's Arcburn?

SO ARCBURN

I guess I have never talked about it really... so here I am now!

Arcburn: The City of Sins is an original idea that I came up with after reading too many SBI Superhero AUs.

I was drawn to the ones where it is like villains vs a lone vigilante in a city with a messed up government.

So that is essentially the concept, but very original because

it's also an urban fantasy thing. Where everybody has common magic, and then a magic subset they can focus upon, this is my excuse for superpowers essentially.

nobody has the best morals. like it's an everybody sucks story but you can kind of root for this person

I also made it an foster care au because I needed an excuse for found family

The city it's focused in Arcburn is nicknamed the 'City of Sins' because like nobody has any morals here and crime is SO common.

Essentially my main character, Diana, finds a piece of incriminating evidence against the Hero Agency, which has all control over the government and their heroes. But she can't release it to the public because it's not enough information, so she starts her quest on figuring out what everything is so she can release all this to the public. All while retaining a secret identity, passing school, running away from a group of terrifying villains, and hiding her true magic subset from the Agency.

There is a brutal amount of jackal symbolism, found family, and weird jokes.

My only warning is that I will be tagging as I go, so any darker topics like rape (it never happens but it is mentioned throughout many chapters, including the first one) will be tagged along with adding warnings at the beginning of each chapter. The graphic violence tag is also there because it's a superhero fic and literally the first scene is a fight scene. There is a lot of violence.

This is one of my darker ideas, but also one of my more interesting ones I think.

Right now I only have the prologue posted, but I think by posting something, it will force me to write more than just scroll through Tumblr.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

What’s Arcburn? That’s such a cool title! Did you come up with it? 👀

I’ve realized just now, how little you guys know about Arcburn and before I get into it:

Yes I came up with it on my own, but I’m not sure exactly how I came up with it. I think I went to a generator and it had something about burning and a letter A (A burning something) and I put some words together and was like OH SHIT ARCBURN SOUNDS COOL!

The full title is Arcburn: The City Of Sins (prologue and first chapter is on my AO3 if you want to check it out, I’ll put the link at the bottom)

Either way, it’s an Original Work somewhat akin to Gods and Hunters but so much darker and less fantasy more superhero.

Diana is a 16 year old who despises the Heroes and by extension the government itself, due to reasons you can figure out pretty quickly in the prologue.

The main plot is kicked off by Diana beating the shit out of a bunch of wrestlers in her highschool parking lot and then receiving an email from a will keeper. It spirals from there and Diana finds some real incriminating evidence and whoop de doo she’s a vigilante fighting against the government!

Rather than calling it superpowers, I decided to give my characters magic. Everybody has common magic and a subset they naturally specialize in, you can master another subset of magic but it takes a long time and a lot of energy so only heroes do it.

Heroes are recruited by the Hero Agency to essentially do hero stuff but none of it is good. Villains are trying to destroy the hero agency in full. Vigilantes are the only ones who actually do anything decent, they desire reformation.

I’m planning on changing Diana’s actual subset, from lightning to something else I think would fit her better, but she practiced in another one (telekinesis) in order to fuck with the hero agency.

Anyway, the title itself is the city name, Arcburn. And it has been nicknamed The City Of Sins because it’s so full of crime and just downright bad people.

[the-arson-author-gamer]

OK SO it started with me reading way to many superhero fics and just in general interacting with superhero-based media

but like, I'm a magic nerd I like magic I like weird creatures I like weird floaty shapes that do cool shit

So naturally me (who created Gods and Hunters which is a royalty, post-apocalyptic, gods and goddesses au mashup) decided to combine these two into a urban fantasy superhero au with foster care au twisted in.

because I have no self control.

Either way, rather than give my heroes and villains just one basic power, lets add a whole system to that and classify these powers into an Owl House system but with Tales of Arcadia ability level.

Note that I have only watched a total of three (3) Owl House episodes. I need to watch it but that is a whole other thing

So it's not fully fleshed out and mostly from my head and going as I think of it, but that's how most of my stuff works so here we go:

Everybody has common magic. Everybody. Common magic includes things like shields, basic summoning spells, making things float, ect. You either learn this magic through school or from their parents. Mostly school teaching you the basic stuff and parents teaching the finer details and lesser known and basic stuff.

After that everybody has a subset, those subsets naturally have other subsets that lead on and on, but we can focus on the first set first.

The first set of subsets are Elemental (in the name), Physic (mind reading), Enhancements (super-healing/strength), and Physiology (like shapshifters)

after that lets take elemental for example has their own subsets which is lightly based off of Avatar but can you blame me? Avatar has a good classification system

So of course fire, earth, water, air, light manipulation. Fire has the offsets of explosion magic, and lightning. Water has ice but not healing that falls under physiology

as of now I only have my main character, who has lightning powers, at first I was going to do general energy manipulation, but I feel like that falls heavily under common magic

DID I MENTION DARK MAGIC :D

No I did not.

Dark Magic flows through the four main subsets, and naturally has it's own subsets, like blood (I considered this as water but relented to no, it falls under physiology)

Shadow stuff and magic falls under light manipulation as it's own subset. As said. it's extensive.

I specifically created dark magic so I could have the villains place 'claim' on the main character. But the claim is while slightly possessive, it essentially means that the person is under the protection of the caster of the spell.

This is purely for found family reasons by the way. I can't take writing something without sprinkling that throughout or making that the entire plot

Enough about magic lets talk about the actual superheros, villains, and vigilantes

Ok it's not enough about magic, there is a database created by the Hero Agency (I might give it another name than just the agency but I'm having trouble with naming that) that classifies EVERYBODY, their powers, name, age, ect.

Slight spoilers for the fact that my main character manages to lie on the database. But I literally wouldn't create it without having a plot point around it so yeah

So there is a hero agency, I have no basis for what kind of heroes yet, but they are a bunch of corrupt people who just want control but are hiding it under media and mega-corporations (capitalism bad)

The classic trope of there being a tower where they reside etc etc. Might be something around that tower, a fight maybe, not sure yet. I just came up with this a few days ago

The heroes have the police under them and detectives under them, 'fighting' crime at literally every level here. The detectives bit is important for one of my characters

There is naturally villains as well. The ones that actually have importance are a group of three called The Rings Of Death (Thanks fantasy names generator) each represent by some sort of ring design either a bracelet or belt or something. One bronze, one silver, and one gold. I don't have names for them yet but It's either going to be Greek, Roman, or Egyptian mythology based.

DID I MENTION THAT I AM ADDING MYTHOLOGIES INTO THIS BECAUSE I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL?

No I did not.

So with the vigilante trio that I have the most fleshed out because they are the main characters.

They are called The Jackals because I like the symbolism of jackals. They all have the Egyptian based fancy high-tech masks that they made that look like jackal heads because there is a reason they are called The Jackals.

3 members, each named after a trio of siblings in greek mythology, Kratos, Bia, and Nike

Kratos and Bia chained down Prometheus and I will find I way to add that myth in I swear.

My main character is naturally, Kratos, because I think it sounded the coolest.

The actual city that this is placed in, Arcburn, is divided into massive districts, each owned by the Hero Agency, villains, or vigilantes that managed to survive long enough to claim something (yes claim magic works on land to, that was the original use and still is used, but dark magic managed to twist it into another subset)

I really just like the concept of villains 'claiming' land and setting rules over it and the stuff you can do with it. I just think it is neat.

Alright I rambled enough (for now) thanks for asking @usegravyasaweapon

[the-arson-author-gamer]

Over 3000 words already for Chapter 1 of Arcburn: The City Of Sins!

I'm finishing my second scene...