#but I also wanna sleep

[annyinacastle]

Special Weapons in WWFSFG

@kiraofthewind asked a question over at Twitter and I couldn't really answer because of spoilers, so I thought I'd share a bit more here, where I can cut it off and you can choose to read the spoilers yourself!

The question — or prompt, perhaps — was to tell her about a special weapon used by a character. Essentially she asked about its lore, design, use and condition.

And I'll be doing just that! But just two, because this is very long. I could do others if people really, REALLY want to know though.

NOTE that there will be spoilers of When the World Falls, I'll be Safe from the Wrath of God. Which arcs, I won't say, but if you plan on reading my very long series, keep that in mind.

Alright, let's get to it!

Before I start, I should make a real quick character introduction.

Answard. MC. Species: witch. Elemental Alignment and its strength: wind and air, mind-blowing. Magical aptitude: High. Occupation: OP mage. Travels around the Continent running errands for the church, I guess. His name is Ásvard in Northern tongue and shortened Ansy or Ánsi. (Accent is a long vowel sound.)

Kári Hjálmar. LI. Species: human. Elemental Alignment: fire, passionate but limited. Magical Aptitude: Absolutely none and then even less than that. Occupation: runaway king. Follows Ansy around for reasons only the Spirits and Kári himself know. From the Northern Kingdom. His birth name is Kári, Hjálmar his father's birth name, so people he's very close with call him Kári. Not distant, but not close calls him "brother" or "king" or "young king".

That should be enough for you to know.

Kári's Sword

I want to talk about this first, because, to me, it's the most special. It has both emotional value and value to the rest of the world.

Kári is a "warrior type" in battle, which in-universe means he has knowledge of how to use multiple weapons. Where he's from this is fairly common, unless someone specialises in swordstaff, and then doesn't learn how to use their knife other than stab someone in the gut.

Kári specialised in longswords and chose his specific sword among hundreds of others. Why? That's where the emotional value comes in. This is also a summary of an incident mentioned early in the series.

When Kári was 9, his sister's paralysed legs were a mystery to all physicians. They sought advice from those who may know more, and a High Priest visited the North.

Upon cleaning the legs from tainted mana, there was a slight issue that could have been somewhat very dangerous to people.

A young child rushed to grab the sword off the wall, using it to channel mana, stabilising what could have possibly destroyed half the Northern Capital.

When Kári could choose his weapon upon turning 15, the sword he choice was the one he would never forget — a sword too big for a young child, yet wielded by one, who seemed to fly before landing don't the ground that day.

That child… was Ansy.

To be more specific, Ansy used it as a medium to channel his own abilities through it. A young witch don't usually have the ability to use mana for their spells, so his abilities were unstable. He didn't really wield it, but that 6yo really made an impression on 9yo Kári, because same child had also shrunk back at the slightest off look, saying very little, and avoiding most things — yet seemed so strong then.

To the adults, it only looked like Ansy would hurt himself though.

This incident does make this sword special in its own right. Regardless of his age, the story of the witch who took one of the precious ancient swords off the wall was not one that people would not share. That they exaggerate it, is a different matter altogether. That it's still told long after Ansy and Kári, Kári's wife and even the children they three raised have passed away, is what matters. And that it's shared in Ansy's tale of his travels matters too.

But to the two of them, it's that little secret proof of their connection no matter how separated they are, and they both value that (although Ansy would claim he has no thoughts on the matter — it's just some shitty sword).

That said, the sword used back then already had a history.

Answering the question (or many questions in a prompt), I went "Yes, but…"

This is the thing I thought of and went "yes" on all questions. It was also the one I mentioned, trying to think of something to share. (I still didn't! xD)

When sheathed, it doesn't look very special. While the hilt and scabbard are decorated, it's simple rather than intricate. Northerns like to decorate things. In part because if someone is lost, the carvings or stones or colours allow them to know if there's a chance of finding them based on whether they find their items or not.

In a world of ice and snow, for a people dumped into a land trying to kill you, while the inhabitants tried to take your land, that's worth more than the item itself.

So the sheath is oddly simple and, especially at a distance, the hilt is nothing to brag about.

Unsheathed however…

When you look closely at the hilt, it's less that it's not intricately detailed, but that the detail is too subtle. The grip looks at closer look like it's made of wood rather than metal, and the guard is like it's been woven out of flower stems and petals. This wooden-floral design continues onto the blade itself.

It looks more like a ceremonial weapon than a sword used in battle, and its name would suggest something similar.

The Sword of Life. (Or the Life Sword. I'll use that because shorter.)

It has a history of battle though. It's been used generations before by legendary warriors and even a past king, protecting the North. It goes back thousands of years!

Or so they say. Life Sword is a nod to a legendary sword of Púdenan origin, Púdena being a country in the area of the North of the today Ansy and Kári live. That sword was named Life Tree, or Sword of the Life Tree. A magic artefact, aligned with earth to the point it could cast spells of its own (or so the legends say). The Life Sword is far less powerful, but it's nonetheless an artefact itself.

It's an enchanted sword, aligned with the earth element. It was this alignment that made Ansy choose it in his rush, ignoring what others may say.

But first, about Life Tree.

That was a real sword. It wasn't a long sword like Kári's but it could literally split the earth with the right wielder. During a war at the end of the Third Era, that is exactly what happened. It was forged specifically for the young man who wielded it, and who in the end caused so much damage to the other side, the war kind of trickled to its end as the opposing side couldn't keep the war going. Life Tree is deeply rooted in "plants", letting the original owner use spells that allowed him to seem like he had the powers of a forest nymph. Naturally, Hakkaij, as he was called, had a strong alignment with the element of his sword.

So, Life Sword.

Much like the sword it's based upon, it has an elemental alignment with earth. And if you read the introductions, you should know Kári's alignment is fire. Fire is stronger than earth; it burns it. So… Does this not matter?

It does. Using a weapon that isn't aligned well with your element is going to inhibit you. Most equipment is relatively neutral, but some are not, such as Kári's sword. Moreover, Kári's sword is enchanted. It chooses who wields it. Káro using it, means it chose him as much as he chose it. An odd pair.

Here's the thing, while earth and fire don't go along well, Kári's alignment is more with just heat, not like a literal fire. Metal also falls under "earth", and if we specify, this sword is actually a metal aligned sword. Its enchantment works well with Kári's own alignment, making it a heated sword that can make things burn, but neither melts nor burns.

Kári's also good at enchantments, despite his lack of magic aptitude. It relies less on one's magical ability as much as one's understanding of the world — which is why enchantments are common up North, but very temporary "enhancements" are common elsewhere. The Northerners live closely linked to a belief in the world speaking to them.

This sword has been used before Kári's time. It's older than the oldest Northerner (who should be reaching the surprising age of 176 years old, which in human lifespan is equivalent to 117 year of age). It should have broken in battle a long time ago, because it's seen many. It's with great care (and much respect) that they've kept this artefact in great condition to Kári's lifetime.

And while the enchantments last long in the right environment, they need to be renewed and cared for as well. Kári himself does this excellently, and the fire enchantment of the Life Sword remain strong.

As for why it's named the Sword of Life, when it burns things…

A passionate soul brings light to life It will only stay with a flame there Remain strong in peace and in strife And passion you’ll find with this life here

This is inscribed in the scabbard in Ancient Northern tongue. That's the only clue to its name they have, aside from its nod to the Life Tree.

Ansy's Frostblade

Alright, Ansy next! This weapon is more special from a worldbuilding POV. Which means this will be heavy on, uh, "Whelthem science with a focus on biology, physics and mana".

Ansy is an OP mage. He can LITERALLY make it rain or snow if he wants to. Want it to rain fire? Will do. Grow a forest? Might be hard, but plausible.

But he does use a weapon. Except it doesn't exist.

And I realise this is gonna get real spoilery related to Ansy, but not the main plot or arc plots or anything. Like, I can't write about this properly without spoiling a lot.

Anyway.

First I need to explain witches: They absorb mana from their surroundings. They store that temporarily before they cast a spell. If the spell is quick, the mana essentially just passes through their body while it's used as a medium. This also happens if they do a long-range or AoE spell. Essentially, witches are the most suited for AoE spells, as the mana they can store in them is the equivalent to hundreds if not thousands of humans, or possibly a few average faes.

This means they also can act as a filter for the mana flow. Gather messed up mana, let out the good mana, and cleanse the shitty mana out (with help from a Priestess, probably), but that's besides the point.

They kind of continuously affect their surroundings by simply existing, because they do absorb and release mana constantly. A bit cold? Naturally gather fire mana. At a high altitude? Naturally gather air mana. Need to move faster? Naturally gather wind mana. How much they do this depends on the affinities though. Ashyll has a fire affinity, so she'll function better when her body gathers fire. She can ONLY use fire spells though — this is important.

Ansy naturally works the same way. He's a wind and air mage, so his spells are best with things like projectiles, movement, manipulating weight and cold. And, well, weather.

The thing is though, witches gather a lot of mana. Every inch of skin absorbs it. Exposed skin absorbs it better meaning that gathering works better with exposed skin, which means spells function better and are more powerful with more exposed skin (so (certain) witches don't wear much).

All this, at the end of the day, means that they might be able to mimic a mage, because though they may be called "Elemental Mages" they don't count as that. It's a fake title to reassure people. Assuming they are indeed an Elemental Mage, training enough, they can get to cruder low-level spells, but their incantations will be longer than for a normal mage. Compared to a human mage, a human would use an internal excess — how much of this excess one has and how in tune they are with it determine if they can use spells. Less mana means smaller spells, yes, but also having a storage that your body has kept for some time and is in tune with means a spell can be more precise.

Armament magic — the creation of weaponry and armour through the use of spells — needs precision.

And it also means that what they created, does not really exist.

Frostblade is like this. It's a pure ice — incredibly cold — longer dagger or shorter sword (whichever you prefer), which Ansy created through mana.

A witch would normally not mimic Armament Magic. It's too precise, requires too much on an understanding of mana that's not one's own, and also works outside one's affinity. Well, at least Ansy just needs to freeze something in the form of a blade. That would be a little easier than trying to use fire to make a sword.

What's so extra special about Frostblade — aside from the species of the creator — is that… it's not actually made by mimicking.

REVELATION TIME. /cackles

Ansy does know how to use normal magecraft and everyday spells. He can in theory do any spell a human can do. And he also knows Armament Magic. It's not the most comfortable thing, but he knows how to do it. Why he knows this… well, I'll leave that out.

But generally, Frostblade is also not purely made from Armament magic. It's more like a mixture of both.

He could make any sort of weapon though. He just chooses a longer dagger, which is very specifically named Frostblade in memory of a certain person's teachings, and because a dagger is easier to use when he needs to kill people the church wants dead. Or people he wants dead. Or people he just kills. I mean, he's essentially a part-time assassin, part-time destroyer of villages and part-time errand boi.

As for the shape, it looks like any kind of dagger, except pure ice. Created out of thin air, and returned into thin air when he no longer needs it.

[likemesomesalads]

Today I will finish that drawing of In-Shu...or take a nap. A 50/50 chance.

[etoilesdeglace]

"That is an amazing D&D choice." (x)

[weeping-vintage-toes]

I wanna call my bf :(

[salamispots]

dream wip

[buckleydiazmp4]

rat…ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ

[puppyeared]

basement guys

[napping-sapphic]

Sure you could fall in love with me but would you put up glow in the dark stars all over our bedroom walls with me? Would you paint our mailbox fun colors with me? Would you make pancakes in silly shapes and buy knickknacks we’ll never use and pick up hobbies we won’t stick to with me? Would you live and be silly and be a little dumb and be a genius and be confident and lazy and kind and angry and everything? Would you give me absolutely every side of yourself that you can??

[somerandomcockroach]

And coloring based on @thegunnsara 's sketch

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you open my Super Important Documents and its just pictures of charles xavier

[housecow]

i just wanna be someone’s fat wife. that’s it that’s my biggest goal in life

[ping-ski]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @crystalmagpie447 !! tosses fistful of confetti and skitters away

[yuwuta]

JJK OLYMPICS OHHH YOURE A GENIUS

head spinning w sooooooo many athlete aus rn….. 

satoru honestly isn’t half as cocky as the media makes him out to be but he could be because you bring up world champion men’s freestyle swim times and it’s his name on the scoreboard ten times before someone else shows up. he’s faster than himself by fifteen seconds all around, he’s earned a bit of cockiness. mentioned in the last post that whenever he’s at a competition and he finishes a race, he looks at the camera and signs a little infinity sign and then blows a kiss to you. some bitter old coach always calls him out on it, and gets him fined for unsportsmanlike conduct, and he’s happy to pay the fees if it means getting a message home to you, but eventually you two come up with a new code; and at his next race, he places gold, turns to the camera, crosses his middle finger over his pointer finger and smiles. when he’s in his post-race interview, he makes sure to explain that he does it for you with the widest smile on his face.

megumi nepotism baby but not in the same sport. toji was a multi gold medalist back in his heyday for shooting, so it’s not really a surprise to anybody that megumi has scary good aim, but he takes to archery instead of shooting. actually the idea of megumi being an emo little kid and throwing rocks at a tree when his dad pissed him off his hilarious, and even funnier is toji watching him, slightly amused and a little scared because megumi is maybe six and hitting the exact same spot every single time. he grows to be very blase about it—it’s more of a release/hobby for him that he happens to be really good at, and well, now good enough to earn a few olympic medals. megumi is not a fan of having his dad ruffle his hair on international television after he’s won, but he supposes it can’t be helped.

i don’t know where to put yuuta…. tennis…. tempting….. him in his little white shorts…. little grunts after he serves…. cries….. a complete 180 in his personality when he’s playing vs doing anything else. so charming and sweet and kinda shy when he’s being interviewed, and the second he steps on the court his eyes are so cold it’s scary…. need him… extremely nerdy about his rackets, and shoes, and clothes, and rambles to you about aerodynamics and posture and torque whenever you ask him to teach you, and you always have to shutup him up with a kiss and remind him that yeah you sort of want to learn to play tennis for him, but mostly you came bc he looks hot doing it. once he got asked in an interview if he ever thinks about you while he’s playing and his response was very concise, “no, never. it would be a big distraction,” and did not realize the implications of his heavily televised words. 

also…. not to make this post 40% yuuta but we could pull from canon a bit and make his sport fencing. he doesn’t excel because he’s the strongest, it’s because he’s learned to treat the sword as an extension of himself and a good strategist… also because i like the image of him pulling the helmet/mask off and shaking his hair out………..

don’t even know where to put yuuji…. volleyball? basketball? track and field??? the irony of him easily being the most athletic but canonically does not want to play sports 😭 but i can see him playing a sport because someone scouts him and it turns out to be a way to make steady money to support himself and his grandpa :( by the time he’s qualified and made it to the olympics, wasuke is doing much better (thanks to yuuji having landed some preemptive sponsorships and being able to afford better medical care), but not so well enough that he can travel across the world to watch yuuji play. wasuke tells you that you should travel and be with yuuji, but yuuji is so touched by the idea that you would stay with his grandpa and be by his side when he’s away :(( he wins gold, of course, and he doesn’t even wait until the closing ceremony—which, he’d mentioned in all of his interviews, so nobody can be too upset. he’s on record saying, “i’m excited to play, but i’m even happier to be going home. my girlfriend and my grandpa are watching me and i miss them!” several times— he’s on the first flight home with flowers, and tears in his eyes. puts his gold medal on his grandpa’s neck as a thank you, and spends probably thirty minutes straight hugging you and kissing you and honestly don’t put it past him to propose now that he’s got nike ambassador money 

nanami started judo as a way to relieve the stress of his overbearing job, and someone at the gym/training center notices he seems to be a natural despite being a beginner. he starts to draw a crowd, which annoys him at first because the point of judo was discipline and release from having to deal with too many people at his office job, but nanami supposes he can’t be too mad when you introduce yourself as a talent scout and offer him professional training. there’s irony in him accepting your offer, because it was definitely not based in professionalism at all… quitting his job as a salaryman to become a professional athlete in his mid-twenties was not on his bingo chart, but if it means he will have met you, then so be it. you’re with him all the way, through his training, competitions, world championships, qualifiers, all the way until he’s on the podium. you’re the first to congratulate him, but he interjects by telling you he’s quitting. you ask him why—he just won at the olympics for crying out loud, but nanami just shakes his head, puts down his flowers and his medal so his hands are free to hold your face and tell you, “it would be unethical to kiss my manager, so i am quitting.” (later, when everything is said and done, and you two are cuddling, you mention to him that he could just hire a new manager, and not quit his new career, to which he blushes because yeah… that’s probably more rational, but rational was not in his train of thought at the time)

[niinnyu]

Red in your hair.

[dotted-clouds]

Replaced.

[keferon]

*clasps your shoulders gently and looks you straight in the eye*

Keferon. Please read Ninth by Kyn on AO3. I think you would love it very much. It has a large chapter count, but don't be intimidated, it's very easy to get into. It is currently unfinished, but is being updated regularly.

You are the seventh person that recommended this fic to me so ahahahaha yeah

I’m doing great Help I hate some parts of it but I love the other parts I’m spinning in the blender

…..I made the moodboard….