#but the entire continent is smaller than my country

[wheels-of-despair]

Under Pressure | Eric x You vs. The Apocalypse | Series Masterlist

Chapter Eight: Deleted Scenes Summary: Someone may have forgotten to mention a few things... Words: 2.8k

One Month After Meeting Eric

"I want to invite your brother over for Thanksgiving."

You see Evan tense out of the corner of your eye. He's putting the finishing touches on a pasta dish he's about to bake. You're washing vegetables for a salad. It's the very picture of domestic bliss.

"Why?" he asks without looking at you.

"Because he's your brother, and he lives ten minutes away, and he doesn't have any other family on this continent. Letting him spend Thanksgiving alone would be a crime."

He heaves a sigh.

"Why do you hate him so much?" you ask.

"I don't hate him," he says quickly, sticking the pan in the oven and letting the door slam shut. He walks to the table and drops into a chair, putting his head in his hands. The salad can wait. You abandon the vegetables and silently sink into the chair across from him. "I just… we have nothing in common."

"You don't even know him," you remind him. "You only saw each other on holidays, right?"

"Yeah," he sighs, leaning back in his chair. Boarding school. His father had shipped all of his sons off to boarding school as soon as they were able to feed themselves. As children, they saw each other on Christmas and over the summer, where the older ones delighted in tormenting the smaller ones. Especially the one you married. Which is why he fled the country at the first available opportunity.

You cross your arms and lean forward. You've been eager to know the whole story since the night you met Eric, but have been afraid to ask. Evan doesn't like talking about his family, but this is driving you crazy. He looks at you with pleading eyes… and sighs.

"Is this the part where you huff and you puff and you try to blow your way out of this conversation?" you tease.

He chuckles, and you reach across the table for his hands. He takes them.

"The only time my older brothers ever included me in anything is when we were taking the piss out of Eric."

Your heart sinks.

"Don't look at me like that," he begs. "He did it to me too. We were the youngest. The weaklings. We were practically interchangeable."

"And it never occurred to you two to join forces?"

His eyes narrow, and he pulls his hands away to cross his arms.

"They would've killed us both," he drawls. "Literally."

"They're not here," you remind him. "And neither is your old man. It's just you, and the other brother who spent his entire childhood getting bullied. Do you really think it's a coincidence that out of everywhere in the world, millions of different cities all over the globe, that he chose to go to law school here? Mere minutes away from you?"

"Father probably chose for him," he scoffs. "Consolidate the disappointments. Dash the spirits of two pathetic birds with one yearly visit from the stone."

"Shut up," you say lightly. "He's here, he's alone, and I want him to come spend Thanksgiving with us. Will you at least consider it? Just this once? For me?"

He gives you a hard stare. You bat your eyelashes flirtatiously. His cheeks twitch as he attempts to conceal a smile. You poke out your bottom lip, clasp your hands, and bring them to your chin for a proper beg.

"Oh, alright," he laughs, "but only for you."

"Was that so hard?" you tease.

"That salad's not going to make itself," he gripes.

You laugh and toss a kitchen towel at him when you get up and return to the sink.

Eric's coming for Thanksgiving.

Two Seconds After Thanksgiving

The door is barely closed when you start missing your new friend. Eric's visit went so much better than you expected.

"Did you just invite him over for Christmas?" Evan asks from the couch, lying on his back with his hands laced behind his head.

"I may have," you admit guiltily.

"Ughhhhhh," he groans, covering his face with his hands.

"Oh, come on," you laugh, locking the door and going to him. You crawl onto the couch and settle yourself between him and the back cushions, resting your head on his chest and an arm around his waist. "You had fun."

"Yeah," he admits, wrapping an arm around you. "It wasn't terrible. But we don't need to make it a thing."

"He's your brother, dammit," you argue, poking him lightly in the belly. He grunts. "That is the thing."

"Why are you so attached to him?" he asks.

You have to think about it for a moment.

"He's easy to get along with," you shrug. "He's sweet, and he's funny. Your relationship, or lack thereof, fascinates me. And the hold that your old man has over him is devastating. He's just this adorable little brown-eyed ball of anxiety, all alone in the big scary city. Sound familiar?" Silence. "That's what I thought. Can you blame me for wanting to look after him?"

Evan lets out a long sigh. "No," he admits.

"Good," you say quietly, a grin growing on your face. "'Cause he's coming for Christmas. Deal with it."

Evan retaliates with a tickle attack on your ribs, and you laugh and writhe and flail against him. When you finally get his hands pinned, in a truly impressive self-defense maneuver, you're straddling his waist.

"I love you," you say fondly.

"I love you, too," he smiles.

Three Minutes 'til Christmas Eve

"God, I thought Peter would never leave," Evan complains as he flips the bedroom light switch off. "Take a hint, man!"

"So glad that's over," you yawn, exhausted from the Christmas party you'd thrown together. Evan crawls into bed next to you.

"My brother followed you around like a little lost puppy all night," he smirks.

"The poor kid was so nervous," you sigh. "I may have undersold the crowd when I invited him to the party."

"But you both survived," he notes.

"Mhm," you hum.

"At least you'll have each other while I'm away."

You've been working so hard to avoid thinking about the fact that your other half is leaving for an entire year, the reminder almost comes as a shock. You barely remember what your life was like before he came into it. What the hell are you supposed to do without him?

A moment of silence passes.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Our first date," you smile at the ceiling.

"Oh, God," he laughs, shaking the bed. "I was in such a panic, I would've taken anyone with me."

"Wow, that means a lot to me, thank you so much," you deadpan, rolling away from him to face the wall.

"You know what I mean," he purrs, sliding an arm around your waist and holding you from behind. "I'm so glad it was you."

"Me too," you admit, reaching for his hand. "Your old man never knew what hit him."

"I've always suspected that you might've hit him if he'd kept on that night," he laughs.

"I would have," you confirm. "Nobody talks about my best friend like that."

He sighs into your hair and gives your hand a squeeze.

"How do you remember it?" he asks.

"Fondly."

"Details," he presses.

"Are you asking me for a bedtime story?" you grin.

"Yes," he mumbles, shifting to get comfortable under the blankets but not letting you go. "Proceed."

"Once upon a time," you laugh, "there was a handsome but insecure Englishman living in the big city. He was a great doctor, but he never had much luck in the romance department, so he developed this really sleazy habit of hiring beautiful women with no personalities to be his fake girlfriends when his father came to town. One day, he ran out of supermodels and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so his entirely average best friend came to the rescue, and he had to settle for pretending to date her instead. She'd heard so many horrifying stories about what a bastard his old man was, so she came ready for a fight. They met him for dinner at a smoky shithole with really good bread, and every time that old man said something mean, she'd say something meaner. And just when she thought they were going to throw down and have a knife-fight in Soho, he laughed. 'Keep this one,' the old man said, rendering everyone speechless. And so the handsome Englishman asked for his best friend's hand each time the old man visited, and they were such a great pair, the ancient fuck never suspected a thing. The End."

"More," he groans.

"You asked for the story of our first date," you chuckle. "And I told it masterfully."

"Keep going," he whines.

"Alright, alright," you relent, pausing to plan where your story should go next. "The handsome Englishman and his entirely average best friend loved their little game so much, they started doing other things together, too. They went to museums and plays and pretentious art galleries, and she happily listened to him ramble for hours afterward. She loved spending time with him so much, she barely cried when her girlfriend of several years dumped her. Because the handsome Englishman welcomed her into his home with open arms. They cohabitated happily as the best of friends, until some ugly troll whose anti-troll procedure didn't take threatened him with a lawsuit and possible deportation. He was terrified of being sent back to England, with the rest of his awful and notably less handsome family. She was sick of friends and coworkers trying to set her up with total losers. So one day, they took a little road trip to admire the fall foliage and pick apples, and came home married. And they lived happily ever after, rotting their brains with trashy reality television and then trying to make up for it with documentaries and museum visits."

"Hm…" he hums. "Not bad. But I really think you're understating the handsomeness of this gloriously attractive Englishman."

"So sorry," you smile. "I'll do better next time."

He chuckles and kisses your shoulder.

"G'night, love."

"G'night."

Four Days After Eric's Birthday

"I've met someone."

"You're in an entirely new city," you joke, "I'm sure you've met lots of someone's."

"You're very funny, darling," Evan drawls over the phone. "But this one… this one's different."

You feel your heart sink through the floor… and several below it, then plummet into the earth. You knew this was going to happen. Your other half has been chosen for a year-long fellowship in Los Angeles, and instead of learning whatever the hell he went there to learn and coming straight back home to you... he's fallen in love.

You're allowed to see other people. Encouraged to, even. You just... stopped bothering after a while, when you realized that the best part of any date was coming home and complaining about it together. You thought he felt the same, since he'd never been out more with the same person more than once since your wedding.

"He reminds me a lot of you, actually."

Why does that make it so much worse? You reach for a pillow and hug it to your chest, hoping to stop the ache.

"Yeah?" you ask, trying not to cry.

"Yeah," he laughs. "But he's not as good at yelling at reality show contestants as you are. Your creative insults are unparalleled."

"Muchas gracias, Señor Spray Tan," you say sarcastically.

"I'm actually getting a bit of a real tan, believe it or not."

"Not."

"He's going to teach me how to surf this summer."

They're already making plans for the summer?

"That's great," you lie, tears leaking down your cheeks. "Can't really picture you surfing, though."

"Then I shall send you photographic proof!" he laughs.

"I can see the headline now: Pale British Man In Banana Hammock Gets Bullied Off Beach By Tweens."

"I'll be wearing a wetsuit, thank you very much," he says haughtily. You both laugh until it trails into silence.

"How was Eric's birthday?" he asks.

"Uh…" you chuckle nervously. "We had a lot of fun."

"Fun, in one of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York?"

"We didn't exactly make it to the restaurant," you admit, smiling at the memory.

"Why not?!" he demands.

"Some little bitch had just broken up with him. With a text. On his birthday."

"Ouch," he says.

"Yeah," you sigh. "He was pretty upset about it, so I dragged him to the arcade instead. We had a lot of fun. Ate a lot of fried food. He absolutely kicked my ass at that dancing game you used to love."

Evan laughs.

"Have you seen much of him since I've been away?"

"No," you answer. "He's busy with school and people his own age, why would he want to hang out with his boring-ass sister-in-law?"

"Because you're amazing," Evan chuckles. "And he really likes you."

"Of course he likes me," you smile, "I feed him."

"He'd like you even if you didn't feed him," he laughs. "The boy was practically glued to you at Christmas."

"Because you invited a bunch of strangers over," you argue, "and instructed them to throw their coats on his bed."

"You know, I felt awful about leaving you in the city alone… but knowing that you'd have him nearby made me feel a lot better."

"Cool, so you pawned me off on your little brother before abandoning me." Your eyes bulge. You didn't mean to say that out loud.

"No, you sarcastic ass, I did not."

A moment of tense silence follows.

"How are you?" he asks, his tone changing.

Lonely, heartbroken, miserable, would give anything to have had the hospital pick literally anyone else for this stupid fellowship and not steal your best friend away from you for an entire year and possibly forever. You hate everyone, you hate everything, all you want is for him to come home to you. Does that sound a little desperate?

"I'm fine," you lie. "It's kinda weird, though. Watching trash TV isn't fun anymore? I picked up a book the other day and read like six pages. Don't know what got into me."

Evan snorts, and the sound makes you smile.

"I miss you too, love."

A voice in the background.

"I have to go," he says. "I'll talk to next week, yeah?"

"Yeah," you breathe.

"Love you."

"Love you, too," you respond.

You end the call and sob into your pillow.

Five Minutes After Leaving Eric in the Hospital

"Hi, love."

"They're keeping him," you inform your husband, dodging slow walkers on the sidewalk on your way back to work. You've got so much to do between now and tomorrow at this time, when Eric will hopefully be coming home with you.

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah," you answer, "but not for long."

"How is he?"

"Not great," you croak, tears welling in your eyes at the memory of Eric sobbing into your shoulder. You hate that you had to leave him there, all alone.

"So he did try," Evan sighs. "Did he say why?"

"No," you answer. "The only thing he said was that your old man would probably enjoy reminding him that he fails at everything."

Evan groans.

"I think we should tell him, Ev," you say quietly.

"No."

"Evan, I'm going back to get him tomorrow, or the next day, or whenever they let me. He's coming home with me, and I'm going to take care of him for as long as he needs me to. How can I look this poor boy in the eye and ask him to tell me the truth about the worst day of his life, when our entire relationship is a lie?"

"It's not a lie," Evan argues. "We are married, we love each other, and he is your brother-in-law. He doesn't need to know anything more."

"And what if he tried to check out for the same reason you did?" you challenge.

Silence. Evan's darkest hour, now just a distant memory from med school, is rarely spoken of. You hate having to weaponize it.

"And what if he runs back to England and tells everyone?" he asks.

"Then it's the desperate ramblings of a suicidal loser trying to take the heat off himself," you spit. "Who do you think they're going to believe, Evan? Us, or him?"

Evan stays silent for so long, you hold the phone away from your face to see if the call got dropped. It didn't.

"Alright," he says eventually. "I'm going to wrap a few things up and try to get back there in the next day or two. I guess we should probably do this together."

"Good," you say, tone lightening. He's coming home. Everything will be alright when Evan comes home.

"I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Okay," you smile, feeling your spirits rise for the first time in months. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

[faunandfloraas]

my unpopular opinion, i think flat earth is totally plausible. i've seen theories where there are like 20 other continents outside of the 7 that we know. our 7 are completely surrounded by a strip of land, obviously forming a circle, called antarctica. it's forming a wall of sorts, blocking our 7 continents from the 20 other contents on the other side and our 7 continents are trying to keep those other 20 a secret from it's inhabitants for some reason... why else would every country agree to make it illegal for normal citizens to travel to antarctica? they're either doing something they don't want anybody to know about, they've discovered something they don't wan anybody to know about, or they don't want anybody to know about the world outside of our 7 continents. i know there's like proof from space and whatnot that the earth is a sphere, i do believe that but i still feel like flat earth with more than just 7 continents logically makes sense.

i also think the american moon landing was faked. countries were in a race to get to the moon first and the american government faked it so they could say they got there first.

i also believe cats are aliens, there was a race of cat aliens that came to earth and helped egyptians build the pyramids and that's why they worshiped cats. the tops of pyramids were their space crafts and that's why the pyramids do not have their tops anymore, because the cat aliens left earth in their space crafts but they left domesticable cats behind.

octopus are also aliens, they have alien dna.

i whole heartedly believe that they replaced biden with a lookalike, you can see subtle differences (and not subtle differences, nobody becomes president with detached earlobes only to end their term with attached earlobes). also the american government has been taken over by a species of lizard alien/people, other countries governments (like russia's) as well.

avril lavigne was also replaced by a lookalike.

now some honestly more believable ones... i think yellowstone is going to erupt within the next few years, taking out entire middle section of the united states. i wouldn't say it's due for a cataclysmic eruption, volcanoes can't be predicted like that. but the magma levels have risen 3 inches per year for the past 3 years.

the san andres fault is also due for a major earth quake, one that with change the united states (at least) forever. the entire west coast of the country is going to fall into the ocean which will cause a huge tsunami either to the united states or it will travel as far as japan, taiwan, and the philippines... possibly even indonesia, papua nuew guinea, and australia - plus all the smaller islands in between.

i actually don't know if these would be considered unpopular opinions but they're my opinions and idk how many other people believe any of this is true.

[zombie-bait]

my thirst for Slavic characters in media knows no bounds. And no, I don’t mean some Russian spy or super model or mafia boss. I want normal and interesting characters from smaller Slavic countries who celebrate name days, who live by weird superstitions passed down through their families, who make gulash and sausage and bean stews for dinner. I want Slavic characters with affectionate nicknames given by their family. I want characters who grew up on German fantasy films from the 60s and weird soviet cartoons. I want the societal pressure and the religious guilt and the love for rolling green mountain ranges that remind them of home. I want to see myself in this real personal way that I have so rarely encountered in media or in real life.

Representation of real experiences is so often boiled down into big concepts rather than the small details that matter. Frequently it can feel like checking off boxes instead of communicating substantial themes or reflections of reality. It’s easy for a show to say a character’s family comes from Germany or Senegal or Russia but that’s usually where they draw the line. The more vague they are, the easier it is to turn entire countries or continents into generic set dressing that (in theory) could apply to millions. But it’s the mannerisms, the culture, the language, the folktales, all these things that shape you from the very moment you’re born. It’s the small details that help you connect, that resurrect the small child inside you who once lived in a foreign bubble, who experienced the awful alongside the great. I yearn to see what I am made of staring back at me through a screen. I yearn to connect to my foundations, to the culture that slowly slips from my memory as I continue to age entire oceans away from the place of its origin.

[queerpiratebrainrot]

Scarlet frustrations

So I'm rereading Scarlet (already finished Cinder reread, will infact be doing the whole series, probably) and I love it, it's so much fun, BUT I have some Thoughts

Specifically on the worldbuilding. Now I'm sur this is also a thing in Cinder, with the Eastern Commonwealth, but seeing as I am not asian and don't have an extensive knowledge of the different cultures within the continent, I can't speak for it

But France does not feel French, at all. It doesn't feel European at all.

The first thing that made me go 'absolutely not. Uh-uh. My suspension of disbelief will not take that.' Is the fact that Scarlet just carries a gun around, no lock, fully loaded AND has a PERMIT to do so?! Even tho she's just a FARMER?! Like, these days France has strict gun laws and pretty much no one can carry around loaded fire arms like that. It is simply not legal. (Military amd stuff that are on duty being the exception)

And that just started to make me extra aware of how US-american the entire thing feels.

In Paris, there's a motel, using the whole 'Sleep witg the ghost of dead civilians' refering to the people that died in the fourth world war. That just doesn't and would nkt happen pretty much anywhere in France (or Europe for that matter.) Because using the atrocities of war as a marketing gimmick for tourists is seen as (and honestly objectively just is) disrespectful.

There's also a few smaller things, like smelling bread from a patisserie, but patisseries tend to only make cakes 'n stuff. It's a boulangerie.

The train Scarlet and Wolf take from Toulouse goes past Montpellier to go to Paris, even though Montpellier is further away from Paris than Toulouse.

And a bigger cultural thing js that a bunch of important historic buildings that got destroyed during WW4, just never got repaired?? In a country that has laws in place to make sure most of (public) radio has French songs? And a whole institution dedicated to preserving the French language? They would just leave buildings the THE LOUVRE standing around in disrepair? Even if they'd decided that repairing would be too expensive (again unlikely. Look at how quickly they repaired the Norte Dame. Different situation ofcourse and that happened years afternpublication of Scarlet, but still) they'd level it and rebuild something else, I think?

And a last smaller thing is that they actually use the word 'mademoiselle', unironically, despite the fact that it's oldfashioned and hardly ever used in France anymore. It would've been fine, fun even, if Jael had used it and Scarlet had reacted all offended, cuz that is old fashioned and misogynistic!

And I get that some of it is just nitpicking, but the book could have just been set in the US, and it would've been fine. Or she should have done just a little bit of research, taken the time to google some of these things, it really would not have been that hard.

Again, I love the book, and the series as a whole! It js one of my favourite YA series. This I just gad to get off my chest a lil

[thegreatyin]

arcturus religious arc?? do say more

arcturus is funny because i haven't actually talked about them and the rest of the MCM cast on this blog very much (in fact i don't think i've even namedropped leus?) but they occupy so much of my brainspace. at least 1/339274th of my singular braincell. and lemme tell you that's more than any one OC frankly ever should

anyway! arcturus is religious. like. in the freak sort of way. in the they're Really Fucking Normal about this sort of way. they're so fucking normal right now. you can trust them. they swear. they are soooooooooooooo normal.

to elaborate further would be getting into MCM (and some hints of APF) lore as a whole, which i will do anyway, but under the cut because i like to pretend to respect my follower's dashboard scrolling time

so. the thing about APF and MCM is that they are two wildly different stories taking place at wildly different times in fantasy world history. but they are taking place in the exact same setting with the exact same shared fantasy world history.

this is the full mimue geographical world map, sans cities, primarily made for APF purposes but also featuring MCM's two (unnamed as of right now) focus continents off to the far left. MCM's story mostly spans the northern part of this duo. unlike what i affectionately refer to as "the APF plot triangle" (or eastern mimue, if you wanna get technical) country names are not synonymous with continent names and this is weirdly way more important to MCM lore than you might think.

this is an extremely rough mockup of a "mimue political map". green designating arboret, gold designating sanctus, blue designating requies... and brown designating medeis, with icy blue designating sulia. grey designates a cluster of various smaller border countries that definitely exist but i haven't worldbuilded them as of yet and don't really plan to go in-depth with them because they're mostly irrelevant to anything ever.

MCM focuses on medeis and sulia. and only these two. another crucial element of MCM is that everyone living there is completely disconnected from the other side of the world. the map makes them seem relatively close to arboret but in actuality it's way more like a mutual undiscovered new world situation. the folks in western mimue have absolutely no idea there's an APF plot happening in the first place, much less a cluster. similarly, everyone in APF is unaware of western mimue's existence and they all consider arboret to be the furthest edge of the known world (with just ocean laying beyond that). christopher columbus hasn't attacked mimue yet is what i'm saying.

however. they do share a world history, and setting, and magic system, and hey wasn't there a whole thing with eastern mimue and an angel blessing the world a thousand years ago that encompassed the entire planet in scope and you can go read about it on Ao3 if you feel like it right now?

y'know. that mildly significant part of mimue history that basically overturned the world forever and inspired a new religion in eastern mimue dedicated to following the angel like it's a god. that mildly important minor detail.

yeah, the MCM crew has no idea about any of that. but they were still affected by it. they just... interpreted it slightly differently.

magic in the world of mimue is an anomaly by mimian standards. something New and Weird and Unnatural. eastern mimue, with the context of the blessing angel as a bringer of peace and forgiveness and prosperity, treats it as something to be valued and admired.

western mimue does not do this. western mimue basically got blasted with magic with zero context of what was going on across the ocean, and everyone is CONFLICTED about it. some believe it's a favor from their gods, others believe it's a curse from those that scorn them, and still others shun anyone with "too much" magical ability in the first place.

by-the-by, completely totally definitely unrelated to that above statement, who are those western mimue gods?

well.

while those in eastern mimue have largely abandoned mimue's old ways and barely anyone has any real recollection of The Before Times, western mimue is desperately clinging to those exact same old beliefs. to its old gods, for lack of a better word.

no, seriously. who were these old gods?

dragons, of course. they're the primary subject of worship in western mimue- and a dying one, at that. in modern-day MCM (and by extension modern-day APF, though it takes place a long while before MCM) most of the median and sulian population haven't seen a real "godlike" dragon in centuries.

but they are still very much around. just. hanging out. being worshipped and served by mortals. fully sapient talking dragons held up as gods. are they actually? that's debatable, but also a debate topic that'll get you a lot of stink-eyes in sulia and some especially devout sectors of medeis.

speaking of.

arcturus! remember when this was an ask about them and not just a mimue theological history lesson? yeah i don't either. but lets discuss them anyway.

a lot of what y'all can know about arcturus (without spoiling MCM too much) can be found in their point-of-view story, wherein they admittedly don't spend a lot of time ruminating on their faith but do namedrop their draconic overlords at the very end all dramatic-like.

they briefly allude to their backstory though! that's something!

to keep an even longer rant about medeis political lore short, arcturus is in a position roughly equivalent to the president. their official in-universe title is Honored Exemplary, but in terms of real-world-analogy it's essentially just being president of the united states.

y'know. if the US was an expansionist empire with technology far surpassing anything else in the world and was also powered by a monster kept in the basement that has to be fed live sacrifices weekly or else the entire thing goes to hell. and also the president and the head of parliament had a weird toxic yuri situationship going on and it's probably inevitably going to end in either murder, a double suicide pact, or both.

so, just the US, really.

the funny thing about arcturus is that they aren't actually native to medeis. parallax is! they aren't. their original home was conquered early-on in their youth, and they've basically grown up surrounded entirely by median society and technology.

and they've adapted like a fish to water. they're like if the country mouse discovered cars exist and became an absolute sicko over it. meanwhile parallax is like if the city mouse just really yearned to be eaten alive by moss (neither of these fucks are normal or honestly entirely sane)

worship of the great big questionably-deity lizards was a BIG part of what little they can remember about their old life. and they're like. REALLY into it. they're the guy who insists you have to pray before every meal and spends an hour daily kneeling in front of their dedicated God Shrine asking for repentance. they latched onto dragonology like a dying man in the desert latches onto a water bottle. they're very very very big on punishing themself for the whole technically-being-a-serial-killer-by-feeding-the-basement-monster thing and they see religion as an outlet for exorcising their own sins. which is really normal behavior, im sure.

and also magic tends to be viewed in a really negative light by Hardcore Traditionalist People™ and they were raised in that environment and as a mutant with zero magical ability to speak of they were basically uplifted as a savior and a favorite of god from day one and they've got an absolutely horrible case of hyperempathy + religious savior complex because of it. so y'know. that's also a mildly important factor. just a tad bit.

TLDR;

arcturus does this. but like. for dragons.

[taylanix]

A bunch to read under cut. This is still a WIP.

Okay so first of all nothing is set in stone just yet. This campaign is still in its beginning phases as I try to figure out how to actually implement parts of TMA. I am only on episode 72 of TMA but I don’t plan on actually starting this campaign until after I finish TMA and some of Magnus Protocol. If anyone has any advice as to what characters I should add or any tweaks to any part of this then please tell me in replies or DM me.

ANYWAY, onto the actual world. 

So this is the world in which the campaign is set in.

There are 3 major Continents: Eakror, Iabacath, and Orias. Eakror is the continent in which the campaign is set on (Top left continent). Originally the campaign was going to be that entire world however my coworker who is a DM suggested that it would be better to focus on one continent. So Eakror has a total of 12 countries as part of it. Abrus, Awhar, Daevi, Drohls, Ethnei, Friedal, Ismumia, Noistala, Playeye, Ploura, Skoce, and Uswaha are the 12 countries.

So the original idea for the campaign was going to be that the no named island in the middle, “The Circle”, was going to be the site for the end of the campaign. However, I have decided against it for now as I have changed the layout of the world which no longer includes the Circle. As for the rest of the world I have basic information about it so that my players can create their characters based on it.

Eakror is home of many different races as it is the most diverse continent (Not shown in picture) in terms of geography. Humans could be found throughout the entire continent while other races only stay in certain parts. Most notably the region is filled with magic that comes from the world itself, the feywild, and things from the entities. Currently that is all I have for Eakror. 

Now for the Organizations + Entities

So there are 4 main organizations, all of which have new names to fit the campaign. Cult of the lightless flame is now Congregation of Dawn, The Magnus Archives is now Codex Registrars, The Fairchilds are now called the Creed of Stars and Sea, and lastly The People's Church of the Divine Host is now called Orartol os Daenar. 

Codex Registrars is just The Magnus Archives. The head registrar is Simon Jones and is exactly like Jonathan Sims as I am just putting him in a fantasy world where the unnatural normally happens. They are mainly based in Skoce but travel around more across the continent. They are the first organization that the party meets and gets quests from (investigations).

Congregation of Dawn I do not have much for except they are only in playeye. They are enemies with everyone else. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Creed of Stars and Sea I have some basic info on. They are set up in Daevi, Friedal, and Uswaha. Their head leader is Savarna Oronia who is in charge of the creed. They are enemies with the Congregation and Codex Registers but they are allies with Orartol os Daenar.

Orartol os Daenar is the same as Creed but they are mainly set in Ismumia but can be found in smaller groups across the continent. They are only allies with Creed while enemies with the rest.

As for the actual entities they still have a presence. They have a different magical prowess than what is normal. There are still avatars in this world but I’m still figuring them out. The entities are still fears and give different powers based off of what they see fit. The entities are also, currently, the only way that I am allowing my players to multiclass. If the entities chose someone, regardless if they wanted to multiclass or not, they gain an ability that the entity gives.

Currently I have an Avatar of The End and an Avatar of The Dark but they still need to be heavily worked on. Currently that is all I have on this world from working on it the past two days so enjoy this infodump. Any suggestions are allowed because I am still in the dark about most of the TMA (I don’t mind spoilers). Name suggestions are also allowed.

Obsidian graph that I have of this:

Has not been cleaned out but I'll get onto it eventually.

[ceiling-karasu]

World-Building for My Squirrel and Hedgehog AUs: Flower Hill Area Specific

I could not find the motivation to write for The Rod That Blocks the Lightning this week, so I made these instead. Splitting it into three posts, because they are pretty large and a lot of information. I also cannot draw well, so I have

So, I think I have finally figured out how my AUs work a bit in context of the Squirrel and Hedgehog universe, or at least what I will use. This is subject to be changed as time goes on, but none of this should spoil anything I have written so far, or what I will write in the future.

Shout out to @sah-headcanons for listening to me ramble nonsensically about ideas for AUs for the past 3-4 years, and offering encouragement the whole time as I had revelations to actually write it out! Might have taken an offhand comment or two they made and turned them into entire massive plot ideas.

For one, the continents appear to be about the same as in the real world. I am assuming the flag colors represent the dominant culture or country in the region.

It is likely that Asia is more in the middle, but is blocked on the screen here. Some real life world maps have their own country in the middle to make it easier. It is safe to say that North and South Korea would be in the same shape and place.

As such, I think I can say that some of the same concepts will appear throughout all of my AUs. It does not necessarily mean they are taking place in the same timeline/AU, just that the areas, countries, and concepts are the same.

History of the area Around Flower Hill:

As with regular Korea, it used to be run by emperors, and had a strict caste system split up by species. Strong predators such as tigers were at the top, while weaker animals were towards the bottom. Most creatures lived in villages located according to their species or biological (food, sleep, hibernation) needs, and did not mingle with each other.

Within each caste, there were hierarchies depending on how useful the attributes of the family bloodline were. For instance, sheep that grew wool rapidly that could be used as clothing, as with domesticated sheep, were higher ranking than sheep who did not have fast growing wool, or wool that simply blew off (wild sheep). This would help explain the appearance of domestic sheep, pigs, and Korean Village dogs in the absence of humans. Plus why accusing individuals of being a lapdog or running dog is apparently a thing in universe.

Likewise, animals within a caste with a bloodline that allowed them to see colors better than others were also higher ranking, such as wolves seeing the color green, since they cannot in real life, and seeing green made them more effective in their tasks.

Eventually, the royal families were overthrown, as was the caste system some time later. Newfound trade allowed different species to move between areas and better survive, leading to populations forming alliances with each other based on what they needed and for protection, as well as larger villages and some cities.

However, even generations later, echos of the caste system still remain. Weasels and tigers still see themselves as being superior over mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other, smaller creatures, for instance. Inter caste system issues still occur, such as canines that have trouble seeing the color green seen as lesser than canines who can see green.

Descendants of the old royal families still exist, and while some are content with their lives, others seethe over the lost power their ancestors used to hold. Some wish to hold the values of their royal ancestors, whilst living within their means. These descendants can usually be identified by the possession of a royal or high ranking family munjang, which is useless to many, but still gives the wielder much respect.

I also have the headcanon (and we came up with these ideas separately) that Mulamgcho's family are descendants of royalty. Although it does not seem as if he wishes to reinstall an empire himself, as much as live comfortably and in power somewhere with his surviving family member(s).

Food and dietary habits are close to that of real world animals. Animals that eat meat subsist on seafood (non-sentient in this universe), small non-sentient birds, and insects. Cannibalism, even of the enemy, is seen as unclean and taboo, so bodies are disposed of as quickly as possible and thoroughly as possible to prevent temptation. Crematoriums are a booming business, although the wealthy may get personalized electrified coffins to dispose of their bodies in a more individual manner, if funerals are available, as seen when General Commander Jogjebi faked his death.

The split between South and North

I hold the idea that weasels and other obligate carnivores live in villages around the ocean and large lakes in the South. There, they are able to create fish farms for food. The south of the continent is great for fish farms, as long as they are properly managed, although agriculture is possible. Other inhabitants live towards the middle of the country, or labor for the weasels.

The North of the country is better for agriculture, and proper management has made it very profitable. Fish farming is possible, but given the coast would require considerable more effort. Smaller species, and those who were not obligate carnivores, also migrated up north to avoid the amassing weasels taking over the power vacuum from the royals. Silkworms also thrive in the Northern climate.

Weasel Empires:

Location and Geography: South Korean area. The weasels mostly live in villages around the coastline in small fishing kingdoms. Smaller weasel villages might live inland around larger lakes. Non weasel species, such as mice, also live inland in impoverished villages. But the villages are subject to being raided, with inhabitants being forcibly conscripted into the service of the weasels, when not taxed heavily.

Government: A central government dictatorship, but since the territories are scattered, the strongest weasel in the area leads.

Economy: most of the economy comes from fishing. There may be small areas of agriculture for species that work for the weasels. Wheat and rice farms exist for the purpose of making soju for export in some areas. Weasels levy large taxes against all non weasel villages, leading to very poor villages that struggle to survive and trade amongst themselves. Agriculture is looked down upon, so while farming could be viable, it is seen as for servants and lesser species.

Demographics: Mostly weasels and mice, some crows, anyone else they can force to join to their side.

Foreign relations and relations involving Flower Hill: The weasel policy is to fish farm in an area until there are not enough fish to sustain the current population. Then, they will create a new territories up or down the coast. However, severe mismanagement has led to a depletion in fish across the weasel villages throughout the nation. Flower Hill has coastlines, and therefore, fish. Which means more power and food to whoever takes over the area, which is also very rich in other resources. Also, forced labor for the fish farms, so they can rule over the area while they themselves relax. Many upstart weasels are promised fame and power if they occupy a region of Flower Hill, and the temptation of new servants to rule over. The mice are mostly just desperate to take over Flower Hill for the food, and to force the residents to work for them so they can taste a bit of power for once. Propaganda posters also promise mice and crows higher pay and higher ranks for joining the army, and the idea that they can treat the residents of conquered regions as their own servants.

Political Alliances: Wolf Unit and tiger kingdoms, and what would be the equivalent of Japan, in universe, that I have not gotten around to yet as I highly doubt they will play a part.

Traditional Clothing style (other than military gear): Much taken from the Japan equivalent, clothing is a Kimono covered by a Haori, although these are usually worn more by high class individuals.

Regular shirts and trousers are worn by lower and working classes. Villagers more towards the inner part of the country wear simple, traditional Hanbok.

Other: The idea of the weasels needing to stay on the coast works with a certain concept with the Kidnapped Scientists AU. It would be an interesting idea to have the scientists eventually work with the weasels by helping them conquer inland areas around Flower Hill, knowingly forcing the weasels to waste resources trying to get extra fish to the area before it goes bad, as well as having the army be stretched thin.

While the Weasel Country is allied with the equivalent of Japan, the country is not interested in helping the weasels take over another country due to pressure from the international community, and the fact that they see countries as too small for them to want to get involved.

Flower Hill:

Location and Geography: North Korea, although I assume the rabbit villages are China. Varies between coastal, woodlands, plains, lakes, rivers, and mountainous areas

Government: Stratocracy, where the government is headed by military chiefs. Villages may have their own chiefs, but they answer to the military in the end. Strangely, more and more village chiefs are becoming military chiefs...

Flower Hill also encourages education and sending intelligent individuals for prestigious universities to hopefully bring back new ideas and information that could help the economy and the government, although it is noticeable that almost everyone that goes seems to have an affiliation to the military as well...

Economy: For the most part, Flower Hill is an agricultural nation, with plenty of food to sustain the population. Fishing is also popular, and many countries like the local goby fish. Science and research allows for many discoveries and patents to be made in Flower Hill.

Honestly, I saw sah-headcanon's post asking about what carnivores eat, and wound up seeing if insects were a food eaten in Korea. What I found was that Beondegi (silkworm pupa) is a well known food in Korea, sold as street food and in convenience stores. Which has led to me deciding that Flower Hill has a massive silk and silkworm industry that takes up the bulk of the exports. Good for lots of food, and also for fancy clothing for themselves and other countries, which bolsters foreign relations.

They will import what they need from other countries.

Demographics: squirrels, hedgehogs, ducks, monkeys, pigs, sheep, deer, geese, bears. Originally, each species had their own specific jobs, such as squirrels being farmers, hedgehogs being military, ducks being the navy, monkeys being entertainers, and so on. But that was abolished a few generations ago, and the hedgehogs encourage other species to join in the military or try other careers.

Foreign relations: Flower Hill prefers to keep peaceful relations with other countries. Even though they are being invaded by the Weasel Unit, they will still invite weasel leaders to diplomatic events and festivals. However, dark secrets are hidden deep from the international eyes. Many countries enjoy the high quality silk that comes from the area.

Political Alliances: Jindo Dog Island, Chaand Hadia, Chambelli Koh

Traditional Clothing Style (not including military uniforms): Flower Hill citizens would wear intricately patterned chosŏn-ot, bolstered by their massive silkworm pupae industry. Otherwise, shirts and trousers for when they are working.

Other Countries/continents outside of the local area:

Tiger Empires: believe that they are of royal blood, and at the top of the old caste system, and will occasionally create small empires. Their disregard for other species usually results in their collapse. Tigers tend to be the main villains for many Korean cartoons, so it is an interesting concept.

White-Naped Crane Party:

Used to be the upper class clergy and preachers meant to keep the lower castes under control. Most of this group fully supports the return to the emperors and caste system. White-Naped Cranes in real life primarily live in the demilitarized zone of North Korea, but they do migrate to other areas before returning. Therefore, it is only natural to have them appear at some point.

Their migrations have them bring back strange, new ideas of subservience to emperors, and they cause each disruptions that Flower Hill considers revoking their traditional permits to come and go as they please. They also tend to be found within the territories of Tiger Empires.

Other Countries:

I don't think other countries outside of the immediate area will feature too much. For them, It's too much effort to get involved in that type of conflict for a country that is not a big superpower. I do hold that the Geneva Convention and international courts exist, but not because of World War reasons. Due to species restrictions, events like World Wars are not possible, but rules of warfare are, for decencies sake.

Travel and trade is still allowed into the area, and both the weasels and Flower Hill avoid angering citizens from other countries due to diplomatic reasons, which can lead into reporters poking their noses in there they don't belong...

Outside of Flower Hill, in more industrious countries, there are larger cities. Universities exist, and some are very prestigious. But, due to the lack of travel ability and certain species restrictions (climate and such), long distance and online classes are available and seen as valid.

[amadholes-lostre]

Countries- Amphibia, The Owl House, and maybe Star vs Evil

I said before that my bnha au I'd is a crossover with other series including Amphibia, toh, and aot, which is half true. In reality, it wasn't the case originally because I made it in the early 2021. During this time, I was very much obsessed with The Prom. However, after the Amphibia Final aired (which I got so depressed from the series I was contemplating suicide, lol), I started adding other series. Initially, it was just the characters, including the nonhuman ones. However, I found that boring, so I decided to have the Amphibia continent and the Boiling Isle (actually the entire demon realm) transported on Earth. The idea of Amphibia transporting to Earth was my theory of how Anne and Sprig stayed together before the finals.

So, Amphibia, the Demon Realm, and maybe Mewni transported onto Earth in the Early Dark/Vigilante Era (around 2070s), right after the Final Ballad. For the world reaction, half the world were panicking, screaming their ass off, wondering if G-d forsaken them. For the other half, it more the align of this:

How each land came into appearing on Earth is different (I not even bothering with Mewni). For Amphibia, I imagine it happened when Leif stolen the Music Box. There were more scuffle between her and Andrias, which led the Music Box not only teleporting them but Amphibia to Earth.

(A very shitty map of how I vision it. And yes, Amphibia is that big, Matt said it was the size of Australia.)

I certain Amphibia could keep the majority of its technology even without the Box, though it couldn't maintain some of it (maybe like the that could made Newtopia Castle hovered). By the time in bnha contemporary, the population should be around a billion or so, and there will a lot of technology exchange, much to the Core chagrin. For instance, Hop Pop will be around 130 years old. Also, there are Amphibians who have quirks (Asui Tsuyu is half-Human, half-Amphibian thanks to this; her mother is a Frog and her father is a Human with Toad-like quirk)

Also, no, I will not make this au an Anne x Sprig. They are very much best friends, sister and brother. I am a very strictly Sashannarcy shipper.

For the Demon Realm, it is a bit tricky. Mainly because there isn't a full map of the Demon Realm, so we don't know how many islands there are, how big the world, or even there are non-Titan landmass. So there going be a lot of guessing.

Unlike Amphibia, the Demon Realm lands were scattered across Earth. Some, like the Titan-Trapper Isle, are located near Amphibia, like the Southwest of Mexico Coast. For the Boiling Isle, it's located in Atlantic.

(Lol, lmao even)

The Boiling Isles, referred to as the Belus Archipelago, is mostly still disunity, even after teleporting onto Earth.

The Belus Archipelago is much larger than the BI, though not the island itself. Terrace said the Titan is the size of Vermont, 24,000 km² (smaller than the Bay Area). While the island is still the same, there are far more lands in its surroundings, most of it is non-Titan landmass. This brings the total land area of 150,000 km². Not only that, there are other titan archipelago that align with Belus, both north and south, making it look like this:

(Like this, but there are dozens more)

Belus and its islands total population should be around 10 million, either Witch-kind or Demon-Kind. And there is a similar population for the other archipelago, bringing the population nearly billions of Witches and Demons. Witches and Demons cannot gain a quirk unless they manage to have a child with either a Human or Amphibian. Luz in this AU is a half-Human, half-Witch. Her father is a Witch whose family lived in the Dominican Republic for many generations (can a nonhuman be a Latine?). He met Camila, and they moved to Gravefield just like canon. The reason why, other than for Healthcare (there is a colonycof Witches), was the intensive discrimination they faced from both Witch and Humans for interspeciesrelationships. Luz, being mixed, faces discrimination due to this, being called the M-word. Luz can't do magic, but she does have a quirk, creating non-physical light.

I can't really think anything else. Belos/Philip likely controls the Boiling Isle like in canon, except not only the Belus Archipelago but also the other archipelago. I also will think his motivation will change, though I don't know what.

That's it, see yay!

[teh-tj]

When I was a kid one of the songs my piano teacher would drill into me was “I’ve Been to Holland”, it’d go something like this.

“I’ve been to Holland

I’ve been to Dover

I’ve traveled this wide world all over.

Over, over, three times over,

Drink your drink and turn the glasses over.”

As I grew up and learned about geography, I’ve came to realize that the narrator’s trio is bullshit. Holland is the central province of the Netherlands, it’s the part of the Netherlands with the Hague and Amsterdam, since the Netherlands is one of the most naval countries in the world it makes sense that sailors would come there constantly/ To this day Rotterdam, which is in Holland, is one of the biggest ports in the world.

Dover is a South English port town, most famous for its white cliffs. It’s a smaller port, but it does have a lot of ferries that connect Britain to the continent. There’s also a Dover in the United States, it’s the capital of Delaware but it’s very small and isn’t a notable port city so it’s unlikely a sailor would typically go there. If you’re sailing in the area it’s more likely you’d go to Wilmington or, depending on the size of your ship, Philadelphia. As such, it’s most likely that the narrator traveled from Holland to Dover, England.

This is a vastly unimpressive voyage. With modern technology it’d take around eight hours to travel from Dover to Rotterdam by train (Dover is close to Hull, which is the British side of the chunnel). By boat the distance is 237 km. Sailing from Holland to Dover would be so routine and unimpressive that it costs less than £200 (technically this is sailing from Hull to Rotterdam but Hull is close enough to Dover). For perspective, a train from Dover to Edinburgh would cost around £70 and that covers a distance of 600 km (damn trains are cheap in the UK). So if you’re a sailor in Dover you could cover nearly three times the distance and still be in the same kingdom.

“I traveled this wide world all over”

No the fuck you didn’t. You traveled from one European port city to another nearby European port city, a viking on a wooden boat a thousand years ago sailed more of the world than you did.

Now, if you want to cover some REAL distance, there’s an island in Saint Petersburg, Russia called Holland. If you sail from that island to Dover, Delaware I’d be more impressed. That’s the entire Atlantic ocean, and you’d be passing by the entire Baltic sea and while you’re at it. You can see Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Britain, and America. That seems like a way more exciting voyage than just England and the Netherlands.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Recursive Lakes

I'm really fascinated by recursive lakes, especially with them nestled in and was wondering about building a country that only consists of thsoe and am very much wondering about the type of geographic circumstances that could give rise to them. The main largest island is a continental island like Australia but the overall appearance of the map is, basically multiple rings of land, so I can fit all these recursive lakes. I have 9 layers right now. Hopefully, I've not gone too overboard with this? Also I can't seem to find info about this but.. do such landforms have rivers connecting the lakes?

Tex: I was going to pull out a bunch of links, but then it occurred to me that this sounds a lot like Atlantis (Wikipedia).

As a side note, countries are not standardized to a specific size (Wikipedia), despite the “from sea to shining sea” rhetoric made popular in the United States via the Monroe Doctrine (Wikipedia) and the contemporaneously-contested concept of Manifest Destiny (Wikipedia).

Geologically-speaking, however, it’s going to be a bit difficult to not only form such a physical state on an Australian-sized scale, but also to maintain weather patterns in a sustainable, believable way. You’ll need to deal with the lack of continental subsumption (forming the island) and the wacky pattern of rain shadows created by the probably-existing mountains (weather, also forming the island)..

Rivers can be used, but I would avoid having too many in order to maintain the stability of the land masses and prevent undue erosion, something that is difficult to mitigate with different stone types, as soil erosion will make the land uninhabitable regardless.

I think if you have the individual rings wide enough to create their own ecosystems, that would help with continental stability. Logistically, the inner rings are probably in decreasing grades of salinity, if the switch-over isn’t abruptly done as soon as the ocean hits the first ring. Another possibility would be to play with sea levels, in that each concentric ring would be a little higher than the larger one outside it, looking a bit like an incredibly large, terraced mountain.

A lot of it is up to you, and of course you do always have at your disposal the ability to suspend disbelief on the particulars and just hand-wave the finer details as the plot necessitates.

Synth: The first potentially plausible possibility that came to my mind was a volcano. Or in the case of wanting to have an Australia-sized landmass, a supervolcano. It formed, erupted, collapsed, formed again inside the caldera of the previous volcano but didn't get quite as big as the original before it went kerblooey... layer that a few times before it goes extinct and then fill the remaining crater rings with water, and there you go: an island within a lake within an island within a lake within… and so on until you hit the number of levels you want. Much, much smaller real-world examples of this process are Wizard Island in Crater Lake, and Anak Krakatau emerging from the collapsed remains of the island of Krakatau. Atolls can also form in a similar way.

Another option is having some fun with geology. Perhaps the entire continent is a dome: a spherical or ellipsoid geologic fold. Alternating bands of harder and softer rock could lead to several nested lakes after erosion does its thing for a while. Guelb er Richât, the Eye of the Sahara, is a real-world example, albeit “only” forty kilometres across instead of four thousand. If I read about a continent-sized volcanic caldera or geologic dome in a fantasy or sci-fi novel I’d accept it as A Thing That Exists without mulling it over too much.

Complex craters can also have multiple rings, so let’s have a look at some impact craters. The Chicxulub crater from the extinction event that took out most of the dinosaurs is an estimated 180km in diameter (it’s very old and mostly underwater, so it’s kind of difficult to get an accurate measurement), and the asteroid that made it was probably about 10km across. Here’s a fun little sim about throwing big space rocks at Earth that you can play around with, though keep in mind it’ll only give rough estimates at best since it’s from 2004 and science’s understanding of impact processes is always growing. From my own goofing around it looks like to create a crater the size of Australia on a planet of similar composition to Earth you could do it with an asteroid made of dense rock measuring about 500km across. It won’t destroy the planet but anything alive on it won’t be for very much longer.

Nested impact craters from multiple asteroid strikes could be yet another possible method of formation, but I definitely wouldn’t call it all that plausible. It requires that all of them strike almost exactly the same location and at similar angles and in descending order of mass. If you’re looking for a more real-life-believable origin, this one probably won’t pass muster, but if your story universe has loads of magic and literal gods, or very powerful technology and a bunch of people who decided it would be cool to build a continent out of recursive islands, then have at it and have fun.

[hessdalen-globe]

The Island of Great Kythelon

I made another map of someplace on Hessdalen that has nothing to do with the events of my story lol. There's just some historical worldbuilding stuff involved with Kythelon that I thought was neat.

Here's some bullet points on Kythelon:

Great Kythelon is the largest island in the Kythelon archipelago. (Larger than Greenland but smaller than Australia)

Great Kythelon was discovered 5 years before continental contact by a joint expedition led by Terronosia.

Prior to this discovery, there was no human population on the island.

First contact between the continents of Lenvai and Norphandra could occur in the Kythelon Islands, as they were both exploring.

Great Kythelon is located very far north, but thanks to ocean currents it is habitable.

The population of the island is quite low, with an even lower population density. Most of the settlements are concentrated on the south shore.

The southeast side of the island is very wet, receiving high amounts of rainfall.

Wyokon has the largest and most developed colony on the island, using it for resource extraction such as logging and mining.

The island is home to many unique animals and plants only found on its shores.

Abhokia is the only Norphendran country to have a colony on the island. Its territory formerly belonged to Eskathion, but was under Terronosian supervision after that country's civil war. Terronosia sold the colony and others during what was supposed to be its temporary jurisdiction, forming the basis of the Eskathish hatred for Terronosia.

One of the back roads of Kythelon.

The unofficial flag of the entire island of Great Kythelon. (Which a just realized looks like part of a pride flag.)

[noveltyreads]

A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass Book Review 

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I first requested A Thousand Heartbeats from NetGalley, but I was still subtly surprised by this book and how much I enjoyed it.

A Thousand Heartbeats follows Annika, a princess forced to marry a man she doesn't love for the sake of her country, Kadier. On the other side of the continent lie the Dahrainians, a nation of people living in ruins, awaiting the day they enact their revenge on the throne who drove them out centuries ago. Leading this charge is Kawan and the soldier who does all his dirty work, Lennox, who travels to Kadier to show how easy it is to infiltrate enemy borders. When Lennox brings back Princess Annika, they begin to realise they're more similar than they initially thought. As the two grow closer, so does Kawan's thirst for power and they find themselves together but also on opposing sides of a war years in the making. 

When I first started reading, I was surprised by how easily I was absorbed into the world of Kadier. The story immediately set off an almost fairytale-like vibe and the main characters were likeable with dual perspective POV that suited the story really well. Having previously read the first three books in The Selection, I could see just how much Kiera Cass's writing has grown and developed since her debut novel and series. There was a big effort made to create layers and backstory to both Lennox and Annika's characters, focusing on the weight of guilt, loss and grief and how it can weigh heavy on every aspect of life. I liked seeing how the characters bonded over this and found a joint connection through their hardships. 

I believe it would be hard to review this book without looking into the romance. It was obvious even from the blurb that this would be an enemies to lovers novel, so I knew from page one that Lennox and Annika would get together. My biggest concern though was whether this romance would be an insta-love sort or if it would be more of a slow burn. It's clear which one I would've preferred. The focus instead was more on developing their personalities, their lives and their characterisation, allowing for a richer romance where you just wanted the best for the both of them and all the side characters. 

That being said, I found Annika and Lennox both suited each other well but I wished their chemistry was more developed. Make no mistake, I thought it was good but the romance really happened in one big moment rather than short little bursts. I would've liked for the two to have had smaller moments to build up that romantic tension and chemistry instead of it all occurring at once and then all of a sudden calling each other "the love of their life." That just seemed a little quick if you ask me but then again maybe that's because I'm a little sceptical over the whole concept of true love and soulmates and don't consider myself to be a romantic. While the subtle pining was good, I felt like they should've been with each other a bit more before deciding in a heartbeat they would do anything for one another including giving up entire kingdoms for the pursuit of their love.

 Romance aside, I also enjoyed the platonic and familial relationships with the characters. I loved Annika's relationship with her brother, Escalus and how they easily bantered on. I also liked Noemi's character although, I must admit, I was sceptical of her and thought her to be in on the deceit to usurp Annika's position and jeopardise Kadier. I thought that would create a thrilling plot twist which would've changed everything, hence why when the book took a more linear approach, the plot seemed quite predictable at times. I could tell who would betray who from a mile away and I wish the book didn't make it seem so obvious. 

The other thing of mention is with the antagonist, Kawan. To me he seemed very two-dimensional as a villain. He didn't have this air of danger to him and he acted more childish than as someone who evoked fear. I felt like he was too easy a villain and that Lennox and his friends could've easily taken him down. If his misdeeds (apart from that one hunting scene) were shown more and we were given glimpses into his scary nature, then I might've seen him as a more menacing figure. I thought the real villain in the story was Nickolas and that's because we saw some of the backstory with him and saw his deviousness, unlike Kawan who's motives weren't as described. That being said, I would've loved to see more from Nickolas and the supposed tension between Annika's and his family. It was mentioned and it obviously played a huge part in his sense of duty and subsequent characterisation, but I wished that avenue was explored more. 

All in all, this book is definitely one I'd recommend to any Kiera Cass fan or hopeless romantic, with well written main and side characters with layered backstories, and intriguing dual POV perspectives. The only downsides I found were with the characterisation of the villains/antagonists, the rapidness of the romance post the slow build, and the often predictable plot twists. That being said, I did enjoy reading this book and I managed to breeze through it fairly quickly. It reads in a way that is reminiscent of fairytales or classic fantasy so if you are a reader drawn to those types of stories, especially ones with happily ever afters, A Thousand Heartbeats is a book for you.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.8 STARS

[hyperionswrath-a]

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑: 

⸻  Pre/During Final Fantasy VIII ⸻  Post Final Fantasy VIII ⸻  Dark Verse set post Final Fantasy VIII ⸻  Kingsglaive / Final Fantasy XV  ⸻  Final Fantasy VII (Resistance Fighter or Turk) ⸻  Cyberpunk ⸻  Elden Ring ⸻  Medieval ⸻  Kingdom Hearts ⸻  Resident Evil

⸻  ˖𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆˖ / ᴘᴏꜱᴛ ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ꜰᴀɴᴛᴀꜱʏ ᴠɪɪɪ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ   (heavily leaning on my fanfiction) Note: This verse disregards the ending sequence where Seifer can be seen in Balamb, fishing with Fujin and Raijin. General setting: The Second Sorceresses War is over. After all that was said and done, the chaos left in its wake had been manyfold, political tension on an all-time high and peace more fragile than ever. Galbadia: Unstable in its inner political situation, General Caraway has been established as the one in charge so long as a new leader for the country can be found and established. Timber, Dollet, and several smaller towns have officially joined the many resistance groups, effectively militarizing them. Balamb: The official place of operation of  Balamb Garden and its Commander once more. To keep the unstable political situation worldwide at bay, contracts have been signed that prohibit the Garden from traveling. SEEDs are being dispatched still, however, they are not to interfere in political contexts, thus usually working jobs as monster hunters - cleaning up after the Lunar Cry. There are close communications between Balamb and Deling City, specifically General Caraway due to the known familial connection of the Balamb Garden Commander and the president of Esthar. Esthar: Formerly a secluded state, the president is now forced to still his hand to not destabilize the worldwide situation more. The country instead focuses on rebuilding itself while being mindful not to antagonize the outer political situations further. Research and technology is at an all-time high due to easier imports and exports. Trabia: There have been discussions to have Esthar help rebuild Trabia Garden, however due to the strenuous situation, those have been halted. Some Balamb SeeDs are frequently dispatched to help secure the area while residents try to make ends meet in the ruins. Centra: Several small towns have been erected on the coasts of the formerly deserted continent, all inhabited by refugees of the war. After his fight with Squall and the Fated Children, Seifer was left inside the Lunatic Pandora, having been struck down by Squall’s gunblade and his presumed end almost finalized by the Guardian Force Gilgamesh, leaving him severely wounded, his heart only barely missed by the entities’ blade. Coming back when they heard the commotion, Fujin and Raijin, arrived just in time to safe Seifer’s life. They took him in and nursed him back to life, dealing with the fallout of him coming to realize what he had done after Ultimicia’s thrall on his mind had finally been lifted. Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and severe tremors rendering him almost unable to keep going, along with both survivor’s guilt as well as the ever present general guilt weighing down on him for what he had done. He stayed until he was healthy enough to move, then parted ways with them, unable to stay in one place and unwilling to put his best friends in danger anymore. With transmissions via TV restored, the entire war and its fallout had been seen by the whole world. Thus, there was no place for Seifer Almasy to find refuge anymore. He had officially been declared a war criminal and was wanted all over the world ever since. He would travel through Galbadia for a while, finding jobs for hire to hunt down Monsters or do errand runs by means of earning himself some Gil. At long last, he would decide to board a ship to Centra, where he would find a place to stay among the refugees in a small but expanding town named Rachdale, where he would hire as a dockworker by day and bartender by night. Stats for Seifer before Centra: Age: 20 -  23 years Residence: none, he keeps moving Occupation: Works for hire (mercenary jobs, monster hunts, errands) Stats for Seifer during Centra: Age: ca 25 years and up (as per default he is around 31 years old) Residence: Rachdale, Centra (Lolesterin Plains) Occupation: Dock worker, bartender

⸻  ˖𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌˖ / ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ꜰᴀɴᴛᴀꜱʏ ᴠɪɪɪ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

A Verse for everyone wanting to explore things before and during the beginning of the main game. Seifer spends his time at Balamb Garden, head of the Disciplinary Committee, occasionally traveling places in the little free time that is given to cadets. This verse is open for all kinds of interactions like Seifer getting to know Rinoa, exploring relationships between characters such as Seifer and Squall prior to the main game, or Quistis and Seifer being the same age, yet Quistis being a superior to him. Also offering the exploration of what happened during / shortly after Time Compression in this context.

⸻  ˖𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐃˖ / ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

Note: This verse disregards the ending sequence where Seifer can be seen in Balamb, fishing with Fujin and Raijin.

General setting: Galbadia: Staying true to its prior understanding of military prowess, even after the war Galbadia quickly found a way to restore inner peace and force the various rebelling groups to their knees. With General Caraway lost in the war, a new leader had risen to shine and rule - some even deeming him more corrupt and cold-blooded than president Vincer Deling had been. As such, it was a common sight to find mercenaries for hire, secret agents, and others of similar trade doing the dirty work, underhanded wet jobs, and otherwise obscure dealings to secure the political power spreading the entire continent. Balamb: Operating base of Balamb Garden and their Commander. Garden still deploys SeeDs on mercenary missions, often to try and disrupt the Galbadian forces which have grown more volatile and aggressive towards other countries. Esthar: Tightly connected to the Balamb Garden operations, Esthar tries to supply both Balamb and Trabia with the necessary technology. Having suffered severe damage during the Lunar Cry, however, its military prowess has been reduced to a minimum and is, to this day, heavily focused on securing the surrounding land, ridding it from the remaining monsters, oftentimes relying on SeeD deployments. Trabia: The Garden has been repaired for the most part with the help of Estharian scientists and constructors. It serves as an outpost for Balamb Garden to dispatch SeeDs in the area.  

Had it not been for the cursed Fated Children and their precious leader, he would have succeeded - that was the firm belief of Seifer Almasy when he came to.

There was no gratitude to be had from him when he awoke under the ministrations of his former posse - whatever that meant nowadays.

He had soldiered on through the war without them and the fact they nursed him back to life after leaving him to nearly die inside the Lunatic Pandora was, in his book, only right and the least they could do to make amends..

He would still leave them behind without a word as soon as he could walk again.

Being ever the tactician, his way led him back to Galbadia quickly. Having learned of the shift in political powers and the new leading figure, he knew he had found the perfect mold for himself to fit in. As much as someone like him would ever fit in somewhere, that was.

Thankfully, the transmissions established back in Dollet had been cut off during the war, and thus his face had not been plastered all over the world during that time. Still, enough people knew his face for him to tread more carefully than he liked to. Enough people still wanted to see him dead.

And yet, placing himself strategically close to the new president to both gather information on the hated Lion of Balamb and his little club of friends, as well as staying on top of his game by working wet jobs and other underhanded mercenary work, he resorted to staying in Deling City, biding his time until he would strike again.

Stats: Age: 31 years Residence: Deling City Occupation: head hunter / mercenary

Please note This is a Dark Verse for my muse. Meaning there will be triggering topics, so if you are interested in tackling this verse, a certain amount of tolerance for such is needed. This Verse’s Seifer hates Squall’s group of friends and is intent on having his revenge. He is spiteful, violent, obsessive, vile, vengeful and will overstep boundaries. He might even have a certain air of insanity to him due to his near-death encounter and the mind-meddling Ultimicia did.

⸻  ˖𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑˖ / ᴋɪɴɢꜱɢʟᴀɪᴠᴇ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

Seifer was born in Niflheim, his heritage to be seen in his facial features, much to his younger self’s chagrin. Unbeknownst to him and most people in general, his father is none other than Verstael Besithia, who had given in to a fleeting obsession with a woman working for him. Unable to bear the shame of what happened to her, his mother left Seifer at an orphanage in Accordo, where he lived until he was six. At age six he was taken in by a military academy in Leide and raised as a mercenary. At age 19 he failed his final field exam as he disobeyed a direct order to retreat from a Niflheim battlefield, thus furthering his already festering anger about unfair treatment due to him hailing from the enemy lines, along with the lingering yet deeply repressed feeling of never being good enough or able to do something right in the people deciding where his life and future would lead. Frustrated and certain he could do better, he went after a group of just-promoted mercenaries as they were assigned to abduct a high-ranking Niflheim head figure, to make one last attempt to redeem himself and help them in their mission, convinced only he knew how to handle the situation and that he had deserved the assignment - which ended him up as the face of the abduction in the media. Thus, with his back against the wall and certain to be executed, he fell victim to the mind games and manipulation of a powerful entity clad in human flesh. Being coaxed to join Niflheim as the right hand of a woman named Ultimicia, wielding powers only a Daemon could, she made him believe he was on the winning side, granted to become the hero he always dreamed to be - thus he got involved in the war. While serving, he committed war crimes such as torture, murder, and other unspeakable things, his unit being the one responsible for the destruction of Galahd, shortly thereafter ending up being dismantled by King Regis’ forces. Ending up severely wounded and taken in as a prisoner of war by Lucis, he was offered a place with the Kingsglaives at age 21 as he both was able to provide useful insights on the Niflheim strategies at the time, as well as willing to swear his fealty to the Crown, once more seeking redemption now that he was out of the grasps of manipulation. Stats: Age: 31 years Education: Mercenary-Applicant (failed final exam) Residence: Crown City Occupation: Kingsglaive 

⸻  ˖𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘˖ / ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ꜰᴀɴᴛᴀꜱʏ ᴠɪɪ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

His parents unknown, Seifer was raised in an orphanage in the slums of Midgar, Sector 5 until age six. Always having dreamed of becoming a hero, he was determined to join the ranks of SOLDIER, causing him to apply as soon as he was old enough. Being admitted to SOLDIER after almost failing the first test, Seifer underwent the base training but never made it First Class, his headstrong attitude and the fact that he started to question both the ways in which the units were dispatched along with their use for a huge company like ShinRa rendering him useless in the eyes of his superiors, who finally cut him off before he could cause any more trouble. Being a failure having become a recurring theme at this point, it turned him bitter and arrogant, occasionally aggressive even. Leaving his life for the company and SOLDIER behind for good at the age of 21, he soon found refuge with a band of anarchists that had taken a liking to what AVALANCHE was doing at the time, trying to follow in their footsteps. They founded their own resistance group, naming it the SENTINELS. Stats: Age: 31 years (timeline dependant) Education: SOLDIER (failed to attain First Class) Residence: Midgar, Sector 7 Slums Occupation: none // resistance fighter Alternative Verse: Instead of being released from SOLDIER without honors, he is being offered a place among the Turks, serving as an efficient and nearly unstoppable force to protect President ShinRa and his family along with taking care of wet jobs and dirty work most others would shy away from. Stats: Age: 31 years (timeline dependant) Education: SOLDIER (failed to attain First Class) Residence: Midgar proper Occupation: Turk 

⸻  ˖𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑˖ / ᴄʏʙᴇʀᴘᴜɴᴋ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

This Verse is open for all settings revolving around Cyberpunk / Futuristic AUs like Cyberpunk 2077, Bladrunner, Detroid:Become Human etc. Default background story and setting below, but this Verse’s Seifer can also easily be thrown into the abovementioned settings. ESTHAR A dazzling metropolis build in the midst of an inhospitable desert filled with monsters of all kind, both technology and science have been thriving for uncounted years - most of them behind closed off walls of a protective shield hiding the huge city from the world’s view, making it both untraceable and unreacheable. Focused on their own struggles within, society had slowly but surely started to divide in those able to afford the luxuries their own people’s inventions brought (whether by working on the same themselves or being lucky enough to having been born into wealth), and those who could not. Poverty at an all-time-high in the slums of Esthar, crime spiked soon after, forcing the hand of the government against the president’s will to start production of drones, AI-focused security humanoids and other technology to ensure no riots would tear the city asunder. Meanwhile, science had found ways and means to augment the human body, oftentimes implementing the infamous para-magic discovered by Dr. Odyne in some of the parts allowing for easier access to analyzing spells and the like that no longer needed magic adaptability of the host. Soon people from all over the city started augmenting their bodies, some of them for simple fashion statements, others for usability and practicability. Once the wall was removed and Esthar back open to the entire world, another huge peak in development was reached as more people were able to both fund and test the creations. Amidst all of this, corporations had begun to amass wealth with shady businesses, rumors of experiments with augmented monsters making their rounds, while the lower class suffered from the fact that they had to rely on insufficient support for their own augmentations - often sold for a small amount of Gil to them, but too expensive in maintenance, thusly making them effectively slaves to the system, labouring away their debt. One corporation, Tek-Co, even went so far as to sent their own delegation of highly augmented Repomen out, harvesting the debtors’ organs if they were too long overdue with their payments. Contracting as such, Seifer Almasy makes his money by paying visits to those that do not pay up by night, while making use of the skills he honed in his youth to hunt down monsters for contracts at day. The world doesn’t care about the Second Sorceresses War anymore with all their current troubles about, and he blends in perfectly now - highly augmented, his entire upper body, arms, and legs have been replaced by technology, making him an even more dangerous adversary than ever before. Stats: Age: 31 years (timeline dependant) Education: Mercenary Residence: Esthar Occupation: Repoman / Bounty Hunter 

⸻  ˖𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃𝐒˖ / ᴇʟᴅᴇɴ ʀɪɴɢ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

It happened an age ago. But when I recall, I see it true. On a night of wint'ry fog. The rune of death was stolen And the demigods began to fall, starting with Godwyn the Golden. Queen Marika was driven to the brink. The Shattering ensued; a war that wrought only darkness. The Elden Ring was broken, but by whom? And why? What could the Demigods ever hope to win by warring? The conqueror of the stars, General Radahn. And the Blade of Miquella, Malenia the Severed. These two were the mightiest to remain, and locked horns in combat. But there would be no victor. And so, we inhabit a fractured world. Awaiting the arrival of the Elden Lord. Unless of course, thou shouldst take the crown? Not remembering the exact time he arrived in the Lands Between, Tarnished and disoriented, Seifer has made his way, honing his skills and proving himself against various enemies, deadly and dangerous. Eventually crossing the path of the Half-Wolf warrior Blaidd, he learned of Ranni the Witch and her endeavors. Finally having found a reason and a goal in a place that seemed only hostile and set to destroy everyone setting foot in it, Seifer became the Witches Knight, now travelling the Lands Between to further her goals. Stats: Age: seemingly 31 years (though who can tell...) Education: Confessor Residence: The Three Sisters, though traveling the Lands Between Occupation: The Witch's Knight 

⸻  ˖𝐊𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐒𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐃𝐑˖ / ᴍᴇᴅɪᴇᴠᴀʟ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

This Verse is open for all settings revolving around Medieval / Fantasy / Viking AUs like The Witcher, Vikings, Arthurian Legends, etc. Default background story and setting below, but this Verse’s Seifer can also easily be thrown into the abovementioned settings. This Verse will be set up depending on how much it is requested and what the main focus on these requests is. If you are interested in playing this Verse with me, please reach out so we can throw ideas around :) 

⸻  ˖𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃˖ / ᴋɪɴɢᴅᴏᴍ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛꜱ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

Note: This verse assumes everything that happened during Final Fantasy VIII OG took place. Background: After Ultimicia plunged the world into time compression, it was inevitably connected to other worlds, opening up via the same pathways that would later allow the wielder of the keyblade to traverse them. Time and space became hard to tell apart, and while Squall and his friends managed to stop Ultimicia at last, nothing would be the same again after. Finding their world irrevocably changed, Radiant Garden was where they all found themselves, calling it their new home. With Seifer having been exposed to the effects of time compression at a different moment than the others, he was not placed in Radiant Garden like them, but instead woke up after the sundering of this world, turning it into Hollow Bastion when Ansem the Wise was plunged into darkness. Kingdom Hearts 1: While Ultimicia had been destroyed in the process of Squall and his friends fighting her, and her plans thus remaining unfulfilled, the sudden severing of his knightly bond to her left Seifer with muddled memories as he awoke at the steps of Hollow Bastion. There he was welcomed by yet another sorceress taking advantage of his state of mind and placing herself in Ultimicia's stead. Maleficent made Seifer believe he was still on his mission to serve as a Sorceress's Knight, making him swear loyalty to her and helping her further her plans in kidnapping the princesses of the many worlds now connected by the darkness. When yet another world was consumed by the darkness, Maleficent presented Seifer with a student he was to take under his wing - a silver-haired boy who the Sorceress had claimed as yet another servant, assuring him of his greatness and bestowing upon him a keyblade. Begrudgingly, Seifer took on the role of mentor, teaching the boy all he knew about fighting and wielding a weapon, inevitably spending many hours with him. As such, he would eventually, despite his muddled memories and mind,  notice the parallels between the both of them. Their past, their hearts, and even their view on the world seemed in many aspects to be similar, causing Seifer to develop a protective streak over the boy despite himself. However, Maleficent had other plans and would continue to dig her claws into the boy's mind, twisting his motifs and soon awakening something inside him that would cause things to steer into directions no one had foreseen. With Riku at the top of his power, Maleficent had no more use for Seifer now that he had successfully helped to bring in all the princesses together with the silver-haired boy, ensuring he could hold his own in a fight as well. Thus the blond was kept at Hollow Bastion to fend off any intruders, not rarely having him encounter and ward off the Beast. Kingdom Hearts 2: When Maleficent was seemingly killed, the magical bond imitating the one he used to have with Ultimicia got severed, leaving Seifer mostly a shell caught up in memories of old. Having felt pity upon seeing him, Naminé made him a part of the simulation of Twilight Town, yet only being able to use what she could glean from his memories, all she could do was place him there as a boy. Having found a connection to his childhood friends, Naminé was also able to bring Fujin and Raijin into the simulation, which ultimately helped Seifer to slowly regain his actual memories as he resided in Twilight Town. Running into Roxas and his friends as often as he did, and picking him as his rival also resulted in things the harsh severing of magical bonds that had broken inside of his mind to fall back into place, Roxas becoming a substitute for him to recall his actual childhood and youth alongside Squall, which more and more reflected in his behavior and speech. Unable to tell how he would be able to make it out of what more and more felt like a prison, Seifer then continued to follow Roxas who, after a while, displayed strange changes in behavior himself. Shortly before Roxas vanished, Seifer had regained his full memories, causing him to approach the boy.  

"Why does looking at you always tick me off?"

⸻ “I dunno. Maybe it’s destiny.”

"Destiny... In that case, let's be friends. I don't feel like cooperating with destiny."

His entire life seemingly having been at the whim of destiny, Seifer decided to once more rebel against it and go his own way. Tracing the steps Roxas had taken, he managed to meet Naminé before she was ultimately removed from Twilight Town, allowing her to see the full extent of his memories and thus ultimately enabling her to transfer his mind back into his adult body.

Seifer woke in the basement of Twilight Town, observing a brunet he has chanced to see before - Sora. Knowing about his connection to Riku and the fact that the boy kept talking about finding the same, Seifer followed him to Radiant Garden, in hopes to find his former student as well.

This verse will be extended in the future if neccessary.

⸻ ˖𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐄˖ / ʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ ᴇᴠɪʟ ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ

Grown up an orphan due to the devastation wreaked in the years prior to the downfall of the original Umbrella Corporation, Seifer had been taken in by the Global Academy for Regional Defense against Epidemics and Non-life (G.A.R.D.E.N.) as a child, being raised and trained ever since so he could later join their special forces, S.E.E.D. (Special Extraction and Evacuation Divison). Being a difficult and hot-headed child, however, he did not qualify as the type of soldier the Academy needed, and thus was set up to fail from the start - which he ultimately did. With the Academy only allowing their students to remain until their 20th birthday - unless they succeeded in their final field exam and were embraced into the ranks of S.E.E.D. - Seifer left in favor of looking for employment elsewhere. From hereon it is flexible whether Seifer joined the B.S.A.A., or the H.C.F. (or any other faction). We can plot if he works as a mercenary or if he teams up with your muse, or even is antagonistic towards them. Stats: Age: 31 years (timeline dependant) Education: Mercenary Residence: unknown / dependant on plot Occupation: dependant on plot (usually Mercenary)

[cuproprime]

The superpowers of the CuproVerse:

(Copied from my comment about this on Reddit.)

I find that a lot of people have trouble with the difference between a superpower and a great power, so I'd like to preface this by saying that my world has three actual superpowers. A country has to align itself with one of these three if it doesn't want to get curbstomped for its resources, strategic location, or simply having a form of government that one of these three mildly dislikes, with only a few major exceptions, those being the only great power that isn't a superpower [Arspirus] and the two states it's allied to [Pitharia and Torasgany].

If you can point to your country on a map, Ekanon has probably invaded it at some point in its history. Ekanon was once an absolute monarchy with colonies all around the globe, but underwent a revolution triggered by the king's apathy towards the plummeting standard of living in the country (which was caused by the loss of those colonies in the first Great War) to become a parliamentary republic, which was then immediately couped by the old head of the army. The new dictatorship proceeded to repress its citizens more and more until it became a totalitarian state running on a command economy, purging anybody deemed to not useful to the state, whether that be people too old to work, disabled people, the religious, political dissidents, or those who have a slightly different skin color than the people native to the continent. After a period of reconsolidation, Ekanon now spans nearly the entire continent of Akora, a continent once home to all major scientific and societal innovation in the world and with a long, interesting history, but under the new regime, that romantic view of the continent is dead now.

The founder of modern democracy, Iscerna is often granted the title of the strongest country in the world, even though its military is significantly smaller than Ekanon's, due to the fact that Iscerna has the highest GDP of any country and Ekanon is prone to political instability. Iscerna is a former colony of Ekanon and won its independence during a period when Ekanon was at war with another great power on Akora. A parliamentary republic with large social welfare programs, Iscerna is pointed to as the pinnacle of equality, though that sounds quite ironic once you even scratch the surface of the world's geopolitics and learn that it outsources all of the lower-paying jobs to poorer countries in its sphere of influence and will often install and maintain friendly autocratic governments in other countries if democratic governments wouldn't be/aren't friendly.

Viria is a collection of former colonies of a country that no longer exists, forcefully unified by a general that declared himself emperor. He nearly singlehandedly fixed the economy by abolishing slavery in the country, uprooting old aristocrats in areas he conquered and installing local governors, and distributing conquered land to peasants, former slaves, and merchants. This shaped Viria's culture from the very beginning to include loyalty to the government and respect for the military. In the modern day, Viria is a semi-constitutional monarchy, with the government in a twenty-four-year deadlock ever since the newest empress ascended to the throne and started trying to wrestle power from the parliament. Once the most powerful country in the world, Viria is in a period of worrying stagnation, made worse by the fact that the Virian citizens, due to a long tradition of trusting the government, aren't planning on doing anything about it.

[imambeeshaikh]

Nine Minutes

Enough condemnation has been served and sumptuous solidarity has been relished by the victims, kith and kin of the deceased and spectators in the wake of the recent mosque attacks in New Zealand.

It is really heartwarming to see the premier of the country being synonymous with the victims/relatives of victims and surely it’s not just empathy but she truly feels the agony and pain of the sufferers. She is a mother after all. Her media appearance a day after the attacks during which she announces with “oneness” again about an email she received “NINE MINUTES” before the attack pierces me since that day and makes me rethink on the entire idea of migration etched in the minds of the individuals of the sub-continent.

My basic intelligence answers me back with “SECURITY” as one of the reasons to migrate if not the primary reason.  A premier receives intimation nine minutes prior and these were not good enough to stop the massacre. I ponder whether it is an intelligence failure OR action ignored. A country boasting a population of a mere 5 Million couldn’t act in time. Smaller nations are expected to be managed well. The”management” fades in comparison to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Mumbai at that point in time was the size of a country comparable to the likes of Malaysia. A commoner leaving the sub continent for better shores on the pretext of so called “SECURITY” has a lesson to carry home from the New Zealand attacks. He was safer back home I think now in spite of not paying taxes.  At least action was IN TIME in spite of the burgeoning population and not to mention the perennial  shortfall of resources since Adam was born.  

The second act to this massacre leaves me more remorse than ever. Relatives of victims who have lost their lives in the mosque attacks are undoubtedly sad but they claim victoriously of the martyrdom of the lives lost on visual media. May Allah grant jannah and martyrdom to the deceased and I second the words of the Syrian father who held his dead son in arms and uttered “Allah is sufficient for us”.  Indeed Allah is but humanity/we need to demarcate between inaction, death invited, impending death & death averted. It’s time we change the two minute silence observance after fatalities to two minutes of action while a soul is breathing                                  

We need to rise and really value Human Life before the intimation is less than “NINE MINUTES”.  

#new zealand

#2019

[the-firebird69]

This is what the leg looks like from satellite and it's a great salt lake and it's in Utah and it is about 50 miles outside of salt lake City it's not too far lake Okeechobee is not that far it's only about 80 miles from my husband's house and they want that ship and they want him to go up there eventually George comes out and gets smaller and they think that they can get them both there at the same time. The ship here in Florida is bigger than 30 it's more like 50 and it's too big to move when he's here. So now people in Utah going nuts they're going to try and get him there. And the molar I try to get comet empire ships and they get a few and then they try and get Tommy after lunch and people see the deal and it's good because everything is kind of slowed down to nothing now then we get rid of a few birds with a few stones and right now they are planning to attack tonight and it's going to be a large scale morlock attack tons and tons of them are amassing at the border from Mexico the whole border Texas all the way to California and there's a huge huge number of them there it's ridiculous it's and it fills up half that you can find with people and weaponry and more things big weapons missiles it's ridiculous there's no way on Earth he's ever let them in they're ridiculous people and they are messing along the border in Canada the whole length of the Canadian border and they're trying to infiltrate the whole time and the max are up there with the war on both fronts and our country has seen it they don't want them back and it's going to be hell with foreigners so they start thinking about what to do and they start to act and it is a huge battlefront but there's fighting up there now and in Canada there's probably a ridiculous number several million octillion and that's about five times as many no that's about 20 times as many as last night and it's getting bigger and it's getting bigger very fast and they're coming over by sea too huge numbers of warlock by the ocean. And the north of South America is jam-packed it seems like the entire country the entire continent is emptied out into that area and all the cocaine of course is going to come with them or probably be destroyed. It's a giant number on the associated Islands that are north of Brazil and South America it is a gigantic number there's so many it's not even funny. And it is a terrible terrible thing but people are hijacking lots of ships and the moloch are losing tons of people to Africans and other nations that don't have much money South America. It's a huge deal work and The Expendables is proof they have tons and tons of jobs they're constantly having to try and stop people from doing stupid things and they have huge numbers of errors on their side and eventually they figured out that they probably should not take certain people with them.

Hera

Zues

It's a huge Force and tonight they're building up their fleets so much that they haven't left yet Thor Freya