#ch: Ursa

[dragonologist-phd]

I know I've already sent you in one but 29 for Ursa/Minthara 👀

thank you! once again a prompt ran away with me and got much longer than intended lol (though to be fair a lot of this one is repurposed from a fic i started and never finished like a year ago. hooray for recycling!)

29. A kiss as a promise

There is very, very little in this world which can strike fear in the heart of Minthara Baenre. She is a woman who does not fear death, nor pain, nor darkness, and she laughs at those who do.

But Orin…Orin the shapechanger, the daughter of Bhaal, Orin who is death and pain and darkness and worse…

Orin, she fears. It is a fear that has been carved into her, slowly and deliberately, and now that it is a part of her, it cannot be hidden or denied. Especially not now, when she walks so willingly into the city which acts as the murderer’s hunting grounds.

“Do not let me fall into her clutches again,” she asks of her companion- it is more than a request, she is begging, even as she detests the weakness in herself.

Ursa looks up at Minthara with earnest, silver eyes, and she touches Minthara’s hand. “I won’t. I won’t let anything hurt you. I promise.”

What a world it would be, if Minthara could believe her. The cruelest thing is that she almost can. She has seen Ursa’s power; she has stood at the dwarven woman’s side and played witness to the work of her daggers, her heated hunger for blood. It could be easy, for Minthara to believe that her lover can devour this threat as she has so many others.

But Minthara’s knowledge of their foe is scarred into her very being, and she can only shake her head, angry at them both as she pulls away from Ursa’s comforting touch. “Do not make vows which cannot be kept.”

continue on ao3

[demonidoodles]

gang sillies :]

[suntamer]

Hours, Long and Winding —

Words: 11,333. Characters: Anders x Inquisitor Trevelyan — Ursa. Rating: Explicit.

Nights in Skyhold were impossibly long and oftentimes treacherous things.

The day's dark hours stretched out before Ursa Trevelyan like armfuls of spilt ribbon. She fought for sleep, fought for peace that was denied her more commonly than not. Life as the Inquisitor was unlike the life she'd spent in Ostwick's tower, but she had not been able to rest there, either. Insomnia greeted her more warmly than most, as they had been tightly knit companions since her childhood, but still, she fought.

She turned in her bed, fitful and frustrated, flicking a thick, near-black lock of hair from where it coiled around her throat. Her cheek found the crater she'd made not half an hour before, which she'd abandoned to make another in the meantime. How much tossing would she have to do before sleep found her? How much turning?

Myriad thoughts raced between her ears, each of them more urgent than the last.

Sit the throne. Cast judgment. Close the rift that's appeared on the coast of Lake Celestine. Write to your mother. Write to Empress Celene. Write to Ferelden's king, write to Kirkwall's viscount, write to your mother again. Sit the throne. Cast judgment. Sit the throne.

Ursa pressed her fingertips to her shut eyes until her vision blurred upon opening them again, until she felt an ache beneath her furrowed brows that begged for relief.

Speak to Anders.

The dizzying chase of everything else slowed in an instant.

READ ALL THREE CHAPTERS HERE.

[rebel-ahsoka]

STAR WARS REBELS 3.16, Legacy of Mandalore

[pinkfey]

THE CHARLATAN & THE BUTCHER ↴

“LOVE OPENED A MORTAL WOUND. IN AGONY, I WORKED THE BLADE TO MAKE IT DEEPER.”

[the-californicationist]

Ursa Major (Ch. 24)

Chapter 24 - Electra

You confront the council. John faces some ghosts from his past. And you learn more about your powers than you ever thought you would... for better and for worse.

[babyseraphim]

If you're still doing it can I request 📷 for the make me write asks?

hiiiii thank you for your asks!!! i can't post any more for MHNMTT ch. 16 ( i don't want to spoil too much), but I can post more for this one!

-

Charles pointed up towards the sky. “See the octopus?” he asked. There were definitely proper constellations over Port Townsend, but Charles didn't know what they were called. Making up his own would do fine for the time being. He didn’t mind sounding like a nutter.

Edwin cast him a suspicious glance. “What?”

“The octopus in the sky,” Charles insisted. “Look.”

Edwin turned his face skyward. The moonlight caught his pale skin, polishing it a pearlescent shade of white.

“I only see Cassiopeia,” he breathed. “And Cephus. What is this ‘octopus’ you’re on about?”

Charles laughed. “Bloody hell, mate! Didn’t know you were an astronomer. How many proper star shapes can you see from here?”

Edwin squinted, Adam’s apple bobbing. “Well, I can spot Cygnus and Draco off to the East. Lyra, too. Both Ursas are also visible, if you look carefully…”

Charles nodded along, half listening. He was much more invested in the steady progression of Edwin’s breathing. By the time he was done nattering on about some shape called Camelopardalis, his so-called asthma was a thing of the past.

“Feel better?” Charles asked.

“I…” Edwin’s brow furrowed. “Yes, in fact. Much better. How did you do that?”

Charles shrugged. “Just a trick my mum taught me. I usually go for counting flowers or something, but constellations work too. Helps to go somewhere else, sometimes.”

-

make me write!

[fireya-x]

“his mind was quiet when he was hunting, when he was killing; he could not be the victim when he was the oppressor”

ursa major ch. 10 by @the-californicationist

[kingwuko]

fire nation princess / ch 9 stake out please share if u have anything

I did the Stakeout so let's talk about the Fire Nation Princess!!!!

So I've been mulling this one over for a while. I've loved the idea of Mako becoming a bodyguard to the mysterious fire nation princess like the creators allude to in the commentary. I also love the idea that maybe Mako gets the job because Wu talks him up as the greatest security guard ever! And then when the princess (who I have named Ursa. I can't tell if that's cliche. Oh well.) gets to know Mako she gets feelings for him. You know our Mako. Important people just love him!

So this will lead to them dating, which Wu pretends to be happy about. While inside he's pining and longing and aching over the fact that Mako might have finally found The One. Not that Wu ever thought Mako would like Wu that way!!! This story I think will feature homophobia and comphet big time as Wu is self-aware but closeted while Mako is still figuring himself out. I'm thinking Mako is gay in this story and he just can't figure out why he doesn't seem to do well in relationships with the women who like him!

I have a very clear scene in my head where Mako has to go to some fancy party as Ursa's date and Wu helps him with shopping for a nice new suit for it. Very painful for Wu, wishing Mako would be dressing up for him like that.

I'm unsure about this snippet and if it will ever make it in... I'm working on outlining this story but I did some free form writing before I outlined to just get some words and vibes out there.

Princess Ursa is… Everything Wu is not. She’s polite and demure. She’s gentle and soft-spoken. She’s… beautiful—Golden eyes; long, inky-black hair style with a top-knot adorned by a glimmering crown, warm complexion… Wu could go on, but it’s rude to stare.

Instead, Wu’s eyes flit behind Ursa, to the figure standing against the wall. Mako’s got a sharp focus as he keeps watch over the room. There are several dignitaries visiting, with security retinues of their own. Wu’s got his own guards, as well. Everyone’s been vetted, but with so many high ranking political figures in the room, Mako’s right to be vigilant.

After all, being the personal bodyguard to the Fire Nation Princess is the most prestigious job that Mako has had yet. And yes, Wu is counting Mako’s time as his own bodyguard. Mako escorted Wu to frivolous things—spas and movers and fine dining.

[queersrus]

astronomy witch theme

(nick)names:

astra, astro, astre, astera, astel/astelle, astella, ariel, aura, aurora, aurore, aure, aurelie/auralie, auralia/aurelia, atlas, aristar, aries, altair, astreaus, aether, apollo, apolla, artemis bila, boreals, boreal comet, cosma, cosmic, cosmo, celest/celeste, celestia, celestio, callisto, calypso, Cassiopeia, claudius, caelum, caelus, cassio dusk, dawn estel/estell/estelle, estella, elera, elio, esther, eclipse, eclipsa, eclipso, eostre, eos galaxy, galactica, galactico, galactix, galactic, galacta, galaxius hecate/hekate, helios, hemera, hera iris, ira juno, jupiter, janus kepler, keyra/kayra lune, luna/loona, lunar, luno, lunette, lyra moon, moona, mars/marz, miranda, meno nova, nix/nyx, nox, nuit pandora, pallas, pulsar, pollux rhea stel/stell/stelle, stella, steller/stellar, star, stella, stary/starie, sol, soleil, solar, solette, solina, solana, solace, solstice tian vesper, vega xian zorya

surnames:

astra, ayla, airy, array, aquila, antlia estrela/estrella, eddington, eridanus kepler, kuiper herschel, halley, hale, hypatia, hevelius drake starcatcher, starwatch, stargaze(r), starlight, scorpius, spellman Cassiopeia orion ursa delphi, delphius pictor fortune le fay/fe/faye nightingale, nighwatch, nightmoon moon brightmoon gloom, gloam

titles:

the witch of the stars, the witch who studies the stars, the star watch, the astronomer, the witch, the astronomer witch, the stellar witch, the witch who knows the sky, the witch of the night sky

(prn) who knows the stars, (prn) who studdies the stars, (prn) who knows the magic of the stars, (prn) who practices witchcraft in starligh, (prn) who studdies magic by starlight

1st p: i/me/my/mine/myself

si/star/stars/starself sti/stell/stellars/stellarself ai/astre/astros/astroself ai/astronome/astronomy/astronomine/astronomyself wi/witch/witches/witch's/witchself wy/witch/witchs/witchself ci/conste/consteli/constellations/constellationself mi/magi/magics/magicself

2nd p: you/your/yours/yourself

sto/star/stars/starself sto/steller/stellers/stellerself astro/astr/astrs/astrself astro/astronomer/astronomers/astronomerself wo/witcher/witchers/witcherself co/consteller/constellers/constellerself mo/magicr/magicrs/magicrself

3rd p: they/them/theirs/themself

star/stars, sta/ar, star/stary, stary/sky, stary/night, star/light stell/stella, stell/a, stel/la, stell/steller, steller/stellers, stellar/stellars astro/astros, astro/astronomy, astro/nomy, astro/nomer, astro/astronomer, astronomy/astronomys, astronomy/astronomer constellation/constellations, constell/constellation, constell/ation wit/ch, witch/witches, wit/witch, wi/witch, witch/witchy, witch/craft, witchcraft/witchcrafts magic/magics, ma/gic, magic/magical

[sapphoswh0re]

recap post: star lords pt.2

Oh my god, I just saw online a page from the NEW chapter and I was like “did I actually forgot to post the last notes on the stars???”

ahem yes i did 🤡

here PART 1

SPOILER WARNING

POLARIS ✨

Polaris is the only star lord whose identity is still purposefully kept a mystery, but why?

he’s a character that has already appeared before

just for fun (yk with Yana it’s always possible)

???

Polaris was introduced in ch. 123 with two interesting images.

His room shows he’s definitely not mentally stable, he uses daggers and knives and the style is much simpler than the other star lords’ rooms.

From his lines we get that RCiel is (at least momentarily) important to him: Polaris is worried about the “Blue Star”, this term could have been used to avoid hints at RCiel’s identity but it could also signify an actual belief in the star cult. More importantly, he WAS a BUTLER. Our fist actual information about his character.

In ch.127 there’s his next appearance, when he stabs Agni.

From their fight we learn that he’s: ->Very fast and agile  ->Strong, maybe too much to be human (considering Agni's strength) -> bizarre doll? something else? ->Skilled with knives  ->Tall and has a male physique??? maybe? (at this point in the manga even the gender could be still uncertain)

(maybe a hint? His face is partially covered and he uses gloves so we can’t see either his hands or his expression) 

In ch. 169 Polaris just got back from a trip, in my opinion from Baron Heatfield’s manor (every main point for blood collection was monitored by a Star Lord, in order Sirius-RCiel, Canopus-Doll, Vega-Layla, Polaris).

His only other important scene, up to now, was this:

The only bit of new information we get is that Polaris feels like he failed/lost RCiel once and that Undertaker doesn't really like him (maybe for his obsession with Ciel and that would be too funny, since Undertaker let's be real bbg the call is coming from inside the house).

We don’t really know a lot about his history and personality because he didn’t appear in many chapters.

Since I'm crazy I'll also leave some infos about the star Polaris that could be relevant in the future. From the article: "Although appearing to the naked eye as a single point of light, Polaris is a triple star system" -> unlikely but different roles/identities or 3 characters? meh "The ancient name of the constellation Ursa Minor, Cynosura (from the Greek κυνόσουρα "the dog's tail"), became associated with the pole star in particular by the early modern period" -> link with Sirius the "Dog Star"?

Main theories about Polaris’ identity:

Tanaka: dismissed for obvious reasons, just no. For example Polaris is younger and obsessed with his "master", also Tanaka couldn't have helped with the blood collection since he was always with the other servants

A servant of the phantomhive manor that died during the attack

-Pros: butler, died and got resurrected as a bizarre doll, loyal to the blue star, has failed once -Cons: the master that Polaris said to have failed in the past is not necessarily RCiel but is still a stronger theory than others (es. Madame Red-> to me she was more plausible as Canopus)

A new character: maybe unlikely since his face has been intentionally kept a secret but always possible

A character involved in the attack, specifically the person who was present at the ritual

Pro: hooded cloak? suspicious person with unknown goals, not surprised by the supernatural events (->link with shinigamis-Undertaker-demons-other???), if involved in the attack does he/she have a reason to get revenge on OCiel? (but loyal to RCiel?) Cons: could the timeline fit? maybe yes? I mean we saw this character once so everything is possible at this point. So... were they human at this point? (or a BD?-> unlikely, Undertaker said that even if the project had been going on for a long time, the first decent results were actually recent)

Joker: a really popular theory online (that almost convinced me before, mostly because of the chessboard's theory from my old post)

Pros: Polaris’ face and hands are always covered, skilled with knives, has a reason to get revenge on OCiel, we never saw Joker’s body (BUT Undertaker was present->bizarre doll), regrets about his “master” Cons: butler role? Star cult belief? Two people from the circus? more unstable personality and wasn't his head crushed by Sebastian?

There are some “takes” related to Joker that I still find kinda interesting. 

Many have pointed out that these tears could be a reference to the Joker symbol (which was not a tattoo but makeup).

In my opinion, the most interesting thing is that they're actually stylized tears and not realistic, by Yana's standards. In kuroshitsuji tears have always detailed (ofc for a manga), so I would like to understand why the different choice for this character.

The other thing that at the time intrigued me is Joker's connection with the role of butler. In the story he only plays a marginal role as Baron Kelvin's servant, so when we think of him we definitely do NOT think of a butler, yet for his first designs the concept was a bit different.

Picture from the kuroshitsuji anthology, the same with the first ideas for OCiel's name

💫 This longer focus on Joker is not here to convince anyone (since I'm not sure about Polaris either). It's just that the various clues/coincidences on some of the other characters got less and less convincing with the new chapters and I simply removed them from my notes. I should still have the old notes somewhere but they're super disorganized and consists mainy of abstract rants ahahaha

If you have other thoeries on Polaris let me know them since I'm super interested and I'd like to update this post.

CHAPTER 214 UPDATE

WHO WAS THAT❓❓❓ oh my god was that Polaris? I don't know what to think, since he/she was more desperate than unstable?? while Polaris alternates between politeness and fits of violent anger. But they had a blood(?) drip!!! And the cross could relate to the star cult belief? Could they be the figure from the ritual? If they hate Sebastian maybe that's why they're helping RCiel(???)

btw I'm so happy that the hiatus's over 💖

[erisenyo]

Hey there, can I ask how you come up with your OC names?

Anon I am THRILLED you asked because I am about to dump so much in-my-head-only worldbuilding on you, so much more than you probably needed or wanted lol.

As always this is not short, and forgive in advance the butchery I’m about to do of like, all of phonetics and linguistics.

OKAY so generally speaking, when it comes to names I have a set of foundational building blocks/general guidelines for the various countries and I work from there. These are based on phonetic characteristics of the canon names we see, and then from there I'd start layering in additional fun along groupings I've noticed around gender or class or family lines or whatever if I want to take the worldbuilding that deep.

So for example, with the Water Tribes…

We have Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, Bato, Kya all from the South, so I pick out...

Hard K or T sounds being quite common

Primarily A and O as vowels

Vowels being between consonants (ie, being single vowels)

Names being 2-3 syllables

In the North, we see Yue, Hahn, Agna Qel’a, Arnook, Kanna, Pakku...

Some similarities with the Ks and hard Qs

Now we see some softer ‘gn’ and ‘hn’ and L sounds, and the addition of P (which makes Bato’s “B” and Sokka’s “S” stand out)

Some ‘oo’ instead of ‘o’ vowels (so double vowels)

Hahn and Yue with no hard consonant sound at all (and both upper class!)

So that gives us some basic starting blocks to start building up names that sound like they fit within the Water Tribe culture in terms of sounds, as well as some potential regional and class differences to start working with! (Maybe Q sounds are only in the North, and upper-class people have soft consonant names, for example.)

Similarly in the Fire Nation…

The royal family is Zuko, Azula, Ozai, Azulon, Sozin, Iroh, Lu Ten, so...

A lot of Z and K sounds

(Male) names that end in N

A lot of two-syllable names (with the emphasis on the first syllable)

A lot of riffs on each other (Sozin and Ozai, Azulon and Azula, Azulon and Zuko)

Iroh and Lu Ten stand out as having fairly distinct names comparatively, with the “oh” ending and the softer "Ir" and "Lu" starts

Chan, Zhao, and Ruon-Jian are the other upper-class guys we see, which gives us...

short syllables again

N endings (for men) agai

The ‘two word’ name again (so Lu Ten's name naming structure is used elsewhere)

The introduction of “Ch” and “J” and “R” and double-vowel sounds (ao, uo, ia)

We also see Roku and Kuzon...

So very similar names to our royal bunch with those Ks and Zs and oku/uko and uzon/ulon sounds

Also older names from 100+ years ago, and commoner names

Mai, Ursa, Ty Lee as our upper-class ladies gives us...

short syllables again

‘two word’ names again

M sounds!

Mai and Ursa both don't have a hard consonant stop

Some phonetic/vibey similarity with “Mai” and “Ty”

And adding in Chit Sang (another commoner!) (presumably!)...

Another two-word name

Introduces the ‘ng’ ending

Leverages a lot of the consonant sounds we already saw

Uses an “it” usage of the "I" vowel (vs Iroh’s I)

So pulling it all together, in addition to those foundational consonant and vowel sounds, we also see that the royal family has a distinct naming convention that may be rooted in archaic naming styles.

And we can start to build out some ideas around gendered naming, family/honorific naming, and some potential class/pre-unification culture differences, as well as some space to speculate about why Iroh and Lu Ten’s names are so different from the rest of the royal family, too (as well as the ammunition to suggest that Zhao comes from a family of suck-ups lol)

Moving onto the Earth Kingdom (where I truly went wild)…

We start off with Toph, Haru, Long Feng, Kuei, Jet, Bumi, Poppy, Lao, and there's a lot of varability here!

Generally, the names are one or two syllables and start with a consonant

We see more double-vowel pairs (uei, ao), perhaps in the upper class but just as many single vowels

Consonants are hard or soft, and don't seem to group like the Water Tribe or FN royals did around particular sounds

Names end in vowels or hard sounds or softer 'ph' and 'ng'

Those guardrails are fairly wide and broad for feeling out distinct-sounding names, but it makes sense given how huge the Earth Kingdom is and its history of war, displacement, movement, etc.

So for a fic like That Love You've Been Looking For which was super EK-centric and focused on worldbuilding, I ended up breaking it down into broad regions and leaning into place names as well to help articular some basic rules:

In the southwest (Gaoling, Toph, Lao, Poppy), I decided that there’d be a mix of single and two-word names, and that the ‘ph’ ending would be used by women and the ‘ng’ ending for men

On the western coast (Haru, Omashu, Bumi), I went with primarily two-syllable names that follow a ONE-two pattern (PA-lo, BU-mi, CHE-lu, HA-ru) and went with mostly softer consonants

In the north (Ba Sing Se, Si Wong Desert, Long Feng), I went with short multi-word names where each part would be a single syllable

And in the center I was kind of pulling it together from what was left, but I went with names that end with an ‘an’ or ‘in’ sound and echoed some of the place names I was using

So we have some building blocks for the various regions, this time that we can use to indicate where someone’s family could be from and to give each region a more specific feel.

For Kyoshi...

I generally lift the Earth Kingdom rules, but view it as more of a trade-center and melting pot (Suki could fit in WT or FN rules), so it's deliberately a lot looser and with more variation.

And everywhere has a Lee/Li, so none of these rules are hard and fast, and I imagine too that there’s a ton of cultural mixing and fads and trends and whatnot in naming across various regions.

A quick note from a process standpoint--

This approach is very much not trying to find names within various existing real-world cultures. If I'm writing ATLA canon-world, I tend to stick to the idea of leveraging real-world contexts as a base rather than a strict guide. Something I wanted to flag, as there are other ways to go about OC naming that lean much more heavily into researching the naming conventions of various cultures throughout history, thinking about translation and name meaning, etc.

And also, if I need a lot of names, I'll often use the Fantasy Name Generator and look for names that either fit or that I can tweak into the above 'rules.' (Otherwise I accidentally start giving people ship names lol, RIP to Mailee, Maizula, and Yutara, you lived on under new personas)

I also don't always dig as deeply into the way names can signify class or status or whatnot, either. It can be very fun, but sometimes you just need a one-off name so your POV character looks like they actually interact with the people they nominally see every day haha

Editing 10/24 to add - this is representative of my prior approach, going forward I have shifted to leveraging real names as much as possible and building headcanons around, for example, different real-world inspired cultural influences within the nations

[nightfall-1409]

Writer's Update

Hi everyone <3 sorry things are taking a bit of time, I'm going through An Ordeal and that has regrettably been the case of late. I don't like to publicly air too much, but it's led to some delays. Not dead, but, just some updates under the cut with some snippets <3

So I, As My Mother Before Me

Obviously my mother's day side story for sabine missed the deadline, I'll get that out ASAP (as soon as its done), and the teaser for it is that it covers Sabine's 'missing' time in the fic, and threading the needle wrt Ursa, Myles, and those sorts of background elements in the fic, as well as letting me, Nightfall, meditate on what exactly I want to have the connective tissue be for her background. It's probably for the best it got delayed so much, as it'll contain some spoilers for later content in (Re)Convene, depending on how long that takes me to catch up.

Snow makes the world quiet, still, and then she interrupts it. Sabine gasps as she feels it against her flight suit, cold, and sudden, and wakes in a horrible instance. There is snow and trees all around her, and the forest is quieter still.  She knows this forest, but it’s an impossibility. She stands, barely needing a moment to collect herself before she’s calling for, “Ahsoka!”  There is no one around.  She lowers her rangefinder, scans her surroundings, ignores her gut screaming at her that she knows this place. Hu-Yang or Ahsoka would chide her, tell her that she should at least make the attempt of meeting her surroundings, connecting with them.  But that is not her way, it is not the Mandalorian way, and in an emergency scenario where she didn’t know what was happening, she’d not out herself to their enemies.   She’s bringing Ezra home.  She’s not here.  This place isn’t real.  This place is gone, and they knew that it was being destroyed when she... Her rangefinder interrupts her thoughts, and tells her that she's on Krownest, and she bangs her hand down into the soft snow of her home again in a fist.

(Re)Convene Ch. 41 (Ezra) The Flash Of the Dark

hahah I do apologize for leaving you lot on that cliffhanger...im working through it :) In the meantime, the opener.

He finds that his teacher is in the library, and there’s an older woman next to him, grave and sad.  Quinlan’s expression too is serious.  Ezra responds by shelving any and all irritation about how many different places he’d looked in before finding the Shadow here.  “Ezra.  About time,” Quinlan jabs anyway, clearly intending to be playful and Ezra bites his tongue.  “This is Master Kostana.”  Quinlan introduces; and Ezra straightens further— this is who Obi-Wan had mentioned. “Master to Sifo-Diyas.  The council asked her to visit the Archives, to aid in the investigation of the Sith compulsion.” “Oh,” Ezra pauses, piecing together what all that means, before he softens his expression.  “Thank you for your aid, Master,” He bows his head forward slightly, and she waves one hand.  “I ought to thank you,” she says after a moment.  “For bringing his lightsaber home.” Woof.  Ezra can feel it at her side.  It is not a happy thing to know, though, and further… Ezra’s not exactly good at handling those sorts of conversations.  “Well, I wasn’t the one who…”

Other fics: Things are progressing, but perhaps not as quick as I'd like... on account of the fact I'm aiming for the clone bang sign ups at the end of June! No Spoilers yet! 😘 But I look forward to revealing it in good time. I hope to get it to the 10k mark by sign ups close on the 30th, I'm about halfway to that point rn.

[pinkfey]

𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐔𝐋𝐀. ┆ 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗, 𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗡-𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥, 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 ┆ 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫 ┆ 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰 ┆ ♡ 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧 "Let me say it plain: I loved someone and I failed at it. Let me say it another way: I like to call myself wound but I will answer to knife."

[tabswrites]

[image id]: A banner with purple and blue trees with the words: “From Eternity, A World-Building Adventure” [end id]

WBW: Aeternium

A precious metal found only in the Forest of Eternity.

Naturally forms in a crystal shape

Clear, glass-like

Pale purple color

Stronger than steel but incredibly light

Acts as a conduit for magic, amplifies Aura

Creates a natural shield when struck by outside force

The presence of silver amplifies its properties

[image id]: A cluster of clear purple crystal with a glassy surface [end id]

Notable Mentions (minor spoilers below)

There is a curse placed on the unworthy who enter Eternity that causes their bones to turn to aeternium--making them part of the forest permanently.

The blade of Adrin's sword is made from aeternium, with silver accents on the hilt. In Ch. 13 an energy shield is created when the sword is struck.

Ursas Ornata (such as Cilla) are born covered in aeternium crystals, which amplify their telekinetic powers as well as their illusion magic. The older the bear, the stronger the crystal. Removing it from them is the same as harvesting ivory from an elephant or rhinoceros...very painful. (See pic below)

[image id]: A beige bear with sparkly fur and pink eyes. Purple aeterium crystals stick out along her back. [end id] art by @neon-psychopomp

The idea for Adrin's sword came to me first, inspired by Fionna's crystal sword from Adventure Time (yes). Eventually I decided to incorporate the crystal into Eternity as a natural element, using J. R. R. Tolkien's mithril as inspiration. The sword itself does have a bit of backstory to it that will be revealed in The Forest's Embrace.

Read The Tomb of Light on Ao3 to learn more about Eternity, or check out more world-building here!

Guardians of Eternity (general tag list) @writingrosesonneptune (please ask to be +/-)

[the-californicationist]

Ursa Major (Ch. 18)

I'll take Kyle Garrick with the breeding kink for 500, Alex.