#cycleverse

[jarlshall]

Lessons From the Grand Sage III: On Magic (The Green)

Celdos reveal, your grace.

Recall our lesson from before, on the great Cycle Wheel. The five elements, in balance with one another as energy flows through them. Today we turn our attention to one of those five – The Green.

The Green

The Green is the energy of the natural world. It is the life force of the greater things. Storms and waterfalls. Oceans, mountains, and rivers. In places where nature waxes strong, the Green holds the greatest sway.

It is the element of change and adaptation, rooted in the physicality of the world. It fuels spells of transformation, and calling upon natural forces. Only those that are adaptable enough to change along with the Green have the flexibility to become one with it.

To use the Green is to speak the language of the world itself, however crudely. With power and wisdom, all manner of things might well be commanded. Trees and roots. Beasts that fly, crawl, and swim. Even elemental forces like wind and wave.

Positive Green deals with animals, fire, and air. A skilled mage using the positive Green can banish poisons from the air, take on the aspects of beasts, or command flames.

Negative Green deals with plants, earth, and water. One attuned with negative Green can order roots to burst from the ground, render stone into mud or the reverse, and remove impurities from water.

Its opposed elements are the Grey and Mind.

As for the Grey – “Angels Dance Upon a Pin’s Head.” The Grey is fundamentally about impossibility and rejection of reality. It is utterly anathema to the Green, bound as it is by natural laws, and many places in the world are scarred by otherworldly attacks, slow to heal by the Green.

As for the Mind – “Tangled Roots Move Unseen.” At its core, the Green is constant change. Iterations spiralling upon themselves into infinity. It is unknowable in its entirety. Thus, it is effectively too dense for Mind’s divinations to meaningfully pierce.

A Green mage might be a farmer coaxing his crops to greater harvest. Or they might be a rancher with well behaved herds. Perhaps they are a scout in your armies, hawk-keen eyes and cloaked in mist.

Several lands place great honor into the Green. The Denosan Confederacy, the Zolkhan horse-lords of the Thundering Plains, the druids of the Fells – all these are great masters in this magical art.

So ends our lesson for today. Meditate upon what you have learned here, and carry it with you.

Celdos guide you.

- The Grand Sage

[ask-sibverse]

So I saw this dress on Twitter and it fits harem AU!Bella in very good ways. So yeah I spent like several hours drawing this. (My twitter feed is skeletons, cats, and clothes. And more skeletons) (Im currently working on updating sibverse, harem AU, and *hopefully* Flowers in Bloom, so expect updates soon!)

[cycle-verse]

Cycle!Dream - The Scales of Justice

Height: 6 foot 1 inch

LV: 9

Physical Strength: Very high

Weapons: Longbow, Dual Swords, Staff of Positivity

*Check: Secretly called the Warlord among the council

Dream is not considered a prince. He does not stand behind Nightmare as such. Rather, he stands next to Nightmare as a judge. Those who die by Dream's hand are killed for a reason, and those who are saved have a reason for redemption. This is why Dream is considered the Scales of Justice

There are a few important things about Dream, but the most important is that he will hunt you down if you have not met the justice you deserve. He's especially fond of killing abusers and the like, so make sure you watch your back if you're one of those...

When not using his weapons, Dream will use brute force. He may not look strong, but he can pick up Cross and Nightmare at the same time(plus a third person if he really tried). He trains both for strength and accuracy and feels that he can never be the best, but wants to be.

Ecto

Unfortunately, Dream has a condition where his ecto will summon neutral if he uses any form of magic. This can be summoning his bow, creating his arrows, or when he holds his staff.

It will only form neutral, but that does not stop the danger. Ecto can still be damaged, and it may hold together certain injuries, but damaging ecto can damage other things, from nerves to internal systems.

Weapons

Dream has multiple weapons, each with its own abilities.

The Staff of Positivity is a powerful weapon. It gets stronger as Dream does, and while it does have magical projections, these are only for show. Dream will make these disappear in battle and use the staff like a bo staff. It currents positivity through anyone that it hits, which can be a bad combination since it will daze someone with said positivity.

Dream's nickname for the original form of his staff is "that old stick".

Dream's Longbow is a work of art by itself. He has pinpoint accuracy with it, and there is nothing he can't strike. The type of arrow does not matter, but if someone else were to try and hold the bow without Dream's permission, they would seem clumsy with it, not hitting their target like they wish to. Even so, Dream is the only one that can split the bow into his dual short swords.

Arrows are an important pair with the bow. This is what his arrows of positivity look like, but Dream will often carve his own arrows out of wood in order to conserve magic and hope to prevent his condition kicking in.

Dream's dual short swords are very important in Dream's close-up combat. His bow splits into them, and he treats them more like daggers than swords, but they are still deadly. They have the ability to current positivity like the staff does, but Dream chooses to never do this due to his condition, and the much higher risk that close-up combat would prove.

[seertale]

As a return, I have two things!

My wonderful friend @star-gamerxox and I have an ongoing project, a multiverse called CycleVerse

Along with it, I have drawn Cycle!Nightmare. Please enjoy him.

Also remember that asks for certain characters are open, and the list is attached to the masterpost, but also feel free to ask specific things about pir characters! Just make sure we know they're pointed to us.

[jarlshall]

Itsa me, Jarl. Gonna bring this over to the OC side blog since its relevant.

The elves are divided up into cultures based on their particular expertise of the five elements of magic.

The elves of the North, the Kwaycha, are masters of Mind - divination and illusion. One grandmaster of Mind is chosen to lead them as Sapa Kwaycha, based on their spiritual might.

The western elves, the Denosan Confederacy are the old friends of the Green, the element of change. Seven tribes, each divided three more, make up their people.

The swamp elves, the Magoean, learned from their homes the balance between life and death, and are peerless healers through their expertise in Body.

Tower Elves, the Tereshi, command a peerless skill over Spirit, the magic of war. Their grand alliance - the Dodecopolis - are comprised of twelve inviolate city states.

The elves of the East, Ulkan, hidden in jungle cities, the star gazers and veil tearers. Their knowledge of the hidden ways of the Grey has kept their civilization concealed and detached for untold centuries.

Humanity has four rough groupings, uniform to an outsider, but hiding tremendous depth.

Hydris, the people of the north. Master sailors, ferocious traders, famous mercenaries. Broadly they're split into the Fjordlings, isolated valley towns and nomadic shepherds, the Painted Men, who stand in the shadow of the ancient dwarf holds and remain close to the Green, and the Trueborn, those from the city of Hydris itself and its heartlands.

Citalens, them of the great southern Republic. Primarily the people of Inras Cital, there are roughly two dozen lesser Citals formed together as the Allies. Provinces beyond the peninsula have taken on aspects of this culture, but a wealth of differences remain.

The Fells. Tattooed nature worshipers, which is about all they share in common across their twenty four historical realms, split apart by low mountains, rivers, and ancient woods. A land of druids and poetry.

Magnia, the old Sun Empire, now known as the Hundred Kingdoms. The three founding kingdoms of Angromar, Neustre, and Royal Meadth have been joined by four other kingdoms. Two mighty horse nomads tribal federations dwell across the Thundering Plains to its southern reaches

The Telent, jungle city states organized into a grand triple alliance after Citalen aggression. Little but the rain forest, fear of the west, and homage to the spirits unites them.

And, of course, the dwarves - known collectively as the Maldranak. Ever since the homeland was lost a millennium ago, the dwarves fled and put roots where they could. And where they built their new halls, they interacted with their neighbors and were changed - thus becoming the Alloys.

One branch settled near the Magnians and became the Gold Dwarves. Nobility came to them with patronage, and knights sought their skill in weapon crafting. The Gold Dwarves became renown for fine detail and filigrees, masters at working the metals that gleamed and shimmered like the sun and moon.

Another settled in the Rusty Mountains beside Cital. The plentiful iron that gave the mountains their name and hue gave them plenty of practice in the working of steel and iron. Now, the foundries of the Steel Dwarves burn hotter and their metal is the strongest of all the continent.

Wrathful and distrustful, one band headed west and settled in the Gray Sentinels. They dug deeper than any of the others and scorned the company of their Denosan neighbors who balked at their razing of woodland. With vampires to the south and burned bridges to the north, the Bronze Dwarves have turned their craft fully to the pursuit of war.

The Deep Root mountains between Magnia and Telent had promise, but more than ore and darkness dwelled in those depths. The Obsidian Dwarves were known for their work in glass and stone and architecutre, but it did not save them. Their halls stand empty, their people scattered to the other holds.

Last and newest of the Maldranak are the Reforged. A century or two ago, growing fearful of a darkening world, Gold dwarves gathered an army from the other holds and enlisted the aid of Hydris to reclaim the original homeland. Built of all other dwarf holds and influenced by Hydris, these dwarves gather the skill and wisdom of the others, surpassing them in all but their specialties.

Making every other fantasy race except for humans a monoculture isn't just lazy, but actively robbing yourself of a wealth of story depth. Give them cultures with distinct nuances about things a human would have no idea about. Elves whose invisible and extremely nuanced cultural cues are not only incredibly subtle, but vary from one elven line to another, so something that would be considered a remarkably tactful and delicate choice in one elven house would be an atrocious insult in another.

Goblin clan feuds about The Sacred Bug - they all agree that this specific species of beetle is sacred to the Goblin Gods, but the question is whether it is taboo to eat it, or whether it would be blasphemy to not eat this bug that was specifically gifted to goblinkind by the gods. Can You Eat The Bug -wars are torrid affairs that can last generations. There's a theory that there are two different goblin gods who appear as the same one, and have deliberately given their own respective clans contradictory instructions about the bug just to fuck with them. Everyone who has ever asked a goblin about this theory has been bit.

Dwarves who have different regional measures for different ground depths. There's a confusion within a construction crew digging a new tunnel with some of the foreign builders using words like "first cracks deep" for something that's not a measure that's in use in the dwarvish universal metric system. And then it turns out that different dwarves from different areas are used to different kinds of bedrock that cracks at different levels, and they also disagree with each other about how deep is "first cracks deep".

And the Mason Master of the projct throws his pickaxe in the tunnel wall in frustration and goes "alright the next one of you to say some utter fucking hillbilly bullshit gets their ass beat so bad that your mother's beard falls off."

[zu-is-here]

Update! We've changed midwife Ink into CycleVerse, and I've started work on designs for the characters

Nightmare alone has taken me over 65 hours...

Oh my! Σ੧(❛□❛✿) Please, take care of yourself (ówò) And thank you for the update, take your time here ♡

UPD:

You really did such a great work on him (both of them)! *^* And it was worth it╰(*´︶`*)╯

[commonguttersnipe]

Hot Take (I think?): Bicycle Repairman is a canon alternate version of Superman

Into the Cycleverse…

[jarlshall]

(art by @la-horrorosa)

[jarlshall]

Alric and Bjorn, two of my most important main characters and brothers to boot! The story opens with Alric on the run from home, having learned at the same time as his former friends that he had become a werewolf.

Without any hesitation, Bjorn joined his brother in his flight and the story begins...

Newest commission finished for @jarl-deathwolf with their characters Bjorn (left, brown cloak) and Alric (right, blue cloak)! It was a total pleasure to work with these guys and I am honestly VERY pleased with how it turned out! The little 'windows' in the back were a fun touch!

My Commissions - keep an eye out for when I'm open, and follow @pilotdraws for all art all the time

[jarlshall]

Character Dossier: Alric “Nawanuq” Lightsworn

(art by @thelastpilot)

From a young age Alric was a skilled brawler, which made it easy for him to join a jarl's band when he came of age. What might have been an easy life of fighting for gold and glory changed in an instant in his first real battle against the orcs. Reduced to fighting for his life with his fists, he found that they crackled with lightning.

Jarl Haakon, a skilled Spirit mage in his own right, immediately took Alric as an apprentice and taught him how to harness the power of the elements like any Hydrisian mystic. The war magic came easily to his aggressive personality and rumors abounded that he would be the old Haakon's successor.

Height: 6'4" Nationality: Hydrisian Magic Specialty: Expert of Spirit

[jarlshall]

[jarlshall]

Character Dossier: Mila Secunda Ohante Numitore

Although she more often just goes by Mila!

Her journey to Hydris was a long and winding one, coming all the way from the Citalen Republic. As a Senator's daughter, she is the closest thing the Republic gets to a nobility and she has the upbringing to prove it. Impeccable manners that let her glide seamlessly through upper class society. Even the way she carries herself speaks of grace and confidence.

But it was not the cutthroat politics of the Republic that interested her, but the quiet library of her family estate. Her time spent there split equally between study and sketching. That, more than anything – save perhaps her sisters – is what she misses most during her years abroad.

Of course, after what happened in Inras Cital, she has no intentions of ever returning home.

She learned the arts of tracking and the Green from the elves of the Denosan Confederacy, who sheltered her after she fled home. Skills that have served her well as she has turned to the life of a sellsword.

Height: 5'6" Nationality: Citalen, of the City. Magic Specialty: Novice of the Green

(art by @leviaana)

[star-gamerxox]

Saw Seer post one about fade (and cycleverse- which you should totally check out, it’s our roleplay turned universe-)

And I thought hey! I can do this too!

Send me character(s) and a letter and I’ll write you a minific!

A. Fire, flames, or excessive heat. B. Under cover of darkness. C. A moment’s respite. D. Subtle kindnesses. E. Sharing a drink. F. An absent look or touch. G. A fistfight. H. Someone’s greatest fear. I. Broken glass. J. When words aren’t enough. K. On the edge of consciousness. L. A stolen kiss. M. When it rains/snows/storms. N. The color green. O. The stars or space. P. While driving or in/around a car. Q. One missed call. R. A deafening sound. S. Music [send a song or a lyric] T. An obscure AU. U. Coming home. V. An abandoned or empty place. W. Waiting impatiently for something. X. A flash of anger. Y. Tears. Z. [Make up your own]

(inspired by this)

[jarlshall]

Lessons From the Grand Sage I: On Magic

Celdos reveal, your grace.

It has come to my attention that there have been… gaps in your study. As the Grand Sage, it is my duty to see these filled.

Today, we will start with the wheel which defines the world. The Cycle, through which all we know and are flows.

Shall we begin?

(art by @ohsweetsweetie)

Study this diagram well – friends and foes before you already have. The arrows upon the outer wheel show the flow of energy as it courses through our reality. Energy changes states as it flows, with five elements recognized by the wise.

We start, as always, with the Green. Nebulous and living. The life force of storms and mountains and oceans. This coalesces to Body.

Body, steady and true. The life force of individuals, be they animal, plant, or person. From Body springs thought and, with it, Mind.

Mind is ephemeral and formless. It is the power behind truth, imagination, and deception. The emotions born of Mind take shape in the Grey.

The Grey is power in the truest sense. Energy shaped not by physical law but by ideals and deeds. When given direction and purpose, it sharpens to Spirit.

Spirit, the motive force. The drive behind mortality, and the unbreakable inner strength. When this strength is dispersed into the mortal realm, it is reshaped into the Green.

The Cycle flows, ever and always.

Each element has a positive and negative aspect. Body, for example is split between positive Body (Life) and negative Body (Death). Remember my lord; neither is evil, and both are necessary. Like one’s hands, a mage may have a preference for one or the other. But to ignore one entirely is to court disaster.

We shall discuss these elements in depth at a later date. For now, suffice that a mage will specialize in one, but all have their place.

Each element has a relationship with the other four. The first is a harmonious relationship – its adjacent elements. One feeds the element; the other is fed by it. Body is fed by the Green; Body, in turn, feeds Mind. A mage can brush into elements adjacent to their specialty, though less skillfully than their focus.

The second is a destructive relationship. These are the elements opposites. One is the element that it counters; the other counts it. Body neutralizes the Grey, yet Body is defeated by Spirit. In this way, no one element dominates over the others. A mage cannot evoke elements that oppose their specialty.

The day grows long and its light, short. We will continue these lessons at a later date.

Celdos guide you.

- The Grand Sage

[jarlshall]

Lessons From the Grand Sage II: On the Gods (Boucassan)

Celdos reveal, your grace.

Welcome back. Now, a noble must know more than mortal affairs. Statecraft is the core of your duties, but not the total of them. Today we turn our attentions higher, to the gods themselves.

Many are the deities and spirits worshiped across the continent. But we shall limit ourselves simply to the Five Who Are Ten. These are the closest to our hearts, and our staunchest of allies. As a leader of your people, you will be expected to lead rituals to beseech and appease them.

Each of these gods are a bonded pair, with each tied to an element of the Cycle. One is linked to the positive, and the other the negative. Hence, five gods turn to ten.

First to discuss shall be the ones most closely intertwined with your role as noble. The gods of law and justice, Boucassan.

(art by @botherkupo)

Boucassan are tied to elemental Spirit. They are unbreaking and unyielding – all the better to stand firm against the evils of the world. They are Boudicca and Cassan.

Cassan, the Fair, the Inevitable, the Lord of the Even Scales - God of Justice From Above. He is bonded to the negative Spirit – protective and cold.

Cassan is said to be a judge beyond corruption. Only words and deeds sway his verdicts. Though stern, he is merciful and wise. He is the will behind honor and the force behind justice.

He is the one that guarantees oaths, especially those of fealty. His laws govern the rules of war and the conduct of the great lords. Rule with honor and mercy, and you may count him among your friends. He loathes those that abuse the power of their station – be judicious, be safe. Cassan-blessed are gifted with long and prosperous rule.

Boudicca, the Chainbreaker, the Heroic Spirit, the Lady of Valor - Goddess of Justice From Below. She is bonded to the positive Spirit – aggressive and burning.

Boudicca is the fury of the mistreated. Where cruelty and malice waxes strong, she appears. In hearts, in minds… at times, even physically. More than any other deity, she is fond of manifesting her power in the world. It is said that no one who fights evil ever fights alone, for even if no one else stands with them, Boudicca shall.

More so than Cassan, Boudicca is a goddess that must be actively appeased through diligent ritual and sacrifice. She is eager to aid the lesser against the greater. The surest tonic against her fury is the love of your people.

It is wise not to speak at length upon the gods; too much in one setting may draw their eyes upon you. And it is unworthy to waste their time with idle musing upon their nature. We will return to these lessons at a later date.

Celdos guide you.

- The Grand Sage

[jarlshall]

(art by @masilvi)