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nightmare-grass · 1 year ago

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Midsummer’s Eve

Tagging the most vocal supporters of the initial ideas post: @star-ocean-peahen , @telemna-hyelle , @tired-twili , @sansxfuckyou , @indigoartistqueen , @arpeggiopeg , @dyne-osaur

I’m posting my updated notes on my Disney princess movie idea based on the Princess and the Pea; it’ll have the old notes with it for context but it’ll have lots of new notes like character names, casting, storyline ideas, and merchandising opportunities because we all know how Disney operates. I’m putting it under the line so this post doesn’t become another “Do you love the color of the sky” post in its absurd length.

Next Big Disney Princess Movie

- I’m slightly obsessed with the Princess and the Pea, I wanna figure out how it could be turned into a Disney Princess movie

- The original story is that a king and queen think no one is good enough for their son, so they test a prospective partner’s purity by having her sleep on a tower of a hundred mattresses with a single pea placed at the bottom. A random girl seeks shelter from a storm and finds the castle; they let her in, and just because they’re curious they test her out on the mattresses. She tosses and turns all night, and in the morning she reports she could not sleep a wink. The king and queen are satisfied because obviously she could feel the pea under the mattress tower so she’s pure enough to marry their son.

- Maybe the Princess could be plagued by insomnia and a being that comes to her in her dreams leads her on a quest to rescue a magical prince from his overbearing parents, the rulers of the fairies. They test her with odd nature-themed trials, and the final one is testing her purity by feeling a pea under a stack of mattresses.

- Maybe not outright stating insomnia, just alluding to it with her inability to fall asleep easily and, in the Pea trial, psyching herself out to the extent where she thinks she can feel a tiny lump under her mattress

- Her thoughts are like “the final test can’t just be falling asleep, there’s gotta be more to it, there always is with these people!” She’s awake so long that she becomes adjusted to the dark silent stillness of the room and is finally able to feel that tiny lump under all one hundred mattresses.

- Plot starts when heroine stumbles into the fairy castle seeking shelter from the thunderstorm outside, unaware of the true nature of the castle she’s found herself in

- She was led to this castle by will-o-the-wisps, prankish fairies

- Or maybe the being who led her here could be her cute animal sidekick, some sort of tricksy fae creature

- Could try the Frozen/Tangled approach where the events take place in the span of a day or a few days, or could emulate Disney renaissance classics and have the story stretch on for weeks

- Make the heroine Irish? Make the story Irish? Even if Hans Christian Andersen wrote it, we don’t necessarily need to stick closely to the source material in that way. His fairy tales have been adapted by Disney plenty of times, rarely sticking to his geographic region. The Emperor’s New Clothes became the Meso-American Emperor’s New Groove, and The Little Mermaid apparently takes place in the Mediterranean. Making her and the setting Irish justifies all the fairy lore I want to bring in with this story.

- Since the prince in this story is a Fae prince, maybe he sees this human girl one day and gets a crush, so he keeps visiting her in the form of a fox because he’s not the most socially gifted, and he gets the Will’o’Wisps to lead her to his castle as a way of introducing his choice of bride to his parents, because fae customs are just weird like that. The princess was already fond of her fox friend and later in the movie she learns it was the prince in disguise visiting her because he was in love, and over the course of the story as he helps her win the challenges set by the king and queen, the princess and the fae prince actually properly fall in love with one another. The Pea trial is the last trial and it’s one where the prince cannot help her in any way, so he just gives her advice before she’s sent off to bed.

- In this idea we have a prince who’s not charming or dashing but who’s sincere and kindhearted and more than a little awkward, and a princess who is steadfast, determined, and who isn’t a pushover, who will get through the toughest of odds on her wit and will, of course with the help of her friends because that’s what friends are for. The “villains” are a king and queen who may be overbearing at times but who genuinely want what’s best for their son, parents who differ on how best to raise their child but who love each other fiercely and will protect their family at all cost.

- Maybe the princess can be a changeling, aka a fairy baby who was swapped with a human baby, and then that could either be a reveal at the end of the film when she gets fairy magic by marrying the fairy prince, or it can be left ambiguous how she gets her magical power up and it can be left in the editorial notes that the protagonist was supposed to be a changeling

- What if the princess were fat? Like, the first explicitly chubby Disney Princess in a lineup where slim and athletic is the norm. It would be good representation, I’ll have to play with the design a bit and deviate from my Doll Divine first drafts, because the dresses would fit different on that different body type.

- I also don’t want the prince looking like the general Disney Prince, I want him to sort of embody fox-like characteristics, so the transition from fox to human is believable, also so he looks a little otherworldly since he is a fae prince. Maybe his skin is pink (close enough to a normal human skin tone) and his parents are blue and purple, giving them an otherworldly look.

- I should make a Disney Renaissance style movie trailer for this. Leave the people wanting more, maybe start a petition, get some internet attention that might get Disney’s attention. Long term plans are good.

- In Beauty and the Beast, Belle’s favorite book has “far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise,” as well as a scene where “here’s where she meets Prince Charming, but she won’t discover that it’s him till chapter three,” and I want to use this as a guide for my hypothetical movie. I want people on the internet to assume this story is the book that Belle is reading. So I can have my prince in disguise as a fox but chapter three would usually take place after the intro and after the inciting incident, so after the princess’s normal life is established and after she comes to the fairy castle, which is ideally how I was imagining the reveal to happen.

- There’s the issue of “why wouldn’t the princess just try to leave once she learned what she was expected to do?” In this bare bones list of plot ideas, I’ve indicated that the princess is led to the castle, is sought after by the fae prince, and is sympathetic towards him because of his controlling and overbearing parents. Maybe she stays because she can see just how much he needs her, and throughout the story the two gradually fall for each other. I mean, the prince was already in love with her but we also need to give time for the princess to fall for him.

- Since I love Beauty and the Beast so much, maybe there should be opening narration in the form of a fairy tale, but then it’s revealed it’s the fae prince talking to himself while admiring the princess from afar, and we should do the thing where when the emotions become to great he starts singing, and that’s the opening song, playing in his mind as a fox while he interacts with the princess’s village and the princess herself. The song could function both as an establishing number and an I Want song for the prince.

- Maybe the story should have a meta commentary on how Love at First Sight, as a fairytale staple, isn’t really true love, it’s just puppy love, and real true love is born of dedication and honesty, real love takes effort, which is shown in all the trials and all the ways the prince helps the princess throughout. It’s not enough to say “this is the one I want to marry,” you have to earn your partner’s trust and affection.

- The princess should get a musical number about how she underestimates herself, and over the course of the song she changes key and starts believing in herself, and this’ll take place during a montage of trials

- The fae king and queen should get a campy musical number showing how in love they are, how much more powerful they are than this lowly human girl their son has brought home, and how she’ll never beat them at their own game so why try, and this villain song will set them up for a sympathetic reprise at the end when she inevitably comes out on top

- I might want Joel McNeely to compose for this movie. He proved he can emulate the classic Disney sound in Peter Pan 2, and he has experience composing Celtic-sounding fairy music with the Tinkerbell movies. If Alan Menken is still alive by the time I somehow make this thing work, I’d take him over McNeely.

- Story takes place on Midsummer Eve, because in Irish folklore that’s when the fae are at their happiest and they sometimes take mortals away to be their brides

- There’s a thing in Disney Princess movies that got pointed out in Ralph Breaks the Internet. A princess finds some form of water, looks at it, and sings about her dreams. Snow White’s wishing well, Cinderella’s soap bubbles, Aurora’s woodland river, Ariel had the whole ocean, Belle sang in the snow plus singing at the fountain in the town square, Jasmine got a singing part in Whole New World as they flew through clouds and over oceans/pools, Pocahontas had the river, Meg technically isn’t a Disney princess but she had a whole fountain garden solo number, Mulan had her water garden, Tiana never sang in the presence of water but she did sing a couple times in the swamp, and although Rapunzel never got a water-based song and Merida doesn’t sing, Elsa got her songs in the snow, and Moana had the whole ocean like Ariel did. This is a trend I wanna continue, so I’m gonna try and work in a musical number where the heroine reflects near some form of water.

- The Princess and the Pea is quite a mouthful, and I fear it would get confused with The Princess and the Frog, plus nowadays Disney titles tend to be one word descriptors of some aspect of the movie. Tangled, Frozen, Moana, Encanto, so I think a good candidate for the name of this movie is Midsummer’s Eve. Hopefully that would be enough to differentiate the name from Midsommar, a movie I do not want people connecting this story to at all.

- If I really wanna push the prince’s fox-like features, should I make him small? Like, slim 5’8” young man with pointy ears and pinkish skin. Then I could make his crush, the princess, both tall and fat, but in a muscular way? Like, instead of dainty princess should I go more warrior princess? Twink fairy prince with butch warrior princess? I think that would look stunning.

- Casting Reeve Carney as the prince, he’s got a gorgeous singing voice. I wanna find an Irish actress who can sing for the princess, but I’m not limiting myself with my casting choices for the king and queen. I want people who can be flamboyant, intimidating, and heartfelt.

- The Fae appreciate when humans manage to outsmart them or match their cunning, so in the story the first challenge the princess completes she’ll get by just barely by following the rules and brute forcing it, and the king and queen will sarcastically commend her efforts. The next challenges the princess will catch on that she needs to work smarter, not harder, and she’ll find loopholes and ways around the problems, earning more of the queen and king’s favor. Finally, the princess will face them, saying essentially “I’ve completed every challenge you’ve thrown at me, you must not keep your son cooped up here on his own any longer!” And the remark about their son makes them realize they’ve been unfair to him all this time, not considering what he might want.

- The princess’s cute magical sidekicks include a mischievous Wisp, a well meaning Sylph, and technically the prince in his fox form, which can all be made into plushies for marketing purposes. In the film, the Wisp would stick around her after the other Wisps had fulfilled their duty leading her to the fairy castle, and the Sylph would be gifted to her as a tiny lady in waiting, cleaning up after her and offering to help her in any way, except when it comes to challenges set by the king and queen.

- Talking with the fae is kind of like Alice trying to talk to the people of Wonderland

- Post-Credits scene should be an awkward post-wedding family dinner between princess’s human family and prince’s fairy parents, just these otherworldly creatures sitting across from this burly warrior chieftain forced to make awkward smalltalk it’d be hilarious.

- I wanna make it clear, even if it doesn’t look like it, this love story is a queer love story. The princess is Bi, the prince is Pan and genderfluid, and them being in love with one another doesn’t negate that. Just because the corporate overlords at Disney will inevitably frame it as a straight relationship, these two characters are anything but.

- Maybe the fae can be genderfluid, and the fae royalty can have alternate castings for if I want to turn them different genders for various scenes

- Gonna have another case of single dad raising rebellious daughter, but compound that with the fact that the princess’s dad is the leader of his clan so he’s under a lot of stress. If his daughter disappeared one night, he might think she was taken by a rival clan and might be on the verge of going to war if she doesn’t return, so that’s some extra stakes for the background of the movie

- Quite a bit of fairy folklore in Ireland and England dates back to the 12th century, during which time Ireland was being invaded by the Anglo-Normans, so there’s my background conflict for the humans to be dealing with while the princess is off in fairyland.

- Primary Gaelic weapons of the 12th century: spears, battle-axes, darts, sling-stones

- I’m giving Nessa a sling for a weapon, I think it could be used in a trial or two to solve a problem

- A friend of mine recommended a sort of Greek Chorus of magical cats in little bard uniforms that could slink around the castle and sing for comedic effect. Looking up Irish cat breeds I could only find the Manx cat, so that’s the cat I’m going with.

- Casting the Princess:

- I’m going for someone with an alto sort of voice, someone who can pull off a grounded performance in the face of all these over the top campy fairy characters. They should either be a young adult or someone who can sound youthful, but since the princess is more of a warrior she’ll need to have a deeper voice, or at least not a light and airy voice. Ideally I’d want an Irish actress, just so I don’t get complaints about a bad fake Irish accent. For all the human characters I want Irish actors or people who can pull off Irish accents for background characters, since the story takes place in Ireland and the fae Otherworld.

- Jessie Buckley is Irish, she’s an actress and a singer, her voice is a bit on the deep side but not exactly what I was hearing in my head

- Aisling Franciosi is Irish, she’s still in her 20’s, she can sing really well, but her voice is a bit higher than what I was going for initially

- Casting the Villains:

- We need two singers who harmonize well, who sound great together, who have chemistry so we can hear it in the voice acting. We need two actors who can pull off comedy, heartfelt drama, and menacing moments. Race and accent is not an issue, I’ll just let anything slide because to me a faerie can sound like anything, but I won’t be so lenient on human characters.

- Casting the Fae Prince (or Fae Princess):

- My first idea was Reeve Carney, and I’m gonna stick by that decision unless I stumble across another actor/singer who can pull off a socially awkward twink

- Casting the princess’s dad:

- Resist the urge to plunder HTTYD for casting because those guys are Scottish, and I need Irish actors.

- Maybe Brendan Gleeson, he gives tired gruff dad energy

- Liam Neason is Irish, he’s got a deep gruff voice, and he’s played battle-hardened dad characters before

- Casting the Sidekicks

- Should the Sylph and the Wisp have voice actors? Or should they be more like animal sidekicks, no spoken lines, just noises and body language? I kinda like the idea of them having squeaky gibberish voices, as if Nessa can’t understand their tiny fairy language and the other fairies in the movie are speaking her language to make it simpler for her, in a sort of patronizing way at first?

- Names:

- I want names that would be easy to spell and pronounce for general (non-Irish) audiences but I want Irish names to fit the setting. The fae characters can have more fantastical names but I wanted to go with names that really fit each character.

- Princess: Nessa

- This name can mean “rough” or “not gentle.” In Irish mythology, she was the powerful and ambitious mother of Conchobar (Conor) MacNessa, King of Ulster.

- Fae Prince: Daithi (dah-hee)

- This is an old Irish name that means “swiftness” or “nimbleness.” Daithi was the name of the last Pagan king of Ireland who ruled from 405-426 AD

- Fae Queen: Sloane, Bree, Dara, Sapphire

- Fae King: Bran, Bellamy, Tiernan, Beryl

- Human Dad: Cathal (ka-hal)

- Meaning “strong in battle.” Derived from Gaelic “cath” (battle) and "val" (rule). It was the name of a 7th-century Irish saint.

- Character Design

- If I really wanna push the prince’s fox-like features, should I make him small? Like, slim 5’7” young man with pointy ears and pinkish skin. Then I could make his crush, the princess, both tall and fat, but in a muscular way? Like, instead of dainty princess should I go more warrior princess? Twink fairy prince with butch warrior princess? I think that would look stunning.

- The fairies could be human sized but their wings could do the thing where they become capes, like in Gargoyles

- Nessa:

- Pale freckled skin, heavy-set, muscular, tall, long dark brown hair, dark blue-green eyes

- She wants to be a warrior in her father’s clan but he doesn’t want her seeing battle as his eldest and only daughter

- I’m gonna dress her up in red because the only other princess who wears any red is Moana, and she’ll have a green cloak because folklore says it’ll hide you from fae sights, green is a protective color alongside being complimentary to red

- Daithi:

- Pointed ears, slim physique, pretty short, pink-toned skin, fox-colored hair (dark roots, orange to white gradient on the ends), bright golden eyes

- Regal outfit with lots of nature motifs

- I want the fae royalty to have a variety of different outfits they switch between depending on the situation

- Cathal:

- I want him to look hardened by life, but I want to make it clear that Nessa is the child of his that looks most like him. No more cloning the mom to make the daughter, I want Nessa to look most like her father’s daughter. Same hair, same eye color, same nose, similar jaw, big strong dad with big strong daughter

- Dark brown wavy hair just brushing his shoulders, dark blue-green eyes, pale scarred face, strong jaw, tall muscular build, looks like a warrior king you’d be scared to go up against

- Queen Dara:

- Loud and proud, larger than life, take inspiration from drag queens

- Google “drag queen fashion” and “high fashion inspired by nature” and you’ll get the gist of what I want the queen to look like

- Dara can have more insect theming and bright shiny colors

- King Tiernan:

- Im thinking this character should embody the traits of male birds; the preening, the intricate mating displays, the bright colors and showy feathers. He and his wife shouldn’t be drowning each other out, they should be complimentary, like these two enter a room and they’re immediately the most fabulous pair

- I kinda wanna deviate from typical fantasy menswear, it’s all very dark and heavy, I want the king to look light and fun but still powerful and regal, and I want him to be beautiful, like, all fairies are beautiful to some degree, and I want the king to be beautiful

- I also want the king and queen to utilize the full range of colors on the classic Disney villain color palette; purple, red, green, black, gold, and blue would work with nature-inspired patterns like insect wings, bird feathers, plants and flowers

- Tiernan should have ornately styled facial hair with jewels and golden beads woven into his beard

Ideas for the Trials:

- final one has to be “sleep on the tower of a hundred mattresses”, and I want this one to go like this:

- Nessa is sent to bed with the king and queen acting suspicious. “Sleep, if you can” that sort of thing.

- She returns to her room and is faced with a tower of mattresses. They altered her bed while she was away doing the challenges, and she gathers that this is yet another challenge. She fears there might never be an end and she’ll be trapped in the fairy realm forever.

- She begins the long climb up. The bed is kept stable by towering posts, but she’s exhausted by the time she finally reaches the top. Despite her exhaustion however, as she tucks herself into bed she finds she cannot fall asleep.

- Her mind is racing, thinking things like “this can’t be it, can it? There’s always some little trick, some little complication with the fae, there always is! And what if I fail this test? Would they send me away, or would they trap me in more trials till my hair goes grey? What would happen to Daithi? He’s so used to living with these mad people but he shouldn’t have to be! It isn’t right! Why shouldn’t he get a say in who he marries, why’s it up to them?”

- As she’s thinking this, she starts tossing and turning but no matter what she does she cannot get comfortable. She feels a bump in the mattress but as she glances over the side to search under the top mattress she gets a bit of vertigo. She steels her resolve and starts to climb down the ladder, checking every mattress for some kind of rock or anything that could cause such a noticeable bump. She searches and searches until she reaches the floor, and under the very bottom mattress she finds a tiny green pea. Furious, she takes the pea and storms out of the room in her nightgown, ready to give the king and queen a peace of her mind.

- Not sure if there should be a montage blurring together an indeterminate amount of trials but if there was I could get away with a musical number, like how Make a Man Out of You is a training montage where all the singing is inner monologue

- I want weird nature-themed trials you’d find in fairytales and folklore, like herding rabbits or picking the correct item out of a lineup of identical looking things, so I’m gonna research and read up on fairytales to find any weirdly specific elements I can borrow

- In most of the tasks I want Daithi to be able to gift something to Nessa that will help her succeed, wether it be a magical aid or a piece of advice. All this helping will continue to grow their friendship and blossom that romance.

- A darts competition?

- An obstacle course?

- If we want to add something scary to the movie I can make one trial deal with the dead or ghosts since a lot of fairy folklore from Ireland utilizes ghost stories and death omens

- Maybe just indirectly steal from that one folktale I read about the dude carrying a talking skeleton to its final resting place

- The trial is to bring a skeleton hanging around your neck to its burial site all the while avoiding the sight of a Banshee

- It’s like a terrifying game of Red Light Green Light with corpses and ghosts

- At a tense moment where Nessa’s nearly there but the Banshee is turning, about to catch sight of her, Daithi in the form of some tiny animal swoops in to distract the Banshee, giving Nessa the time she needs to pass the trial.

- A game of riddles against the king that provides a break in the montage song Nessa will sing about feeling the need to prove herself and slowly realizing that she has nothing to prove to anyone, she just needs to realize the strength and willpower already within herself. The riddles game provides a break where the characters talk in a certain rhythm so it’s like talk-singing and it’s continuing the song.

Basic Plot Outline:

- Storybook narration, morphs into our fairy prince character Daithi daydreaming while watching our protagonist Nessa from the trees/bushes. She has no idea he’s there and she’s having fun with her younger brothers. Daithi can’t bear to merely watch anymore and transforms into a fox to interact with her, which is when we get the opening number that will establish a bit of the setting but also serve as the prince’s I Want song as his inner thoughts. He wants someone who gets him, someone he can pour all his love into, he wants a partner to stand with through thick and thin, like his parents’ relationship. He wants a life partner, and at the start he’s projecting all that onto Nessa, his dream girl. He’s convinced it’s true love because it was love at first sight, he barely knows this girl but he’s a hopeless romantic.

- Nessa and her brothers are wary at first but as soon as Daithi shows he’s friendly the siblings include the fox in their game, like playing with a stray dog. Their father comes to break it up to send the boys off to gather resources for the upcoming Midsummer’s Eve festivities, taking the opportunity to give Nessa a stern talking to. They both know she’s past the typical age where she’d be married off to forge a new alliance, but Nessa is steadfast in her desire to help her father and fight for her people. Cathal is adamant that she stay away from war, and hopes she can loosen up and make some friends outside of her brothers at the celebration later that evening. Maybe we could have Nessa singing a reprise of Daithi’s I Want song but change the lyrics to fit Nessa’s situation of wanting to prove herself strong and capable to her father, and since it’d be a reprise there’s no need to make it very long, it can be like the Belle Reprise, the One Jump Ahead Reprise, the Part of Your World Reprise, or the Poor Unfortunate Souls Reprise.

- During the festivities a massive thunderstorm comes out of nowhere and Nessa is drawn into the woods by a mysterious light and the sounds of childish laughter which she thinks are her youngest brothers running off to the woods in the middle of the night in a thunderstorm. She’s the type to charge in headfirst and deal with the consequences later. Instead of her brothers, she finds a luminous castle in a part of the forest she doesn’t recognize at all. The doors open of their own accord, and she goes inside, now drenched and exhausted.

- The castle is bigger on the inside and the massive doors swing shut behind her. This is the throne room, and perched atop the ornate golden thrones are two imposing beautiful creatures. The taller one seems to be dressed in a more feminine style and the shorter one has an ornately styled beard and mustache. These are the king and queen of the fairies, Dara and Tiernan. They slowly get up from their thrones and saunter over to this haggard human girl who dared to enter their realm without so much as an invitation, but Daithi in his humanoid fairy form quickly walks over to intercept, like, “Mom, Dad, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about!”

- Nessa is quite rightfully overwhelmed so she sits in stunned silence as this guy she doesn’t know talks about her like they’re good friends and his parents openly judge her with backhanded compliments and scathing remarks. She literally has no clue how to react to all this so when the guy takes her arm and leads her off to the hallway she lets him do it, and here’s where he apologizes for suddenly dropping all this on her poor human mind. He also shows her he’s the fox that’s been visiting her for quite some time now, and she gets a better sense of what she’s dealing with now that she knows they’ve actually interacted before in a positive way, they’re not complete strangers.

- The reason Daithi lured her to the castle is because his parents were about to marry him off to a fairy of their choosing unless he finally picked someone and brought them forward for his parents’ approval. Midsummer’s Eve was the deadline they set. It’s definitely a lot for Nessa to process, so Daithi asks his parents to give Nessa a place to rest for the night before they do anything with her. They oblige and Nessa is set up with a lavish room and a Sylph handmaiden to tend to her needs. Curiously, a mischievous Wisp has been sticking by Nessa’s side ever since its brethren led her to the castle, and it gleefully wrecks little things in the room that the Sylph compulsively attends to and cleans up. These two are the primary comic relief, lots of slapstick and physical comedy.

- That very night, the king and queen plot just how they’re gonna test this mortal. If she’s gonna stand any chance of marrying their boy she’s gotta live up to their standards, and those are high standards. Dara wants to hold a contest of strength but Tiernan proposes a dueling of wits, and together the two devise a series of trials for Nessa to complete before she earns their favor. Daithi is eavesdropping in fox form so he can hopefully give Nessa a heads up before she goes to face the trials.

- Nessa thinks about it like this; these are obviously the fae, basically gods, and they’re much more powerful than her. Best to be a polite guest and play along with whatever they’re planning until she’s earned enough of their good graces to ask for a guide out of their realm and back to her home and family.

- Should the villain song go here? Like, as the way the king and queen fully introduce themselves to Nessa and set up the trials, all the while singing about how there’s no chance she’ll actually succeed and how they’re better than her in every way? Could lead directly into Nessa’s hero song, a triumphant moment as she gets the hang of the challenges and starts beating them at their own game.

- One thing I set up in the beginning is Nessa’s clan having some enemies that might take an alliance to fully defeat, and the fact that Nessa’s past the typical marriage age to forge an alliance between her group and another, and the fact that the whole point of this story is to get past the superficial crush stage of Love at First Sight and work to forge a strong bond with your chosen partner, so perhaps the movie could end with the humans and the fae coming together under the marriage of Nessa and Daithi, forging a new alliance that will strengthen them for years to come.

Merchandising Opportunities:

- Fairy Castle playset, dolls of Nessa, Daithi, Dara, Tiernan, the Sylph, and the Wisp

- Fashion dolls of Nessa and Dara, accompanied by dolls of Daithi and Tiernan respectively

- Singing dolls of Nessa, Daithi, Dara, and Tiernan

- Plushies of the Sylph and the Wisp, plush fox based on Daithi

- Figurines of the principle cast members

- Costumes of the princess dresses and fairy royalty outfits

- Makeup kit inspired by Queen Dara

- Simplified story for children’s books

- Potential for a follow up series exploring how Nessa navigates the role of fairy princess, her struggles fitting in and her misadventures with all sorts of fae creatures (like a similar formula to Tangled the Series)

- Wisp nightlight

#Disney #the princess and the pea #princess and the pea #Disney movie idea #Disney princess movie idea #movie idea #Disney princess

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upwords1990 · 1 year ago

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Judy Mastrangelo

Judy Mastrangelo has written and illustrated several books, which include themes of Poetry, Fairytales, and Fairies. She follows the tradition of “The Art of the Golden Age of Illustration”. Some of her titles include a series of four Fairy books: “Portal to the Land of Fae” which includes Flower Fairies, Fairy Tale Fairies, Secrets of the Fairies, and Mystical Fairies. Additional books include “What Do Bunnies Do All Day?”, “Enchanted Fairy Tales”, which she illustrated and adapted, “The Star”, illustrating the poem Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and her new fairy tale “The Magic Blanket”. Besides creating books, her artwork has been used in several Inspirational Oracle Card Decks, as well as some that she has also written herself. She licenses her artwork for many products, including Art Prints and Wall Murals. Judy has taught Creative Drama and Dance as well as Painting, to Children and Adults, and has directed her own Community Theater for all ages. As part of her work, she enjoys encouraging people to develop their own Imagination and Artistic Talents. You can visit her at www.judymastrangelo.com https://lnkd.in/ed3QUQ5u Visit RedBubble for Judy's paintings and merchandise. https://lnkd.in/eXM9Ypee

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atlantean-studies · 2 years ago

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Descendants Of Melusine

Most of us see Melusine (Melusina) on Starbucks coffee cups and merchandise, without even realizing that it is the mythological daughter of a Scottish King and Faery Queen.

Her legacy would spread from Scotland to English, and then across the Channel to France, Belgum, and Germany. She would become the inspiration for Ariel, from Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

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ENGLAND VERSION

According to legend: the water goddess, Melusine, was born to a mortal human father and an immortal fae mother. Her own mother cursed Melusine to transform into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. This was because she locked her own father in a mountain, and as punishment, she turned into a shapeshifter to make her undesirable to men.

Even bearing a curse, she married a British Lord and gave birth to 10 children. The one line that flourished would be their ancestor, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, born in 1416 to Peter of Luxembourg and Margaret de Baux.

When Melusina was seen by her husband, Siegfried, she said to him before she departed: ‘But one thing will I say unto thee before I part, that thou, and those who for more than a hundred years shall succeed thee, shall know that whenever I am seen to hover over the fair castle, then will it be certain that in that very year the castle will get a new lord.’ in Celtic tales, we call this behavior of wailing at the death of descendants ‘Banshee’, which is very common with wronged Fae.

***

Jacquetta of Luxembourg spent her childhood in different castles, unaffected by the War of Roses. It is likely that she somehow influenced Joan of Arc when her uncle, John of Luxembourg, detained her for four months.

Jacquetta, only 17, was wedded to Duke John of Bedford. She then became the first lady of France. They traveled to Paris, but were forced to stop in Calais due to war. They continued to Paris and she became the Lady of Hotel de Bourbon.

With the French uprising of 1435, the Duke and Jacquetta left Paris for Rouen. With the Duke growing weaker and sicker, Jacquetta grew closer to Richard Woodville who was stationed in Calais. By September 14, 1435, Duke John died; and Jacquetta was under the control of the King of England.

King Edward IV ordered Jacquetta not to marry, as he desired her. However, she married Sir Richard Woodville and traveled to England to pay the fine. They were pardoned in October 1437, just before the birth of Elizabeth Woodville.

Jacquetta then gave birth to her first son, Lewis Woodville, in 1438. Yet, Lewis died of deformity. Anne Woodville was born in 1439. By 1442, she then gave birth to Anthony Woodville and would give birth to ten more children from 1443 to 1458. Eight daughters and five sons survived.

After the war, Princess Margaret of Anjou befriended Jacquetta and choose her to be her chief lady-in-waiting. This rewarded Jacquetta with much wealth from the Queen.

Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta sailed to Plymouth, but were rerouted back to Calais. There, they arranged a marriage for their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, to marry Sir John Grey.

With Bordeaux the King dead, Queen Margaret, pregnant entrusted the aid of Jacquetta to hide the death of the King. By October 13, 1453, Queen Margaret gave birth to Edward. But without her son being recognized as the Prince of Wales, the Queen had her son christened nevertheless.

England was without a King. Richard, Duke of York was made the leader with Queen Margaret and Jacquetta. However, in 1454, Bordeaux awakened and was placed back in power. This would cause a battle between Richard and Bordeaux. Bordeaux was defeated, and Jacquetta fled with Queen Margaret and her son into the Tower of London, then to Windsor Castle and later, Hertford.

Jacquetta left Queen Margaret to attend to her daughter, Elizabeth, as she gave birth to a healthy child.

Soon, Lord Rivers, Jacquetta, and Anthony were sent to reinforce the Port of Sandwich. Richard Woodville was captured; however, Jacquetta and Anthony were taken back to Calais. Somehow, Jacquetta was sent back to England within a few weeks, but Lord Rivers and Anthony were held prisoners for six months.

Margaret of Anjou, along with the Scots, returned to England for war. John Grey, Elizabeth’s husband, died. However, Queen Margaret won the war with the help of Jacquetta.

The Duke of York chose Jacquetta, Anne Neville, and the Lady Scales to represent the city and negotiate with the Queen so that they did not loot the city. However, Queen Margaret wasn’t pleased and marked Edward of York as a traitor. In the end, Edward became King.

Anthony was married off by Jacquetta, but her daughter, Elizabeth was miserable with the death of her lover. Only a year later, Elizabeth was married to King Edward.

With Queen Elizabeth’s rise in power, also brought Jacquetta great political power too. However, the people began to fear that Jacquetta and her daughter, Elizabeth, might be using witchcraft or supernatural powers from Melusine.

Sir Richard Woodville then became the Earl of Rivers in 1446, and was then appointed as Constable of England. Jacquetta worked to arrange advantageous marriages for all her children, making them heirs and heiresses to the England monarchy.

Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick was infuriated with the marriage of Edwards and Elizabeth. With Edwards defeated, Sir Richard Woodville and his son, John of Grafton tried to flee to Wales, where Jacquetta was. But they were captured and beheaded on the orders of the Earl of Warwick. Their heads were displayed on the walls of Coventry for witchcraft.

Richard Neville then sent guards to Grafton and arrested Jacquetta. In 1469, she was accused of witchcraft and sorcery. She was taken to Warwick Castle. However, before sentencing, Richard Neville dropped the case and released Jacquetta after fearing retribution from the supernatural. Jacquetta fled to join her daughter, Elizabeth, at the Tower of London.

Richard Neville then released King Edward, and reinstated him and Queen Elizabeth. King Edward worked to clear Jacquetta’s name.

When Richard Neville attacked King Edward once again, causing the King and Anthony to flee for their lives. Jacquetta had already fled into the safety of Westminster Abbey, joining her pregnant daughter, Queen Elizabeth and her three other daughters. Queen Elizabeth gave birth to a boy, the new heir of York.

Irritated, King Edward’s brother, George, turned on the Earl of Warwick. King Edward rescued Queen Elizabeth, her children, and her mother, Jacquetta. King Edward then turned against Margaret of Anjou, killing Margaret’s son and arresting her.

Jacquetta watched her friend, Margaret Anjou become a political prisoner of England, but asked for her release to return to her family. King Edward and Queen Elizabeth took the throne again and lived in peace. And Richard Neville was exiled from England.

By 1472, age 56, Jacquetta of Luxembourg died. Years later, Richard III (Edward IV’s brother) looked into Jacquetta’s supernatural powers after she had died. He was interested in her abilities and the ties to Melusine.

Elizabeth Woodville’s daughter, Elizabeth of York had married Henry VII, continuing the Melusine bloodline. Her son, Henry VIII and his descendants ruled English until the Tudors died out with the passing of Queen Elizabeth I, allowing the Stuarts to rise to power. The Stuarts are the descendants of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and they passed on their Fae DNA to Princess Margaret the Queen of Scotland; returning the Fae line of Melusine back to Scotland, where in had originated.

Intriguingly, the French version of Melusine was thought to have migrated to France by Margaret of Anjou, Jacquetta’s friend.

In 1445, Margaret was present at her sister Yolande’s wedding to Ferry de Vaudemont. King Charles VII had shown up at the wedding, carrying a shield with the image of Melusine on it.

In fact, the story of Queen Elizabeth Woodville and her mother, Jacquetta Woodville had filled France with many stories of their Fae witchcraft and then being the descendants of the Water Goddess, Melusine.

For Charles VII, the shield was meant to send a clear statement to the French Court of England’s divine province over France. In fact, Charles of Maine, the uncle to Margaret of Anjou, married Isabella of Luxembourg, the sister of Jacquetta Woodville. This makes the houses of Anjou, Luxembourg, and Woodville the primary descendants of Melusine.

***

FRENCH VERSION

In the French version, Melusine sailed from Scotland’s Orkney Island, a home of the Fae and settled in Poitiers, where she built the Chateau Lusignan.

Raymond of Forez spotted Melusine sitting near a fountain, dressed in glimmering white with long blonde hair and inexpressible beauty. There she married Raymond Lord of Forez, telling him he could not look at her on Saturday, when she was bathing.

Together, they had 10 children, but most died due to deformity from Melusine’s Fae blood.

Melusine retreated every Saturday to a hiding room that was filled with water where she endured her serpent tail. Raymond became suspicious and spied on her through a keyhole, seeing his wife transform.

Raymond tried to hide his knowledge, but one day called her a serpent, and as a result, she turned into a winged dragon and flew away. She flew over the Chateau Lusignan to watch her sons grow up. Even today, the sound of wind in the chimneys is still called ‘Melusine’, due to the beat of her wings blowing down in chimneys.

Over time, the Chateau Lusignan was dismantled in the 18th century on the order of the Count of Blossac who turned the chateau into a park.

Melusine however is far older than the well-known French version, as the story was first written in 1393 by Jean d’Arras in the ‘Noble History of Lusignan’. Here, the story accounts that the rise of the Lusignan dynasty was seated in Poitou, founded by a Fairy.

According to the story, Melusine built Chateau Lusignan using an army of Fae workers who built it in a single night. Her life was a sad story as her husband could not accept her powers.

***

ALBANIA VERSION

There once was a king who ruled over Albania. He was sad, because his wife had died.

Now one day in the woods he was thirsty, and drew near a spring to quench his thirst. And as he drew near, he heard a sweet voice singing, and it was none other than the voice of the Fae, Pressina.

She was so sweet and gentle that by and by he persuaded her to be his wife. It was not a very wise thing for a fairy to wed a mortal, and Pressina promised only on condition that he should never come to see her when she had children.

The king gladly promised, and meant to keep his word; but one day, the king's son by his former wife came hastily to him, and told him that Pressina had given birth to three daughters. The king was overjoyed. He forgot his promise and flew to her chamber, where he found her bathing her three daughters.

Pressina cried bitterly that he had broken his word, and he should see her no more. She took her three daughters and disappeared.

Where did she go?

Why, to the Lost Island. That was so called because it was only by chance that one ever found it, and even if one found it once, he might easily lose it, and never find it again. Here she reared her children, and when they were grown, she took them every day to the top of a mountain, whence they could look down upon Albania.

"My children," she would say, "you see that distant, beautiful country. There your father lives. He is king of the land, and there you might now be living happily if he had not broken his word to me, and I could no longer live with him, for I had warned him of this, and a fairy may not break her word."

This went on year after year, and at last when they were fifteen years old, Melusina, who was the first to be born, begged her mother to tell them what was the word their father gave, and how he came to break it. And when she heard the story, she was filled with wrath, and laid a plot with her sisters for revenge upon their father.

The three maidens said nothing to Pressina, but secretly set out for Albania. As they were half fairies, they could use the fairies' charms, and this they did. They seized their father, and shut him up forever in the heart of a mountain. Then they went back in triumph, and told their mother what they had done.

But Pressina was not at all pleased. She punished her children for what they had done. The other two she punished lightly, but she condemned Melusina to become, every Saturday, a serpent from her waist downward. The only escape for her was to find a husband, who would promise never to look upon her on a Saturday, and who would keep his word. So long as he was faithful, all would be well.

The fair Melusina now began to roam through the world in search of this faithful husband. She was most beautiful to behold, and had every grace to make her winsome; but it was long before she could meet the man of her search. She passed through the Black Forest, and at last came to a place known as the Fountain of the Fairies, for there were many fairies about the place; it was also called the Fountain of Thirst.

By chance, Count Raymond strayed that way one moonlit night, and there he saw three fairies dancing, but the most beautiful of the three was the fair Melusina. She was so sweet and gentle that he fell madly in love with her, and begged her to marry him.

The fair Melusina knew that she had at last found the man for whom she had been waiting and looking. Yes, she would marry him, but on one condition only. He must never look upon her on a Saturday. And Count Raymond solemnly promised that he never would.

All went well for a while. They were happy together, but the evil that the fair Melusina had done lived on. For as each child was born into the world, it was crooked and ill to look on. Yet this did not lessen Count Raymond's love for the fair Melusina. All might still have gone well, had someone not whispered to the count that it would be wise for him to see what Melusina was doing on Saturday.

He became more and more curious, and at last one Saturday he hid himself where he could see, and not be seen, and thus he watched for Melusina in her chamber.

O pity of pities! He saw her, the fair Melusina, but from the waist down she was a serpent, with silvery scales, tipped with white. He covered his eyes. It was too late, and he was seized with horror, not so much at what he had seen as at the thought of how he had broken his faith. Perhaps he might yet have kept silent. But a great evil fell upon him.

One of his sons had cruelly killed a brother, and Count Raymond was beside himself with grief. Suddenly he thought how all his children had been born crooked, and how it must have been because of some wicked thing their mother had done. And as he was thus weeping and wailing in the midst of his courtiers, the fair Melusina came in to comfort him.

When he saw her, he burst into a rage, and cried out aloud: "Away! Out of my sight, thou hateful serpent! Thou wicked woman!"

Down to the ground dropped the fair Melusina in a swoon; and when she came to herself, she looked with sad eyes at her lord. She knew, then, that her time had come, and that she could not escape her punishment. The man she had been faithful to had not kept his word.

"Farewell! Farewell!" she moaned. "Alas for the misery I am in. I had hoped that thou hadst been faithful, and that I might escape my doom. It may not be. The mortal in me dies, but in my fairy life I must forever fleet about the earth as a poor lost spirit."

And at that, with a little faint cry, her body fell again, but there was a rustling in the air as the fair Melusina set forth on her lone wandering. Count Raymond and those about him saw her no more. But whenever in after years there was a new lord over the castle, the country folk said that she hovered about the Fountain of Thirst, a poor forlorn wraith.

--From ‘The Book of Legends: Told Over Again’ 1899

***

LUXEMBOURG SOLDIERS’ VERSION

Once at midnight Melusina approached a sentry beneath the Castle Gate Bridge. She asked him to redeem her. For this to succeed, the following midnight she would appear to him in the form of a serpent with a key in her mouth. He was to take the key into his mouth and then lay it on the altar of the Dominican Church. Then she would become his bride, and all her treasures would belong to him.

When she thus appeared to him, the soldier turned ice cold, and he was overcome with shuddering.

The following day the death-bell tolled down from the old cathedral, and in the cemetery a grave was dug for the young warrior.

--From ‘Die Sage von der schönen Melusina, der Ahnfrau der Luxemburger Grafen’ 1883

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LUXEMBBOURG MERMAID VERSION

Mélusine is said to have been the wife of the founder of Luxembourg, Count Siegfried. When they married, she requested Siegfried to leave her alone for one full day and night every month, and that he should not ask or try to find out what she was doing.

Siegfried accepted this wish, and all went well for years. On the first Wednesday of the month, Mélusine would retire into her chambers in the "casemates," a network of caverns underneath the city, not to be seen again until early light on Thursday.

But one day, Siegfried's curiosity got the better of him. Wondering what his wife might be doing alone all the time, he peeped through the keyhole, and was shocked to see that Mélusine was lying in the bathtub, with a fishtail hanging over the rim. Realizing that her husband had come to know the truth about her, she jumped out of the window into the river Alzette below, never to be seen again.

Every now and then, people claim to have seen a beautiful girl's head pop out of the river, and a fishtail rippling the calm waters of the river Alzette.

According to another legend, Mélusine is imprisoned within the rock that helped form Luxembourg City's tremendous defenses. She passes the time by knitting, but thankfully she manages only one stitch each year, because should she finish her knitting before she's released, all of Luxembourg and its people will vanish into the rock with her!

Once every seven years, Mélusine returns, either as a serpent with a golden key in its mouth or as a beautiful woman.

All it will take to win her freedom is for some brave soul to kiss the womanly vision or take the key from the serpent's mouth. That brave soul has yet to appear, and in the meantime, Luxembourg prays for her to drop a stitch or two, so that whatever it is she's knitting will take a very long time to complete!

--From: Mysterious Maiden Melusine, 2013

***

GERMAN VERSION

In Baden there is a forest named Stollenwald, and in this forest, atop Stollenberg Mountain, are the ruins of an old castle. Stauffenberg Palace stands nearby. In this palace there once lived a magistrate's son who took great pleasure in capturing birds. One day he went into the woods to trap titmice. There he heard a beautiful voice descending from Stollenberg mountain. Following it, he saw the loveliest image of a woman, which called out to him:

Redeem me, redeem me! Just kiss me three times three!

"Who are you then?" called the youth, and the specter said:

Melusina is my name, The daughter of heavenly song! Early in the ninth hour, Fearlessly kiss my mouth and my cheeks, Then I shall be redeemed, And be with you, my beloved bridegroom!

Looking at the miraculous being more closely, the youth saw that Melusina had a marvelously beautiful face, blue eyes, and blond hair. Her upper body too was wonderfully proportioned, but not her hands and feet. Her hands had no fingers, resembling instead small open bags, and she had no feet at all, but rather a snake's body. Nonetheless, the youth fearlessly gave the specter the first three kisses. She expressed joy in this, like the maiden in the heathen's cave with her first kiss, and then she disappeared.

The next morning the lover returned and followed the seductively sweet song that sounded toward him. Finding her, he saw that she now had wings. Her snake's body was speckled green and ended with a dragon's tail. But Melusina's eyes and face emanated such beauty, and her mouth was so seductive, that he was overcome by desire, and he again gave her three kisses. She quivered with lust and desire, flapping her wings about his head.

That night the youth could scarcely close his eyes. All his thoughts were with the glowing, sensuously beautiful figure. Before daybreak he went into the woods and followed the sweet songful voice. But alas! Where was the lovely angel's face? It was transformed and looked just like the maiden on the toad-chair, for Melusina now had a toad's head, and the lover was supposed to kiss it as though nothing had happened. But instead, he turned his heels and ran away as fast as he could. Behind him he heard a rushing sound and cries of anguish.

He never again went to Stollenberg Mountain. On the contrary, he became engaged to a girl who, although not as magically beautiful as Melusina, nonetheless did not have a toad's head and a snake's body.

The wedding feast at Stauffenberg Palace was ready, and everyone was celebrating, when a small crack opened in the ceiling. A dew-like drop fell into the serving dish, but no one saw it. And anyone who took a bite onto which the drop had fallen fell down dead. And from above a small snake's tail emerged through the crack in the ceiling.

That was the end of the wedding celebration.

On another occasion Melusina appeared to a shepherd girl. At length she led the girl into Stollenberg Mountain. Showing her underground treasures, she told the shepherd girl that they would be hers if she could bring about her disenchantment. The girl was unable to keep this secret, and the priest threatened her with church sanctions if she continued to commune with the specter. This silenced the shepherd girl, and the disenchantment was not fulfilled.

A double fir tree growing from a single root still stands near the place they call "the twelve stones." It is called "the Melusina tree."

In keeping with this Swabian legend, the name Melusina refers not only to water sprites but to mountain and forest sprites as well.

--From ‘Melusine’ 1853

***

GERMAN ‘HERR PETER’ VERSION

Staufenberg, the ancestral castle of the knight Peter Dimringer -- the subject of legend -- is in Ortenau not far from Offenburg. Early one Whitsunday the knight had his servant saddle his horse, for he wanted to ride from his fortress to Nussbach to hear the morning prayers. The boy rode ahead. As he entered the forest, he saw a beautiful, richly bejeweled maiden sitting all alone on a rock. She greeted him, and the servant rode on. Soon thereafter Herr Peter himself came by, looked at her with pleasure, then greeted the maiden and spoke to her cordially.

She bowed to him and said, "God thank you for your greeting."

Then Peter dismounted his horse. She offered her hands to him. He lifted her from the rock and put his arms around her. They sat on the grass and talked about what she was doing.

"Pardon me, my beautiful lady, may I ask you a sincere question? Tell me, why are you sitting here alone with no one near you?"

"I tell you friend, on my honor, I have been waiting here for you. I have loved you since you first learned to ride a horse. I have secretly watched over you and protected you with my own hand, keeping you from harm in battles and in wars, on roads and on byways."

The knight answered virtuously, "Nothing better could have happened to me than to have met you. My desire is to be with you until death."

"That can be," said the maiden, "if you will follow my words. If you want to love me then you must take no other woman in marriage. If you were to do so, you would die on the third day. Whenever you are alone and desire me, I will be with you immediately, and you will live happily and with pleasure."

Herr Peter said, "My lady, is that all true?"

With God as her witness, she swore it was true. Then he promised to be hers, and they exchanged vows with each other. The lady asked that the wedding be held at Staufenberg. She gave him a beautiful ring. They laughed together virtuously and embraced, and then Herr Peter continued on his way. He attended mass in the village and said his own prayers, then returned home to his fortress.

As soon as he was alone in his bower, he thought to himself, "If only I had my dear bride here with me, whom I found out there on the rock!" As soon as he said these words she stood there before his eyes. They kissed one another and were together with pleasure.

Thus, they lived for a while. In addition, she gave him money and property, so that he could have a good life on earth. Later he went abroad, and wherever he went, his wife was with him whenever he wished for her.

Finally, he returned to his homeland. His brothers and friends insisted that he take himself a wife. He was taken back and tried to make an excuse. They applied even more pressure through a wise man, one of his relatives.

Herr Peter answered, "I will have my body cut into strips before I marry."

That evening after they had left, his wife already knew what they were trying to do, and he repeated his pledge to her.

At that time the German king was to be elected in Frankfurt, and Herr von Staufenberg, accompanied by many servants and noblemen, journeyed there. He distinguished himself so greatly at the tournament that he attracted the king's attention, and in the end the king offered him the hand in marriage of his aunt from Kärnten [Carinthia]. Herr Peter, filled with concern, rejected the proposal. This caused a great stir among the princes, who wanted to know his reason. Finally, he told them that he already had a beautiful wife who was exceedingly good to him, and on account of whom he could not take another one, or within three days he would be dead.

Then the bishop said, "Herr, let me see the woman."

He said, "She does not allow herself to be seen by anyone but me."

"Then she is not a true woman," they all said, "but from the devil. And if you are making love with a she-devil more than with pure women, that will corrupt your name and your reputation before the whole world."

Confused by this talk, Herr von Staufenberg said that he wanted to do whatever the king desired of him, and he was forthwith betrothed to the maiden and given costly royal gifts.

In accordance with Peter's wishes, the wedding was to take place in Ortenau.

The next time his wife came to him she reproached him sadly for having violated her prohibition and his promise, for which he would now forfeit his young life. "I will give you the following sign: When, at your wedding celebration, you together with the other men and women see my foot then you must immediately confess your sins and prepare yourself for death."

With that Peter thought about the clergyman's words, that perhaps she was only trying to enchant him with these threats and that it was all only a lie.

The young bride was soon brought to Staufenberg, and a great feast was held. The knight was seated across from her at the table when they suddenly saw something push through the ceiling: a beautiful human foot, up to the knee, as white as ivory.

The knight turned pale and cried out, "Oh, my friends, you have destroyed me. In three days, I shall be dead."

The foot disappeared without leaving a hole in the ceiling. The piping, dancing, and singing ceased, and a clergyman was summoned. The knight took leave from his bride, confessed his sins, and then his heart ruptured. His young wife retreated to a convent and prayed to God for his soul. The valiant knight was mourned in all the German lands.

In the sixteenth century, according to the testimony of Fischart, people throughout the entire region still knew the story of Peter from Staufenberg and the beautiful sea sprite, as they called her in those days. To this day the Zwölfstein [Twelve-Stone] can be seen between Staufenberg, Nussbach, and Weilershofen, where she first appeared to him. And in the castle, they still show the room where she stayed from time to time.

--From ‘Herr Peter Dimringer von Staufenberg’ 1818

***

GERMAN ‘BAD BUTTGENBACH MERMAID’ VERSION

At the time when there was nothing in the Harz but virgin forest, a knight came here to hunt. Before he could orient himself, he became lost, and he wandered about for several days without finding a path.

Finally, he came upon a beautiful castle situated in a large meadow and surrounded with water. A pathway led to a drawbridge, which had been suspended.

He called out; he whistled; he waited. He didn't hear anything from within. It was as though the castle had died out.

"Wait," he thought. "The castle cannot be empty. Someone will have to appear shortly. Just sit here and wait until someone comes." So, he sat and waited, but the castle remained silent. Finally, his patience wore out, and he was just making preparations to leave when he saw a beautiful girl emerge from the forest and walk toward the bridge.

"Wait," he thought. "She knows her way around here. She is going inside." And that is what happened. When she was within a few steps of him, he spoke to her, telling her that he had lost his way in the Harz Forest, that he had camped out eight days in the open, and that he was eager at last to spend a night under a proper roof. He had already sat here for three hours asking for admission, but no one had shown himself or let himself be heard. Further, he asked if she would be so good to ask permission for him to enter once she was inside.

She said that that would not be necessary. He could come with her. She did not need to ask anyone for permission, for she herself was in charge here. With that she stepped on a stone that was mortared into the earth in front of the bridge, and the bridge immediately descended. Then she took out a large key and unlocked the gate. Together they walked through a large courtyard and into the castle.

She led the knight into a beautiful room and asked him to make himself comfortable. She told him that before anything else, she wanted to go and prepare a proper evening meal. Surely, he would like something hot to eat, she said, adding that she too was hungry. Because she had no servants, she would have to take care of everything by herself.

With that she left the room. A short time later she returned with a beautiful roast, cakes, and many other delicious things. She set the table and invited her guest to help himself. He did not need to be asked a second time.

After they had eaten, they sat together and talked with one another. The knight said that he felt sorry for the friendly girl, because she lived here all alone, observing that time must pass very slowly for her.

"Oh no," she said. "Time does not pass slowly for me," adding that nonetheless she sometimes did wish for company, but if she did not have any, she could still manage just fine.

The knight answered that if she did not mind, he would stay here a few days and keep her company.

The hostess replied that she would be happy if he would do so.

The guest remained one, two, three days, and they became so accustomed to one another that in the end the knight asked her if she did not want to become his wife. The girl was pleased with this, and she said that she would love to do so, if he would only promise her that every Friday, she would be able to go out and do whatever she wanted to, and that he would not try to follow her or look after her. This he promised her, and they became a couple.

They lived together a long time, satisfied with one another. They produced lovely children, and in their happiness, they lacked nothing.

One day a strange knight came and was given lodging. It was on a Friday, and he asked about the lady of the house, because she had not made an appearance. The master of the house told him that his wife was never to be seen on a Friday, and that he -- in keeping with his promise -- had never sought after her. With that the strange knight asked what kind of a housewife would not tell her husband where she could be found. Nothing good could come from such behavior.

This conversation so alarmed the master of the house that he immediately set out to find his wife. After a long search, he finally came to the cellar, where he found a door. Opening it, he saw his wife, half fish and half human, swimming in a small pond. When she saw her husband, she cast a sad and serious glance at him, and then disappeared.

The bewildered man went back upstairs to tell the strange knight what he had experience, but he too had disappeared. Now the poor man realized that he and his wife had been cruelly deceived and victimized by the stranger.

He grieved so much for his good wife that he died soon afterward. The lovely children also died one after the other, and the castle fell into ruins. It is not even known where it formerly stood. Only the story remains.

--From: ‘Die Wasserjungfer’ 1862

***

GERMAN ‘BRAUHARD MERMAID’ VERSION

Many years ago, a man named Brauhard lived in Lauterberg. He had been far away across the water and had brought home a mermaid, whom he married.

Her top half was human, but her bottom half was formed like a fish.

She lived in a tub in his house. However, his friends could not stand the malformed woman, and so they finally poisoned her.

He did not remarry, and he contributed the money he had received as her dowry to the poor.

This is the source of the Brauhard Fund which to this day is administered by the Scharzfeld Jurisdiction for the support of the poor in the surrounding villages.

--From: ‘Brauhards Seejungfer’ 1848

***

GERMAN ‘MELUSINA’ VERSION

In Bäringen during a wind storm they say that "Melusina is crying for her children."

This must be true, because otherwise on Christmas Eve, at which time one is supposed to eat nine kinds of food, they would shake the leftovers from the tablecloth onto a bush so that Melusina, sometimes also known as St. Melusina, might also have something to eat.

--From: ‘Sagenbuch des Erzgebirges’ 1886

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onceuponayoi · 5 years ago

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Hello Fae Folk, I'm here with some incredible news!!!

Unexpectedly, our Awesome Merch order has arrived!!!!!

We've got half of our merch now (another post is up with the other half that came in today)

Fae Folk, I absolutely cannot tell you how incredible this merch is, the crappy phone camera pictures do NOT do any of it justice!

Here we have featured our double-sided bookmarks, wich I've begun crafting to include their pretty ribbon tails as well as the charms they'll all feature (The Little Red Riding Hood design will feature a wolf and Little Red, the Flower Queen design will feature a rose and one of several types of crowns) as well as our double-sided postcards, and our storybooks, "Tales From The Ice"!

Our other post contains photos of the rest of our Awesome Merchandise products- the mini notebooks, buttons, and magnets!

Our enamel pins are just a hair delayed after needing a sizing adjustment (although that's good for you guys, they'll be just a touch bigger!) but I approved the digital proofs today so they should be along shortly

Our zines also were shipped today!! They should be here within a week!!

And finally, as for the remaining merch- stickers, sticker sheets, and keychains- that are coming from Zap! Creatives, I've been able to approve the digital proofs for the stickers but due to the current situation in the world Zap!'s production is suspended until the 20th of this month, the owner, howver, is still doing digital work from home, so there shouldn't be a delay in getting the designs approved

Provided all goes well, we SHOULD be able to expect those by early May, if not a little sooner

We are so outrageously excited Fae Folk, things are moving along, and we can't wait for you to see the final products!!

#yuri on ice #yuri on ice zine #fanzine #yoi #yoi zine #yuri on ice fairytale zine #zine merch #updates

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ginnyzero · 5 years ago

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Dad Advice, Originality, and Writing

About a year or so after I left college, I went to work for my father at his small parts machine shop “part time.” (That never happened.) I worked on the floor running a mill power, a drill and milling machine that could be programed with a computer (to make your life that much easier and faster.) Every job that came out of the office came with a job sheet and the job was broken down into where the job went on the floor. You were to use this sheet to mark down the day you worked on the job, your initials and how long it took. (This was supposedly to price the job.)

If the part was a part that the shop had done one hundred times before, the side of the sheet had an estimated amount of time that was based on the time that other employees before you had taken to do the job. Now, I was new. I’d never done any of this before. And so I remember asking my dad about those times and saying I knew that I couldn’t be that fast!

He told me: “Worry about what you’re doing. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.”

That advice came in really handy as I worked in the shop. I spent two years on the floor mostly running the mill power and focused on what I was doing and doing it to the best of my ability and not worrying about how fast I was or if I became the best mill power machinist ever. (Now, this did irritate some people for different reasons. Other people didn’t care. All I cared about is if my father, my boss, thought I was doing a good enough job. Period. Then I took over the office and I didn’t give a shit about how long it took them to complete jobs as long as the jobs were completed before they were due! Not an easy task given the way things were ordered.)

Now, I apply that advice to other areas of my life adding it to my lifetime perspective in writing and in general. Worry about what you’re doing. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.

Because, I can’t control other people. I can control me and I can control my reactions. That’s it.

Boundaries.

At this time since I had a job and a steady income I was buying a lot of traditionally published books and trying to find new authors to read. And I kept slamming up against kitchen sink urban fantasy with protags that actually weren’t what they said on the tin and had no shit clue what they were doing with all the archetypes and tropes that come from being a kitchen sink urban fantasy. The few that had original concepts, like Weather Wardens or Death’s Daughter, were grossly lacking in the good plot department. (Just my opinion.)

I, um, got fed up. I mean. I’d been fed up with kitchen sink urban fantasies for a while. At the same time, none of the high fantasy stuff was really catching my interest and the science fiction that wasn’t the “lone soldier fighting a war on an alien world” was really hard to find and as far as I know, still is. (And what I found was very plot focused and dry.) But I still liked werewolves. I still like vampires. I still like space operas. I still love high fantasy with elves and magic and bad fairytales.

After binge watching the first few seasons of the Sons of Anarchy and having watched the Expendables 2, I finally got an idea that had been a tiny spark in my brain from my college days about biker werewolves. But I wanted to be different. I wanted some “originality.” I wanted to have that Post-Apocalyptic Mad Max, Dredd mixed with Minority Report type of feel. But I still wanted it to be urban fantasy without it being “kitchen sink” with every vampire, fae, werewolf and other fantasy race in existence. And my love of Vampires and my love of Werewolves had a fight and a piece of advice from a college professor of “No Vampires” and that tiny spark of an idea of biker werewolves really blossomed into an idea.

Reading all that, it’s still not really original. Werewolves. Mad Max. Sons of Anarchy. The Expendables. Where is the originality in that? (Heathens may not expressly be the best example for this to be honest, but bear with me.)

But who would want to read yet another werewolf story? How is yet another book about werewolves even remotely original? I mean, I just typed it, it’s Expendables and Sons of Anarchy drawing from Dredd and Mad Max and Minority Report and there’s bits of Star Wars Wraith Squadron and Ratchet and Clank and Starship Troopers in there too actually and I mean, that sounds like a tangled mess of inspiration. All of this shit has been done before, who’s going to read that?

I didn’t really think about this when I started compiling ideas and really digging into research about werewolves and biker gangs and planning my post War World 3 setting. Because, I wasn’t worried about that. Other people could be worried about that, but I wasn’t worried about that. I knew I was genre mixing in an out of the box way that wasn’t on bookshelves in that combination even if the concepts themselves, the building blocks weren’t original.

Because, I’d already proved that people would want to read something like that through my own actions! I was the one going “I like kitchen sink urban fantasy,” and picking up the first three books of every series I could find that remotely interested me (and supporting those authors) in hopes of finding a new author to read that was entertaining as the authors I already had on my shelves.

It wasn’t the author’s fault that my tastes weren’t precisely lined up with what they were writing. They had a story they wanted to tell and if the blurbs of their story didn’t actually reflect what was in the pages or if the books had things that I didn’t like. I was free to stop buying them. These books are huge series, some have hit the double digits! People like them. They’re getting sales. Just because it’s not to my taste doesn’t mean they aren’t decent books.

I mean, look at licensed books such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms and so on. These books are huge parts of the expanded universe franchises of those stories. People buy them. (I bought almost all the old EU of Star Wars.) People collect them. People saw the Star Wars movies and wanted more Star Wars and then bought books and comics and other merchandise for that franchise because they liked that thing. Science Fiction fans are likely to watch Star Trek, Star Wars, Battle Star Galactica, Star Gate, FarScape, Lexx, Firefly, KillJoys, Dark Matter, The 100 and anything they can get their hands on that’s space opera related because they like that sort of thing even if it’s the same type of thing in different trappings. Look at how many series Star Trek has and it’s all the same universe! SeaQuest and SeaQuest DSV was space opera IN THE OCEAN.

Maybe I was being out of the box in Joss Whedon does a Western in Space type of way, but it wasn’t wholly unoriginal.

My third perspective on this came from being in fandom. There is nothing quite being in fandom where fanfiction and fanart are encouraged and there are tons of people with tons of ideas and yet somehow there are 50 Coffeeshop AUs, or 100 Highschool AUs or good lord, the MERMAID AUS, “let’s write this missing section of canon” stories and “let’s get so and so together” stories and “this is what happened after this scene” stories. And lots of them, if not all of them, get views and likes and comments and kudos and so on and so forth. And sure, they have the same premise, but they aren’t all exactly the same. They have different styles. Different POVs, different events. They started out with the same building blocks and came up with different plots and ideas! (Now, whether they were any good is a matter of opinion, just like any sort of book writing.)

You see, people crave certain types of stories. Those are the stories they like. They’re comfy. They’re familiar. They’re old friends. They sit down with a certain type of story they know to an extent what is going to happen and no matter what type of story it is, they’ll more than likely enjoy it because it’s familiar and comfortable.

People don’t like the unfamiliar. They don’t like being uncomfortable. When someone sits down to read they’re sick, bored or lonely. They want to have the warmth of an old friend. They don’t care about originality. They just want to escape. They’re risk adverse.

Originality doesn’t appeal to the risk adverse.

Firefly was risky. Western in space. Cowboys Vs. Aliens is risky for the same reason, a science fiction western. Aliens in the old west! People aren’t always prepared to take that next step out of the box of genre conventions despite the masses and masses of amounts of different types of speculative fiction stories. You start adding things they don’t expect (like Western to Sci Fi) no matter how much Dark Tower they’ve read or Vampire Hunter D, they are likely to back up and go “I’m not ready for this!”

Not that originality is easy to find. I’m sure someone out there wrote the first “IN SPACE” story. Our stories are made from building blocks of old stories, myths, legends, fairy tales, stories we’ve read and the stories that go on around us in the world at the moment. (Truth being stranger than fiction.) Originality is a very difficult beast to come by.

The fourth perspective of this came from Fashion Design classes and Project Runway. If you give ten people the same inspiration, those same ten people are going to come up with ten different things because they’re bringing in their voice, their aesthetic and their experiences and style to the design. I don’t care if you have ten different “hard vs soft” designers. They are all going to “hard vs. soft” in a different way! Sadly, in my classes we never really experimented with this overtly! (One girl and I did have a similar inspiration for a design class once, Thailand. We were very different people and did very different things.)

Project Runway sometimes does this by giving the designers the same types of materials or the exact same brief. And it’s interesting to see how each of them actually run with it and what they turn out in the end for good or bad. (The more limiting the brief the more interesting to see how this plays out actually, often in unconventional challenges, but not always.)

This is the same with writing. Your kitchen sink urban fantasy isn’t going to be Jim Butcher’s or Patricia Briggs’ or Kim Harrison’s or at least another half dozen writers I have forgotten the names of. Your voice, your rules, your world building, the setting, the characters are all going to be a point of difference between your story and their story. The point of difference is your voice. Your writing style and your voice are your brand of writing.

So what if you’re writing another kitchen sink urban fantasy? There are lots of people out there that love kitchen sink urban fantasies. As long as you’re writing the best and most polished kitchen sink urban fantasy you can in your own style and voice, then don’t worry about the other people writing kitchen sink urban fantasies and not being original or that your writing is inferior.

You know what readers see, “MORE KITCHEN SINK URBAN FANTASY. MINE!”

It's the Two Cakes thing:

https://helpfulwritingstuff.tumblr.com/post/175643753023/lbibliophile-salt-of-the-ao3-pervocracy

Look, stealing from one person is plagiarism. (And I do mean word for word, idea for idea here.) Stealing from many people is research. And if you’re compared to someone else and it doesn’t matter for good or for ill, that’s great! That means there is an audience for your writing! So what if they don’t think you’re as good as the other author? Or maybe they think you’re better than that other author? Why does it matter? As long as you’re putting out the best possible work you can put out in your voice. You aren’t that other author! Don’t worry about them. Worry about you! You’ve got to move on to the next book and the next set of characters and the next idea.

You can’t control what readers (including editors) think about you or how they compare you to other authors. You control your reactions. Sure. Go ahead. Get emotional. Let the emotion run its course. Come back and see if you can learn anything from that critique. Or, you can accept that readers are critiquing for other readers and not you. They all have opinions. Everyone has opinions, it doesn’t mean they’re good or even applicable opinions! You have to find people to put around you that you trust know your vision and what you’re trying to convey to an audience and find that editor that pushes you to improve the way you write or the way you pitch. Worry about what you’re doing.

Don’t worry about what the readers are doing outside of reading. You can’t control it.

And honestly, if they don’t like what you’re writing. They have fan fiction.

You, as a writer, don’t exist in a vacuum. You can bar yourself away from social media and society and write the most original concept you can think of writing and submit only to find out that someone else had the same type of concept even though you’ve never met and never read each other’s works. Why? There are a lot of ideas out there floating around. No one owns them. No one owns how they get to be combined. But your concept and their concept will be different in execution. The building blocks may be the same and maybe they built a fairy tale castle and you built a brooding manor house.

This is the universal consciousness of mankind. People all over the world coming up with permutations of the same building blocks over and over again and creating wonderful things that reflect their experiences and share their voice!

And if you let that get to you, that someone out there might have the same idea as you do. Then you’re going to be paralyzed and not write anything at all for fear of “not being original.”

Being original doesn’t matter. Execution matters. Your voice matters. Once you get past that originality is Queen then you can focus on you and your story. Worry about your voice and your execution and creating the best book possible for your audience, the people who want more of your type of comforting stories.

So, as daddy says, “Don’t worry about what others are doing. Worry about what you’re doing.” Because, that’s all you can control, you and your reactions.

As for me, I have my post-apocalyptic urban science fantasy adventure werewolf stories, my broken fairy tales, my sometime in the future kitchen sink urban fantasy bakery adventures, a urban fantasy magical horse game, and a straight out science fantasy space opera adventure thing to write. So many ideas, possibly none of them original all ripped out of building blocks of other things, but you know what, they have my voice and I don’t care. People who like that sort of thing will like those sorts of things.

Happy writing!

#writrblr #writing advice #writing tips #writing tumblr #personal

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chi-arts · 6 years ago

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Icon/Headshot Commissions

I need some help! I recently dropped out of uni and unfortunately don’t have a job yet. And since I have a cat to feed and bills to pay I’m opening emergency commissions!

Info

Style: see samples; if you want something different please talk to me! I’ve gone through a lot of styles and am very willing to change it up. A simple background if you want one will be included (color gradient, pattern, clouds etc.)

Price: 12 USD, negotiable! Depending on your request I might be willing to go down with the price. A sketch or black/white picture will cost less for example.

Fandoms that I’ve done fanart for include:

Voltron My Hero Academia RWBY FMA:B LoZ Fae Tales Banana Fish One Piece RotG The Adventure Zone

I will totally draw characters for all other fandoms too though, including OCs!

Samples:

Other ways to support me:

I have a ko-fi where you can donate small amounts of money and a Redbubble shop for merchandise with most of my art. Links to both can be found on my blog - or just copy-paste these:

ko-fi.com/ P5P49OPP redbubble.com/people/chi-arts

If you’re interested in a commission or have any question whatsoever, please feel free to send a DM. And again, if you aren’t interested I’d really appreciate a reblog to help get the word out!

#artists on tumblr #commission info #commission post #icon commissions #voltron #bnha #rwby #fmab #loz #fae tales #banana fish #one piece #rotg #taz

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arctic-rising · 6 years ago

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1-5, 9, 16, & 37!!

tysm for the questions!! this got…real long.

1. Write from the perspective of an outsider of your lair, what is their first impression? How have they discovered this group? How are they greeted?

The young spiral twirled around her companion, twisting among the towering reeds. The skydancer, a map clenched in their claws, laughed as they caught sight of flashes of purple scales. “When do you think we’ll be there?” Impressive stalks of bamboo clattered against each other as the little dragon zipped through it, and then back onto the well worn path. “Well,” The skydancer tilted their head as they looked over the map, “if my calculations are correct, we should arrive there…now!”The tall bamboo- tall enough to reach towards the clear blue sky, seemed tiny in comparison to the massive painted gates that rose into view. Two stone towers with green and orange banners flanked the gate; shadowed figures darting around the structure could just be made out as plush clouds glided over head. The closer the duo approached, the louder the song of wind chimes became. When the shadow of the arch passed over them, they could make out heavy ropes draping bowls of unicorn dust and cerdae sparkle; the golden and red glitter contrasting against the green painted doors. A massive wind flight symbol had been engraved and then painted over in white across each door, splitting it in half when the gates where open. The spiral gasped in delight and fluttered through the open doors. The skydancer followed, smiling as they kept pace with their friend through the crowds. Dragons of all kinds and all flights mingled through the cobble streets- some filtered into inns and taverns, others went straight for shops while some were content to sit underneath over hangs and watch. The spiral soon fluttered back and wrapped herself around her friend, clinging to their fur as they walked. Her wide eyes darted around, moving from a snapper in furs to a ridgeback in armor, then over to a smattering of fae. “You alright there?” The skydancer asked. The spiral looked up at them, her purple eyes turning a soft lavender in the sunshine. “There’s so many dragons here. So many. Didn’t you say this place was hidden?” “Yes! It’s hidden to those outside of the Plateau, and this place’s allies I’d assume. But, if you’ve been around here for a while you can figure out where it is easy enough.” “But how did you figure it out? And where did you get that?” She poked at the parchment with one toe. The skydancer laughed and tugged it away. “This? Got it from a friend! Who got it from another friend, and that one got it from their uncle, and that uncle got it from another friend. Probably.” The skydancer gracefully slid out of the way of an armored bogsneak who bared a white wind flight symbol. She nodded respectfully, and was soon lost to the crowds. “You see, GuidingWinds is a trade hub. It has to rely on visitors to survive, but it wants to be a safe place at the same time, yes? So, tell me friend, what’s the best way to spread word of your little home to your neighbors, and your neighbor’s neighbors without letting all of dragon kind know?” The spiral frowned and thought for a moment. She shrugged. “Word of mouth, but of course you through in some rumors to help keep things under lock and key. You know, some lizards don’t believe this place even exists! But us wind folk know, annnd because we like our reputation we tell others about this place! Only if we like them though. It’s no good ratting your lovely neighbor out when they’ve been nothing but kind.” The spiral blinked, her eyes going impossibly wide. “No- that’s so clever! But what happens if a bad egg gets in anyways?” “That’s what the kingdom champions are for dear. You saw that bogsneak back there, yes? She was one of them- they’re an elite force that keeps the peace, and collects treasures and goods for the kingdoms personal stock. They’re awfully nice until you break the rules. Then they’re not so nice.” The duo’s conversation continued as they slipped through the streets, two smears of color adding to the sea of manes and scales in the afternoon light of the Kingdom.

2. Is there a class difference in your lair? If so, how do the ‘lower’ ranks of their society live? If not, how do they maintain equity?

Ooo, yeah there’s very much a class difference. Thankfully the big wigs up in the castle (mostly lucien and azuleopa) do their best to make sure the treasure is being spread equally throughout the kingdom. Some dragons have more things because they either came into the kingdom with more money, or they’re just really good at saving up and making good investments. Another factor to keep in mind is the fact that the kingdom gets the majority of its cash via trading with visitors and merchants, so how popular someone’s product is can absolutely influence how much money ya got, and more over how comfortable your home is.

uhh the main reason why the royals are rich is probably because taxes. Merchants, both outside and inside the kingdom gotta pay a fee to keep their business legal and approved within the city, but the tax itself is determined by how much you normally sell in a month. there’s math that i can do with this but i dont wanna.

3. How is discipline dealt out? Is there a legal system? Fair trial? Vigilantism?

The criminal is normally arrested and placed in temporary holding cells within the castle until Toxin and Arctic can find a time to determine their fate. If they decide that the crime was a minor offense, they’ll decide that the criminal has to do some time of sitting around in a cell before they can leave. Bigger offenses can lead to banishment or long-term imprisonment (or both, if you don’t rot away in the prison first)

4. Are there any important figures in history involved in your lair? Who are they and why are they significant?

Yes! Two dragons (who have been exalted) named Percy and Iolite were some of the first dragons within the clan before it became the kingdom it is now. Toxin, Arctic, Zaleka, Tahara, Phobia, and Adelaide will tell about stories about them if you ask nicely, but they always seem a little sad and wistful when retelling those tales. Percy was a scribe and Iolite was a very sneaky warrior, although both were said to have had hearts of gold. Iolite and Dawn initially trained Zaleka, and Percy helped plan the initial layout of the kingdom before they left. No one knows where they went, mainly because the dragons that knew them won’t talk about it…

and as a side note, Arctic, Toxin, and Dawn are all pretty important historical figures too but they’re still around

5. How has history constructed & molded your lair’s culture, morals and ideals, if at all?

As mentioned before, Dawn and Iolite trained Zaleka to be the fearsome warrior that she is today, and Zaleka went on to pass that knowledge down to the kingdom champions she’s trained. Kingdom champions have a special type of fighting style that utilizes their strengths to their absolute extent by boosting their skills with their innate magic. For example; Tokyo, a wind skydancer, is SUPER fucking fast already, but he uses his wind magic to make himself extra speedy, which lets him get in and out of situations fast and land a tooooon of quick strikes. Each kingdom champions’ fighting style varies, so it’s difficult to anticipate what’s gonna come next!

The kingdom def puts a lot of emphasis of just being nice to each other. The kingdom used to have a nasty serthis problem, and before they were able to fortify themselves a lot of dragons were lost in the conflicts. You don’t know when someone is going to meet their end, so just being kind to others in what moments you have with them is something the founders of the kingdom really emphasized after they lost a lot of their clanmates.

9. What is the political climate? What are some issues currently in the public’s eye?

the fact that literally every single prince and princess has died except Kima is very much a sore point with long term residents. some have blamed Blister, some have blamed the gods, and some think there’s something else going on. most are just thankful that Kima survived though.

another strain is from the events of Bounty of the Elements! haven’t actually gotten to that with the main lore arc, but because of a lot of the internal conflicts within flights (especially fire flight) trade and merchandise has been lacking in some places.

16. Who holds authority or is looked up to in their society? Do they hold any real power, or is it more of a concept?

Regina and Rahab are the queen and king, so of course they are at the very top of the food chain and technically have the most power. Arctic and Toxin have the most favor and influence over the population because of their history with GuidingWinds itself, and in the kingdom Dawn is the most powerful in terms of magic while Toxin is the most powerful in terms of athletic skill. Andromeda, Lotus, and Ana are pretty tied when it comes to who has the greatest potential to be more powerful than Dawn, and Antigone has the greatest potential to be more powerful than Toxin.

also Gaia is a super powered technically immortal druid but she doesn’t care about climbing the power ladder, so she’s more than content with selling weird plants.

outside of the kingdom is a different story. there’s some uh, demigods running around. Balthazar is one of them and is often called ‘the fighter’ because of his prowess in combat. he’ll absolutely reward you if you kick his ass but it’s super difficult, so don’t get your hopes up. he can also transform into a featherback boar at will, so there’s that. Ruthe is the other demigod! she’s called ‘the caster’ because she’s mastered all types of spell casting. she’s also incredibly difficult to beat, but she won’t reward you for kicking her ass. you might be able to convince her to teach you some tips on magic tho! Ruthe can also transform into a powerful beast, but i have yet to choose which one.

37. Are there any common domesticated animals used as livestock, labor or transport? How did this happen? Are they common place?

have i been meaning to figure this out for a while? absolutely!

have i actually figured it out yet? nope

short answer is that they probably have a bunch of the goat and bird based familiars. which ones, i have yet to decide on. i will say that southmarsh podids are absolutely used to pull carts and stuff like that.

#TYSM FOR THESE!!!#lore archives #sh33pskins

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