#godherd

[cryptvokeeper]

So Lauren, what’s that tag you keep filling with shitposts and cow videos?

So a short forever ago @reverseblackholeofwords said they wanted more info about godherd, my current original story idea that has completely taken over my life, and i figured i really should try to explain it cuz like, if i cant that probably means I should rework the story to make a bit more sense to someone outside my orbit of brainrot.

So for the elevator pitch: Godherd follows the journey of Peck, the newest caretaker of a gigantic, colossus-sized Bull known as the Aurochs, revered in a bronze age-inspired world as a god, but that is slowly weakening as civilization establishes itself.

If that sounds interesting and you wanna see the full explanation, or some very very good art I commissioned from the incredible soggedupfrog and comfymoth, see below!

What is Godherd?

The easiest way to start is that the name Godherd is very literal. There are Gods, theyre being herded. The Gods are all roughly based off of animals that early humans formed relationships with, whether they be domesticated, hunted, or otherwise used for resources. And theyre all big. Like, really big. Like more mega than megafauna big. Like shadow of the colossus big. They're animals not only big enough to ride on, but to live on.

One such god is The Aurochs, a giant bull. And living on it is the Oxpecker, the Aurochs' priest of a sort; one part caretaker, one part herdsman, one part human representative of the God to mankind. Each of the different god has their own 'priest' that lives nomadically with it, guiding and protecting it as it travels the world. The story begins when the previous Oxpecker dies, and the Aurochs chooses a new Oxpecker, who goes by Peck for short.

Peck

This is Peck! She has no idea what she's doing!

Peck is the newest Oxpecker, and she is really feeling how big the shoes she's filling are. The Aurochs chose her? Not a wise sage or a priest who's trained at a temple for years, but her, some common kid just barely into adulthood? And sure, she was a cowherd with her family, but those were normal, non-diefic cows, not giant god cows that dont even listen to her half the time! Needless to say she was already gonna be stressed, and that's all without the plot nipping at her heels.

^tfw God is real and right in front of you but is as inscrutable as ever and you’re just trying to keep it alive but it seems determined to just walk into the most stressful situations possible and you are barely an adult (teens, but the life expectancy is like 30 here).

The Plot Shrike

This is Shrike! However bad Peck is doing, she’s doing worse, emotionally speaking.

Practically speaking she’s not doing too bad actually. As the self proclaimed priest for a pack of dieties called the Direwolves, she leads this group of giant wolfdogs into towns and settlements, taking food and killing livestock, and generally just draining the area of resources through overhunting before moving onto the next one. Which like, sucks for them, but she’s doing just fine! Really. It’s fine. She is totally fine and normal and not deeply afraid of her Gods waning in power as they become more domesticated and less wild and lashing out in an effort to grow belief through fear, of course not. Look, she just hunted down and killed a God for hers to devour that’s how normal she is. AND they’re actively hunting down another one, would a not fine person do that???

Wren

Picture to come eventually but… Wren! The most sacrificial lamb of them all.

Yeah so uh, that god Shrike and the Direwolves killed and devoured? That was hers. A mega Megaloceros aka Irish Elk. Very early on Peck comes across her and the Megaloceros’ corpse and it rattles her pretty bad. Really sets the tone for the incoming ‘twilight of the Gods’ that is happening. Wren doesn’t actually do much in the story past that point but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a deep love for her as the one metaphorically haunting the narrative. I mean, she’s been a priestess of the Megaloceros longer than Peck’s even known what one is, she’d trained and studied for it her whole life, and now it’s dead. She did everything right and her god still died. And if it can happen to her, what chance has Peck got?

Finch Fisher

Kingfisher! (Do not listen to Peck his names not Finch. It’s the language barrier.)

Caretaker for the Sailfish and another priest for a God Peck and Aurochs come across in their journey. Like Wren, he’s been doing this much longer than Peck has. Unlike Wren, who probably would’ve been very happy to meet a less experienced priest and give some friendly advice, Fisher is generally annoyed by Peck. Not in a mean way, just in a kinda unimpressed by her way. He does respect her at the end of the day though, and helps her out a bit when they cross paths.

Lark

Lark my beloved. If Fisher and Wren act as foils for Peck, Lark is a foil for Shrike, and they never even meet until the act 2 I havent fully developed yet. Another caretaker for a group of deities rather than an individual, this time a herd of Giant Bison, or Bison latifrons, and another caretaker by choice rather than by duty. But where Shrike is...Shrike, about all that, Lark is very carefree about it. He loves his fuckin job, dude. He is so thrilled to be doing what hes doing and is having a great time doing it. Peck will meet him later in the story and, without spoiling too much, he will give a much-needed perspective about the relationships between the Gods and their civilizations. If this story didn't depend on Peck being mostly solo and never staying in one place very long, she and Lark would probably be best friends.

G█████ E████

Don't worry about it! I'm still figuring out this part!

The World

The world of Godherd takes inspiration from various prehistoric and bronze age cultures. Mainly ancient Mesopotamia and Sumer, but also alot more, which you can probably already see in Shrike. It's a world still in its infancy, with civilization still developing, and that's a big part of the themes of the story.

The Themes

Again, trying not to spoil too much on a project I am still outlining, but major themes I want to focus on include religion/faith, the relationship between humans and nature, and the way cultures develop and change. As I mentioned, the Gods of Godherd are all representations of animals humans have some sort of relationship with. Cattle and Dogs, Fish, Deer and Bison. These animals have been culturally significant, or we have depended on them in some way to provide food, shelter, protection, etc. This reliance on them gave them a sort of sacred status in the world of Godherd, and they never lose that reliance, but through the process of civilization forming that aspect becomes controlled. Animals get penned in, hunted down, domesticated. What happens when you domesticate your deity?

And I cannot stress enough that none of it is out of malice or cruelty on the part of humans, this is not a story about 'humans and industrialization bad domesticating animals is slavery'. This is done out of love. Shrike's fear of the Direwolves weakening isn't because people stopped believing in/worshipping them. The worship itself is what's weakening them. Their love and care sands down those sharp edges and turns something wild and uncontrollable into something tame and known.

And the Direwolves aren't the only ones feeling the effects, they're just the ones who have been affected the longest. We've had domesticated dogs for 30,000 years after all, compared to that domestic cattle are practically new.

There's only one Aurochs. Where's the rest of the herd?

The Vibes/Inspo

Here are some things that i've been drawing inspiration from in terms of storytelling/themes;

Shadow of the Colossus (kinda obvious)

Ghibli films, specifically princess mononoke and Kiki's delivery service, and a teensy bit spirited away

This one specific moringmark comic which kinda kicked off the entire concept tbh

Legend of Zelda BOTW

and WOWIE that got very long and somehow I could STILL talk more abt it thats how passionate I am about this. I want to write a book or a comic script for this eventually but again, im still outlining right now. Hey, maybe i'll finish in time for NaNoWriMo, who knows! Either way I'll update this with any more art I commission (cuz i do plan on commissioning more) and ya know if you ever have questions or wanna know more about my bird blorbos and their giant animal friends i would love to talk about them so... 👉👈

[cryptvokeeper]

how long Godherd would be if [CHARACTER] had a gun:

Peck: about the same length. It would solve a lot of her problems but she’d spend too long debating whether or not to use it

Shrike: 6,583 years. The amount of problems Shrike would cause with a gun. She cannot be stopped.

Fisher: significantly shorter. He’d get shit done in like half the time.

Lark: no change. Does not need a gun nor want to use it. In his lane, thriving.

Wren: 2 seconds. The story’s over before it even begins. She’s not fucking around.

GE: the story is over before it even begins but for opposite reasons.

[cryptvokeeper]

So as it turns out making uQuizzes IS a valid strategy for getting creative juices flowing

[cryptvokeeper]

Ah yes the Birds, also known as the nightmare polycule,

[cryptvokeeper]

I’ve actually started outlining the story idea I’m (tentatively) calling godherd and here are my favorites out of context so far

[cryptvokeeper]

Pride month is over so I can share the fun fact that Peck is my only oc to NOT be asexual!

[cryptvokeeper]

part of my sacred duty of being the one man fandom for my own ocs is envisioning banger visual ideas for fanart of them

*points to the mental image of Shrike wearing one of those sheepdog wolf collars* you guys don’t get the context but trust me it’s actually really profound and cool.