#i have so much more on daya and mirenes romance. and on aurora and charlie. and i have picrews. and i have playlists. and i have scripts.

[elekinetic]

This is your opportunity to talk about your favorite things! Answer this ask whenever you have time to ramble about things you like. If you want, you can send this to other people so they can share as well.

oh. you don't even know the monster you've just unleashed.

buckle up y’all it’s time for some OC LORE.

have you ever thought, damn, i wish there was a show that combined begrudging found family tropes, sci-fi heists and criminal shenanigans, large scale political conflict and a thematic critique of modern liberal politics? that was also set in space? and super gay? well do i have the show for you!

welcome to alcmena.

(this post has two parts. World building & Characters. if you want to skip all the super cool awesome world building and go straight to the characters who are the heart of the story or whatever 🙄, feel free to scroll. its in bright purple.)

and because im extremely very nice and curteous, ill put the rest under a read more. It's a long one.

WORLD BUILDING

Alcmena, which hosts two main systems (System A, the "Rexian System" and System B, the "Regenai System"), is engaged in a centuries long conflict between the ruling "Sovereign Monocracy of Alcmena" and the rebellion faction, "Common People for the Liberation of Alcmena." Most people just call them the Monocracy and the Rebellion. The Monocracy is your pretty standard imperial bad guy government. Here's an excerpt from "A Complete History Of Alcmenan Colonization, From Discovery to Monocratic Liberty" by A.G. Helmber, Monocratic Chief of Education. (planets are labeled on the map above, click for quality.)

So....not great.

Here's an excerpt from a rebellion source.

Here's the thing though. This isn't the whole story. The Rebellion markets itself as a progressive group championing the rights of the people, but really its just interested in power and maintaining their own status quo (i swear to god this is explored subtly and elegantly in the actual story, ik it sounds very on the nose here).

some more geography/world lore:

like i said, two systems.

REXIAN SYSTEM

orbits a yellow star known as "rex"

capital planet is Vesta, which hosts a government based industry and houses the elite of the elite. It is the oldest of populated planets

The most populous planet is Proserpine, the cultural capital of the galaxy.

Other planets in system are artisan and trade planets. Proserpine has another planet on its orbit path, Tara, which functions as Rex’s “black market”. The Rebellion is eager to establish a presence here.

REGINAI SYSTEM

orbits a yellow star known as "regin"

this system is plagued by war. Intersettlement and interplanetary conflicts are aplenty. That means crime is too.

Lots of culture, lots of thieving.

Lockai and Kavtu were terraformed simultaneously. They are the most technologically advanced planets (after Vesta, of course). Technological research, development, and manufacturing. Lockai and Kavtu share the first wormhole portal (name pending). They have the most cultural exchange.

Nocturam is the planet closest to the sun (called “Regin”), but all of its civilization is cloaked in darkness. Nocturam settlements are just one long interconnected network of open air ships that chase darkness as the world turns. Daytime on Nocturam is scorching and deadly, but night is survivable. Nocturam cities rely on bright neon to light their lives. It’s rumored that on very clear nights, pink and green stars can be seen from Lockai.

We also have some rogue planets not in orbit (my best friend is an astrophysicist ik this isnt how it works but its my story so. shh.)

OUTER PLANETS

Saraneth

A once barren desert planet that was abandoned after the Vestian Civil War of the 3300s. A few settlers who had escaped Vesta managed to harness underground water streams and eventually built a kingdom protected by harsh weather and a dedicated military force.

A true monarchy whose line descends from the original settler family. Currently ruled by Empress Netra Zoras of Saraneth, known as “The Young Queen”, who inherited the throne from her father at age 15 after he died 5 years ago.

The monocracy has trouble navigating the sandstorms that circle around the country of Saraneth, which sits in a 300 kilometer eye of a storm. Only Sarenthian “sandcutters” know how to fly through the storms.

Because of this, Saraneth has remained independent through the last 500 years. They’ve dealt with their own political turmoil and internal conflict, but Saraneth’s political isolation means most details remain unknown.

Sandcutters are tasked with transporting imports and exports between Saraneth and and its trade ports—small villages outside the storm. These villages are heavily guarded and armed by Sarenthian military.

Karrigat

as mentioned before, the airtight fortress of the rebellion. the lore of this planet is in the excerpt from the rebellion source. that's abt all i have.

OK WORLD BUILDING DONE. LETS GET TO THE ACTUAL STORY.

We follow James Huong (F, 40s), the captain of a small crew locked in a contract with the Rebellion. They send her jobs, she gets them done. People used to say "she's got a fast wit and a faster draw," but these days she's just tired. Before she was stuck running dangerous errands with a bunch of goddamn kids, she had a wife and a whole other crew. They were traveling the galaxy, living the dream, but they ended up running jobs for some real nasty mobs. They got caught in the crossfire of a rebellion x monocracy battle during one of their runs, even after James' insisted to their boss that they hold off on the delivery cause it was too dangerous. The boss made them do it anyway and long story short, everyone but James died. She'd sent them into a shuttle to escape and left the ship to defend them, but the shuttle was bombed. This is why James is so weary of being in the rebellion's endless contract. Doesn't matter if you call yourself righteous or entrepreneurial, power is power.

Lets talk about those "goddamn kids."

Here's the crew of the [untitled space ship]:

James Huong - Captain

Aurora Keane - First Hand

Charlie Fairside - Engineer

Daya Marneth - Pilot

T'arin Thone - .....unknown

Aurora (F, 20s) mostly goes by Keane (tho Charlie can get away with "Rors" on occasion). Her life has not been easy. She's got distinct facial tattoos along her cheek and brow bones --- the markings of a Monocracy soldier. I'll let this outline tell the story.

she's deeply emotionally stunted (understandably). i love her. so much.

charlie (M, 20s) was raised on a manufacturing planet (think like industrial revolution) and is one of like 9 siblings. he left the planet to find work and sends almost all of his money back home. he's the engineer and keeps the ship running, but his family doesn't know that the ship he works on does some….less than legal things. he's a golden retriever but is holding a lot pent up inside.

he and aurora have an interesting relationship. aurora carries a lot of guilt (for obvious reasons) and charlie's the first person she opens up to about her past (after james, but that happened pretty soon after they met bc she was being arrested and questions were raised). charlie says he left his family to find work but really he just didn't want to live and die there. his dad was gonna retire and he was going to have to become the head of the household, so he runs. he feels extremely guilty about leaving his family and so he and aurora kind of bond over the fact that they both think they are the worst person in the universe. but also they think the other person is insane for thinking that because what the fuck you're literally the best person i know. it takes them a VERY LONG TIME TO GET TOGETHER. LIKE. SEASONS. we're slowburning friends to lovers babyyyyy. it's hard though. aurora is emotionally stunted (as previously stated) has issues communicating. charlie also is convinced aurora is gonna realize she deserves better and leave him, so he is often flexible to a fault and doesn't prioritize his needs at all. but once they sort their shit out their perfect for each other. yin & yang, good in the bad and bad in the good and all that. i love them so much.

daya....daya (F, 20s) is my babygirl. oh my god. so, charlie showed up on the ship around the same time as daya, who got there just a few months before. after finishing a job, aurora and james come back to find some random girl trying to steal their ship. and not just trying...succeeding. Daya gets the ship well in the air before aurora shoots down one of the ship's thrusters with a hand missile (don't ask me how that works. james starts yelling at aurora because now the ship's gonna crash and they dont have the kind of money to fix that kind of damage and what were you thinking?!?! but daya manages to pilot the ship down safely with literally no extra damage. so. now she's their pilot. She and charlie become fast friends. they have to work together a lot because they're in charge of keeping the ship running. somehow they both act like they're the other's little sibling.

here's the thing about daya, though.

no one knows it, but shes got a little sister. Netra. her full name is Princess Netr'ada of Saraneth---well, Empress now. Daya doesn't find out until an old newspaper shows up in a swapmeet a few years later, but their father has died and Netra has taken the throne. Saraneth is a desert planet, kind of like Arrakis in Dune, but its got an ever-present sandstorm engulfing most of the planet. Saraneth sits in the eye of the storm. The sky is heavily guarded by Saraneth's navy so the only way in or out is through the storm, a journey only the most highly trained Saranethians can lead. The storm, and the galaxy's dependence on Saraneth's exports, are why Saraneth remains one of the last planets independent of rebellion and monocracy rule. Daya Marneth (or Princess Dayamare of Saraneth, missing - presumed dead) snuck onto a naval ship when she was 19 and never looked back. She loves Saraneth, but it's not without issues. Daya couldn't stay. (Whether she is selfish for leaving is up for debate.) She tried to get Netra to come with her, but they fought and Netra refused. In a few months, Daya will find a paper that says Queen Netr'ada has birthed an heir. In a few years, she'll find out it was a baby boy.

remember how i mentioned Saraneth's exports? the planet of Saraneth holds rich vains of a mineral that activates most of the technology in the galaxy. Sort of equivalent to cobalt in our world, though i know jack shit about how tech irl works so dont @ me. Unfortunately this means the monocracy is highly dependent on Saraneth. Its a miniature cold war: we have the weapons to annihilate your entire planet, but you have a monopoly on tech so… And yeah, everyone assumes Daya is dead, but if she isn't….if the monocracy can track her down, make her divulge information about Saraneth's security…..maybe they can take Saraneth for themselves.

This is where Mirene Cautsa (F 20s) comes in! She's a monocratic assassin who's hunting Daya down like her life depends on it because...it kind of does. She's always been top of her class, but the monocracy doesn't take kindly to failures. She's cutthroat, cunning, and totally doesn't have any kind of empathy for Daya who clearly is just a girl trying to find happiness and she's totally not jealous of how free Daya lets herself be or how she doesn't seem to hate Mirene even though she has every reason too and Mirene totally doesn't notice the way Daya's hair brushes the hollow of her collarbone and oh shit. that's right. we're doing enemies to lovers babyyyyyy. and they're LESBIANS.

on daya's end of this, shes extremely frustrated because mirene never communicates why shes hunting her. blah blah blah plot i havent written yet but eventually mirene ditches the monocracy for the rebellion (which honestly is worse) and they start…dating? they dont know what to call it. but then mirene gets called on a rebel mission and they fight because mirene thinks she needs to pay for the harm shes caused but daya thinks shes trading in one bad thing for another cause shes scared to be her own person! individual growth happens and then they meet again on a battlefield and before they can even have a conversation, they save each others lives wordlessly. mwah ofc happily ever after.

now. you're probably thinking. god. so its just james and these chaotic twenty-somethings. jesus christ. well, do not fear! Meet T'arin (M, 40s) . Him joining the crew is the first story we ever get. he's a monocratic aristocrat who's been working as a rebellion spy for years, but his cover is blown. it's the crew's responsibility to get him out. they save him and somehow he ends up a permanent part of the crew. he is the empathetic counterpart to james' weariness. They balance each other out. by the end of the story, they are life partners. Romantic, platonic, familial, its not really clear. But when the dust settles and they all have to part ways, T'arin stays by James' side.

i have. so much more. like. so much more. but i'll leave it there.