#it’s orphaned on ao3 but still up hence why I did not put the author

[sometimes-sleeby-octopus]

Remembering the sonadow fic called Cracking shells. I hope sonic and shadow are still taking care of those chickens together <3

(10/10 would def recommend especially if you’re looking for something unique!!! Been adding more to my recs page on ao3 and was thinking about it)

[scrabbleknight]

With it being 24 hours since I've updated my fic, it's time to go through my thoughts over Chapter 10 of SatF.

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I worked hard on it and it happened to be my longest chapter yet. Second, if you read the Author's Notes in AO3, you'll find that there were a large number of deleted/heavily modified scenes that I unfortunately didn't bother to use. So I won't go through that since my thoughts over it are already laid bare.

Now onto the analysis:

Choosing between two chapters

The Wartwood chapter was actually one of two choices I had when I started. Before beginning, I had to choose between two ideas that I wanted to write and even had to get an external opinion about it. In the end, I chose to write about Wartwood and its citizens since it's a chapter I wanted to write for so long and this seemed to be the perfect time for it. The other chapter idea was actually an Anne chapter!

Expanding the characters

The main purpose of this chapter were two things; to expand existing characters and to expand the worldbuilding. Every story brought in something new, such as one-off characters (Nelly), racism in Amphibia (Maddie) and family names (Tritonio). Also, the reveal of cultists which was always implied in the past, and their importance in the future. There's a really neat system regarding cultists in particular and it will be brought up, but basically it's just layers upon layers of secrecy.

Racism in Amphibia

Racism is a pretty hot topic and Amphibia, being based on traditional Tolkien/DnD fantasy, has some of it (but not too much because Disney show). So I wanted to put some focus in it too. Amphibia's racism is mild and hidden; it's not outwardly like those other fantasy stories. It's especially obvious during the Three Armies episode where newts and toads have a rivalry, and frogs are looked down upon. This seemed to have happened during Andrias's rule, so he most likely has a hand in it.

So I wrote the insidious and lurking nature of racism as well. In this case, we see that Maddie can't become a proper witch/curse practitioner because she's not allowed to enroll in a special school due to her species. Maddie, of course, shrugs it off because she can still do it, just illegally and only outside of Newtopia where the rule is enforced.

But Albus has a reaction to it. He feels guilty because he has a privilege that Maddie did not, and he didn't notice. It can make one wonder how many other advantages they have in their life that are seemingly invisible. Of course, Maddie comments on it, stating that it's not Albus's fault. After all, he simply lived in privilege; he was hardly the cause of it or propagated it. Just knowing and being aware of it is the very minimum, and acting with that knowledge is the ideal.

Fatherless

Ivy's fatherless behaviour actually started as a joke. I wrote the scene about Felicia getting mad about him and it expanded from there. But then, I added more content regarding it and brought it back full circle near the end. Tritonio being an orphan was always planned after the Three Armies episode but his relationship with the family was only added in this chapter. The chapter was also going to mention why he left and it was because he utterly humiliated his brother (the head of the Espadas and an actual blood-related member) in a duel which led to him leaving to avoid persecution. I'll definitely bring that up in the future. And Ivy being mad about her absentee father was only added in the last minute, which I say worked incredibly well to tie it all together.

The brief history of Amphibia: Blue Blood Massacre

Now this is something I really wanted to write, in excerpts and journals. The purpose of this entry was to give out names of important families, specifically the Lilypads and the Leopolds. The latter is related to Loggle and his family will have an important part during Sasha's time in Newtopia, hence him giving her his eyepiece which was also the Leopold emblem. The Lilypads aren't brought up yet but in this AU, Lady Olivia would be a member, hence her close proximity with Andrias. Family lines are incredibly important in Newtopia and it's important to establish that early on because it can be the cause of major conflicts.

When writing about the Blue Blood Massacre, I had to choose between either making it explicit or implicit. In the end, I chose the latter, as shown with Andrias being labelled a victim for it. Of course, we (readers) know better. Additionally, it was also the perfect time to include Andrias getting his cybernetics since it was never explained what medical procedures he used, so the average person could wave it off as magic.

I didn't write it but each of the Five Founding Families specialized in different things which allowed them to work together. The Lilypads were agriculturists, the Leopolds were craftsmen and the Leviathans were researchers. As for the Larns and the Livres, they were soldiers and merchants respectively which was why it had to be carefully planned to take them out. Each family also would've represented each species: Lilypads for frogs, Leviathans for salamanders, Larns for toads, Livres for newts and Leopolds for axolotls. With the toads and newts families being wiped and the Lilypads being replaced from frogs to newts, it established a newt supremacy that Andrias can easily control.

You might be thinking; why didn't he just weaken the Livres since they're newts already? That's exactly why he did it. So long as people remembered their heritage, it's difficult to truly control them since they have something to look back to. But replaced the frogs with newts in Lilypads, it meant that the newts didn't have anything to look back to. It wasn't theirs; they simply took the original's place.

I probably won't write this in the fanfic since it's too obtuse and technically counts as in-universe libel, but the heritage of the Lilypads will be brought up.

The bow and what is it used for

I can't say much about it but the bow is designed in such a way that all three girls can use, essentially making it a shared weapon. Even the materials are important; blue sea anemone (Anne) and green wood (Marcy). Red is the only thing that's not in it because I have a red material for something else. Another important part about a bow is that it's a stationary weapon; you don't need to move to use it. This is important for S3, where it'll be useful for a particular character.

The ending will be super cool, trust me.

And that's about it for this chapter. Any more would be spoiling future content which would be a bummer. I am glad you guys read the story and I hope you liked it. I'll be expanding more stuff in the future and until then, I'll see you all soon :D