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wallacejwriting · 5 months ago

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BY THE RITES OF STARS ★ an anti-military science fantasy

the first book in the starkyda universe

genre | science fantasy, military fantasy, steampunk/gaslamp fantasy

audience | adult

pov | multi-pov, (usually) third person limited, present

series premise | a bunch of queer, disabled dragon riders try to raise a rebellion, take down a fascist, patriarchal regime, and save the world at the same time.

themes & tropes | chosen one(s), prophecies, meddling gods, dragons & dragon riders, griffon riders, magic/military academy, anti-military, anti-fascism, power of friendship/love, the power of being different, found family, animal companions, magitech, Hard Magic, if you try to get rid of us we only get stronger

content warnings | queerphobia in all its forms (homophobia, acephobia, transphobia, polyphobia, etc), fatphobia, ableism & eugenics rhetoric, child & spousal abuse, systematic abuse, indentured labour, animal death, graphic violence, misgendering, dead naming, animal abuse, some very minor cannibalism as a side effect of other stuff

★ SYNOPSIS

For three hundred years, the world of Lumira has existed on the brink of apocalypse. Only the hard work of the dragon riders, stationed across the three lowest islands, keeps the otherworldly fungus, known as the Blight, from swallowing the world. But it is no longer enough. Six years ago, Saoirse Cuirc declared herself a girl before the statues of the Gods and spoke with the Goddess herself, Sáerlaith, who declared Saoirse the first of nine Chosen - people on Tairkyda who would stop the Blight and save the world. Now, in the present, Saoirse, her best friend Lucian, and many others are on their way to their first year at Tairkyda's military academy to become dragon riders. But from the very start, it's clear that she, Lucian, and all the other "different" initiates aren't welcome. Divided into different flights, pushed down and harassed by students and teachers alike, and constantly chasing after a goddess she can't seem to find, Saoirse is failing before she even starts. And Lucian, split into a flight with Kiryu, who won't stop picking fights with him, isn't fairing much better. Elsewhere in the school, Jules, an indentured student, fights back against unfair rules and clashes with a professor who vows to make them understand consequences. When Jules discovers that one of their flight mates, Sabine, is cursed and will die within the year, they rally Wren to help save Sabine and her brother. But the further they dig, the harder it is to stay out of reach of those who want to harm them. In engineering, Lara and Bran are both after answers that neither one can find alone -- Lara is trying to save her father's career, while Bran hunts for the answer behind the hiccups in the island's magitech. Cináed, their new lab assistant, just wants to go home to Underside, and if helping these two gives them a chance, then they'll do whatever it takes. And in Underside, Kat hunts for a way to Topside to find her missing sibling and teams up with the silent and deadly Rhys, who wants revenge for their murdered mother. But their journeys to Topside, and to their goals, will be far more fraught than they can imagine. All Saoirse wants is to be normal. All Jules wants is to go home. All Wren wants is to be strong. But if they are to save their new friends, stay in the academy, keep their dragons, and have any chance at fulfilling the duties of the Chosen, duties all three are quickly thrust into, they'll need to work together, learn everything they can, and be prepared to give up everything in the face of both saving the world and making Tairkyda into a home they want to live in. The last years of a three century war are beginning. But it's not just saving lives that matters. It's creating reasons to keep living, too.

★ CHARACTERS

Saoirse Cuirc: 19, she/her, trans woman. Heiress to the Cuirc family. Type 1 diabetes. Anxiety disorder. Fat.

All Saoirse has ever wanted was to just be a normal girl, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't even taste it. Anxious, overeager, and already feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, Saoirse is the first of nine Chosen and is meant to find the rest and serve as their leader. Except Saoirse doesn't want to lead. She just wants to make friends and get to pretend she isn't the world's best chance at avoiding destruction. But she can't forget, not even for a second.

Jules Locke: 19, they/them, non-binary. Fringe farmer. Autistic. Migraines. Fat.

Blunt, hardworking, and endlessly curious, Jules is dragged into the world of dragon riders and politics when they stumble across, and hatch, a dragon egg near their family farm in the Fringe. Indentured until they can pay it off, Jules is determined to get home to their grandfather as quickly as possible - but their plans might be waylaid after they discover Sabine's curse and find themself unable to leave her to fight alone.

Wren Hashimoto: 19, they/them, trans masc. Youngest of the Hashimoto family. Stoat beastie. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Celiac.

After an entire childhood spent under the well-meaning and overbearing thumbs of their family, hatching an egg means Wren finally has some freedom. But arrival at the academy quickly proves that this world is not built for them, and Wren finds themself fighting just to keep their head above water. The people looking down want Wren to fail, and Wren will stop at nothing to disappoint them. But the true fight might not be with the world outside, but with the vast, burning anger inside them that might swallow their world whole.

Kiryu Furukawa: 19, he/him, cis man. Half-fae and least favourite of the Furukawa family. Juvenile arthritis. Tinnitus. Alpha-gal syndrome. Eating disorder NOS. Bipolar disorder.

Born out of wedlock and to one of the few fae still in Lumira, Kiryu has had the cards stacked against him in Tairkyda since the start. But it wasn't until he was nine years old, when his father found out about and tracked him down, that Kiryu even knew he was destined to be cursed. Until then, he'd been a normal kid. Trapped in his father's house and slowly worn down by years of bigotry and abuse, Kiryu got quiet, started playing stupid, and did everything he could in hopes of getting home to his mother and sisters. Now, with a dragon hatched, his father and eldest brother have recruited him in a mission to change the Chosen, and if he succeeds, he'll finally get to go home and breathe. Now if only he didn't despise his father and this culture and didn't take every opportunity to pick fights and start chaos.

Lucian: 19, he/him, cis man. Beastie. Saoirse's personal guard and companion. Gigantism. Migraines. Fat.

Lucian's first memories are hunger, fear, and pain. His first memory of light is Saoirse, then known by another name, and she gave his world light and meaning. For years, Lucian has lived in Saoirse's shadow, off the streets and out of bad homes only because she took interest in him. He protects her with everything she has. But he longs for more. Lucian longs for open skies and smiling faces, for notoriety that comes not from Saoirse, but from his own name and his own merit. And when he hatches a dragon egg, something he never thought he could do, Lucian isn't sure if this will give him more opportunity to make a name for himself, or seal him into his role as Saoirse's number two forever.

Sabine Bellerose: 19, she/her, cis woman. Oldest child of the Bellerose family. Blind. PTSD.

Sabine is dying. She knows she's dying and, furthermore, she knows she can't be saved. That's fine. All she wants, before her father's stupid curse kills her, is to save her brother. But when she hatches a dragon egg she didn't even want, the timeline changes. Her father sends her off to the academy with an hourglass around her throat. The day after the school year ends, Sabine will die. Frustrated and helpless, Sabine will fight with everything she has to save her brother. Herself? She gave up on herself years ago.

Cináed: 19, they/them, genderless. Half-fae and indentured servant of Topside. Autistic. Hard of hearing.

Cináed's not supposed to be here - here, in Topside; here, as staff; here, unable to leave because of the stupid charm wrapped around their ankle that they can't get off. If they could, there'd be nothing stopping them from running home and finding their sister again. After nine years of waiting, very few consequences are going to get in Cináed's way of finally tasting freedom. But for them to get there, they'll have to work alongside two of Topsiders up-and-coming magineers, and the more Cináed's responsibilities to Topside and feelings for both Lara and Bran grow, the harder it is to run home for good.

Lara Acardi: 21, she/her, trans woman. Cerebral palsy. Seizures. Fat.

Everything can be understood if you are patient, humble, and never give up. This is Lara's life motto. Raised by a brilliant, warm man, who is also the head military scientist of Tairkyda, Lara has spent her life in awe of science and magic. She is a person who chases ideas, opportunities, and dreams, even if they might seem far fetched. And when her father struggles to find a solution to a new Blight problem, which leads to pressure from above, Lara recruits her friend Bran, and new lab assistant Cináed, into helping her solve the problem and save her father's reputation and career.

Bran Fáolan: 22, he/him, trans man. Albinism. Autistic. OCD.

Bran and his family have never fit into the upper crust of Tairkyda. Described, at best, as "overly obsessed weirdos", Bran's widowed mother encourages her children to do what brings them joy. For Bran, that is science! Driven by an insatiable need to create something impossible, something no one else has seen, Bran toils in the engineering labs everyday, seeing little point in personal relationships or like, being nice. But when the anomalies he's tracking start to add up, Bran ropes Lara and Cináed into helping him discover exactly who, or what, is causing the magitech in Tairkyda to malfunction and flicker.

Padma: 12, she/her, cis girl. Fisher beastie. Left hand amputee.

Padma survived what many others wouldn't: a limb amputation due to Blight. She only survived because Shahin, her adoptive father, found her and saved her. And she's never stopped trying to save him back. Quick on her feet and vicious with her teeth, Padma has spent years running in the shadow of her fathers' criminal empire in Underside. Now, with the magitech malfunctioning more than ever and Topside tight-lipped about it, Padma has the perfect opportunity to go undercover and get information for her dads. The pressure doesn't matter - all that matters is not letting her dads down. If she can do that, she can do anything.

Katriona "Kat": 22, she/her, cis woman. Berserker. Right arm amputee (above the elbow). Bipolar disorder.

Nine years ago, Kat lost Cináed to Topside and it's all her fault. She just wanted them to eat something good. She thought if they stole from Topside they could make good money selling what they grabbed. Instead, she lost the only family she had left. Now, Kat is an underground fighter; letting out her anger in the ring while she saves up money to get information about Topside and Cináed's whereabouts. When Kat gets the chance to team up with someone even scarier than her, she takes it to get to Cináed quicker. Despite her anger, Kat's pretty good at taking care of other people, particularly those younger than her. A lot of kids in Underside go to her for help.

Rhys: 15, they/them, agender. Farsider. Wolf beastie. Autistic. Nonverbal.

Rhys did not exist before they were six years old. They appeared, stumbling, broken, and weeping, in Underside nine years ago. After accidentally killing over a dozen people with strange shadows, Rhys fainted, and a doctor determined that Rhys had survived Blightfall, the final, and fatal, stage of Blight. Many wanted to study them, many wanted to use them, but Rhys ended up with Madeline, a woman who came to be their mother. Rhys loves Madeline. Rhys loves Underside. And Rhys has terrible powers that no one else does. And when the Enforcers of Topside kill their mother, Rhys casts aside their deep desire to be good - to be a hero - and takes up revenge. No one gets away with killing their mom. No one.

★ SETTING

Starkyda is a world in three parts: the Aether (above), the Nether (below), and Lumira (the world between). It's got similar technology to the 1880s-1910s era of development, it's in the first big stages of its industrial revolution, and magic is woven into everything. This is a world of floating islands. After a great flood many many years ago, the Gods rose the islands and their people into the sky to protect them from the endless waters. There were many changes during The Flood, including the hybridization of all living creatures. Cowpigs and chickurkeys and raccoorrels. (Also the dragons do not talk, just so we're clear.) Magic is not restricted to bloodlines or anything similar in Lumira. Any person can wield magic and the stars provide the layouts of every spell possible. However, without taeliswood - a highly guarded resource on Tairkyda - a person can only access a fraction of the magic in the world. Only through wealth, connections, or access to the military academy is it possible to gain the taeliswood for proper wand cores, brooms, and even the most coveted of all: a taelismera. Tairkyda, our main setting, is the lowest inhabited island left in Lumira. Those lower fell into the ocean after the Blight infected the island's living soul and killed them. Without a soul, the island plummets. Tairkyda is an island, divided. Topside, the city above ground, is deeply classist and run by five separate and feuding groups known as the Five Families. Only the academy is a neutral ground. The Wall, which separates the inhabited island from the Blighted sections, holds its own culture, as does the Fringe, the large ring of farms that wrap around the outside of the city, beyond the protection of most of its walls. But perhaps the most disparate section of the island is Underside - the literal underbelly of Tairkyda, located beneath the infrastructure of Topside and dug into the caves, the cliffs, and the dirt itself, until a mirror of Topside exists within its shadow. This is the more overt criminal world of Tairkyda, and mostly it houses those deemed undesirable by society or who were unlucky enough to be born down there. The military academy is the heart of Topside and is where all members of the military, whether foot, support, dragon rider, griffon rider, etc., are trained. The academy provides the largest supply of dragon riders to the war against the Blight. While two other islands have small colonies - Starletom and Hornkider - nearby, neither has a robust dragon rider population and few eggs choose to hatch for them each year. It is not an exaggeration to say that, as the world stands, if Tairkyda were to fall into the ocean, it would mean the end of the world.

★ LINKS | Book Tag / Series Tag / Rambling Tag / Profiles / Excerpts / Worldbuilding / Playlist

★ TAGLIST | @reminiscentrevelry,

ask to be added or removed from the taglist! taglist used for snippets, character profiles, worldbuilding posts, and other larger, wip related content.

#writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #queer writing #my wips #current wip #starkyda #wip: by the rites of stars #series: starkyda

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lorillee · 1 day ago

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literlaly need to play yakuza i should be finding out how kiryu becomes a taxi driver and why majima acquires/creates(?) a construction company and instead i have to work on this stupid lab

#honestly its not even the lab yet im just trying to get these stupid prelab numbers to make sense THIS SHOULD NOT BE THIS HARD.?

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2030kamenriders · 2 years ago

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Sherlock Holmes: A Study In Scarlet (Part 1)

This seems to be an origin story on how Watson meets Holmes? (For those that don't know, John Watson is basically Holmes' assistant and mystery-solving partner. He also does the narration for these stories)

...the heck

The heck Watson

(points at where Watson mentions Peshawar) hey I got cousins there

Curse of what now... Watson what does this mean

Wait then where does Watson's family live

(does the maths) ... maybe around 130 present-day Canadian bucks a day? Unless I made a mistake in the math...

Okay so Watson has a friend named Stamford. And he knows a guy who works at the local hospital chemical lab who's looking for a roommate

Oh shoot the guy is Holmes

This:

Stamford: yeah Holmes gets kinda unhinged sometimes

Watson: so are you really 100% sure he's not a med student?

Me: Hey

Holmes making some big scientific discoveries here

Watson: eh it's interesting I guess

Me: Bro the POSSIBILITIES though

Sherlock: Bro the POSSIBILITIES though

See, Holmes understands.

Okay, but I don't remember ever seeing Holmes this... enthusiastic? He's kinda giving me some slight Sento Kiryu vibes here. Like: very smart; makes new scientific breakthrough; extremely eager to test said breakthrough even if it's in a somewhat dangerous way; when it succeeds he's "as delighted as a child with a new toy" (those are the author/narrator's exact words. Tell me Sento wouldn't do that. Look at my face and tell me)

Ooh they're gonna move into Baker Street!

Holmes accidentally mentioning some good advice for moving in with a roommate

Oh Watson has a puppy! A "bull pup"... perhaps a pit bull then?

And that's about it for this email! A bit strange at the start, but I think Holmes is a pretty cool dude. I think I've seen a new side of him.

#2030kamenriders reads a book sort of #sherlock holmes #letters from watson

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hrodvitnon · 11 months ago

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Some More Abraxasverse Headcanons (2/2), about the Scarred Ones and Zohar's consequences

5. Because of 4. in the previous post, Mothra is fiercely no-nonsense about anyone deliberately messing with the natural Zohar in the Realm Below.

6. Maybe yet another last straw or next-to-last straw which makes Godzilla decide to do a hard reset on civilisation in the Genocide Route is because humans in that route started messing with the planet’s Zohar in the Realm Below again, after Apex’s actions and after the war against the reemerged Scarred Ones.

7. As much as Kong finding the Scarred Ones and slowly learning the truth about them is yanking of the dog’s chain, he might get a slight silver lining at the end of the resulting conflict. Kong’s influence, the Scarred Ones’ losses past and present, and the Scar King’s ongoing decisions might eventually lead to a minority of Scarred Ones defecting to Kong’s side against the Scar King and his loyal majority.

8. After the war against the Scarred Ones, any future antagonistic human factions or organisations trying to use the Zohar for their own ends and unleashing a new Titan threat in the process, instead of tampering with the Realm Below’s natural Zohar, use synthesised Zohar like Apex did; taking advantage of the readings that Apex Cybernetics’ drones originally took from the natural Zohar, which have unfortunately gotten out into the world after Apex’s downfall despite Monarch’s best efforts, as well as gathering whatever top-of-the-line lab resources Apex originally used to do the physical synthesising.

8.5. Ooh, now there’s a dark thought. Half a decade or more after the war against the Scarred Ones, there’s a new high-end black market trafficking synthesised Zohar, the stuff that can make Titans… :O

---

Synthesized Zohar on the black market has the potential for some crazy shit happening in the AbraxasVerse, and I am HERE for it... also, I don’t know how familiar you are with the Xeno Meta Series (Xenogears, Xenosaga, Xenoblade), but let me tell you something that is serendipitous as HELL.

The idea of synthesized Zohar is actually kinda funny considering where the naming inspiration for it came from... it’s also from Xenogears, but for those who haven’t played Xenosaga, there’s the Original Zohar which was discovered on Earth and is probably older than the Big Bang, and twelve Zohar Emulators that have been used in experiments that... end about as well as you’d expect. Like, “an entire planet and 1.5 billion people vanishing and turning up again as a gigantic alien monster thing” well. Just touching an Emulator even while wearing protective gear can cause you to vanish from physical space. Factions across the ‘saga ‘verse have been scrambling for control of them for a long time.

And much like how the Scarred Ones use pieces of the AbraxasVerse Zohar to empower their weapons and themselves, or synthesized Zohar could power Mechagodzilla (and Kiryu I think? Time to reread The Clash of Silver), the Zohar of Xenosaga has been used to power “Relics of God” (like giant super-powered mecha). The really funny part about this, though? It’s established in Xenosaga Episode III that a certain “People of the Zohar” protected the Zohar and the Relics of God for generations and arrived on a certain planet after a long journey. The planet has a new name thanks to galactic government nonsense, but its real name... is Abraxas.

Intentionally or not, all roads lead to Xenosaga, it seems!

#submission #abraxasverse

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dragon-business · 1 year ago

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Ryuji and his Kiryu-fantasies

So, my friend and I found a lot of very sweet looking RyuKiryu art/comics in a row, where Ryuji was depicted in a very bishounen way and even looked somewhat like Daigo in some of them. Again, it all poured on us in a row, and did something irreversible to our brain chemistry.

For starters, it was hysterical. Unprecedentedly funny – not the art itself, but the distinct, clear feeling that all this stuff is Ryuji’s innermost private fantasies.

The vibe was so immaculate and distinct, full on lyrical, gentle. And, yes, the daigofication was the killing shot. Something something, there’s always an accent on Kiryu’s waist. Something something, daigofication again.

Makes you want to study Ryuji’s brain in a lab. Put it into a museum.

Oh, to be Kiryu’s little bro/cousin/adopted son figure (Ryuji is not sure) who is younger, but has some sort of authority over him. Oh, the gentle bishounen fantasy. Oh, the layers of it all, it brings tears to my eyes. The fantasy dream daddy romance, the projection, the jealousy, the craving, the search for some ideal.

– Do you think Ryuji ever whispered “I’ll treat you right” in Kiryu’s neck in one of his immersive daydreams of Kiryu sitting in his lap? Sorry, Ryuji, babygirl, but we're diagnosing you.

He’s the golden dragon emperor of all dragons, he will treat the powerful white dragon right, mmmhm. He’s the dragon, and the prince, and he gets the prince. Amazing.

Ryuji’s making movies about this all in his head, for sure. Mythological AUs, Yakuza Sunset AUs… that’s where all his planing power goes, instead of, well. Actual plans.

Our minds are gone, blasted away by the power of his fantasies, it’s too late for salvation, we can see the light inside Ryuji-kun’s empty head.

Bless 🙏 Hope he doesn’t get well.

– Omi alliance and Togo clan: this boy is wild, can never know what’s going on in his head.

Inside of Ryuji’s head:

– After he came to the funeral at Tojo HC and did that feat with throwing money on the floor, we bet he was stressing out about his mean girl behavior later on at home. “Was this too much? Did his blood boil?” – all while hugging a pillow or a dragon plushy even. The plan is hard to follow, but he Must (true Helga behaviour).

– If Ryuji had a diary, he’d write in it with a glitter pen. His inner gyaru taking hold.

– After going through RyuKiryu art tag on purpose, we came to the conclusion, that, perhaps, the ultimate endgame fantasies Ryuji has are the most vanilla things in history.

Of course all the AUs are good, but consider this (glitter pen on the ready): “he’s shorter than me, so I can kiss his forehead… but if he wants to kiss me, he’ll have to stand on his tiptoes…” And his big blond head is full of glitter pen fantasies like that, it’s amazing. Like Ryuji caring the umbrella and Kiryu holding on to his arm. Nothing more to it, they’re just having a walk.

– before / navigation / next

#yakuza #ryukiryu #kiryu kazuma #ryuji goda #dojima daigo #kiwami 2 #this is canon now

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