#knightwarden

[powdermelonkeg]

START START START

what is/are the major religion(s)?

what do politics look like?

are the people self-governed, or is there a monarchy, or something else?

what are the most prevalent political issues?

are religion, science, and politics separated, or are they tangled together?

YAY!

So this takes place on an entire continent called Ocheon, on a planet called Ater. The country I've built most, Abrylia, has a main religion (tentatively calling it Descentism due to the leader's origin) that works like this:

People who die and have lived good lives ascend to the heavens and are called ascendants, while people who haven't become nothingness when they die. The figurehead leader and high priestess of this country is called the Highborn Heiress. She's believed to be descended from an ascendant that returned to the physical world to guide people, and the people of Abrylia believe they'll drop dead if they ever look her or her kin in the eye. She wears a veil made of strung pearls to keep that from happening.

Politics are…complicated.

On the highest in-country level, you have the Electora. Abrylia's nobles vote in someone to speak for them in every major city, and everyone that wins that vote forms a council. The Highborn Heiress is technically above them; she signs the treaties, she breaks arguments when the Electora can't decide on anything or are doing their jobs poorly, she makes deal with the Magnis (getting to them in a minute), and she commissions the knightwardens (monster hunters) from their academy.

On the local level, all throughout Ocheon, the land is governed by the bannermen. They're various clans that conduct themselves differently depending on location, and they're responsible for maintaining and guarding the lands. They have squabbles about borders all the time, but the leaders of the Ocheon countries mostly leave them to it, so long as it never messes with the common citizens. Bannermen are supposed to answer to the country's leader, though more often than not, they'll defer to their own banner's lord rather than acknowledge anything bigger than their own territory.

Then, the Magnis. There are currently eight of them. It's a position outside of country laws, that supersedes the rule of any leader so long as it's within their job description, in the name of peace and future stability of the continent. The current Magnis in power are as follows:

Magni Etran - Current overseer of Dragonblood Citadel

Magni Nalum - Current overseer of the Knightwarden Academy

Magni Tol - Current overseer of the Elemental Colleges

Magni Orina - Current overseer of dragon migration

Magni Syviry - Grand Resonance smith

Magni Elorand - Grand Judge of Ocheon continent

Magni Hylal - Current overseer of candidate requisition

Magni Padryd - Current overseer of Fray investigation

The position is passed down as each Magni chooses a successor, and if one dies without choosing one, the others select and vote in their place.

Currently, the most prevalent issue is that the ninth Magni, Magni Denard, had a very hereditary position rather than the normal successor route, because his job had to do with his bloodline carrying a specific mutation of magic in it. And then he vanished without leaving an heir, so all the hard work that went into his bloodline and training vanished.

As far as science goes, this is a medieval-style world, but monster anatomy is VERY well-studied, and there are leaps and bounds in the scientific field from the spark-eyed community (magic-wielders) due to the abilities they have. That's all managed by Magnis Etran, Nalum, Tol, Orina, and Hylal, so that's the political tie-in.

[kammek]

House Hawkshroud Knight and a couple Armigers #gamesworkshop #paintingwarhammer #warhammer40k #imperialknight #imperialknights #hawkshroud #knightwarden #armigerhelverin #armiger #commission (at Hobby Central)

[mirrorworldangel]

Drautyx Arranged marriage( whatever the reason) HCs?

You, I like.

I can make an AU out of this. This is gonna be very long.

In this AU, let’s start from the quarrel between Ardyn and Somnus, mostly about how do they rule their respective kingdoms and their faith towards Bahamut’s judgement. It was bad, yes, but Mama Izunia decided to intervene with the help from Aera, without any bloodshed.

So, she decided to split the Solheim territories into three; Lucis territories (Somnus’s kingdom with Bahamut as their patron Astral), Niflheim (Ardyn’s kingdom with Ifrit as theirs) and Solheim itself, backed with the support of the Astrals Leviathan and the Messenger, Garuda. Tenebrae is supported by the Astral Shiva, and both Solheim and Tenebrae work together for aeons as the peacekeepers and lawkeepers of the Treaty of the Three between the two rival kingdoms.

Sometime after that incident, Cavanaugh joined the Niflheim allegiance, while Galahd joined the Lucis, though the two countries are considered as independent kingdoms due to the fact they are blessed by the Astrals Titan and Ramuh respectively.

Cavanaugh joined due to military strategical reasons, while Galahd due to the scandalised marriage of Regis and Aulea Lucis Caelum, sister of Asteria Ulric, the Songstress, Chieftess of Galahd. 

In this story, Mors and Aldercapt were overthrown by their own son and illegitimate child, Prompto’s mother and Ardyn’s descendant, due to the attempt of breaking the Treaty of the Three to start a war against each other and to allow both Regis and Aulea to marry (which is actually the main reason, before they found out about the treason).

How do I fit Drautyx into this? Well...  

Let’s say Nyx is at the age of his First Hunt (13 years), and Drautos is about like 12 years older than him (23 years), Captain of his own battalion in the Niflheim army, patrolling the borders where they meet for the first time.

I haven’t planned their roles in the AU yet, but I know they are the turning points that changed the course of the war in the military department. During the course of this story, both Nyx and Drautos fall in love while playing their part in their respective kingdoms, secretly meeting each other.

Also, they are the respective Astral’s Chosen Childe, and both of them are betrothed to each other by the fae spirits of Fate, just like Ifrit and Shiva. 

And the biggest law that HAD to be obeyed was:NEVER shall one ruler of the kingdoms harm an Astral’s Chosen Childe, be it with or without intention, for the sake of one’s gain of interest.

And guess who did it!

Sometime after the incident, and both future leaders Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, Ignis, Ravus and Lunafreya are born, both Nyx and Titus marry (when Nyx is finally at the proper age to marry) as representatives to finally end the rivalry between Lucis and Niflheim.

And their daughter Enya was born, a surprise gift from the Astrals is among the first generation to serve under the Knightwardens, a military unit that serves to maintain the peace under the Treaty of the Three.

[powdermelonkeg]

@argentleif Starting a new post from this one!

So by gryphs wanting the leftovers, does that mean they have cannibalistic tendencies? Or rather they want the leftovers of non gryph meals?

They're opportune cannibals. They won't hunt each other unless they're infringing on territory, but they will eat any dead gryph they come across.

Wow that is a terrifying werewolf. How long do they tend to live with their new way of life? Like what's the survival rate of the first transformation, as in how many two foots are waiting for the transformation to revert so they can take out the now very naked and very person sized werewolf? Do they flee society? Or try and act like it didn't happen? Mixture of both? In two foot form do they congregate? Do they fight eachother while transformed because food is food? Do they all transform at the same time i.e 'the 15th of every month is werewolf night' or 'every full moon' or is based on when they got bit and thus a two foot werewolf and a transformed werewolf can co-exist (until the two foot is probably eaten)?

It varies as to how well they survive--are the two-foots good enough at hiding from a starving predator to not get eaten? Do they have any experience hunting werewolves? The belluan still regenerates while in two-foot form, so it's difficult to kill them.

Fleeing society is the best bet one has at surviving, unless they know they have a steady supply of fresh blood. A particularly savvy belluan can drink from a victim, eat the evidence when next they change, and act perfectly normal otherwise.

Most belluans operate solo; those that stick together are more often familial ties--ie, one of them turned the others and has cobbled together something of a cover for them all. I have a pack that operates almost like a mafia, where the "disappearances" for getting on the wrong side of the wolf in charge wind up as food. Outside of that, a blood-fed belluan isn't hungry, so it won't care about another one. A starving belluan (as most are) will still try to kill and eat another on sight.

Transformation is more of a biological function than a supernatural event, so it doesn't care what time of the month it is. Each strain has its own rough cycle--for example, one with an average cycle of 53 days could turn as low as 50 days post-bite, or as high as 56.

Ooh I see, how are knightwardens chosen? How benevolent are they? And what do the public and political leaders think of them?

There's a sort of exam taken every few years among young children. 2% of the population are spark-eyed, meaning they're capable of using magic. They get taken and shipped off to the Elemental Colleges to learn how to use that magic.

If you're not spark-eyed, but you score high enough in cognitive and coordination tests, you're sent to the Knightwarden Academy. Generally speaking, the public loves them and the leaders are glad for their services; knightwardens are meant to be cordial, kind, and the heroes that stop the horrors from happening to you.

Oooh that's cool. So by not intermixing is that full stop as in the only way they're interacting is via battle, uneasy truces, and interacting like the other has the plague?

Or is it specifically that they can't have offspring or live in the same house, but could hypothetically live in the same town and work together in a field?

Specifically, they cannot have offspring. They're different species that experienced convergent evolution (it runs a little deeper than that but that gets into historical lore on where everyone came from), so they're genetically incompatible. Nobody cares if you go and marry one, or adopt a handful of different two-foots, but a human can only have a child with another human.

Oh wow. So doppels could be kind little old ladies who give out cookies but will punch your lights out if you try to do the same, as well as horrifying beasts of destruction all based on how they're treated? Damn. What happens if two blank doppels see eachother? How are doppels made?

Doppels that stay in one place for awhile drip silvery liquid onto the ground. Give that puddle enough time undisturbed, and a new doppel will eventually form out of it.

Blank doppels don't generally last long. There's always something around to try to mimic--if not a person, a wild animal. If you were to theoretically leave one in a vacuum for ages, then somehow introduce it to another one without any sort of interference that could be copied, they'd probably endlessly copy each other's ripples and look like watery mannequins until interrupted. They just stare until they find something to copy.

Oh gods, those poor dragons, and potentially dragon riders depending on how they are chosen (i.e. if they choose to be, they're horrid, if they're tricked or just yoinked from the street because the makers of dragon riders are already into the unethical, they also get some pity, though less than the dragons). What do knightwardens think of dragonriders? Are they the one's doing it?

So, back to the knightwardens, remember how I said if you pass high cognitive and coordination tests, you get chosen? If you aren't spark-eyed, you don't pass those tests, but you ARE red-threaded (part of the magic system) AND you pass a very narrow physical margin, you're sent to the Dragonblood Citadel. No choice in the matter.

Knightwardens generally think of dragonbloods either with pity or with disgust--depends on the warden. They aren't scared of them, so it's a tossup between "you're a monster, and I'll kill you the second I'm ordered to" and "you were chosen for your job, just like me. You got the short end of the stick."

Is ocheon the country? Or an entity? Or the name of the people of said planet?

Continent! The planet is Ater, the continent is Ocheon, and the country on the continent I've developed the most is Abrylia. I gave a full rundown here!

How are the now mutant dragonblood riders treated by society? Are they heroes with dark secrets the public doesn't know? Or a viewed necessary evil?

People are generally afraid of them. Dragonbloods are tall, built like brick walls, with claws, patches of scales, draconic eyes, fangs, and the ability to breathe fire. It doesn't matter how they act, society is going to see them as a monster, something to live with to keep the dragons in check, and, if the aggressor is feeling cocky, an easy way to rid the world of another dragon.

The unfortunate thing is, for how imposing dragonbloods are, the mutations were never designed to strengthen them. They've got chronic pains, dehydration, blood that feels like it's on fire, and a general weakness to them; they're seldom ever trained in their own combat, only in how to direct their dragons, so a few two-foots could easily gang up on a dragonblood.

How often are dragon nests raided?

Whenever they're found. It's a public duty to report any wild dragon sightings so they can be monitored and eventually raided; the end goal is to have ALL dragons under the killswitch of a dragonblood eventually.

[powdermelonkeg]

Dragons are HUGE, and as such, have a really high calorie count to reach. Huge things either need to eat a million tiny things, or be efficient and eat other huge things to survive.

Gryphs are ideal because they're good, clean meat, can be snatched out of the air, and have a decent amount of trouble hiding from them in such a small-scaled environment.

A newborn werewolf is going to be incredibly freaked out by the first change. When in wolf form, they're so hungry that they'll typically eat their shed two-foot bodies unless they've gotten the fresh blood treatment. When they revert back to two-foot form, they're covered in viscera and sitting naked in the middle of a body they can't hide, and that's understandably really distressing.

Werewolves can talk to each other and their prey in two-foot form. Specters can be communed with if you're tied to them, but that drains you, so it's best left to the knightwardens. Un-metamorphosed vampires can still...somewhat communicate. They deteriorate rapidly. Doppels, if they've watched two-foots enough, can eventually learn enough to become people, while changelings and concubi only parrot things instinctively. Dragons can communicate with their riders, but they think mostly in pictures.

Serious itch to create right now. Tempted to make a worldbuilding guide to my favorite original world but no idea where to start posts about that.

[powdermelonkeg]

Gryphs aren't quite birdlike so much as catlike. They're very much in the "scatter" category, but "scatter and hide" rather than "scatter and run." They DO want the leftovers after the dragon's had its fill.

Werewolves are a source of panic, because they turn into 15 to 20-ft-tall monsters that'll eat anything on sight. Doesn't matter who you are or who you used to be, you're a monster now. There is no cure.

Knightwardens are an order of monster hunters that are outside the jurisdiction of the countries. Each country pays the Knightwarden Academy to borrow their services, as well as a stipend for the knightwarden on patrol. It's not that they can't be drained, it's that they're the trained professionals.

Two-foots are called such because they're anyone that stands on two feet. There are three kinds, mostly identical: humans, avera, and ennai, with very subtle differences between them. Avera have narrow, pointed ears with a bone in the helix of each ear, two joints in their toes, a heart on the right side, and blood that bleeds copper. Ennai have ears with a slight point, no canine teeth, a heart in the center of their chest, and black-purple blood. They can't intermix because they're completely different species, and they all have things that are poisonous to each of them, but not the others.

Doppels are treated with suspicion, especially in the early days of having a conscious mind, because those that haven't developed one are dangerous to an unnatural degree (those that DO have one are still dangerous, but can be reasoned with), and because they give off serious uncanny valley vibes. A doppel starts off as a blank slate that copies, somewhat imperfectly, the first form it sees. Anything that's done in its presence, it can mimic perfectly.

So imagine someone runs into a doppel in the woods. You have something that looks like a person but not quite that keeps staring at you, and does everything you do.

Say that freaks a person out, and they try to hit it.

The doppel copies. It hits the person. It doesn't know its own strength, so it hits too hard. The person dies.

The doppel doesn't know what it did is wrong. It knows two things: what a person looks like, and that hitting is part of a person's behavior. The next person it sees, it thinks it should do the same.

Doppels that are people are those that have been around long enough to copy two-foot mannerisms on a complex, social level. But they can still return anything that's given to them, no matter how complex, no matter how skilled. They're terrifying.

On dragon riders, it's...complicated. And inhumane. A hatchling dragon is bound to a two-foot through very cruel experiments that mutate the two-foot to have draconic features. After that point, they share a draconic lifespan, but if the two-foot is killed, the dragon dies.

THAT is the whole point of binding them in the first place. Ocheon is terrified of dragons, because they're huge and uncontrollable. A dragonblood (mutant) is capable of communicating with and exerting some degree of control over the dragon they're tied to, if from nothing else than fear of death. Which means you have a war weapon, a gryph extermination force, and a kill switch all in one.

Wild dragons have no way to communicate with people, so they're regarded like wild animals. They "talk" to other dragons more like how cats communicate, with body language backed up by a rudimentary understanding of patterns and strong memory. They don't have language centers in their brains. Wild dragons don't really understand that dragonbloods are linked to their dragons, and don't really care about humans at all--unless their nests are being raided for the dragonblood project.

Serious itch to create right now. Tempted to make a worldbuilding guide to my favorite original world but no idea where to start posts about that.