#lucian be ler hanaasha

[ocexpo]

lucian and chrono and darkblithe meeting, i guess, though this is more of ‘making sure i’ve got their faces down’. lucian’s outfit looks dumb cropped like this unfortunately :V

[ocexpo]

lucian: i need your advice on something

saivel: uh huh

lucian: i think i might be in love with chrono.

saivel: i... thought you guys were married. you're not married?

lucian: ...what?

saivel: you have the same last name, i thought—

lucian: we're not married, that's a, uh, religious... you thought we were married? do we act married?

saivel: ...so does like everyone in your religion have the same last name? whats the point then

lucian: saivel why did you think we were married

[ocexpo]

chrono and lucian and darkblithe were all orphaned simply because of famine. there was a drought in the region, and they all lived in a fairly poor village. their parents prioritized their children. when the dheyubha got to them, the children were practically skin and bones. they did their best for the parents, but as it was chrono and lucian and darkblithe were lucky to survive after being seriously ill for some time.

chrono and lucian took away being selfless from that experience, and admired the dheyubha who saved them. darkblithe hated being powerless, hated how long the dheyubha took.

[ocexpo]

darkblithe’s motives really boil down to power.

he always wanted power. he thought he was better than other people. and he was - smarter, and stronger. (darkblithe was a few years older than lucian + chrono).

but he was ultimately Too Smart and Too Ambitious for his own good, and he couldn’t reconcile what he thought was right with what hanAasha said was right, but at the same time he’d been raised believing in hanAasha so he had difficulty just throwing those ideas away.

he thought, i know better! i could do so much! i could fix everything if i was just strong enough! i could make sure no one like me or lucian or chrono ever got orphaned again!

he thought, i am the only person who could be trusted with great power. i deserve great power.

he’d become a yubha at 17. he wanted to become an aashyubha by 20; young, incredibly young. he worked, hard, for three years. he really thought he was chosen by hanAasha, not just in the title.

the ceremony where lucian and chrono became dheyubha was held the same day a new aashyubha was to be chosen. the dhe’aashyubha had discussed chuttena, but did not think he was ready: too arrogant, too hotheaded. too young.

he thought they were wrong.

after killing the dhe’aashyubha, destroying the yubhtun, he went into hiding. no one came after him. the dhe’aashyubha were the pillar of the community - without them, no one knew what to do and they were more focused rebuilding than chasing after the murderer who they lived in fear of.

so if no one punished him, maybe he was right. but being an aashyubha wasn’t for him, not anymore. the whole hanAasha angle was wrong; hanAasha hadn’t helped the dhe’yubha, had Yeht? in the end it was all up to personal strength, and that he had.

and he hid and he thought (while chrono and lucian grew up, and remembered what he’d done). and he left behind the name be ler hanAasha because hanAasha meant nothing, hanAasha was an empty god. what was real was power, the power he had found.

and he heard news of a powerful mage to the west, claiming to be the chaos lord, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to kill them and lord over what they’d conquered, or find an ally in them, but it sounded like a ripe opportunity. 

and chrono and lucian heard word of a man with dark hair and powerful magic calling himself ‘darkblithe,’ blazing a path of destruction towards the west - a man who destroyed dheyubhtun and killed dheyubha with extreme prejudice, and it rung too familiar to be a coincidence.

[ocexpo]

im on a real chrono/lucian kick rn. uhhhh anyway

they both don’t figure they’ll survive taking down darkblithe. if they don’t just straight up get killed by him, they figure they’ll only be able to kill him by sacrificing themselves. they’ve never really thought about a future after darkblithe.

they’ve really only had each other for company for... like, a really long time. more than a decade. this is part of why they take so long to realize they’re gay for each other. 

they’ve both always thought of taking down darkblithe as their duty alone, and are initially resistant to the idea of the rest of the lox crew helping them out before they realize like Maybe That’s A Good Idea.

it’s also like, it’s good that they meet the lox crew and can actually spend some time away from each other and talk to other people instead of depending solely on each other, alone.

there’s a probable conversation where lucian talks to like fuse about how it’s weird talking to other people and he’d always figured he and chrono only needed each other and fuse is like ‘well... it’s good that you guys shouldn’t be so dependent on each other.’ and lucians like ??? 

and fuse is like ‘well, if anything happened to chrono, what would you do? he’s the only person you have and you’re so dependent on him, it would’ve destroyed you.’ 

and lucian is like ‘but--’ but fuse just tells him ‘you can and should be a person by yourself and you shouldn’t depend only on each other, it’s unsustainable. it’s good that you know each other so well but there’s, like, a point you know?’ and lucian’s like... huh.

and initially it’s kind of terrifying for both of them, the prospect that they don’t Just Have Each Other, but ultimately it is for the better

[ocexpo]

chrono, lucian + darkblithe notes

their names aren’t actually chrono/lucian/darkblithe, those are the equivalents of their names in their native language

chrono = tenitehr, time watcher

lucian = hhela, bright one

darkblithe = chuttena, it sort of denotes someone who’s more in their element in the night (chutten is lit. ‘cold time’ and signifies the night)

their surnames are be ler hanAasha, as they were orphaned and brought up by dheyubha to become dheyubha themselves. darkblithe has since obviously abandoned that surname

neither chrono nor lucian really consider themself a yubha since they’ve been chasing after darkblithe instead of doing like, actual religious stuff. they still keep their surname bc that’s what they’re used to

they do still believe, though they have their personal struggles with hanAasha and whether or not Yeht is actually benevolent given the shit they’ve seen and like they wonder how darkblithe turned out the way they did

worth noting: they still call darkblithe chuttena (he hates this). they used to refer to each other by their ‘actual names’ a lot but have adapted to being called chrono/lucian

they usually introduce themselves as Chrono/Lucian be ler hanAasha, which has led to some people thinking they’re married

[ocexpo]

lucian: hey i think i might uh... be in love with... a man.... not any dude in particular.... like i really love him and he makes me happy and i want to make him happy and spend the rest of my life with him...

lucian: does that make me gay?

saivel and venia, who have probably heard almost the exact same thing from chrono:

saivel and venia: dude

[ocexpo]

Seven Beautiful Children (very rough height lineup/designs… not rly sure abt venia’s outfit 🤔)

[ocexpo]

dheyubha don’t have like, a proper uniform, but there is one piece of clothing they’re all expected to wear. it’s basically a green triangle of fabric that’s worn as a shawl. neither chrono nor lucian really consider themselves dheyubha anymore, but they both still wear it. i probably ought to come up with a name for it, huh

[ocexpo]

uhhh more thoughts on lox religions

the greater order:

priests/half-priests are like... big on the asceticism, to the point that they like. dont even have close personal relationships. the logic is that everyone is equal and thus you should treat everyone equally, kind of. destroying the idea of both friendship and enemies

(this is also why theyre celibate)

its supposed to help them better understand the Greater Order of the world and all that.

this doesnt conflict with them being charities/orphanages because they believe that everyone’s needs should be met, its just like... very extreme for priests/half-priests

for this reason, it’s not uncommon for people to want to become a priest only to turn back once they realize that like... its kinda not, very great in a lot of ways

the basic tenets of the greater order:

every living thing is equal and should be treated equall

y(on that note, priests/half-priests are typically vegetarian; casual followers usually don’t care as much)

there is a greater order to the universe; not necessarily like, a divine will? but there is a Way Things Are Meant To Be

all things in the universe are united through the greater order

one should have the necessities of life. both suffering and extravagance are contrary to the greater order and how people exist as witnesses and a part of it

children of hanAasha:

it’s typical for dheyubha to be taught light/fire/wind magic, since these are all elements associated with hanAasha (tied in with hanAasha’s association with the sun/sky). they’re also taught healing magic if they take to it, or just basic medical skills if they don’t.

the term for like the Actual Religion is ‘hhitahn ler hanAasha’ (it’s just. religion/belief of hanAasha) but people usually call themselves children of hanAasha and i like that phrasing a lot more lmao

also hanAasha’s pronouns cause some issues when you’re not talking in the language which causes Lucian and Chrono some consternation

there Is a ‘devil’ of sorts, known as milahn (absence of knowledge, essentially? it sort of denotes anything that hanAasha doesn’t want to see/trying to keep knowledge from hanAasha)

note there’s an ‘ahn’ instead of an ‘a’ ending it, indicating it’s a Thing rather than a person, and it’s not capitalized. it’s more of a universal concept of Suffering and Ill Will than something that itself has will

milahn doesnt get special pronouns because it’s an object

hanAasha is inherently opposed to milahn and has been since the beginning of eternity. Yeht created humans in a space free from milahn. anyway obviously milahn hates humans and wants them to suffer and turn from hanAasha but it’s conceptualized as less of something with a Will and thus a malevolent entity as like... a natural force in opposition to hanAasha, if that makes sense. i.e. there is milahn in everyone?

misc but it’s a common turn of phrase to say ‘hanAasha is crying’ when the weather goes suddenly from dry to like, a light drizzle

the basic tenets of children of hanAasha:

hanAasha is watching and judging you.

(it’s sort of? a belief that the sun/moon are both hanAasha’s eyes, people take it with varying degrees of literalness)

thus we are obligated to do actions that hanAasha looks upon with favor

hanAasha dislikes interfering directly with humans, desiring them to have free will, but they will interact with their children thru dreams

hanAasha is benevolent! but once again wants humans to have free will, so we must act as hanAasha wants us to and treat other humans kindly

we must be truthful to each other as we are to hanAasha: even a white lie is considered milahn 

while humans are inclined towards hanAasha, they cannot escape the fact that there is milahn within them; it’s been that way since their creation. it’s human’s duty to resist milahn 

[ocexpo]

chrono isn’t like, weird in the ‘wacky wild xD’ way? he’s not very good at maintaining conversations and can miss like a Lot of social cues and subtext. he also has a lot of habits and mannerisms that other people find weird (but lucian is accustomed to).

he HATES sleeves. beneath his yubha-mandated shawl he’s sleeveless. however he collects bracelets with great enthusiasm and likes to fiddle with them a lot. 

he and lucian share the quality of just sleeping... literally wherever, and typically close to each other, at least when they sleep for the night. it’s what they’re used to. kaime accidentally trips over chrono just sleeping next to their garden one time.

anyway the lox crew like... takes it in stride because they’re a weird fuckin group in general. also fuse genuinely doesnt know that chrono acts abnormal in any way and probably picks up some mannerisms from him

not entirely in line with the rest of this post but a note: chrono is physically stronger than lucian, who’s more magic focused. like, chrono does have his chronomancy but it’s not something that actually comes into handy that often? in combat its a support thing as opposed to a directly combat thing

lucian has a sword, chrono’s got a staff that he whacks people with

[ocexpo]

‘what did darkblithe do?’

[ocexpo]

lucian and chrono were old enough to remember their parents by the time they were orphaned so the last name isnt a 'you had no last name' kinda thing.

last names are fairly mutable in their culture; adopted kids will typically take their adoptive father's last name, unless they're making a conscious Meaningful Choice.

so their surnames being 'be ler hanAasha' is basically like... they've been adopted by god, in a more literal sense than dheyubha are 'adopted by god'