#rlau

[phr3nopatik]

Rusty lake fanartists, lemme see your rusty lake ocs/personas!! I love rl ocs and would love to meet some of them + see if they'd be good friends with my ocs👀

[crossroadsofchaos]

Retired Leaders AU Info Masterpost

Figured I'd compile basic info about this AU into one big post.

----

THE BASICS:

It's a "Good Uncle" kind of AU, where Belos is a better person. He actually tried to unite the realms, because he believed it would be beneficial for both, but it was doomed from the start and went horribly wrong. He has publicly admitted to and apologized for his wrongdoings and resigned from his position, and the Coven System was abolished. His family occupied leadership positions within his Coven and also left those roles behind, hence the AU's title.

I refer to the family as the Wolf Fam. It consists of Belos, Steven, Hunter and Kiki, along with their palismen. They all live together in a newly built house.

--

THE CHARACTERS:

This isn't a list of all characters that exist, just the Wolf Fam and a handful of others, mostly OCs.

Belos Wittebane (he/him; mid 410s): Former Lord of the Boiling Isles; now a palisman carver; husband of Steven.

Steven Bellamy (he/him; 53 y/o): Husband of Belos; former Head of the Lord's Coven; now a P.E. teacher at Hexside.

Hunter Wittebane (he/him; 17 y/o): Nephew of Belos, raised by him and Steven; former Golden Guard; now mainly focused on pursuing his interest in engineering and tech.

Kikimora Volk (she/her; mid 20s): A sort of adopted daughter to Belos and Steven and adopted sister to Hunter; former Secretary; now works at a history museum.

Crescent (they/them): A floating snow leopard palisman belonging to Belos.

Ash (he/him, they/them): A dark gray wolf palisman belonging to Steven.

Waffles (she/her, they/them): A winged red wolf palisman belonging to Hunter.

Grusha (she/her): A spotted hyena palisman belonging to Kiki.

Jasper Tholomule (he/him; 44 y/o): Younger half-brother of Steven; father of Matt; husband of Cass.

Cassidy "Cass" Tholomule (they/them, she/her; 44 y/o): Spouse of Jasper; stepparent of Matt.

Matthew "Matt" Tholomule (he/him; 13 y/o): Biological son of Jasper and stepson of Cass; nephew of Steven.

Leslie Bellamy (she/her; 80s): Mother of Steven and Jasper; grandmother of Matt; wife of Opal.

Opal Bellamy (she/her; 80s): Wife of Leslie; stepmother of Steven and biological mother of Jasper; grandmother of Matt.

Ren Kanemaru (they/them; 53 y/o): Steven's childhood friend; former scout.

Valerie "Val" Durand (she/her; 54 y/o): Best friend of Steven and Ren, who they met after joining the Lord's Coven; former scout.

Petra Barany (she/her; mid 20s): Best friend and former assistant of Kiki.

That's about enough I think, I won't be including the rest here. One thing to note is that the Collector doesn't exist in this version.

And you may have also noticed that "Steve" is a little different. I created this version back when we only had one scene with Steve and had no idea he was going to get a face reveal and more canon info, and I just chose not to change the name after that happened. So Steve technically exists, but it's not canon Steve. They do have some similarities though.

--

THE STORY:

Back in the 1600s, Philip did not kill Caleb, and reluctantly gave the Boiling Isles a chance. Though resisting it at every turn, he ultimately fell in love with it. He developed the belief that uniting the two realms would be beneficial for both, combining the less dangerous climate of Earth with the more open and progressive culture of the Isles. After Caleb died in an accident during the search for one of the ingredients for the portal door, Philip only became more committed to the idea.

He began to do extensive research into magic, digging for as much information as he could find, which included looking into lost and forbidden magic. The latter is how he discovered both Grimwalkers and a way to extend one's life by consuming palismen. As he formed a coherent plan for how to enact his goal, he began trying out his messaging on small groups of witches to see what works, as well as testing out Coven sigils on the earliest ones until they worked as intended. He also took the name Belos and began to wear a mask.

Slightly over 50 years ago he took power as the Lord of the Boiling Isles, becoming the chief religious figure and a sort of constitutional monarch, with his fourth Grimwalker nephew, Anthony, by his side as the Golden Guard. There was an elected government responsible for things like deciding on budgets and passing legislation unrelated to the Coven System, however Belos had ultimate authority and could override any decision. He largely stayed out of their affairs unless he thought what they were doing would undermine his ultimate goal.

However, his plan to unite the realms was doomed from the start. When he attempted to do it on the Day of Unity, it went horribly wrong and shattered his hopes. The Unification Spell didn't work and was simply draining people of magic. It ended abruptly once Belos's staff, through which the spell was channeled, exploded. He, Hunter and the Hexsquad barely escaped the blast by leaving through the portal door. They ended up stuck in the Human Realm for a time, before finding the same way back as they did in canon.

Belos publicly admitted that he had lied about speaking to the Titan, and that the plan to unite the realms was his own doomed idea. He apologized and resigned, with Steven, Hunter and Kiki following him. The Coven System was abolished, and the Isles became more of an actual democracy, without a single individual with ultimate authority being able to override the decisions of the elected government, which also became more transparent.

Belos helped with restoration efforts where damage had been caused on the Day of Unity, and he later took up palisman carving and caring for palismen in general to make up for consuming them to extend his own life. He also released many palismen souls that were previously trapped inside him, and is now aging at a more regular pace. Though some remain, in part because they have fused with his curse - he was cursed long ago, in a similar way to Eda, and his curse is a wolfcat. Both conditions have physically affected him, giving him scars, catlike pupils, sharp fangs, ability to purr, and making him much bigger than he was originally.

--

EXTRA:

spirituality on the Isles

Belos didn't invent a religion from scratch, but rather built on and expanded - or, to put it more harshly, exploited - already existing spiritual beliefs related to the Titan in order to achieve his goal of uniting the realms.

Before Belos, the Titan was rarely (if ever) viewed as a higher authority who, through messengers, gave witches rules to live by. He was mainly seen and respected as the origin of the Isles and all life on it. People thanked him for their existence, their magic, their harvests, etc. and payed tribute to him, but that was largely it. The prevalence of spirituality/religion has gone down over time.

Belos's rise to power with the claim of him being "the Titan's messenger" caused a resurgence of spirituality/religiosity, with him being seen as the authority on the matter by his followers. It has declined again once it was revealed that he hadn't actually spoken to the Titan.

glyphs

They were in frequent use by ancient witches, in part due to them having weaker natural magic and having to rely more on magical tools than modern witches. Over time, they fell out of common use and were limited to specific spiritual/religious rituals, and then only became more rare over time.

Disabled witches who had weak or no natural magic would simply rely on their staffs, due to which they wouldn't rediscover glyphs out of necessity. On top of that, when knowledge of glyphs was still more common, it may have been taboo to use them for non-spiritual/religious purposes.

Covens

There have been a number of different Coven systems throughout history. Some Covens were based around familial ties, some were based around what kinds of magic people specialized in, some were simply regional, etc. Though sigils had not been used before, and it was possible to move between Covens, with the level of difficulty depending on the type of Covens in question. Whether it was legal to be Covenless may have varied as well, with it being illegal in some places at some points in time. When Belos rose to power, he chose to use the specialization-based model of Covens to sort people into.

With Belos's system gone, the concept of Covens wasn't completely abandoned, but rather became non-official and based on voluntary participation, as opposed to a legally mandated system that also restricted what types of magic people could use.

the structure of Belos's government

As mentioned previously, it was a sort of constitutional monarchy. Belos was the Lord of the Boiling Isles, it's main religious figure and ultimate authority, but there was an elected government, responsible for things like budgets and passing legislation. Belos could override any decision they made.

The Head Witches of the main nine Covens were originally appointed by Belos alone, but after Terra turned out to be a disastrous choice and had to be pushed out, he handed the appointment process over to the elected government, and would now simply confirm or deny their appointments. Those officials could be bribed, though, to appoint someone who shouldn't necessarily hold a position of power, like Adrian. Belos tried to keep an eye on such issues - or more so tasked others with doing so, but some still slipped through.

The Lord's Coven was a separate branch of government, entirely under Belos's control, though he tended to be somewhat reclusive, so day-to-day coordination and such was largely handled by other high-ranking members of the Coven.

The top leadership originally consisted of three positions: the Lord (Belos), the Secretary (first Winston, later Kiki) and the Golden Guard (first Anthony, later Hunter). The third position was later split into two, the Golden Guard and the Head of the Lord's Coven (first Lilith, later Steven), with the latter taking on some of the former's responsibilities, which allowed Belos to keep Hunter in the castle more for his safety.

The Lord's Coven was the Isles' military, and they performed other tasks and missions for Belos as well, such as finding abandoned palismen for him to consume as "medicine" - something he agreed was unfortunate, and claimed he was looking for an alternative to - and searching for Titan's Blood. Regular law enforcement was typically done by members of other Covens, though some scouts, mostly newer ones, could get the assignment. Usually, experienced scouts were only brought in for emergencies, or to deal with particularly powerful criminals.

the basilisks

The basilisks were not tortured and were generally treated better than in canon, but they were made to do things they didn't like, and were still kept in captivity, in part out of concern that they'd start attacking people if released out in the wild, and they were unhappy with their lives, so they still escaped.

The basilisk that attacked the schools in season 1 had always had behavior problems, possibly a combination of being the earliest and thus least correctly created, as well as being mishandled by those responsible for their care. They have since been treated, and are no longer dangerous.

Vee had complicated feelings about Belos, but was not terrified of him when she saw him in the Human Realm, especially once he made it clear he had no intention of forcing her to return to captivity.

[aroacemisha]

Okay, so I don't really do stuff with my TOH AU anymore and don't think much about it, but I got an idea I really like-

Belos installing a sort of constitutional monarchy as opposed to an absolute one, where there was still some elected government that did the bureaucracy, like deciding on budgets and various legislation, but Belos had special status as a monarch and "Titan's Messenger", and while normally he stayed out of the elected government's decisions, he could intervene if he saw it as necessary, and his word was seen as final. He chose to stay out unless there was risk of them going against a few specific things he needed to fulfill his plan to unite the realms.

This is canon now. And this is part of why having political power didn't completely corrupt him/turn him into an irredeemable bastard - he never had too much of it, it was never absolute.

--

For those unfamiliar with the AU, in it Belos didn't kill Caleb and actually came to like the witches and the Boiling Isles, and he also developed the belief that uniting the realms/bringing the Isles into the Human Realm would be beneficial for both, which intensified after Caleb died in an accident while they searched for a portal ingredient. Belos believed the united realm would be the best of both worlds, combining the less dangerous climate of the Human Realm and the more open-minded and progressive culture of the Boiling Isles.

His plan was never realistic though, it was doomed from the start, but the more he tried to achieve it and the more questionable things he did to get there, the more he convinced himself that it had to work. The Day of Unity and how disastrously that went shattered his hopes.

(Also just fyi the Collector doesn't exist in this AU, Belos learned things from ancient texts instead, and the Unification Spell stopped by just failing)

[existentialterror]

ARG Notes: Partial work on deciphering the Gen Loss 2 trailer Founder Cipher

I have not actually cracked it. I'm sure it's been solved already; I haven't checked. But in case it's helpful, here's some stuff I assembled: First I took the code in the 2024/09/01 trailer titled "From the Desk of The Founder". Then I transcribed it into a "Deciphering Alphabet" - this is not what the glyphs represent, yet, but assuming that each glyph = an english letter, you can now use this in deciphering tools or just using a keyboard.

Hey, you can make all these glyphs by chopping up (and rotating) the genloss logo. Cute!

Anyhow then I transcribed all the text in the trailer to form this "Founder code corpus". Which is obviously garbled since this is not the real translation:

ABCDEFGH. EFCAGBDEI JKLIMOMOCPIQOFJL. AFBBIOEICFDMI EILBMCPEHILQR. LRQIMMJDIAOSNN. LAOSNBITLNBQMCCHA. QTBIEICPBEHLM. BMMFJIDJMMI SCRAIUEMNIRQL. BQTIEICDUMILQRI MDMJIEVOHMAN. EINMKBIAFBBILQRI JMMDIANHVMEO. EIKBMNIMUNEI EIHPNQLILPCOLSGMEI LJMSIFBDEIRQL. APCIEIHPNLQ. LOIEIEPP. EIBAFDHPMIOAIRSI QNCMEKMHCILPCQMNKP. QLRIMOQHPAI BSOFLGEMCIKBRJEGMJEC. FBMIOLMFBJINLPQHI CRNLIFHBAD,IOAIPQNLHIE. BEIAODIQNMBAQKET. LRQIJMMDIAMKENTQBQ. QBTIBEIDOAI BCLIMJHVBKM. QLRIMMJDI BCLIKMJVHMB. QBTIBBAFI DOAIRLAU. LRQIKHBMVMJIMSIWMNAJEMI MJBMFIOEIJMLSITCRMLI BFDAIEIDBHFA. EIAHCIBAMHMJ. EICAHIBMJHMAI MFOGSEB EIHCAIMHJMBAI ECGBFMSOLIJMBMHKV. EINDNEIHMJABMI SLEFGOCBMIHVJMBMK.

But then I was like oh shit, the | characters ("I" in the Deciphering Alphabet") aren't characters, they're spaces - in every panel where there are two lines of text on the screen, the | always happens at the end of the earlier lines of text, where you would naturally break a line.

So let's replace all the |s with spaces and otherwise ignore the line breaks, putting every sentence on a separate line.

ABCDEFGH. EFCAGBDE JKL MOMOCP QOFJL. AFBB OE CFDM E LBMCPEH LQR. LRQ MMJD AOSNN. LAOSNB TLNBQMCCHA. QTB E CPBEHLM. BMMFJ DJMM SCRA UEMN RQL. BQT E CDUM LQR MDMJ EVOHMAN. E NMKB AFBB LQR JMMD ANHVMEO. E KBMN MUNE E HPNQL LPCOLSGME LJMS FBDE RQL. APC E HPNLQ. LO E EPP. E BAFDHPM OA RS QNCMEKMHC LPCQMNKP. QLR MOQHPA BSOFLGEMC KBRJEGMJEC. FBM OLMFBJ NLPQH CRNL FHBAD, OA PQNLH E. BE AOD QNMBAQKET. LRQ JMMD AMKENTQBQ. QBT BE DOA BCL MJHVBKM. QLR MMJD BCL KMJVHMB. QBT BBAF DOA RLAU. LRQ KHBMVMJ MS WMNAJEM MJBMF OE JMLS TCRML BFDA E DBHFA. E AHC BAMHMJ. E CAH BMJHMA MFOGSEB E HCA MHJMBA ECGBFMSOL JMBMHKV. E NDNE HMJABM SLEFGOCBM HVJMBMK.

Now I tried a few things and don't know where to go next. Dcode.fr's monoalphabetic substitution cipher solver and boxentrio's cryptogram solver are both some of the more usable solving tools for manipulating the text but this might not be a simple substitution cipher. Good luck! I'm taking a break, let me know if you find anything out of this.

[divette-necromancer]

Samus + Link actors RLAU

Tall blonde muscluar woman plus short(er) twink in full get up taking a break off set and running into each other, raise their respective weapons at each other in a silly pose then break down laughing, anyone who stumbles across them only find samus and link laughing to themselves

[luescris]

A RESISTANCE AU YOU SAY 👀👀👀 I’d love to know more about that one-

Well, unfortunately, that Au is. The one that I have not exactly done much with despite it being like my first Au for PnF 😅😅😅

Though does that mean I don't have a story for it?? Or any designs??? Of course I have all that whaddya think it's been in the back of my head for so LONG

So anyway!!!!! Here's a quick little thing that I whipped up just for you to show!! ^3^ I can't post any of the actual story or anything yet but hopefully this will do!!! :D

[crypt1niite]

rlau(real life au) where time travel exists but instead of timetravel, its more accurately described as timeline travel, bc every time someone timetravels they split the timeline, so only one timetraveler can ever exist in one universe, because you always split into your own unique timeline each time, which is why time travelers aren’t a well known and well documented phenomenon, even though they’re real (in this rlau), because theres only ever one, and as such, any havoc caused is just a particular intelligent, unique, or creative individual

[aksannyi]

THE DUDE WAS WILLIAM I KNEW IT

[linguisten]

Ma favourite passage: 

If you transcribe a passage, the outcome does not even remotely look like Romance or (Vulgar) Latin. I tried with a random passage from the book and the result is this:

‹Pnaræos æmor doma pæos æina olarna nas omas omena na sor mēina pieena doleea sor ornais æiemea dor r æeena doleena roreeina nais eelar na ro rlaus or oleena dor rais orēia doleena ēina domais donais ēeela dolia dolais ēela dolar rais ēina olaror æina olasorosa næina dolia ēelea dolas æina ēia dolita dolina narna›

This looks more like a mixture of Elvish and Marshallese than like Proto-Romance, if you ask me. Cheshire’s translation attempt and claims are a complete failure.

[chirks-writblr-prompts]

Tags I’ll always use;

#inspo - for pieces I may use in writing

#lolz - for prompts I just find amusing

#think - for posts that make me think but I probably won’t ever write

#dnd - for parts that I could use specifically for my d&d campaigns(fics, chara motives, story motives)

Tags that will only sometimes be used;

#rlau - Specific universe for Cherén and Elatha

#Terranir - Specific d&d universe(sub tags; #ivoryoath, #storyarc, #employees, #background things, #friends of ivory. For group guild, things from main story arcs we have been through, things regarding guild employees, background events not including main characters, and things for friends of the guild in that order!)

#Sudania - Specific d&d universe for my own campaign (subtags; #story ref, #PC ref, #main npc ref, #sidequests, #history. For things I can put in my main story, things I can use with player characters, things for my main NPCs, ideas for side quests and stories, and ideas for general world history)

Big thanks to @writing-prompt-s and @randomitemdrop for being 99% of this blog!

[phr3nopatik]

what if....an alternate paradox timeline

Not really that proud of this one because I kinda forgot what brush I was using but I really like the concept

[crossroadsofchaos]

[Retired Leaders AU]

I've been thinking about things that existed/were in use before Belos showed up on the Isles, and weren't discovered by him (or Caleb or Luz) or invented by him, so here's some:

the Titan having spiritual/religious significance

He was rarely (if ever) viewed as a higher authority who, through messengers, gave witches rules to live by. He was mainly seen and respected as the origin of the Isles and all life on it. People thanked him for their existence, their magic, their harvests, etc. and payed tribute to him, but that was largely it. The prevalence of spirituality/religion has gone down over time.

Belos's rise to power with the claim of him being "the Titan's messenger" caused a resurgence of spirituality/religiosity, with him being seen as the authority on the matter by his followers.

the glyphs

They were in frequent use by ancient witches, in part due to them having weaker natural magic and having to rely more on magical tools than modern witches. Over time, they fell out of common use and were limited to specific spiritual/religious rituals, and then only became more rare over time.

Disabled witches who had weak or no natural magic would simply rely on their staffs, due to which they wouldn't rediscover glyphs out of necessity. On top of that, when knowledge of glyphs was still more common, it may have been taboo to use them for non-spiritual/religious purposes.

(Staffs, unlike glyphs, were also a fairly stealth disability aid, since a witch using one wouldn't inherently imply they can't cast naturally - all witches have staffs. This is at least part of why no one realized that the Golden Guards were magicless without being told they were)

Covens

There have been a number of different Coven systems throughout history. Some Covens were based around familial ties, some were based around what kinds of magic people specialized in, some were simply regional, etc. Though sigils had not been used before, and it was possible to move between Covens, with the level of difficulty depending on the type of Covens in question. Whether it was legal to be Covenless may have varied as well, with it being illegal in some places at some points in time. When Belos rose to power, he chose to use the specialization-based model of Covens to sort people into.

With Belos's system gone, the concept of Covens wasn't completely abandoned, but rather became non-official and based on voluntary participation, as opposed to a legally mandated system that also restricted what types of magic people could use.

[aroacemisha]

[Retired Leaders AU]

Okay okay some AU things-

Firstly, I like the idea of the Isles being damaged, so when Belos's staff exploded on the Day of Unity and the Unification Spell abruptly stopped, the blast from that partially ruined the Titan's skull (which was already the case before) but also shook up the whole island and caused structural damage and some things even outright collapsed. People were largely unharmed, but it's gonna take time to rebuild everything that broke.

Secondly, we now know that the Titan was indeed directly trying to stop Belos from discovering the light glyph to protect the Boiling Isles-

In this version, due to Belos's different motivations, actions and end goal, the attempt to prevent him from finding the last glyph was not just to protect the Isles from potential harm, but to also protect Belos himself, because the Titan understood that along with planning something that would put the Isles in danger, Belos was also very self-destructive.

He witnessed Belos lose Caleb and spiral afterwards, watched him cause harm to himself in hopes of accomplishing an impossible goal that he convinced himself would be a "great good", and hoped that if he didn't let him find the last glyph, he would eventually stumble upon someone who could help him, and perhaps years later, when he's in a better state of mind and has given up his grand plan, he could learn the last glyph.

Though it didn't work, as Luz time travelled to the past and gave him the light glyph, as well as helping him find ancient texts he learned artificial magic (or the basis for it) from.

Thirdly, Eda's prosthetic. I love the hook and it fits her perfectly, so I'm thinking either she chooses to have it over anything else despite having another option offered by Belos, or she has both the hook and the prosthetic arm with artificial magic technology, and switches between them depending on how she feels.

[reginaldonps]

As 10Hrs Samba Gospel webradioadc.com (em Belo Horizonte, Brazil) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSRgYD-rLau/?utm_medium=tumblr

[jennywren-7]

Today I went for a soft brown-green eye using Gingerly and Alive, and they blended together really well 😍 I used the Dip and Draw Liner in Proper to create a soft line along my upper lash band, and tightlined with the matching Pencil Eyeliner. As for lipstick, you can't beat a bold plum lippie! Today I'm wearing Ambitious from the Opulence Collection. I love this shade! If you would like more information on any products used, leave me some ❤❤ I would love to answer all your questions. #younique #makeup #ibleedpurple #youniqueyellowstatus #younique_corporate #bblogger #bbloggeruk #smallbusiness #moderngoddess #nofilter #mlmbusiness #networkmarketing #wakeupandmakeup #makeupaddict #isellmakeup #linkinbio #smallbusinessuk #youniqueproducts #youniqueuk #beautycommunity #beautyjunkie #makeuplover #beautygram #makeuplife #4D4me #moderngoddess #maykudos https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxt6-rlAuEd/?igshid=jqdslapyk0dm

[opticien2-0]

Laura Ashley reports growing online sales

Laura Ashley [IRDX RLAU] today reported growing online revenues but falling sales across the business. It said ecommerce sales grew by 5.6% over the last year, following improvements to its multichannel offer.

The update came as the fashion to homewares retailer, a Top100 trader in IRUK Top500 research, reported profits of £6.3m in the year to June 30. That’s down from £22.8m reported in the 72 weeks covered by the previous financial statement.

Laura Ashley said that online sales of £57.3m in the year to June 30 were up by 5.6% on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the effect of store openings and closures, but overall like-for-like sales were down by 3.1%. Total retail sales came in at £252.0m during the year, down from the £363.2m recorded in the previous 74 weeks.

Chairman Dr Khoo Kay Peng said: “We are focussed on addressing the challenges which our business has encountered over the past year and are confident that we are well-positioned to overcome them. Our online performance continues to be strong and we saw like-for-like online revenues grow by 5.6% over the year. Customer responses to the improvements we have made to our multi-channel offer have been positive and we are committed to its ongoing enhancement and development.”

The retailer also said it was developing its international presence, both online and offline as it takes its multichannel approach further afield. It launched a website in China in November 2016 and is set to open its first stores in India in September.

Dr Peng said: “Laura Ashley is known worldwide for high quality, beautifully designed products. 33% of our sales come from products manufactured in the UK. We are confident that the enduring nature and heritage of this much-loved British brand as well as the execution of our business strategies, will help position the group to grow and develop over the years to come.”

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