#since magic in this universe isn't really ELABORATED

[magnifiico]

H-hi your majesty. Uh, I have a question. What are your magic abilities besides wish granting? Can you shape shift into things? Specifically small animals such as mice or kittens? Cuz let's say future issues contain of somebody stealing your wishes and bringing it to their house. It wouldn't be a good idea to just barge into their house as yourself and threaten them to give them back cuz then you'll be forced to fight them and if you're not able to fight them then that would cause other issues like them sucking you into a magic artifact. Don't question how I came up with this scenario. Anyways, I think it would be a good idea if you shapeshifted as something that people mostly trust like a kitten since kittens are usually harmless. If you go into the thief's house as a stray kitten, the residents will most likely let their guard down and they would leave you on your own for a while. That will give you time to get your wishes back and go back to your castle without the residents of the house knowing. It's just a suggestion but it might not work cuz I don't know your magic capabilities or limits. I don't know if shapeshifting for too long can drain your energy or anything. The house in this scenario is relatively far from your castle so if you can't keep yourself as a cat for long then that might cause problems but if that's not the case then that's good. Also if you don't know how to shapeshift, please learn or try to. I just saved you from the future, your welcome. Bye your majesty.

*jumps out of the broken window that I came in the castle out of*

cut to me sweeping up the shards of broken window in the bg u-u

“Why, this is all… very specific.” Or, rather, concerning might be the better word, but King Magnifico masks any such apprehensions behind a calm smile. “I do think I ought to ask precisely where this exact scenario came from; that’d be an interesting conversation for later.” He knows where all his loyal subjects live, after all—should he have a sudden inclination to grace a curious citizen with a visit. (An intimate and proper discussion, naturally.)

The consideration is neatly filed away.

“For the sake of humoring innocent curiosities, I’ll raise you this: would it not defeat the very purpose of shapeshifting—in this case, at least—if I told you it’s a talent of mine?” His hands tuck behind his back. Expectantly—practically challenging—he arches a brow, and a momentary pause dares his subject to utter another word. Truly, Magnifico welcomes it.

But eventually, a shrug rolls through his shoulders. “I’d not spare these worries another thought. The wishes are safe,” he says simply, and despite the pleasant curve on his lips, something less cordial flashes through his eyes. “I guarantee any threats will be dealt with in whatever means are most effective at the time.”

[bonefall]

a while ago you said that Starclan cats design kittens and customize them with patterns and colors from their parents genes. So, do the clan cats raise any eyebrows when it comes to people who know cat genetics? Is there a geneticist who is holding their head wondering how these two cats have this colored kit while their starclan designer was just playing around? Or do the Starclan designers still have to stay within the rules?

Basically, do the humans notice that some of these clan cats are sparkle cats lol

I try to not get too "lost in the weeds" since the humans aren't the focus of the story, just taking care that they DO have real motivations behind their actions rather than construction crews materializing out of nowhere to Do A Chaos, but...

First, the genetics of cats in Albion are different than humans in equivalent Great Britain.

Partially, this is because I honestly just don't really enjoy learning about in-depth genetics or applying them realistically. I like drawing anime characters and writing anime battles, so they have anime genetics. But more than that, off-screen, the intelligence of cats has altered the timeline of this world.

If cats really were capable of higher thinking, that totally would have had some butterfly effects. I like dropping crazy alt-history and then not elaborating on it, because it's funny. Archimedes' cat helped him invent a death ray, btw.

On that note of genetics though, you guessed right. StarClan designers DO have to work with what they have. Whatever the genetics of this alternate universe of cats are, every kit born still abides by the laws of nature.

Which brings me to...

Second, the researchers do notice that the Clan cats are special. In fact, there is a "study of magic" in this universe-- Thaumatology. "The science of wonder."

(There's no world where magic actually factually exists that science isn't all over it lmao)

Thaumatology facts I haven't shared so far since it's all offscreen and just Bonus Worldbuilding;

It is a "soft science," not a hard one.

It has a LOT of problems with replicability. Thaumatologists and Quantum Physicists have a lot of in-jokes.

The most well known (to the point of being a cliche) is "magic and quantum particles both hate being watched."

Magic is highly variable based on a bajillion very personal factors, like emotion, environment, culture, personal background, etc, so it's severely difficult to re-create it in controlled environments.

Thaumatology has a lot of overlap with sociology, archeology, and theology, so people from these fields work together a lot.

There was absolutely not a dedicated Thaumatologist working in the Research Team early on, sadly.

It was probably discovered when the Battle of the True Eclipse blew out a bunch of field cameras.

It's pretty common that photography equipment fritzes out a bit during "supernatural" times like eclipses, but the damage was extensive enough to be noteworty

The Clan cats were initially notable just for the fact they had advanced culture.

Cats are usually comparable to crows and monkeys, in this universe. So cats with fire and a crude writing system were enough to SHAKE the field of zoology.

The fact they're cats helped a lot. The public loves cats, enough that since their discovery after Speckletail attacked a bulldozer, massive outcry has secretly helped the Clans several times.

The discovery that the culture also has Thaumatological elements is more of a goldmine for a scientist than the public, though.

It's common knowledge that "animals are magic," because humanity projects traits onto them. "Of course they do, they're cats...?"

The Thaumatologist is freaking out because "THE CAT IS PROVABLY DOING ITS OWN THAUMATURGY"

Most people don't know the difference between Thaumaturgy (the functional work it does on the world) and Thaumology (the study of that as a whole), so this particular scientist is going to have a hard time explaining WHY this distinction is so special.

(And possibly even offensive to certain groups, who would insist only humans are capable of this)

In any case, eventually there would be Thaumatological interest in the Clan cats, but they weren't there in the mid to late 2010s when BB!ASC takes place.

[deepseagraveyard]

They totally leaned way too hard on the framing of their incredibly complex and loving relationship with literally so many beats that has subliminally been this underlying cornerstone of the whole series since as early as season 4-5 as this "totally definitetly more on the toxic side + is totally unchangeable and unfixable" which isn't entirely deniable but its tone feels way more antagonistic than necesary

obviously the tragedy and unhealthiness in their relationship is their cycle of self-sacrifice for the other + undervaluing themselves, but that love and that compatibility was still there! It majorly ignored how mutual the incredibly long chain of both simon and betty spending ages trying to see/save the other, and I'm glad that betty's perspective is elaborated on slightly (again the last episodes had really rushed pacing and didn't take advantage of all of its incredibly unique cast, concepts, settings and universe, etc) but it overviewed everything they had together and created this really tone-deaf take that simon didn't appreciate her as much as he should as if he hasn't been spending next-to-forever grieving over all of her sacrifice and how much he knows and loves her. Their relationship is wonderful and complex and has so much depth, and I'm worried about the kind of misinterpretations of them and their characters that could stem from this ending.

Also, it was probably intentional, but it also just felt incredibly anticlimatic, especially compared to the A-plot in fionna's world. This isn't like when ships don't get together in other media either, after all of this series focusing on how this specific relationship between these two subliminally being the key defining factor to the entire universe existing the way it did, they just break up so easily without so much as a single struggle or tears or anything? and then they're just fine afterwards so easily never seeing each other again despite the love that shaped and impacted and rewrote the entire planes of existence they lived in. You're going to tell me there's literally no way in this magical multiverse with curses and dieties and paradoxes and everything imaginable that there is no way they can be safe and happy together. that's what's impossible? My tone's really salty but the buildup vs the execution is unbelievable. that doesn't feel like well-written tragedy, more like a climax that wasn't really thought through fully. I thought I was satisfied with the ending initially, and while it feels alright on the surface, actually thinking about it for more than five minutes really has me feeling dissapointed. They deserved so much more and so much better.

[lunarianebula872]

(tried something a little different for my chibi design but I think it works well for Cloud Rhapsodos/Hewely here also yes Genesis made sure the inside of Cloud's jacket is lined to keep him warm/comfortable)

Genesis adopting Cloud [when Cloud is around 7] due to sensing a ton of mana in Cloud, Angeal though slightly hesitant warms up to Cloud as what's going on isn't his fault so he ends up becoming Cloud's 2nd dad.

Claudia in this universe is already dead but it didn't stop Cloud from his dreams but he is more reclusive then before however with Angeal and Genesis's help he gains some confidence like a young kid should

While waiting to be old enough to sign up and join Angeal comes back with his student Zack and they become really good friends [like they're brothers] and while waiting for trials and of coming of age for Cloud is when Genesis, Angeal, and Zack set up games to aid Cloud in the trails when it comes to joining SOLDIER

Sephiroth returns after a long mission and encounters Cloud with Genesis which Sephiroth questions Genesis of and Genesis explains it to Sephiroth which actually surprises him since he didn't take Genesis to be a parent at all though he's glad Angeal is there to help out and to make sure Genesis's temper doesn't go to the kid [which luckily never happens and he's a good dad along with Angeal]

Genesis will have to elaborate with Sephiroth that he wouldn't hurt the kid however he has snapped at people who tried to hurt Cloud [he can slay people even with his words lol] but has taught Cloud stubbornness and how to use magic, Angeal has always made sure Cloud is respected that's for sure and even teaches Cloud honor and loyalty on top of how to cook along with gardening, Zack teaches Cloud companionship, Sephiroth teaches Cloud to be observant and even how to read [the reading part can also be added to Genesis as well], all four of them teach Cloud how to use swords

Kunsel when he meets Cloud and even knows who Cloud is due to his snooping and everything so he ends up introducing himself and teaches Cloud how to read maps and how cameras work and their locations in the building [not sure if that's a mistake on his part or not]

While Cloud [when he's 13] is tending to Angeal's plants he gets a message from Kunsel that something is wrong and to stay in Angeal's apartment and to let the big three and Zack take care of it however when they return Genesis has a wound that isn't healing, Angeal is feeling unwell, Zack isn't as cheerful and seems to be seriously injured, and Sephiroth is even more distant then normal which worries Cloud so he decides to make food for them and hopes to cheer them up a bit and even tries to help Genesis heal but is starting to feel like he's not accomplishing anything and starting to get depressed and wishes that he can at least do something to help them and even figure out what is wrong but the four he greatly cares for won't tell him what's wrong

Cloud at this point does all he can via training his ass off and to find a cure for the injuries and ailment Angeal, Genesis, and Zack are going through which he hopes also cheers Sephiroth up as well

One day Cloud is doing some work with materia and suddenly gets teleported somewhere which is where he meets Calamity Zack which he doesn't know how to respond but he does end up breaking down and crying while believing Angeal, Genesis, and Zack are going to die on him and Sephiroth

This is probably where Calamity Zack will bring Cloud to Aerith for holy water to help Angeal, Genesis, and Zack recover however Cloud will have to figure out how to get back unaware that Calamity Zack can get him home however Calamity Zack probably wants to calm him down first.

@aimeelouart how is Calamity Zack going to react to Cloud Rhapsodos/Hewely? Maybe sees him as a scared kid who because of what's going on is growing up to quick even though he's still a kid but can even see how much Cloud cares [and probably is going to be happy for this Cloud when things become happier for his 14th birthday]

[ominous-feychild]

i don't know how to word this, so i'm just gonna say

sammy. breaking the rules. <- that stuff. please elaborate if there is any coherence in this request

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY SENT AN ASK!!! (people actually do that for non-ask posts???)

Okay, to be completely honest, I think we had a misunderstanding! (I was exhausted when typing that up and was just about to sleep--) I meant that you could/should ask about Sammy, but I wouldn't answer about his magic... but I've done some thinking.

I'll tell you a bit about his magic. 👀

Fair warning: long post!!!

The Way Magic Works™

So, magic. I'll definitely give a much more in-depth explanation one day--I know @honeybewrites REALLY wants one 😂--but I need to give a bit of an explanation here for you to be able to understand why Sammy is Special™.

In my writing, there's technically four different kinds of magic. I describe them as such:

Existential (all-encompassing and literal)

Axiomatic (abstract and "type-casted")

Faerie (abstract and encompassing)

Runic (wizards hurrr durrr)

Each "kind" of magic is named, appropriately, by its source--Existential magic comes from the Existential gods, Axiomatic magic comes from axiom, Faerie magic (or "pure" magic) comes from the Faewildes and is typically associated with faeries, and runic magic originated from the runes non-magical people used in an attempt to match the power of the others.

(I mean, technically runic magic itself is a combination of axiomatic and faerie magic, but--)

Essence Is Equivalent

The one thing all kinds of magic have in common is their shared resource--essence. No matter what kind of magic you use, you're always using up essence in order to do it. The same magical tasks always cost the same amount of essence, meaning the only way to "advance" in magic-casting is to grow your mana pool.

Except for runic magic, but we'll get into that later--

(I hop between using "essence" and "mana" for this explanation, but in-universe it's always called "essence". As a fan of DnD and fantasy games, sometimes using the word "mana" makes more sense to me, haha. Idk if that understanding applies to everyone, but. Essence is essentially just "magical energy".)

Long story short--let's say we have four different people, each with their magic coming from one of each of the different sources. Except, they all have Water magic.

Existential user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x amount of essence

Axiomatic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence

Faerie/Pure user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence

Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes .5x essence

Wait, what? Okay, let's try that again--

A different Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes 1.7x essence

A third Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence

What??? What's the deal with that???

Well, this isn't the time to explain Runic magic in-depth, but long story short? Let's just say it's because they're not doing magic "normally". The other kinds of magic users will always use the same amount of essence, so we'll just stop including the variety for now. Just know it'll be the same amount by default. Except... you won't often run into "default" with runic users. Regardless!

Existential user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence

Axiomatic user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence

Faerie/Pure user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence

The first Runic user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 500x essence

As you can see, it's all equivalent. Both across "types" of magic and in effort-to-gain ratio. So none of them have any sort of advantage!... except literally all of them do.

Similarly, since they're all drawing from essence as their source, there's no "backup" magic system one can use if they run out. If they're out of essence, they're out--nothing they can do.

Actually, wait. I lied. (aka Essence Banks)

There's a way to store essence for later use--essence banks! Basically, they're just magical items infused with essence. They can be literally everything. Except, they aren't everything.

Confused?

Essence Banks were a runic invention and have to be engraved with appropriate runes to be able to contain essence. Some have actually been commodified and turned into "temporary conduits" (aka, items that allow a non-magic user to wield magic like a mage) through people infusing them with their essence.

This is a case where "pure" magic technically separates from a faerie's magic. Pure magic can be used for literally anything, but faeries... well, it's complicated. Regardless, pure magic originates from the Faewildes, but is different from a faerie's magic.

Pure essence can be used for anything, but an individual's essence can only be used for their respective magic type. (Like, elemental / conceptual, not Existential / Axiomatic and such. That explanation's for another day, though.) Pure magic can only be gotten from the Faewildes through the use of runic magic.

People have turned essence banks into commodities by giving them to others who don't have their magic and allowing them to use it. However, as you can probably imagine, essence banks and conduits of both kinds (permanent and temporary) are expennnnnsive!!! Most who have them use them for themselves, to store their own essence to use later.

Just know--there is no way to just "create" essence! It all comes from SOMEWHERE! The most common places are from one's self or from the Faewildes.

Essence Banks Do Not Cross "Types" Of Magic

If someone with fire magic got their hands on an essence bank with essence from someone with water magic in it, they wouldn't be able to utilize it for fire magic--only water magic.

Except... not really.

The fire user could use the essence, it would just cost a lot more of the water essence to instead use fire magic.

Why does this sound familiar...?

Hm. Anyway!

I bet you've been wondering--how does any of this relate to Sammy?

Sammy Breaks The Rules of Magic™

So, now that you have an understanding of how magic works in my stories, you can better appreciate Sammy.

Remember what I just said?

Y'know, about how magic all always costs the same amount of essence, how "types" of essence don't translate well to others, and how essence can't just be created?

Well, Sammy heard that, laughed, and said "I'm built different."

"Amplification" doesn't exist in the world of my stories. There's simply no concept of it because of how inherent the idea of "essence is always equivalent" is to magic.

Except... Sammy is an amplifier.

So what does that mean in the universe of my stories?

He's able to make others' magic use less essence. He's able to enhance their abilities, let them do things they couldn't otherwise do. And it doesn't matter what kind of magic either of them have.

Oh! And since he's the amplifier?

His other magic is also always amplified.

Yeah, long story short? He's OP af. Both as an individual, and as a support character.

CONCLUSION!

I actually can't say any more about amplifying because, omfg, it's actually such a spoiler! As I said to you (almost) yesterday, I plan out the series I write to build up to things I'm going to eventually write! Amplifiers are suuuuper important for a number of reasons and, as I said, they basically don't exist! There's only two others wandering about at the time of Rising From the Ashes (the story Sammy's in)! And one of them is a complete hermit who 99.99% of people have no idea exists!

The other... well. He's actually an avatar. An agent of one of the gods. Who knows if/when he'll ever show up? 👀

If you're curious, the (albeit vague) Overarching Goals™ of the series are as follows:

The Arcane Rifts: explores the Faewildes and some of how they've impacted the world. Specifically explores in-universe political relations of Jhandar and Glavnran; the Existential War; the Existence of Magic; and how the Existential gods mess with the world. Oh... and is Gene's origin story. 😉😘

Sun and Shadow: strongly explores the Faewildes' impact on "the Real World" through their patchworking Lynsmouth into the city it is today. Hints towards plots in RFtA and tCC. Explores faeries themselves through the Major Faerie Characters and the highlights the role of magic in society. Is intended to be an introduction into my weird worldbuilding tbh, haha. Hints at Existential War and is also where a HUGE worldwide-plot event occurs. Thanks, Quinn! 😈

Rising From the Ashes: explores in-universe political relations, more directly builds on the worldbuilding through the character of Kieran Caron and his school, does some more planting in info about the Existential War, and showcases people in-universe trying to experiment with magic and expand on its capabilities.

The Calamity Crew (name to change): lots of worldbuilding through the literal crew of a merchant ship sailing across the world; builds up in-universe local Axiomatic gods; showcases the literal birth of a lesser god and explores the powers and abilities of gods; showcases people in-universe trying to experiment with magic and expand on its capabilities.

I plan to somehow make stories on the Existential gods' avatars, but don't know how I'll go about that, haha. Also intend to probably make some stories REALLY early in the in-universe timeline completely taking place within the Faewildes. Might merge those ideas together, idk.

If you can't tell, the Existential gods are super important to the overarching story I plan on writing, haha. Part of how I'm planning to build them out is through the very fact that they appear everywhere.

Yknow--because they are!

They're the puppeteers manipulating the entire world in their little game. Their Existential War.

To anyone who read through this all--congrats and omfg, thank you so much???

I know this is a lot and not all of it is exactly easy to understand, haha. I wanted to create a magic system that felt magical, but also was planted in "real" stuff like conservation of matter, haha. I want there to be, like, a limit to it, but also for things to have those good 'ole fashioned "fairy tale"/"gods rule over us all" vibes. Hopefully I've done a good job!

Tysm again and feel free to reblog and share!

Tagging list: @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star @aalinaaaaaa

@paeliae-occasionally ; to anyone else, ask and ye shall be added!

Divider from @cafekitsune

[summercosmos]

Fablehaven Pokemon AU; pt. 1 (Kendra)

what i have worked out so far:

Kendra as an aspiring pokemon researcher; she and Seth are sent to Fablehaven (daycare/sanctuary) to help out their grandparents

the main point to that is to get them some field experience with a variety of pokemon. you can't get the full experience of pkm handling as a city kid!!!

child labor laws in the pokemon universe are extremely dubious, but still, Kendra and Seth don't really work Work like Dale. they get the menial jobs, i.e, grooming, feeding, and occasionally training pkm

this works out great for Kendra!!! she gets to see (and register in her pokedex) all types of pkm while also learning all about their behavioral patterns

I can't really see Kendra as a big fan of battling; she has the occasional friendly battle when prompted, sure, but her team selection is in no way geared towards competitive strategies

they are just Her Little Guys 🙁

absolutely a fan of contests. those are basically the equivalent of idols for the teenage girls in the pkm universe

obligatorily i have to make most of her team fairy types but i think she'd enjoy the occasional water and grass type

NOT immune to magical horse propaganda! her biggest little-girl wish was a galarian ponyta

the Sorenson are all the way over in Unova unfortunately . sorry kendra no unicorns for you

(she doesn't Know)

Kendra drifts more toward defensive pokemon — the ones that can take a hit and hit back harder

speed isn't much of a priority (leafeon & rapidash as the only outliers)

she spends her time differently depending on the pokemon. swimming with azumarill, going on runs with leafeon, making the psychic horse read Jane Austen, etcetera

team! from oldest to newest

Azumarill: azurill is a fairly easy pokemon to raise — that's why it was the first one Kendra ever trained, a gift from her parents. high friendship comes easy after a few months, and a marill quickly evolves into Azumarill. they so sunbathe together by the edge of the pool

Leafeon: originally an eevee, given as a graduation present for trainer's school. it only evolved after Kendra was already in Fablehaven — there was most definitely a mossy rock in the middle of those woods. they make a good match! leafeon as a species don't enjoy battling all that much

Altaria (Raxtus): same old story of dragon egg raised by fairies except this time they were actually fairy-type pokemon. methinks Raxtus was a wild pokemon who took a liking to Fablehaven as a sanctuary, and upon interacting with Kendra, took a liking to her as well. technically, Kendra hasn't caught him, since a pokeball would restrict his ability to wander around, but Raxtus always comes back to hang out or to help with anything important, so! they're besties. also he mega-evolves bc that's about as close as a can get to canon Kendra's battery abilities.

Galarian Ponyta: remember when i said she wouldn't get to have the unicorn bc she hadn't ever been to galar. well. SOMEONE who does a fair amount of traveling may have ACCIDENTALLY stumbled upon a wild ponyta and decided to catch it and bring it back all the way to unova upon hearing Kendra did very much wish to have one. who would do that though haha. smitten loser behavior (→→→→→ bracken ←←←←←)

Decidueye: originally a dartrix Seth caught in a ranger mission (will elaborate on this. eventually)! they got along fine but this whole evolution line is unbelievably prissy. they need one grooming down daily at LEAST. it was simply not feasible for Seth to take care of it especially since rangers spend most of their time with their partner pokemon only. so Kendra kinda takes care of it unofficially. when it evolves they start practicing archery together. yay

this au has been gnawing on my brain for a while now and im happy to share my genius. seth should be next!

[comicaurora]

Hi, Red! Love your work! 1. How do you deal with writing characters different from yourself? I've been struggling with that.

2.Any tips on worldbuilding? I've got decent OCs but worldbuilding...how do you even start!? There's so much to do and my mind blanks!

3.Kyana is lovely and I would befriend and hug her if I could! Thanks!

this is hilarious because two out of three of these questions are massive subjective mysteries you could fill tomes discussing and still not be done with just casually fired off in the same breath as "nice OC"

This question has two answers that are both equally true and equally unhelpful: every writer puts a piece of themself into their characters and it is impossible for them to write someone completely unlike themself, and every writer is a creative engine capable of conceiving an entire universe of unique characters that are utterly distinct from one another and their creator. The only requirement to write a character is that the writer needs to understand their internal logic, which can have very little in common with how the writer acts or thinks of themself, but must make sense to the author in order for the character to feel coherent and internally solid. This is most obvious in villains; The Collector is essentially a hyperextension of scientific curiosity coupled with a complete disconnect from the lives and well-being of the people she involves in her work, because she's operating on a sense of scale from which mortal lives are absolutely inconsequential. Doesn't mean I think murder is fine, it just means I understand why she thinks that. I find it helps to start simple, with how a character feels about certain things - what do they want, what do they fear, what makes them mad, what doesn't bother them. This can have very little in common with what you, the writer, feel about those things, and that's a good starting point to work from in building out a complete character who functions as more than just a vessel for the writer.

This isn't what you're supposed to do for pure hard worldbuilding, but honestly start with what you need. If your character has to come from a culture with specific traits in order to justify them having certain ideas/skills/experiences, build that first and then logic out from there. If you want a cool-ass wizard with a specific set of abilities, fix those as key points of your burgeoning magic system and then fill in the connecting bits in-between. If you have one super cool moment you really want to play out, figure out what parts you need for that moment to happen - weapons, locations, powers, supporting characters - and lock them in. Building a world too rigidly and too thoroughly can impede your ability to write new cool stuff, and that's not good at this early stage of the process, so give yourself wiggle-room to figure things out or add more interesting concepts later. Start with the people and places that matter to those OCs you already have, then start bridging gaps. As a general rule, adults don't ask "why?" more than twice about the same thing, so if you're worrying about depth of development, just answer two layers deep. "Why is this character such an incredibly cool badass?" "They're from a culture of warriors that train them starting very young." "Why does their culture train warriors so early?" "The environment they live in is very dangerous so they have to be able to take care of themselves starting early." Boom, two layers done. If you want to elaborate either of those answers with specific fun details, you absolutely can and should - what specific training is involved, what kinds of threats they know how to handle, what they consider to be dangerous, etc. Since the backbone of the question has already been answered, the rest is icing and flavor that gives your worldbuilding detail and character.

[soup-of-the-daisies]

staghunter (orion/harry) enthusiast here who hates every single fic for them because the meta sucks or is plotless in general but I didn't know how to elaborate on it until I saw your post on how their dynamic, at it's best, would probably be literally just prongsfoot and it busted my third eye wide open. best friends who are soooo incredibly intimate physically and emotionally that you could call them lovers but really, even that label is inadequate. they would wear each other every day if they could type of friendship. faces so close they make other people uncomfortable, but also the energy in the room would feel weird if they weren't on each other's laps 24/7.

anyway, my two cents— for prongsfoot, i do agree that james as an only child would be more possessive, marking sirius liberally through action such as biting, sitting close, etc., the clingiest limpet in any universe... girl!james would absolutely be the girl best friend who would get so much hate from sirius' partners bc she acts like that. lesbian prongsfoot who need to provide heirs for their family would definitely put their husbands through it (if they could invent magical IVF to cut the middleman entirely they would)

while for staghunter it would definitely be orion, since harry has had the experience/memory of ron & hermione's friendship... he'd be a bit more repressed with his emotions as a posh bloke in post-ww2 britain, so he'd mark his territory thru official documentation. photos, paintings, a building donated in their honor, a name change, blood pacts published in the paper, soul bonds duly registered, another bonding ritual that may be slightly illegal but visible to anyone in the know, and so on. I like to think that orion would be a product of their time regardless of gender so skinship isn't as big, but then they don't need to be, as harry gets and appreciates the big grand gestures

(in any universe though, slash, genderbent, or otherwise, if harry and ron are alive together in any timeline they'd be the codependent ones im so serious that matters to me)

Hello anon. I love you.

I agree with you on all points. There’s a reason why I’m incredibly fond of Prongsfoot, Ronarry, and Harmione: codependent best friends to lovers where nothing really has to change, they just kiss (more), and in the case of Ronarry and Harmione Harry becomes a bit more physically affectionate… yeah. I also love it when Harry’s James-genes pop out in Ronarry and Harmione and he does ridiculous things to prove his love and adoration (I’ve seen one fic where that happened, for Harmione), because Harry would, you know? He’d give them the moon if he could.

And yes, Orion would be the James in the Staghunter (I actually associate that one more with Orion/James, but I can’t think of another one on the fly so I’ll go with Staghunter for Orion/Harry here), but then more of a product of his time and childhood. It’s the mutual kind of adoration you also see in Prongsfoot. Fancy robes, jewellery, but also ‘official’ means like (as you said) documentation, announcements, blood-pacts… they’re in each other’s pockets at school, absolutely obsessed with one another.

I like the way the Orion&Harry bromance is characterised in wear me like a locket around your throat, though Orion is a bit too… sweet? I suppose? For my tastes. He’s quite the bean in that one, even though he does get a lot of depth (and the fic hints at as to why he became a horrible father), but the codependency and mutual love between him and Harry is so lovely. It’s other/better half to the max. I have my favourites (for het Staghunter, Future’s Past is a good one; it’s AU enough for the characterisations to be believable) and there are ones that feel Too Much and Wrong, but that’s what you get with a rarepair I think. I also need good/fun Tom Riddle characterisation if he’s present, so that also makes me pickier.

So yeah ♥️♥️ Thank you sm for your ask, I love talking about them. They’re not popular enough I swear (even in the bromance way), despite the fics often being quite popular.

[kiiyome-art]

I've been thinking a lot about destiny lately, and how I want to go about writing and drawing out my warlock, Vienna's, story, now that the light and dark saga is coming to a close. I was a bit late to the destiny scene, all things considered, and between my creative struggles and (trying) to be a functional human being, I've not created as much as id have liked to. So come along with me on my little rant as I think allowed my thoughts, if you feel so inclined.^^

There's still so much I want to write, and stories to tell within the destiny universe.

I started playing the game during season of the plunder, when my friends introduced me to it, and we became a glorious fireteam! I was drawn to the pretty warlock space magic immediately, and thus, Vienna was born. ( Though I've since become a hunter main, she's still my favorite blorbo. )

I quickly fell in love with the story and it's characters, dug deep into the lore and since then, her story has gone through a LOT of changes. I try to stick close to the canon story for the most part, in my universe Vienna is the young wolf who was risen in D1, and has since gone through most of what we see throughout the dlcs and seasons past then, I'll probably elaborate on that further at one point.

Most of my drawings that I've posted here are fun little doodles, occasional quips between characters, and overall "for fun" stuff. The majority of what I've thought up for Vienna has been confined to my own head and the rare rants to my friends. And now with final shape being so close, I feel myself pressured to know, and write down, everything that I can. Which, realistically, is silly.

I had plans to make a three minute animatic of Vienna during forsaken since it was a MASSIVE turning point for her, have it out by final shape, then make an entirely NEW animatic based off OF final shape, mostly inspired by Caydes return. Whilst I had mapped out most of it and gotten some rough sketches down, I didn't even begin on the actual project. Could I have? Probably. Do i feel guilty about it? Yes. Will those projects still happen? Hopefully.

I know for all you creatives out there that might be reading this, the feeling of having plans, and not being able to carry through with them, or it not turning out how you wanted, is a shitty feeling, not foreign to ANY of us.

I felt myself compelled to write this in the first place because I know that, well, I'm not alone.

There's many creatives out there feeling the same pressure to get stuff done as I am, even if we don't say it. We want to have everything figured out, to create something wonderful, with the final shape feeling like "the end" of destiny as we know it and all. So this is me calling out to whoever might be listening; be nicer to yourself.

You have all the time in the world to create that animation, paint that painting, write that story. Just because final shape is "an ending," doesn't mean you can't still work on and have fun with the story beats you have in mind prior to Final Shape. No ones gunna call it silly, were all equally starved for content here. And who knows, once we all know how final shape ends, it might inspire you and help your story flow together better.

I'll try my best to tag my posts relating to Vienna and her fireteam with time stamps from now on, as I tend to jump all over the place and it could get really confusing really fast. The TLDR of it all;

Don't feel guilty about unfinished projects. Final shape isn't the end, dont let it be, and dont feel confined to just creating content relating to post final shape.

That's all! I appreciate you reading if you got this far, and im excited to see the amazing things the Destiny corner of tumblr will come up with next.

See you starside! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[sasslett]

OC Name Meanings

tagged by @okami-zero, thanks!

Rules: Google and post the meaning of your OC’s name (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

Well... this won't be terribly exciting but I'll share what I can!

Jess is typically short for Jessica, which means... "to see" in Hebrew? Fittingly, Jess is one of the more oblivious people you'll meet. Alternatively, it means "to see god" which is a tad more fitting, considering she's slain like every single god we've met in game.

Though her name is just Jess, not Jessica. When I have to give her a full name, on very rare occasions, it's Jesselya, but if that's canon in XIV I can't say.

The origin of me naming her Jess came about... back in 2011? I think? I was playing a DnD campaign with some friends and everyone came up with these huge elaborate fantasy names, so I rolled in with "Jess", sort of poking fun at them in a subtle way. And it's just stuck ever since, as has her origin of being a Plain Jane in a world of magic and wonder and names you can't even begin to pronounce.

In every universe in which she lives, she's an orphan, so last names were never really a thing for her. But since XIV requires them, I gave her the last name Shepard - nothing canonical for her at all, just a nod to my other favorite game, Mass Effect.

Varrus, on the other hand, isn't my character, but I'll still give his answer since it's silly!

My husband initially had rolled into XIV with his tabaxi DnD character, a Hrothgar, but he didn't really enjoy the bulk of the Hrothgar, so he used his free ARR fantasia, and, after experimenting with all the races, decided he liked Elezen best. But he had no idea what to name him - so, as a joke, he named him Varrus Vakarian, to go with my Shepard (there's no Shepard without Vakarian!). Obviously this was a temporary name, and we agreed we'd try to find something more fitting as we went.

But as we played, my husband really became attached to the alliteration of the V. V. name, and didn't want to give it up. We thought and thought and thought... and then Endwalker came about, and we learned Estinien's true last name, and everything fell into place (it was decided back in SB that Varrus was Estinien's cousin, and that's another story).

As established, I suck at tagging people, so I'm leaving this an open tag as well! I'd love to hear others' stories!

[sketchybusiness4130]

I SAID I HAD MORE AND I MENT IT. if you have no idea what im talking about, go check out my first post :3

basic idea tho is that Ford picked up and adopted a fellow dimension traveler who happens to be a unicorn durning his 30 years on the other side of the portal. Thier name is Linked Hopps, also know as just Link or Hopper

close ups and more lore shall be placed below the cut since i really went off the charts

spiderman meme, Hopper definitely picked up some habits and more from ford. she looks up to him and mimics his style

speaking of style heres a full outfit! fully equipped with a saddle bag full of goodies, a pair of glasses that probably have a shit ton of useful features. (she doesnt actually need them to see after all) straps on her back legs that are full of weapons and useful items. the uh necklace isn't supposed to be a necklace but rather part of a hood with a little clip to the corner bit.

oooo color yay, so a bit of backstory. Link here had a cracked horn. happened when she was about 5 or 6ish?(age isnt really set in stone but it happened before discovering her talent) and it makes doing painful and veryyy difficult. with the help of ford the two mange to make some enchanted rings that focuses her magic and aids the pain of doing so. its not a full fix what so ever but she can at least levitate stuff if needed. if she uses it too much the pain will get unbearable and she may pass-out. in emergencies Link has full on yoinked Ford out of danger. in fact its probably by doing exactly this that the two of them were able to get to through the portal at the same time(i will elaborate more on that with another post later)

now, let's talk about those scars, huh? link here had the joy of landing right into the perfect spot within the fallout universe to wind up suckered into new vegas' old world blues DLC. why? bc i love that series and can do whatever i want. Link's portals tend to lead her to completely random places and worlds. after getting a better handle on how her poition portals work, Link is able to somewhat reliable hop back to previous places shes been to. Oh nearly forgot, the way those special poitions work is a combination of her haywire magic, a mixture of ingredients(major changing factor on where she ends up), and a dash of her own blood.

cute family photo! probably taken after officially adopting Hopper. though i have no idea how officially they could have done it since neither of them have proper ids or their birth certificates. ijdwijwdj maybe they forged it?? yea they forged it XD

cute and silly photo of Ford holding Hopper like i hold my cats from time to time. i messed up on the anatomy for Link's lower half tho so just ignore that 🙃

this i would place as not long after the two first meeting and deciding to travel together. Ford took her on as an "apprentice" and taught her everything he could. Hopper was at max 10 or 11 years old when they discovered/got lost in the multiverse and for Funzies ill place the time of meeting at around 12 or 13. parallels and all that.

anddd lastly a Stand alone Ford pic. mostly did this one as practice but am really happy with how it came out

[snikerdoodle-kukis]

What if My MC and Phoebe Met?

Phoebe isn't my oc, she's @phoenix-manga 's oc! This person is actually the reason I got to inspiration to make a twisted wonderland x pokemon crossover fanfic. I wanted to do something nice for them, because why not. I was going to draw Phoebe and my Mc, Iridia together, but artists block stopped that idea. Then I wanted to write a short story with them, but I couldn't get any ideas, so in the end I just stuck with a couple of headcanons thrown together in the middle of the night. I hope i didn't butcher Phoebe's personality. Enjoy!

How would these two even meet? Well, anything is possible in the Pokémon universe, considering how the og Archer and Maxie designs appeared in pkmn sun and moon (I think)

So yeah, these two are from alternate universes, and they just so happened to meet. Hey, with Arceus, anything is possible!

Iridia would just love Phoebe. She'd see her as a little sister, despite there (technically) only being a one year difference between them.

Iridia would tell Phoebe about the (very concerning) things that had happened to her. Like that time an Alpha Garchomp almost bit her head off.

"And then BAM! Before I knew it, there was an Alpha Garchomp's teeth around my neck!"

"What?! :0"

Speaking of Alpha pokemon, Iridia has an alpha drifblim named Cloud! Cloud is about 9 feet tall, so Iridia would take Phoebe on a ride. Phoebe was wary of Cloud, because of its size and Pokédex entries, but she warmed up to it rather quickly

Iridia showing Phoebe her Currydéx that she got from Galar. Iridia made her a dish and she was in absolute heaven

Phoebe wondering how Iridia could have so many Pokémon. Like, she has a Steelix and multiple Alpha pokemon. How does she keep up with all of them?? But whenever she asks, Iridia gives her an awkward pat on her back and tells her not to worry about it

Iridia has a bag filled with everything she needs on her travels: a camp set up, her pc, a storage pocket for her berries, changes of clothes… if you can name it, she probably has it in her bag. She had this bag custom made for her so it could fit all that stuff. Iridia offered to get Phoebe one made, since she wanted her to have a little souvenir when she went back to her universe.

Iridia finds it funny how some of her and Phoebe's experiences in Twisted Wonderland were similar. Like how they were both the Prefect of Ramshackle, how Grim crashed the entrance ceremony… so on

Phoebe was absolutely shocked, gobsmacked, bamboozled, at how Iridia ate a tamato berry with little to no struggle. (She honestly should've seen it coming with how many spicy curry dishes she had in her Currydéx)

Iridia introduced Phoebe to this show called Teenage Mutant Ninja Carracosta and they both binged it at (Phoebe's) Ramshackle. The Adeuce duo and Grim were very shocked to see Iridia there, to say the least

Phoebe and Iridia's Rotomdéxes do not get along for whatever reason. When Iridia asked why they didn't get along, Dexter, Phoebe's Rotomdéx, said something along the lines of "They think they're smarter than me just because they're older…" He didn't elaborate and Iridia didn't ask again.

Iridia says that upon her entering twisted wonderland, her pc box broke, scattering her pokemon all across the island. Phoebe could only imagine what chaos ensued.

Like the time Iridia's Garboder was found in Pomefiore, eating the trash, and how her Chandelure was found on top of one of the chandeliers in the cafeteria, or how her 7 feet tall Octillery was found in Mostro Lounge's kitchen, eating some of the leftovers. Good times, good times.

Iridia's Miraidon really didn't like Ace for some reason. They seem to have this unseen rivalry.

Speaking of Miraidon, Iridia fell off it while Deuce was driving (it reminded him of a magical wheel so he wanted to drive) and Miraidon noticed she fell off but didn't bother stopping… what a menace

Iridia had challenged Pheobe to a Pokémon battle in Ramshackle's yard. The first years were super nosey and watched the battle go down. To put it short, Iridia was like Cynthia, but on steroids. Scary. After a solid hour and 30 max revives later, Phoebe didn't end up winning, but she did come dangerously close. The first years were floored at seeing a battle between their friend and a Champion.

Once it was time for Iridia to leave, she gave Phoebe a Champion badge (I know Champions don't give out badges but I like to think they do) even though she lost. Phoebe was shocked, but she kept the badge somewhere safe.

Phoebe wondered if she'd see Iridia again. With how weird the world is, most likely

It's a bit lazy, but I hope you like it. And part two? Uhhh, maybe??? And Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates it

[saltnpepperbunny]

Hi! Can you tell us more about Team Tempest? Is their story one that you've been developing for a while? Any fun facts? I haven't played a PMD game since the original for the GBA- does their story follow the plot of the more recent games? Loving your writing so far!

Hi, thanks so much for asking about em! Team Tempest are the worms that rot my brain. XD More under the cut, since this gets long!

I first conceived Selkie and Shadow as characters in uhhhh early 2018? They came from a nuzlocke run I was doing of Pokemon Ultra Sun that wiped on Akala lol. I originally designed them to be part of a collab PMD comic I was gonna make with a couple of friends, where we each had a team that we would right for. Team Tempest was my gang for the comic, and I essentially designed them to be the story's antagonists. They were basically the Team Skull of the story, the bully team that makes life hard for the good guys. However, the collab never got off the ground, but I fell in love with the characters and kept them around!

My original plan was to tell Selkie and Shadow's story through a PMD comic called Spectrum, that was going to be set in the same universe as Finding Your Roots. The comic was supposed to be part of a trilogy series that was going to include FYR and a Firered nuzlocke comic that I abandoned two updates in, and it was meant to be the ending to an overarching story that would be told with the three comics together. Spectrum included Selkie and Shadow essentially as villain protagonists, and Lyn, Margarine, and Thistletooth were the good guy characters who would save the world Selkie and Shadow were seeking to destroy.

Selkie, in her original conception, was both very similar and very different from her current iteration. She was not mentally ill so much as just a straight-up abusive monster. She was the terror of the guild, constantly bullying and abusing the guild's weakest members, and she would essentially make use of Shadow's illusion magic to psychologically torture other guild members and get them to obey her whims.

Shadow was originally Selkie's biggest victim in this. She was highly abusive of him, but he latched onto her hard for reasons I can't quite elaborate on yet because it's spoilers for Till World's End. Shadow's arc was originally going to heavily involve making new friends with Lyn's team and using these new connections to break out of the abusive relationship. By the end of Spectrum, Shadow was meant to turn against Selkie and help Lyn & co defeat her and save the world. In the end, he was actually supposed to get together with Margarine!

However, Spectrum never got off the ground! It was too large-scale of a project to take on at the time, since I was trying to draw FYR and was really overwhelmed with the scope of that project. Taking on another big comic at the time wouldn't have worked out for me. Eventually I started working on other comic projects aside from FYR, got busy with those, and permanently tabled Spectrum. It wasn't a comic I was interested in bringing to life anymore. My interests had moved on.

I came back to Selkie and Shadow because, a few years after tabling Spectrum, I became interested in writing about a certain brand of mental illness called personality disorders. I wanted to write a love story between two characters with heavy mental illness, and the exact nature of those mental illnesses brought Team Tempest back to mind. I always cherished those characters so dearly and wanted to properly finish their story someday, and I realized it was a perfect opportunity to tell their story through prose! I revamped the characters to make room for the new aspects I wanted to bring into them. Shadow's character was altered somewhat, but Selkie is the one who got the biggest revamp. She's still a pretty bad person and can be abusive, but her nature is significantly different from how it was before. Selkie, in this new iteration, isn't a complete abusive sadist. She's got her flaws, absolutely, but she is not the villain of her own story anymore.

Here is some original concept art of Selkie and Shadow from Spectrum, back from 2018-2019! A lot of the art of them is grayscale because Spectrum was gonna be a grayscale comic.

Anyways, I hope that answers the question! It was fun to talk about them, so thanks for asking. ^^

[raifuujin]

If MK and DC are parallel worlds, what do you think of DC’s Kid? He also seems to be looking for something since he puts the gems under the moon light after stealing them.

The way I see it, there are two possibilities. Either DC Kid is still looking for Pandora (a gem that shines under moonlight and is said to grant immortality, even if the legend isn't true). Or he's looking for something more tangible within the gems that hasn't and won't ever be explained. The first borders on tragic, with a strong possibility of the legend just being a legend and not really existing, the other is just kind of a boring answer that would work to explain his actions.

Or the third and more likely possibility that there is no 'DC Kid and MK Kid' and they're both the same Kid because Gosho really isn't that nuanced of a writer that he'd consciously make a full 'same but different' Kaito just for DC, and he is instead just straight up writing the same character doing his shtick but from a detective perspective instead of the thief's.

Regardless of how little I'm active, the idea that people push about 'parallel' meaning entirely different worlds that happen to have the same characters will annoy me. I know you said 'if' and all, but my brain just goes 'just know that it will never be the only interpretation'. Might be the thing I'll be stubborn about forever, unless Gosho actually decides to elaborate more on how he views the two series outside of offhand comments that could be taken either way. Especially when the only reason people go 'well of course it means completely different/separate universes with the same characters' is because they don't want even a hint of possibility of magic from Magic Kaito.

[ordinaryoracle]

Labyrinthos: A Beginner's Map to the Labyrinth of Tarot

The Swiss army knife of Tarot learning resources

Between the 22 major arcana cards and the whopping 56 minor arcana cards (which are divided into their separate suits!) it can all be a whiplash of new information for the beginner tarot enthusiast.

If you've ever felt like this, don't worry, because you're not alone! I and several others have encountered this roadblock before. Here's a little secret: you don't need to know everything right off the bat! There's no shame in doing a reading and immediately having to consult the guidebooks as you try and remember what these cards mean in the first place.

Buuuut if you want to be one step closer to knowing all these meanings by heart, Allow me to show you this handy thing known as Labyrinthos.

What exactly is a Labyrinthos?

Labyrinthos is an all-around tarot resource app you can download for free on Android and IOS devices. Released in 2016 by Labyrinthos Academy, it has since amassed over a million downloads, myself included. Like other Tarot resource apps on the market, it offers a guide for all the card meanings and a digital deck so you can make your readings on the go. But it has several other features that I love that make it really stand out among other apps like it.

A Charming Theme

When you log in for the first time, you'll be instantly met by the whole theme of this app. Your cute little spirit avatar meets a guy named Doppelganger who brings you to your senses. Your spirit self has apparently stumbled into the space between realms, unable to get back home! Fortunately, you're in a place called the Labyrinthos Academy which will help you learn tarot, the language of the universe so you can go back! Doppelganger further shows you the features of the app before saying goodbye.

I love fantasy magic schools in fiction and the fact that this app is themed this way makes me like it even more. As a side bonus, you can unlock more versions of your adorable ghostly avatar as you use the app more and more!

Tarot Theory and Card Meanings

When you buy a new tarot deck, you're usually given a guidebook alongside the cards so that you know what each individual card means. Labyrinthos is that and so so much more.

Along with giving the standard meanings of the cards, it also has keywords that really help in associating the imagery of the cards to their meanings. There's also information on different spreads to use for all types of circumstances and even an option to make a custom spread! 

There's also a short section about Tarot Theory, explaining the underlying principles and symbolism of tarot and how best to use it, which I think is really really helpful for beginners to get into the mindset and figure out what tarot is about.

There's also flashcard-based quizzes for the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana Suits that help really well with memorizing! It's by completing these same quizzes that you can level up and unlock more versions of your avatar.

In the off chance that the brief card summary the app provides isn't enough, tapping the read more button at the bottom of the page leads you to a more in-depth dive of the card's meanings in their dedicated website!

Readings Journal and the Mirror

Their Readings Journal allows you to store your previous readings. From the daily card draws to the more elaborate spreads. As someone whose forgetfulness is the bane of my existence, having a journal like this where I can jot down my thoughts after a reading is very helpful. Moreover, I like being able to see readings from months ago to compare and contrast with my more recent ones.

Labyrinthos defines the Mirror as Self-knowledge through the cards. It takes all the data from the readings that you've logged and gives you insight on what patterns and trends may have been coming up in your readings. This big-picture view lets you know how many reversals you've gotten, what were the common cards, suits and numbers of a certain time period. My results have always been eerily accurate which makes it all the more interesting to me.

Absolutely Ad-free

Have you ever used any free app only to be bombarded by the amount of ads it has? You go to turn off your internet so the ads stop coming, only to lock yourself out of the important online features? I've also gotten used to being wary whenever an app says they're a hundred percent free. After all, it seems too good to be true... is there a catch or something?

Well friends, Labyrinthos has none of that! The app is funded by the purchases of their high-quality physical decks, so the app can go without those tedious, tedious ads! They don't even have pop-up ads for their own products! There's only a separate Shop tab, showing all the designs they have offered but no sleazy UI design that tricks you into clicking the links and buying them!

Overview

All in all, I like using Labyrinthos. I aptly nicknamed it the swiss army of tarot learning resources, because it does just that! It's a guidebook, a digital deck, a tarot journal, a flashcard tarot quiz app all in one. It's been really helpful to me when I was still starting and very very lost with all the information I need to absorb, and I'd recommend this app to any beginners in a heartbeat,

[dollhouseirl]

The Last World

My game jam VN is set in/led me to work out a setting I want to elaborate on called The Last World. As a writer, there is a big verse I have wanted to work on for about ten or so years based on forum RPs with my friends when I was a teenager. I've spent the entire time since elaborating on everything, thinking up characters, and trying to set everything into a kind of order. I was always on the cusp of succeeding but could never quite get there until this project. Purple Prose for Purple Hearts and the work I have done for it is a kind of screwdriver for my work. If you don't mind too much, I want to do a bit of free associative worldbuilding.

Lucia lives in the Last World. It is basically our world but stranger because it is set in a multiverse that extends far more broadly beyond our conceptions of space and the universe. There is a fourth dimension we are not privy to that is its own space where entities exist. Strangely, they are not beyond our comprehension; they are quite within it if we listen to them. They are just kind of off from our comprehension. Adjacent to it. They resemble what we comprehend but don't seem possible or realistic.

Why is it called the Last World? Well... You won't need any of this knowledge to enjoy my VN. This is a bonus post of sorts because I like the idea of talking about my work's broader purpose and having there be creator's thoughts for readers to engage with or ignore as they please. But: there are two universes in my setting - the old and the new and a single door between the two that will only allow one person to go through.

Very Homestuck, right? I swear, I hadn't even thought of it but I did read and enjoy it up to Act 6. Definitely owe it a creative debt but it isn't the same thing, I swear. Much anyway.

The Last World is existentially baffling: most worlds in the old universe have magic, superpowers, angels, elves, aliens, a patchwork of gods, devils, fantastical things taking place every day in front of people all the time. The Last World is desperately torn between being mundane and more deeply insane than any other world out there. It looks like there is nothing to it other than faith and insanity as everything heads towards a human extinction-level event that no humans are willing to stop.

But it is not normal.

It is receiving emanations from the new universe. Universes cast a type of light through the fourth dimension that holds these two universes together so it is actually deeply strange in a way that the people in it just do not see any more.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was the first step in a broad scale project to craft a sorcery intended by the powerful to label the powerless. It looked like a failure but was an unqualified success that plays out through all the mental hospitals in Last World America. Dr. Harlow captured the human soul in miniature with a clutch of infant monkeys and emotionally battered them by trapping them and us within the Pit of Despair before changing his mind and working to undo his work. Dwight David Eisenhower was lead to a sword in a stone, pulled it out, and told everyone assembled: my name is Ike; we all like Ike; I do not want anything to do with this, and then did just like Washington had done and left an America that would never come to terms with itself.

There are more things besides. I want to think and dream on an alternative magical America as I would write it. The Last World falls victim constantly to a fourth dimensional phenomenon called a Contrivance. I say phenomenon but it is really a sentient non-being. A sentient device for misery or for breaking reality. Something like that. In many worlds in the old universe, Contrivances can adopt human form; the Last World is not so lucky and they can be almost invisible. That is why they have been far more effective there and why the Last World will break for good if no one does something about it.

The Last World is under the watchful eye of a being known as the Harvester for now (he will have a proper name later). The Harvester believes the old universe is going to die and believes only the Last World has the keys necessary to save it. So he harvests and his harvests are senseless to those being harvested, brutal to those being harvested, but, in truth, clinical and highly sensible if you but understood the terms under which a being like the Harvester, a fourth-dimensional being, sees the world and operates and where he came from.

Purple Prose is the first story in the setting chronologically. It represents a woman who seems unremarkable and who isn't especially remarkable deciding that she is fed up with the Last World. She doesn't understand what the Harvester is, emanations, isn't privy to the truths I've set forth as examples about why the Last World's America isn't ours but has come to suspect a couple due to her manic episodes. The Last World is a world where magic and insanity are alternative forms of the same 'thing'; you can be magic and neurotypical and have mental illness without being magic. That said, however, the Last World has a kind of gravity where one and the other are like magnets. Lucia is a witch with bipolar I who has decided to take a course of action that will invite more of the fourth dimension into the Last World, for better or worse.