#the faechild worldbuilding

[ominous-faechild]

AH LMAO

I thought you might've meant that, but wasn't sure, haha.

So Nova was referring to "domains" there! As mentioned earlier, each faerie has their own domain and (as I at least later allude to) they tend to align to elements or concepts!

Despite his name, Sky's domain isn't literally "skies", and that's what Nova's referring to. She realized exactly what his domain is—which, y'know, is related to the sky, but isn't literally "skies"!

FAERIE'S DAWN

CHAPTER 2: KILREY (PART 1)

CHARACTERS: ✦ Nova “Me” Fae (pov) ✦ Scamall “Cloud” Fae ✦ Spéir “Sky” Fae

CHAPTER 1 - PART 2 [CHAPTER 2] - PART 2 CHAPTER 3 - PART 2

Nova: [tense, but continues chewing the taffy-like ambrosia as she focuses her essence to watch Sky and Cloud even with her back to them]

Siblings: [looking at each other, faces twisted and fae-ears lowered stressfully—]

Cloud: [guilty, but…]

Sky: [furious]

Sky: (hisses under his breath) "Cloud! This is exactly why I—"

Cloud: [letting out a slow breath, shakes her head and gently pushes him to the side with just a wave of—her essence and—air. Moves to stop beside Nova and try to meet their eyes]

Nova: [hesitantly obliges her, chomping off a piece of their third ambrosia square]

Cloud: (voice gentle, but serious) "you have a plan? Do you need more ambrosia?"

Nova:

Sky:

Nova: [shocked she'd offer to help when doing so got her into this mess to begin with, but…]

Nova: [ears low, forces themself to just look away, nod curtly, and swallow their bite. Then, with their face turned away, immediately rips off another chunk of ambrosia]

Cloud: [as Nova works on chewing, smoothly sits down next to them and reaches with her essence to copy Nova's earlier theft—]

Sky: [grabs her shoulder, hissing) "Cloud, what are you doing!? You're going to—"

Cloud: [turning a sharp glare onto him in return, evenly) "they escaped from another archfaerie. They know what they're doing. We should help them."

Sky: [stunned silent—]

Nova: [also stunned and struggling not to be hopeful… but just starts on her fourth and last piece of ambrosia]

Ambrosia: [as a treat made of pure magic—and most often mixed in with sweets for additional taste—contained lots of energy for needy fae]

Ambrosia: [is most often used as compact, easy-to-serve rations from archfae to their thralls, meant to give them the essence they need to survive… while any and all other food mostly just tasted good and didn't do much for them. Not unless it matched their domain.]

Faeries: [each had control over a certain 'domain', depending on what they emerged from]

Cloud: [was clearly air-aligned, but, true to her name, seemed to have a domain specifically centered on clouds]

Barkeeper: [would seem earth-aligned at first glance, thanks to their earthen skin and the trail of dirt they left behind as they moved. But… their exact domain was harder to tell, considering the plants they'd had for hair. It could've meant they were life-aligned, or nature-aligned—]

Nova: [except, didn't just have to judge off of faeries' appearances]

Nova: [had a special talent in being able to 'feel out' for others' alignments, just by sensing their essence… or magical power]

Nova: [and, similarly, was much more adept at sensing and distinguishing between essence in general…]

Nova: [which was exactly why she could tell that the barkeeper, the earthen faerie, finally reached Kilrey.]

Nova: [quickly hops out of her chair, wiping the back of her hand against her mouth and looking at the siblings]

Sky: [has his jaw clenched and arms crossed tight as he's turned away from them, glaring at the other inhabitants of the tavern… to help discourage them from staring, and catching Cloud's theft]

Cloud: [of course, still stealing ambrosia squares, slipping them between the loose folds of her airy clothes as soon as she's grabbed them]

Both: [as Nova hopped out of the chair, stop what they're doing to look at Nova with tense expressions and lowered ears]

Nova: [meets Sky's eyes, then Cloud's, and quickly turns to march toward the door]

Nova: (voice commanding, sounding far more confident than she felt) "we head out now. I can collect more essence on the way. Hurry!"

Air Siblings: [meet eyes once again behind her back]

Cloud: [immediately follows close behind Nova!]

Sky: [half-groans, half-growls, but quickly trails after]

Sky: [… though his eyes dart from faerie to faerie as he wonders why nobody's reacting to their departure]

Nova: [almost as though she's reading his mind but more reading between the lines, and figuring it's better to say anyway) "I blocked them from seeing us. Come on!"

Sky: [bites his tongue, unsure of a lot of things… but also not sure if it was a good time to ask questions]

Nova: [pushes the door open and speedwalks outside, ignoring the frostbite-cold of the now-winter that hits her]

Seasons, time, and weather: [could change constantly, depending on where they were in the Faewildes and the strength of the raw, unclaimed magic in the area…]

Raw Faewilde magic: [was incredibly dangerous even to faeries, able to take over their minds, make them lose their sense of selves, and turn them into what the humans called demons]

Demons: [creatures with seemingly no sapience, wanting nothing more than violence… and Nova couldn't blame them]

Nova: [wishes she had the strength—the bravery—to fight back against archfae she wasn't cornered by]

Nova: [wishes she could pay them back for their crimes.]

Nova: [fae-ears low and eyes scanning the streets around them, paces forward to lead the group through the quickest way out of town]

Sky: [from behind, voice tense) "what's your plan, fae. Who are you?"

Nova: [tenses, but… keeps pacing, eyeing the ever-fluctuating buildings once of wood, then of stone, then of ice… as everything rapidly changes from the cloud of raw magic unfurling throughout the town]

Nova: (tension leaking into their voice) "we leave Kil—the Archfae's dominion, so he's weaker. From there, he either gives up, or—"

Sky: (voice sharp) "he'll catch up before we can!"

Nova: [twists her form, turning her torso so—while her legs continue forward on her decided path—she's able to face Sky while walking]

Siblings: [faces visibly twist in disgust at her grotesque display—]

Nova: (harshly) "we have a head start and this—" [points up, then twists his finger in a circular gesture, alluding to the magic storm] "—is going to keep him from teleporting to us."

Sky:

Sky: [visibly stunned… though also looks paler]

Sky: [actually, has changed a lot in appearance. His night-sky skin has quickly turned pale white, matching his hair and the snow around them]

Sky: [now, almost completely blends with the environment as he scans the area, the tips of his fae-ears dropping lower and lower]

Nova: (to himself) ah… that's why he feels a bit different from 'sky'.

Sky: [returning his eyes to Nova, hesitantly) "is… that you?"

Nova:

Nova: [fighting a wave of panic, barks out a laugh and turns his torso back into place to increase his pace. Still, his anxiety is betrayed by his angled ears, poorly-faked laugh, and the breathlessnes of his otherwise-incredulous voice) "no??? You think I'd be like this if I had that kinda power? I just sensed it coming, and we're taking advantage of it. Now hurry up, Kil—he, the Archfae, just left!"

Cloud: [from behind her; voice gentle, but subtly tense) "so… what happens when he catches up to us?"

Nova: [drops his eyes to the ground, falling silent as a cold hand of dread wraps itself tight around his heart]

Nova: (voice thick) "as long as we're outside of his dominion, I can take care of him by myself."

YOU CAN WHAT BY YOURSELF, NOVA!?!?!

Aaaaaanyhow, how truthful do you think all of this is? What's with all of their fear of archfaeries? And how in the world would Nova "take care of" one themself???

Faerie's Dawn taglist:

@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@seastarblue @rae-butter @teamarine777 @caffeinated-starsailor @oliolioxenfreewrites

@corinneglass @thebookishkiwi @storyteller-kara @themongosianhorse @theburningeyeofdawn

@notyourlocalworm @write-with-will @mildlybizarrecorvid @forgottenvalor @huewrite

@vesanal @differentnighttale @plip-plap-plop @olliedoesthings @pupculture

@princessuncertain @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @i-do-anything-but-write @a-zendrial

@real-fragments @lunauphternal @sullymarlowe @aalinaaaaaa (ask and ye shall be added)

dividers by @thyming and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

CHARACTER PROFILE:

THE EXISTENCE OF MAGIC

"Consider yourself privileged to be in my presence, {Redacted}. Not many get the honor." -Magic

Magic awoke as an Existential upon the creation of the Faewildes—a realm of pure, uncontrolled magic.

The Faewildes themselves emerged from cracks in reality made by Existence of Chaos, so Magic sees him as the closest thing they have to a father. Likewise, they hold a deep respect and admiration for him.

... and even more resentment toward the other Existentials, who sealed Chaos within a magically-enforced coma following the First World's destruction.

But what could they, Magic, do about that?

OVERVIEW:

Chosen name: {REDACTED}

You don't deserve to know their name.

Age: ???

Due to being "born" with the destruction of reality—and emergence of the the Faewildes—and the resulting space-time distortions, it's impossible to know their age. However, they are the youngest Existential.

(During RFtA and SaS, they are at least 800 years old.)

Species: Faerie (shapeshifter)

Due to their relation to the Faewildes, they see themself as a (and I quote) "better faerie".

Gender identity: Nonbinary (any/all)

Sexuality: Omnisexual

Raw magic: (existential) Magic, (faerie) magic, (axiomatic) chaos, (axiomatic) disaster, (axiomatic) destruction, (axiomatic) corruption, (axiomatic) disease, (axiomatic) nature, (axiomatic) vegetation, (axiomatic) animal influence, (axiomatic) earth — Just... assume it's almost everything. But that's some of their main stuff!

Applied magic: Reality warping. Can create any and all effects they desire, transform the environment and the "rules" dictating reality around them, and create anything out of nothing.

While possible, it costs them more essence to warp reality outside of the Faewildes, whereas it's near-effortless within. However, as Magic next to never leaves the Faewildes, it's hardly relevant.

They are also capable of creating enchantments, blessings, curses, and portals.

Their axiomatic magic is mostly important when they grant magic to others, as they only ever give their magic to people who amuse them.

Tier ranking: Existential

As the Existential of Magic, they are a manifestation of the consciousness of Magic Itself. They are completely unkillable due to the fact that they are not the body they reside in, though... you can sure try to kill their body.

Regardless of the result, your death would be a mercy.

Status in Existential War: One of the "top gods", having some form of influence in literally every continent and over a dozen B (or higher) tier avatars at all times.

Spokespiece: When communicating with those outside their realm—or those they don't care to appear in front of—Magic will manifest body horror abominations or a singular, giant disembodied eye.

Their spokepieces always speak with a deep, distorted voice.

General appearance: As the Existence of Magic, an abstract concept, they technically do not have a physical form. However, they have created—and live within—a body for themself.

Magic usually takes the form of an 8'2 (249 cm) pale-skinned androgynous faerie, although they'll adapt their height to situations at hand (almost always intentionally towering over all others).

They usually have intentionally-exaggerated "human" features—far-too-long arms and legs, an elongated face, too-sharp (potentially even clawed) fingers, and two pairs of long, pointy ears.

Similarly, Magic takes up a lot of space through other methods—they have a large mane of puffy ginger hair, massive tree-like antlers that crown their head, and two sets of large, insectoid wings they can fly with... although they can just magically levitate, anyways.

But, strangely enough, their most distinguishing feature?

Magic is almost always wearing a smooth, featureless silver mask affixed to their face, completely obscuring their features and even their own vision... though they can see through their magic, anyway.

They claim that they only show their face to those who are worthy to see it, and that others aren't worth laying their eyes upon.

During meetings with the Existentials, they still wear an eyeless, silver mask—but one that shows their mouth, allowing all to see when they smirk.

Personality: Extremely cocky, arrogant, egotistical, sassy, and flamboyant.

Magic considers themself a comedian, enjoys "putting on a show", scaring people, and generally antagonizing others—but especially the other Existentials.

Most of the time, Magic is flexing their magical abilities one way or another—it's partially an ego thing, but mostly because it's just second nature to them. They are Magic—and who would you be to stop them from using it?

(They especially tend to levitate, floating around and "sitting" in midair, or manipulate distance around them to force people into their personal space.)

A lot of their personality comes out through the inhuman appearance they take, where they explicitly tower above others, take up as much space as possible, and wear a mask to deprive others of the privilege of witnessing their face.

They claim to see the Existential War as a game, but a boring one. They aim to end it—one way... or another.

Any single wish: Complete freedom

Greatest fear: {REDACTED}

Fun fact: Magic currently (as of RFtA and SaS) has a specialized, hyper-magically-aware avatar investigating themself—after all, why wouldn't one want to understand their own nature?

... at least, that's what they claim their purpose is.

CHARACTER QUOTES:

"You've come looking for a favor? And you're willing to pay the price?"

"Oh, don't start with that. Don't lie—we all know you want to accept. So, let's just cut through the—" rolls their eyes, turning their head and sarcastically fluttering their hands at their sides. Mockingly: "—'oh, no!!! Not for me!? Sacrifice!?!?'" Faces the pair again, re-crossing their arms to continue more seriously: "—bullshit and move on to the terms. We're all here. Unless you want to have wasted my time negotiating with {Orange} before you got here?"

"I will have mercy on you. [But] you're still paying a high price—it has been quite an inconvenience to do all this, and you should know how few people get to be graced with my presence. {Red} would not have been given this opportunity otherwise."

Tag list: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @paeliae-occasionally

Divider by @cafekitsune

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OC Moodboard #5 ✦

This is a tag game I'm obsessed with! For anyone wishing to join:

Rules: make a collection of 5+ images that represent or symbolize one of your ocs! It can be in any way, for any reason! Just have fun with it!

I'm obsessed with Caron right now, I'm not going to lie, haha. Basically all of these images were already in his pinterest board (where I grabbed these images from), so it was VERY easy to make this!

KIERAN CARON

Few know this (in-universe), but Kieran Caron used to be a gladiator slave in Cirrane before escaping to Kihroin and founding a martial arts school. That was the origin of the knights' college--Caron using his experience in the arenas to help other people learn to defend themselves (and, y'know, to get a job and income). It slowly turned into the knight college after he attracted attention from Kihroin's crown, taught the current king and his protector, and expanded as many others started garnering for his attention.

Since then, Caron has shifted into a backseat role in the college. He no longer teaches classes, but is known to personally mentor certain students who catch his attention. Instead, Caron manages the college: carefully selecting teachers with masteries in various magic or combat fields, overseeing classes every so often, managing the affairs of struggling students, and dealing with the endless amount of paperwork associated with his role.

Kieran Caron's name is famous even outside of his college. Thanks to how he grew--through a connection to the Kihroin crown--he's known to have a hand in the country's politics. He swayed the current king's mind toward policies favoring the general populace rather than the nobles underneath him. Because of this, he's well-liked amongst commoners and disliked by Kihroin's nobility.

However, there are conspiracy theories surrounding Caron--after all, he's risen from absolutely nothing into an incredibly powerful position. Not only does he have the current king's ear--and influence over the crown prince and his protector!!!--but he's also gotten his own people spread out across the world in their own positions of power! It'd take a fool not to see just how capable Caron is of taking over the world!

Except he won't dare try. He knows the gods are very willing and able to stop him.

Oh! And he's known to have two children: his biological son, Varik Caron, and the adopted son, Kieva Caron!

(Kieva is one of the main characters of RFtA! Varik not so much, but he's still important, haha!)

Sun and Shadow: Freya Ula | Crow the Cursed | Daleira Fenastra (wip)

Rising From the Ashes: Sammy | Kieran Caron | Roman Leveque

Also, what do you guys think of everyone's colors? I've decided to bold names/the coloured parts to make it easier to see for the slightly-harder ones--hopefully that helps! 😊

Tagging (gently!!!): @the-golden-comet @honeybewrites @yourpenpaldee @darkandstormydolls @the-letterbox-archives

@illarian-rambling @wyked-ao3 @ath3alin @mysticstarlightduck @fantasy-things-and-such + open tags!!!

Gorgeous divider by @saradika!

[ominous-faechild]

Can you tell me a little about The Arcane Rifts?

Mislav (the berserker) and Ludmila in particular (their names stood out lol)

Ahhh, the Arcane Rifts, my golden child--

I--I mean--

The story I give an appropriate amount of love and attention to! 🥰 (or so I say because I think the extra attention I give it is deserved because it's the golden child--)

The Arcane Rifts

I've since included the blurb and other information in my Writeblr Intro if you want more generic information! Sorry I've taken so long to respond to this, haha. I'm going to continue forward here assuming you've read it, but I'm probably going to restate a lot of information here anyway!

The Arcane Rifts is a high fantasy, action, mystery story with hints of horror! It primarily follows its two MCs, Gene and Tazin, as they struggle to live on their own as Socially Othered kids.

Gene is physically disabled--he was born with a twisted and too-short leg that makes it difficult for him to walk. In-story, he uses a cane and eventually gets a foot lift that helps level out his walking. Though it doesn't perfectly fit, the best actual medical condition I can find for him is clubfoot!

Adding to his social-othering, Gene is also autistic (though it "doesn't exist" in Glavnran) and originally from another country, though it's unknown which one in-story. He was found in the woods on the outskirts of Kavo (a town within Glavnran) a year prior to the events of the story, and has barely gotten a grasp of the local language in the time before the story starts.

Tazin is the secondary MC and another kid only two years Gene's senior. He's ethnically Jhandan (Fantasy!Indian), and discriminated against by the majority Glavni (primarily white, Fantasy!Slavic) people despite being born and raised in Glavnran.

(Context: Glavnran is under the thumb of the Jhandan Empire and has had a history of both war and exploitation by Jhandar. This has led to the hatred of the Glavni people toward anything Jhandan--however. I do not say this as in to say the discrimination Jhandan people face is fair, understandable, or reasonable--just that it's the origin of the tensions. Tazin is a literal 9-year-old, though, and obviously just gets handed that hatred because of the color of his skin... and a minor accent.)

There's Asks on both Gene and Tazin and you asked about other characters, so I'll hold off on giving more info about them in particular, but!

The Arcane Rifts focuses on the two boys meeting, deciding to work together to survive on the streets, and accidentally getting way in over their heads as they accidentally draw the attention of both the cops and the local gang.

The main plots focus on the children, the khonitva, and Kavo's chief of police--Nikolai--investigating the boys on top of some magical stuff going on in the background.

It's a dense story, but I promise you it's worth it!!! Or, it will be whenever the current version has more than 5 chapters available read...

Mislav Baran

My beautiful babi boy and definitely not Gene's later boyfriend.

So, bad news: while he appears a bit in Book 1, Mislav isn't a main character there. He only becomes a MC in Book 2, after... spoilers! happen! 😙👌 In order to answer your questions, though, I will be giving away mild spoilers! 🥰

First, an introduction: Mislav (the berserker) is, surprise surprise, a berserker! Let me actually grab a snippet straight from tAR for this!

What Damaris didn’t know was that Mislav was a berserker, which meant he was stronger than any normal kid. Especially when he got angry. Being a berserker meant more than getting stronger with anger, though. It boosted all of his physical abilities and his senses. To top it all off, he healed from injuries more quickly. So imagine what it was like when he got angry. Although he’d show off his strength sometimes, Mislav hated that he was a berserker. Not only was it his own curse, gifted to him by Zhrizn—Glavnran’s evil god of nature—after he’d orchestrated the deaths of Mislav's family, but the people of Kavo hated berserkers. They said they were wild, destructive creatures that did nothing but hurt and kill.

Woah, so there's a lot to unpack there, haha. 🤭

But before I do... let me give you the next two lines from Gene('s narration).

Those were the reasons why Gene never told Mislav what he thought of a berserker’s abilities. They made for a perfect weapon of war.

Wait, wtf, a kid thought that??? Aaaaaanyway! We're talking about Mislav, not Gene! 😉🤭

Yeah, a berserker's abilities are perfectly suited for combat and recovering from it. However, at the beginning of the story, Mislav is just nine. Y'know--nine years old. He's not seeing any combat or war!

(Y'know... besides the whole "Adilzhan killed his entire family somewhat in front of him" thing. Oh, wait, right. That.)

So, Adilzhan. He's an avatar of Zhrizn (aka does his bidding), and it was presumably on Zhrizn's orders that he killed Mislav's family.

And then... stopped.

To spare Mislav? What's so special about him? Who knows! Me. I do.

Regardless, after sparing him, Adilzhan half took him in. Yeah. Took him in. After slaughtering his entire family and burning down the farm Mislav grew up on. That certainly won't be causing any sort of weird complexes in the poor kid growing up.

Despite their, ah, rough introduction, Adilzhan has been a shockingly generous "parental" figure to Mislav. Rather than forcing Mislav to live with him, Adilzhan sent him to the local orphanage and gives him anything the orphanage can't. Then, he's even ignored Mislav's uh... well.

Blatant attempts to "get revenge".

To be completely transparent: "berserker"-ness has turned (perhaps unsurprisingly) into an accidental allegory for anger issues--especially in the poor, traumatized Mislav.

So what does a kid with severe anger issues accentuated with a curse that actively tries to make them worse do when their family's murderer is constantly trying to be nice to them? Well, lash out, of course!

For example, by the beginning of book 2 Mislav would/will have:

destroyed a bunch of Adilzhan's stuff... several times.

straight-up ambushed/attacked Adilzhan (though only twice!! And only in the first several months of knowing him!!!... because he quickly learned it wouldn't get him anywhere--)

kicked/headbutted him while Adilzhan tried treating his (Mislav's) injuries

purposely sabotaged Adilzhan in moments of danger/stress, leading to Adilzhan getting injured when he otherwise wouldn't have gotten!

And yet, shockingly, Adilzhan never would've lashed out at the kid. Worst he would've done is put Mislav in the magical equivalent of "time out" while he took care of whatever problems the kid made.

By the beginning of book 2, when Mislav is 15, he's mostly moved past the state of constantly lashing out at Adilzhan. Like, sure--he hates him. Always will! But he's learned that, despite the past... Adilzhan is genuinely looking out for him. And was kinda a halfway decent parental-ish figure?

And, oh boy. Does he hate that. And understandably so!

But he's come to accept it.

Oh, Right, That Was Background Info.

So Book 2 Mislav! While Gene and Tazin were busy being criminals together on the streets, Mislav spent his time being raised halfway between the orphanage and Adilzhan himself. However, like all of the kids in Kavo's orphanage, he got kicked out at the age of thirteen (yeah, it's messed up, but tbh that's just how bad Kavo is).

So did he move in with Adilzhan at long last?

Hell no!

Mislav joined a gang, the yuertel!

Wait, what???

Yeah! Don't worry about it, it's all good. Anyway!

One thing I didn't mention earlier about the "berserker curse" is that it does more than just enhance the individual's physical capabilities and senses--it also will slowly corrupt their physical appearance as they tap into its power.

Which... that was another reason that Mislav toned down his anger with Adilzhan. Allowing himself to stew in it made it more and more likely that he'd act on it... and acting on it advanced the curse's control over him. And if you don't remember, the people of Kavo really don't like berserkers.

So, for most of his life (since the deaths of his family), Mislav has been doing his best to bottle up every single negative emotion he feels and avoiding people to keep them from figuring out the Truth. Aaaaand, y'know, self-sacrifice like hell. Because, surely, if bad actions accelerate the curse, then being a good person will de-cellerate it, right?

Yeah. He wishes. Literally.

Ludmila Morozov

So, Ludmila!

She first appears only at the very end of the first book, but Ludmila is actually a super important character to the series! She becomes a major character starting book 2, and is a main character in book 3!

Ludmila is an ice mage--or vykolt as the Glavni people call them--though you wouldn't be able to tell considering her fierce personality, haha. (Well, actually, she's incredibly icy, too, but.)

While Gene and Tazin were busy spending the first book of tAR in the khonitva and getting themselves on Kavo's Most Wanted list, Ludmila spent her time in Damaris's orphanage, getting evicted as she turned "of age", and joining/becoming the leader of the yuertel!

Oh, yeah, so the yuertel...

Ludmila didn't start the gang, and in fact got an actual job assisting the lumberjacks (and -jills) after first being kicked out of the orphanage. She only quit after an incident disillusioned her from Kavo's police- and work-force at large. Afterward, she was informed of the yuertel's existence by her childhood friend--Rada--and joined them when she couldn't find another job she was okay with working.

When she first joined, the yuertel was a ragtag bunch of kids with no idea what they were doing. After she joined--... well, they were still a ragtag bunch of kids with no idea what they were doing! But their previous leader saw her compassion for the others and stepped down to let her lead instead. Y'know, with his guidance, considering he was just a little better with people than her, but she was around a lot more than him and could do more for them than he could.

The yuertel isn't what you'd first think of when the word "gang" comes to mind. While they get up to criminal activity, they minimize collateral damage when and where they can, because hurting others isn't Ludmila's goal. They just need to do what they do to survive--malice and wanton destruction was the khonitva's thing, not hers. Though if a stray icicle hit Nikolai or a member of the khonitva over the head, she wouldn't complain.

While Ludmila wants the world to be a better place, all she sees is more ways to make it worse... or to work for those she feels sit idly by, allowing for things to get worse while sitting on their hands. So, instead, she carved out her own corner where she takes care of the people she cares about while nobody else pays them any mind.

Point is, she's a bit of a hypocrite.

Kavo--and, in fact, Glavnran in general--is a terrible place. It's full of crime, discrimination, ableism, and so many -phobias that it's ridiculous. She realized there was nothing she could do about it, so she sought to help her friends float by if nothing else. But she's a little ignorant of the fact she's guilty of the very same thing she hates in Nikolai and the rest of the police force.

Complacency.

At least... she is before book 3. But that's spoiler territory. 😉

A little more background info: Ludmila got sent to the orphanage after the murder of her mother. (Which, I so want to write a short story where Nikolai and Adilzhan investigate the murder buddy-cop style, Nikolai hating and suspecting Adilzhan of it all the while...)

Her mother, Tosha, was a fellow vykolt and actually was an avatar of Ertzat, the Glavni psychopomp god of ice, winter, death, and other associated things! They were distantly related to Gennadi (the un-elected mayor), and that combined with her priestess status meant the two were decently well-off before Tosha's death. Ludmila was close childhood friends with Rada even before then, and their parents' deaths occurring at approximately the same time led to them ending up at the orphanage together.

Idk what else I can say about her without getting into spoilers, haha...

I love Ludmila! Despite her hypocrisy, I'd say she's genuinely a good person stuck in a miserable circumstance like a lot of my characters tbh. She's a massive "sister friend" angsty type, and absolutely CANNOT get along with Tazin after the duo joins because of them both being stubborn af, haha. They're two bulls locking horns!

(And, beautifully, are a fire/ice rivalry, haha.)

I've seriously had this half-done in my drafts since publishing my Writeblr intro... I'm incredibly disappointed in myself.

Tag list: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives

Divider from @cafekitsune

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OC DEEP DIVE ✦

Thanks for the tag, @the-letterbox-archives! This looks really fun!

Otherwise it would get added to my ever-building "answer this tag eventually" list... 😭

I'm going to answer these for: Sun and Shadow: Freya and Crow The Arcane Rifts: Gene and Tazin Rising From the Ashes: Sammy and Kieva

Warning: long post!

What uncommon/common fear do they have?

After the start of Sun and Shadow? A fear of the ocean, easily.

However, she's also afraid of being vulnerable, being lost, feeling alone, and not being able to trust her own senses.

Abandonment and failure.

It'd be easier listing the fears he doesn't have...

He's afraid of: the forest, being lost, not being able to trust his own senses, being deceived, anything anywhere near the uncanny valley, being/feeling trapped, saying the wrong thing (aka social anxiety literally always), authority figures, angry people, not angry people, people--

Okay, I'll stop now. I think you get it.

Is and has almost always been haunted by the fear of being abandoned. It's his greatest fear, and he constantly pushes people away or abandons them first, before they can do it to him.

Besides that, he's afraid of responsibility and ghosts (which are provably real in-universe... and he's met plenty).

Fear of losing control. Is a major control freak social manipulator who panics (internally) the moment he feels like he's lost control of a situation. Is also terrified of being/feeling trapped and being "physically constricted" (read: shackles, handcuffs, and the sort).

Terrified of feeling trapped--both physically and situationally. Particularly hates small spaces and constricting clothing. Afraid of abandonment, failure, and disappointing the people he cares about.

Instead of angsting about his fears (besides the claustro- and cleithrophobia), he uses them as a motivation to do better.

Do they have any pet peeves?

Rich people. I'm only slightly kidding. She hates fake people and nobility/the wealthy elite have always been fake in her experience. She also hates small talk, people not taking her seriously, asking her about her family, and people calling her by her full name, "Freya", instead of Frey. ... whoops.

A curse they've brought upon themself--people not taking them seriously when they want people to, haha. It's a backfiring from their acting silly to get people to underestimate them.

Similarly, people getting distracted in conversations. Their job would be SO much easier if people didn't deviate from subjects Crow wanted them on. (Though, the distractedness also makes it easier for them to happen onto subjects Crow wants to investigate, so...)

People assuming he's dumb, or asking him how he figured things out when they're super obvious? Like, c'mon. Also he's sensitive to a lot of sounds and gets annoyed by repetitive noises.

People asking him questions, hilariously enough. (Makes for a horrible and yet perfect combination with Gene...)

Similarly, hates people asking about his background, family, and nationality. Also hates repetitive noises!

Discrimination, people obsessing about/over his magic, the "elite" class in general, the shallowness of society, and people assuming things about him. He grew up on the streets and faced a lot of discrimination focused on his apparent poverty and age--though it's especially worse because he looks even younger than he is. Despite his distaste for it, he's learned to use it to his advantage.

People.

I was only slightly kidding--he's incredibly asocial, hates people trying to bother him, and mostly minds to himself. However, has a particular distaste for people asking prying questions--and especially those about his biological family.

Also, fake people, fake compliments, and people interrupting him in the middle of him doing other things (aka, literally always)--and, fuck, I've made HIM autistic, too???

(Not saying those things make him autistic. However, seeing him in my mind, as a fellow autistic... I've done it again.)

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

Books, tea, and various kinds of writing utensils.

Newspapers, hidden knives, and even-better hidden art collages from newspaper and magazine cutouts!

An endless amount of books, writing utensils, Mislav and papers. Blank, filled with drawings, filled with writing--papers of all kinds!

Anything and everything fun and/or "different" for him to set on fire. Also, knives/daggers, his Svarog masks, and each of Gene's old Volos masks--up until the last version, which is still in Gene's possession.

You're assuming he has a bedroom? /hj

More seriously, haha--although he grew up on the streets, he does have a few possessions that he's kept with him at all times. One is a damaged and rusty photo locket. The other is an expensive-looking dagger and sheath given to him by someone in his past. He's never sold either, regardless of the struggles he's gone through.

After getting a bedroom upon joining the knight's college, it's perpetually full of endless potted plants, books about medical subjects (primarily composed of photos or doodles he's added to help him understand the contents), and the aforementioned dagger... though it's hidden very well.

Several sketchbooks, some filled out and others blank or half-filled out; a VERY well-hidden collection of notes from his adoptive dad, Caron, addressed to him when Kieva was younger and he's kept for all these years; and tons of hidden weapons.

Don't worry!--he got that habit from his dad, Caron. As the saying goes--a man who sleeps with a knife under his pillow is a fool every night but one. (Except there's way more than just a knife under his pillow.)

What do they notice first in a person?

How they're dressed, almost tied with how they hold themselves.

How the person holds themself. Then, their face. They are very good at memorizing faces.

Spoilers! 😁 In other words... their magical energy. But that's not very helpful here, is it? Haha, so beyond that, I'd say how they're dressed.

Their skin tone. (Because he expects white people to be immediately / especially racist toward him. Glavnran ain't a great place for a Jhandan kid to grow up.)

Their emotional state. He's always prepared to maneuver around a difficult social situation, and needs to be ready to manipulate someone into reacting more positively to him if necessary.

Simultaneously notices their face and posture. He's good at memorizing faces--partially because of how much he draws them--and uses their posture to gauge a lot of things, as taught to by his dad. You can use someone's posture to help figure out: confidence level, if they're experienced in a fight, their social class (nobility often exaggerates certain behaviors), and many other things.

(He also goes out of his way to look at their hands. One's hands can tell of their profession.)

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance? (I'm doing this assuming 5 is "average")

Emotional? 7. Physical? 3.

Physically? 9. Emotionally? 9.

Depends how you define "pain tolerance"--if it's "doesn't notice it" or "is able to ignore it".

If it's "doesn't notice": Physically, 5. Emotionally, 8. (But later books see "emotionally" drop wayyyy down to 3)

"Is able to ignore": Physically, 10. Emotionally? 9.

Physically? 6. Emotionally? 2.

Depends on a lot of factors. He's able to magically shut off his ability to feel physical pain, for one (though he only realizes/learns to do so on command to later in the series)! Otherwise, he's similar to Gene in having a variable "feels it" vs "is able to ignore it anyways" level of "tolerance".

If it's "doesn't notice": Physically, 6. Emotionally, 7.

If it's "is able to ignore it/doesn't show any signs of feeling it": Physically, 8. Emotionally, 9 or 10 depending on the emotion and situation.

Another case of "can ignore what he can feel".

Threshold until he feels it? Physically, 7. Emotionally? 8.

Threshold until he can't ignore it anymore? Physically, 10 (aka, only the worst pains imaginable). Emotionally? 10. (Aka mental breakdown territory.)

(Kieva is very bad at noticing his own emotions until he gets overwhelmed by them. His stress builds to very high levels before he actually notices them and can account for them. He's alexithymic and has to use therapeutic methods to figure out what he's feeling before he gets overwhelmed and snaps.)

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? (I'm also including freeze and fawn)

Fight!!! She's an incredibly angry person (that thinks she doesn't have anger issues, lmao), and goes on the aggressive very easily. However, it's usually verbal. She doesn't have any experience in actual fights.

Technically freeze, technically flight, but actually fight. They'll either turn into or hide in their own shadow with their magic to orient themselves to the situation before acting if surprised with combat. Their "freezing/flight" is only a defensive measure to gather more information before proceeding.

However, they're also a fantastic actor and tend to be playing a persona. While their reflex is defensive/fight, they can and will fake having a different "reflex" under pressure.

It depends on when/where in the books and in his life, haha.

Early books? Freeze or fawn depending on the situation. If it's something dangerous or more than one person, freeze. If it's a single person, fawn.

In the middle of the series? Fawn 7 times out of 10. Fight the other three.

Late in the series? Fight.

FIGHTTTTTTTTTTT!!! (both verbally and physically, though he tends to more adapt a threatening posture or imply he's ready to get violent rather than immediately getting violent. Not that he hates violence, though--he just doesn't like getting hurt.)

Before the beginning of Rising From the Ashes, his reactions are tied between flight and fawn, depending on the situation. He's used to running away from his problems to the point that Caron--the head of the knight's college--silently notices it and pegs him as a flight risk. However, he also very commonly fawns over people who would otherwise be his enemies.

As the story progresses, Sammy's reaction shifts to tied between fight and fawn. He'll still pretend to be on his enemies' side, but is a lot more prepared to fight instead of run away.

Defensive fight/freeze. He'll jump into action to defend himself and/or others, but he's not the aggressive type except for when he's angry (and oh, boy, when he's angry...)

While he's usually defensive, he'll switch to hyper-offense (minus potentially protecting others in danger) when he's decided on a course of action. He will single-mindedly work toward his goal, his own well-being be damned.

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

I mean, technically the closest thing she had to a family was a magical zombie version of her dad...

More seriously, though--technically a small family. It was just her and her dad for her growing up. He was next to never around, though.

Tiny family. It was just them, their dad, and {SPOILER}. Their dad was next to never around because of his work and not wanting to tie Crow into it. Looks like it happened anyway, ey? 😏😉

He doesn't remember his family besides the fact that "Abi" existed and was probably his brother. During his short time in the orphanage, there was a lot of them. Then it was just him and Tazin (who he saw like a brother). Then it was the khonitva. Then it was the yuertel. The closest thing he can really remember adjacent to "family" is Tazin.

He wishes he had positive experiences with "family". Instead, he had none and a toxic friend.

Oh, buddy, would he hate this question. He comes from a small family, but was kicked out (and then later refused to return when they were willing to take him back). Because of this, he grew up either living with gangs (the khonitva/yuertel) or with it just being him and Gene. He thinks he hates "family", but it's only because he desperately wishes his was better.

This answer is a spoiler, haha! However, he is not a family person.

The only family he can remember is his adoptive one: his adoptive dad, Caron, and brother, Varik. He cares more about them than he cares about himself. Conveniently, the feeling is mutual between the three of them. (It wouldn't even be a question. They'd all sacrifice themselves for each other in less than a heartbeat. Something tells me this family is just a lil fucked-up/self-sacrificing.)

What animal represents them best?

Gryphon!!! Either that, or a feral kitten, haha.

I know this might be hard to believe... but Crow is best represented by a crow. Otherwise, a falcon, haha.

Deer. Easily.

Salamander! For probably obvious reasons if you have the context, haha. A simple explanation for those without the context? He's a fire mage. (But there's a lot more to it than just that, so.)

A possum!!! No debate about it, haha, and I'm sure I don't have to explain why.

A bull and/or buffalo. For their individual associations with bravery, fierceness, stubbornness, sacrifice, and survival. Also, because they all have horns!

What is a smell that they dislike?

City stink. If you know, you know.

Blood. Except, they also love the smell. They're mixed up about how they should feel about that.

Mustiness. Also the smell of various things burning. Midway through the story, the smell of cigarette smoke.

Sweat and herbs. It's even worse that burning herbs just makes the smells stronger.

Blood and chemicals.

Any strong smell. Especially hates the smell of chemicals and smoke.

Have they broken any bones?

When she was very young, yes. She doesn't remember it, though. Except for in her nightmares.

Depends on if you mean theirs or other people's!

Yes! A lot, actually.

Yes, a few times.

Yes, while practicing parkour. Conveniently, he has healing magic. Besides that? No.

His own, or other peoples'?

Yes.

His own, or other peoples'? x3

Yes. x6 (Whoops. Traumatic action-fantasy am I right?)

How would a stranger likely describe them?

"Yeah, that woman with the messy red hair and anger issues?--HOW DO YOU KNOW ANOTHER ONE!?--okay, no, she was looked like she wanted to be anywhere else?--Seriously?--okay, fine, she was wearing a ring on a necklace?--YEAH, that one!"

"Remember that guy wearing that long cloak as though it hid their giant wings and tail?"

"You know that creepy guy who's always staring? Like, barely talks, just watches everyone all the time? He's got a cane and just acts weird in general?"

"That angry Jhandan kid?" (or, alternatively:) "That Jhandan guy, either looks ready to pick a fight at a moment's notice or does his absolute best to piss everyone else off with while 'joking' around? Yeah, the overly-touchy guy--that one."

It would depend on who/what/when/where/why/how he met the person, considering how much he's almost always playing up one act or another! Here's one possible way of over a thousand:

"I think he was a Cirranian kid? About ye tall, really timid--OH! His eyes were two different colors, one blue and the other dark brown! He had curly hair and had a dirty, oversized jacket on?"

"Yeah, Kieran Caron's son? No--that's the other one, I think. Kieva's the one who's super pale, like he's never even been outside, and looks dead inside half the time?--what do you mean Varik's like that, too??? Okay, fine, silvery hair and eyes? YEAH! That guy!"

Are they a night owl or an early bird?

Early bird, haha. She loves the smell of the morning dew and just never preferred the night. Not even as an angsty teen!

Night owl (almost literally). They dislike the day, haha.

Night owl who's often forced to wake up early, haha. He's a sad, sleepy birdie who has to function on way too little sleep half the time.

Night owl, but his sleep schedule ends up even worse as an adult. It goes from "night owl" into "whenever I damn want/am not doing something else".

Really depends, his sleep schedule's all over the place. Most often, he's an early bird. He likes being awake when others aren't regardless.

You have to sleep in order to be a night owl or early bird, and Kieva doesn't sleep.

Okay, that was only kinda a joke--he has a hard time sleeping due to nightmares that he can't really remember. Usually, he just naps whenever he's able to. Otherwise, technically an early bird. He always wakes up early to stay on top of classes and his personal projects.

What is a flavour they hate and a flavour they love?

Loves spicy food! Hates most vegetables (like a child), but eats them anyway--like an adult!

Uhhhhh... so they're lowkey a vampire half the time so... both cases? Blood! 😁

Gene hates, hates, HATES sweet food and it's absolutely hilarious! He has the absolute opposite of a sweet tooth! On the other hand, he loves meat and most kinds of savory foods. Meat was rare for him growing up, and he really appreciates being able to eat it whenever he wants as an adult.

Both loves and hates Jhandan (Fantasy!Indian) food. His Jhandan parent would cook it when he was young, and uh--yeah. Mixed feelings about that whole mess. Same thing applies to spicy food--the only "spicy" food he had was cooked by the same parent, and while he loves spicy food, it reminds him of them.

For things he just straight-up dislikes, Tazin also isn't a fan of sweet food in general, haha. There's a few he does like, but they're few and far between.

Love: food. Hate: nothing. Literally can't afford to be picky.

Later on, when he is able to be picky, he strongly dislikes spicy food and likes "spiced" (aka spices, not spicy) and savory foods. Anything super flavorful!... except for fish. Hates fish. (Yes, white fish have plainer flavors. He hates those, too.)

Loves basically anything his dad cooks, but prefers salty and umami tastes. Hates bitter stuff, but is basically obsessed with coffee (like the rest of his family tbf).

Do they have any hobbies?

Yes! She loves reading and has a hobby of translating books from a foreign-to-that-world language into her own! She does so utilizing books in the library and has lowkey become a language scholar, haha. (She'll just never admit it.)

They secretly like drawing and creating collages out of things cut out of newspapers and magazines. They have not admitted this fact to a single person in their life, and won't for a long time.

Two! Reading non-fiction books (aka just learning in general, haha) and drawing! He loves drawing, though does it a lot less than reading. Drawing hasn't really helped him (besides with the maps he used to draw for the yuertel), while his obsessive need to always be learning has.

Not really? He likes reading stories, primarily folklore, stories about the gods, and fiction, but he doesn't allow himself to do it often because he's embarrassed to like them. Similarly, he likes to sing, but next to never does so because he's insecure about it.

I like to say that, if Tazin grew up in our world, he would've absolutely been a huge fan of rock and tried starting a band in high school. (He would've put enough time into it that he'd even be good at the guitar. Except... he's not in our world.)

No, he never had the time, money, or mental energy for hobbies. The closest thing he has to one is "people-watching", but he did it more out of necessity than because he enjoyed it.

If he could have one, I think he'd most enjoy creating textiles and listening to music.

Yes! Drawing, easily. Prefers life-drawing and drawing people in general. Sometimes enjoys people-watching, but only if he can tolerate their personalities (or otherwise, if they aren't speaking). Even before he started attending the knight's college, he had a minor hobby of invading active classes to watch the lessons, teachers, and students. It made it much easier for him to pick up fighting when he officially started, and it's helped him have a heightened magical awareness.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises?

Apprehension and shock. She wouldn't have told anyone her birthday and wouldn't have expected anyone to celebrate it on top of that. She'd be half-expecting things to go wrong and not know how to deal with it all, but would probably ultimately enjoy it.

Cry. They didn't expect anyone to know/care besides their dad. Their dad celebrates with them, but it's always been disappointing (not that they'd admit that though). They'd absolutely love it, though. Just... cry. A lot.

Panic. Hates surprises, hates social gatherings, hates having people expect things from him (ie: appreciate the party/their efforts), and hates that he'll be "the bad guy" for not appreciating the party.

Besides, he doesn't have a "real" birthday (he didn't know the day and was given a "fake" one to be celebrated during his time in the orphanage) and even though he and Tazin privately celebrated the day they met in its place, it was just that--privately. They would have a quiet celebration with food, a few gifts exchanged between them, and just acting normal otherwise.

Rage. Wouldn't have shared his birthday with anyone, not even Gene (though Gene would've figured it out anyway because of Reasons). Similarly, definitely not a fan of surprises. Likes receiving gifts, but otherwise? Fuck off (his words, not mine--).

(Assuming friends threw it for him--) Confusion and would break down crying. Hasn't really had a birthday party for a long time, doesn't know how to react to it, and certainly didn't tell anyone when his birthday was because he doesn't even know. (So, y'know, whoever threw the party would've had to make one up for him.) Wouldn't know how to take people celebrating his existence--or him in general--and would be overwhelmed by the positive attention directed toward him.

So, yeah. Would cry a LOT. And only might hide it.

Doesn't like surprises, wouldn't show it. Would just--

Considering his adoption and the way it initially happened--let's just say it wasn't traditional in any sort of way--his actual birthday is unknown. Instead the family celebrates the day of his official adoption. Regardless, those celebrations are obviously known of in advance. Kieva would not accept a party being thrust upon him, haha.

Do they like to wear jewelry?

She grew up always wearing a magical amulet her dad gave her that helped her with an unknown illness. When she loses it early into the book, she puts an otherwise-enchanted ring on a necklace to cope with the loss of the feeling of wearing something at her neck. Besides that, she's not a jewelry person, haha.

They don't like jewelry, but wear it. They have two earrings that absorb the magic of their curse--allowing them to appear human and removing its antimagic effects--and quite often wear various other kinds of jewelry while posing as one identity or another.

No, absolutely not. He'd hate the sensory input. He's just fine with no jewelry, having his hair tied back, and fidgeting with his cane--thank you very much.

As a kid, wouldn't have. As an adult, likes basic "jewelry" that's just metal rather than stuff with actual jewels.

Not at all. However, keeps a half-destroyed photo locket in his pocket at all times. But that's different, y'know?

Alternates between loving and hating jewelry. Sometimes enjoys wearing it for something to fidget with. Other times, hates the sensation and will take it off (potentially aggressively if he realized after already getting overwhelmed). Rarely wears it because of the "risk" associated with it.

Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Neat! She's filled out a lot of paperwork in her time and has actually dabbled in sketching stuff, but isn't the greatest artist.

Halfway between! Very messy handwriting, but it's always legible.

Depends on how fast he's writing and if he intends on having anyone else read it. It's incredibly messy to the point of illegibility if he's writing quickly, and especially more so if it's just for himself. However, he's capable of writing very neatly if he's planning on having others read it--it just takes him a lot longer to write.

Messy, messy, messy! Doesn't write often, haha. But is capable of making it neater if he must.

(Also, would probably go out of his way to make his handwriting messier if someone forced him to write stuff down for them--)

Even worse than Tazin's. Messy af, everything is horribly misspelled. He's dyslexic and barely learned how to read even beyond that. Hates even attempting to read, much less write, so his time in the knight's college is the first time he really gets into it since he was really young.

Either incredibly neat or messy. Sometimes doesn't have the patience to bother making things legible, but needs to write stuff down--and so scribbles doctor handwriting style. Otherwise, goes out of his way to make his handwriting neater. It's an ego thing.

What are the two emotions they feel the most?

Frustration and exhaustion. She doesn't sleep well--though she doesn't remember her dreams anymore--and has anger issues.

Annoyance and amusement. They don't

Exhaustion and sadness. He doesn't get the greatest sleep--whether it's because of nightmares or a terrible sleep schedule--and he's constantly experiencing and/or witnessing things that are unfair. It's not like he's never happy, though--he just constantly carries that sense of tragedy.

Anger and amusement. He has SEVERE anger issues, but considers himself a jokester. Unfortunately, a lot of his "humor" is at the detriment of others, especially as he gets older.

Resignation and caution. Is constantly on-guard for people who could potentially pose a threat to him--regardless of how--and is used to people treating him poorly. His feeding into it by pretending to be young and clueless has always been a way to cope with it and run with its few advantages.

Who knows what he's running from? Me. Obviously I know. But-- But he's constantly prepared to run away from a situation where he's in danger... or people are close to figuring out things he doesn't want them to.

Stubbornness and indifference, with exhaustion being a close third. Mostly floats through life, following a strict schedule with the school's classes. Finds the strict schedule convenient, because it allows him to plan things ahead of time and then stop having to think as he follows through with what he decided. However, is still an incredibly stubborn person--he wants to make his dad proud by becoming a powerful mage, fighter, and knight. That, and he genuinely wants to make the world a better place! And maybe, one day, to find out where he's actually from.

Only problem is, he just wants to sleep half the time!

Do they have a favourite fabric? (This is assuming I know the fabrics...)

Does yarn count? Knitted stuff of all kinds and textures! She's made a lot of her own clothes. She's very self-sufficient.

Anything their feathers don't get caught on. So, mostly smoother textures.

Anything and everything soft. He loves soft things and stimming with them.

Slippery stuff. Aka, stuff that's harder for people to grip. Tazin explicitly wears skintight clothing and has Gene cut his hair down to his scalp so people can't easily grab him. Besides that, doesn't care.

Anything soft. Has a particular fondness for the texture of "was formerly rough due to being made from poor-quality materials, but has softened from age and use" stuff. Granted, that's also the texture of his hole-y jacket.

He's indifferent. As long as it's not itchy!

What kind of accent do they have?

Irish! She's from a fantasy country with lots of early Norse and Celtic influence.

Belgian! They were born and raised in Lynsmouth, which has a lot of misc influences from Western Europe, but it's primarily Netherlands and France!

Polish. Who knows where he was from before ending up in Glavnran (Fantasy!Slavic), but after spending most of his life there, his accent has changed and adjusted to sound much more Glavni than whatever it was before.

Kyrgyz. He's mixed, Glavni and Jhandan (Fantasy!Indian), and was raised primarily by his Jhandan parent before ending up on the streets. Fittingly, his accent is from a country between Russia and India, haha.

Spanish. Not Mexican, Spanish. Like from Spain. Who knows where his family is from, but he looks Cirranian (Fantasy!CentralAmerica) and has spent as much of his life as he can remember in Kihroin (the country RFtA takes place in).

Algerian. Like Sammy, he's grown up in Kihroin, which has North African inspiration! (Which is another reason I want to wait to publish anything on it, I want to do an insane amount of more research first, haha.)

(I literally pulled up a video with people speaking English with various accents just to answer this question. Somehow, my imagined languages for them aligned really well with the regions/accents they should have!? I say "somehow", as though I haven't actually done an immense amount of research on languages and listened to them in order to say my made-up words "correctly", haha...)

Me, before starting this: "this should be relatively easy!"

Me, getting to the accent question: "wait, actually, what would Crow sound like? And omg, Sammy? Considering their backgrounds--"

Me: *spends half an hour debating the accents of each of the characters*

Me, a day after starting this and coming back to see ^^^^ that: "goddamn, I thought this would be easy?"

PSA: doing this for one character is fine. Doing it for six--two of which you're not as certain with--is less fine!

Tagging (gently!): @honeybewrites @yourpenpaldee @paeliae-occasionally @mysticstarlightduck @illarian-rambling

@darkandstormydolls @the-golden-comet @ath3alin @wyked-ao3 @mk-writes-stuff

@huewrite + open tags!

Divider from @saradika!

[ominous-faechild]

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

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OC Moodboard Tag ✦

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!!!

In my "OC In Three" tags, I had a request to share more of one Roman Leveque! Well, @the-letterbox-archives only expected one more... but I am nothing if not a benevolent god. 👀

So! I'm also making a tag game out of this!

Rules: make a collection of 5+ images that represent or symbolize one of your ocs! It can be in any way, for any reason! Just have fun with it! ☺️

ROMAN LEVEQUE

I have so much fun with these, haha. I used to make a lot of moodboards when I was younger and digital design is kind-of my thing (outside of writing), so I think I'm pretty good at it!

Roman Leveque is one of the side characters in an unpublished WIP of mine, Rising From The Ashes, and the older brother of Carmin Leveque. Their family is well-known to be the Protectors (basically bodyguards) to the crown, and so their "darker magics" are overlooked (read: purposely ignored) by the general populace.

Well, that... and how are you supposed to approach the children of the literal Existence of Death about not using dark magic? Yeah, good luck with that.

Sun and Shadow: Freya Ula | Crow the Cursed | Daleira Fenastra (wip)

Rising From the Ashes: Sammy | Roman Leveque

Tagging (gently!!! I know this is a lot, trust me I've spent the past day and a half doing these things, haha): @the-golden-comet @honeybewrites @yourpenpaldee @darkandstormydolls @.the-letterbox-archives

@illarian-rambling @wyked-ao3 @creative-author @ath3alin @mysticstarlightduck

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OUTLINE EXCERPT 2.0 ✦

Today we have a different side of the Existential of Magic—whereas he's usually cocky, trying to mess with everyone else, or actively threatening people, we get to see his softer side!

Magic has very few friends��in part to his nature as a god, in part to his generally annoying or trollish personality, and in part to his pickiness in those he interacts with—but he finds certain traits and individuals especially fascinating.

And, if Magic likes them, and he's so amazing, obviously they've got to like him, too!

Right? :D

Regardless, Magic will inject himself into the lives of those they find interesting or want to befriend, often annoying them until they learn to accept him being around... although, if they're obviously displeased with him, he'd lay off and eventually disappear from their lives.

After just a little bit of violence and antagonism.

So, considering all of that... why would Magic be so interested in—and open with—?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ ?

[the following is an excerpt of an exchange between: the Existential of Magic and ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑]

Magic: (lightly) "You know, when I woke up, I was confused."

Magic: [sighs softly, but continues) "For so long, I was just there. Drifting around, just kinda watching. Seeing everything else around me... and not realizing I was moving—that I could move."

Magic: "I didn't even know I was thinking. I didn't recognize any of that. Until... one day, I just did."

Magic: [pauses, glancing over to ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ and quirking an eyebrow slightly]

Magic: (seriously, but lightly) "do you know what I mean?"

?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ : [hesitates, then looks away awkwardly. Crosses his arms and stares into space as an excuse not to look at them]

?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ : (awkwardly) "... vaguely. It sounds familiar. It was a long time ago, though."

Magic: [gives a tiny, bitter smile, though they know he's not looking]

Magic: [turns away to return to their business; speaking lightly) "maybe that was all of us, then. Maybe even the faeries. My people aren't too different from us, you know."

?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ : [hesitantly looks back to them, uncertain where they're going with this—]

Magic: [shrugging lazily; dismissively) "so. When I woke up, I was very confused. Everyone was already scared of me. Maybe because I'm a god, maybe because I'm the Faewildes, but still—it was lonely. Then the other Existentials..."

Magic: [back still turned to ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ , gives a dark, bitter smile]

Magic: [... but shrugs slightly, sighing quietly]

Magic: "They blamed me for the Faewildes' destruction. For what 'I'd' done. Who knows how much I can actually be held responsible for that, but..." [shrugs again, then turns an awkward, sharp-toothed grin to ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ ]

Magic: (a hint of bitter amusement in their voice) "It was unfair, don't you think? No matter how responsible I was for what I did as the Faewildes, I wasn't even aware I Existed. I hadn't..." [pauses, face twisting slightly as they look away in frustration] "I hadn't meant to cause that destruction. I didn't know what I was doing."

Magic: [grins lopsidedly, looking back at ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ ] "So I understood what it felt like when everyone said Chaos was a monster. Everyone already called me one, so why shouldn't I embrace it?"

Magic: [shrugs overdramatically, flopping their hands outward]

Magic: (dismissively) "so I tried it. But, yknow..." [grins darkly] "... I didn't actually like it that much. Wasn't fun. Never has been, besides when I'm bringing about 'karmic punishment'."

Magic: [dark grin grows all the wider, area twisting around and into them as they swell in size]

Magic: "now, those, are very fun."

Magic: [but sighs heavily, head flopping to the side as they revert the changes to themself and the area around them. Awkwardly turns away again as they return to their business]

Magic: (lightly) "Regardless! 'Evil' really isn't that fun, though it's very useful sometimes. People—fae, humans, and gods alike—have learned to fear me. To respect me, and listen to me."

Magic: [can't help the tiny, dark smile as they look down at their hands and what they're working on]

Magic: (voice light despite their anger) "So I used to be 'evil', to try to {impress Chaos when he wakes up}. And yet..."

Magic: [give a slow, heavy, overdramatic sigh, tilting their head to the side again]

Magic: [finishes, voice overdramatically tragic] "—alas, I think that, somehow, most of the other Existentials have me beaten there."

Magic: [grins darkly—hints of their hatred shining through their eyes—as they look back at ?̷̠̳̣̫͍͊?̴̬̻́̌?̶̱̌͌͑ with a half-shrug]

Magic: (voice amused, though there's an edge to it) "don't you think?"

GUYS IDK HOW TO HANDLE THIS,

DESPITE MAGIC BEING A COMPLETE AND UTTER DOUCHEBAG, THIS MAN'S SOMEHOW MANAGED TO BECOME SYMPATHETIC AND EVEN CUTE AT TIMES?!

THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE EVIL!!!!!

Taglists:

For everything: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter

For Worldbuilding: @paeliae-occasionally @pluppsauthor @thelovelymachinery

Ask and ye shall be added!

Dividers were made by @saradika! <3

[ominous-faechild]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Where in your setting would you most like to visit, and where would you avoid at all costs?

This is an interesting question! And a really rough one, haha.

For one, it would definitely vary in the time period / exact moment in time regardless of the location, haha. But I'll pick from overall time periods! (And assume I can easily speak the native language.)

For those who don't know the countries in my world, check this out!

MOST ENJOY VISITING:

Haha, sooooo I technically have a tie here??? And both technically wouldn't work for one reason or another. 😂😅

MINOGUA (during RFtA)

Minogua is a country that's drawn a lot of inspiration from Latin America + Hawaii and, uh... well previously had a lot of themes of colonialism. That's why it feels a little rough to want to go there as a kinda tourist, haha.

But! Shortly before the time of RFtA, they evicted the direct authority from the colonizing countries! So by the time the story comes around, they've had a few decades of trying to turn their country into what they want it to be / what it was before they were invaded!

I grew up both in Texas (there's a LOT of Mexican people and influences there!) and Florida (near-tropical and has a lot of Puerto Rican people / influences!). I may not be Latina, but two of my closest friends are (and one is now my gf 😂) and I have a lot of positive experiences relating to the culture. I think that's a huge reason for my fondness for Minogua and Tzakah, haha.

Besides that, as I (hopefully) alluded to, Minogua is also a tropical country! It's got a rich, surprisingly friendly culture and I'd absolutely love visiting it on holiday. It just... would feel wrong due to the whole "colonization" history, haha. 😅

To be fair, I don't think a majority of them would mind it. But it's only been a few decades since they got rid of the direct authority of the colonizing country, so other people exploiting their history for their own "entertainment" would definitely not rub some of them the right way!

TZAKAH

The real place I'd most like to go... if I'd even be able to remember the experience!!! 😭😭😭

So, the problem with Tzakah is that they're kinda hidden! They're actually a massive city built into a seaside cliff in Cirrane's rainforest as well as an isolationist "country" (read: city-state) with no connection to the rest of the world!

See, there's two ways to go if you'd like to leave or enter Tzakah: through the forest or by the sea. Only... there's a couple problems with that.

Go by sea, and there's practically endless storms raging off the coast. And not just your average nasty equatorial storms--but hurricane-type stuff! Not close enough to bother Tzakans, and actually not even permanent! But any time anyone goes near that approximate area of the world, knowingly or not, storms begin to barrage them until it destroys their ship or they (wisely) flee the area.

Many around the world refer to that area "the Gods' Land", theorizing that the gods' home is past the storms and the storms themselves are meant to keep out all but those who are worthy.

Making the storms "the Gods' Trials", of course.

Tzakah is lucky to just barely be at the edge of the Gods' Land, managing to avoid the Trials even when they go out to sea for fish. Besides that, they don't travel much further--they learned a long time ago of the dangers associated with it.

On the other side, they have the rainforest. And, somehow, it's worse.

Beyond the usual dangers of wild nature, Cirrane's rainforest is known to be haunted by malicious spirits--theorized to both be faerie in origin and those of deceased victims--that kill all who encroach on their territory.

Those who wander too far into the forest are known to never come back. Most--the Cirranians on the other side of the rainforest--don't know exactly why people who wander into the forest disappear. Again, they just theorize it's spirits--they don't know for sure. All they do is that they should never go past a certain landmark in the forest... lest they never be heard of again.

Those of Tzakah, however, know of the "spirits" by name.

The Melijé.

Merciless hunters they're locked into perpetual war with, and will be forever until the end of time... or until one finishes the other off.

Why?

Well, for the horrible crime of having left the Melijé centuries ago!

OH, YEAH, BUDDY, IT GETS DEEP! I LOVE TZAKAH!

Anyway, yeah! Tzakah is a safe haven hidden in-between the Gods' Trials and the Melijé haunting the forests of {insert forest name here, probably sounding vaguely like "Melijé"}. Uh, I've definitely named the forest, don't worry! I'm just too lazy to look it up! Yeah...

Tzakah was formed by refugees who fled from the Melijé long ago. They're a peaceful people--descended from those who hated the Melijé's violent and hateful ways--and have created a completely pacifistic utopian society for themselves... outside of a select group of warriors who've trained under Torcaiz (their god of Protection) to repel any Melijé attacks. However, they're all warned of the struggles and pain associated with it beforehand, and accept the burden.

The people of Tzakah are isolationists due to the whole "actually kinda separated from the rest of the world" thing, and... another piece of their history that makes them see the rest of the world as a much darker place than their utopia. (Which obviously is fair. I mean, have you seen most of my worldbuilding??? It's bad.)

However... that Very Purposely Ambiguous "Piece Of History™" has also made Tzakans cautious of the very few outsiders that do make it there. (There's a few ways, but it's mostly them rescuing people who got lost in the rainforest before the Melijé kills them... or idiots who try to sail through the Gods' Trials, thinking they're "worthy".)

Instead of welcoming outsiders in with open arms like they'd want to (but they pretty much still do--), they're more cautious of and careful with them. Outsiders tend to get questioned by one of Tzakah's gods--usually Torcaiz alongside one of the others to keep him from deeming them all "unworthy" 🤣--to verify they don't have any ulterior motives.

And then, if and when they leave... they're stripped of their memories of their time there.

Yeah. Another one of the Tzakan gods--Marmorin--is able to completely remove people's memories. Except... he doesn't 99% of the time. Instead, he messes with the memories to "repress" them--leaving the effects of their time in Tzakah, but making it so, at best, they'll remember it as a dream.

Soooooo... if I were to ever visit Tzakah, I'd first have to put my life at risk and then be forced to lose my memory of my time there, anyway!

Haha, definitely not worth it, unfortunately.

In spite of all of that, Tzakah is an awesome place to visit. Like Cirrane (which the Melijé was once associated with) and Minogua, Tzakah has strong Latin American influence! They're in the middle of a rainforest, but obviously completely locked within the "city" itself!

(There's always at least one Melijé huntress patrolling the woods outside of Tzakah. Their rivalry is bitter, harbored and continued mostly by the Melijé, and one of Torcaiz's jobs as their god of Protection is maintaining a barrier that keeps the Melijé out.)

Again, their culture is very utopian, with most everyone being incredibly supportive of one another and each others' problems. The few who don't feel that way are instead given space and patience to do whatever they wish. Many of which eventually become (or already were) Warriors and develop a solidarity with the others, or leave Tzakah under the watchful eye of another god...

BUT YEAH, I LOVE TZAKAH AND WOULD LOVE TO VISIT IT IF I COULD REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE VISIT!!!

(To anyone wondering, the Melijé aren't any sort of "native peoples are inherently violent" thing or whatever. They're actually in the minority being that way in my story! Most of the time--like with Minogua--it's the opposite. Native peoples just want to be left alone. The Melijé's history actually separates them from most indigenous groups, tbh. Send an ask if you want to know more about them or Tzakah in general! Though please specify what specifically you want to know more about...)

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

CIRRANE

Aaaand on the other end of the rainforest is CIRRANE! (Somehow there happens to be both a utopia and dystopia separated by nothing but a rainforest, some magical nonsense, and a ravaging cult bent on destruction of all others and growing their own power...)

I've spoken about Cirrane before, but it's definitely scattered across posts, haha. Long story short? Since this post has been LONG--

Cirrane is an incredibly impoverished nation with a massive wage gap and next to no middle class. Their way of "solving" that?

Bread and circuses!

... no, I mean it. Almost literally--

Context! The origin of the term "bread and circuses" to placate the masses is actually from Ancient Rome, where they'd use food ("bread") and entertainment ("circuses", which originally referred to what are now called coliseums)!

So... want to guess what Cirrane does?

Yeah, so, basically people have the option to risk their lives by fighting in arenas / coliseums to raise their status. Likewise, it's incredibly cheap to buy into and watch them! Lowkey, their entire economy is based around the arenas and the whole "political structure" around them.

Even the current monarch has fought in the coliseums before!

(In order to display their sheer magical prowess to the masses and intimidate them into falling in line.)

Similarly, Cirrane is known to be a debt-trap country, which will often try to entice people (but especially outsiders) into gambling... and using that to hook them into the many available vices.

I'm sure you can see why Cirrane is the "AVOID AT ALL COSTS" country.

Oh, and btw? It's VERY relevant in Rising From the Ashes! 🥰

Yeah, so, you'd really think it would've been Glavnran, but no. Somehow, as bad as Glavnran is, Cirrane is worse.

(PS: "Melijé" is pronounced "Mehl-ee-hey")

Worldbuilding tag list: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @paeliae-occasionally (Ask and ye shall be added)

[ominous-faechild]

CHARACTER PROFILE:

THE EXISTENCE OF DEATH

'But perhaps… it's--it's better… to be happy… in spite of the bad…' - Death

Despite his name, the Existential of Death was an Existential even before Death awoke as an Existence. In other words, he's a dual-Existential—or an Existential of two different Existences—like the Existential of Order, who's also the Existential of Life.

Death's original identity has been forgotten—alongside his name, like the rest of the Existences—but his self-assigned role has remained in their memories: the altruistic psychopomp who helped reincarnate the deceased.

It is theorized that his previous role as a psychopomp is why Death joined him upon its awakening.

Death Itself only awoke as an Existence following the destruction of Reality by the Existence of Chaos, when billions of deaths occurred at once... and even more followed with the emergence of the Faewildes. Since then—and the countless deaths have died down—Death has become a much weaker Existence, focusing on minor domains of things like Rot, The Deceased, and Decline.

The Existential of Death has a distaste for his "new addition" and identifies himself as his previous Existence... but, alas, as his identity was lost to time, all we know of him now is his role as psychopomp.

... and his new identity as Death Itself.

Aka, we're calling the poor man Death from now on. A shame literally NOBODY WHATSOEVER knows what he actually is...

OVERVIEW:

Chosen name: {REDACTED}

As one of the forgotten Existentials from the Old World—the world that was before Chaos shattered reality—Death's name has been forgotten on top of his original identity.

Age: ???

An entity born before humanity was even conceived of, it's impossible to know his true age. It's even further complicated when you consider the space-time distortions caused by the Faewildes.

Species: "Human" / Existential

As an Existential god—the personification of something that exists—Death technically doesn't have a species. However, he resides within a human body.

Gender identity: Male (he/him)

Sexuality: Demisexual biromantic (with a strong preference for men)

Raw magic: (existential) ?̷̝͇̆̇̑?̵͕̟͋̈́́?̴͚͔͇́ , (existential) Death, (axiomatic) death, (axiomatic) the dead, (axiomatic) decay, (axiomatic) decline, (axiomatic) corruption, (axiomatic) disease, (axiomatic) earth, (axiomatic) cold, (axiomatic) peace, (axiomatic) darkness, (...)

Applied magic: Thanks to his alternate identity as the Existence of ?̷̝͇̆̇̑?̵͕̟͋̈́́?̴͚͔͇́ , Death is an extremely proficient telepath. He can easily break into the minds of others as well as slip through extremely well put-together mental shields without the user noticing.

Death primarily uses his telepathic abilities to check to see if the ghosts of the deceased are ready or willing to move on to their next life, though he occasionally uses them to communicate with his fellow Existentials or the living who ask for him directly.

(Though, actually all the Existentials are capable of telepathy with one another. The only ones capable of it with others—and of passing it to those who hold their power—are Death and Chaos.)

Additionally from his identity as ?̷̝͇̆̇̑?̵͕̟͋̈́́?̴͚͔͇́ , Death is able to neutralize, nullify, and control others' magic.

Besides his telepathy and abilities over others' magics, Death's abilities are largely unknown... because he hasn't explored them for reasons relating to his original identity. He is infamous amongst the Existentials for being 'the weakest Existential' due to this and the relatively low strength of the abilities he has been able to present.

Death is still capable of the same things that all the other Existentials are: telekinesis, transmutation of objects, and teleportation. Unlike the others, he doesn't have the same limit to his abilities; the other Existentials require usage of their specific Existence to achieve the desired affect. Death can use anything.

Not that it matters much when their Existences are plentiful and practically everywhere.

In spite of that, while most Existentials each have their own “pocket dimensions”—and Order, the other dual Existential (Order/Life), has two—Death only obtained his own pocket dimension when the Existence of Death joined him.

The problem? It’s a dull, lifeless world… devoid of anything worth keeping.

Tier ranking: Existential

As a dual Existential, he is a manifestation of the consciousnesses of both ?̷̝͇̆̇̑?̵͕̟͋̈́́?̴͚͔͇́ and Death Itself. He is completely unkillable due to the fact that he is not the body he resides in, though you could certainly kill the body itself.

It's just... not a good idea to try.

Maybe he'll be merciful. But none of the others will be.

Status in Existential War: Noncontender; Death was one of the few Existentials who opposed the War until (and after) the last vote bringing it into action. His few avatars were eliminated early on, saw little to no combat even while 'in action', and he's yet to replace any of them in the centuries that followed.

However, Death is close friends with Cold, who is at a tense stalemate with the rest of the Existentials. She’s often given a wide berth due to her aggression toward those active in the Existential War, general inactivity when undisturbed, her highly-skilled avatars, and her penchant for “stealing” some of the highest-tiered avatars from the other Existences.

Their friendship has seen Cold often coming to Death's defense and assisting him with most problems he encounters with the other Existentials.

Similarly, Death has awkward friendships with the Air and Magic Existentials, who'll occasionally back him up or offer him assistance without requiring the exchange of “favors”—aka the godly “IOU” currency used by the Existentials.

Death has a notable, specific distaste for the Existentials of Order, Chaos, Fate, and Storm.

Spokespiece: N/A; as a skilled telepath, Death has no need of a spokespiece.

If he's not able to use telepathy for one reason or another, he will appear in person.

General appearance: As a dual-Existential of ?̷̝͇̆̇̑?̵͕̟͋̈́́?̴͚͔͇́ and Death, he technically does not have a traditional form. However, he has long-since had a portion of his consciousness residing within a human body.

Death takes the form of a short (5'2 / 157 cm), overweight dark-skinned man with close-cropped hair. He tends to shrink on on himself—close in his shoulders, lower his head, bring his arms into his torso, and sometimes even bring his legs together—when interacting with other people.

Death often avoids eye contact, avoids looking at other people altogether, and constantly finds something to fidget with while engaged in conversation. He has a preference for speaking telepathically, as he speaks with a stutter that worsens with anxiety, but often neglects to mention it due to the inherent privacy concerns involved in telepathic communication.

Personality: Once upon a time an optimist, "Death" has long since been worn down by the rest of the world and turned into a pessimist.

"Death" is generally a very soft, careful, and considerate person... who can't help his social awkwardness or desperation to escape interacting with other people. Still, he does his best to be kind and empathetic with everyone... though those with particularly egregious inclinations earn his ire and coldness.

He is slow to anger and even slower to show it, but the few times "Death" has snapped?

... the individual(s) who earned it was(/were) never the same again. Assuming they survived.

Or that there was anything left of them.

Despite his status as an Existential god, "Death" is deeply insecure and often neglects his needs to help other people. He's extremely overworked and depressed thanks to his self-assigned role as the universal psychopomp, but continues to maintain the job because 'if {he doesn't} do it... nobody else {would}. Whether because of lack of ability... or desire to'.

"Death" deeply dislikes his new identity as Death, viewing it as a curse, a reminder of the destruction of reality and the deaths that followed it, and hating how it's made many others think of him as "one of the worst things to ever Exist".

However, "Death" manages to find joy in the study and process of taking care of plants of all kinds. He can most often be found attending to greenhouses around the world—both belonging to him and otherwise—although he'll next to never still be there by the time you join him.

Also, this man is almost certainly autistic, like many of my earliest-made characters...which... it's almost like this is saying something about me... NAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Fun fact: While reality and the Faewildes were still stabilizing, "Death" did an immense amount of studying Magic Itself—though he backed off when Magic emerged as an Existential.

In the early days, "Death" and Order worked together using their inherent antimagic abilities to help reduce—and outright negate at times—the Faewildes' damage on the world. Their joint efforts were a majority of the reason it only took several hundred years for reality and the Faewildes to mostly separate from one another.

It's unknown if "Death"'s hatred for Order started in the days they worked together or after—or what even caused it—but the end of their cooperation was abrupt and absolute.

Any single wish: To see the Existential War and avatar system end

Greatest fear: Failing the people relying on him

CHARACTER QUOTES:

"I want to meet 'the other Existentials'." "Th-then I-I don't know what y-you're doing he-here. I'm--h-hardly one m-my-m-myself…"

(telepathically) 'It's... the least I can do.'

"Does that count as permission?" "... it--w-won't for long..."

(telepathically) 'It's not uncommon to hear my name… most people use it as a curse…'

(telepathically) 'They want my power… if--if someone else had it… they'd go after them, too…'

"So why do you like gardens so much?" "The-they're... peaceful. It...'s... nice to list-listen to the plants... "Th-though... I-I gu-guess th-they—g-gardens—aren't... ex-act-ly my f-favorite... i-it's... a-anywhere with nature..."

"I-I would app-preciate it i-if you ga-ave me my space."

"I… co-could l-lend you m-my book…?" "And who's to say you're not going to change what it says?" (Sheepishly, with a hint of bitterness:) "Th-there's a 'rule' ag-gainst that... it--it's a... a 'major' one..."

Taglist: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @paeliae-occasionally

@words-n-chaos; ask and ye shall be added

Black-space banner by @cafekitsune Following banner by @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

You know, I wasn't expecting my first (and hopefully last lmao) most-stereotypically-gay character ever to be a nonbinary (any/all pronoun-ed), morally dark-grey faerie chaos god.

But you know what?

I fucking love them for it.

(The Existence of Magic is an absolute sassy QUEEN and omfg, I wouldn't trade them for the world. They're pretty evil at times, but like,,, omfg. Their charisma. They're like an old-fashioned disney villain. Guys. I want to turn this SUPER SPOILERY late-series outline into a fully-fleshed out scene and share it with everyone. Please help stop me--)

Also @the-letterbox-archives has decided Magic's pronoun is "babygirl" so uh,,, have fun with that knowledge.

Taglist and Existence of Magic snippet beyond!

Biornys: "I'm sure you know of my relationship with Zenebe--" Magic: slowly furrowing one eyebrow and raising the other as high as possible-- Biornys: voice growing uneven: "--and that I--" Magic: drops their eyes to their hand, checking out their long, sharp fingernails Magic: dismissively: "I cannot buy your boyfriend, no matter how--" (gets interrupted; skipping) Magic: gives another combo laugh-scoff-eyeroll as they throw a hand out, beginning to meander back and forth lazily "--as I was saying, I cannot buy your boyfriend from Mulul no matter how many favors you request from me. I cannot take him without either his or Mulul's consent--" Magic: flicking their hand out, turns to face Biornys again "--and he's rejected, as you know, while Mulul is quite attached to that one. He is their trainer. I've asked." Biornys: surprised, eyebrows furrowing as he looks up to meet their eyes Magic: flashes a sharp-toothed, roguish grin

Everything taglist: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @paeliae-occasionally

[ominous-faechild]

CHARACTER PROFILE:

ABDIEL SALLES

"It's worse the greater the distance. Probably because of the distance. You're crossing a lot of space very, very quickly." "... instantly." "Exactly." -Abdiel, in an exchange about his teleportation's recoil

The biological son of the Existence of Order and an unknown chaos-aligned entity, Abdiel is something of a walking contradiction--and he's well-aware of that fact.

Although he knows his father's identity, Abdiel has never met him. Instead, he was raised by Order as a solo parent... to be her avatar, a living weapon. He holds a lot of anger about that, and over three hundred years ago, it led to an incident that resulted in Abdiel in solitary confinement for over a decade.

Something that he's yet to have fully recovered from to this day.

Beyond being known as one of Order's most competent avatars, Abdiel is also known as one of the few surviving members of "the First Generation" of avatars. Although he was born toward the end of "the early days", he's extremely familiar--and sometimes even friendly--with each of the other First Generation avatars... whether from being locked into combat with them on hours on end, or having sat down and drank the night away at their side.

Or both.

On top of his familiarity with avatars outside the family, Abdiel is close friends with two of Order's other avatars: Victor and Zophiel, his half-brother and sister... of about the same age. He was teamed up with them when they were young, as they helped account for each others' weaknesses while still training up for the Existential War.

Abdiel has been forced to work almost exclusively as a "solo avatar" (without a team) for almost two centuries (as of RFtA/SaS). However, he's been in near-constant contact with at least one of his family members (especially fellow chaos-aligned), as Order has made him train his relatives due to his exceptional skills.

Name: Abdiel Salles (ab-dee-ehl sigh-yays)

Age: Appears to be in his early-to-mid twenties, but is agelessly immortal. During RFtA and SaS, he's ~500 years old.

Species: "Human" (chaos elemental) Unlike most elementals, as an abstract elemental, Abdiel cannot transform himself into another material. However, he regains essence more quickly in chaotic areas and more slowly in orderly ones.

Gender identity: Male (he/him)

Sexuality: Straight

Raw magic: (???) telepathy, (???) teleportation, (???) reality warping

Applied magic: Extremely competent with each of his three magics, but is most well-renowned for his reality warping abilities.

Abdiel is capable of warping his surroundings into whatever he wants--he can turn water into stone, stone into wood, transform a block into a living person, make someone suddenly have four hands instead of two hands and feet each, create something out of nothing, "heal" injuries--et cetera. Just about anything he can think of. And he can choose whether to make his changes temporary or permanent. The only difference to him is how much essence (magic energy) it costs.

Despite the overwhelming power of reality warping, there are limits--and they boil down to "it's exhausting". It takes an incredible amount of essence to warp reality, and even more so the more "real" things are. So--

In combat, Abdiel is able to create localized faespots--or portals into the Faewildes--where he can then control reality around him with increasing ease the deeper he goes. By drawing his opponents into the Faewildes, Abdiel is able to circumvent the massive essence drain and completely turn the very environment against his opponent... no matter who, what, when, or where they are. He'll find a way.

Even if it takes him a while. He'll do it.

Although it's also achievable with reality warping, Abdiel is capable of teleportation--a chaos ability that allows him to teleport himself, other people, and/or other physical entities as he pleases. It takes significantly less essence to teleport than to warp, so he'll often choose to teleport instead.

Abdiel teleports in combat both to quickly close distance and to confuse the opponent... but it has drawbacks. Teleportation is disorienting--causing a jerking sensation and suddenly landing you in a new environment--as well as an extremely complex art that requires more concentration than warping. Because of this, in moments of stress, he tends to warp himself, the area, or others around him.

Lastly, Abdiel is Order's most adept telepath. His mental shield is one of the best in Existence--rivaling if not outright surpassing those of many gods--and he's learned to reverse-engineer them to break into others' minds.

"Break into"... and slip into.

He can find his way through mental shields without destroying it, so the "owner" won't even know he's there. And so we get into what telepaths are capable of.

The mind contains a lot. Your thoughts, your feelings. Your sense of sight. Your sense of self. You.

A telepath can make "suggestions" while in your mind, pushing your thoughts and feelings in one direction or another, or straight-up force things upon you. They can change what you see, what you hear, everything around you. Or, they can... in your mind.

Or, yknow, they can just spy on you and learn crucial information!

That's gotta be everything they're capable of, right?

Right?

Abdiel is an extremely competent telepath, able to easily break--and slip--into people's minds for whatever purpose he may have for them. In his younger years, he used this skill to quickly pick up languages. Now, he uses it as a backup plan to sabotage opponents in fights... and learn who he can and can't trust.

Thanks to his near-constant magic use (of one kind or another), Abdiel has a massive pool of essence that grants him incredible magical stamina. Altogether, everything leads to--

Tier ranking: High A (secretly S)

Although he actually knows how to use his magic in a way that would immediately earn him an S classification--and knows he could if he revealed it--Abdiel is hiding what he's capable of for the sake of the rest of his family... and to not give Order more power than she already has.

Weapon of choice: His magic; fisticuffs

General appearance: A tall (6'3 / 190cm), pale-skinned man covered in freckles and scars. Usually has a mess of short, wavy white hair and stubble, as he doesn't bother to take care of himself. Abdiel is extremely muscular, has a long face, soft facial features, and "strikingly" bright blue eyes.

He's collected many scars over his centuries fighting in the Existential War, but he as a handful of large, sunken scars on his arms and legs that caused him to get sleeve tattoos of flowers.

Personality: Fittingly--considering his chaos and order heritage--is a flawed man built upon contradictions.

Abdiel is blunt, somewhat dense, and socially awkward, but accommodates for it by putting on a grand persona. He has a loud, booming voice, often makes excessively grand gestures, often tells stories of his 'grand times' as an avatar, and will use his magic to enhance his stories or indicate to things he's talking about.

He is ordinarily an extremely large presence--seemingly trying to make sure people know he's there--but when Abdiel is trying to hide?

It's near impossible to find him.

And he's almost certainly a closeted autistic because, y'know, why WOULDN'T I have accidentally made another autistic character?

Abdiel self-describes himself as an "asshole" and is an extremely angry person. He's bottled up centuries' worth of rage at Order for the situation she's put their family through--both as avatars and a mother--and externalizes it through bitterness and a dark sense of humor.

He tends to act extremely cocky and arrogant, but Abdiel is secretly deeply insecure. He has a deep fear of isolation due to his decade of solitary confinement--and other, shorter stints since--and constantly seeks out people to keep him company.

Despite his many flaws, Abdiel is a genuine, well-meaning, and loyal individual who tries his best to look out for the people he cares about--and most of them just so happen to be either his family or fellow avatars.

And, despite his loud personality, Abdiel is watchful, cautious, introspective, and thoughtful--he's spent a long time observing the people and situations surrounding himself to try to better navigate the world... and survive the Existential War.

This collection of traits has allowed Abdiel to figure out a lot of magical advancements in the chaos field, and he's used this knowledge--and applicable cross-studies--to teach his fellow Order avatars how to survive alongside him.

Any single wish: For his family to be freed from Order

Greatest fear(s): Isolation, immobility, and pitch-black darkness; all tied just barely above Order

CHARACTER QUOTES:

"Do you have enough essence to heal yourself?" "... mostly." (grins darkly) "Good." "... what's good: that I don't have enough, or that I can get mostly there?" (smirks) "You pick. Sound no different to me." scoffs and rolls his eyes "Remind me to never piss you off again." (still smirking, dryly) "I don't think I'm going to have to." (scoffs again... but doesn't argue.)

(chuckles bitterly) "Freedom? That doesn't exist. Not for us, at least. Stop fooling yourself--it'll be easier once you accept it."

"Those pesky, pesky other avatars, daring to fight for their own gods, am I right? What a fucking horror." (sarcastically) "Yeah... they should all just fall over and die, make way for their rightful ruler..." (grinning darkly) "Wouldn't that just be fantastic? Then we could all be one big, happy family."

"Where did you get these scars?" "Oh, ha... broken bones. Broke clean through the skin. Now 'good as new'." (bitterly) "That's what you get when you have a goddess of Life for a mother. Though... I guess Victor could've healed them, too..."

(casually flips the bird)

"Men like us don't change, Zenebe--not that quickly. You know that."

(upon hearing very good news, dryly:) "I'd thought I'd already heard the most unrealistic lies possible. Apparently, I was wrong."

(to his friend, who he just found out to be harboring feelings for and "friends with benefits" with his son:) "Here's how we're going to proceed." (points accusingly at them) "You are going to go to {my son} and tell him how you feel." (drops his point, but still glaring as he towers above them) "You are going to find out exactly how he feels about you--which, obviously, he loves you, or he wouldn't have slept with you--and then--" (pointing again) "--you are going to find me, tell me how it went, bow down at my feet, and kiss my shoes, begging for my forgiveness."

Tag list: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @paeliae-occasionally

(ask and ye shall be added)

[ominous-faechild]

you should make caron’s official middle name ‘mr depression’

yknow, because it’s accurate

While accurate— 🤣😭

I don't think they'd actually have middle names yet! See, part of the modern-day need for middle names is to distinguish the many, many people of our huge populaces from one another.

In fact, many countries only first started enforcing last names in the 1900s, following in Western footsteps!

In my worldbuilding, populations would be nowhere that big! Similarly, I'm avoiding making everything match Western Expectations, especially in cases when the cultures are different. 😊

[ominous-faechild]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! What would you say is the defining trait of any of your settings?

Omg, this is a very difficult question to answer because I do a LOT of worldbuilding, haha. But let's see...

I think, technically, the most defining traits of my settings is how different they are? I hop around the (in-universe) world in each individual story, and each in-universe country is inspired by real world cultures. But mostly drawing inspiration from ancient cultures because I explicitly prefer ancient history to modern. Plus, it's more fun to research. Which--ha--I'm definitely in the minority for feeling this way, I know!

I actually mentioned this recently toward the very end of another post I made recently, but I'll restate it for convenience's sake, haha... and then go into more detail.

Glavnran (tAR) is Slavic (drawing primarily from early Slavic history, while I do my absolute best to figure out what the folklore was like before Christianity got its grubby hands on it. A polytheistic spinoff of Christianity exists in my story, appropriating a lot of its themes and imageries. That religion exists nowhere near Glavnran, so it has no place there. Also I think I've made it clear I dislike Christianity.)

Jhandar (tAR) is Indian (off the top of my head, I can't recall if I was taking from any specific era, but I'm drawing on inspiration from Hinduism and there's a prominent caste system. Jhandar is also an empire, drawing inspiration from Rome and especially the rule of the Qin Dynasty of China. While not exactly thematically relevant, it's fun and helps explain some things I wanted happening in Glavnran/the surrounding countries. Oh, yeah, Glavnran is under the thumb of the Jhandan Empire. It's why there's so much tension between the Glavni and Jhandan peoples.) (Also, the blue-and-red coloration here isn't a "good-and-evil" thing. To anyone who's read anything about my writing, it should be VERY clear that Glavnran isn't a great place and is, in fact, full of crime and -phobias of all sorts. It's based on their temperatures/climate, haha. I would've put Glavnran as orange but that fits other countries better.)

Lynsmouth (SaS) is Western European (the Western World gets a lot of focus in media, so Lynsmouth and the country it takes place in that I've definitely named get to be the Token "West" in my writing. It gets inspiration from all over Western Europe, but I've primarily focused on France and the Netherlands for it. It's also got Italian-style mafias, haha. They have the Christian-adjacent religion where they glorify a single god. It is, however, subtly dying out, because of Lore and immigration of a sort. The "new arrivals" so to speak have their own religions.)

Kihroin (RFtA) is Northern African (as in Islamic. I'm most likely leaning most strongly into Morrocan inspiration for anything "modern", but obviously most strongly leaning toward ancient history. Islam itself obviously won't appear in my writing, as I'm working within a fantasy world with provably real pantheons of gods. I haven't decided how I'll adapt their hyper-religiousness into Kihroin, especially because I'm personally uncomfortable with religion (though I bet you couldn't tell) and yet want to adapt something that major to their modern culture(s) into my writing. Yet another reason RFtA isn't a current project.)

Cirrane (RFtA) is Latin American (given that actual Native American history is incredibly difficult to get our hands on--cough cough THANKS COLONIZERS, THANKS CHRISTIANITY cough cough--it has a lot more modern inspiration(s) than ancient. Howeverrrr... that's not necessarily a "bad" thing considering that Cirrane is a very bad place and I know plenty of people will @ me accusing me of racism for it anyway. Nah, man, it's pretty much everywhere in my writing! It's almost like it makes for a better story! Also my Mexican gf approves of what I'm doing with it, so take THAT, SJWs.) (Oops, I ranted there for a second. Long story short, it takes a lot of inspiration from all over Latin America! That applies to the other two "Latino" countries too, though, haha. Besides that, it's also stolen quite a bit of imagery from Rome. Ah, that must be where the Evil's from. /hj)

Tzakah (RFtA/tCC) is also Latin American (one of my favorite places in all of my worldbuilding!!! Is also extremely tropical. It's a lot more "original" of a culture due to worldbuilding stuff, but it still takes a lot of Latin American Inspiration.)

Minogua (RFtA/tCC/???) is the last Latin American country (explicitly has a previous history of colonization that they've (relatively) recently shaken off through rebellion and ousting the authorities from other countries. Tackles a lot of those issues a lot more directly and has them more modern than the other two. Though it makes sense considering Tzakah was previously part of Cirrane. Regardless! There's lots to possibly tap into, but Minogua so far only has characters originating from there. Well, and minor plots relevant to those characters but y'know. I definitely want to eventually make a story placed there eventually to more directly explore its themes!)

Honorable mentions/speedrun:

Isagnea (tAR, though idk how much it'll show up, and ???) is Italian (not very worked on, but it's the home country of some side characters... hence why it's not really worked on. It'll definitely see more attention if and when it becomes relevant. Most likely, it won't be until if/when I work on another story focused on those characters. Or, y'know, it appears in another story.)

Ilyich (tAR, tho it likely won't show up more than once) is Slavic (country Glavnran was once a part of, before they split off (not peacefully) over religious differences. Methinks a Christian-esque religion might actually be rather hated by the Glavni people...)

Shilyma (tAR, mentioned but not visited) is a Slavic/Asian mix! (so, yknow, likely would take inspo from Mongolia? Not too developed, but is like Tzakah in that its origins are unique.)

Anispe (tAR, end of series, and ???) is Greek (spoilers! 😁 But Jhandar is actively at war with it, trying to get them under its thumb as well! I have Plots to eventually make a story centered on Anispe before it was Anispe, too!)

Shaoraigh (SaS) is Celtic (an oldie but goodie! I did a good bit of worldbuilding here in the past even though it's never appeared in my writing. One of its gods are VERY important in the worldbuilding, however.)

Drønhals (SaS) is Celtic/Norse (Freya's home country, was once part of Shaoraigh (in-universe) but they separated over religious differences!)

Tulidin (tCC) is Chinese (I'm probably changing its name eventually, though. Also has minor worldbuilding and a character originating from there.)

Shoutout to misc unnamed countries that exist, but I've never gotten around to naming them for one reason or another! Like, for example, the Jhandan-Glavni colonies Rieka and Adilzhan are from and the Hawaiian-and-Japanese-inspired country hidden away from the rest of the world. (Wish I could make it Pure Hawaiian, but... you try doing research on Hawaii. Join me in my hatred for Christianity.)

Can you tell I've been writing/working on this world for ten years?

This post has gotten WAY longer than I was expecting (though really I should've figured, smh) so I'll make this last bit quick:

The technology contained within each country/story is very different, both due to wealth gaps and time period jumps! There's... a lot of worldbuilding. The Arcane Rifts takes place approximately 200 years before Sun and Shadow and Rising From the Ashes (which are connected to each other), so that on top of the exploitation from Jhandar means they're not going to have the greatest tech for example. Sorry this was so long! Hope you enjoyed reading!!!

Also, apparently I have more of Western Europe in my worldbuilding than I thought. Now I'm disappointed in myself.

Also-also, I misread this Ask. I thought it was asking for the defining traits in everything... whoops. I made this WAY harder on myself than I needed to.

Tagging those interested!: @the-golden-comet @the-letterbox-archives @honeybewrites @darkandstormydolls @mysticstarlightduck

@urnumber1star @aalinaaaaaa

[ominous-faechild]

The Changeling's Feychild's Very Important™ Poll #2!!! (and lorepost I guess)

Recently, (within the past couple months,) I've spoken a good bit about a pantheon of gods in my writing and worldbuilding: the Existentials!

To clarify to those not in the know: the Existential Gods are personifications of "the Existence of things" immense enough to gain consciousness! Their names have been lost to time and are important to many plots / revealing them would spoil things, so I've kept them redacted by instead calling the individual—the person—by their Existence!

For example, I've historically referred to the Existential of Magic as "Magic" rather than their full name of, well, "the Existential of Magic", haha. I'm sure we all can appreciate that brevity...

But... obviously, even if the Existentials' names are forgotten, people in-universe still have an awareness that these gods exist. They've just been misunderstood, or interpreted differently, and given their own unique names by different cultures.

Furthering my earlier example: the Existential of Magic as a person has been adopted by the citizens of the Faewildes as their own protector god, who they refer to as Ailwyn.

But... while they're called Ailwyn by faefolk, and technically are Ailwyn, the Existential of Magic themself is different from who faefolk think they are.

Ailwyn is believed to be calm and kind, but strict, whereas Magic themself is uh... quite assertive, sassy, and enjoys pushing people's buttons—both friend and foe alike.

Both Magic and Ailwyn are in control of the very same (definitely named) organization of guards that helps carry out their will across the Faewildes, but only Magic is also active in the Real World outside of the Faewildes.

Only Magic is an Existential, only Magic uses magic to enforce their will upon others, and only Magic is willing to get their hands dirty to get what they want.

All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

All cats are animals, but not animals are cats.

Magic is Ailwyn, but Ailwyn isn't the Existential of Magic.

So, this brings up the question:

Also, feel free to check out my first Very Important™ poll!

(Tagging all of my tag lists since it's highly relevant to how I present information in my stories!)

Taglist: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @mysticstarlightduck

@paeliae-occasionally @pluppsauthor @thelovelymachinery @an-indecisive-nerd

(ask and ye shall be added)

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OUTLINE EXCERPTS ✦

WE ONCE AGAIN HAVE A FUN EXCERPT FEATURING THE EXISTENTIAL OF MAGIC—except, this time, it's with a character who's only been alluded to: Biornys!

Biornys is a mage with reality warping magic; who's hyper-sensitive to the flows of essence, has learned to detect even the subtlest activation of magic, and has been assigned by Magic Themself to research how it works... but for what purpose?

We don't know.

All we do know is they claim "it's to understand their own nature".

... except, Death and Fate seem to act like they know there's more to the research. And, while Death seems concerned about it, Fate—longtime friend of Chaos, destroyer of the Old World—is excited.

[the following is an excerpt of an exchange between: the Existential of Magic and Biornys]

(context: Biornys has just been teleported into Magic's domain, where she most often resides and is most powerful. It's been over 200 years of Biornys "researching magic" on her orders.)

Magic: [smirks as she lays sideways in midair, head propped up by her hand, her other on her hip, and one leg propped up on top of the other's knee]

Magic: (playfully slyly) "ah, {Nickname}, how is your research going?"

Biornys: [hesitates, taking a deep breath and paranoidly scanning their surroundings]

Biornys: (meets her eyes, then speaks slowly and carefully) "... I think I'm finally ready for the next step."

Magic: [grins widely, sitting up, crossing their legs in midair, and bringing their legs together in a clap]

Magic: (voice somewhere between excited—like a kid who just received a present—and sly) "perfect! Let me bring you your next victi—I-I mean—friend!"

Biornys: [stunned silent, but once again paranoidly scanning their surroundings, shoulders tense and hands clenching his cane tight]

Magic: [sighs heavily and overdramatically, dropping one hand to her lap and waving the other in the air dismissively]

Magic: (exasperated) "yes, yes, I'll find us another place. Hold on."

[Biornys and Magic disappear, leaving no trace behind]

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