#tsenpha

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

hi! Share five fun facts about your favorite oc maybe?

hi! thanks for the ask, sorry it took me... a short while to get to it.

my favourite (i guess, if i was forced to pick one) oc at the moment is called galatea.

shows little to no emotion, ever, out of what she believes to be necessity after a lifetime of people falling in love with her at first sight and being incapable of taking no for an answer, leading to several wars, kidnappings, almost forced marriages and many fallen dynasties.

draws inspiration from several areas: helen of troy, galatea from myth, sirens and vampires, i guess. is sort of an exploration into the ways being born fully adult and then expected to act like it would fuck a person up.

is very sparkly. her blood is gold, her few scars glow gold, her tears are unnaturally glittery, and her hair has streaks of literal silver.

a foodie, eventually, once she starts finding joy in the world once again. also a pretty good cook, but she prefers decorating.

very creative. on the one hand that could be put down to her role as the spirit of sculptures (and all the messiness that entails) but on the other hand her talents extend far beyond sculpting. immortality has to be good for something, i guess.

[lampea-by-lamplight]

death always wins

there exists a place where people say death cannot touch you, where so long as you remain under the mountain, you will not cross the glade and enter the garden of death.

in a world where death is so revered, so accepted, there exists those who seek to prevent it, to put it off for another day.

it doesn’t quite work like that for, you see, when a death is predicted by a loulrívon, there is no place they will not go to see that their duty of predicting (and delivering) the end of life and the beginning of death is carried out.

they don’t take kindly to those who attempt to cheat them out of their prize, or those who attempt to play games with them and win; they don’t take kindly to those who run.

and so it goes that a man is fated to die by the appearance of a loulrívon. and so it goes that the man flees beneath the mountain where death is said to be unable to touch you. and so it goes that a loulrívon follows him beneath the mountain to drag him across the glade and into the garden of death herself.

it would have been much easier, much gentler, if he accepted his fate.

for, again you see, the loulrívon who follows him beneath the mountain, who dons a mask beneath a wedding veil to walk through a world where everyone wears a mask, has built a reputation amongst her fellows for being a little too sadistic, a little too cold, a little too ruthless.

the moral of this story, if there must be one, is that when the electric blue lilies bloom and a blonde dressed in white crosses your path, delaying the inevitable is an exercise in futility and how to make your last moments alive and breathing hurt.

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

historically there were flying ships (like... boats... that flew), however the way of making them was lost and eventually they were all destroyed... until an adventuring party stumbled upon one of them whilst looking for cursed treasure, that is.

technology is very... victorian. mostly. somethings are more modern, like plumbing, but for the most part... it's old fashioned. and also powered by imps. except for the trains.

it's probably sucks when half of a continent has to deal with its long imprisoned dictator trying, and sort of succeeding, to break out of said prison because he found out the people who caused him to become a dictator (not literally, but their disappearance/presumed death led to all of his decisions) aren't actually dead.

love it when three sisters die and are resurrected/wake back up as a result of being god chosen, especially when only one realises she died, and they all just progressively more... corrupted? changed? by their powers and the fact they died.

sometimes people will be dared to enter this old mansion in the woods/mountains and 9 times out of 10 they're never seen again. rarely, however, someone will return but you won't get much out of them aside from "death", "sculpture", "spirit", and "galatea".

Let’s follow that first prompt up, and take this chance to share some fun facts about our story! You can either do a five point bullet-style list of fun facts about what’s going on in your wip, or just use this as an opportunity to ramble!

Looking more guidance? Make them come from the center of the story!

[lampea-by-lamplight]

you and your beautiful soul

pretty.

lovely.

gorgeous.

objectively, they’re not wrong. objectively, they’re not bad compliments. objectively, she shouldn’t hate those words and their synonyms as much as she finds she does.

something unpleasant scratches at her ribs, bubbling and snarling and clawing at a prison made of something more than human-

(did she even have a ribcage? or was that just the impression of one she felt beneath her hand? an intrusive thought that wouldn’t leave her head until she peeled off skin and muscle and fat to find that she did, indeed, have bones curling around her lungs.)

-it’s always those kinds of compliments.

a pretty voice.

gorgeous eyes.

a lovely body.

the most beautiful sculpture in the world brought to life and given power beyond that of most mortals, reduced to a prize to be won, reduced to the catalyst of wars and murders and bloodshed-

(-the cause of bloodshed and murders and death-)

-reduced to an object she’d long since stopped being.

it’s always about her looks, always about her body, always about ownership and claiming and being able to say that the most beautiful sculpture in the world belongs to you.

it’s never about who she is. it’s never about her personality or her talents or her interests, never about her love for animals or her loyalty or her sculpting.

it’s always about being prettygorgeousbeautiful like she’s nothing else.

she’s so sick of being fucking pretty.

who fucking cares.

who gives a fuck.

why won’t they leave her alone?!

[lampea-by-lamplight]

and it's off with your head!

being beheaded is an out of body experience.

if she was actually capable of moving her mouth, she might have laughed.

as it stands, she just-

watches.

watches her fingers start to twitch, watches her hands move to push her body up off the ground, watches her eyes blink open and silently watch her headless self feel its way towards the missing piece.

there is so much blood.

i am so burning that dress when i’m able, she muses. one of the works of the “greatest seamster ever” be fucked.

a spirit cannot die.

well.

unless they wish it so.

a spirit cannot die.

but a spirit might be scarred.

(a ribbon tied around her neck. she quips that it’s the only thing tying her head to her body. she is only somewhat joking. what would you do if you knew? what would you do if you saw that scar?)

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

werewolves, and other monsters, are very good ways to explore different themes yes!

i absolutely should make a group of ocs themed around horror movie doll characters (the vibes alone... maybe that'll be the theme for the behind the scenes villains of another story... anyway), but! for this character specifically, she's loosely inspired by various horror movies centred around dolls and more directly inspired by the concept of haunted porcelain dolls in general.

in tsenpha, dolls coming to life isn't that unusual! either because they were loved so much they developed a soul or because they were nearby when ghosts merged together to form a complete soul and made a decent enough vessel. it's to the point where there's a decent market in making full sized doll bodies so they don't have to go about life with the ever present fear of being crushed. in general, i guess all of the living dolls are somewhat inspired by horror movie dolls by virtue of how they come to be (possessed dolls are very common).

i have a big fondness for living doll characters, so i've given it a lot of thought.

wisteria, the character i was talking about, is both a living doll and somewhat able to control other dolls. she's directly inspired by haunted porcelain dolls in the sense that she has the look of one (big glassy eyes, long eyelashes, an ever present smile etc) and loosely inspired by various horror movie dolls in that she utilises her deceptively sweet demeanour and the fact no one ever believes the dolls will actually hurt them to terrorise and commit murder - usually with a specific goal, like testing new members or supporters of the organisation she works for and killing the ones that fail, but sometimes just because. if she's feeling really twisted, she'll make dolls of her victims and keep them as trophies (which is directly inspired by a horror movie aptly titled dolls.)

for the fact swap: in tsenpha, i like to give the characters themes! usually this means their group will be themed around something like tarot cards or the seven deadly sins, but sometimes they just have individual themes, as is the case in a group where one character is themed after frankenstein whilst the other is themed after horror movie dolls. sometimes there'll be more than one theme (one set of ocs is themed around the land, sea and sky, as well as the heart, mind and soul)

Okay, but this sounds absolutely killer, and I desperately want to know more about the ones themed after horror movie dolls? Like, that has so beyond caught my interest and sounds like such a cool idea!

Let's see here, a similar fact to swap back!

I'm huge into using the concept fo werewolves to explore other themes. It varies from story to story (I love coming up with new ways to make werewolves different and stand out from each other!) but in Howl, it's most heavily meant to represent the themes of depression and lost childhood!

It's one that I'm super excited to keep playing with too, since it comes out more clearly in the second and third books!

[lampea-by-lamplight]

for the sun and the moon

the sun is warm. the sun shines on everyone, eventually, no matter where they are.

the sun is gold. a shimmery disk reflects off the lake’s surface; glittering light reflects off coins the same colour.

the sun scorches. crops set ablaze, wells made to go bone dry, skin burnt and red and sore.

the moon is cool. the moon watches everyone, eventually, no matter where they are.

the moon is silver. a glowing disk surrounded by the twinkling constellations; glowing light reflected on waves.

the moon calms. pale light illuminates the darkness, dreams kept safe and sound, the shadows soften.

warm, cool.

gold, silver.

scorching, calming.

(she is neither spirit of moon nor sun, neither spirit of silver nor gold, neither spirit of fire nor water, and yet the spirit of sculptures shines like and reflects both the light of the golden sun and the glow of the silver moon.)

[lampea-by-lamplight]

orion 2: “look! i’m alastair! i’d rather be anywhere but here! i’m all about long sullen silences, followed by mean comments, followed by more silences!” so what’s it gonna be, huh? long silence or mean comment? go on.

alastair: ���you got me in a box here.

[lampea-by-lamplight]

griffin: we’re like a dynamic duo!

orion: we are not a duo of any kind

griffin: well, you at least can’t deny that there’s two of us.

orion: watch me.

[lampea-by-lamplight]

flannery: assassins are just serial killers who take requests 

hemlock: excuse you, we take commissions

[lampea-by-lamplight]

dracul: here’s the thing though. is it still a murder if i give them a head’s up?

kyria: i’m think that’s called a threat 

[lampea-by-lamplight]

briony: we need to distract these guys

dracul: leave it to me 

dracul: centaurs have six limbs and are therefore insects. discuss. 

orion 1, orion 2 and kyria: *immediately begin arguing*

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

in lampea, there are two main spirits related to destiny and luck (alternatively i'll probably create more but for now two seems good. also spirits are basically just gods, but they're called spirits so.)

moira is the spirit of destiny, one of the children of death. they have such siblings as the spirit of deer and spirit of decay, but that's beside the point. most of death's children have antlers, bc death is represented by a deer, but one superstition specifically related to moira involves the finding of said antlers. more specifically, where the antlers are found. there's a whole thing where, depending on if you found an antler on a riverbank or in a clearing for example, you're either marked for death or will have good fortune.

which leads me to destiny's official spouse, the spirit of luck.

tyche, child of change, is characterized as being a tricky devil and changing someone's luck with a flick of their ears depending on their mood. in actuality, they're a lot more hands off when it comes to a person's luck, but they'll still change it if they're in need of entertainment. they're also commonly associated with a gambling game, as in it's often attributed to them. the game itself is just known as claw and involves dice, cups, trinkets and a lot of guessing.

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Let's talk Fate! I wanna know about everything: deities of fate, gambler's games, superstitions--anything and everything related to destiny and luck. This is an open ask, for anyone to answer! For more open asks, check out@worldbuildingwedasks

[lampea-by-lamplight]

orion 1, to orion 2: you were so high you made a 14 page powerpoint on why santa would beat peter pan in a fight

orion 1: and i must say you were very persuasive 

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

5. What are the overall aesthetics of your current WIP?

thanks for the ask

forests illuminated by sunlight, by firelight, by moonlight. glowing figures walking amongst mortals. rain hitting leaves. overgrown gardens of wildflowers and roses. the distant sound of a wolf's howl. the sound of twigs breaking. blood on snow. the creak of a ship. the splintering of ice. dice hitting the table. the sound of laughter and drinking. singers and dancers performing. a fleeting glimpse of a glowing blue deer. a three eyed raven there and gone again. a golden dove shining in the sunlight. the cackle of a fox wearing bangles and earrings. the steady gaze of a blood coloured shark. the feeling of being held by someone long gone.

[cheshirequeenwithoutaheart]

kind of funny how i'll go through long periods of inactivity and then start posting again