#veratrum k'ron

[magic-is-something-we-create]

LAKIA K'RON - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

[Lakia's] gaze falls back to the coals, her head ducking just enough for the shadows to hide her expression. In the low light, the scarring on her face looks almost like magma. “Not much to tell,” she finally says, bitterness caking her tongue. “[Actaea] broke my spine before I had a chance to feel any of it, and twisted the knife anyway. Not a great way to wake up, that.” Guilt punches any lingering curiosity from my mind swifter than I can take a breath. For asking, for thinking, for not giving her an easy way out. I can’t find a single thing to say other than a weak, “I’m sorry.” She scoffs, meets my eyes. “You know, first time I ever heard her say that was after I got back up.” Her unscarred lips twist into a smirk that only ignites the anger behind her eyes. “Too bad the part of me that would’ve forgiven her was the one that stayed dead.”

Basics:

She/her - Cis girl Demiromantic Lesbian - 18 [~20 on Earth] Rill Ehlf - Plant Mage Dyslexic; ADHD- an CPTSD-coded.

Where she begins:

We first meet Lakia when she declares that she's commandeered her father's ship while he was away, demoting him to second mate and promoting Isa to first. That playful moment is over quickly, however, when she meets the rest of the party and immediately resorts to insults and vulgarities that only barely veil her awkwardness in the face of peers.

For a while, Ember assumes that's all she is: a vaguely abrasive, awkward girl with some anger issues and dreams of glory.

And then they see her in battle, and it chills them to their core.

She sinks a ship with a kelp-made kraken. She leaps into the fray with vicious glee instead of the desperation of the others. She kills without flinching, and she's still a child.

Soon, they realize that glory is not her dream.

Vengeance is.

What she finds herself confronting:

Her hatred for Actaea has only managed to strengthen in the months since she stole away from Impalfahr in the dead of night to follow her brother and father in exile. And though she fears her grandmother as any sane person should, eventually, her slights against family and the world at large become too large for Lakia to care about that fear anymore.

And if no one else is willing to deal with the impossible problem, well, she's already done the impossible twice.

She'll find a way to do it again.

And the stories they tell of her will be incredible.

Important connections:

Family: K'Ron Actaea (grandmother), Elar (father) and Isa. Rillmother Veratrum (32nd generation).

Friends: Lu'Syr Typha (she wants to be a Whiptail Knight like him, someday); eventually Dusk Timber, Quartz, Slate, and Iggy Meywin.

Rival: K'Syr Dawn (for taking her place as Lu'Syr Typha's squire)

Enemies: K'Ron Actaea (she wants Actaea dead more than anyone alive), Tieling of Nimia (for never noticing what Actaea did to them), every single person who helped Actaea (she has a list)

MUSIC

Themes - El Dorado by Thomas Bergersen and Two Steps From Hell, Hymn of the High Seas by Antti Martikainen, Iron Fable by Pauli Hausmann

Vibes - There Was Time by Koethe, Warbringer by TheFatRat, Everen Maxwell, and Lindsey Stirling, parents by YUNGBLUD

[magic-is-something-we-create]

TIELING OF NIMIA - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

They told me I was Chosen on the day I turned thirteen. On the day I turn twenty one, they take me to a field and stab me through the heart.

Basics:

He/him - Cis Man Gay - 1015 [~1116 on Earth; can look anywhere from early-30s to mid-40s] Nimian Ehlf - Allmage (Air Mage origins)

Where he begins:

Tieling of Nimia is as much a figure of legend and religion as he is the current, past, and future King of the Mae Ehlves, for he was Chosen long ago to save the world from the promises of the Great Decay.

And in return for saving their most beloved creation, the Goddesses granted him, his beloved, and his closest friend Immortality.

They granted this, and in exchange, they smote the city of Fahrial from the face of Ehl, taking all 80,000 other lives therein with it.

That never sat right with Ember, but they never had the words for why.

Not until they met him and shattered his worldview just by existing.

What he finds himself confronting:

Tieling was raised in the Temple of Nimia by Priestesses and holy devotees a thousand years ago, and even then, he was sheltered, odd, and learned many outdated things that were never contested due to his status as Chosen.

Being an immortal King whom everyone wants to please has meant he hasn't been pushed to question any of what he was taught.

It also means he has grown complacent, and his Court has figured out just how to go behind his back and skirt the rules he's set in place.

When Ember shows up, they are the first in centuries to openly question him to his face, and the only one he can't bring himself to ignore. For they are like him, in a way, and it has been so, so long since there has been anyone like him.

The only one he wanted to keep decided enough was enough decades ago.

Not to mention the fact that, well... he's gotten very good at hiding failure, and if he can't act fast enough, all of his will be exposed to the entirety of Ehl.

Important connections:

Friends: Rillmother Veratrum, Arthur Shieldstone (it's complicated, when you only have two other people to turn to for Eternity)

Enemies: [REDACTED] (They can't kill him, but they do know how to get close to it. And they know doing so to Arthur would hurt him more than anything.), Ember Timber (Yes, they're helpful in changing his perspective, but by the Goddesses does he not want to fail.), Actaea K'Ron (Once he realizes what exactly has been going on)

MUSIC

Themes - Pathway by Kevin Penkin, Ballad of the Goddess by ROZEN, The Power of Balance Rearranged by Rush Garcia

Vibes - The King by Rosendale, Hero by Elizaveta, Butterfly Water by Pastelle and My City Glory

[magic-is-something-we-create]

ETERNAL RILLMOTHER VERATRUM - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

They tell me he is the Savior. The one who will fight off the Great Decay prophesied to rid Ehl of magic for good. All of their stories are of a grand, well-spoken man, one who can turn even the most unwilling of people to his cause. The Chosen, the prize of Nimia, the Holy. Before me stands a child.

Basics:

She/her - Cis Woman Bisexual, Polyamorous - 1042 [~1146 on Earth; appears mid-40s to mid-50s] Rill Ehlf - Allmage; Plant Mage origins

Where she begins:

The first we see of the Rillmother is a statue that does not do her justice; if the art installations of Unity Park in Aree were all anyone ever knew of her, they'd expect her to be of a comparable size and grace to Tieling of Nimia.

When Ember first meets her outside of the fortress of Tal'Ren, the top of their head barely reaches her midriff.

Veratrum is gentle with her grandchildren, though, even if she has a habit of intimidating their companions. And she is more than willing to provide safe shelter from those pursuing them, along with free access to the Archives - the largest collection of historical and fictional record in the world, her pride and joy.

But first, she wants to know how her grandchildren met their friends. And Ember has to come clean about stealing from her grandson.

What she finds herself confronting:

Veratrum is one of the Eternal Three; she became immortal alongside Tieling of Nimia and Arthur Shieldstone nearly one thousand years ago. All she ever wanted was to live to see her grandchildren, and now, she gets to love every generation of them for the rest of time.

Now, she must grieve every single one.

And now, she must confront the fact that something has broken, and she didn't see it. She must confront the fact that her children are being hurt by their own, and that something must be done.

But she cannot bring herself to raise a hand against her kin.

Not after losing so many already.

Important connections:

Family: K'Ron Actaea, Elar, Isa, and Lakia.

Friends: Arthur Shieldstone, Lu'Syr Typha, Tieling of Nimia

Enemies: K'Ron Actaea (after learning what she has done), Tieling of Nimia (they do not see eye-to-eye, but they will never be rid of each other's presence)

MUSIC

Themes: Secret by Florian Bur, Deryn Cullen, and Tina Meier, Against the Sun by Rush Garcia, Leap of Faith by Rush Garcia

Vibes: Throne by Saint Mesa, Pride & Fear by TheFatRat and RIELL, All Things Devour by aeseaes

[magic-is-something-we-create]

ANDESITE (ANDY) MEYWIN - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

My brainstorming makes a spiral around the table, still entirely illegible and layered upon itself, despite the ample room I’ve been given. Still not enough, because even after sending calls for spare Haethrite and Voltimony across the continent, I haven’t pieced together a design that we could test without fear of losing all we have. Today, though, I have another expert in the room to help. Unfortunately, Ember seems as lost in my technical work as they would be on one of the moons.

Basics:

She/her - Trans woman

Sapphic (her sexuality is an enigma but she likes cougars) - 22 (~24 on Earth)

Mae Ehlf - Air Mage

Heavily Autistic-coded

Where she begins:

We first meet Andy when she's in the midst of brainstorming a radio design for her younger siblings to use with Ember's so they can talk late into the night without risking the over-policed streets past curfew. And this context is where we most often see her: deep in her own thoughts, working on some device or another made from discarded scraps scrounged from the more prestigious forges in the area, augmented with Goblin technology rather than the extremely expensive Soulvite expected of proper Starsmiths.

But she makes it work. Most of the time.

Her masterpiece, Wrench--a dragon automaton built to act as security for her rented studio space--still doesn't know not to eat any and all fabric within reach, but Andy's confident she'll find a fix for that. Eventually.

What she finds herself confronting:

Andy's impact on the story is instant and massive, even if she doesn't become a narrator until book three: she's the one who gives the others a safe avenue to determine whether Ember's invitation to the rebellion is legitimate via Wrench, and who negotiates a rather underhanded deal with Emerald K'Ron in exchange for her own services to the Rebellion.

She wants an audience with Eternal Veratrum.

She's always been relentlessly curious, after all. And when the opportunity presents itself, she will always leap on the chance to learn something she's been wondering about.

This is how she blackmails her way into the rebellion. This is how she strongarms her way into the top-secret mission in Glittergale. This is how she sneaks her way onto the ship headed to Deltierin.

This is how she's thrust into the role of saving the world with nothing but scrap metal, her own vague notes, and an ever-ticking timer to reverse engineer her observations before the sea swallows the world whole.

Important connections:

Family: Gab and Annie (triplets), Dian, Iggy, Quartz, and Slate Meywin. Aurora and Mahann Meywin-Tell (parents).

Friends: Nimbus (best friend) and Ember Timber, Beta Altiana.

Enemies: K'Ron Actaea (once she finds out about Actaea's whole deal), Eternal Tieling of Nimia (on principle; also, she thinks he's annoying)

MUSIC

Themes - DRUMS OF GANJA-TAI by Kevin Penkin, Science by Two Steps from Hell and Thomas Bergersen, Dashing and Bashing by Gareth Coker

Vibes - The Flood by aeseaes, Streaks by ANIMA!, Cargo by Puppet

[magic-is-something-we-create]

K'RON ISA** - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

Eventually, threads of wine-red vines grow into twisting thorned stems and the sharp claw-like leaves I saw over and over again throughout my schooling–law in Impalfahr, medicine in Tal'Ren. Bloodvine.  It grows naturally out of fallen carcasses in the shade of the Godwoods. Poisonous leaves, a stem used in popular leisure drug mixes and simple painkillers. Too much, and your body will sprout the vines after burial, if you’re lucky. They’ll start growing in your still-breathing lungs, if you’re not. I never did like the idea of using it to ease the pain of the sick. Actaea made me take it when feverish anyway.

** Note: You'll see him referred to as Isa K'Ron as well; while "K'Ron" is a title in Sieril, it's treated like a surname in the Maelands. As a major political person in both places, he refers to himself interchangeably. I chose this configuration for the intro because he sees Sieril as home.

Basics:

He/him - gender? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wasn't raised with them

Pansexual, Polyamorous - 22 (~24 on Earth)

Rill Ehlf - Flesh Mage

Mute; uses Language-Assisted Signs

Where he begins:

When we first meet Isa, we don't know it. But his pocket's just been picked, and it's going to be again.

We first hear about him when Annie gossips about the nobility in Impalfahr and mentions the banished son and grandson of General Actaea K'Ron, and how her granddaughter was supposedly kidnapped by them--an accusation that would allow her to kill them if found.

His father, Emerald--or Elar, in Sieril, the place Isa really thinks of as home--has taken it upon himself to aid in the Arish rebellion. But as Actaea's already proven time and time again, she does not hold back when it comes to punishment.

Even for her kin, who are just as much the descendants of an Eternal as she is. And that Eternal loves them far more than she ever will.

What he finds himself confronting:

Though he has formal training, Isa is not a fighter. That alone was worthy of a beating in Actaea's mind.

But he doesn't want to be running from her for the rest of his life, either. Not when it puts his newfound friends in danger, and his sister at the center of a target.

Especially when he starts to realize that Actaea's not just after them--she's after something only three people in the world hold answers to, and it could spell destruction.

Important connections:

Family: K'Ron Actaea (grandmother; disowned), Elar (father), and Lakia. Eternal Rillmother Veratrum (32nd generation grandchild). Lu'Syr Typha. Dai'Ven Wisteria (deceased).

Friends: Ember and Nimbus Timber, Gab and Annie Meywin, Xavi NoFather, Magnolia Adisa, and Eternal Arthur Shieldstone.

Enemies: K'Ron Actaea (abusive), Artrix and Ranina Palm (Citylord and -lady of Aree), House Polaris (a royal Mae house with a contentious relationship).

MUSIC

Themes - EDEN.Waltz by Kevin Penkin, Song of Storms by ROZEN, For the Rest of Our Days by Adriel Fair

Vibes - Hiding In The Blue by TheFatRat and RIELL, The Sweetest Words by Vian Izak, Promiseland by MIKA

[magic-is-something-we-create]

ACTAEA K'RON - The Millennium Saga [Firebreathers ; Echoseers ; Goddess-Touched]

They tell me he is the King, as they show me the proper way to bow: one knee to the floor, head down, and left hand cupped just below my collarbone. They tell me he has been for nine hundred and thirty-five years as we sit quietly to his right at a table bedecked in blue and gold to tell everyone of our importance, our power. They tell me he will be until the time when there is no one left to rule as they guide me into the halls of sunset and aspen forest with a silk-gloved hand. And they tell me he will love me as a daughter, as they pat my head and assure me they will return in a few hours.

Basics:

She/her - Cis woman AroAce** - 72 (~80 on Earth) Rill Ehlf - Plant Mage **Note: she doesn't know it's not just a thing she needs to get over. This fact is, as it happens, a major contributor to her villainy.

Where she begins:

Actaea K'Ron is a contentious person. We hear of her first from Ember's own musings of dislike, and then from Annie's prattling gossip of conflict in the noble courts.

And then we learn she is the reason Isa is mute. The reason Lakia is missing an eye. The reason Elar was willing to risk a death warrant and manhunt rather than stay any longer in her presence, after she was told to start preparing for her beloved war to end in a treaty.

And then she shows up, and she proves she is willing to hurt more than just her family.

She wants her son and his spawn to suffer; she will hunt their friends, too.

She will chase them across the world.

What she finds herself confronting:

Actaea is the Spymaster and General of the Mae Ehlven military, and Peace of the Rill--a duty and title she's neglected in favor of war with Deltierin on the Mae Ehlves' behalf for the last two decades. She is also, in honor of an agreement Rillmother Veratrum and King Tieling came to almost a thousand years ago, the King's right hand.

She wants nothing more than to please him, because that is all she wanted from Veratrum.

She failed.

And so she will take it out on the world, because if she cannot have love as a daughter, she will settle for fear.

Important connections:

Family: K'Ron Elar (son), Isa, and Lakia (grandchildren) (all disowned). Eternal Rillmother Veratrum (30th generation descendant).

Friends: Edgar Trueheart (a colleague in Avatica), Genli Rainer (her lieutenant), Eternal Tieling (one-sided devotion)

Enemies: K'Ron Elar (she never wanted him), Isa (she never wanted Elar to make her mistake), and Lakia (the girl that shouldn't exist). [REDACTED] (for refusing her demands). Eternal Rillmother Veratrum (for withholding affection), Eternal Arthur Shieldstone (she thinks him naive). Ember Timber (the street rat who got away).

MUSIC

Themes - Shape of Lies by Eternal Eclipse, Fountain of Passages by Audiomachine, Dusk of War by Audiomachine, Paul Dinletir, and Uyanga Bold

Vibes - Reaper by Glaceo and RIELL, Villains Pt. 1 by Emma Blackery, Monster by Willyecho

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Before you read: This is a short-ish snippet from Veratrum K’Ron’s POV, and happens about 1000 years before the events of Firebreathers. It’s probably going to be an interlude chapter between parts of the book, though this isn’t the whole thing. I just wanted to share it, since I’m proud of this piece, and hopefully you guys like it, too!!

Content warning for death. Let me know if any other warnings apply, too!

--

Tieling stands at the Godwood altar, back as straight as his hair, gazing over the city below as only a born leader could, his expression as stoic and blank as stone. Arthur stands beside me, to Tieling’s right, hand resting gently on the rim of his shield, tapping the plated surface incessantly, stage fright radiating off of him in waves. They’re both young - too young to be crowned, as Tieling is about to be. A few years ago, I would have even said they were too young to be on such public display, in front of a crowd of tens of thousands.

Then again, a few years ago, I thought the magic flowing through my veins would have been gone by now.

Tieling’s aides pour his commissioned potion into three wooden goblets on the altar, then hand each of us one. With a nod from their new king, they step away. He takes a deep breath, and for the first time today, I sense an anxiety about the boy. A tense, fearful silence.

He downs the potion quickly - there is not much to drink - and gestures surreptitiously for Arthur and I to drink as well. I take it like a shot, swirling the coppery - bloody - taste in my mouth for an instant before swallowing the disgusting mixture.

Arthur is slow to reach for it. As his lips graze the edge of the goblet, he lets out a pained gasp. I think little of it, for a moment, but the gasp quickly becomes a scream, and more join him, and soon, there is too much noise for me to think.

I fall to my knees, cursing, gripping my ears, trying to halt the cacophony. My skull - no, my brain feels like it’s splitting, like an axe has been buried to the handle in my head. The screams of agony start wailing up from the crowd, children’s screeches piercing through the muffling of my palms. The tree beneath me begins to shake, the Life wailing in hellish notes through my bones, and swathes of broken, brittle wood come pouring down on us, splinters shattering against my head, and all I can think is I’m going to die here.

Tieling Evergreen, you snake-tongued bastard, I’ll take you with me.

As the screams closest to us fade, I’m able to open my eyes slightly, and everything I see is bathed in the furious heat of rage. The unholy prince is the first thing I see, panicked, pouring the last potion down Arthur’s throat, desperation clear as day on his usually calm face.

Through gritted teeth and the worst pain of my life, I rise as well as I can - one knee still firm on the ground, one foot bracing, ready to launch me across the room at this devilish child - and relinquish my grip on my right ear, reaching for a spear one of the guards dropped.

“What... Have you... done?” I can barely hear my own voice, though my throat sears in a pain that tells me I’m screaming harder than I did when birthing my child.

Tieling looks up, eyes wide and full of terror, his rosy skin now as pale as paper and marble and bone and somewhere deep, behind the rage, beneath the fear, at the very core of my being, I know he did not mean to do this.

The excruciating screams down below start dying off as the realization hits, but the tree around us is creaking, dust still raining down on our backs, and further in, a large portion of the ceiling falls. In the seconds it takes me to gain my balance, Tieling has found his feet again, and has started to drag Arthur’s barely-conscious form towards the opening beyond the altar.

He is weak, and as much as I wish to leave him here, beneath the collapsing Godwood, Arthur does not deserve that fate. And he would be devastated if Tieling were left behind.

I leap across the room, grabbing Tieling around the waist in a tackle, and shove him towards the opening. The shock on his face as he stumbles back over the sheer drop is satisfying, for the moment I see it before I turn back to Arthur.

He’s heavier, of course, and wearing thick plated armor. It’s all I can do to heave him over the edge, too, in the hopes that Tieling’s senses have come back to him in time to catch the boy.

I cast one last glance back into the chamber, into the tree, taking note of the corpses that have gone from living, breathing people to decaying skeletons in the last - how long? Minute? It had to be more, it had to be.

It wasn’t.

I take a running leap out into the open air below, and as I fall, I reach for the Life that should be all around - and I find nothing. None of the vines that would have swarmed to my aid, no grasping branches of the trees that would have responded to my call - there is a void around me unlike anything I have ever experienced. There is nothing left to catch me as I fall.

Am I truly to die among the Godtrees, away from my home, away from my people?

I was promised eternity, and this is what I get instead? Betrayal, pain, death - the corpses of my kin strewn everywhere. Every living thing in sight, my Magic, gone.

He said he would stop it.

Tieling Evergreen, I will be wringing your ichor from my hair when I’m done with you.

The silent oath is punctuated by the sudden howling of wind around me, as the boy calls on his Magic - he traded mine to keep his, didn’t he? - too late to catch me.

I land flat-footed on the roof of what was once a guild hall, momentum sending me into a somersault as the bones in my ankle snap and my shoulder hits the shingles with a crunch and I lose consciousness when my back hits the ground below, a final curse on Tieling dying on my lips.

I don’t see the guiding hand of Libin waiting in the darkness. Luma does not shine a gentle light upon my soul. Not even Erra, to whom I have dedicated my very existence, seems to want to help me, for her children do not rise from the soil to bring me home.

Instead, when I open my eyes next, I’m greeted with the sight of the Godtree branch nearest to me crumbling.

I don’t stop to think, to care, about the fact I just landed on my spine, that I dislocated a shoulder, that my ankles can’t carry my weight - I roll to my feet and run. It’s not until minutes later, when Tieling finds me, Arthur hanging from his arm like a child, that I realise I’ve somehow healed from my fall.

When Tieling extends his other hand, I stare at it, and the baby fat that keeps it fleshy still, and the flecks of gold that remain from the potion he forced into Arthur. And I understand.

His face is covered in sawdust and sweat and soot and the paths of tears that still stream from his eyes as he begs me to come with him, to get away. His face, that’s still round with youth and pale with fear.

And a new rage blossoms, one which I cannot ignore, and which will be sated with blood, when the time comes.

“Which one?” My voice rasps with the stick of a dry mouth, and the boy’s confusion grows.

“What? I - please, Queen K’Ron, we need to get to safety.” His voice cracks.

I take his hand. Let him summon the Wind, and whisk us to the cover of the Godtrees that still live. To the outskirts of the city that now burns and collapses and rots in front of our eyes.

We three stand silent, staring, for what feels like hours as Fahrial falls.

Arthur vomits, when the realization hits him. Tieling turns away, tries to leave. Falls to his knees and starts sobbing after a few steps.

I cannot rip my eyes from the destruction. Buildings burn, smoke billowing out from beneath the gargantuan husks of what once were Godwood branches. On the edges of the once-great city, charred bones still reach out from the wave of debris that was unleashed when the tree collapsed. Reach towards us, grasping, frozen in their finite desperation.

At the center of it all, the hollow, rotten bark of the Godtree stands tall and jagged and dead. A single, smoldering shell standing among it’s eternal kin.

Arthur is still heaving, though nothing remains to expel. Tieling has fallen silent, but for his choking breaths. I continue to watch the smoke, even as it begins to die.

The last embers slip away as the evening sun begins to turn golden. As Arthur curls into a ball, holding himself by the knees. As Tieling starts calming himself down.

As I find my voice, finally.

“Which one chose you, Tieling?”

His voice is fragile and hesitant. “Those of Nimia have no names.”

“Do you know her face?” I turn away, at last.

“Yes.” He watches me, eyes hollow, as I step up to Arthur. Knits his brows, when I take the knight’s shield and sword from where they lay beside him. “Why?”

“We will find the nearest town, and bring news of this tragedy. Send a portion of their guard to search for survivors. Recover as much of our wits as possible.” I tighten the shield to my arm with a tug.

”And then you will take me to Nimia, and show me the abomination who chose a child to be the Savior.”

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy Worldbuilding Wed! What did it cost the three monarchs to gain immortality?

hi!! happy wbw, raev!!!

the answer to this is A Little Spoilery™, so i’ll put it behind a cut, but in short: a lot of things that they didn’t mean to happen

The long answer is a little more dark/sad. For quick reference, the three monarchs are Tieling Evergreen, Veratrum K’Ron, and Arthur Coldstone.

The whole reason Tieling wanted to be immortal in the first place was so that he would have time to meet the requests of the Goddesses, who were preparing to get rid of magic, unless he could prove to them that it could be used for things other than violence and cruelty. And he had this plan for a while, to unite the Ehlves as a show of control over the magic they have, but he knew it would take a long time, and he didn’t want to do it only for it to fall apart once he died. So, he asked them to grant a way for him to last long enough to see his work through.

Veratrum wanted immortality for more self-centered reasons: she didn’t want to give up her throne, and she certainly didn’t want her people to fall into the hands of a relative who had already attempted her assassination a few times. And Arthur didn’t want immortality, but he was willing to become immortal, if it made Tieling happy.

The important part of this all is that the Goddesses did grant them a way to become immortal, but they had to discover it for themselves. The world was granted the magic of Alchemy (like potions, not transmutation), and Arthur helped to figure out the mixture that would, in theory, grant immortality. But they couldn’t exactly test it on anyone other than themselves.

So when they took it, as a group, they had no idea what the side effects would be. And so when every living thing in the city they were in started decaying around them, they thought they got it wrong. But tens of thousands of people died that day, as well as a Godtree, which were always thought to be... fixed points? Like, they weren’t ever seen growing, or dying, or disappearing. They just Were.

And now the Three are eternal, like the Godtree was supposed to be. And it cost so much more than they expected, and none of them ever meant to hurt anyone. And they all carry that weight with them, all blaming themselves for what happened, and their involvement.

I have a snippet of the event, from Veratrum’s POV, if you’d like to read it!

Thank you again for the ask!!!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy WBW from @norahammen! I'm very curious about this trio of monarchs so I'm gonna ask about that. What makes them special in the eyes of the people? How have they kept control for so long? Why is only one ruling the government? Tell me all!

hi!!! happy WBW, @norahammen, and thank you for the ask!!!

i warned on my profile that i go all out, right? either way, sorry this is so long a;sldfkja;sldfkj

So, the Eternal Three are special, for the most part, because all three of them are immortal! However, one of them, Tieling Evergreen, is also special because way back when he was still mortal and A Literal Child, he was Chosen by the temple he was born in to stop this destruction of magic they had predicted. And because Prophecy and the temple he belonged to are major facets of the religion of the area, he’s considered a major holy figure.

And I realize now that the way I phrased it in my WBW profile was a little misleading, but each of the Eternal Three rule their own government/people! Tieling Evergreen is the one, in particular, who has a revolution that’s ready to yeet him out of the picture, but the other two (Veratrum K’Ron and Arthur Coldstone) are pretty well-liked among their people, and also much better at taking criticism than Tieling. Each of them has a different reason/strategy for staying in power for so long, too!

Tieling, for one, has relied heavily on his religious status, sweet talking, and damage reduction skills for most of his reign. This isn’t the first time he’s had a rebellion amongst his people! This time is just the worst, because it’s happening right when he needs to pull things together to actually stop magic from being destroyed. Also, there’s, like, twenty other really bad things going on for him, right now, and he’s overwhelmed. I’ll include the details under a readmore, cause I actually have a slide from my reintro that’s relevant for this a;lskdfj

Veratrum K’Ron, however, is the queen of a very different culture (i.e. chaotic but in a different way), one that values parental bonds and physical strength more than Tieling’s court does. She was immortalized after having a kid, so she has a line of direct descendants, which helps her credibility. She’s also dedicated a lot of her immortal life to learning all she can, with a special focus on battle, which she does so that she can protect her people single-handedly.

And Arthur never wanted to be 1) immortal or 2) a king. He’s the most down-to-earth of the three -- where Tieling sees himself as the Only One Who Can Save The World, and Vera sees herself as a demigoddess powerhouse, Arthur just sees himself as a dude who was unlucky enough to be caught up in the mess of religious Ehlven drama that birthed them. His court is famously casual in comparison to pretty much every other court in the world, and he’s generally pretty humble, kind, and fatherly to whoever crosses his path. He’s also still really traumatized by the whole immortal thing and how it happened.

The important difference in their levels of power, really, is that even if Vera and Arthur weren’t immortal and holy-adjacent, they would both still be loved and respected by their people. Tieling, on the other hand, thinks he’s nothing without those aspects of himself.

--

oh god that got really long

TL;DR: These three are REALLY important in religious and historical contexts for the world, especially Tieling. They have really different ruling styles between the three of them, and Tieling’s has a tendency to piss of his people, despite his religious significance, to the point of them doubting said significance. And for Firebreathers, specifically, we focus on Tieling’s government for the most part!

the relevant slides from my reintro are below the cut, and they feature art of the Three, as well as a little bit about each of them, and also all the things going wrong in tielings life right now ;sladkfj;alfdkj

[id:

The slide is titled "tell me more about these 'Eternal Three'...". Directly to the left, in a very light font, is text that reads "repost my art and you'll die by my hands i swear to god. hasn't happened yet but this is insurance.". Below the title, there is a note that says "i'll get more detailed in a proper intro down the line, but for now:". 

The middle stretch of the slide has three portraits aligned in a row, each labeled with the subject's name, title, and a small caption of important information.

The image on the left is a square portrait of a white human man in his late forties, with blond hair and beard that is starting to go grey. His eyes are a deep brown, and his nose appears to have been broken and healed incorrectly. He wears a simple wooden circlet on his head and a blue cape. There is a cobbled stone wall behind him, with a window that looks out onto the night sky. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Humans" and the caption reads "This is Arthur Coldstone. What you should know: 1) he didn't want to be immortal. 2) actually a p chill dude, would die for his people but cant anymore. 3) wasn't gonna be king but then the king died and he was suddenly immortal and he's still mad about it". 

The middle image is slightly taller than the other two, and features an androgynous man with long, vaguely round ears that stick out past his shoulders. His hair is a dark teal that fades to a bright cyan and then to a cool grey at the tips. He is wearing a maroon robe with a pale magenta collar, a translucent golden capelet, and an ornate metal crown with a yellow jewel embedded into the center. His expression is carefully neutral, with an air of condescension. He is standing in front of a large window of blue stained glass, which is embedded into a wall that looks to be built into the side of a tree. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Tieling Evergreen. What you should know: 1) he's technically the villain. 2) rolled a nat 20 to persuade the coddesses to keep magic around until he could fulfill their requests. 3) he was Chosen at, like, 13 and it really fucked him up. still a Bastard tho."

The portrait on the right is a square of the same size as the portrait on the left, and it features a brown-skinned woman in her early fifties. Her ears are shaped like cresting waves, and stick out from her head. She has freckles on her exposed shoulders, on the tips of her ears, and a few on her cheekbones. Her hair is a deep, velvety purple with streaks of grey. She wears an ornate crown of woven vines and wood that has streaks of blue along the bark. Leaves, feathers, and large claws stick out from the crown to frame a large red jewel at the center. A similar, smaller jewel hangs from her necklace, strung with teeth and claws. She stands in a swampland, with vines hanging from branches behind her. This portrait is titled "Queen of the Rill Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Veratrum K'Ron. What you shuold know: 1) she uses immortality to learn as much as possible about everything. 2) has a direct line of descendents because she had a kid before all this. 3) duels ppl before they're allowed an audience to keep shit interesting."

/End slide one.

/Start slide two.

The slide is titled "ok, cool, so what's happening??" with two question marks. The subtitle is in a dark magenta font, and reads "big picture? a lot of stuff at once, really." The body of the text reads: "the Goddesses asked Tieling to prove that magic could be controlled, that people would stop getting hurt. He had been told all his life that his task would be to unite the Ehlves, so that's how he's trying to go about fulfilling their request. Things have gone downhill about 8 years before the due date, though…" and what follows is a bulletted list, with accompanying text boxes.

The list reads: "1) the Ehlves in Deltierin have broken away from his control, so he needs to get them back." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: war." "2) Veratrum's heir, who's required to have a high seat in his council in order to keep her as an ally, has gotten on the bad side of Vera herself. 2a) also, she disowned and banished her OWN heirs." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: do his best to keep from pissing Vera AND her heir off when they're both v important in these last few years of prep." "3) the Ehlves in Emarye don't have any central government anymore, so he has to convince all of them to unite somehow." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: beg the current governments over there to enter a compact with him."

The fourth bullet is circled in red and labelled "this is the big one". The bullet reads: "someone has started a fucking rebellion among the people he already rules" and the accompanying box reads: "his solution: quell the insurgents ASAP".

The fifth bullet is back to the usual format, and overshadowed by the circle above it. It reads: "and, the one that hurts most for him right now: Arthur stopped talking to him for valid reasons." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: cry".

The top right of the slide is on a slightly darker shade than the rest of the slide, to draw attention to it. The text within reads: "too long, didnt read: Tieling's starting a war, the people are angry about it, there's a rebellion ramping up. Almost every ally he had has abandoned him in the last five years (approximately), and most of them are now helping the rebels.

/end slide two

/end id]

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Tell me about the eternal three when they were the mortal three 👀👀

hello i am losing it over the mortal three i love it

also thank you for prompting this ramble!! happy wbw <3<3

So, before they were the Eternal Three, only two of them were really of any kind of importance to their respective people!

Those two were Tieling (who did not choose the surname Evergreen until after his immortalisation) and Veratrum (who's "surname" of K'Ron is. literally just the title of "crowned one" in Rill)! At the time, they were known mostly as Tieling, Chosen of Nimia, and Veratrum Child-of-Amaranth!

Tieling was seen as the prophesied Savior for a large portion of his mortal life; he was Chosen at 13, and immortalised at 22! Imagine the classic Chosen One story, with a twist at the end where he asks for more time to save the world. That's essentially what his life was like before his coronation in Fahrial :D

Veratrum, though, was arguably more important and well-known. First and foremost, she was one of the youngest Rillmothers to ever be crowned, at 27. She was also renowned for having at least two attempts on her life a year, because her extended family was jealous that Rillmother Amaranth chose her to be the heir on her deathbed. By the time Vera was in her late 30s (when she met Tieling for the first time), she had already built up a reputation of being a strict but caring Rillmother, and had also built up a thorough archive of literally every correspondence ever sent to her. Like, complete with two copies of every message, tens of honeycomb-shelves filled with scroll chambers for preservation, and at least one copy of every book published in Sieril during her reign.

That archive still goes today, and copies of the oldest correspondences are still made to keep a record, and overseen directly by her to make sure there are no mistakes.

Finally, we get to Arthur Coldstone. Who has always been Arthur Coldstone, though he's not always been... well, important. He was born to a lesser lord of the human kingdom, at the time, and was sent to protect Tieling on his journey for the sole purpose of fostering good will between the Mae Ehlves and humans. It's entirely an accident that he ever ended up leading his people, though it ended up being good for their development as a society!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy WBW!

Hope you're having a great day! What are the Islands of Gordahan? Are they on saltwater or freshwater? Are they inhabited?

hi!!! happy WBW, thank you for stopping by!!!

The Isles of Gordahan are a series of archipelagos to the south of Sieril!! I actually need to rearrange my Ehlverse map a bit to get the layout right, what with the north pole currently being off center and not quite on the edge, but imagine that in this screenshot its a bit further down and a little more to the right (and that it says "kard" not "chard". and that theyre both smaller. i really need to update the layout):

But yeah!! They're right down in the middle of the ocean, and have a fairly active local volcanic system!

They are inhabited, though!! Their locals are about 95% Drenn, which are the dragon people next up on my Peoples of the Ehlverse list!! They're pretty laid back folks, much more peaceful than their size and body ornamentation might suggest :)

The other 5% tend to be descendents of Ehlven, Mulari, or Mikrona immigrants! There's some rather weird ways that cross-species fertility works there, so there's absolutely people who are a mix of two, three, or all of the above.

Also, fun fact: the reason Eternal Veratrum is so tall isn't because she's immortal! It's because her great-great-grandpa was Drenn, and the height genes hadn't quite worked their way out of the lineage quite yet :) the K'Rons are still pretty notorious for being tall to this day!!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

its technically wednesday here so happy wbw! wild card: tell me anything you want about your world! (i need to catch up anyway asdghskdgh) latest developments, intriguing history facts, etc etc. go wild <3

hi!! happy wbw <3

if my memory serves me today (which. Unlikely. but still) i think the last time you stopped in for wbw before these last few weeks was before the current rewrite/world revamp!! so i'll go into the big changes that happened there :D

wayyyy back when this writeblr was but a fledgling, the lore of the ehlverse included 2 immortal "divine" kings, and both of them were villains, yeah?

this has Changed

the lore now looks a bit like this:

Tieling (lore og) was the Chosen One to save the world from the Great Decay ~1000 years prior to Firebreathers. Along the way, he met a young human knight who helped him (Arthur Coldstone, other lore og), and also met with the Rillmother of Sieril at the time, Veratrum K'Ron. Now, Veratrum was young as far as Rillmothers go - in her mid-thirties and already well established as a leader. But she was subject to a bunch of assassination attempts. Like, multiple times a year, to the point where she worried she wouldn't be able to see her own grandchildren because she'd die too young.

Along comes Baby Tieling, whose back up plan if he can't stop the Decay is to get the Goddesses to give him more time to solve the problem. She puts the idea of immortality in his head. She is given the immortality potion at the same time as Arthur and Tieling are several years down the line, and they are now known as the Eternal Three.

She has a direct line of descendants, because she had a daughter before she became immortal. The favored descendants carry the title of K'Ron (crowned one), which in some places serves more as a last name.

I have no idea how many character names you remember, but Iceberg K'Ron is one of the leads of Firebreathers, and he's one of the latest in this line of descendants :)

Also none of the Three are truly villains!! Tieling is just v good at manipulation but also Being Manipulated and that does not bode well when, say, the greatx33 granddaughter of your immortal friend turns out to be Super Evil and also Hates All Of You And Her Kid+Grandkids. actaea k'ron the actual antagonist confirmed

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy WBW!! Tell me about warrior traditions!

Hello!!! Happy belated WBW to you, too!!! Sorry this answer took so long!!

So, the warrior traditions in Sieril come in a few different varieties! There are generalized warrior traditions, which most every family takes on, and which I'll focus on in this ask!! But there are also specified traditions for the Warriors of Luma, and even more specifically, the Whiptail Knights!

I'll be covering those in another ask I was sent :D

But! General warrior traditions across Sieril:

- Every family has at least one warrior and two parents. This is because, since the Rillian Decay, Sieril has become extremely dangerous, and every community, no matter how small, needs a way to defend itself.

- This has also brought about a tradition of polyamory! One warrior, two parents..... you don't want your babies to be warriors straight out of the womb, and not everyone is a good fighter, so you marry two people, at least one of which can wield a weapon. And, of course, marrying without love is a one-way ticket to the disapproval of Lib and thus an eternity of nothingness after death.... Or, two couples marry each other as a group, and get one warrior, three parents! Or two of each! Or any other amount of people with a good balance of warriors with caretakers! And all the more hands to help raise your kids!

- Also, because of the... population sparsity? Is that a term? because there aren't a lot of people in Sieril, it's expected that every hopeful warrior duel the Eternal Mother (aka Veratrum K'Ron) and gain her approval, before marrying and actually taking on the warrior role

- Warriors of Luma are the most sacred of the warriors, but you can be a warrior of any of the other Goddesses, too! Warriors of Lib get tattoos curling around their arms, as a blessing to their skill; Warriors of Venn keep a bald head and rely on their magic to fight; Warriors of Delta keep their hair long, and braid it before going into battle in a form of prayer; etc etc.

Thank you again for the question!! Keep your eyes peeled for the traditions of the Whiptail Knights and Warriors of Luma, if you're curious about them!! They'll be on the next answered ask :D

[magic-is-something-we-create]

OH really cool/fun thing that happened while I was drawing yesterday: I was listening to sawbones, and in the episode about clinical trials (I think???? not entirely sure but like. 80%) Sydnee talked about Veratrum californicum plants, which are THE INSPO BEHIND VERATRUM K'RON'S NAME

i got whiplash bc I did so much research into potential names and then I just. heard hers on a podcast. it was wild