#very cheery and delightful name for a city not at all ominous

[trashbinbackyard]

I didn't fill it all bc good lord

Get to know the fantasy Finland* blorbos 

*Finland and the surrounding areas

A quick who’s who

Emil Vitfors - the poor lil templar boy

Sif Pyryntytär - forest baddie

Arvid Rävskog - a doctor, a friend witnessing his besties go into death spiral and end up raising their kid

Eha Rävskog - Spoiled lil girl

Staňa Vedeneva - vampire knight

Nikolaj Sakaloitis - death wizard

HOME: Where was your OC born? What was their first home? Do they still live there? If not, why not? How do they feel looking back on it?

Emil was born in the main city, he’s a bastard son of a minor duke. He was sent away to a convent pretty early in his life, at like 5 years old, and the life in the convent is all he remembers. From the convent he was sent to an outpost in the far west to be a templar for some missionaries. He has complicated feelings about the convent, on one hand that’s his home but on the other he was just sort of placed there because he had nowhere else to go

Sif was born to a small hamlet, not even a village proper, on a winter solstice. Her parents were a farmhand and maid for a larger family so she slipped into the family life just fine. She was driven out from that community after an incident with her dad (Pyry, also warebeast and magician) so she had to find another community to sort of orbit. She now lives outside of a commune on her own.

Arvid comes from a line of village madmen (kylähullu), he’s the first one to channel that energy into getting a proper education, he’s actually from near the outpost, went to study in the main city, came back to the outpost, lived with Sif for a while, and then all That went down, got a baby shoved on him, moved to the main city again. He thinks the town he was born in and where his family is from is his true home, yearns to go back there, but stays in the city for the opportunities Eha will have

Eha was born in Sif’s hut, and not too long after that Emil and Sif were executed and Arvid took her to the city. She doesn’t remember any other life, as far as she knows she’s the daughter of a trusted doctor, lives in an estate, has a good education and a lot of opportunities. (she will later find out that Arvid is not actually her dad and she’ll take the journey to the forests to find out what happened to her real parents, real YA heroine stuff)

Staňa is another village girl. She was the daughter of a maid and a maid herself, did a lot of physical labor. At 16 she was abducted by a group of raiders and sold to a noble family. She was a captive maid there and later the noble family turned out to be vampires, who kept her as a blood slave. The thought of returning to her village is what kept her resolve intact.

Nikolaj is the one big city native. His family is proper middle class, they have a nice house, access to education and all that. He’s lived there his whole life. As normal an upbringing you can have for a magician who dabbles in the afterlife.

BIRTH: What was your OC's first experience with birth? A sibling, a pet, their own child?

His first memory of a birth was a lamb. The convent kept them for milk and wool. All he remembers is that it was a messy ordeal and he had to clean up afterwards.

She’s witnessed a lot of births, in the commune every year someone would give birth. She took on towel duty, bringing in towels for the fluids and blood, washing them, rinse and repeat. She remembers a lot of screaming, some mothers wouldn’t make it despite the efforts to save them. 

As a doctor he’s delivered a lot of babies. It’s become quite routine, but he’s still filled with awe when a baby is born. The first birth he witnessed was a family pet though, a dog.

Eha’s first experience was when she begged to keep a stray cat and then two days later the stray cat popped out kittens.

Also growing up in a close knit village she’s been around when farm animals give birth, fellow villagers give birth, avoiding getting involved. She thinks it's all a bloody mess but ultimately just a fact of life.

He’s been a sheltered boy, never seen anything being born but he does have a younger brother who was born when he could actually remember, although what he remembers is being taken out of the house go play in the park for a whole day and coming back and there’s a baby in the house

DEATH: What was your OC's first experience with death? Was it a person they knew, a pet they had, a story they heard? How did they feel about it then, and what do they remember about it now?

A pig, slaughtered and butchered to be eaten. It was one of those moments for a lil 7 year old Emil to come in grips with life and death and the order of things in the world. Definitely a core memory, not a good one.

Her dad was a hunter, so he’d bring home game to eat, just a thing that needs to happen to fill your belly.

Just like first birth his first death was also a family pet, he was pretty young and didn’t really grasp the situation, one day their dog just wasn’t there anymore and life went on

Eha’s been pretty sheltered, the first death she had to come to terms with was a relative of Arvid’s, she was sad of course but too young to understand how hard it was for Arvid.

Staňa’s no stranger to death, farm animals died of disease or from being eaten, people died of disease and old age, like Sif, death was just a part of life. Doesn’t remember anything remarkable of a first death experience

His older brother died when he was young, it hit him really hard. There was a beginning of a plague about to sweep the city and unfortunately for his brother who was almost an adult and living on his own caught it.

EDUCATION: What was your OC's first experience with school or education? Were they homeschooled? Apprenticed? Sent away to study? If they didn't have any kind of schooling, where did they learn about the world or pick up the skills they have now?

He was given a very basic education, he knows how to read and write, do basic math, know the major historical events,his teachers heavily focused on the order of things and the importance of faith, so it was more church teaching with a side of life skills.

Her father taught her everything he knew, how to read and write, hunt, cook, make medicine, do magic, master her shifting abilities, she later inherited his black book, a book of spells and knowledge passed down from his mentor to him and now to her.

Arvid out of this bunch is the most educated, he’s a doctor of medicine but he also studied physics and chemistry. He’s just an overall curious guy who will look into anything and everything. He studied in university which was a really big achievement for someone of his birth status.

Eha has a top education, the city has good schools, she also has a tutor prepping her for university. She’s also a very curious creature and sneaks into libraries 

Staňa has a very rudimentary education, she knows how to read, knows mostly whats going on in her neck of the woods. It was after she turned to a vampire and ransacked and squatted at her captors mansion she started to learn more things on her own. After she went to the city to look for other vampires she was taught more on that

He went to a decent school, and has a good grasp on most things. His forte was arcane magic which he had to learn a bit hush hush on his own and then he later was invited to a circle of wizards after being caught snooping too much

LOVER: Who was your OC's first partner/lover? How did they get together? What was their relationship like? Are they still together? (combined kiss and sxe into this one too)

Sif’s had lovers before. Her first kiss was with some guy back at the commune she grew up in (and turned out it was a bet in the group of boys who can get a kiss from the weird girl). First relationship was with a young woman she hunted for and in return she made her clothes. Romps she’s had here and there

Sif was Emil’s first everything, it was awkward at first. That and all the conditioning Emil had endured and having to break away from to be truly happy and not beating himself up at every chance.

Haven’t given Arvid’s love life that much though but he does strike me as a bit of a keenk. Probably before he got involved with Emil and Sif he had lovers, first kiss was with a girl and he went “hm, no”. He’s been raising Eha as a single parent but that doesn’t mean he’s been kissless and sexless the whole time (Eha doesn’t need to know)

Eha’s had a first kiss with a girl, no proper relationships yet. (She and Staňa will be a thing and like i said I might indulge and have her and Nikolaj have something too)

She’s kissed before, no real relationships yet. There was a time with some of the other blood slaves after killing their captors, they bonded over the trauma and were like “are we an item now? Surely? I feel like we belong together” but it was the trauma talking and neither of them were in a place to be in relationship in

Nikolaj dabbles in romance, he got some sweethearts in school, less in the wizard circle, but you know what happens in those wizard towers. Men, women, neither, both 

(I want you to know none of them are straight and all are mentally ill one way or the other)

BATTLE: What was your OC's first fight or battle experience? What do they remember from it? Did it affect them in any way, and if so, how?

First battle for him was after being clothed in mail, handed a sword and thrown into the far west to the outpost. He was very soon after attacked by very angry forest spirits. They left a massive scar on his chest and it was overall not very fun nor glorious for him, he positively got his ass handed to him

She inherited her fathers role as the veil warden of the area, so she does her part mostly by casting wards and traveling through her territory to see nothing is coming through the veil. But when something does she needs to fight. Luckily for her her first actual battle was against a minor spirit, who after being tossed around fled.

Arvid had not seen battle before meeting Sif, and even then he had to be pushed out of the way for Sif and Emil to do their thing against creatures that go bump in the night. He has seen the aftermath of many battles though.

Eha’s first battle was a fisticuffs with another girl in school, which she won, and she got the first taste of hey, you might not just be a normal girl after all because of how badly she overpowered the other girl.

Her first battle was when the raider came, she gave it a good effort, they did take her kicking and screaming and biting and scratching, but she was no match for armed people.

He was very theoretical in his practice of magic, so his first battle was when he dove to Tuonela, and all the spirits that had not yet passed the river were very very keen on catching a ride back up with him.

KILL: When was the first time your OC killed someone? How did they feel about it then, and do they still think about it now? If your OC has never killed before, would they? Under what circumstance?

She had to kill a witch hunter, it was her or them, she knew they’d send her to a witch trial and kill her, it was pure self defense. It still felt bad. After that many have come after her and all of them have died, it did get easier. (It was easier to wipe out an military camp though, fuck those bootlickers about to colonize HER land)

Also a witch hunter. One that had Sif locked in a church basement (where they first met, how cute), Arvid was helping her escape and Emil stumbled in on the worst possible time. Arvind was already taking her out of the place, Emil had a shadow, Arvid told him to get rid of them, (and Arvid has been a like a father to Emil so of course this boy just does as is told). They successfully escape, and then Emil breaks down over having killed someone (while Sif is digging a bullet out of herself, and Arvid is struggling on who to help right now)

Arvid’s never killed someone directly (and technically he only told Emil to get rid of their pursuer), there’s no way he’d willingly kill someone

Never killed anyone, doesn’t even wanna think about a situation where she might need to, that's just… no, not her life, should not be her life.

She’s killed, her first kill was her master, it was brutal, bloody, cathartic (and then she ate him, she didn’t even know that's how you become a vampire she was just so blinded by fury she wanted to make sure nothing of him remained and consume her trauma that way), it was her taking power to herself, so no one can ever victimize her again. She carries that rage with her as she carries her masters power

He’s never killed, does suspect down the down he might have to and doesn't look forward to it

[pigeonfr]

The Witch of Driftwood Drag

Wind rattled the ramshackle wooden buildings perched on the edge of the water. Louhi pulled up her cloak, determined despite the chill. Here. This was the place. Louhi breathed in the magic, grinning with sharp teeth as it swirled within her and grew through her own power. The delta nearby converged on a leyline, and magic spilled over toward what remained of the tiny town. Estate, she corrected. Not town. This would be her grand palace, her reckoned lair. It was perfect.

Slowly, she slinked down the plank and entered the city proper. It bobbed up and down with her passing, almost splashing her cloak but for a flick of a spell. The main building, the one large enough that it might be called a house, loomed over the others with the proper amount of menace for Louhi to feel at home instantly. Foliage dripped from the rotten eves and some of the wood had been eaten away. No matter. Her spell could freeze it in the moment, hold it in time forever.

Louhi set her staff down and flicked her tail, letting her spell wash over the building to lock it in place. No need to worry about punching a hole through the floor. She strode within and set her things down, sighing as she examined the ratty interior. Perfect, perfect, if only -- A noise.

Louhi snapped around, staff at the ready, only for her mouth to curl into a smile. She ducked down below the window, listening. Distant growls and the clunk of hefty bodies. They drew nearer, sniffing about, hungering after her magic. This was familiar. Magic often drew the ferals to it, and an unwary mage could be torn asunder by sharp fangs if they weren’t careful. Oh, but Louhi was careful. Eager, even. Louhi slunk from her spot and drew chalk lines around the doorway, working quickly at what would be her net. From her satchel she gathered the necessary ingredients for a certain type of spell. She breathed in more arcana, filling her body with it, becoming a beacon herself. The growls stopped. Now, motion: Quick, furious steps. One crushing blow took out the door and a flash of fur announced a pack of Tundra. Louhi slammed her staff against the wooden floor and snap -- The spell closed. The Tundra smashed against the magical net, growling and tearing and ripping at the air, but unable to move more than a few steps. They rushed forward into the circle laid upon the floor and another thunderclap of sound announced the closure of the second spell. They froze. Louhi smiled. Finally, her magic -- with a sharp motion she unleashed it upon the Tundra. Their minds fluttered delicately, alarmed, before being hammered down by the force of the spell. Only one thought remained: Obey. One by one the Tundra awkwardly knelt before her. Louhi lifted her chin, grinning, as this was her due. Bowing servants. Obedient pets. Now this was home. “Names!” She snapped. “Virvatuli, darling. Step forward.” A tundra broke free of the pack, taking a single step forward. “You, dear, are to gather dragons for me. Many, many dragons. Understand? Search the woods, search the fields. A weary traveler, a reckless adventurer -- all to me. Nod if you get it.” The tundra Virvatuli nodded. Excellent. This guaranteed her a steady supply of test subjects. “Next!” She examined them. “Vetehinen.” Another tundra made their way forward. “You, my sweet, will be my executioner. When I tire of my subjects, you will drown them in the river and dispose of their useless bodies.” A distant nod. “Aarni! I demand that you will watch over my hoard. And finally, Levänluhta. Darling Levä -- I need you to keep a very close eye on the dragons that come here. They are to understand their purpose. Any intruders are to be dealt with swiftly.” The final two grunted their ascent. Louhi curled her tail around her, drawing up her cloak in a rare moment of joy. This far exceeded her expectations. This lair would host her new experiments, her greatest accomplishments. She could feel it. Freedom and power, all in her grasp. If only those fools could see her now. ---

Her test wasn’t going well at all. Louhi growled and pounded her staff. The subject wavered over the chessboard, unable to make their own moves, only able to make the moves Louhi herself wanted them to make. “Move that -- No!” Louhi shook her head. “Just make a move. Any move!” Nothing. Not a single inch of motion. Only a confused, pained glance. “Fine!” Louhi pulled herself to her feet, overturning the table. “See if you can breathe!” The subject’s eyes went wide, their mouth falling open, water running over their chin as they gurgled alarm. Their claws flew to their throat, scrabbling at the flesh, before they fell over, uselessly dead. Louhi sighed. Where was Vetehinen when you needed her? With a final scoff, Louhi took her eyes from her subject and retreated up to the second floor. She sat at her desk with a furious breath. She’d have to... Louhi pulled forth the tome she had yet to open. Its chains rattled ominously at her as she set it down before her. For only a moment, fear. “I’m never afraid,” Louhi snapped. She ripped the chains from their holdings and tore open the tome. Glorious knowledge stretched before her, but the page it had settled on -- oh… Just what she needed. Louhi greedily absorbed the words, a cruel, toothy smile opening wide on her face. A potion, of course, for the spell. It had to be ingested, to be closer to the beating heart. Necessary for its potency and accuracy. Louhi brewed relentlessly at her cauldron. Unable to taste test the potion, she glared at its wild, swirling colors, as if the secrets would become visible. The tome’s notes told her the ingredients, but not much else. Still, her skill was unrivaled. She felt confident that along with her magic, this would work perfectly. If only, if only she had a -- A knock at the door and a familiar grunt. “Virvatuli!” Louhi called. “This better be good, or I swear…” Before leaving, she capped a bottle of the potion and set it in her satchel. She slowly made her way down the rickety stairs to the first floor, where Virvatuli stood with her new guest. Louhi’s eyes widened and her jaw fell open. A pearlcatcher like herself, with a beautiful color she hadn’t seen before. His pearl shined from his satchel and a charming smile rested on his face. Louhi stared dumbly in the force of his looks, unable to come up with a single word or spell. “Hello!” the pearlcatcher sang out, cheery. “I’m Sampo. Pleased to make your acquaintance!” Louhi forced herself to move and greet him with an outstretched paw. He shook eagerly. “My, what a beautiful lair! You are the Witch of Driftwood Drag, are you not?” “Why... “ Louhi swallowed down her feelings. “Why, yes. That would be me.” “How wondrous to find you at last!” He looked about. “May I sit?” “Of course.” Louhi gave a nod to a chair that looked like it might snap under his weight. “Let me get you something to drink.” While Louhi slid into the kitchen, Sampo apparently couldn’t keep quiet. “You might not know me at all, not yet, but I’m a wizard!” he shouted from the main room so she could hear. “I travel near and far, wherever the spells are!” He laughed at his own rhyme. “It feels strange to see a fellow spellcaster stay in one place. Ever get lonely?” “Yes,” Louhi said, sweeping back into the room, now with the potion settled in a wooden cup. “Ever so lonely.” Sampo paused, tilting his head, almost hesitating a moment before his winning smile returned. He nodded, face wrinkling with his sunshiny grin. “Ah, maybe we can discuss spell-craft together. I might be able to stay for a few days, give these old bones a rest.” “That would be lovely,” Louhi said, staring at the cup. “Drink, please.” Sampo seemed delighted with his host. He lifted the cup in cheer. “To new friendship!” He laughed. “And happy endings!” To eternal servitude, Louhi thought, and an obedient pet. The drink vanished under Sampo’s attention. He smacked his lips. “Another!” he called, right before his head slammed against the table, his body entirely limp. “No!” Louhi rushed forward. “Sampo!” She shook at him, maddened. Had the potion killed him outright? No, it couldn’t be. She’d done everything perfectly. Her magic, it couldn’t just fail -- Sampo twitched. He lifted his head, blinking owlishly, before he turned to see Louhi still touching him. Something in the air snapped and, and, and… His smile returned. “Hello, my love,” he said brightly. “How may I serve?” --- Late that night, as the two lay entangled in Louhi’s bed, the tome crackled open its lid and spoke. “Your damnation comes,” the tome intoned. “I’ve known for a while,” Louhi said with a wry smile. “Let it come.” The tome clicked shut. “Maybe damnation is fit to serve.” Louhi and the characters belong to Valo.