#why do all my AUs end up with Skul and Val being deranged murderers together? idk

[beigetiger]

Random thoughts for a new SP au that I’ll probably never end up writing 😀

Premise is set in something that hasn’t happened in canon yet actually, so it’s technically also part of the AU. There are still some spoilers for AMFoM though if anyone is hoping to avoid those.

Basically Winter wants to take over the world, right? She has a few years to plan that out and try an execute it, but she makes the mistake of trusting some of the wrong people and Valkyrie ends up knowing about the plan and trying to stop her.

At the end of fight between the general Sanctuary and Winter’s folks, a lot of people from a lot of different sides (including the two mentioned before) are trying to achieve some very different things, and the rib-bone wand they’re using goes haywire and ascends numerous people to varying degrees of godhood.

Bunch of these people are also now crazy, which leads to mortals finding out about magic, and within a few years Earth becomes a blasted wasteland with groups of sorcerers and mortals forming societies around superpowered sorcerers in order to form safety nets.

Some of the groups include:

- Mevolent, who got out because the Eternity Gate was destroyed and has put much of his effort into resurrecting Serafina. He was successful, and now the two of them intend on trying to take over this world and then getting back to Dimension X and taking that back as well.

- Valkyrie basically became a Seraph and is both incredibly powerful and insane. On top of being similar to harpy Val but with way more wings, she can also absorb the personhood of people she cares about when they’re dying (only if she’s able to touch them) and then they basically become an extension of her that she can summon or talk to. However, these people slowly start to lose more and more of their personality as the years go by as their souls are utterly meshed with hers. Also on her team is Anton Shudder, who came back with his soul half-fused with his gist. So instead of summoning his gist, he basically turns into his gist for a few seconds at a time (and also has problems with morality). Also in Val’s gang are Nefarian and (on occasion) Dusk.

- Skulduggery had to put most of the shadow armour back on (for numerous reasons), so while he isn’t Lord Vile, he’s also become a lot more violent and now lives as the king of the necromancers. Solomon and Melancholia are both on his team. While most people consider him and Valkyrie to be on different sides, they still love each other to an obsessive degree and their teams are basically fused. Consider them one team for plot purposes.

- Winter is still alive and has taken her sister’s place as a morally upstanding person, leading a rebellion against the more violent regimes currently running around. Alter is with her, but Mia is dead because of Anton Shudder murdering her on accident. As a result, Winter is dead set on killing Anton, which Valkyrie will not allow because she and Anton view each other as siblings.. Valkyrie considers Winter’s attempts cute but pathetic and usually defeats Winter with ease, but hasn’t killed her because she doesn’t want to kill her sister.

- The Irish Sanctuary, or at least the ones that didn’t go absolutely insane. It includes Ghastly, who is determined to actually make his area as safe as possible for those who want to stay there, Tanith, Fletcher, Militsa (who has broken up with Valkyrie again and probably for good this time), China (who’s been aged down to about her forties because of the magic burst), Dexter, Saracen, Temper (who’s normal but has no magic and relies on magic tattoos instead), Kierre, the zombiecule, and various other characters. Valkyrie doesn’t kill them because she still loves a large percentage of the people who run it, but Mevolent and Serafina have no issue with wiping them out and so they have to be careful. Auger is also there, and he works for Doctor Synecdoche. They all worry about Valkyrie’s state of mind and wonder if they could be able to fix her, but as of now have got nothing to work with. Frightening, Aurora, and the Monster Hunters are there as well, and they actually had to find a way in from the ruins of other countries.

- The Faceless Ones have broken out of their prison because of Malice, but they are significantly less powerful than before because of them sacrificing their power. Valkyrie’s team is determined to murder every last one of them, and they only have a small cult worshiping them left.

- Another cult, this time worshiping Darquesse and believing that they can reach out to her again and get her to come fix the absolute mess that is the planet. Consists of Bennet Troth, other religious figures of the Darquesse Society, and anyone who wishes for this nightmarish hell to be over.

- Omen is also still alive and is a signum linguist, although he also sometimes goes out of his home and draws art on walls and such encouraging people to keep going with life. He shares an underground laboratory with Abyssinia and Professor Nye, who’ve managed to keep a pretty healthy dynamic going given the circumstances. Most people don’t know they’re still alive and they prefer to keep it that way. Funniest trio of roommates ever and I will slap them with the found family dynamic if I find it amusing.

- Cadaver and a version of harpy Valkyrie who’s mind was partially fixed (and who I hope to give a name to). They’re both kind of insane and have gone off to do their own thing, but still sometimes show up to throw everybody off balance a little, although they often team up with Valkyrie and Skulduggery.

- Confelicity, Destrier, and other major scientists have congregated to basically create what passes for a magic university nowadays/scientists for hire. All other sides of the war have decided to not antagonize them, and they exist in relative peace. If a family has an especially clever young sorcerer and isn’t cultishly dedicated to whichever godlike sorcerer they work for, it’s normal for them to try to send their kid off to said university. They technically are still in danger from the Faceless Ones, but some of the more violent groups are willing to protect them in exchange for some service. The Engineer works at the university also, and students enjoy having conversations with it.

- The witches. All the different groups have formed an approximate alliance in order to get other people to leave them alone. They will also take in mortals in exchange for servitude, and many mortals consider it better than going to work for a sorcerer.

Other notes include:

- The god-killers are around and spread throughout multiple different teams of people. Valkyrie is still a walking god-killer (there was a botched attempt at removing the crystals from her system in order to preserve her power) and Skulduggery has the sword. Aside from that, Saracen has the bow, Winter has the spear, and Mevolent has the dagger. There is also some effort being put into sending shunters into other dimensions to try and find more god-killers to use, but it’s such an inefficient use of resources that it’s not a huge pressing issue.

- There are other singular figures, such as Crepuscular, who roam the landscape, but they usually aren’t powerful enough to do anything

- The rib-bone wand is now obliterated and nobody can use it anymore. Valkyrie also destroyed Project Veritas shortly before she went insane (due to an argument she was having with Ghastly about Lord Vile), so now Ghastly’s energy is completely focused on keeping others safe.

- Anton Shudder found a hidden room in one of Roarhaven’s buildings that contains echo stones of Erskine Ravel from various stages of his life, right up until a few weeks before he betrayed them. Anton keeps them around and talks to them sometimes, especially the older echo stones, because he has complicated feelings about Erskine and what he did. If Valkyrie or Skulduggery ever found the stones they would probably destroy them on instinct.

- Gog Magog is very much a thing, but people are struggling to figure out where he is. As a result, him and his followers are currently considered a threat on the horizon but not an issue that needs too much work being put into it right now.

- China is vaguely annoyed that magic keeps messing with her age.

- Abyssinia’s powers have been extended by the magic burst and she is now able to not only suck up other’s life force, but also move said life force into other people if they are injured or dying.

- Malice let the Faceless Ones out but instead of creating a cult around them, she basically acts as a shadow for Winter, giving her advice and making sure nobody is sneaking up to kill her, etc.

- Valkyrie has developed something similar to an obsession with finding and collecting the souls of people she knew and possibly even cared about. She’s definitely collected Billy-Ray Sanguine, and is currently fixating on trying to find Stephanie’s soul and apologizing to it for everything that has happened.

There is more I was thinking about, but that’s all I can remember for now. If anyone has questions feel free to put them in my askbox, because I really feel like writing right now.