#wip: orillium series

[doriians]

Best sentence you've written recently - go!

(Or if it's spoilers, one you remain fond of!)

thank you so much for the question and SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER!!!! because i'm in my hyperfocus about the orillium saga, have the last lines i wrote for book one of the code trilogy (which is the main trilogy in the orillium saga!) - the shadow and ameian don't talk nearly enough, and i love writing them when they do!! even though they seem like completely opposite characters, they're far more similar than they seem: both would die for ilse. and they're both trans!! trans solidarity!!

(this is more than a sentence but i can't resist an opportunity to show these two)

ch1: batting the beehive

“Where have you been?” 

If the Shadow was surprised by their sister’s appearance, they didn’t let it show. It was difficult to make out either of their faces: under their cloak, the Shadow’s jaw ticked once, while Hallander’s eyebrows drew together. At best, both of them simply looked resigned.

“I should be asking you the same question.” They returned evenly. “Dinner finished a quarter of an hour ago, Ilse. As quick as you are, I don’t think it’s possible to leave the hall, fetch a coat, and cut the Prince’s hair in such a short space of time.”

The Shadow’s smile, sharp and cold, mellowed when they glanced to Ameian. There was a bruise at their jaw that Ilse hadn’t noticed before, colored ugly with yellow and brown. With a bow of their head, they examined him closely, before nodding.

“It suits you,” they said, “far more than the other one did. If you'd like, I'll talk to your parents. Convince them the haircut is for the best.”

Ameian stammered, but returned the Shadow's expression with an awkward, bashful smile of his own. “...Thank you. I'd be grateful."

"If there's anything else, let me know. I'm sure the seamstress owes me a favour. If you'd like some better suited clothes, just say the word. I won't ask questions."

When their gaze returned to Ilse, the friendly demeanour dissipated like smoke.

"You, on the other hand, have some explaining to do."

[doriians]

could you give a brief summary of coded and/or the orillium universe? it sounds incredible !!

you know i had to make this as dramatic as possible >:) i couldn't resist talking about it woohoo i'm so invested in this world thank you for reminding me of my passion for it !!!! ily aerie <33

CODED: BOOK ONE OF THE CODE TRILOGY / BOOK TWO OF THE ORILLIUM SERIES

With the air of a long-cornered dog, Ley eyed her, wary calculation splaying bow-legged across her face. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing," Ilse said honestly, and the smile that twitched at her lips felt petty, "But it would be a shame if something went wrong for them at the secondday festival. Something that made them more mindful of who they ignore in the future."

When Ley returned her grin, it promised blood. "My liege," she said, steely eyed, "I would be honoured."

Two arrows. Two targets, one hit, one miss. A cry of fear. That's all it takes to change the world.

Ilse Deliava has only ever wanted simple things: recognition, freedom, and family. Rebellion seems like it can give her all three - if only the Prince's Shadow, ruler of the code allegiance in Orillium, will let it. But the Shadow proves themselves to be a bigger problem than expected when rebellion turns to bloodshed, and war looms larger than Ilse ever imagined.

Running out of borrowed time, armed only with the fleeting safety given to her by the rebel camp, Ilse knows that she has to make a stand. But how do you win a war when the enemy is forever two steps ahead of you?

How do you win a war when the enemy is your own sibling?

The first book of three, the Code trilogy centers Ilse and the struggle for identity and independence in a world with power beyond imagination. With betrayal, found family, corruption, and a code to cheat death itself, The Orillium Saga is about attempting to fix a world corrupted with power - and the cost of doing so.

[doriians]

No idea what any of this means, but, may I ask if there's a set plot? Or is it more of like a concept that just exists

THANK YOU FOR DARING TO ASK DESPITE KNOWING NOTHING HAHAH i gen appreciate it :]

there’s a plot!!!! and concepts!!!! and a first draft of a first book!!!!! coded started off as a trilogy that has ,, spiralled into a huge universe of standalone books, side-stories, short collections of stories, and prequels/sequels. the main trilogy is what i wanna finish this year though ! (long post ahead)

it started as a retelling of the dream smp l’manburg war actually 😭 but spiralled into a fantasy world because everything i write does that lol — it’s set in a world where the whole universe is made up of code (think like a binary code!) that a certain group of people can delete, alter, or create to change the world in some way. brei (the antagonist) and their sister ilse (the protagonist of trilogy) are the two surviving members of their family, who were essentially the “leaders” of people capable of manipulating the world code !! they protect, guard, and serve as the royal family’s “shadows” — essentially there to give them power that the royal family themselves don’t have.

HOWEVER, there is a growing resentment about how closely guarded the secrets of coding are. a rebel group of coders and non-coders breaks off from the kingdom, declares they’re sharing this knowledge with anyone who joins them. obviously this seems great, but this kind of power is absolutely, and absolute power in the wrong hands corrupts absolutely.

ilse joins the rebels, eager to prove herself and defy her sibling. brei — just called “the shadow” in most of the trilogy — convinces the royal family to fight against the rebels, creating a full scale independence war.

brei has a complicated relationship with coding, and with ryn, who is the head of the rebel camp wonderfall. they know ryn’s intentions are good but also know that she’s delving into “hacking” rather than “coding” — essentially, she’s touching parts of the code that should never be accessed. brei has done the same thing themselves in their youth, and it ended badly. they’re determined to stop ryn spreading the knowledge of hacking to anyone else, but to do that, they have to play the part of the antagonist against their sister and her new rebel friends.

it’s messy, for brei. they love ilse but have such a complicated relationship with her, especially because she hates them for being a typical terrible older sibling. it’s c!diskduo at their most volatile, essentially — but because i’m a huge sucker for character reconciliation, they eventually part ways civilly.

SORRY FOR RAMBLING !! i know most of this is probably incoherent and messy but ill clarify more later. i’m so proud of this series and love it more than i can explain and its evolved so much since i originally began writing. tysm for asking about it you’re my new favourite person ever now

[doriians]

how did you come up with the name for orillium? (it sounds like such a pretty word)

@rydykg

ask me about my wip series, the orillium trilogy!!

AHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH.... i love the series name so much :] i'm so much more attached to it than the actual names of the individual books (coded, recoded, decoded, hacked.... i'll come up with something cooler sounding after lol).

orillium is the name of the kingdom the books are set in!! essentially the kingdom is run by a mixture of non-coders (so just like. regular people) and coders, so the royal family take care of non-coding related business while their shadows deal with anything magical (code is kind of magic in this world). i actually have no idea where i came up with it HAHA the first time i can see it being used was in an early version of my dsmp fic snowfall from 2020, and i guess i stole it from there !!

this website (safe link) is p good for fantasy names and has a whole bunch of them, so it's possible i took it from there or adapted it from answers there!!! orillium is my tag for this series, and cazaras is my world tag for the protege series (cazaras is the world's name). apparently i'm better with place-naming than people-naming SDNSJDKN

tysm for asking :'))) i love the name i'm v proud of how nice it sounds

[doriians]

what sort of personality does brei have?

ask me about my wip, the orillium trilogy!

thank you so much for giving me the chance to talk about my bastard <33 the trouble with brei is that you never really see their full personality until book three, because ilse, the protagonist, is a notoriously unreliable and biased narrator. the most we see of their personality until book three is when they think ilse can't overhear them - because underneath everything, their biggest goal in life is to protect their sister, and they can't do that if she knows they're vulnerable and NOT made of stone:

they're cold, but they're lonely. so lonely. they had a horrific childhood, like seriously awful, but all ilse knows is that her sibling disappeared for a year, and came back fucked up when she was too young to remember different. as such, brei is erratic, reckless to the point of stupidity, calculating to the point of uncanniness, and desperate. beyond anything, by the time the trilogy takes place, they're desperate to save their world, save ilse, save themselves and their loved ones.

they're stubborn, cunning, decisive. except when it comes to personal things, that are too close to home, when brei worries they'll do something wrong. running a kingdom is much easier than running a life of their own, and it's hard for them to build an identity for themselves. it just feels so powerless.

and even though they are one of the most powerful characters in the trilogy, brei is really, really vulnerable. always. they care too much to be anything else.

[doriians]

the world is brei’s. it’s always been brei’s. until it’s ilse’s, and it’s only when it becomes hers that brei can see it deserves to exist because they love their sister so deeply. ohhhh my god these siblings fuck me up badly

CODED INTRO COMING TONIGHT <333

[doriians]

wip writing wednesday (if you’re still taking these). hacked?

@rydykg

hello!!!!!! i absolutely am still taking these — i never miss an opportunity to write or talk about my writing :]

hacked is set in a world where the main form of ‘magic’ is through changing, deleting, rewriting, or altering the code that makes up the universe. as science-y as it sounds, it’s a high fantasy book, a prequel to my trilogy, coded!! the whole series is about ilse ghild, but this is about her sibling, brei, and about how they meet hallander and ley, their best friends and partners-in-antagonism hahah

this snippet i just wrote features hallander before she’s even met brei: the dark-haired girl she mentions is ley. little does hal know, she’s about to become best friends with her when they’re partnered on a frankly terrifying mission to kill brei :))

Hallander, finally, allowed herself to relax, tuning out the words of their instructor and letting her attention roam elsewhere. The girl from across the field didn’t return, and nor did the man dragging her off; idly, she wondered what happened to disobedience in such a place like the Academy. One thing was certain: she doubted she’d ever see the dark-haired fierce girl again.

(For a moment, a blade of disappointment burrowed between her ribs. Frowning, Hallander wondered why she cared.)

HACKED, DRAFT ONE: chapter one

Send me Wip-Writing Wednesday asks!!

[doriians]

if people could send me questions about brei / the coded series / orillium verse then i would love to answer them !!! currently sitting in my last final almost finished and eager to distract myself talking about my fave wip series rn :]