#xavier the admirer

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

The Statue of Irene and Xavier

THEY ARE EATING MY BRAIN

my headcanon is that they find this somewhere hidden on the alliance island and are just like: aphmau and laurance???? the hell???

anyways here’s the inspo v

[xerith-42]

Guys you don't understand I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams by Weezer is literally about the entire cast of MCD

It's about Irene only realizing how much she loves Xavier after she loses him

It's about Katelyn mourning the love she never confessed to Jeffory after his death

It's about Garroth in the Irene Dimension realizing that he was on the verge of losing Laurance

It's about Aphmau bitterly and violently missing Garroth when they're literally worlds apart

It's about Zoey grieving Aphmau and lamenting that she never confessed her love before she disappeared

It's about Nicole seeing Dante in Dmitri and regretting how it all went down but being too far gone to fix it

It's about Aphmau feeling like she didn't do enough to keep Aaron from throwing his life away

It's about Aphmau desperately missing Laurance when he leaves and berating herself for not doing more to save him

[kurithedweeb]

Okay SO, I think it was @al-ld who made the post about feeling like Xavier was retconned into being Esmund because the Jury of Nine is under O'khasis control if not directly under a Ro'Meave who are regarded as Esmund's bloodline, but I had the thought of what if they were both Ro'Meaves and then it turned into rewrite canon so I'm inflicting it on y'all too.

What if Esmund and Xavier were brothers, what if they were twins? They did everything together, they were close as could be. They became guards together and planned that if either of them ever ended up having to become Lord in the event their older sibling the heir died, they would do that together too. And then Irene came into the picture.

They both loved her. And Esmund was chosen as a Divine Warrior, and Xavier who had served at Irene's side as her personal guard, maybe even her head guard, was somehow left behind. 

The distance gave Xavier clarity. He loved her, yes, but he could see the way she was around Shad and quickly came to realize that she would never feel towards him what he felt towards her, and even if she did she would long outlive him on account of her seeming immortality, but maybe he could still protect her the way he once had after death. He went home to O'khasis, instituted the first guard academy there and the Jury of Nine, which he led and which followed the Divine Warriors on their later adventures as they went on their quest to save the world. Maybe he and Esmund get back to how they once were. During the separation, he became known as the Admirer because he admired both Irene and his brother from afar. 

In the meantime, Esmund followed in Irene's footsteps. He only looked back when he realized his brother was far behind, no longer following where Esmund led the way he always had before, and this spurs doubts about his position in the Divine Warriors. Did he do the right thing getting so close? Is it worth it when the one person who has been at his side his entire life, who he had always planned spending the rest of his life alongside, was gone? He followed Irene because he loved her, but it takes a lot longer for him to realize what Xavier had, and once he does the realization makes him feel like he had left his brother behind for nothing despite his work as the Protector, because she didn't love him either and even if she did he knew he couldn't make himself admit his feelings for her. So he sat and stewed in all these feelings, wondering whether he should leave for home, if they would be able to complete the mission they had set out to complete without him, and the guilt eats him up inside. 

Then Xavier shows back up with the Jury in tow. Esmund realizes that his brother has had an entire life without him while he was away. 

He made an institution that would outlive them all, he moved on, he's married with a kid on the way and Esmund was so far out of reach that this is the first he's hearing of it. They catch up, they talk about everything they should have years ago, and Xavier has to leave before the final battle when news reaches them that the heir of O'khasis, their older sister’s only child, is dead. Someone has to be the heir, someone has to put the Lord back together again, and Esmund is too important to the mission. 

This is when he realizes that this entire time, Xavier was the one leaving him behind and now he will never catch up. But he can protect Irene, something Xavier dedicated a massive chunk of his life to, and so he became Irene's guard in his brother's stead and remained so until the so-called betrayal' of Shad, a man he had come to think of as a brother too, and afterwards he went home to O'khasis to be with Xavier again. 

Further down the line, Esmund returns to Divine Warriors business but helps run the guard academy and Jury of Nine, and when their older sister dies the twins rule O'khasis as the only duo of Lords in known history. Esmund never married, his heart belonging solely to Irene, and so never had any children and when Xavier died his children became the heirs, beginning the modern Ro'Meave line. Esmund rules alone for a number of years, taking care of Xavier's family, the guard academy, the Jury, and holds O'khasis to the ideals of the woman he once loved, which turns O'khasis into the religious powerhouse it is today. When Esmund dies, his relic gets passed down to Xavier's children, eventually making it all the way down to Garroth and Zane, which makes anyone not in the know about Xavier believe that the Ro'Meaves are Esmund's direct descendants.

[cinnamontoastcroonch]

@laurancezvahlslefteyebrow @gonedreaminggg @xerith-42

a small topic for the council today: what do we think about the potential impacts of entering the irene dimension on laurance? or the impacts on any shadow knight who somehow entered it for that matter?

i’ve been banging this around my brain for a bit. do we think this may have intensified his calling? since he - in theory - reached the furthest possible point from shad?

also, would being in such a divine place have “awoken” xavier’s relic? empowered it? for that matter, when does he even absorb xavier’s relic—i can’t remember if we’ve ever discussed. let me know what you guys think! :))

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

When I woke up this morning I did not expect to be shipping Xavier the Admirer with Sir Vincent of New Meteli in 10 hours time…but this server is a wonderful, wonderful place

[silverjurors]

Thinking about the Jury

Thinking about Xavier

Thinking about O'Khasian culture

Will post about it later

[faun-the-hound]

Going back to the MCD rewrite for a bit

The Story of The Phoenix

Irene was married to the Hollow King, chosen from a crowd of noble women to be Queen of the ancient kingdom that once occupied north-west Ru'aun.

The marriage wasn't overly affectionate or healthy, but it was amicable. They were friends, co-workers, running the Kingdom together. Irene gave the King one child, a son she later entrusted to her head guard, Xavier, to raise when the Hollow King started losing his mind to the Void corruption.

Xavier travelled south across Ru'aun into werewolf territory to keep the boy safe from the war between his mother and father. He was six when they left, eight when Xavier began teaching him to fight, protect himself, hunt and forage, then eighteen when it was finally safe enough to return to the north.

Stories of the Divine Warriors began circulating after a few years, tales of people with god-like Magicks, fighting off the destruction the Void and Hollow King were causing. Wild stories of undead soldiers being fended away by a woman who shone brighter than the sun itself.

Xavier found it hard to believe, until the boy was fifteen. The monsters, undead beasts shrouded in darkness, limbs stained red and glistening, slick with viscera of the recently dead. Xavier fought them back for days with the other soldiers of the magi village they had called home for the last nine years.

The boy got involved in the fighting, against his guardian's wishes, getting cornered for his resemblance to Irene. Having raven hair and golden eyes just like his mother. The Primal Knights cornered him, holding Xavier down, forcing him to watch as they closed in, raising their weapons, ready to kill the boy he had raised as a sone for almost a decade.

A flash of silver cut the arm off the nearest Knight. A golden burst of light- a lion made of glowing golden wisps lunged for another. Tendrils of purple shadow tore away the three holding Xavier down, and a burst of vivid red fire crashed into another.

The Divine Warriors descended on the Knights like locusts, picking off and making very short work against the invading dark forces. Irene herself arrived like a comet, tearing through the Knights, enveloped in light, bright and beautiful as the blazing sun.

Xavier almost didn't recognise her. But he could never forget those eyes.

He was amazed by the power his friends had acquired, seeking answers from Irene as she dealt with the last of the Knights. The wings on her back, spear in her hand, and light that shone from the runes across her arms and face, he needed to know what it was.

Even regular Magick was something feared in many of the small villages, and this- this was something else entirely.

Irene brushed him off, though. Assured him that she would be fine, leaving him behind to continue caring for the boy. Promised that she'd explain another time.

Before leaving, she gave Xavier a small blessing, along with Menphia, giving him Magick to control fire, to protect the village should the Knights return.

It took three years and seventeen more attacks before Xavier heard from his Queen again. He used the fire gifted to him to protect the village and his boy, the Prince, from the corruption. Earning himself the nickname The Phoenix as he fought battle after battle, bringing down the Hollow King's forces.

Until one day, in the middle of a raid, the Knights' eyes dimmed, and they fell, inanimate corpses once again. Two days after, a letter arrived for The Phoenix from the capital of the ancient kingdom. The Hollow King was dead, the Void had receded, and the Divine Warriors had won.

Xavier returned to O'khasis with his boy. Irene was the Lord of the city, denouncing the title of monarch and creating the system of individual Lordship that is still in place by the time of Avira(Aphmau, changing her name).

He returned to his position as head guard of O'khasis, soon creating the Jury of Nine when the amount of fans, assassins, suitors and general popularity became too much for Irene and the Divine Warriors to handle. Kul'zak gave up his position on the O'khasian council and disappeared from the map because of it.

When Noctis snapped, taken by the corruption, Xavier the Phoenix fought alongside his Lady, sending the boy, his boy, away with the protection of the Jury to the east of the region, as far away from the fighting as he could possibly get.

The Prince travelled for months, fighting off Shadow Knights, defending villages and rallying the people to fight. Helping more rural towns to organise, mediating disputes and electing officials to keep the towns organised and peaceful.

He settled on the east coast in the company of the jurors and his followers. Establishing a settlement on the coast while his mother and Dad were fighting their former friend on the opposite side of the region.

The word came on his thirtieth birthday. He held his own son in his arms, his wife at his side as he read the letter from Esmund- The Empty was dead, O'khasis was safe. The Matron, Lady Irene, had fallen in the combat, and Xavier was gravely wounded.

The Prince brought his family to his Dad's side one final time, the Jury of Nine returning to their rightful place in O'khasis. Xavier passed away with his boy and his guards at his side, and the Prince returned to his home on the east coast.

He named his village Phoenix Cove (later Phoenix Drop), in honour of the man who raised him, who was willing time and time again to give up his life for a boy that wasn't his, but who he loved as a son regardless.

[kurithedweeb]

What if they were both Ro'Meaves. What if they were brothers, twins even. What if Esmund did kill him despite that, or at least critically wounded him so he had to be left behind when the Divine Warriors went out to help people when before he went along as Irene's guard. Eventually Xavier came to realize while he would always love Irene he had to move on and became the Admirer from afar, meanwhile Esmund continued following in her footsteps and pining only to realize he hurt his brother for nothing because she was happy with Shad in a way he never saw when she was with him but he couldn't make himself move on.

Anyway, Xavier's the one who sired the modern Ro'Meave line because Esmund was a repressed idiot one time.

It sorta feels like Xavier was retconned into being Esmund and they just never brought it up again.

Like why is the jury of nine under the control of O’Khasis if not made by a Ro’Meave!

And/Or Esmund’s petty little self killerd Xavier and no one knew so he could get close to Irene

[gumbootillustrations]

divine warriors loredump!

so yeah, the divine warriors! admittedly, i'm fascinated by them - i rlly rlly wish that we'd gotten to see more of them + their powers/domains/abilities in mcd, especially considering that they're a driving force behind the plot. so, i've gone ahead and done some redesigns for the sigils (above) and expanded on the domains and abilities of the divine warriors within the context of ashes, ashes.

more under the cut!

irene retains her matron title. for her domains, i rlly wanted to lean into her being a deity of life and family; as such, her official domains are  life, light, healing, childbirth and parenthood, fertility, marriage, tradition, beauty, and romantic/familial/platonic love. menphia also has domains over aspects of love (namely over sexual/carnal/manic love), but i wanted them to sort of have an aphrodite ourania (irene) and aphrodite pandemos (menphia) sort of vibe. in terms of the abilites that her relic gives its wielders, its a lot of what's seen in canon mcd: lots of healing and light abilities, but also some dimensional manipulation and time manipulation stuff thrown in there for the shits and giggles.

for shad, i rlly wanted to play into him being both a mirror and a foil for irene. where irene creates, he destroys; where irene brings life, he brings death. his official domains are that of death, darkness, chaos, the afterlife, change, rot and decay, the Nether, bloodshed, and madness. although he's also a war deity like menphia (and, to an extent, esmund and xavier), he's mostly associated with the worst bits of battle - the blood, the rot, the awful awful deaths, that sort of thing. his relic grants its wielders a lot of destruction-associated powers like disintegration and rot/plague/death stuff, but also some shadow and blood manipulation as well.

like a lot of other folks, i felt like enki was the best fit for a knowledge deity. he looks after scholars, librarians, witches, and inventors; officially, his domains are those of knowledge, air, magick, prophecy, the weather, winter, reason, and lightning. from here, you'll start to see pretty much all the warriors having some sort of like. elemental association? is the best way i can put it. i've sort of based it off of the minor arcana of the tarot; the suit of swords, which is associated with air, is the suit of knowledge and the mental realm, which i thought was fitting for enki. enki is also one of the four seasonal divine warriors (the others being esmund, menphia, and kul'zak); he gets winter, mostly because of his centre of worship being in gal'ruk. wielders of his relic get air and weather manipulation powers, as well as powers related to memory and access to witchcraft (if they aren't witches already). they also gain clairvoyance.

esmund! again with the tarot symbolism; esmund is associated with the element of earth and the physical world, hence the mountain in his sigil. his domains are those of protection, earth, wealth, autumn, boundaries, earthquakes, guardhood, and the harvest. the domain over the harvest might seem a little left field but it makes sense i promise! i sort of saw esmund's association with the harvest not only being because of him being an earth deity, but also because i feel like being able to provide is a form of protection, and given the setting of mcd, i feel like being able to provide a good harvest is a part of that. this is also why he is associated with autumn. regarding the abilities that his relic provides, there's a lot of earth manipulation and barrier/force field creation stuff in there; his relic wielders are also freakishly stronger and more durable than those who wield other relics, sort of playing into esmund himself being a tank.

i changed menphia's title to 'the conqueror' because i thought it'd be a bit more fitting for her, especially considering how i'm working tu'la in ashes, ashes (more on that later). i also changed her colour scheme to more of a blue/copper theme despite her being a fire goddess - i thought it was neat, considering that blue flames are those that burn the hottest. her domains are those of warfare (the glorious bits), fire, soldiers, political power, summer, passion and courage, festivals and celebrations, and sexual/carnal/manic love. i'm still not suuuper sure on the abilities that her relic gives its wielders, but there's definitely some pyrokinesis and emotion/heat manipulation, along with some combat-specific foresight in there. i'm open to suggestions!

nothing much really changes regarding kul'zak. he's a nature deity and watches over journeymen and particularly sailors, given that he's a water/ocean deity; he's often worshipped by pirates. officially, his domains are travellers, water, animals, the wilderness, the cardinal directions and navigation, hunting, and spring. i really wanted to lean into him being a man of the wilderness and not really having a home in urban environments. as such, his relic grants its wielders a lot of wilderness-based abilities, like shapeshifting, water and plant manipulation, and camouflage, with a bit of teleportation in there for all your wandering needs.

xavier is probably the divine warrior that i've changed the most. first off, he becomes a divine warrior in ashes, ashes where he isn't in canon mcd. i also really wanted to lean into him being the founder of the jury of nine, hence his title - the justiciar. he's associated with the domains of guardhood (along with esmund), loyalty, metal and metalworkers, justice, balance and order, peace, brotherhood, devotion, and artisans. where esmund looks after the more physical side of being a guard (being your lord's shield and spear, aka the protection side of things), xavier looks after the more emotional side of being a guard - the devotion to your lord and the comradery that you share with your fellows. his relic's abilities capitalise on that, with its wielders being able to both amplify and nullify the magick of the people they're fighting alongside/against. there's also a bit of metal manipulation and a lot of supportive magick in there too.

and, as a fun little tidbit - a lineup of the divine warriors! (the layout is inspired by @star-boi0720 - the way you lay out your drawings like this is mint as 🤩)

i'm still not suuuper happy w kul'zak or irene's designs but i'll get there in the end i guess :)

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

ATTENTION FREAKS

Here are my Irene and Xavier designs <3

Aaaaaaand of course, headcanons and fun facts and stuff:

Irene:

Irene’s real name is Aphmau Shala’shaska. Irene is the name she uses in the public eye, to keep some sense of privacy.

She got her name from the Irena flower, a white and indigo flower that grows abundantly throughout the surrounding areas of Scaleswind. It’s best know for its medicinal properties, often used to heal cuts.

Kul’Zak was the one who suggested she come up with a knew name to use.

Aphmau’s grandmother, Sapphire, was cursed by a mage. The curse entails: Should your family ever bare twins, they shall be destined to bring upon death and destruction. They shall be destroy themselves, and neither good nor evil shall truly prevail in the end.

Sapphire’s daughter, Sylvanna, ending up having twins. They were named Aphmau and Raaph.

For fear of the curse, Aphmau was sent away to live with and be raised by a very powerful family friend, named Hyria. Hyria never told Aphmau about her real family, but she raised her as if she were her own, and she taught her everything she possessed could. Which was a lot given her hundreds of years of experience.

Aphmau was raised in the enchanted forest, trained to use her magicks from an early age. She was even taught about witchcraft by Hyria. When she was old enough, Hyria used enchanted ink to draw ruins on her so she could even learn how to actually use witchcraft.

Many people claim to be direct descendants of Irene, but the truth is, she never had any children.

Xavier:

Though he is remembered by history as Xavier the Admirer, his real name was Prince Xavier Laith of O’khasis.

Xavier was the nephew to the terrible king who ruled all of Ru’aun from O’khasis, Evren Laith.

He worked with the divine warriors both before and after they each became divine. He helped de-thrown his uncle, helped to end the wyvern-human war, and even helped seal Shad in the Nether.

He was offered the chance to become divine but declined. His reasoning; in order to obtain a relic, you must first sacrifice that which you love. Xavier only held love for one thing.. Irene.

Even after declining, he was still considered an honorary divine warrior, even if that much had been forgotten by history.

He loved Irene with his entire being, and she, him. But they never truly had the chance to allow that love to grow and flow. First, Xavier was taken prisoner by Shad, being transformed into some kind of beast. Xavier had to fight for control over his body and mind, and it was hard to be around Irene knowing she may not be safe with him. Then, as they were sealing Shad away, there was an explosion of magick, left in Shad’s wake. A shard of Shad’s soul pierced through Xavier’s body, and Irene could not save him. Xavier died and Irene could only watch, unable to heal the magickal wound.

Because of his manor of death, Shad and Xavier’s souls became somewhat intertwined. When Xavier was reincarnated into one Laurance Zvahl, he was born with a fragment of Shad’s soul attached to his own. When Laurance became a Shadow Knight, much like Xavier did, he continued his trend of being nearly impossible to control. And though he too never gained his immortality, he became one of the strongest Shadow Knights to exist. Both in spirit and body.

Xavier has central heterochromia. The outer ring of his eyes are green and the inner, blue.

Whoo that was a lot.. Thanks for reading all that if you did <3

[xerith-42]

Hi Aphblr I'm going insane anyways you ever think about how Azura could be Xavier's reincarnation or relic holder?

I make Xavier the childhood friend to almost lover to end them all, and that's literally what Azura is. She also lives in Brightport which pretends to worship him. She's a guard from his academy, even if she wasn't a Jury member.

And she's in love with an incarnation of one of the Divine. And has been since they were children.

[xerith-42]

I don't have any Divine Warriors OCS specifically, but I did use one of my OCS to build out all of my Kul'zak lore. He and Menphia are the ones I gave the most focus to, but lately Xavier has been rotting my brain. He's like an OC to me.

I'm so dedicated to making Xavier a full-fledged character because Jess didn't think he was worthy of it for whatever reason. I made him and Irene childhood friends, and then thanks to Kuri, I made him have a connection to Vincent of all people, who's like really fucking old now.

My man was Irene's best friend and primary confidant, helped to train all of the Divine Warriors in some way, had an active rapor with literally all of them, FOUNDED O'KHASIS, and yet he's not considered one of the Divine Warriors with the capital DW because he never got a magical hunk of rock shoved in his body. He's just like. Their collective best friend.

There were fights between the Divine that broke out because Kul'zak and Enki wanted to have a guys trip to the Caribbean with Xavier, but Irene and Menphia wanted him for a girls night in Tu'la. He was just some freaky ass guy they all got really attached to, and he had a very open heart to all of them. It's where he got his name, The Admirer.

Completely unrelated have you ever heard of a character by the name of Laurance Zvahl?

That's right baby! Even if hundreds of years have passed since the Divine were walking among the humans, they were still always reincarnating. Sometimes through their descendants, sometimes not. Sometimes their reincarnation gets their relic. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it gets the wrong relic and things get interesting.

Laurance doesn't get a relic because he's a loser, but he is possibly Xavier's descendant. Who knows, he's an orphan and Xavier wasn't exactly using protection while he spent decades of his life dedicated to "admiring". It's very possible. Either way he got a lot of Xavier's habits.

And a fun little quirk of relics I decided to give them is essentially multi life time deja vu. The relics are trying to return to how they were when they were with the Divine, so they show new relic holders old memories when the time is right. So some of the times that Laurance starts trying to rizz up Aphmau after she gets Irene's relic, she gets slapped in the face with an adorkable memory about Xavier tucking a strand of Irene's hair behind her ear with a flower or some gay shit like that.

And that's not even getting into Kul'zak, but I've done enough yapping for now

i am currently on a divine warriors rampage i need ppl to talk to this about

we have BARELY any information on any of them besides Irene and her goddamn confusing relationships 😭

it literally makes my head explode so i'm thinking of making a shared doc with the community where we can log all of the info on the divines. INCLUDING OCs because i've never seen a lame divine warriors oc. cooking up a storm with my own right now.... 😏

I'll reblog this post PLUS make a separate post when I have the doc ready and PLEASEEE give me ideas on how i should go about this

AND TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS 😈😈😈

[kurithedweeb]

Vincent is Xavier thoughts from today:

Vincent-Xavier meeting Garroth, dear god. Esmunc would have definitely been his loyalty kill, and at the sight of Garroth who is Esmund's spitting image, the Calling acts up for the first time in decades.

Laurance can feel something is happening with Vincent and goes on high alert thinking he’s gonna do something to Cadenza, only to find him looking at Garroth with this twisted expression of terror and heartbreak, clutching his chest where the armor unfurls from as though trying to physically hold it in from coming out.

Oh, it’s been so very long, but Xavier could never forget Esmund’s diplomatic smiles and perfected mannerisms, and Garroth has the same hitch in his laugh as he did, and when he looks at Irene Xavier can see he’s in love, and oh god it’s Esmund returned to life. And he cannot stop the thought of "What did Shad do to him?"

And to make matters worse, Garroth has Esmund's relic at this point! So Xavier-Vincent can sense Esmund's relic, sense Esmund's soul inside this guy who looks exactly like him except for the scars on his face. He even fights like Esmund - protecting his people above all else at all costs even if the cost is himself, and after the fight is done Irene scolds him and he demures and yields to her as he always has, and Xavier - Vincent - Xavier can't breathe. And he looks around, and he can see Enki and Kul'zak gathered around Esmund alongside Irene, and Cadenza lays a hand on his shoulder to ask if he's okay and for a moment when he looks at her he sees Menphia, and oh goddess, oh lord what the fuck has he done? How could he have done what he did to them, to his friends? Why did it take so long for Esmund to return to haunt him?

And Dante was supposed to be Xavier's successor before the soul that was supposed to be Xavier's was knocked out of alignment, so when he looks at Dante he sees the phantom of the man he once was. And Dante has this, this feeling in his chest of something missing, because he was supposed to have parts of Xavier's soul, and when their eyes meet he knows there is something here connecting them even if he can't figure it out for the life of him, and that pushes Xavier-Vincent over the edge into having to disengage and flee before he does something he regrets. He usually has such good control over his emotions, he has to when the emergence of the Shadow Knight form is directly connected to his emotions, but seeing all his friends and his own self from an age long past, a part of himself that he had tucked away and thought he'd lost to Shad, makes it so hard to keep enough control to hold on to his humanity.

Oh, and Shad possessing Aaron! Shad knows who he is, after all how could he not recognize his old friend and first knight, and he calls him Xavier. In front of everyone, he calls him Xavier and basically outs the whole story that Xavier-Vincent had managed to keep under wraps for so long. It knocks something loose in Aph/Ana's head about her time as Irene, and suddenly she never looks at him the same, and neither does Garroth.

Garroth knows about Xavier and Esmund, since this is a big part of his family's history. And he now sees himself as having becoming another's scar to remind of lessons hard learned and moments of grief and regret like his own scars, and he has become the cross carved into Xavier just as he bears his own cross from his own brother. He tries to avoid Vincent - avoid Xavier outside diplomatic meetings after that, thinking that maybe if he's out of sight Xavier can put the reminder of Esmund out of his mind, but that makes it worse because all Xavier can think of now is not being there when Esmund dies a second time, and it certainly doesn't help that Shad calls Garroth Esmund, which leaves Xavier wondering if Shad brought him back the way he did Xavier centuries ago.

And to make matters worse, Shadow Knights can sense each other. He can sense that Laurance, who reminds him so much of Kul'zak, is a Shadow Knight, presumably meaning that he was brought back to life by Shad exactly as Xavier had been? He has to wonder, how many others? How many of their friends, of their families, has Shad torn from the peaceful rest they earned with blood and sweat and tears? Are they even his friends anymore? Kul'zak has been changed, hasn't he? Twisted into new shapes that make what doesn't match up between Laurance and Kul'zak that much more jarring.

Their laugh is the same, but Laurance has perfected the same array of masks that Xavier and Esmund once had. They wear their hair the same, but Laurance often doesn’t wear the flowers and twigs Kul’zak wove into crowns at every opportunity unless they’re woven into his hair by someone else. They both have this mottled birthmark over the hip shaped like a leaf, but the rest of the marks, the rest of the scars are all wrong. Laurance’s eyes are dull, and if you watch closely they follow movement too fast or too slow like they’re not quite connected to the body the way they should be, and Laurance avoids solid eye contact so adamantly. Kul’zak was always warm, always so free with affection, and Laurance is rarely as affectionate with touch as he is reliant on it. Kul’zak used to hang off Esmund’s arm, giggling and whispering with their heads bowed together like children sharing secrets, but not like this. Not like Laurance, who folds his hand into the crook of Esmund - Garroth’s arm and allows Garroth to subtly guide him as though afraid of where he might step without the help, often pressing close and leaning against his shoulder like he’s too tired to refuse the help anymore. And the way he looks at Esmund, at Irene - Kul’zak had only ever had eyes for Enki as long as Xavier had known him, but the way he looks at Enki now, it . . . Kul’zak has been twisted into something else entirely by Shad’s hand, just as Xavier - as the man Vincent was before he slipped away once was.

And the Garrance relationship also makes it very clear just how different Esmund and Garroth are. Esmund was not the kind to yield to anyone but Irene, he was used to being in charge and he was a natural leader, but Garroth is very emphatically . . . not that. He hates being in charge, dreads it, but he is the one best suited to the job so he does it. He’s relieved to have someone he can defer to, and treats his second as though he has just as much power as he does, because in their situation he does. Laurance actually has more power than him just by virtue of being seen by Garroth on the same level as Irene. Garroth takes orders so easily, listens so well, just a touch and he yields and defers and goes exactly where he needs to be with only the barest pressure at his back to guide him. In the middle of a fight, he goes exactly where the charge he protects wants him to, and all it takes is a look across a crowded field for Garroth to understand and move, and it’s so so easy for him to yield to Laurance. To be drawn in by him. To linger with their sides pressed together from shoulder to hip to ankle, temple to temple, quiet words shared in the scant space between them when no one is looking. The way he looks at Irene, and the way he looks at Laurance, and the way he looks at the divine in prayer, it’s all the same. And there is something between them, this guard and his second. Esmund was not - could not be that way. Esmund could never bring himself to admit he had any feelings at all beneath the shell of heir, guard, protector, Divine Warrior. Confessions trip off Garroth’s tongue in the night, and though they never see the light of day, at least sometimes they are heard.

Maybe Vincent also smokes, and he and Laurance end up in the same out of the way place for a quiet cigarette and for a while they sit in silence until Laurance asks what’s up with the looks he keeps sending everyone. Vincent sighs, says, “Kul’zak, you - “

“What did you just call me?”

He looks back as Laurance’s face is in the middle of flickering between masks, and for the first time he sees the scars like nail marks around his eyes, and the angle of the corners of his mouth and the curl of his shoulders and the way his body faces away from Vincent is all wrong and this isn’t Kul’zak at all. Not anymore.

Laurance is disturbed by this, being called by the name of the divinity he worships as though he were an old friend when he has never met Vincent before. and Vincent can’t come up with an explanation. It’s tense until Laurance leaves, and he goes to Cadenza to tell her what happened because of course he tells his big sister, and that’s when he learns just how long Vincent has been alive, and he starts wondering how many of his loved one’s he’ll outlive.

It's also been decided that Vincent is one of the few people in the MCD age that observes and worships the old gods, which means that in a day when you can read who someone worships in how they wear their hair and accessories, Vincent reads as an apostate to everyone who meets him.

[cinnamontoastcroonch]

Api Biru Rebellion

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

I told @gumbootrambles that I captained the SS Kulki and they proceeded to rewrite my brain chemistry with 5 words

Okay yall know the drill

Xavier entered the Divine Warriors’ circle because he became Esmound’s apprentice in knighthood, but they could easily be the equivalents of the same age

Esmound spent the whole first half of his life pining for/crushing on Irene but never grew the impulse to act on it because, firstly, he’s her knight and a life of platonic devotion was enough for him yada yadda, and secondly, they had a whole love triangle with Shad where both guys never said anything because they both thought Irene was in love with the other, and would be happier that way, and didn’t want to trouble her, yadda yadda

Time went on. They built their city, and they met these two elven siblings; one who wanted to be a witch and one who wanted to be a knight. Esmound took on the duty of teaching Xavier, and then the latter became his second in command of the Island’s guard force.

Then the War of the Magi happens. They fight side by side a lot, protecting their city and others. Many times they find solace in each other in this decade of emotional turmoil and confused betrayal and these endless horrific sights. Then the war ends. Enki and Kulzak and Menphia all go on their own paths. Irene sacrificed any chance of feeling human emotion again in order for the banishment to succeed. It breaks his heart every day seeing her like that. He loves her like a knight to his lady and he knows she loves him like a queen to a confidant. But it’s not possible for them to ever be more than that, now. He sees through her veils and sees how she mourns Shad. After all that’s happened, he…

They’ll never know why Shad did what he did. But Esmound, deep down, feels as though he at least…owes his old friend—no matter what’s done to his family—enough not to do that to him even if Irene were willing. Nevertheless, looking back on it, he’s not sure he still even feels that way about her after all this.

But Xavier is there with him when the others leave, and is there with him every day during his duties as commander of the guard and co-lord of the city. Esmound spent decades now watching what Enki and Kulzak found in each other, and he was always so convinced he…wasn’t…shall he say…like that. He believed that so much, that he was convinced all of those little moments—helping each other with their armor, that fluttery feeling when the other’s hands brushed over his skin, the late nights and shared secrets and the candlelit bottles of rum, the shared beds when one was injured or the other couldn’t sleep from the memories—were just…things brothers in arms did.

All of that changed when Xavier kissed him in the middle of a battlefield.

Xavier was…like an escape. He became Esmound’s single persistent place of solitude and sanctuary in this monumental life. They remained as head and second in command of the Lady’s Guard for the Grand City the rest of Esmound’s life. Esmound’s life. Because Esmound, no matter the magic that coursed through his veins, was still human. He lived to around the age of ~110. Xavier was an elf. In this world, he’d live to at least 600. He didn’t age nearly as much as Esmound did, and in those final years he’d inherited the mantle of the city’s protector in all but name. Esmound was the last of the four to die. Xavier and Irene were both there to hold him as he did.

Xavier was the one who’d blessed the Yggdrasil tree Esmound was buried under, in the elven way. Esmound’s heart always laid in O’Khasis. He enchanted the sacred tree to protect these charges the humans had given it. He told it to wait, because someday a boy would come to the world in this same city and the world would need the tree to help him find…well…himself, in a way.

Across Ru’aun, Xavier established the Guard Academies in the exact same rules and systems and regimens that Esmound had employed in his own training. When Irene left, he took on the duty of their beloved city’s leadership. He established the first version of the Jury of Nine as the world began to remember his friends as more than mortals. Then, one day, a ghost with the face of Xavier’s little brother lurked in the shadows for its moment to strike.

They’re so frigging WoW!Garrance coded smh (MIND THE TAGS)

Good lord it’s like I’m speedrunning kulki all over again. Anyway here’s how I picture the boys

source / source

! And here’s more if you wanna get the other side of the story culminating in that last line !