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Innocence

jurian was a man. he will forever be a man. no stupid rich fae with all the power ever needed would ever take that away from him. he's a human. he's a human who's done bad things. bad things in the name of freedom. it was for a cause. he's a human. his soul is innocent, the gods knew that.

His hand shivered in the stream, the cold water running through his fingers. Branches of the tree whisked around his head in the breeze. He had stormed from that meeting, rage bubbling in the air around him. He was so far away from home, his people disconnected, forced to work for the man he once saw as his enemy.

The meeting had ended early. Jurian was sent for the Book of Breathings, which the Mortal Queens didn't have, so there was no need for discussion. One of them just had to pull him aside, an evil grin spread across her face.

"We spoke to him the other day," she whispered, gripping hold of his arm, her wrinkled fingers digging into his fresh skin. "That dark one." Rhysand. Jurian was familiar with him, too much so, unfortunately.

"Why are you telling me this? I don't think the King wants to hear you discussing secrets with our enemies," Jurian muttered, wrenching his arm from her grip. She cackled, letting him go.

"He told us a lot, about this city he had," she said. "Velaris, he called it, hidden away." That grin returned to her face. "He showed us where it was."

Velaris? That was new, although he had always heard rumours of some secret stronghold of the Night Court. He never thought Rhysand was stupid enough to share its exact location with people as vile as these queens.

"You know," she started again. Jurian resisted the urge to just ignore her and walk off. "He told us something else."

"Like what?"

"'Neither side is innocent'" she repeated. "He said that boldly as if the fight wasn't for our freedom from his kind." Jurian made a face at her words.

"There is no 'our', you weren't there," he stated. He made to turn around, but she grabbed his arm again.

"You chose the right side, Jurian," she whispered. "They will never trust our kind."

He, once again, pulled his arm from her grip and left without saying another word. He had rushed down those halls with such urgency the guards must have believed the war had already started.

"Neither side is innocent."

Jurian could almost laugh at how stupid it was. Sure, he wasn't innocent. He was a man who had done bad things, but to say his entire people weren't innocent? The people who were fighting for freedom, if not for themselves at least for their families. Jurian's mother, whose warm hands were the last he felt for years. She told him to be brave, that one day their time would come to be free. She had asked him to travel the world for her, and throw a stone with her name on it into the ocean, so she could always be among the waves she loved to watch.

He thought of his younger sister. They rarely saw each other, only when there was some accident and she was needed to repair the men, because of course their owners could dare waste precious fae magic on such lowly slaves. When they could they would talk about their farm, next to the ocean where their mother lived. They would raise animals together, and be free. They would live on their own schedule, with all the time in the world to do what they wanted, when they wanted, where they wanted. Jurian could almost smell the salty air they dreamed of, filling his heart with ache at the thought of his family.

What would his father think of him? He had never met the man, no one ever really did. Couples were locked in rooms until pregnancy, then separated. He remembered his mother trying to talk about him, but in truth, she never really knew him at all. Would he be proud of him? Of his fight for freedom to set their children free? Jurian had spent most of his life trying to live to the memory of a man he had never even met.

And his friends, all of his friends who had died for him and his beliefs. How much blood coated his hands, as he held them while they shuddered into death. They had spent years, as children and teens, creating their plans for escape. Those men had vowed to stay by Jurian's side until death or freedom. And now, despite everything, Jurian was the only one still alive. What would they think of him? None of them had lived to see the man Jurian turned out to be. The crimes he committed.

Crows landed on the stones nearby, watching him carefully. He knew what they thought. He stunk of death. It followed him everywhere like a cruel taunt. His friends, his innocent friends who died with the belief of freedom in their hearts. His mother dreamed of walking into the ocean. His sister, and their farm, by the sea. Their deaths clung to him, maybe that was what the birds could smell. Or maybe it was his own half-dead state. The five hundred years trapped as a ring on a cold finger and a necklace on an even colder heart, his true body lost to time, a skeleton, or maybe burnt to ash for his crimes, his soul waiting for a burial never to be given. Or was he just another one of those human corpses, thrown into a hole to be forgotten.

Was he forgotten? Who remembered him? Miryam? Jurian scoffed. He thought he had found a friend, a slave girl, forced to spend her life doing labour. They had connected, they knew each other. They fought for the same freedom of their people. She was the one who suggested his affair with Clythia. She was the one who defended him against all others. Yet, when it came down to it, she still looked at him with fear and ran into the arms of that heroic winged fae. He had set her free, given her everything she wanted. Granted her a long life, something Jurian was still trying to fight for himself. She had turned on him, had called him a monster. Told him he was as bad as the fae.

As bad as the Fae? The same people who had enslaved them, used them as toys to throw around and discard. Jurian was used as a horse, carted around with loads on his back and chains on his neck, whipped if he slowed for just a second. Miryam was sold as sex appeal, a gift purely for her body. And when he retaliated, against some naive female, he was the problem? He was the madman, crazed with ancient hatred. Clythia deserved everything Jurian did to her. She fooled herself into thinking she was in love with a mortal, fooled herself into thinking he was truly in love with her. A fae. They would lie together, and she would talk about what she would do to bad men because she didn't believe Jurian was 'one of them'. Jurian was a human. A man, born and raised. He was a man fighting for his right to live during that war, and he'll continue fighting for it until those damned creatures learnt their lessons.

Rhysand was a privileged boy who grew up in a palace with food and water. He had servants to care for him. Jurian could bet all the money in the world that Rhys had never once thought about who cared for those servants. He knew nothing about slavery, the torture Jurian and his people had to endure simply because they had rounded ears and lived a shorter life than the rest of them. What did Rhysand do when his father murdered all of those slaves? Did he think about their lives? Their innocence? Was Jurian's crime reflected on the rest of his people? Did they have to suffer for the crimes he committed, even now five hundred years later?

He could barely even talk to the humans around now. They had changed too much. They didn't even speak the same language. Jurian had tried, he said a few words and watched as the humans of the continent looked at him as if he just said he was some fae prince there to steal them away. He wondered if they knew who he was, a man who fought for their freedom. Was he remembered or forgotten, like so many of his people, thrown into holes and laughed at. Were they still called rabbits, living and dying before a fae had even reached maturity? Jurian thought again of his sister, did she survive the war? Did she mourn him? Her children would exist across the world by now. Did they live in shame of their ancestor, was he even remembered? Did these people know about the mass graves up north? Where their people were disposed of as nothing more than animals, trampled upon. Jurian would spend most of his nights sitting by the mounds of dirt, whispering prayers to his friends, and the others, who he had never even met. Innocent to the horrors of that war.

He had to get through this war. Get this information from Hybern, relay it to some High Lord in Prythian and then he could leave. Escape to the coast, like he always wanted. Own a farm, raise his animals and live the rest of his human life in peace, as human farmers did. He wasn't even sure he could die, if this Cauldron-cursed body would let him reject its power and wither away to nothing more than a sack of bones to be buried underground, like it was meant to be. Like it should've been, years ago.

Jurian had attempted to reach that fate, so many times since he was forcefully reborn into the scalding waters of that pot. Drawn out and thrown on the floor, naked and alone. He would claw at himself, tear apart his flesh, only to wake up the next morning with skin as clear as a newborn. The Cauldron knew his dreams and laughed as he so desperately scrambled for them. Despite all that, Jurian was a man. A villainous man from an innocent people. He breathed as a man. He lived as a man. No rebuilding from that Cauldron would remove his humanity from him. He had done those things for the sake of his humanity, his people and their freedom. His soul was innocent, as were the souls of every human who had died, fighting for their freedom. Rhysand could try all he wants, but he could never rewrite the innocence of Jurian's people.

i love jurian he's my little baby who's done nothing wrong ever in his life and he's so cool and amazing and he will live a happy life on his farm by the sea and he die an old man like he deserves after so long

masterlist

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just used the word placent in a one shot i'm writing but both grammarly and the oxford dictionary tells me it's not in use anymore?? um i can assure you it's still used?? I'm so confused am i just imagining the wrong word???

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i need to write an ic pov for my fic and i've been stuck on the chapter for 3 days I hate them with my heart

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making a list of things ive changed from canon for my acotar fic and i think this would make a few people happy

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national animals

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ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by its execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 19) and I also have free time so I thought, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the courts and their national animals, and other potential choices I considered (there is a tldr at the bottom)

AUTUMN COURT

As expected: Red Fox. These animals are often presented as figures of cunning trickery, as well as being associated with magic powers and transformation. They are also seen as messengers for beings. These are the most common associations, across many cultures.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, they were sometimes considered the symbols of the Devil, however in other mythologies, they were rarely considered evil, just mean.

'Fox' has been used as an epithet, mostly people who avoided direct combat, Continental Army Officer Francis Marion who as known as the 'Swamp Fox' because of his ambushing of the British in the South Carolinian swamps. As well as Erwin Rommel, a German commander in North Africa who was called the "Desert Fox".

And we can never forget Swiper, from Dora, who was a thriving fox. He never did any wrong.

Other animals I considered: BEAR : strength, wisdom, family, danger BADGER: persistence, determination and endurance.

I tried going for animals that are often associated with autumn, obviously, but I also had to go for something I felt symbolised the Autumn Court, which as we know is kinda fucked. So for obvious reasons, the squirrel was immediately out of the question as it didn't fit the 'violence' of the Autumn Court.

That left me with bears, or badgers. I live in England, so idk what badgers are like anywhere but here, they are violent and I am terrified of those cuties. They're so cute, but are so fiercely protective of their young that if you tell someone you were chased by a badger, they wouldn't be surprised. They're also nocturnal animals, so I felt that worked well with Autumn, as the nights are getting longer.

Bears, I feel are an obvious choice. They are strong and protective. They're used throughout different religions and mythologies and are also used considerably as the symbols of many countries and cities, because of their status.

DAWN COURT

Snakes. These can symbolise a lot of things, based on different cultures. They are often seen as symbols of fertility, transformation, immortality and healing, especially as they shed their skin. The actual ouroboros is seen as a symbol of eternity and renewal of life.

They are seen as guardians, as some snakes stand their ground when faced with a threat, instead of retreating, making them good symbols for guardians of important treasure.

And they are also connected to medicine and divinity. They are often seen as the wisest animals and being close to the divine, such as in Christianity, as one of the animals in the Garden of Eden, who also knew about the fruit. Snakes are also the symbol of Asclepius, who was a god of medicine with his snake staff.

It was because of their extreme connection to medicine that I chose them for Dawn, because that's the only canonical power tied to the Dawn Court (pls sarah I'm begging for thesan crumbs). It was also because a few snakes are crepuscular, meaning they are most active during the dawn/dusk compared to most other snakes which are diurnal (like humans)

Other animals: BEARS: strength, wisdom, family, danger DEER: elegance, innocence, compassion

Bears, unlike Autumn, I chose because a few bear species are crepuscular. There are many animals that are like that, but I wanted one that automatically showed strength, and we were well known enough that I didn't need to spend 15 paragraphs explaining what it was. And, like Autumn, I felt that bears were too associated with violence to be the symbol of a court focused on magic and healing.

The deer was a very big choice, but then I put them on a different court (guess who) and I also found snakes. Literally when I saw snakes (cause I go through animals alphabetically) it was like a no brainer so that ended that quickly.

DAY COURT

(note: have they removed yellow text cause I feel bad for leaving day white)

Hawks. I knew I wanted a bird for the Day Court, it was just the idea. Most birds are diurnal, they're flying in the sky, the sun is in the sky. It just fit right (as well as the fact that it's a common mythological idea... ra, zeus etc etc)

In many cultures, hawks are symbols of strength, wisdom, pride and courage, mostly due to their agility and hunting skills. In some cultures they are a popular motif for a brave and ambitious character.

In many mythologies and religions, they are very often seen as a messenger animal, direct communicators with god, such as Christianity or Hinduism. In Norse mythology, they represent the goddess Freya, who wore a crown of hawk feathers. In Greek mythology, hawks were messengers of Apollo, the sun god.

Other animals: HORSE : strength, freedom, spirituality PEACOCK : beauty, wealth, power OWL : wisdom, knowledge, insight

Horses were my exception to the "birds only" rule I forced on myself. Horses are one of the most symbolically recognised animals ever. They're known for their strength, even before they were domesticated. They're associated with death and the underworld. A common representation of the horse is the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They can symbolise political and military dominance, as well as royalty.

Horses are very well associated with the elements and stars. Water horses are common mythological creatures across multiple European mythologies, and they were frequently sacrificed in water. Wind horses are a very big part of many cultures. An obvious one is the pegasus, which, is an obvious associated with the Day Court seeing as they're the only court left with pegasi in the canon. There's also the wind horses in Asia, which is an incredibly common ideology, especially in Buddhism and Mongolia. The horse's association with the sun is old, and "mare" is even linked to have come from Indo-European for "shine", which is why it was such a big contender for the Day Court's animal.

Peacocks can be associated with beauty and masculinity, as the male peacocks have their very fancy and colourful feathers that they display during their mating rituals. They can also symbolise new beginnings as the male shed their fancy feathers in preparation for the new mating season, as well as spiritual transformations, as they don't start off as brightly as they do. It was for these two that I originally was thinking of peacocks, to have their colourful transformation symbolise the new beginnings of the new day.

Owls were originally thought of for their symbolism of wisdom and knowledge, but it was immediately shut down for their connection with the night as nocturnal animals and their associations with death.

NIGHT COURT

Owls. As stated, some cultures associate owls with wisdom, good luck and knowledge. Most owls are also nocturnal. They're fully adapted for nocturnal life, silent feathers, binocular vision.

Despite their association with knowledge, they are also very much believed to be harbingers of death. In Medieval Europe, they were associated with darkness, uncleanliness and mourning, being linked with the plague (and antisemitism but we're not having any of that here). It was these associations that made me put owls as the symbol of the Night Court.

Despite whatever Rhys says or does, it's very clear that the rest of Prythian, and even the rest of his court, see him and his court as these negative, death-bringing people, which is why I thought they were perfect for the owls.

Other Animals : RABBITS : speed, courage, strength, fertility WOLVES : strength, freedom, survival, loyalty

Rabbits were often associated with the moon or communication with the spirit world, which makes them perfect for Night Court association, however, they're also very commonly associated with fertility and prosperity (Easter and all) which put me off them.

Wolves are an obvious choice due to their association with the night, werewolves and howling at the moon. They're strong and dangerous animals, fiercely loyal which I though would make them perfect for the Night Court, as well as the common associations. And in some recounts of Mongolian history, the Mongols are said to have come from the mating of a doe and a wolf (which I think is funny considering spring and night and all)

SPRING COURT

Deer. I think deer was an obvious choice for the Spring Court. They're often seen as a connection to the supernatural or the fairy realm. Like is that not obvious?

Stags are often seen as a supernatural being in a chivalry quest.St Giles survived for years by himself drinking only the milk of a deer. Deers were associated with the goddess Artemis and drew her chariot. Deer are very symbolic to the cycles of nature. Their antlers shed with the seasons.

I think the gentleness of the deer and their natural freedom is symbolic of the Spring Court, something new that regenerates every year.

Other Animals : BADGER : persistence, determination, resilience OTTER : friendship, good fortune curiosity RABBIT : speed, courage, strength, fertility

As stated in Autumn, the badger is an aggressive and determined animal. They're intelligent and protective. In some cultures, they're seen as protectors of land.

However, in Celtic Mythology, they played on the badger's nocturnal nature. They were connected to death due to their nocturnal nature and if you were to see a badger in front of you it was considered bad luck. As Spring is very Celtic based (Tam Lin and all) I decided against it being the representative of Spring.

Rabbit (pls see above for the Night Court I've been doing this for 3 hours now I'm tired)

SUMMER COURT

Dolphin. Dolphins typically represent freedom, intelligence and peace. They're known to be very intelligent animals and they enjoy playing around with humans in the water. They've been known to help people and animals in need, showing peace and unity amongst different species, which I think is accurate to Tarquin and his fight for equality. Dolphins can swim for a long time every day. They have full access to the ocean and will move around and do not do well in captivity.

I don't actually have another animal idea for Summer, it was literally just a dolphin and I was like "yeah that fits"

WINTER COURT

Polar Bear. Bears canonically live in Winter, as we see them during the war, these big polar bears in their army. They symbolise strength, wisdom and protection. Polar bears are specifically adapted for the exact environment of the Winter Court, with the camouflage, blubber and thick fur. It's only right that they're the national symbol of the Winter Court.

They're formidable fighters, strong and can cause serious damage to their prey and they adapt well to their environment. Polar bears are seen as deadly threats to the point where many towns in the Arctic require people to carry guns in the case of a bear attack.

I chose polar bears specifically because of their separate adaptations. Most bears go into a state of near hibernation during the winter months to account for the lack of food and cold weather. Polar bears thrive in the winter, they actually suffer more during the summer months because of the warmer temperatures. Although they can live on land, and do in the summer, their bodies are specifically adapted to living on the ice and in the water.

Other animals: FOX : adaptability, intelligence, cunning WOLF : strength, freedom, loyalty

Obviously these were chosen for the climate, as there are foxes and wolves that live in the Artic. Foxes were a contender for their adaptability, because to live in a permanent winter, you need to be adaptable to the extreme cold and lack of sustainable food.

Arctic wolves are sneaky animals and most of their movement occurs in the complete darkness of winter, which makes them incredibly hard to track. That made them a contender because would it not be cool to have a court that doesn't focus on direct combat but instead sneaks around? However, that feels more Night Court coded so I left it.

TLDR :

Autumn : Fox Dawn : Snake Day : Hawk Night : Owl Spring : Deer Summer : Dolphin Winter : Polar Bear

i know too much about the symbolism of random animals why did I spend 4 hours on this

[veenvss]

Age Comparisons

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ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by its execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 19) and I also have free time so I thought, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the different groups of people and a comparison on their ageing.

In ACOTAR canon, all groups of people (humans, fae and illyrians) age at the same time and then somehow the fae stop ageing? and just stay young for a long time?

In SJM's other series, TOG, there is a process that fae go through when they reach maturity called "settling" which stops them from aging as quickly, and that was actually explained to us. There's not really anything of the sort in ACOTAR, which, like everything else, sucks. So, as always, I've decided to fuck shit up.

KEY:

--(h) is -- in human years . ie 20(h) is 20 in human years -- (f) is -- in human years . ie 20(f) is 20 in fae years --(o) is -- in the years of another species . ie 20(o) is 20 in the years of another species

COMPARISON

this is essentially a homemade comparison table because I can't code. using the key above, this is the major ages of humans in comparison to equivalent of the other species. i have detailed explanations below.

0(h) : 0(f) : 0(o) 1(h) : 5(f) : 7(o) 5(h) : 25(f) : 35(o) 10(h) : 50(f) : 70(o) 20(h) : 100(f) : 140(o)

21(h) : 135(f) : 149(o) 25(h) : 275(f) : 345(o) 30(h) : 450(f) : 590(o) 40(h) : 800(f) : 1080(o) 50(h) : 1150(f) : 1570(o) 60(h) : 1500(f) : 2060(o)

FAE

fae from birth to maturity (about 20), they age on average around 5x slower than humans. after maturity, they roughly age 35x slower than humans, until they reach about 60 in human years, which is the average lifespan for all longliving creatures*.

OTHER

other species in this count as illyrians or the peregryns or the seraphims. essentially, the other species in the world that we know of that aren't counted as fae.

from birth to maturity (once again, around 20), they age on average around 7x slower than humans. after maturity, they roughly age 49x slower than humans, until they also reach about 60 in human years, which is the average lifespan for all longliving creatures.

: * why is that the average lifespan for all longliving creatures? because i said so, end of story <3

and i realised part way through making this that the way they age is now extra devastating for tarquin my little pookie :((

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i want to do an acotar rewrite where the fae are actually fae and they actually look different than humans other than long ears and big dicks so there's actually a reason for their racism towards humans other than "rabbit fucking losers"

[veenvss]

The Illyrians

History 1/?

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ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by its execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I thought, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Illyrians and their history.

Before the introduction of the Courts in Prythian, the Illyrians controlled most of what is modern-day Night Court. They lived as nomads across the Southern Steppe and the Illyrian Mountains, before the Fae turned them into the violent warfaring people that they are known as now.

The Illyrians in the Steppe emphasised nomadic pastoralism, breeding horses and cattle. They were well known for their horse riding, horse archery and cavalry, despite the wings that were on their backs. Their inventions, such as the chariot and wagons benefitted the people they traded with, in permanent settlements around the Steppe.

The women in these tribes were often married off to men from other tribes, which was a big way that the different tribes created alliances.

These groups favoured the young males in their tribes, and as a result they harshly treated their elders. Some groups withheld food from older people if it was scarce and a few tribes were even noted to have executed their elderly once they became to old to work.

The nomadic Illyrians of the step all shared common cosmological beliefs, which were centred around sky worship. Shamans were highly valued members of tribes and were believed to be able to interact with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness. This was to direct spirits or their energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination or to aid human beings in some other way. In Illyrian antiquity, there have been reports of a third gender, men with more feminine characteristics. These transgender people wore female clothing and adopted their mannerisms. They were often highly esteemed due to the belief that they had better shamanistic abilities than the average Illyrian.

In the mountainous regions of Illyria, where pastoralism isn't as widely available due to the terrain, they were more likely to be hunter-gatherers, foraging for food in forests and streams. Coastal tribes were more likely to fish than hunt other animals. All groups also gathered nuts and berries and other food before hunting for meat. Many of these tribes centred on fish-rich environments, so they didn't have to travel around to find food throughout the year.

It's commonly believed between historians that the hunter-gatherers didn't have a set hierarchy or permanent leaders. Instead, it was believed that the person taking initiative depended on the task that was being performed.

Despite a large amount of their time being spent gathering food, there was also a large focus on gathering other resources, such as firewood, as well as preparing food that needed to be cooked. Despite modern people believing this was a woman's job, this has been shown to actually be their own bias. While women were less likely to hunt large game, they were often out hunting smaller game for children and as a form of social activity with other women.

Once the Fae became a large-scale force among most Pre-Court Prythian, they started driving the Steppe Illyrian north towards the Northern Mountains, taking the steppe for themselves. This created a large issue between the two separate groups, as it created less space for people to forage, and made resources less available due to high demand. This created a lot of inter-tribe violence as they fought for resources.

Eventually the rest of Prythian were split into their separate courts, but at this time Illyrians were still considered their own group of people and independent from the Night Court, which was then considerably smaller than its modern size.

Overtime the Fae continued to push into Illyrian territory, causing a string of battles and wars, known as the "Illyrian Wars" which lasted for 200 years. It ended with Fae control over Illyria, causing the Night Court to be the biggest court by landmass. The wars had destroyed most of the Illyrian land as the Fae preferred to use violent tactics to gain control, such as using the "scorched Earth" technique, spreading famine and disease through the surviving Illyrians.

Fae started to settle across the Night Court. However, the Illyrians were unwilling to give up the land they still had, so they became violent towards the settling Fae. This caused the High Lord and the government to give the Illyrians curfews and restrictions on where they could go. They punished the Illyrians who broke those rules harshly and rewarded the ones who followed their rules with supplies to help the Illyrians heal from the damage the Fae caused.

The Illyrians were forced to play into the Fae's hand to be able to recover from the wars. Illyrian tribes along the northern coast, further away from the Fae's southern control, tried to rally the Illyrians into a rebellion, to gain freedom from the Fae and recover their lost land. The rebellion was shortlived, not many Illyrian tribes joined together and the ones that did had differing views on how to fight the Fae. Once the Night Court government dispelled the revolution, they created a violent punishment, they clipped the wings of every female in Illyria, and for years afterwards, had Fae soldiers stationed in Illyria to clip the females once they reached maturity. It became a ceremony. All the Illyrians in the tribe were gathered and forced to watch as the Fae soldiers clipped the wings. It was used as a show of power, to show the Illyrians the extent of what the Fae could, and would, do to the Illyrians if they kept rebelling against them.

Over time, the Illyrians adopted the Fae punishments into their culture, as a way to keep the Night Court happy, which gave the Illyrians as much freedom as possible. With the adoption of things like wing clipping into their culture, the Night Court used it as a sort of propaganda against the Illyrians, in order to discourage other courts from possibly aiding the Illyrians in the future. They told the other courts that the Illyrians clipped the wings of others of their own choice and that they were brutal, in order to isolate Illyrians and keep them under control.

The War created issues among the army, as Illyrians were forced to fight for a group of people they had no connection with, purely because the Night Court told them to. The Illyrians had some of the biggest casualty counts of everyone, and they didn't receive the same post-war funding and help as other regions did either. Disease spread quickly through the camps and the Illyrians lost more people. This created more issues between the Night Court and Illyria, as the Fae refused to aid the Illyrians, claiming they had their own post-war efforts to deal with. Eventually, the Illyrians were able to recover but it created a larger gap between the Illyrians and the Night Court, as the Illyrians struggled to recover from the war despite the wealth of the Night Court because of their abandonment.

Once Amarantha gained control of the High Lords, the Illyrians, isolated from the rest of Prythian, saw their High Lord, who they were forced to follow, willingly follow Amarantha and her regime. Once again, in order to regain as much freedom as possible, they followed their High Lord and mirrored themselves to him in order to escape punishment, from Amarantha or Rhysand himself.

Amarantha was defeated, and the High Lords returned to full power, The entire time Rhysand was just acting in order to through Amarantha off his court, which only extended to the Fae. He murdered the Illyrians for allying with Amarantha, which they only did to please him and keep the limited freedom that they had gained since the war.

Between murdering them and then forcing them to fight in another war, where once again they suffered one of the highest mortality rates, the Night Court fell worse into favour with the Illyrians than before. This was only further amplified by the fact that two of the most important Illyrians in the Night Court preferred the Fae over their traditional culture and beliefs, which were still hidden among the Fae-influenced culture.

The threat of a new Illyrian rebellion looms near, as they recover from the diseases that spread after the war. The Illyrian distaste for the Fae rule that has plagued them for nearly a thousand years, and the "traitors" that rule over them a fuel for a deadly and violent revolution.

i feel like i'm just writing gibberish at this point because i'm trying to focus on this and then also trying to focus on one piece at the same time

[veenvss]

au where at the end of the war the high lords refuse to bring back rhysand cause "if feyre got their powers what about him" and then he actually dies but because feyre was never chosen by the magic of the land she isn't the next high lady and instead it's actually mor's brother and the ic go mental cause they all lose their jobs and have to deal with the repercussions of their lack of action

[veenvss]

High Lords and Other Titles

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ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by its execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I thought, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on High Lords and other titles in Prythian.

The High Lords are the seven most powerful men in Prythian, each ruling over one of the courts of Prythian. In order to become a High Lord, the only criteria we know of is that the magic of Prythian chooses them. It seems to be that it runs in the family, but that's not explicitly stated as part of the criteria for a High Lord.

The High Lords are considered the epitome of power, there is no one more powerful than a High Lord, not even another High Lord. Sure, before they arise to power, they could be more powerful than each other, but they are nowhere near the power of a High Lord, and once they become a High Lord, they are all equal. There is no court with more magic than another, winter is no better than summer, and day is no better than night.

High Ladies do not exist in their own right, they haven't been chosen by the magic of the land. They may be called High Ladies, but they do not possess the same magic as their husbands. They may be called High Ladies, but that is purely out of respect, not out of power.

The people right below the High Lords are their sons, the apparent heirs to the throne. These are the First Lords, the first ones in the line. Quite often, these are considered the eldest sons, but a few times in history, they are the most powerful sons, in the case where the eldest isn't seen as the strongest. Despite the implications that the named First Lord will be the next High Lord, that isn't always the case, sometimes it could be a different son, or someone outside of the family completely.

First Ladies are the first daughters of High Lords. Many times in history, there haven't been any First Ladies for generations. The wife of a First Lord is simply called a Lady, as are any other daughters of a High Lord, similar to how any other son of a High Lord is simply called a Lord.

The Courts are often split into different regions, which are ruled over by Dukes, their wives as Duchesses. Historically, Dukes come from a brother to a High Lord, whose line was handed down. Quite often, if there is any infighting between a court, it comes from Lords and Dukes fighting for control of a Duchy.

Important and influential towns in a Duchy are often ruled over by a Baron who directly reports to the Duke of the Duchy. Their wives are Baronesses. In the Solar Courts, Barons are not automatically inherited and are instead chosen by the Duke, and the High Lord if the town is influential enough.

if this doesn't make sense, let me know because i'm ngl i barely understand what i just wrote myself.

[veenvss]

how i want everyone to be reading my fics

Objectively speaking, the fanfic I’m reading is not good, but my goodness, it’s made my afternoon that much more enjoyable

[veenvss]

I don’t post very often, but I ask of you, please keep your eyes on Lebanon. My people are being slaughtered day after day after day. My family and friends’ lives are at risk, these last two weeks in particular have been devastating and exhausting. The south of Lebanon has been facing heavy bombardment since last October, and it has only continued to get worse and worse. Nearly 2,000 Lebanese have been martyred within the last two weeks. As you continue to keep your eyes on Palestine, PLEASE keep your eyes on Lebanon as well. PLEASE KEEP SHARING OUR NEWS SPREADING OUR VOICES.

[veenvss]

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fic list : acotar : i did love you - tamsand innocence - jurian <3

[veenvss]

Magic in Solar Prythian

seasonal magic | main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by it's execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I though, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi

This is a post on the Solar Courts and their magic.

Prythian is often split into two, Seasonal and Solar, with an area known as the Middle to geographically split them as well. The magic between the courts differs, yet they're also quite similar. Each court relies on each other in order to make their magic effective. Dawn is reliant on the Night in order to be able to bring its light, and Night is reliant on Day to bring the light to it can bring its shadows.

DAWN

The Dawn Court is one of the courts that we see the least. It's the southernmost Solar Court, bordering the Middle and is mentioned by Feyre to be the court of healing. That is all we really learn about the powers of Dawn.

The power of healing is a powerful power, it could be used to heal yourself or others and we never get shown a full limit to what they could be able to heal. If someone were to have a large amount of magic power, would they be able to regenerate limbs or non-vital organs if need be? With healing, there is also the ability to "over-heal". A perfect example of what I'm talking about is in the anime Fairy Tail during the GMG arc. Wendy has the power of healing, however, she is only able to heal others and not herself, whereas her opponent, Sherria has the ability to heal others and herself. Wendy is at a major disadvantage, however, she heals Sherria, along with Sherria healing herself and as a result, boosts Sherria's magical energy to what she wasn't expecting, which resulted in her missing her attack due to the unprecedented level of magic. If tricks like that could be applied to Dawn's healing, then it could make their magic more powerful than before.

Sunrises are known for their spectacular colours. Dawn magic could have the ability to control light, or at least the visible light spectrum and colours. During a fight that could be a good way to disorientate your opponent by altering the colours that they see slightly, gaining a great advantage. Another way of disorientation is through the manipulation of their feelings. Dawn is commonly associated with the feeling of safety, as you're able to see clearly what's around you and any dangerous predators nearby.

Dawn is also often associated with fog and mists, from the water in the air condensing during the cool night, and the cold mornings. This could allow for a very minimal manipulation of water, clouds and precipitation.

People are not awake from the moment the sun rises, which could allow for Dawn to have control over sleep or the levels of someone's energy, as if someone is awake at dawn, they are most likely quite tired. The control of sleep could also allow for the manipulation of dreams or nightmares.

DAY

The Day Court is the only court in the ACOTAR series that we haven't been to, and we know very little about it. The High Lord is Helion, and we know it is the court of knowledge, light, and spells, but other than that we don't know much.

Day being the court of knowledge and 10,000 libraries gives a very broad scope of powers. We see in ACOWAR during the High Lord Meeting that Helion is able to multiply things, as he gives each High Lord a copy of the plans that Tamlin takes from Hybern, however, that could be a general High Lord ability and not one that's specific to Helion. It could allow for Day to instantly learn or memorise things simply by looking at them once. It could also allow for the ability to have an enhanced memory. Knowledge could also allow for Day to be able to sense things others couldn't, such as a form of clairvoyance, and even further than that, allow for a divination skill. It could allow for memory manipulation, which could make Day quite untrustworthy, a pleasant juxtaposition to the safety that comes with the daytime.

Helion's title is Spellcleaver, whether or not that is his title or a hereditary one that comes from his main title of High Lord is unknown. This title allows for us to know that the Day Court does have some ability to manipulate spells, obviously break them, as seen with Lucien in Hybern, when he breaks through Hybern's enchantments to reach Elain, but also possibly create intense spells. If spells in ACOTAR require intense work and drafting to create them, Day could possibly be able to create strong spells without the need for extra work or enchantments. It could allow for them to be less affected by spells, either naturally spells don't work as well on them, or they're able to destroy the spell's defences quicker, again, as seen by Lucien who was able to get through Hybern's defences, despite him not even knowing his true parentage.

The day brings along the sun, which allows for the Day Court to control light. Feyre mentions that it's Helion's ability that allows her to glow and radiate light. They could be able to manipulate light itself, be able to make things incredibly bright or even dark. With light comes the sight and being able to see. Light allows for objects to reflect different colours back at us, such as the green leaves or red nail polish. The ability to control light could allow them to manipulate how people see colour. It could also blind someone, such as when driving at night when someone forgets to dim their headlights, blinding someone with a flash of light could be disastrous, the same way looking at a solar eclipse is dangerous to the receptors in your eyes. The manipulation of light could force someone to become blind, and then at a later stage, also affect how they see and react to light once blind. Quite often, once blind, people are still able to see different reflections of light, which allows them to avoid objects or even see glitter. If someone were to manipulate that light, it would be difficult for someone to react to the objects around them.

Along with the sun bringing light, it also brings heat. As with Autumn and Summer in my seasonal magic post, the ability to manipulate heat could end in the results of droughts and wildfires and also possibly boiling people alive if they were to manipulate the inner body temperature. One thing I didn't mention in my last post, is heat exhaustion and fever dreams. With the increase in body temperature, instead of boiling the target could be forced to endure fevers and the hallucinations that could come along with them.

NIGHT

The Night Court is undoubtedly the court we know the most about. It's split into three separate regions, the Court of Dreamers or Velaris, the Court of Nightmares and Illyria. Its High Lord is Rhysand and its High Lady is Feyre Archeron, the main character of the series.

Despite how much we know about the Night Court, it's actually difficult to think about what is Night Court's powers and what is just Rhys' powers. Obviously, we can tell that the manipulation of the shadows is from the Night Court, but as far as I can tell, that's the only proper Night Court power we see. The manipulation of the shadows also comes with the ability to control people's sight. As people, we rely on light to be able to see objects or different colours. If they were to remove that ability, people would be unable to see

Rhys himself has mind control powers, but those are a separate thing, as we see them with Dagdan and Brannagh. However, one thing that people do the most during the night is sleep, which could allow for Night to have the ability to manipulate dreams and nightmares. It's not exactly mind control but it could be incredibly disorientating for people to experience. Along with the manipulation of dreams, it could also be the manipulation of sleep. With the ability to manipulate sleep also comes the ability to stop someone from sleeping, which is an incredibly dangerous form of torture, as it can affect people's mood and emotions, cognitive function and sleep deprivation can also cause psychosis. I want to think that Night can just manipulate someone's emotions in general. My own emotions go a bit out of tune during the nighttime, which I think would be a good basis for Night being able to induce madness or any unstable emotion naturally. With people's emotions, night often brings a sense of fear, mostly of the unknown, as I mentioned with the shadows or darkness, we can't see during the night, which is why a lot of people are afraid of the dark. It's not exactly the dark itself, it's what we can't see in the dark. I think Night would be able to manipulate and feed on that fear, especially with their control of someone's emotions and sleep.

Once the sun sets, the ground no longer gets its warmth emitting radiation, which is why the night is often colder than the day. With this, I think that Night would be able to control the temperature in a similar way to Winter, with that it would be able to make things colder, and with the colder weather, minimal control of water, as seen with Dawn, as the colder weather allows for the water vapour to condense and create fog at night and during dawn.

i love extensive worldbuilding as fanfiction and not even for my own works. if you guys are ever reading a book like 50 years into the future and some magic seems familiar its cause its me using my acotar fanfic worldbuilding in a real book.

and i say 50 years because thats the minimum time my WIPs are gonna be done at this rate.

i also think that most of this magic is like only reserved for high lords, like the ability to manipulate someone's sleep and their emotions. feyre is insanely overpowered we've honestly got to start talking about that more because imagine if feyre had every single power i mention in this post AND the last??? omg

[veenvss]

Magic in Seasonal Prythian

solar magic | main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by it's execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I though, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Seasonal Courts and their magic.

Prythian is often split into two, Seasonal and Solar, with an area known as the Middle to geographically split them as well. The magic between the courts differs, yet they're also quite similar. Each court relies on each other in order to make their magic effective. Summer is the start of the harvest, which allows for things to survive during winter. Autumn is where animals and plants retreat to save their strength for the minimal amount of nutrients in winter, so they come back and flourish in the spring.

AUTUMN

FIRE

the ability to create and manipulate fire. some may be able to generate fire from thin air, no matter the environment, whereas others may only be able to control a fire that already exists. these limitations can be overcome, such as every settlement has an eternal fire that they keep burning to allow people to use their power, the rich could afford to have their own eternal flame burning consistently in their private residences, although this could be manipulated, such as the rich charging the poor for the use of the flame. another way it can be overcome is through flint and steel, as seen in the red queen series, cal and maven have special bracelets which create sparks for them to manipulate into a bigger flame and attacks. people who are only able to control already existing fire would have some sort of lighters on them at all times.

as seen in acowar, eris seemed to be able to control the temperature of his flames, as the flames he was using to restrain feyre were warm, but not burning. i think this would be an advanced use of the power. generating and simply controlling the fire would be hard enough, but being able to not only do that, but also control the temperature of said flames would be a good way to show off skill. this can also bring about the idea of coloured flames, as the hotter the flames get, they go from orange, to white, to blue.

there are a lot of extra magic that comes with fire magic, with the use of flames. an example of this would be pyromancy, divination through the means of fire or flames. i think this use would be limited to the priestesses in autumn, as it revolves around using fire as a way to see visions or insights of time, which is stereotypical of priestesses.

another use of master level fire control would be the use of merging it with other elements, such as combining it with rocks and tone to create molten rock, which would stick to its enemies and be a forceful weapon. alternatively, the fire user could use their control over fire to create a firestorm, large and destructive, although this would be incredibly rare due to the overall power needed to create something like this.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

i think this section would be specific to a high lord, as it requires a large amount of power that i don’t think would be readily available for a regular fae without outside assistance. what i mean by seasonal specifics is magic or abilities that are specific to autumn, and its high lord, so the manipulation or induction of the season.

the air gets colder in autumn, like waking up to frost or fog. this would allow for the ability to manipulate cold air, which is why i think these sorts of magic would be specific for the ultra powerful or the high lord, to go directly against the heat that fire brings would cause issues for the other fae. as i said, autumn brings fog, that settles in the morning, which would allow the user to escape or attack their enemies without being seen.

the temperature changes in autumn creates storms, which can become violent and deadly, as we’ve seen in america recently with the hurricanes helene and milton, especially helene, which stayed destructive all the way inland, which is unusual for water-based storms. being high lord of autumn would come with the ability to generate storms and rain, especially. thick, heavy rain that would be difficult to see through, with heavy drops that fall so hard it hurts when it hits your skin.

autumn is well known for its harshness. food has already been harvested, set in storage for the winter months, and anything else that isn’t preserved or evolutionally set up for it, will start to wilt away and die. this would allow for the high lord to induce death, causing plants to rot away and decompose. at strength, maybe even sections, or entire, living bodies. this could also allow for the control or manipulation of certain forms of fungi, those which play a role in decomposition, cycling nutrients within the environment. the ability to control decomposition could also effect the food storages, causing the preserved grains to grow mold and rot away, deliberately causing famines.

alternatively, instead of directly causing famines by causing food to rot, they user could also be able to induce hunger, a direct result of the food shortages the season holds. this could in turn be expanded to being able to control all feelings or bodily functions typical in autumn. one of these could be the inducement of sleep. autumn is typically the time a lot of animals start to hibernate in order to conserve their energy during the winter months. the user could force someone to sleep, for either a few hours or continuously, for as long as they see fit. they could also manipulate the emotions that comes with autumn, such as the melancholy thoughts, creating despair or feelings of isolation.

OTHER

this is the section for ideas that i didn’t know whether to put in “general” fire use or the high lord seasonal specific magic, such as the ability to create or control smoke. all fire comes with smoke, a natural reaction. the ability to control smoke could come with multiple effects, such as intoxication causing death or severe bodily harm. with the ability to control smoke comes with the ability to use smoke as a form of divination, which i think, once again, would be limited to the priestesses who are the only ones who have a need to use divination.

another divination ability i believe could be commonly found in autumn would be necromancy. as i mentioned above, autumn comes with the ability to manipulation the life cycles of natural objects. necromancy is the ability to communicate with the dead for the purpose of divination, to discover future events or to discover hidden knowledge, only known to the dead, possibly to combat corruption or political violence. although, this ability would most be used by the priestesses, i believe that it would be mostly utilised by the high priestesses who have the magical ability to use this sort of magic. i also think, that although it would be accepted in autumn, as a natural part of divination, as in winter, i think it would be frowned upon in other courts, especially those that prioritise life, happiness and wellbeing.

SPRING COURT

as a preface to the spring court, most of this is entirely fanon, as i’m pretty sure we’ve never actually seen the regular people of spring use their magic before. and also as a preface to the rest of the post which i probably should’ve put at the beginning of the post and not now, whoops, anything i say is high lord specific doesn’t have to be high lord specific, just that i think using that sort of magic would take a lot of magic power and a great deal of control i doubt would be found normally outside of being a high lord (i will touch on this again in like 2 paragraphs technically kinda pls continue reading his has taken a while)

PLANTS

i think a given ability in the spring court would be the ability to manipulate or create plants and flowers. like autumn and the ability to create and manipulate fire, there would be levels to the ability to manipulate plants. the weaker fae would only be able to manipulate plants that are already growing or exist. but there would also be ways around this, such as being able to carry seeds and bulbs with them, throwing them at an opponent and making them fully grow in a matter of seconds, like using vines to trap an opponent. a stronger fae would be able to just create plants in seconds, without the needs for external help.

the powers could be manipulated to become weapons, such as tree branches or vines, or even poisonous pollen or fungi, especially in a fantasy setting such as prythian which could have alternative plants to what we have here. this could create groups of poison users, like how there are public gardens filled with poisonous flowers and plants.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

i think the same way autumn can create rain and storms, spring can as well. they’re both seasons with very alternating temperatures, creating violent storms, such as the tornado season which happens in spring. this would allow for the generation of rain or winds, or just air manipulation in general. high wind speeds would be destructive and violent, causing damage to infrastructure, and the rains that come with it could be detrimental to the harvest that occurs later in the year.

although spring starts cold and bitter, it slowly grows warmer. this would allow for the user to manipulate warm air, to thaw ice or snow and make way for the blossoms that happen in early spring. and although this sounds like a comforting power, this could turn violent at any given time, using air hot enough to incinerates the opponent where they stand.

once again, in the same way that autumn is able to induce rot and death, i think that spring would have the opposite effect, being able to heal fatal injuries and possible even restore dead plants, or maybe even dead animals. this would cause the opposite effects of autumn’s power. instead of causing famines and destruction, it would help recover from those. rotting food storages would be refilled and there would be plenty of harvest to go around, allowing people to live without a fear of starvation.

with spring, and the warmer weather that comes with it, would be the ability to manipulate positive emotions, and sleep patterns. the ability to forcibly wake people, keeping them awake longer than possible by making them think that they’re more awake than they are, even though their body is screaming for rest. it would also bring along a feeling of hope and peace, with the warmer weather leading to the harvest in the summer. the ability to manipulate someone's hope and peace so much that you manipulate their own beliefs, forcing them to worship and become so wholly devoted to an ideal that doesn't even exist. the ability to make people feel safe and welcomed, to allow them to break down their defences and let others in, even at the detriment to their wellbeing. this could be a good cause for a two-faced court. to the outsiders, it seems welcoming, everyone who’s ever been has come back in pleasant spirits, talking wildly of the joys of spring, yet it ends up being a little more sinister than expected.

OTHER

one of the only canonical abilities we have of spring is shapeshifting, which is said to be used by tamlin only, as the high lord. the ability to turn himself, and others (rip andras) into other animals. i think this ability would be reserved to only change into other species, not be able to disguise themselves as another person, just another species or animal.

the ability to shapeshift could also come with the ability to talk to animals, which is why I placed this here, as regular fae can be shapeshifted and also be able to communicate with the animal species they were turned into. i think the high lord would be able to talk to all animals, regardless of form, just due to their abilities.

SUMMER COURT

WATER

canonically, the summer court uses water magic, seen when tarquin drowns the hybernian soldiers miles inland (king best high lord love him to bits) or when feyre uses the water wolves. water can be such a versatile weapon.

lower level users could only be able to control the water around them, keeping pouches of water somewhere on their body, like katara in avatar. and then slowly, as their mastery evolves, this could extend into manipulating the water in different states, such as vapour. this could lead into manipulating just the water in the air (that scene in avatar is so cool), letting them rely on the water in the air instead of needing to carry around a container of water all the time. obviously, this has limitations, such as in warmer, dryer climates where there isn’t a lot of moisture in the air.

the ability to manipulate water could also lead to the ability to manipulate the weather, or water-based weather patterns, like clouds and storms or rain and other forms of precipitation, like hail or snow. they could be able to high pressure waterjets (like juvia’s water nebula in fairy tail) to pierce their opponents. they could drown their enemies inland, like my high king tarquin or just simply drain their targets and turn them into husks of a person.

water magic could also be used as a mode of transportation, surfing on waves or using water to sustain themselves in the air. it could also allow for transportation by turning the water in the ice and using that to move across (like aojiki’s bicycle in one piece).

the control over water could allow for the user to manipulate most liquids, especially if it contains a large quantity of water, like liquid poisons or even blood, which could allow for them to control the person’s body without using mind control (essentially blood bending).

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

summer are the warmest months of the year, perfectly allowing for the ability to control heat and warmth. this could be used for comfort, such as warming up in a colder court, or as i mentioned in spring, incinerating people on the spot with a large blast of burning air.

the ability to manipulate the heat could also provide some sort of control over droughts, which often occur during the summer. this would be to dry out the land, to make it inhospitable for plants to grow until the next storm, and with the ability to manipulate thunderstorms, who knows where that would be. thunderstorms thrive on the heat of the summer months, allowing for the user to generate destructive thunderstorms and lightning, as well as heavy rain, to counteract the droughts they just brought.

i think controlling “summer” as an ideology, they would also be able to manipulate light, maybe not generate it, but manipulate the light there. in a cave, take all the available light and just make it brighter, so they can find their way around, or just make a ball of light so bright that it burns their opponents eyes, the way it would if they were to stare at the sun on the beach.

summer would bring instant life, colourful flowers and green trees everywhere, invoking a sense of joy and a sweet smell throughout the air.

the same way that spring and autumn can manipulate people’s feelings, summer could as well. they would be able to induce intense happiness and peace, pure joy in the people around them. maybe its their aura, their entire presence just radiates joy, in comparison to autumn and winter, who bring seclusion and misery.

and disgustingly, summer could bring along the ability to control insects. flies and most other insects thrive on the warm weather and daylight in order to breed and just move in general. this could allow for the ability to control them, like some acotar version of antman, calling swarms of flies and other flying bugs.

OTHER

i believe that because of the overall heat of summer, that would impact the ability to manipulate or generate ice, but then also vice versa for winter so it cancels out.

WINTER COURT

ICE

like i stated just above, i don’t think that summer, despite their ability to control water, would be able to control ice simply due to the warmth just associated with them, i also don't think that winter would be able to control liquid water, simply because it is just too cold. maybe they would be able to turn it to ice, but not the other way around, similar for summer, being able to turn it into a liquid again but not being able to turn it to ice.

ice magic users would be able to create anything from ice. like anything. ice sculptures? weapons? sharp spears and icicles that penetrate the skin and organs. thick and heavy hammers to come crashing down on their opponents head (if you need any inspiration, gray fullbuster from fairy tail is a great place to start). they could even freeze their opponents and then shatter them into pieces, or create lifelike ice statues of their enemies. they could be able to make ice storms. storms of ice so sharp and strong that it could shatter windows and kill within seconds.

SEASONAL SPECIFICS

with winter comes the ability to manipulate storms, as the others can. cold blizzards that trap the people in a matter of minutes, harsh and rough to the point where its difficult to breath. they turn the air cold by just appearing, a strict chill that settles in the air.

winter could any living plant just on arrival, in comparison to autumn, where it slowly withers away. it’s dead in an instant, rotten dirt that's covered in frost and ice. and like autumn, it could cause an endless sleep, anywhere at anytime for however long it wants. they could cause to fall asleep outside, to freeze to death in an endless sleep without feeling a thing.

winter’s ability to manipulate emotions could come with two side effects. winter represents loneliness, being alone in the cold and the dark. this would allow them to manipulate negative emotions, anything to represent death and isolation. but then, winter is also a time for resting, regeneration in the earth. this could allow for a sense of peace, inner warmth when thinking back on the year.

like summer, I think winter would be able to manipulate darkness. make the shadows darker, consuming all light around them. the shadows themselves bring their own darkness, but to add winter’s control over ice would be an even deadlier combination.

i did have a think about air magic but i left that for the solar courts (which is out at some point lmao idk)

[veenvss]

what if i made a pjo fanfic where camp half-blood is in greece and the story is just percy's journey to get there from new york cause he's not allowed to fly. just him and grover on a world wide trip to get to camp.

[veenvss]

I did love you

. : Tamlin x Rhysand

.. : angsty ?? ig..

Autumn was coming to Spring. Or it was coming as much as it could, before it was deterred by the ancient magic that ran through the court. Sometimes Tamlin wished the seasons would change. He used to wish that the leaves would turn orange and fall off the trees, creating piles that children would play in. He used to wish to see the variety of plants that he couldn't get in the warm air of Spring. Most of all, he wished the seasons would change so the air would feel as cold and lonely as he felt.

It had been a month since he was at the foot of his father's throne. His back was healing already, the blood drying on his skin. The soldier came into the room, holding a bloody sword and nodding his head.

"It is done, my lord."

"Dead?"

"Dead."

It was just a few hours after then that Tamlin heard a loud crash from the rooms down the hall. He was struggling to sleep, his back still aching despite the healed scars. He wished that he could have felt the bedsheets underneath him damp from blood but instead, they were dry and clean.

It was after the crash that he started to hear shouting. He didn't bother moving. Most likely, his father had found out that something had gone wrong during the mission earlier and was throwing a tantrum about it. Or one of his brothers was frustrated that their most recent favourite prostitute had been hired out by another lord and was also throwing a tantrum. Or both. The amount of shouting would've been accounted for if so.

It was only when he heard his mother screaming did he feel that something was wrong. No matter the situation, his mother never screamed. Sure, his father was never the nicest husband. He was violent and cruel, Tamlin could give you enough stories to prove it, but he never physically hurt his wife. He might shout at her, call her useless or a hag, but she was never physically harmed.

He rose from his bed, swinging his feet over the side. He stepped as lightly on the floor as he could to avoid creaking. He wasn't sure what he was going to do yet, but if his mother was hurt, he would rather kill himself than just lie in bed and let it happen. He heard thumps hit the floor, thick and heavy. People?

He crept forward, grasping a measly dagger that he had on the side. His hand turned the doorknob as he pulled it open, listening for any noise. Everything was silent. The corridor was barely lit, most of the candles had been blown out by whatever had happened. Two at either end, too high up to be affected by the draft of movement were left, shrouding the hallway in shadows. At the end, down at the corner before the main hallway to the rest of the manor, stood two silhouettes, barely lit by the flickering candle.

The smell hit his nose before anything else. Metallic. Blood.

They must have sensed movement, as they turned. He could see in their hand, swords. They were long and they shone gold in the light of the candles. He heard the dripping, blood dripping from their swords. His mother was screaming. Was. It was silent now, and the stench of blood was hanging thick in the air. Whoever was stood in front of him, they had killed his mother.

Within a second, Tamlin had moved. His small dagger, only used for cutting ropes and branches held tightly in his hand. Maybe if he moved fast enough, he could kill the murderers, whoever they were, and save his mother. She could still be alive, trying to save her energy, or hiding her breathing from the people who had managed to sneak into the Royal Manor without a single guard noticing.

It felt weird, his dagger plunged into the soft skin. He assumed stabbing someone would be tougher, especially with muscle. The man in front of him gargled, his back turned to Tamlin. He hadn't even sensed him coming. All this devastation, and he hadn't even known Tamlin was there.

"Stop it."

That voice. It was like velvet, smooth and dark. He knew that voice. He knew it well.

Tamlin's victim let out another gargle as the dagger pressed further into his neck.

"My mother is dead."

"My mother is dead."

Tamlin said nothing but he held the dagger in place.

Tamlin was pushed into the wall. His head smacked against his doorframe and whatever left of his vision went blurry. The sharp point was now pressing into his back.

"Turn around."

Immediately, he did so. His head ached, his vision was swimming and his chest was sticky with the drying blood. He could see, not well due to his head collision, but better than before. Someone was gargling on the floor in front of him, whoever he had stabbed. Gruffudd, the High Lord of the Night Court.

Rhysand was stood in front of him, one sword hanging from his hand, the other pressed against Tamlin's chest. Both were dripping with blood, and a small trail of it led down the hallway. Tamlin followed it, down past the portraits of his mother and brothers. At the end of the hall, by his brothers' rooms, their bodies lay on the floor. They were both shirtless, Ruaidhri was completely naked. Blood pooled around them, dark and clotted. The door to his parents' room was off its hinges, lying on the floor in between his brothers. He didn't dare look inside. His mother was in there.

Rhysand spat in his face, landing directly in his eye. Tamlin didn't dare move to wipe it away, not with the sword inches from his heart.

"Your family were a foul stain on this land."

Tamlin nodded.

"You are no better."

He didn't dare move.

"If we had not just come from a war, you would be on the floor beside them."

He raised his eyes, looking at his friend.

Rhysand was breathing heavily. His swords were hanging loosely, and his leathers were clean. He had let his father do the murders. He looked up. His muscled arms were tight, even for the skin-tight clothing he had on. His Illyrian tattoo was peeking out from over the top. His hair was messy, like he had just woken up. His violet eyes were dark though, darker than usual. There was no love in them, not like before.

"This land owes us blood. Tonight was not enough."

The gargling slowed and a shuddering breath was echoing through the hall. Rhysand didn't pay his dying father any attention. He placed his swords back in their sheaths, not even bothering to wipe them. He acted so calmly, despite everything.

"I did ask for your mother to be saved."

Tamlin didn't say anything, he was breathing heavily, blood trickling down his chest from where Rhysand's sword had just been pressed into his skin. There was nothing in Rhysand's eyes, they were blank. Not even hatred, even as he was looking at his father and the bodies that lay in the corridor.

"For it's worth, Kinnaird, I did love you."

I did love you.

Tamlin stared at the sun that was setting over the trees of the forest. The sky was red, fading into a muted purple as the sun slowly sunk beneath the leaves. Those words had plagued his mind for a month.

I love you

Rhysand had said those words only a month before the slaughter. Tamlin was stood in the same garden as he was now, amongst his mother's carefully pruned roses. He was resting his head against the chinrest as he flicked through the sheet music. There was one passage, there was always one particular passage in a song that was never quite as perfect as the rest.

Birds were lining the side of the fountain, staring at him as he used their bath as a makeshift stand. The actual stave itself was almost unreadable due to the amount of annotations Tamlin had written. The beats written above the endless amount of demi-semi quavers that the composer had decided to throw into the piece. He was muttering the beats as he fingered them on the strings, as a twig snapped behind him.

Tamlin turned, almost throwing the fiddle down on the gravelled path. He was expecting the intruder to be Ruaidrhi, or Niven, his brothers, creeping up to humiliate Tamlin for his "useless" interests. Instead, in a soft tunic and flowing trousers, Rhysand was stood, grinning at him.

"Nice song, Music Boy."

Tamlin rolled his eyes, turning back to the sheet music.

"Not even going to say hello?"

"Hi, Rhys."

Rhys started walking over, looming his head over Tamlin's shoulder to read the bars of music. He was muttering under his breath as his eyes scanned the paper. Then he leaned back on his feet, grinning again.

"Yeah, I got nothing. Looks as if you're reading a book from the Far East or something."

Tamlin tried not to shiver as he felt Rhys' breath on his shoulder.

"Muir was an incredible composer, it wouldn't hurt you to listen in on the concerts."

"It most definitely would."

Rhys sat down on the bench, spreading his arms out either side of him and resting them on the back.

"Go on then, play it for me. I don't have all day, you know."

The two boys stared at each other. Rhys' eyes were full of amusement as he smiled. His fingers drummed along the wooden bench. Tamlin turned back to the sheet music, his fingers still mimicking the singular notes.

"I'm not facing you."

"Whatever makes you comfy, Tam."

He sighed, resting his head on the chinrest and perfecting his posture. He knew the first part of the song from memory. It was the easiest part, and the amount of times that Tamlin had practised this piece, it was like he could do it second nature. His fingers worked together to create the singular notes and then the chords. His bow was arching perfectly to create the right tones. If you asked him to do this blindfolded hanging upside down over a pit filled with Naga, he could probably do it with enough pizzazz to convince the Naga to let him go.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he reached that passage. He had been stood in the rose garden for at least 4 hours now, and all he had been doing was pressing his fingers against the strings in the exact same pattern over and over. And it still didn't work.

He faltered, his finger slipping. The chord sounded weak. Then his bow slipped and the tone sounded different to what it should've been. He tried to continue on as if nothing happened, but as if to stop him from any further embarrassment, Rhys started clapping.

"Beautiful enough to stop a war," he said. Tamlin turned, dropping the fiddle to his side.

"I messed up. I didn't press down hard enough and then my bow slipped-"

"I didn't hear any of it."

He had. Rhys hated sitting in on concerts, or really any sort of fancy music at all, but he still knew the basics. Even for something as "poor" as a fiddle. He stood up, walking over to Tamlin. He picked up the fiddle, bringing his fingers down the strings, and stopping them when he heard the gentle noises they made.

"I loved it," he said, looking at him. His usual grin was gone, instead, he looked more serious, but that gleam in his eye was still there. He leaned into Tamlin's ear, breathing so gently that Tamlin could barely feel it.

"I love you."

The red sky was almost gone, instead leaving a dark purple. There was a chill to the breeze and yet, the leaves were still green. Flowers were still blooming and animals still crawled around through the trees. Tamlin knew that despite his integral connection to this court, it would never fully reflect him, even if he was the High Lord.

His mother was gone, just a body in a coffin in the ground. He had lost his best friend, his closest companion. He knew that now, Rhysand would be five courts away, in the court of endless night. Would he be watching the same sky? Looking for the same moon? The very one that gave him his endless power?

Tamlin ran his hand across the roses that his mother had planted once she became the Lady of Spring. The thorns pricked at his fingers but it wasn't anything that he hadn't felt, practicing the fiddle for hours on end felt worse.

His mother's grave was placed in a secret corner of the garden, in the family tomb that held Tamlin's ancestors. She had always longed to be free, up on the surface where she had spent so long working on her gardens and flowers. Even now in death, her wishes were still left unanswered and forgotten.

Tamlin turned and walked inside. The guards shut the doors behind him, bolting them shut for the night. He walked past the dining hall, where servants were cleaning the table. At the end of the table, closest to him, lay his fiddle and the same sheet music he was working on the day Rhys had paid him a visit. Tamlin wandered through the halls of the empty manor. Portraits still hung on the walls. His mother's face, smiling as she stood getting married, and as she stood holding each of her sons.

He walked past the windows looking over the same garden she had tended to for years. She used to bring Tamlin in, showing him the plants that were safe and the ones that weren't. She had taught him how to plant a bulb and care for it till it grew.

Tamlin wandered around the manor, the only person living inside the walls. The same ones that he ran through, trying to find his mother and escape his brothers' torment. The same ones he sneaked through at night time, to find Rhys out in the garden somewhere for their nightly walks.

And as he wandered through the halls again, his heart cold, yet full of all the words he desperately wanted to say, he realised that he had no one to say them to. There was no one in the manor who loved him. The servants and guards worked for him. They said sweet words but that was only to keep themselves employed. The birds sang but they couldn't say anything as sweet as their melody sounded.

Tamlin had loved his entire life, his mother, his friend. Yet in the end, there was no one who loved him. Despite the people around him, there was no one to say "I love you". Not like how it had been said before.

lolz

i don't really like this but it is also midnight and i am exhausted. this is not edited, as you can probably tell and it probably will never be

:P

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