#FrozenPact

[harmonyhealinghub]

The Winter Queen's Bargain Shaina Tranquilino December 22, 2024

In the heart of winter’s unrelenting grasp, Eldric, a farmer with a once-thriving land now blanketed in snow, stood at the edge of his fields. The ground, once fertile, was frozen, and his crops had long withered. His animals huddled in the barn, their breaths clouding in the frigid air. The market was empty, his debts mounting, and with no harvest to offer, Eldric knew his family would not survive another season.

Desperation gnawed at him like the cold, and so, in the stillness of the night, he ventured deep into the forest, where the elders had warned him never to go. The trees stood tall like silent sentinels, their branches heavy with frost. At the heart of the forest, where the wind seemed to whisper in an ancient tongue, he found her.

The Winter Queen was no myth. She stood before him, draped in robes of snow and ice, her hair a cascade of silver like moonlight on a frozen lake. Her eyes glimmered like shards of ice, cold and piercing.

“You seek to make a bargain,” her voice was the soft murmur of a winter breeze, and yet it froze his very soul.

Eldric’s knees trembled, but he forced himself to speak. “My land is dying. My crops, my animals—everything is perishing. I have nothing left. Will you help me?”

The Queen’s lips curled into a thin smile. “I can grant you prosperity, but such gifts are not without their cost. What will you offer in return?”

Eldric’s heart pounded in his chest. “Anything,” he whispered, his voice barely audible in the vast, silent night.

The Queen studied him, her gaze unwavering. “I will give you what you desire, but in exchange, I will claim what is most precious to you. One life—your own or someone else’s—must be surrendered. That is my price.”

Eldric’s throat went dry, his mind racing. His life? His wife? His children? He could not bear the thought of their loss, yet the weight of his own survival pressed on him.

“Do you accept?” she asked, her eyes narrowing, her cold presence enveloping him like a storm.

The farmer, with a heart heavy as stone, nodded. “I accept.”

The Winter Queen raised her hand, and in an instant, the snow around them shimmered with ethereal light. Eldric felt warmth return to his limbs, the frozen ground beneath him beginning to soften. He could hear the distant sound of water flowing, of life returning to the earth. His farm would flourish once again.

But as the Queen began to vanish into the mist, a final whisper reached his ears. “Remember your bargain.”

The cold still lingered in the back of his mind, but as Eldric returned to his home, he saw his land blossoming with new crops, his animals flourishing, and his debts slipping away like forgotten dreams. He was prosperous once more.

Years passed, and Eldric’s life returned to its former fullness. Yet, each year, as winter’s breath came early and the days grew shorter, his mind would wander back to the Queen’s bargain.

Then, one bitterly cold winter’s night, as he sat beside the hearth, the door creaked open. In the dim light, his wife stood before him, pale and trembling.

“I’ve been dreaming of ice, Eldric,” she said, her voice trembling. “Of her.”

Before he could reply, the ground beneath their feet trembled. The wind howled through the door, and the Winter Queen appeared, her form shimmering like frost in the moonlight.

“It is time,” she said softly, her gaze cold and expectant.

Eldric’s heart stopped, his breath caught in his throat. The cost of the bargain was upon him at last. He had hoped the Queen had forgotten. He had hoped the years would erase his pact, but she had come for what she was owed.

And as the snow began to fall in heavy drifts, Eldric understood that some bargains, no matter how desperate, can never be undone.

[tales-of-epror]

Important Locations!

Epror is the name of the continent that the dragocats live on. Here are some important locations on the continent:

GloomPact Territory: GloomPact territory is located on the "tail" of the continent. The territory is mostly deciduous forest and grassy fields with small rocky patches, however GloomPact dragocats mainly live underground in claw carved cities and tunnels.

ElectricPact Territory: ElectricPact territory is located on the eastern "wing" of the continent. The territory is mostly bamboo forest with mountains and a little bit of forest. ElectricPact dragocats mostly live in the mountains.

WaterPact Territory: WaterPact territory is located to the west of the continent in the ocean and on the islands located there, as well as the lake and river slightly inland on the west of the continent. Forest surrounds the lake and river.

DesertPact Territory: DesertPact territory is located in the northwest of the continent in the "head". The southern part of DesertPact territory is savannah and the northern part is desert, with dragocats living in both biomes.

HeatPact Territory: HeatPact territory is located in the north of the continent. It is mostly volcanic rock and soil with patches of geothermal areas like geysers, hot pools and mud pools. There are dormant volcanoes in the territory, and the HeatPact palace is built into an extinct volcano.

PoisonPact Territory: PoisonPact territory is located in the southwest of the continent. The territory is deciduous forest in the north, marsh in the south, and a mix in the middle of the territory (swamp).

FrozenPact Territory: FrozenPact territory is located in the south of the continent. The north of the territory is taiga, which turns into tundra and then polar desert the more south you go.

The City: The City is located in the centre of the continent. It is a city created and lived in by dragocats of all pacts.

The Slums/The Community: The Slums is an area of ramshackle and temporary buildings on the edge of The City. Dragocats who cannot live in The City and their original pacts for reasons such as crimes and being hybrids/half-pact live in The Slums. From the outside The Slums are viewed as dangerous and lawless, but from within The Slums are known as The Community and are a close knit community.

[tales-of-epror]

Hello and welcome to the Tales of Epror blog!

This blog includes content for the original world of Epror and the characters within, which belong to @nonbinary-dinosaur7 . You can ask my ocs here, as well as ask about the world and lore!

Epror is inspired by Warrior Cats, Wings of Fire and D&D.

Dragocats are the intelligent species that inhabit the world of Epror. Epror was once inhabited by dragons, but they disappeared thousands of years ago before dragocats existed. Dragocats are separated into groups known as pacts - GloomPact, ElectricPact, WaterPact, DesertPact, HeatPact, PoisonPact and FrozenPact.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Characters:

Queen Cascade - A young WaterPacter forced to become queen after her mother died too soon. Best friends with Walrus. She/Her

Prince Frozen'Walrus - A young FrozenPact prince who wants to fight the corrupt monarchy that is his family. Best friends with Cascade. He/Him

Arsenicclaw - A PoisonPact dragocat who lives alone in the woods and makes potions and natural medicine. In a QPR with Avlor. They/He.

Avlor - A living dragon skeleton that was cursed to remain alive and in one spot for all eternity. Has future vision. In a QPR with Arsenicclaw. They/Them. (Can be asked in current times or before they were cursed)

Screestorm - A young ElectricPact/GloomPact hybrid hiding her GloomPact heritage. In a relationship with CrackleFlame. She/They.

CrackleFlame - A young HeatPact dragocat who has problems with pyromania. In a relationship with Screestorm. She/Her.

Prince Amthos - A dragon prince from Avlor's time with enchantment magic. Loved Avlor but when they didn't reciprocate he cursed them. He/Him.

[tales-of-epror]

Dragocat names

So you've probably seen some of the character names and thought "those are weird ass names". You're not wrong. The names are inspired by Wings of Fire and Warrior Cat names but with my own little twist. Names are different for each pact, and I'll explain them below!

GloomPact: - The structure of names is PrefixSuffix. - Prefix: Dark words, nocturnal animals, rock words, smoke words, dark gemstones. - Suffix: Body features such as eye, claw, wing, scale, fur, etc. Word starts with a capital letter.

ElectricPact: - The structure of names is Prefixstorm. - Prefix: Bird names, storms, speed and electricity words, metals, cloud types. - Suffix: storm. Starts with a lowercase letter.

WaterPact: - The structure of names is Prefix. - Prefix: Water words, water animals, water plants, water places, blue and green gemstones, water colours. - Suffix: None.

DesertPact: - The structure of names is Prefix-Suffix. - Prefix: Desert animals, desert plants, desert things, desert places, desert colours, gold/yellow gemstones. - Suffix: -Name of father. DesertPact dragocats without a father end their name in -.

HeatPact: - The structure of names is PrefixSuffix. - Prefix: Volcano words, fire words, hot words, volcano places, fire-coloured gemstones, fire colours. - Suffix: The name of the HeatPact leader whose rule they were born during. Starts with a capital letter.

PoisonPact: - The structure of names is Prefixsuffix. - Prefix: Snakes, trees, poisonous and venomous animals and plants, carnivorous plants, marsh and swamp words, green gemstones. - Suffix: fang, claw, tooth or talon. Word starts with a lowercase letter.

FrozenPact: - The structure of names is Frozen’Suffix. - Prefix: Frozen'. - Suffix: Ice words, cold places, cold place animals, cold colours, cold colour gemstones.

Dragons: - Typical fantasy naming conventions (I think) - The dragon language does not include the letter F, and RR is a letter (audibly it is a rolled r sound). Certain letters are more common than others.

[tales-of-epror]

Cascade's Backstory

TW: Abuse, Murder, Depression

Cascade has been through a lot.

The only child born in a royal family with her mother deciding not to have any more kids, Cascade was forced into the role of future queen from hatching. She never wanted this role - she never wanted to be queen, to rule WaterPact. She didn't know how she was going to carry on the bloodline either, being aroace and not wanting a relationship like that.

Not like her parents listened. Her mother, Queen Waterfall was always busy, liking to get into the politics of her pact and leaving most royal tutoring to various teachers. Her father Alligator, on the other hand, paid too much attention to her. Alligator was controlling, barely letting her out of his sight and controlling who she could speak to. In front of others, he was just a watchful eye, but behind closed doors, he'd put her down and make her feel like she couldn't live without him. Sometimes he'd even hit her, but he was careful to do it where it wouldn't show.

Cascade severely wished for attention from her mother, but when Queen Waterfall joined PoisonPact in defending their land from FrozenPact and GloomPact, there was no chance she could talk to her, as the queen had gone to the battlefield.

Alligator took this time to get further into Cascade's head. Alligator's end goal was to have a puppet that he could control. In WaterPact, only females (cis or trans) can take the throne, and so the best way he could take the throne was through controlling either his mate or daughter. Queen Waterfall could easily leave him and she was strong-willed. Cascade, on the other hand, was ripe for the picking, he thought.

Alligator took his time and eventually convinced Cascade to do something terrible. Her mother never paid attention to her, so why should she stick around? Cascade flew to the battlefield to meet her mother. She confronted her, and with the help of a FrozenPacter Alligator knew, killed Queen Waterfall and staged her death to look like a FrozenPacter had killed her.

Cascade returned home, distraught and guilty. She fell into a depression for months, barely eating or leaving her room. Alligator berated her but it changed little. Cascade began to realise who Alligator really was, and eventually one day she snapped. She flew into a rage and attacked him. The fight was brutal, but eventually, she prevailed and killed her father. Sobbing, she called out for guards, telling them someone had come into her room and tried to kill her. She said her father had defended her and died saving her, which was a noble death he didn't deserve but covered up her crime. The assassin had fleed she said, and the guards believed her.

Cascade has ruled her pact for two years now. She doesn't feel very capable and is wracked with guilt and nightmares from what she has done. Her closest friend lives in another pact and often they can only communicate with secret letters.