#Gradlon

[slotumn]

*Sombron voice* Political theory is for pussies I will build and govern a nation through infinite child abuse

[emblematicemblazer]

Worldbuilding and Theories of Engage

Lythos and The universe.

If you look at the map of Elyso you can see that the kingdoms of Firene, Brodia, Elusia and Solm form a circle around Lythos and Gradlon.  The four kingdoms each represent a season.

Firene - spring

Brodia - autumn

Elusia - winter 

Solm - summer

Each kingdom also represents one of the five 'godia' or elements in Buddhist traditions.

Firene - spring - air - represents growth, open-mindedness, wisdom and freedom

Brodia - autumn - earth - represents foundation, being acted upon, stability and stubbornness.

Elusia - water - represents flow, change, emotion and adaptability.

Solm - fire - represents creativity, motivation, passion, intensity and desire.

Gradlon/Lythos - the void - represents the source of the human spirit, everything, nothing, absence and death.

Lythos and Gradlon form a solar eclipse in the centre of the universe. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon covers the Sun's center, leaving the Sun's visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the Moon. Lythos is a crescent shape and is the moon in the solar eclipse. Gradlon is the sun forming a 'ring of fire' around Lythos. In Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that during a solar and lunar eclipse that one's good and bad deeds are multiplied by 10,000. The good deeds of The Divine Dragon and the bad deeds of Sombron are multiplied.

A solar eclipse always coincides with the new moon. It is a sign of change and new beginnings. Gradlon rising to form the eclipse signifies new beginnings for Alear and Veyle. Veyle had a new beginning as her true self, a Dragon that helps people and saves the world. Alear has a new beginning as an Emblem. A new family is formed between Alear and Veyle. Each leader has a new beginning in a world of peace and mutual understanding with greater communication between the kingdoms. 

It is important to note that despite Lythos being the shape of a moon, the country's symbol is the sun. It is the same situation with Gradlon, the country is the shape of the sun and their symbol is the moon. This represents yin-yang. Ying and yang are not in conflict, they compliment each other to create balance. The fell and divine in Alear create a perfect balance. Alear and Veyle working together create balance. Yin-yang represents the uniting of opposites to create balance. 

Gradlon and Lythos also represent as above, so below. There is harmony, agreement and correspondence between each plane. What happens in life is reflected in death, what happens in heaven is reflected in earth. The ideal Elyso is one where yin-yang is in perfect harmony and where as above, so below is in agreement. The Xenologue demonstrates what happens without the Divine Dragon and humanity working together in perfect harmony, heaven falls (the Somniel has literally fallen from the sky,) and humanity falls to ruin (all the leaders are dead and the corrupted act like the living). Without the complimentary divine to work with the fell the world cannot be saved. It is only when the Divine Dragon is summoned to the fallen Elyso are they then able to save those who are left. 

Lythos and Gradlon as shadow and light.

Within you is light and shadow, both need to be recognized to understand who you really are.

The shadow is the part of you that you do not want to see, not others to witness. Gradlon as the shadow at the start of the game is hidden under water, hidden from view. The shadow is feared, hated, in denial and projected elsewhere. Sombron's inability to connect with others is projected onto the bonds of others, because his connections are weak and easy to break, which means that everyone else is the same. He loathes his enemies inability to admit failure, weakness and defeat because he cannot admit the same. 

The shadow is not evil but without facing it and recognizing it as evil you allow yourself to do evil deeds without recognising it as evil. Sombron believes he is justified in his actions because of his experience of isolation. People are not people, they are props to be used. His children are manufactured goods made to serve his ego. No one matters except his ego. 

 "Take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:4-5)

Sombron is never able to face the shadow side of himself. Veyle and Alear are able to. 

Veyle sees the shadow side of herself, she does not identify with the cloaked figure who delights in harming people, however she understands that it only represents part of who she is. Completely identifying as cloaked Veyle would lead to much evil. She brings light to the shadow part of herself by believing in Alear, believing she can make connections and help people and by learning that Sombron is only a shadow of a father figure who wants to use her for his own ends. If the cloaked figure won she would have lived and been driven by fear and malice. Veyle pours light into the shadow side of herself by breaking the helmet from her head. When she first learns of her shadow side she confronts it with anger, surprise and fear. When she stands up for herself and faces her shadow with determination and sadness she sees how broken and needy her shadow self was. Veyle knows she has sinned and is saddened by what she has done and seeks redemption. The final desperate plea for a father that never loved her by her shadow self represents that broken and needy self. Most importantly to move on from her shadow she needs to forgive that part of her. She forgives Zephia and says she will remember her and she says goodbye to her father and holds no malice towards him. With her dark side recognised and faced up to, she is ready to open her heart up to the light of the Divine Dragon Alear. She still has a little way to go to accept her fell dragon side.

Alear faced up to their dark side when they discovered the truth of their identity. At first they were shocked and humiliated, their ego took a knock. The ego does not like the truth about the shadow self being revealed. Alear believed they could not be a good dragon if they were a fell dragon. By recognising and facing the fell part of themselves they are able to embrace the light and transcend to an emblem. 

Alear's shadow self projects their feeling of impurity upon the corrupted, that is why they fear them, they see the unholy fell energy within them that is within themselves. Alear faces their shadow self by becoming one of the corrupted and continuing to fight for peace. The shadow self is also demonstrated when Alear loses Marth. Alear can only embrace the light when they start to believe in themself and their self worth. Throughout the game Alear grows into the role of divinity, they are able to project confidence and give hope to their allies. They believe in their power to summon emblems even after Sombron has drained them of power. Defeating Dungeon is a symbol for defeating the shadow self. Importantly Alear does not show malice, instead they try to summon emblem X in hope that Sombron could, one day, find the light. 

[yanderefairyangel]

Duality in Engage

Part 3 I guess.

Alright, so it's probably more me getting far fetched elements but the whole deal between Divine dragon and Fell dragon seems to be giving into the duality I mentionned. So the question is : does Engage uses abrahamic religions references/symbolism ?

So I know Engage didn't came up with either of those but Fell dragons/ 邪竜 were introduced in the serie with Awakening, however Grima is the only Fell dragon due to Fell dragon being an artificial life created from Naga's blood, whereas in Engage for some reason they are a whole tribe whose sole representant is Sombron in the main verse. Divine dragons/神竜 exist ever since Fe 1. However, in Engage there is a real relationship of rivalry and duality between them that Eirika herself seems to infer in her bond with Veyle where she says that Divine dragon are holy being/good one and Fell one are wicked/bad ones even if she comments it might be more then simply that. Which lead me to replay once again and to notice that most of the direction choice for Divine vs Fell dragon is a lot alike Angel vs demon in others game, however it's more in character design/coding then actual subtext in the game.

Divine dragons are often dragons who are revered as deities due to their power, which is the case in Engage, probably because japanese shintoism have worship dragons too or have temples dedicate to them, however if you look up traditional japanese depcition of the Shinto parthenon, it doesn't have much common point with Engage's or with dragon in general due to FE relying more on westernian familiar design/lore compared to japanese one. Anyway..

Divine dragons' have royals color.

I know we all made fun of Lulu's design, however when you look closely, the colors that are used are : blue, red, golden and white which are colors used in religious paintings/icon in christianism. Those are notably colors used in portraits supposed to depicts prophets, saints or other religious figures and are overly used in medieval paintings in general, and other then the fact that those were colors easily obtained through pigments, the symbolism behind them albeit changing with time : blue for royalty, red for power, white for innocence, golden for glory. (for example, les Très riches heures du Duc de Berry uses those colors a lot)

Their divine dragon form uses the same color, however some pattern were changed as feathers were added, and if you are familiar with depictions of Angels; they are often imagined as having bird wings, often white even though it's changing depending on the period throughout history. Other then religious sources describing them as possesing such (even though they don't precise what kind of wings they have) their depiction have been retraced to be inspired by how Greek/Latin culture used to depicts some of their deities such as Eros, Nike or Iris among others. But that's also because Angel comes from the greek word angelos which means "messanger", and that birds were often used to communicate messages, and also because christianism in particular have associated the dove as a religious symbol of peace and love.

Lumera's dragon form uses that too

Compared to Sombron's dragon form who is more alike to a snake (we'll come back on this later), Lumera's design is closer to traditional depiction of dragons as giant lizard... even though dragon means snake in greek... anyway.. but if you look, her wings ressembles more birds one in the part colored in pink compared to traditional dragon wings being similar to bat ones.

Her human forms appears to have the same colors schemes as Alear, but in a pastel palette (red/pink, bright blue/light blue), however her accesories seems similar with the halo that are used in religious depictions to signfies the holiness of the depicted character, since in greek it means "disk" in particular, a disk of light. They can aslo be refered to as aureole, which comes from the latin words for aurus. Other then that Lumera's palette scheme making it sweeter to the eyes is here to illustrate her kind, motherly and warm nature, hence making the bright color scheme less bright and agressive to the eyes.

Meanwhile, Fell dragon design such as Sombron's seems more inspired by representation of demon/Devil.

Like Lumera he has a halo, however it's more similar to horns. If you have ever seens how demons and devil are imagined, they are more alike to satyrs with their horns and goat feets, or any other kind of cursed scary beast. Compared to the other dragon's character with their human form, I wouldn't even be able to call Sombron "human" seeing how he has greyish purple skin, big ears, red eyes, sharp teeth, literal wings, I won't mentions his arms and feets... Seeing how their depcitions is always taking after things that scares humans or seems scary, Sombron's design looking devilish is not only showing his hearltess and ruthless nature but also reflective of the trauma and fear he inflicted upon his children. His design isn't appealing but scary and impressive. Compared to Lumera's warm and pastel palette, Sombron' has dark and monotone colors, with black and dark crimson. However, crimson/purple is also a noble color linked with royalty.

Other than that, they choosed to use gothic architecture for Destinea chathedral

Gothic architecture is an architecture style mostly used to built cathedral and probably the most famous case being the catheral of Notre Dame de Paris and it wouldn't surprise me if the main reason it was that kind of architecture that was choosen over others weren't because the dev were absurdely obsessed with French/European references for that game, and by that, I mean even more then usual. It's peculiarity compared to others is it's focus in trying to let light pour in the inside of the cathedral, especially throught the use of stainted glass.

For example, the cathedral of Destinea's facade shares a lot of similiarities with that of Notre de Dame de Chartres.

The contrast between the light and the rest of the builiding creates a mysterious atsmophere that inspired a whole literary movement as gothic cathedral are gothic author's favorite setting ever. Morover they also have the particularity to have gargoyle, tons of gargoyle. More then the others architecture style, roman have that too, but gothic in particular uses this a lot. Sources consider that those are supposed to represent the evacution of sins from the cathedral, others that they are made this ugly and scary to scare off demons and protect the place, and for others, it was just sculptors wanting to have funs since they began to appear a the same moment were grotesque were developping. And gargoyle are very often demonic figures. So compare them to Sombron's design :

There's a lot of similiarities. As for Sombron's third eye, idk if it's a buddhist reference because usually the sharkra is supposed to be a postive reference whereas here, this add to the demonic aspects of his design.

Now, his dragon form. To begin though, I'll just mention that West and East don't have the same conception of dragons, in the East, dragons are seens a powerful being but are being revered and honored as protective spirit and worshipped, which is the side they took for Divine dragons. However, in the West, dragon are seen as monster to be slain and that's because of their connections to snake. δράκων/drakon means "snake, serpent" often use to describe a "sea snake" in religious text where they are negative and feared figure since they are linked to Levianthan and the Beast of Apocalypse due to the serpentine apparence, and as you know, in the Bible, snakes are considered to be cursed animals due to the Devil take this form to trick Adam in Eve in Genesis book.

Hence Sombron's dragon form takes more serpentine traits compared to the other dragons in the game. If you compare for example his appearance to that of the transformed Fell Twins, they look more familiar to frilled-neck lizard. Sombron's form is definetely inspired by that negative image of the snake that they have had for quite a long time. It's inspired by royal cobra, one of the most venemous snake, and most likely to signify Sombron's dangerosity. He isn't the only one who got that treatement though

(Sombron is a Disney villain)

Anyway, the snake form also signifies his own toxicity as his influence is what corrupts others, and i think Veyle and then Rafal are literal proof of that, other then Zephia and speaking of her.

I hate her design soooooooooo muuuucch

But yeah, I checked and despite Mage dragon already existing in Fire Emblem none of them had a similar design with those horns. Her horns also seems to be inspired by a devilish kind of style (and why is she the only dragon to have pointy ears?). Plus if you are familiar with Mage dragon, then you also know that they are called Demon dragon because of thir jpn appealation 魔竜/Maryu since 魔/Ma refers to either a demonic/evil being, eithet to magic/witchcraft. Seeing how she clearly has a demonic design that matches with that of Sombron, it's remniscent of the Devil and his demons.

You can also sees this in Lythos being described by Vander as a holy land whereas Gradlon is described as a wicked land, echoing the opposition Paradise/Hell. Lythos is a land with a blue sky, plains, vegetations etc, the same as the traditional iconography for the Paradise, due to the word paradeisos translating the hebrew word eden "garden" (paradeisos isn't really a garden, but more of a closed park keeping animals) whereas Gradlon is an hostile land with a dark sky, volcanic and ruguous background, with an unbearble heat.

Elyos and Lythos both end in -os and this means it's inspired by greek words since the terminaison -os is a trace of the first declinension in greek. According to the wiki, Elyos may come from Helios meaning the "Sun" in greek, Eleos, meaning "Mercy, compassion", Elyon, one of the Epithets of God translating to "God the highest", coined on Elysion, the Paradise in Greek, the place here viruous people will end up. All the reported etymology are linked to light and to the idea of a peacful place, an idealized place where benevolance is the most determinant trait and that is yearned as the place for the eternal rest. Lythos seems to be a corruption of the word lithos meaning "united" or referencing a polished and shining stone. The idyllic landscape of Lythos and the immaculate theme makes it represent what Elyos is supposed to be as a whole : a light and idylic place, making Sombron's arrival in it even much more of a dark event and emphazing Sombron's presence as being what plunged the world into darkness.

Gradlon is inspired by the story of the city of Ys. King Gradlon Meur was the ruler of Ys but his daughter Dahut caused Ys to drowned into the deeps of the sea. Sombron's name is a corruption of Sombre meaning dark, however this word comes from the latin submbrare, under the shade and gave not only the word "sombre" but also "sombrer" which means to sink when it used to mean "casting a shadow upon something". In French and latin language, Hell is said "Enfer" and "inferno" which means "underworld" so the sinking of Gradlon makes it the underworld of Elyos. Gradlon's raising again towards the end of the game symbolizes Sombron's rise and fits with the drastic and dramatic tension of the last chapter as Sombron is close to his goal. Whereas the Somniel/Soranel's fall in the Xenologue's world symbolise the decadence of the XenElyos world, who became a literal underworld without Rafal even needing to bring back Gradlon.

Veyle's design is a bit particular because her regular design have a feather patter reminiscent of swan whereas her dark personailty is cloaded in black and the helmet she wears with the horns ressembles that of a demon, moreover her dress also features dragonic/bat wings, reinforcing the sentiment.

Veyle's usual design made her looks like an angel, whereas thsi design made her looks like a female demon.

Now, the Four Hounds and Winds. In japanese, four is written 四/shi and is homonymous to 死 /shi meaning death which gives the number a bad reputation to be linked to death (our equivalent of number 13). In the jpn version, the Four Hounds are called 四狗/Four dog. Dog are largely seens as psychopompe animals in many folklore, and are sometimes seens as dangerous beats. Meanwhile, the jpn names for the Four winds is 四翼/four wings, which does confirm this duality.

Also, recall Rafal's design ?

While his collar is shaper then Nel's, his... belt ? thing he wears around the waist ? how do you call that ? ressembles bat/devil's wing.

And now the funny thing about Nel and Nil's original name. The FEwiki indicates into the trivia for Nel and Rafal/Nil that their japanese name, El/エル/eru and Il/イル/iru are actually the japanese spelling for the french prounons Elle and Il. However, in other japanese media, there are others character working in pair who are named like that and often duet inspire by Angel/Devil duo such as Eru and Iru from Shugo chara, whose name comes from "Angel" and "Devil" so i think it's also likely inspired by that.

Also funfact but all the dragons name in japanese ends in ル/ru, which is the japanese pronociation of the L/R letter and while I don't think it was done on purpose seeing how in french those name have nothing in common, in semitic language, the root L is the root for the word "god". In fact, in the Bible all Angel's name ends with "el" because of this. So like I said, it's unlikely for this; But for El and Il, they are actually different prounociation of the word "god". אל/el is derivated from the root l and means god*, hence the Angel's name in the Bible are all to designed that each Angel belongs to God. For instance, while Rafal's name is actually based on Dassault Rafale, the first half of his name, Rafa, in hebrew means healer. Hence, angel Raphael in the Bible's name mean Healer/rafa/ of God/el. However, Il is the arabic prononication of the same word إِلٰه/ deity .

Finally, to keep up on track, Alear's hair. While it's obviously based on the UI system as a form of fanservice, seeing the concept design for some character, I think it's also a symbolic of duality between blue/red other then the obvious light and black, and it seems to be something popular in japanese media even if after some research I still didn't find what kind of reference it might be. However, if you recall, Lumera's hair is paler then Alear's hair, even blue whereas Alear's red hair is a lighter scheme then Sombron's hair, closer to purplish. And to keep with the theme, i think the color blue is linked to the sky, whereas the red is linked to fire and ... guess what ? the jpn lyrics of Engage's opening does back this up to some extent.

And here it's over, I didn't had to do as much of a mental stretch as I though I might have. Those are only speculation, I don't think the writers went as far as that, but it's interesting to see the link you can make. Seeing how every religions, monotheistic or polytheistic have a concept of paradise/hell, God/devil, angel/demon, it's likely that the dev took their own but there's still a lot of the game's aesthetic that linked with the abramaich one. But I think that this imagery does help with the whole telling of Alear overcoming their trauma seeing how the story is still largely told from their pov, and therefore the idylic vision of Lumera and everything in her suronding vs the demonic aspect of Sombron and everything surrounding him does gives an idea of how traumatic Alear's experience as a fell child was, seeing Sombron as a demon that kill his own kids, Gradlon not as a home but as a hell where you can be killied at any moment, and Lumera as an angelic mother figure, Lythos not only as a new home but as a paradise.

[electricboogaloosstuff]

Gradlon, King of Cornwall, rotting in his bed : life sucks, my wife's dead, nothing makes sense anymore

Every single members of his court : ok fire, but all the kingdoms are saying that we are pussies so can you do something other than getting drink plz

[v1rtual1nsanity]

May I present Jayvik but Bretagne because its my culture and I get to do whatever I want

(I lost it)

[bleublancrage]

[elysianstars]

Trying to find a new tattoo/piercing place that doesn't a) look like a hole in the wall where half the clients get human trafficked and they sterilise needles in Redbull, or b) have any pink-haired girls with rancid vibes on the staff. Maybe this is an issue unique to the city where I live, but damn.

[lilias42]

Un repas brodian pour tout le monde !

Tout le monde se réunit à la fin de la guerre pour manger tous ensemble ! Alcryst a cuisiné pour tout le monde pour leur faire plaisir et les remercier de leur soutien pour gagner en confiance, ce qui rend tous ses proches très fiers de lui, surtout son grand frère et Saphir !

Etant donné que le talent d'Alcryst dans le carnet des alliés est "identifier les talents des autres", je pense qu'il devrait être assez doué pour remarquer ce que les gens aiment ou non aussi, dont les plats. Pour cette scène, je suis partie de son soutien avec Saphir où il veut apprendre à pêcher pour ses alliés et cuisiner pour préparer un bon repas à sa mère après la guerre alors, je me suis dit qu'il pourrait faire la même chose pour toutes la troupes. Pour les vêtements, j'ai pris autant les tenues civils que militaires selon ce que je trouvais le plus esthétiques ou adapté pour un repas décontracté, comme la robe de mage de Citrinne qui fait moins tache dans un repas convivial que l'armure de Lapis ou Jade par exemple.

Brodia est ma nation préféré dans Engage où je n'ai aucun personnage que je n'aime pas / n'en ai rien à faire alors, je voulais réunir tout le monde sur une même image. Il manque juste Yunaka que j'aime beaucoup aussi et à la base, elle devait être penché derrière Citrinne en tenant un chat en voyant tout ça mais, ça ne rendait pas très bien et comme c'était déjà assez chargé, autant ne pas insister. En plus, je la met plutôt en duo avec Seadall (leur soutien est vraiment doux à la fin de mémoire) alors, on va dire que dans ma tête, elle est souvent avec les gens de Solm ^^'

[guilbertjj]

Roi Gradlon dans le port musée

[twistedisciple]

Few could mistake the appearance of a Hound or ignore the corner he claimed. Where others carried themselves wary and on edge, a certain Fell Dragon seemed all too pleased with this new arrival. Though it would be remiss to call Griss a perfectly kindred spirit, both were given a wide berth by the tent's inhabitants, and that berth grew wider still as the dragon approached him. 

“So you have finally made your way here, Griss. You did well to last as long as you have, though I admit it is somewhat of a shame.” He looked at him steadily, a face entirely wiped of enmity, only rapt attention. Amicable? Threatening? That was for Griss to judge. “Had you spelled allegiance to a different house, I would have enjoyed the chance to defeat you myself.” 

Rafal smirked, cocky and assured. Pointedly omitting the early circumstance of his own defeat. That failed to be the crux of the next matter and, after expressing his unique greetings, a spell of quietude wormed itself between them owed predominantly to himself deep in thought. A longer moment than anticipated.

“. . .On the way here, I was approached by a foul woman.” 

An understatement, an offender of discretion lacking clear identity markers at that. Even as he did it, he did not know why he tested Griss, or realize that he watched his reaction with every syllable. The other's name had surfaced, as had his part played in the intelligence thrown around of Rafal that few others could know. But still it was not tantamount to hurt; still it was not betrayal. Even if he would not ever lay claim to the term, the Fell Dragon possessed no right to brandish it between them.

Betrayal, after all, was a crime only between friends. Not a lord and a knight from two different worlds playing at patchwork fealty.

“A Mage Dragon by all appearances, she spoke of both you and I with special awareness,” he finished evenly, pivoting on his heel. Both dragon and topic to dissolve on an air of enigma. “I only thought you should know.” 

“There you are, L—“ Griss clamped his mouth shut, teeth snapping down on his tongue (unintentional and not sharp enough to draw blood, but a pleasure-punishment for speaking out of turn anyway), although his lips still formed their smile. Like Zephia, Lord Rafal had come with his own agenda, his own questions, and his own evaluation of his performance, so the Hound swung his legs over the edge of the cot and offered his full attention like the very beast that gave him his name. For now, he detected nothing in the dragon’s face that suggested he’d come for anything but the follow-up for a job - and one that Griss had done exactly as it’d been given to him: make it to the next round. No more, no less.

As Lord Rafal spoke, Griss’ attentive eyes remained fixed on his face even as the rest of him swayed a little side to side to satisfy his need for constant motion. Some mute unconscious thing could read the lines and shadows there, but it was quiet, easily drowned by an epiphany the dragon gave him instead. He stopped abruptly, eyelids flaring.

“What?” It had never occurred to him that he could have picked a different house. “You coulda said that earlier!” He clasped the thin edge of the cot and leaned forward eagerly. With the sliver of uncertain tension broken, the two of them now smiling in their own ways, they almost looked like everyone else in the medical tent. Friends seeking out the company of friends, sharing the tales of their conquests and defeats between spells of laughter.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna make me wait ‘til next year… What do I gotta do to feel your axe arm?”

He knew, even as he went on with his theatrics, groaning and sighing and complaining about his missed opportunity, that he’d picked the Black Eagles because of Zephia. And he’d promised he’d never leave her side, no matter what. Maybe if he was a different person, he would have thought he might have a chance to convince her to support a different one next year. But he wasn’t, and he didn’t. It was no source of regret, no source of resentment; it was simply what it was.

Even when Griss had little reason to bring her into the conversation, she appeared anyway - conjured by Lord Rafal, instead. Mention of a ‘foul woman’ had settled him back down, and he cocked his head to the side with real and obvious confusion, even though his intuition had grasped the connection between Zephia’s meeting with him earlier and this one, and stuck him like a pin. Then Lord Rafal identified her as a mage dragon and all but drove it home. Griss stiffened with the realization, just slightly, because he’d seen Lady Veyle’s face in this fair-haired child of Lord Sombron, and he didn’t like it.

“Wonder what she did to ruffle you,” Griss muttered, still staring up at him, glazed eyes unblinking, still wearing his half-formed smile. “And why’re you telling me? You want me to do something about it?”

[slotumn]

Possible answers to "where does Gradlon get the money and resources to run an evil dragon government"

They just plunder shit from Elyos (likely)

There are tax collector Fell Dragons collecting taxes to run the evil dragon bureaucracy and all their siblings hate them (funny)

[emblematicemblazer]

Sombron, The Fell Princess and The Four Hounds

[rafent]

✦ 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ✧

There is a cottage in the woods.

Nil watches it through tiny breaches in the briars, like the peepholes of a starving white wolf. A nuclear family nests inside consisting of father, mother, and child; picture-perfect, as quaint as the humblest aspirations can hope to be. The hardworking father descends the mountain to peddle cut lumber. The diligent mother rises early and fills the forest with smells of plain but revitalizing cooking. The lone child plays all by her lonesome, quietly and causing no trouble, asking after no toys her parents cannot afford.

Each is hard at work in their painted-on roles, but the mother especially. She dabs away her sweat with the bone of her wrist, tidies her spilling bun and adjusts the straps of her apron when they fall loose amid midday labors. Her chemises and linens air on the clothing line, brought in before the preparations for supper.

These pristine appearances are what throw him off, of course, the singular child that induces pause. Is it not all too mundane? Should there not be a second wretch to frolic in the garden beside the first? Over the course of several days, Nil gleans what he can for the simple act of confirmation. On the fourth, he approaches. He learns there are many allowances the littlest ones will make for a kind and studied smile.

“Do you know my mama, mister?”

“I do. I am friends with her, from long, long ago, but it is very cold outside. Can I wait for her in there with you?”

“Okay.”

It is the most innocent that let the devil into their home. It is the most innocent that is the devil, after all. Kindly Nil sits and waits, his fingers drum thoughtfully against the naperon, studying the stains of spilled, ill-dried broth. The smell of washed millet and dank wood. It is a pleasant home, a proper home; that is the reality; the truth, in the same way that Nil does not really know who this child’s mother is, her face, her age, or even her name. He knows only that they have the same eyes.

She arrives eventually. She sees his eyes, too. How? her chalk-white expression asks. At this distance there is no mistake for either of them. After a moment he rises from the chair with a severe set of his mouth, there is nothing of Nil in it anymore.

“Outside.” On his demand they go together. As one might estimate the age of an oak tree by its quantity of rings, the length of existence for a Fell Child can be judged by different visual parameters; the cocked alertness of her spine, the clenched fingers down at her side, the primordial readiness of fight and flight. But it is futile, Rafal has made sure of his advantages from the moment they stepped out, the defective Child leading and Rafal at her back. It does not stop her from trying.

“I’ve left Gradlon behind. My ambitions, my dragonstone—everything. I have a family. You don't have to do this.”

His lips twist, amused, bitter, disbelieving, everything at once. He laughs with all his chest and says to the pleading red eyes that have damned her, neither gleeful nor triumphal, merely factual: “But I will. Did you think laying with a human and birthing his pups would absolve you of this struggle? Never.”

Those born of Gradlon cannot run even from the enemies they have never made. The dice their blood has cast for them from the moment each drew breath, hissing in the viper pit hundreds and thousands strong, wanting with all their wicked hearts to be the last and only one. Revanche, a conferred axe from Divine Dragons, points at her like a wielded guillotine, like Rafal is judge, jury, and executioner. The reality is only that he is rightful heir over it all.

And ultimately, like it has been for countless others, it is easy. She is nothing like Nel. Her atrophied strength does not compare, not the pitiful tooth she straps to her thigh - a single knife batted away - or the futile scrabble of her nails down his arm in her final throes. Her face is not remotely alike, too plain without the dragonkin's trappings of gold, that it evokes nothing when he stares into it, rips into it. So it is easy. 

“Mama! Mommy! Momm—”

Hair topples fully from the struggling bun, the apron like Rafal is white now freckled and stained. Rafal looks down at a homely brown-haired niece; a nameless, wretched, sorry inheritor of Fell Dragon legacy and sees nothing of her mother in her; there is everything of her human father about her. That does not leave him satisfied. He is the one that will not take chances.

...

Too soon, the truant father returns home from cutting wood, catching a young man in his home with an axe in his hand, his two greatest treasures shattered on the floor. His mouth opens to yell, to scream, to say anything at all. This noise stirs the wolf, startles him, provokes him, and for that there is movement—

. . .and then there is silence.

There is a cottage in the woods and no family inside.

[fayesemblemring]

WiP Wednesday

Got tagged by @danganronpa-21 for this! It got me to write a whole chapter after months, so thank you :D

This chapter is part of my Veyle rebuilds Gradlon story. Originally it was meant to just be a scene, but then... I got carried away😅

It also contains some big but hopefully vague enough to @bluescreenl 's fic Defective, you should really check it out!

Speaking of, I tag them, @good-beans and @felikatze to do this if you want to :D

Veyle remembered Timerra once explained to her how Solmic funerals worked, which as was typical for the queendom, was vastly different from how the rest of Elyos did things.

Rather than burying the dead in somber farewells like she was used to see, most residents of Solm choose to burn them instead, the huge bonfire used for the creation serving as a backdrop for a party in their name, as their cinders scattered to the wind.

"It's to make sure their spirit is set free." Timerra continued. "You can't go on whatever journey's up next having to carry that old body around, after all!"

"Oh! So the reason there weren't that many Corrupted in Solm was…"

"Yup! Can't have a lot of undead trapped in their old bodies and forced to do Sombron's bidding if there's no body to corrupt to begin with! It wasn't the reason we cremate the dead to begin with, but it sure has been helpful, don't you think?"

"But… why the party, then? Aren't you sad that your loved ones have died?"

"Well duh, of course we're going to miss them. But I'd rather remember someone close to me remembering what they loved instead of just getting sad about it, you know? They're just going in the afterlife or whatever is up next before me, but it's not like I'm never going to see them again." Then, realizing something, Timerra added. "So you'd better not be all mopey at my funeral! I want my friend to have a great time and not be miserable because I went up ahead!"

…Oh. That's right. Veyle was going to outlive Timerra by a lot, no matter what. Like all of her friends.

" I… I'll try. Thank you, Timerra." Veyle replied, with a sad smile.

As she, her siblings and the Winds set foot in the dark halls of Gradlon Temple once more, Veyle thinked Timerra might have been more right than she realized.

Compared to the last time they were here, the place was eerily quiet without the sounds of fighting, the grunts of the Corrupted and Corrupted Lumera's insults at everyone who would dare take her away from her beloved child. Most of which were directed at Veyle herself.

And yet, Veyle could have sworn to have heard whispers from the moment they entered, as long as seeing some indistinct figures.

The same figures Veyle vaguely remembers seeing sleeping in the halls back when she still lived here.

It took her some centuries after leaving to realize they weren't sleeping at all.

She hates that she can't recall her siblings' names and faces. One of the most common things she heard people say is that the dead aren't truly gone as long as they're remembered, and yet here they are, restless and forgotten by everyone, including her own family.

Veyle, too young to have even known them.

Alear, who forgot everything about their past.

Nel and Rafal, who not only are from another Elyos so they never knew them, they had to forget that the people they were forced to fight to the death.

"No matter the world, this place will always be a cesspool like no other." Rafal said.

"Veyle, if I may? There is something I want to check."

"Of course. Lead the way."

It was weird how the temple was somehow more unsettling without any Corrupted hunting them down.

They entered a medium-sized room with a series of castle beds, who all looked worn down and resembling slabs of stone more than a place to sleep. From her time wandering the world Veyle learned to make due sleeping anywhere vaguely comfortable..but even she had absolutely no intention to try those. Right away, Rafal began looking under the beds, searching for something.

“Why did you two want to come this room?”

Nel took a deep breath.

“This was where our room was, back in our world.”

Veyle’s eyes widened.

“You don’t think… there was a version of you two here too?”

“It’s a possibility. The Alear from the past looked shock to see Rafal and I, and this world’s Sombron seemed to recognize me.”

“I knew it.”

Everyone turned to look at Rafal, who had moved one of the beds while they were talking, revealing a small hidden crawlspace beneath it.

“What is that?” Veyle asked

“My secret sweet stash. I used to hide the sweets I gathered in our missions here, away from any greedy hands… as well as Father’s eyes”. Rafal muttered. Veyle could have sworn he shuddered for a moment.

“I always wondered where the sweets you shared with Nil and I came from. Now I finally know.” Nel chuckled much to her brother’s chagrin.

“Regardless, this proves your theory right, sister. But I have no doubt in my mind our selves in this Elyos have long been nothing but dust.”

Nel closed her eyes. “I see.”

“Are you two alright?” Veyle asked, worried about her older siblings.

"Yes. This just proved our suspicion, nothing more."

"..the us in this world must be nothing but dust now. Not like it ever mattered beyond our selfish want for closure."

"Rafal…"

Veyle couldn't help but wonder what the two were thinking about. Whenever the Winds talked about her late self from the other world, she always felt a strange pit in her stomach. Maybe Rafal and Nel felt the same.

"Enough feeling nostalgic. It's not as if this place holds any good memories anyway. Let's just do what we must."

"Right." Veyle nodded. She had everyone come here for a reason, after all.

"Zelestia? Could you give everyone their crystals, please?"

"Certainly." Zelestia took a handful of strange crystals out of her bag and started handing them over to everyone.

"Lady Veyle already mentioned this before we departed, but be very careful with those crystals. To give them that much destructive power we had to make them extremely volatile. That is to say, any hit or fall could set them off and if that happens…" Zelestia made the sound of an explosion while stretching her arms out to prove her point. Gregory gulped nervously in response.

"Make sure to place them at an appropriate distance between each other so that they'll all activate in a chain reaction. Once you're done, return to the throne room. …I want to make sure you all evacuate before I proceed."

"Are you going to be alright?" Nel asked, worried.

"Yes. The spell will take a little while to activate, and I can run pretty fast when I want to." Veyle responded.

"Everyone, we'll meet at the Throne Room. If you find any Corrupted or other threats, alert everyone. And again please be careful with the crystals! ..sorry I couldn't make them safer. I'm not as good at magic crafting as I should yet and Zelestia could only help so much. And no, the ghosts aren't threats."

And with that, everyone split into groups.

Veyle was about to leave to place her crystals in her designated area when…

Veyle…

"Huh?" She turned around to see two ethereal figures and yet more vivid than all the other ghosts, even if their faces were still unclear. They merely turned to point at a nearby room.

"Yes. I'll go check it out before we leave." She nodded before heading there.

She couldn't turn a request from her late siblings, after all.

"Good, you're all here." Veyle said after reuniting with everyone else at the throne room.

"Veyle? Where did you get those?" Nel asked. Her sister was holding a bag of seeds in her left hand and a sword on her right.

"I found them in one of the bedrooms. …our siblings wanted me to take these with us before we free them from this place." Veyle muttered. Everyone fell silent.

"Mauvier, I'm entrusting these to you. We are going to bring them home."

"Yes, Lady Veyle."

"Thank you. Now, I am going to cast the spell. Everyone, you need to evacuate from here."

"Just be careful, sister."

Veyle nodded before watching everyone head out of the temple.

Once she was sure to be the only alive presence left, she turned her gaze towards the throne where Papa once stood.

She knew what she had to do. But she'd be lying to herself that burning another place to the ground after her other self did so to the port town in Firene didn't make her shiver.

Then she shook her head.

"No. This is different." 

The port was a place of innocents. This temple was a monument to all of Papa's - No, Sombron's - atrocities, and as long as this place stood the wound he inflicted on Elyos would never truly heal.

…and her siblings would never be able to leave this world and rest.

With renewed determination, Veyle took out the tome she specifically prepared for this, and casted the largest fireball she ever made in her entire life.

The fireball lazily floated in place, but Veyle knew that in a matter of minutes it would explode, triggering in turn the explosive crystals she and the others had placed all over the temple and causing a chain reaction that would cleanly bring all of Gradlon Temple down.

Now that her job was done, Veyle began running out of the temple as fast as she could and watching the affair with the others.

It was time for a Solmic funeral they would never forget.

Shortly after reuniting with her group Veyle watched Gradlon Temple explode and collapse within itself, going down in flames. Even she didn't quite know how she was feeling, watching the flaming ruins of the place she once regrettably called home.

She knew this was just the beginning. She may have cauterized Sombron's biggest wound on this world, but there was plenty to be done yet to reshape Gradlon into the land she wanted it to be.

But the young queen wasn't deterred. She had all the time in the world and there were plenty of people by her side.

"Thank you again for planting these flowers with me, Alear."

"They're from our siblings, right? It was the least I could do."

This was the first time Veyle ever gardened with her sibling. Something about it made her feel at peace.

"When I asked Céline which types of flowers they were she said these seeds grow best in temperate climates. Like Firene… or Lythos."

Veyle was genuinely impressed that they managed to grow them in Gradlon.

"They wanted to be here all along…"

"I think that's why they asked me to take the seeds with me. They remembered us, Alear. All of us."

"If only we had gotten to know them… Still, I can't believe you talked to actual ghosts, Veyle. You could give Ivy a big scare with that." Alear smiled.

"I didn't really talk to them much, but I wasn't scared." Veyle continued. "I was just… really sad."

"They're here now, at least. I'm sure they're watching over us even as we speak." Alear smiled.

"I hope they like the garden we made for them!"

Veyle felt really proud of her work. The light-colored flowers bloomed gracefully in the cold green of its dedicated garden in the Somniel, and it made both siblings feel at peace with themselves.

In the following centuries, these flowers could be found growing all over Gradlon. Many of them are said to have been planted by the Fell Queen herself.

"Lady Veyle? What brings you here?" Pandreo asked, surprised.

"Hello, Pandreo. May I ask you a favor? I'd like you to bless this."

"A sword?"

"I found it the other day in Gradlon Temple." Veyle nodded. "It was from one of my late siblings."

"...I see. Not that I don't appreciate you visiting, Lady Veyle, but why did you come all the way to Solm just to bless this sword?"

"When I handed Alear this sword, they acted… strange. The look on their face reminded me of when we saw them in the past."

"I see. Did it bring some painful memories?"

"Not quite. They did say they felt a strong knot in their throat, though."

"Hmmm…."

"Anyway! I wanted to keep the sword in the Somniel as a memento, but they said they felt the owner would have hated it. …that they would rather have it be used and see the world, free. So… here I am."

"You thought to have the sword be given a Solmic blessing to make sure it'd know the joy of freedom? That's quite clever, Lady Veyle! I'll make sure to give it the greatest blessing Solm's ever known!"

"Thank you so much, Pandreo!" Veyle beamed.

"But in return I insist you join tonight's party. We gotta celebrate the blessing and you and the Divine One getting to know their family more, after all!"

"Oh, certainly! Awoooooo!"

The Grave of the Fell.

Built atop where the old Gradlon Temple by the Fell Queen herself, it is a giant grave covered in flowers.

Ever since the official refounding of Gradlon, every year there has been a joint festivity between the Divine and Fell religions to mourn all of the Fell Children who perished in the first war against Sombron.

Whereas the Divine Faith focused more on the atrocities they were forced to commit by their father, the Fell Faith viewed it as a reminder of their bloody past that must never be repeated, as the guardians of Elyos.

But both of them always emphasized their senseless, gruesome demises at the hands of their own father.

The Divine One and the Fell Queen knew that better than anyone, which is why every year they go to that grave to pay their respects.

The incision marks:

"A monument to all the Fell Children who met their untimely demise at the hands of Sombron.

May their senseless loss of life always be remembered, so that their tragedy will never be repeated.

Fell Queen Veyle

Divine Dragon Alear

Fell Guardians Nel and Rafal

"

[zefirart]

man i love alear. i love rafal. i love nel. i love veyle. ough ough ough

[nelithic]

　𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭　/　dancer mastery ₊

　　　　　　　　　　　　　❪ fell xenologue spoilers near the end. ❫

　　　　　　　　　　　　✶

two thousand years ago, she danced.

all day and all night. morning to night, to morning again. summer to winter, to summer again. her feet became calloused as a dancer's; her hands became cramped, her bones strained and at times shattered. she bruised, she bled, she rose again.

as with any performance, the stage did not end because she grew tired. the audience did not stop watching. she could not disrupt the formation of this finely choreographed production for such simple things as a sprained ankle, a mending limb, a broken heart. and as with any performance, they were not one or individual, but the whole — a cabaret of matching hisses and reptilian hides, fangs not one inch high or one inch low, a perfect row of smiling grimaces just as father made them. all day, all night, they danced. they were brilliant as gems were brilliant; they were each of them full of imagination because there is nothing that works harder than the mind in such darkness where the eyes cannot see.

and because they were each of them visionaries, one scale off of sombron after the next, the show would never end. put ten thousand artists upon a stage where each of them can dream the world but never touch it and the show will never end.

in her sleep she danced. she held pevar's hand in one and snapped his ribcage with the other, dragged the tines in to pierce his lungs. they spun whirlishly as he struggled to spill her innards with his last gasping breaths.

in her waking she danced, punctured teirvet's throat with her fangs, a bite like a lover's. her poison was teirvet's poison was the poison of each and every one of them; they had practiced this routine countless times, almost playfully, and for a time it had been the closest she thought siblings could ever be — a closeness gradlon's eternal bolero could never permit: they passed mere inches by each other with every step and never, never closer — but then teirvet like countless others had dared to slip, and with that, the unending rehearsal was pushed out before the house in yet another reenactment of the original sin, tearing curtains from the walls in its fever. even the congregation had fled in its wake. but their homeland's composition was a composition of error, made for missteps and casual casualty, or perhaps it should be said that it was in fact a pageantry of these very things. and so when hysterical daou had come at her too afterwards with rage over the death of his twin, with glee over the death of his twin, with excitement, with grief, with vengeance, with gratitude, screaming that he would get her until he was hoarse, screaming that he would get nil, that he'd taste his blood, that he'd kill him if she couldn't, he would kill him, killhimkillhimkILL HIM, in what other way could she have felt close to him but in a dance?

it was the only way any of them felt close to one another.

the only way any of them loved.

one thousand years ago, she danced this old dance again: the dance of siblings, of family, of loved and hated and scorned and cherished ones. it was the dance only they could dance — who closer than twins? of whose half neither would have lived nor grown without the mirror half, of whose bone marrow lived in synonym with the other's, loaned out like the heart loans blood to the hands and the feet in understanding that it would come recycled back someday.

they danced to the death, finally. as had always been meant to be and as she had been avoiding; as she had left gradlon avoiding but which, she always suspected, would find her nevertheless. their steps were long, long overdue, and now there was no audience left to watch. a gallery of corrupted, and false spectators from another world — shades, only.

it did not matter in the end that it was she who killed herself or nil who killed her or rafal who killed her or she who killed either of them. that the hands they had both been dealt stained and redeemed the blood that flowed.

all that mattered was that it had finished. the curtains would finally close. the stage would empty into the wings. the house would never fill again.