#Luz Clawthorne and The Eternal Winter

[electricfied-wolf]

Honestly with how much magic is around the mountain/in this world in general I can see the gems being a natural by-product of earth, and a constant enemy of belos (does he still go by clockwork king in local legands?) As he attempts to use their gemstones as power sources fuiling his empires war machine.

And based on how some of this reads, we're expanding it properly past the village walls to include the whole mountain?

That actually works great as It helps de-clutter the village area, not that the kids aren't still friends, but a small trip up and down some areas of the mountain (likely with a rail system of some kind) giving more opportunities for hijinks to happen.

The village would still exist, there are just places closer to the mountain that would get hit with the snowstorms and byproducts of Tatiana's rage first. The kiddos could all live in different places ofc. Belos is an interesting fella, ESPECIALLY with all of the expansion since the show ended. I am VERY normal about him and his brother. I'm not sure if he'd still go by that label, with the knowledge that he's a witch hunter and that he was manipulating others with his lies about being able to communicate with the last (adult) titan, part of me thinks he'd go cryptid. Possible The Deer King in relation to his mask. Mayhaps The Pure one? Maybe just The Emperor? Something that reflects his true self without tipping anyone off.

[electricfied-wolf]

A new route

little something i came up with for the Luz Clawthorne and the winter witch au.

......

After the life changing race, Rusty was very used to doing new routes and routines with his family and other engines (It was also nice for Greaseball to be his friend again, not that he is a little less of a jerk)

But this new one was interesting considering other engines' reactions to it.

"Listen kid, you dont have to go up that mountain, anyother engine could do it."

"Think I cant?"

"No... its.. look that place can get weird. And it storms alot, but its not rain, its ice and snow and with only one track up and down, if you derail due to the ice, its gonna be pretty hard to get somebody up there to help haul you back down okay?" Greaseball huffs annoyed.

"The Villagers are fine- the kids can be a real riot too, but somethin in those woods ain't right, and at night...." Greaseball trails off, Rusty was worried, he never seen the mentally older train look so...distressed, "You don't travel at night you hear me? You go up, you unload, entertain the kids for a bit and haul yourself right on down, or you stay the night up there if it gets too late. And if it snows?"

Greaseball looks him dead in the eye, "The only engine I ever heard of getting through that kind of weather was Pops, even I derail on that track, and I've been lucky."

__________________________________

OUGHFHFU hell yeah train time....

The most ominous possible thing you could ever hear is "Yeah the woods. They're kinda fucked up. Also don't do anything on that route at night. Okay cool have fun now-"

[electricfied-wolf]

Bringing stex in is interesting, because trains having to go threw mountains/mountain passes are fairly common, it wouldn't be hard to place a slightly run down train station on the edge of town for them to pass threw, but then if we humanized them up, that could be an interesting foil to 1010 as two groups of created beings.

If we go based on my own personal AU-lore stuff, these fellas have been around for a WHILE, the first humanoid engine popped up in 1952 and they didn't slow down after him. Their souls weren't even a thing until a few years later, when the Starlight Express took notice of these silly little trains and decided that they liked em' all so much he was going to become their deity, give them souls, advanced thinking, a place to rest when their time was up.

I don't have EXACT dates for most of the current (aka canon) fellas, but aside from Rusty, Momma, Poppa, Belle, and likely the rest of the freight, most of them are pretty modern. But they don't age like humans so mentally they're as old as they were designed to be. Basically for as long as they live. So they're all just adults from the moment they wake up. Rusty is TECHNICALLY a bit more new because he gets converted by the Starlight and such, and mentally he's in his early 20s, but you get the idea. Engines like Electra and Eledtra, coaches like Opal or freight like Killerwatt are really new but are still adults in their heads. But the gist of what I'm getting at here is these guys have been around for a while...but likely not as long as some of our mystical friends have been. Meaning they would have experienced the shift from normal rolling stock to ones that think and act like people.

And then a little yard switcher who they maybe saw ONCE suddenly comes back branded like his kind's deity, and is now the WORLD RACING CHAMPION. Good for him, they think, now all the humans will stop going on about how the Starlight is fake. The steamers would be frequent in the frost-burdened village because of their unique little party trick of expelling fire through their mouth, they usually come by to help warm things up and haul in supplies.

[electricfied-wolf]

And before we get to far, can I have a little context on what you are keep/changing for TEW au bit?

Alrighty, accidentally deleted SO MUCH so I'm bitterly restarting:

Keeps:

Tatiana's whole lore and being the ice witch, along with all of her other fellas and kids being part of her crew.

Keeping the village, they've been haunted by her for a very long time and the modern folks don't know how to deal with her. They do have some tech, but Tatiana/Belos do NOT have any modern stuff.

Still like the idea of how the Aquatos get there, wanna keep them in.

Keeping pretty much all fandoms that were originally in it. They're all still chill lol.

Changes/Additions and lore too:

Trolls (with my personal au lore, don't know abt adding the bergens bc I have no ideas for them yet), Steven Universe even tho I SWORE it was already in there, Starlight Express (obviously), Hilda maybe (new season drops soon I don't wanna jump the gun), and HTTYD-The Nine Realms bc I'm attached to these kiddos no matter how many quirks the show has.

Wonderful concept of Luz being raised by Eda, got separated from her mom as a little kid and Eda took her in and raised her beside King. She tried to teach her how to us magic, was VERY surprised when Luz rushed up to her showing her glyphs excitedly. Not sure if Luz would have to wait to get her staff for as long or if she would've obtained String Bean FAR earlier seeing as Eda raised her in this. Going to have to change the au's name slightly bc I forgot she takes on the Clawthorne name in this one. Glad we didn't get too far lmao.

Eda has her suspicions about King being a titan. She doesn't know for sure straight away, but she's no idiot. She's seen the books detailing the vague history of titans. But she's never seen a demon that looks like King in her life. She continues to ignore it however, insisting King doesn't look exactly like the pictures and is likely a mimic of some sort. She feeds into his idea that he's the "King of Demons" even though a part of her deep down knows it's not true. Which is WHY she's so terrified when Luz insists on going out into the world with him, because the ice witch is bringing winter upon more and more places further down the mountain. Luz wants to stop the eternal winter from covering the planet, Eda's heart drops thinking she might lose her son and daughter.

Not sure which kids would and wouldn't live in the village, I don't think Steven and Connie would. Also not sure if his family would still be aliens or instead would be some kind of mystical gem race that did start on earth, but regardless he lives a bit far off. A mishap with Lion's portals as he and Connie are on an exploration leads him to encounter Luz and King early on. They become fast pals and Steven hurriedly agrees to help with her mission. Connie takes a bit of convincing but agrees as well.

TEW!Hunter is. An interesting lad to say the least. Still a grimwalker, he just has longer hair, not sure how he'd meet Flapjack and only vaguely sure of how he'd encounter the crew. He's very cutthroat, being raised up in a fancy palace far away from anyone else. He only knows the witches of the covens/the covenheads, his uncle, and the Collector...who he is annoyingly forced to call his cousin. Well, he acts annoyed around others, but the truth is he loves the little fella. They're friends, and he frequently steals the round prison that traps the poor thing, so that the two can talk without Belos prying in.

Vague vague idea where in a middle part of the plot, as they're befriending the Golden Guard, he sneaks his imprisoned star-child cousin out to the squad and begs them to get him far away from Belos' palace. Because he doesn't want the Collector to get hurt.

The crew that comes together to try and stop the eternal winter are Raz and his siblings, the "intern" kids, Steven and Connie (+Lion), and Luz and her witchy friends. Plus King and the Collector. They're very ambitious but confident they can do it.

[electricfied-wolf]

Lol it's fine, we go in a feed back loop for concepts jumping from one idea and concept to the next, sometimes some are just slightly to the left. I do think theyd be welcomed in the village more readily then anyone with abilities in line with the endless winter as they heal in much needed supplies and goods for the town.

The first time an android steamer showed up would've been a bit terrifying but they'd adjust quickly, they still get their supplies and are still greeted with a cheery whistle. But now the engine and his cars can conversate back, and the steam engines bring their lovely fire breath to the table.

[electricfied-wolf]

Actually I genuinely want to make edits of/draw TEW!Hunter because he lives in my brain rent free. He's still the golden guard but he's a little scarier and more put together, and as I mentioned before he has longer hair. Luz is like genuinely afraid of him when they first meet each other.

[electricfied-wolf]

Thinking about her (my "Luz Clawthorne and The Eternal Winter" AU)