#Syniae

[sithbelle]

Hi there. I'm going to be vulnerable for a moment. I wrote this book (working title "Synia") over the last 5 years, and finished it up back in April. Since then, I've been holding onto it, willing myself to send out queries. But the fear of rejection, and the knowledge that it's likely not a "sellable" book, has kept me back from actually sending out any letters. To force myself to do something, I'd like to share the prologue with you all. The story is about a pair of siblings who are Syniae, or creatures who have magical gifts based on synesthesia.

If you would like to know more, I'll be happy to blab on about it ad nauseam. If you know of any publishers or literary agents who are interested in such a story, please let me know. If this falls into the empty void, well...that's also feedback that I need. Thank you for reading the above, and I hope you enjoy the prologue below:

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Grey.

Everything was grey. The sky, the walls, the fog inside her head. Even her tormentor’s eyes were a piercing, unforgiving grey. It was the color that invaded her every thought from the moment she awoke until the moment she finally passed out.

Long ago, there used to be a spectrum. She vaguely recalled the melody of a forest green, the sweet sound of a tempting red, the echo of a vibrant yellow. That was an æon ago. Now, she was reduced to monochrome, the lifeless color of a rainy day.

Today, she had opted for a change of scenery. Instead of spending the entire day in bed, staring at the grey ceiling, she instead sat next to the grey-filtered transpane along one of the walls, watching the mist that enveloped the view.

Suddenly, the dreaded low, silky voice behind her called through the mental mist:

“Oh good, you’re up. I was beginning to wonder if I had finally broken you.” The disembodied tone had an air of amusement to it, as though it had told some clever inside joke.

She scowled in reply, but did not turn to search for the source of the voice. She had no words for the man. Words had color to them, and this Orb didn’t allow for that.

“I see. Just as conversational as ever,” mused her captor. “Come now, there’s no need for such reticence. We’re far beyond that. After all, we’ve both held up our ends of the bargain so far, and you can clearly see the benefits. You’re fully cooperative now and haven’t tried to escape in quite some time, and in return, your living quarters are quite generous, and I do try to make sure you’re well fed. For all intents and purposes, you are far more my guest than my prisoner at this point.”

And it was true. The sleeping room she was currently sitting in was rather large, and contained a bed, a small table, and two chairs, one of which she occupied. Attached to it was a respectable bathing room, complete with a tub. There was even a small cooking and eating room across a small, narrow hallway. She should have been comfortable. There were just two major problems: she was here against her will, and everything was that same damnable shade.

When she didn't hear the sound of her "host's" footsteps echoing away from her prison,

her curiosity and anger got the better of her. Almost subconsciously, she turned and gave the lurking man in the entryway a withering glance. To the prisoner, he was barely more than a silhouette. What little she could see was distorted into the same washed-out shade by the specially- filtered light. Slate shoes and the bottom half of a charcoal suit protruded into frame, along with a pair of ashen hands clasped in front of his sharkskin belt.

He responded to her glare by tugging slightly at the cuff of his sleeve, almost as if he were uncomfortable. It was a ruse, she knew; they had played this scenario out before. She turned back to face the table and transpane as the Grey Man strode in from the entryway behind her. His footsteps tapped a muffled rhythm on the shaggy grey carpet. In another life, she could have made a song from it. Now, it was just another sound to interrupt the monotony echoing pointlessly in her mind.

When he reached the remaining chair across from her, he paused before sitting, and instead looked down at her calculatedly for a moment. Then, he pulled her forward across the small, round table by her chin, forcing her brown eyes to meet his grey, separated only a couple centimeters. She was a bit taken aback at the action, but did not dare show it on her face. He had never been this aggressive before.

“Tell me, Synia, what makes you hate me so much? After all, you invited me. I merely gave you everything you asked for,” he purred.

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then just as quickly returned to the hostile glare she had perfected in the last year. He had just given her the ability to escape, but he didn’t know it.

Yet.

She fought to keep her thoughts from showing on her face, taking care to ensure that the mask was firmly in place. Fortunately, he misunderstood the lapse.

“Ahhh, yes. The truth is rather uncomfortable, isn’t it? Just think: if your curiosity and desperation hadn’t gotten the better of you, you wouldn’t be here, and this whole mess could have been avoided. How selfish of you,” he said, almost a whisper. The man thrust her chin away, forcing her to break eye contact and instead focus on her balance. He smirked slightly as he stood up and faced the entryway.

“Still, I must be grateful. Thanks to you, I have been given the greatest gift of all. Because of your greed, I’m free to move as I wish, and every whim I could think of is catered to my specific design!” His voice rose slightly with each sentence, as if convincing himself that it was true.

He paused and when he spoke again, his voice was back to its usual silk: “Before too long now, I'll have cracked the code, and you will truly be at my mercy. I’m getting oh so close. This last experiment yielded some remarkable results that the bots are still analyzing. And when I do figure it out, I will be able to be rid of you for good. Until then..." He trailed off dramatically as he walked towards the door. She did not turn to watch him leave.

His footsteps paused behind her, and there was complete silence for several seconds. Her curiosity once again betrayed her. As she turned, she saw him standing with his back to her, the grey fob in his hand extended to unlock the door. However, he didn’t activate it. Instead, he had waited until he knew she was watching to leave his parting shot. His voice returned to the deadly not-quite-whisper:

“Well, that’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

He activated the fob, and the door clicked open. She had already turned back to face the transpane again by the time he had crossed over the threshold. There was a sound of the electomag lock bolt sliding back into place, followed by gentle footsteps that retreated back into the silence.

She closed her eyes and exhaled softly, like she had a million times before. Only this time, there was a monumental difference: he had finally made an error. He had been so careful in the last four-hundred-and-thirty-two days, sixteen hours, and twenty-two minutes to make sure that her entire life had no color except grey. Every single surface and feature had been carefully selected to prevent her from using her gift.

He had the bots shave her head every other day or so, leaving nothing but a faint, grey stubble. Her now threadbare clothes had been carefully selected to be comfortable, but monochromatic. There were no mirrors, and every surface that could have possibly held a reflection was scratched or matted down, so she could not see herself. And her tattoos…she still couldn’t think about that, even as she subconsciously touched the scars on her left forearm where one of them used to be. She was to be as much grey as the room itself. But they could not change her eyes.

Her brown eyes.

For an instant, as he held her gaze so close to his own, the filtered light was broken by his own shadow, and his wintery stare became twin mirrors. For the first time in three-hundred-and-ninety-six days, eight hours, and twenty minutes, she saw a color. And she remembered.

She remembered what brown felt like.

That tiny glimpse was all she needed. It was the spark of hope she had been waiting for, that she had almost given up on. She had a color; a good one, even. For the first time in her life, she was grateful that her eyes were the color of cesspools, as he had once described them.

Now all she had to do was focus, plan, and wait for the perfect moment. She had all the time in the Orb. After all, he stupidly thought she was beaten.

[cam-arts]

But what if they were pirates?

Been binging One Piece and figured I'd throw my OCs on a pirate crew

Plus Sinbad from Magi, of course

[jojotier]

Just turning over the idea of the former Demon King surviving what was supposed to be her death knell and now she's just a gap moe butch who trips over herself to do whatever her wife wants while awkwardly attempting to girlfather a teenage girl with prophetic magic abilities

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

Who is the most chaotic good boi or gurl in your entire OC roster?

And who does the sleezy car saleswoman thing better, Carmine or S?

uhh idk for this one also. mainly bc idk i dont really like ever think of the dnd alignment chart or whatever for my characters

and uhh

carmine is the only one who sells cars, ofc she does it better what-

s is not even supposed to be going for those vibes-

[celestialvoyeur]

💛💙SPIRK FIC REC💙💛

If you like a Spirk AU with a twist then this AOS fic might be for you. Kirk is part Betazoid, he doesn't advertise it because it doesn't define him, but after feeling the terror and the psychic scream from the destruction of Vulcan he starts to break down. He can't block anything anymore and it almost kills him. Spock intervenes.

[alyniaffxiv]

Your viera looks so pretty what mods do you use for them 🥺🥺

Happy to answer :D The eyebrows used for her are sadly not being sold as the person took them down but there are plenty of others who make eyebrows that can easily find ^^ Her oni horns are from Mika they do some stunning work Her ears in her oni form come from Mord Proxy! She does some really beautiful ears and tail replacements and quality stuff. Freckles are found on XMA by almaden called All Gen Body Freckles Now for clothing it varies but some people I really love are Prayer, ReiMods, Solona, Tsar, Ril, LeiaHanzo, Miette, alee, Cherry, Major Praline, Sosick, Yuna, Synia and some more that I can't quite remember atm ^^; Hair some of my faves are from Miette, Felis, and Yuria (yuwuria on xma) and might be some one offs from other people but some are quite old or are ports for viera Some other people I just really love in general are Afterglow studios, Aesthetic Mods, and Blxssfall

Think thats about what I can remember as of right now but yeah mostly where I get her stuff from and just other modders really love and enjoy seeing what they do

I'm in the middle of trying to get cannon outfits for Alynia and really get her lore story solid and finish her cannon base look at some point too. But please support these modders and many other they deserve it ^^

[booksandwords]

Seeing one of his grey strings morph into glimmering silver as soon as they were introduced to each other made him feel even more unstable. How could it be possible that this man would turn out to be so meaningful to him? He was perfect and Buck… could not possibly be good enough.

It's In My Roots, It's In My Veins by synia/ @grimmster0815

A Buddie Red String of Fate au inspired by 4x02. I like how the the string are done and of course, Christopher.

[sunquail]

it’s my boy synia! I still love and think about my ocs a lot. he’s had a few design elements tweaked but mostly he’s the same (but comparing him to when I first drew him 6 years ago is a trip lmao)

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

Shoza and Synia sat across from each other, the only thing between them being Synia’s desk.  Neither wanted to start the conversation.  But, eventually Shoza did.

“....Why didn’t you tell me he’s been missing, Synia.  It’s been 3 damn years, you have no excuse.”

The woman avoided his gaze.  “Because you didn’t need to know.  And I knew you’d get like this.”

“I didn’t need to know? I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW!?” Shoza’s tone was getting angrier by the second, and he slammed his hands down on Synia’s desk. “LIKE HELL I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW, HE’S MY FUCKING SON WOMAN!” Synia stood up, avoiding eye contact no more, giving the man a piercing glare. 

“Oh really? Coulda fooled me, with how much he despises your sorry ass.  I can’t blame him, honestly, it’s not his fault his father was such a goddamn coward he treated his son like shit just so he could get him to take his life, all because ‘Oh wah, it’s too hard to live without my wife’.  What makes you think he wants your sorry ass saving him, huh?”

As soon as the words came out, she regretted them.  Not because they were false, or exaggerated.

But because they were painfully true.

Shoza just stood there in silence, hunched over the desk.  For a second it seemed his rage had boiled over, that he was about to explode, but then....

He just got up from the desk, his posture and expression just hollow. Empty. Defeated.

All he could muster was a near silent “......You’re right.”  Behind those tiny, seemingly insignificant words were years of denial, years of pain, years of suppressed regrets.

And with that, before Synia even had a chance to say anything back, the man left.  All Synia could do was curse herself.  

But... maybe accepting the truth would help him.

At least, that’s what she hoped.

As the truth was all she could offer.

[grimmster0815]

Summary: Buck had been ignoring his strings. To be more precise, he had been ignoring one string in particular and even though it had been glowing a bright red in front of him for months now, it took regular therapy for him to finally admit that he tended to hide his true feelings from people.

Inspired by episode 4x02 Alone Together

Notes: After episode 4x02 aired I could not deal with Carla reading a story about strings of love and Buck admitting he hides his feelings from people in the span of a couple scenes, so this happened.

Title is shamelessly borrowed from Adele's song River Lea.

[orcartographer]

Synia’s Tower

At some point, it became tradition for wizards to turn their towers into themed puzzle dungeons. Synia is a master alchemist, so of course her tower is potion-themed. On each floor, you get a wide array of Modifier Potions and Object Potions. You can combine a Modifier with an Object and use that to solve the puzzles. Or you can just chuck a potion of Explode Bees and see what happens.

I’m very proud of this particular dungeon. The space below each map is where I put all the potion tokens in roll20. Each potion can only be used once, so players will have to get more creative as they progress up the tower. More detailed descriptions of each floor under the cut:

This room is simple. There are tables all around the perimeter of the room, each displaying several colorful potions. At the far end of the room is a decrepit, rotting staircase leading up to the next floor. The staircase basically has two sections that are completely missing.

Floor 2: The Panopticon

This room is massive, so massive in fact that it couldn’t possibly fit in the tower without some spatial magic shenanigans. At the center of the room stands a 90-foot-tall pedestal, atop which a big glowing blue eyeball hovers, overlooking the whole chamber. Encircling the pedestal are eight 50-foot-tall statues. The party can take cover behind these to avoid getting blasted by the eye’s laser blast, which targets the party as soon as they’re in the room (they’re on the north side of the room when they arrive), prompting a Dex save. To their right is a treasure chest surrounded by shards of broken glass. To their left is the staircase leading to the next floor. On the far end of the room is a platform with a lever on top. If the lever is pulled, the cage above the eye drops, preventing the eye from blasting the party.

There’s one more catch. Any time the party makes an unstealthy sound, such as a footstep, color-changing lights ripple out across the floor and walls from the point where the noise originated. The eye uses this to “hear” the players and determine their location. Each statue has 50 hp, and the eye’s laser blast deals 10d6 fire damage on a failed Dex save (statues of course autofail Dex saves).

Floor 3: Pteryla’s Mourning

This floor resembles an old, withered garden. It’s all brown and dead, with clusters of thorny brown roots at various points. At the center of the garden stands a fountain with a sad angel statue in the middle, the tiniest trickle of water dripping from its eyes. The fountain is dried up, and a plaque on the front of the fountain identifies the angel as Pteryla, who is mourning because the garden is dead. The party must find a way to revive the garden. (A quick Investigation check reveals another Plants potion, and possibly an Evoke potion, if the party gets stuck here.) Ironically, using an Increase Plants potion (or the Plant Growth spell) actually feeds the thorny root growths, which suck up all the energy and grow even larger and begin thrashing about, requiring nearby party members to make Dex saves to avoid taking slashing/piercing damage. Killing the thorny growths must come first. The best solution is to burn everything and then use the plant growth stuff.

When the garden is revived, Pteryla’s tears flow more freely, only now they are tears of joy, and the fountain fills with water and returns to its functional state once more. A tree behind the fountain then grows from the soil and forms an arboreal staircase to the next floor.

Floor 4: The Clockwork Room

This room is very tall and has a ton of gears and some ladders and metal struts protruding from the walls. At the center of the floor is a big glowing blue rune that casts Counterspell anytime someone casts a spell. At the center of the ceiling, about 120ft above the blue rune, is a small yellow rune.

This challenge is more player-vs-player, as whoever reaches the top and touches the yellow rune first gets gold as a reward. And once the yellow rune is touched, the blue rune conjures a translucent blue magical staircase that goes all the way up to the top and into the next floor.

Floor 5: The Sundial

A half-sundial, half-clock apparatus ticks away on the stained glass floor of the room. The walls display illusory grass and trees and clouds, as though the party were standing in the middle of a grassland. It appears to be autumn, with brown and red and yellow leaves falling from the branches of the trees. The display is on a 24-hour loop, where all the leaves have fallen at 11:59:59, and all the leaves are on the trees at 00:00:01. The large hands of the clock can be pushed manually to accelerate or reverse the time displayed in the room. When they let go of the hands, the hands glow blue for a moment, and then resume ticking.

There is a plaque that reads:

If the sun turned ‘round And sunk into the earth, If the autumn leaves rose And clothed the naked forest, Nature’s laws would be rewritten, But my Spell would remain unchanged.

If the players get stuck, a good hint would be that the word “spell” doesn’t mean what they think it means. The solution to the riddle is “noon,” an anagram whose Spelling remains unchanged even if you read it backwards. If the players move the clock hands to noon and then let go, allowing the hands to glow for a moment, this unlocks the final staircase to the top of the tower, where Synia awaits.

Side note: When they first entered this room, I had a combat encounter set up here before they got to the puzzle, because I wanted to see how they would use the potions in a fight. They used Rend Eyes which was absolutely horrific. We loved it.

[sithbelle]

Working on my query letter

Hi everyone! I've been sitting on the first draft of my query letter, and I was wondering if ya'll could help me out. Does the letter below sound intriguing, or something that would potentially get the attention of a literary agent? Is it something that you would find interesting to read?? Are there any changes / phrasings you'd rework? Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated! (please don't be too mean though) ~~~~~~~<*<*<#>*>*>~~~~~~~

Ronnie and Nathan Hollick both have a powerful secret: they are Syniae, magical creatures whose power stems from the visual manifestations of music. The only problem is, the Syniae and all their knowledge were supposedly wiped out several thousand years ago, and there is no help or guidance for controlling their powers.

Nathan chooses the life of hedonistic modernity in the glittering city of Stanrall, where all aspects of life are automated, and being a Synia is punishable by death. His magic is the least of his worries, however, as far more intimate games are afoot.

Ronnie is forced to live in her father’s home country, where technology is abhorred and the long-dead Syniae are worshipped as gods. As she adjusts to an entirely new culture, she learns how to hone her powers, as well as discern who is truly friend, and who wants to use her for their own ends.

Follow the lives of these two siblings as they learn what it means to be a Synia, the limits of what they are capable of, and the dangerous risks if they push their abilities too far.

Synia (approximately 367,000 words) is a sci-fantasy saga that covers approximately twelve years in the fictional world of Balrys. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy exploring new environments, separate but intermingling timelines, and going on adventures of discovery, both internal and external. There is also capacity for this book to be split into a trilogy if necessary, as well as the potential for both prequels and sequels in this universe.

I have synesthesia, which is what my magic system is based on and where the term “Synia” is derived from. I wanted to answer the question: “What if synesthesia was a super power?”

I also wanted to explore the concept of duality, showing how characters with similar abilities and challenges can have vastly different results depending on their environment.

I appreciate your time, and thank you for your consideration.

[cam-arts]

Screencap redraws with my one piece OCs

Close-ups under the cut

[jojotier]

like theoretically i could write a full-length novel centered around the former demon lord's adopted daughter and her struggle to remain her own magician while on the run bc imperial forces want to use her as she comes into her own but also. i could just write a bunch of oneshots where said adopted daughter and her butch former-demon-lord mom and her mama are having healing magical slice of life. so im in a bit of a pickle one might say

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

Would Mrs S play Pizza Tower? Askin’ cause I feel like she would

well actually its funny you say that considering ive been messing around with figuring out how she'd look in the pizza tower artstyle

i think she could have an interesting pizza tower style boss fight tbh

[nmacdst1980]

CONGRATULATIONS to #NMACDST’s Synia Shim for receiving her MSW from Columbia University this graduation season!!! ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ We wish all 2020 graduates well. 🎓✨✨⁣ ⁣ #Sisterhood #SCHOLARSHIP #Service #CongraDST #DST #DST107 #DST1913 https://www.instagram.com/p/CAajcEonDXM/?igshid=gcd1ztkj2os7