#acoc: sugar rush

[memorimae]

Lady Hazel Hydnell, Heir to the Candy Mountain Druids and Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen

Mint Pirouette Druid (Circle of the Hungry) - Level 5

There is nothing in nature more bloodthirsty than a bored royal court; it takes a beast to muzzle it

The Druid Circle of the Hungry are the feral ones, the ancient custodians of the brutal lands high in the candy mountains. They are of the old ways with a disdain for modernity no rules bar the most primal. Eat or be Eaten. 

Or at least, they were. Rumors lingered some years ago of a meeting with a pilgrim, a traveler, who sought their wisdom and saw it’s value. In a move that shocked Candia to it’s core, the apocalyptic protectors reached out in a time of need and produced their heir for the court’s use. Lady Hazel Hydnell.

A woman both well-mannered and wild - she stalked through the sea of nobility and barked; ever the born predictor controlling a flock of prattling prey. The Queen saw her for a sister and the pair became inseparable. Cohabiting, codependent, bonded to their very cores. As Lady-in-Waiting, and Queen in all but name, she was the perfect balm to the aches left by King Kalle’s decent into madness.

But there is always more depth to those whose wolfish soul was born to hunger. She is an heir, still, to a secretive and secluded circle of druids. A family of lunatics and a ravenous pack embracing true natural destruction, or so they say.

When the tides call for violence, what will drip from her teeth... blood or water?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

High Mage Spicata Aurantifolia, Heir to the Fructerran House Citron and Envoy of Rotgarden

Mojito Wizard (Necromancy) - Level 5

Who by fire, who by water, and who by the smell of rot and mint?

Death is an old song and Spicata has heard it’s lullaby all her life. Inconspicuous at first, unnoticed by a child of Mellowmel Meadows. She was the heir to Fructerra’s rising Arcane Metropolis. A rising wizard of high esteem.

Life was the melody she sung but marked as deep by fate, death was close behind.

The night of Mentos Mori stole so much from her; family, home, country. She fled with the refugees into the welcoming arms of Candia and, due to her Candian Mother, was given the title of High mage and Rotgarden Envoy beside a place at court. She was 15.

Candian Court was an adjustment; hedonism and strategy side by side. The King and Queen were likewise themselves children but, the King especially, held a drive Spicata could not share. They handed her responsibility for magic beyond her ability and a child beside, Lady Cassandra-Anassa, to be her apprentice. Her ward, over the crowns.

But she was not entirely soiled by the tragedy; it kissed her with a gift. She was transformed by the rot and ruin into a necromancer, flourishing with the soft-mint of one who plays with the cycles of nature.

Her abilities were tested, by herself and the crown, beyond a breaking point - a triumph and a failure that ever-marked a point of relentless progress. Spicata, with Lady Cass to teach, would devote the rest of her life fighting to get back to that moment of brilliant hubris. 

But with so much lost, and the pride of one who sees death as merely a temporary set back, what else will she sacrifice to finally come home?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

Lady Cassandra-Anassa Crystal, Arcane Apprentice and Heir to the Candian Throne

Strawberry 'n' Cream Candy Warlock (The Putris Patron) - Level 5

Reading is dreaming with open eyes, as if sleeping dreams aren’t inescapable enough already

Lady Cassandra-Anassa, or simply ‘Cass’ as she’s prefer, is as far from a suitable heir as you can find. Which suits her just fine. With parents that perished when she was a toddler, she became ward to her cousins, the King-Demise Scotch and subsequent King Kalle, and started a life in court.

King Kalle and Queen Rain-Beau had more important things at hand after the Mentos Mori and such passed her like a bad omen onto the newly appointed High Mage as an Apprentice. It was to keep her occupied until other plans for her future could be made.

As the King descended, the Queen had no mind to that future and Cass’ apprenticeship became her only education. The High Mage became her only family. Her birthright and court were the furthest things from important and therefore dismissed in favour of a remarkable intellect and bright curiosity about everything else, arcane or not.

But there are dreams... vivid, looping, endless dreams that beckon and call to something rushing beneath her skin.

Will this be the siren’s call to safe harbor or a sailor’s death?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

Whisperer Adalwolf Salzlakritz, The White Wolf of Court

Licorice Rogue (Inquisitive) - Level 5

Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear - so why are we all afraid?

Just beyond the borders of Gumbia rests the twin regions of Cane and Maple. The latter is named for the rocky mountainous wild-woods of maple root that house the Malic-Morass; the former is for the labyrinthine Underdark of the Candy Cane mining ports that carve the mountain out from below.

Port Bon-bon of the infamous massacre, The Bon-Bomb Banquet, is part of this region, but its ill-fitting crown is Salzlakritz. It is by far the rowdiest of its kind - a lawless sort of place where state-power battles with resident authority to create a haven of misadventure. But it is prosperous and a master of the trade. 

For that reason, their Noble house of the same name is often forgotten. A licorice family of nobodies who fail to control their populace but are always sending their taxes on time. Irrelevant to all but the economy.

Until Adalwolf, that is. Adalwolf was smart and strategic. Adalwolf was raised by a guiding hand towards the purest form of currency; secrets. 

He, like Lady Hazel, waltzed into Castle Candy at it’s hour of need with a charming air and wolfish grin. It didn’t take long for him to snake his way into the court, hypnotic in his ability to lull the deepest secrets from everyone, no matter the stature.

The greatest secret he discovered, however, was the love inspired by Queen Rain-Beau. He fell for her, hard - and their secret flourished inside the castle. A love to be shared in their home but traitorous should anyone outside the castle walls discover it.

It is the nature of mortals to lie and shield their truths, for the sake of self protection. But as the Spymaster of Candia, Adalwolf knows more than most how some are kept for the protection of others.

When all the secrets erupts from within him like a tempest, what destruction will be left in the Wolf’s wake?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

To start with; some D&D

Like loads of people I got obsessed with Dimension 20 over the pandemic and Crown of Candy hit me hard.After like a year I got brave enough to suggest doing a campaign on the understanding I’d take like six months to plan.

It’s been like nearly two years since then and I started drawing pretty soon after starting to plan, so some of the character art is more rough around the edges but it’s satisfying anyway

[memorimae]

Sir Mor Lindor, King’s Knight and Lord Commander of the Tart Guard 

After Eight Barbarian (Zealot) / Paladin - Level 3 & 2

Honour and Duty are bound to Knighthood as is sacrifice. No one thinks about the survivors guilt.

Sir Mor is... was a King’s Knight. Has always been The King’s Knight. Mor was raised to forgo the life of their title and hunt for war instead. Even as a child they was a brutal fighter but good-hearted, which earned them a position right beside the Prince Scotch, having recently returned from his fated Sugarplum Fairy-tale. They shared their youth and before long were not to be parted.

Not by title, grief, or stately marriages. And yet, by death, they were.

Mentos Mori is a night Sir Mor cannot remember. Try and try and try as they might, only flashes remain. Nightmares of a fevered King Scotch demanding the guard ride off in the middle of the night - screams - blood - a foul smell. Then yearning.Yearning is the most unnerving.

People say Sir Mor was brought to court a blank slate found wandering, an amnesiac five years after the catastrophe. Others say they were in hiding; A rare few say they sold their soul to the Sugarplum Fairy to survive, but many are too scared to agree.They do serve, though, as her soldier as true as the Crowns. Tenuous as their relationship may be.

Sir Mor’s life now is stunted as a knight of war in a time of peace and ruined by their daily duty of royal babysitting for their True King’s baby brother. Their old life is gone. Their King is gone. Honour is sunk under the crushing weight of so much humiliation and loss.

If hope dies along with those we love, is there any chance of redemption after death?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

Queen Rain-Beau D’laces, Ruling Sovereign of Candia

Gay Bacon Cleric of the Sugarplum Fairy (Ambition Domain) - Level 5

Hell hath no fury like a woman forced to do a man’s labour for no credit

Queen Rain-Beau was 15 at the time of her marriage to King Kalle. Raised ever the lady, she waltzed into court with a high head despite lacking the encompassing education needed to be a Queen. Her future had been nobility, not royalty, but destiny intervened.

She took to her relationship with the Sugarplum Fairy in stride too, a bond gifted with her position in court, and soon formed a love of her spouse. Platonic as their love may have been, he was a soulmate of sorts.

For the first five years their partnership was unshakable.

When Kalle splintered and failed both as King and Husband, Beau found new allies (even a lover) and forged her own path to ruling. Candia became on the global stage but the country itself flourished. Under her husband’s name, Queen Rain-Beau ushered in a golden age that has lasted for over a decade.

But with the restrictions on her position and ever in the shadow of a broken man, how long can she stay quiet for the sake of her kingdom?

Character Playlist

[memorimae]

King Kalle ‘Lee’ Crystal, Royal Sovereign of Candia

Rainbow Sherbert Monk (Drunken Master) - Level 5

No-time King, Part-time Warrior, Full-time Slut

In an event that reshaped the world, the ruler of Candia (older brother to Lee) King Scotch Crystal was killed in a catastrophe only two weeks after his grand marriage to the ruler of Fructerra, King Pomegrana Uvano.

The truth of that day, The Mentos Mori, is unknown but Kalle, only 16, was left to take his brothers crown and a Candian wife, appeasing his court away from war with Fructerra.

It worked well until it didn’t. Five years into his married rule something snapped and the King broke down piece by piece until all that remained was a husk of a man too concerned with parties and orgies to care for his kingdom.

Little has changed in the 12 years since - a pathetic king hiding behind his castle walls and claiming every one of his wife’s golden victories as his own - too afraid of the world to live in truth.

What is he so afraid of, anyway?

Character Playlist