#but i feel like since his stint in the castle ended everyone forgot that he's genuinely 3D! he has good AND terrible aspects

[popsicle-stick]

listen i love jonathan f. harker as much as the next guy, but tumblr’s blorbofication of him to the level where everyone’s shook when he acts like the victorian he is has me in a bind

[mageintime]

It’s 4 fucking am so I’m not going to do the write up now but it’s my boys, my best boys, my favourite 

Now with proper info below the cut

Ameeth (Ah May Eth) is the crown prince of Auratus, an island kingdom composed of 7 major islands of varied sizes off the coast of the continent of Aesse.  While not raised in isolation, he had only a passing interest in most of the concerns of his peers, and preferred to spend any time he could in the palace gardens. This refuge of escape eventually turned into a deep interest in botany, a hobby which his mother tolerated so long as he had already finished his studies for the day and didn’t allow anyone of note to see him covered in dirt. He is eventually allowed a short vacation from the castle as the preamble to his pre-coronation tour, and revels in having a personal garden for the duration of it (Note: this coronation is part of a traditional process as the country is composed of long-living elves and the position of Heir Apparent is actually given to the youngest sibling (usually the youngest daughter if possible), to ensure that the monarch lasts as long as possible as there can occasionally be age gaps of centuries between siblings. The Heir is always crowned around their second decade of living, and is transferred as soon as a younger sibling reaches the correct age. As Ameeth is an only child and his mother Aleksandra refuses to remarry lest he possibly be branded a bastard, he is the sole current direct heir and thus is crowned after his 20th birthday).

Ameeth initially views his position with grudging acceptance, though slowly gains a sense of duty about it. His feelings about it are complicated by annual abuse suffered at the hands of the King of the Iron Island, which he is forced into at a young age in order to avoid a threatened war. This abuse comes to a head in a murder plot, conducted in conjunction with the King’s wives and coincidentally lining up with a similar plot set by some of his sons. It’s a mess. Fluorite is there. One of the king’s sons is crowned after the massacre, which solves the war threat but also lands Ameeth in a position of contention as he was present for the murders and ends with him swerve dodging out of what could have been an arranged marriage with one of the King’s daughters by loudly announcing that he’s decided to marry Fluorite.

Fluorite is the God of Death (Mark 2), taking over for Libitina. He is in a unique position as the second generation of Greater Gods are almost fully reassembled souls (in the way most normal gods are made, but so complete that their almost approach total unity). To most of the Greater Gods he is considered a fetus due to his age and immaturity, and they view most of his actions in similarly to an adult looking at an infant clack building blocks together for the first time. Because his selves were originally mortal, he still retains a lot of the drive to have a mortal life, and as a part of his eventual adjustment into godhood he is allowed to roam free on a single timeline to get it out of his system. The timeline chosen for this is linked to an incident near his conception, and he is sent to live with Ameeth due to this. While in Auratus he invents an identity based around a mythological land similar to Atlantis, and uses his connections to turn it into a reality just to add credibility to his story.

While he doesn’t really start out thinking he would be around for too long (Figuring it just needed a short stint to get it out of his system and become a proper god), he ends up hopelessly infatuated with Ameeth and this leads him down the path to making some very selfish decisions and essentially fucking up a timeline so thoroughly that it becomes unable to split and is probably destined to eventually implode.

He doesn’t care.

All he cares about is Ameeth.

Other Important Note: Although no one tells them at initially, everyone assumed they were half brothers. It eventually comes out that they’re not related at all, but due to a universe-wide conspiracy to keep their not-father Skyle so distracted that he doesn’t realize he could easily cause an apocalypse they end up in a weird place emotionally. This plot point is left over from when I originally made them, as I had set out to create a really weird, kind of taboo pairing and ended up having to dial it back a bunch later since I liked them too much and didn’t feel comfortable with the original situation. Unfortunately, a bunch of other stuff got wrapped up in the fact that a good portion of the other characters believe they’re related, so this is my current best solution to the problem.

Design Notes:

I wanted to do a slight age progression with their outfits here, starting with when they originally met (Although they honestly look a little younger than they should oops) and ending with outfits more similar to what they would wear to a formal occasion in their adulthood.

Ameeth’s outfits were mainly designed to look royal, though I tried to incorporate as much subtle flower/plant symbolism into them as I could. This was mostly relegated to the colour and fabric pattern choices, though I got a little more obvious with it when he’s older due to the fact that he eventually gains the moniker of “Flower King”.  Braids are symbolic in Auratian culture as a way to show honour to one’s ancestors, and wearing one’s hair in a braid is common for people in traditional positions of power. Auratian monarchs generally grow out their hair to accommodate this, and their clothing also has a tendency to incorporate braids into the designs. Although it isn’t visible in these pictures because he’s facing the wrong way, his actual crown in an earring worn along the underside of the long part of his ear, which requires a double piercing to hold it in place (This piercing is done by the current monarch as part of the coronation, and is allowed to grow over if the position is passed to a younger sibling). Ears are seen as a sacred body part in Auratian culture and both piercings and earrings are an important part of multiple life milestones. I forgot to draw their wedding piercings because you’d only be able to see it on Fluorite and I don’t have a solid design for it yet, but the left lobe is pierced by the SO during the marriage ceremony and matching earrings are worn to commemorate the marriage. Similarly, the parent’s right lobes are pierced after the birth of their first child, and fathers wear a single red stud to signify having offspring while mothers wear a ring or hoop, adding extras in a chain for each additional child.

A final note about Ameeth’s design is his heterochromia; this was originally to show his demigod lineage as Skyle’s sons tend to have blue eyes of varying hues, but Auratian royalty is known for their characteristic purple eyes. Thus, the heterochromia was meant to symbolize his dual heritage. I could change it now, but his granddaughter (Toroka) inherited it and Fluorite mentions it in an off-comment about it making her more credible as the heir in Hat Shop so it stays.

Also, Ameeth’s name is based off of a corruption of Amethyst since Skyle’s sons have a gemstone name theme thing going on, and the purple royal eyes was tied into that.

Fluorite’s design is based on his mother (Osis)’s design, as well as the fact that he’s pretending to be a priest. The shredded cape idea came from an old drawing I did where he had a similar cape and I thought it was damn cool so it stuck around. He isn’t actually an elf, he just puts the ears on when he’s on-world so people don’t look at him weirdly. I mean, people look at him weirdly already, but that’s mostly because he always has an expression on his face that makes him look like he knows exactly when you’re going to die (he does).