#coaaf if: worldbuilding

[coeluvr]

Hi Coe, do you have a timeline for some of the events? If it's not spoilery, I was curious about the difference in years between:

Catalina being betrothed to Luceris

Catalina meeting Luceris for the first time

Luceris meeting Farah

Luceris breaking off the engagement to Catalina

Luceris & Farah's wedding

Helios’ birth

Farah's death

Catalina’s disappearance

Floris & Dinis’ deaths

MC’s home being invaded + parents killed

1 - Catalina being betrothed to Luceris + Catalina meeting Luceris for the first time : 1426

2 - Luceris meeting Farah : 1429

3 -Luceris breaking off the engagement to Catalina + Luceris & Farah's wedding : 1431

4 - Helios' birth : 1432

5 - MC and Alistair's birth : 1433

6 - Farah's death + Catalina's disappearance : 1438

7 - Florin & Dinis' deaths : 1440

8 - MC’s home being invaded + family killed : 1442

[coeluvr]

WHY WOULD THEY KILL A BABY ONLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE AMBER EYES OR HETEROCHROMIA?!?

Also, my MC 100% would kill for his child regardless of their eye color. I’m curious tho, would Helios do it too or at least be opposed to killing their child for their eye color?

I mean it is stated a couple of times that in the past mages were hunted for their powers + feared for their powers + a bit of "mages are crazy waaaah" and basically just discriminated against and the telltale sign of a mage are their eyes so if a child was born with such eyes in the royal family they'd kill it.

Heterochromia is just "wow this is a not normal thing, end it" 👍

But then again, neither cases have happened in the royal families and if they did then it wasn't recorded because they'd rather not keep a record of it.

I don't think Helios would approve of killing his kids due to eye color.

The whole mage thing is better now and mages do live more freely now so it's like he didn't grow up in an environment that would encourage killing babies with amber eyes so he wouldn't support such a thing.

Heterochromia in the royal family would be a bit more messy but I think he'd be just like his father and go "well I'm the guy on the throne so I guess you'll have to live with it 🥺" so yeah his Luceris side of the family genes would kick in.

[coeluvr]

coe i was playing the bonus content, the lake story and something vincent said made me think (it also annoyed me) does anyone else in the kingdom or any of the ros or people close to mc ever think about how unfair it is to mc? or is it the general consensus that because mc's family did wrong, it's ok for luceris to do what he did? cause vincent said something about what mc's family did to helios but then again, it's the same thing that luceris did to mc although the difference is that luceris wiped out mc's family meanwhile helios still has his father. im not trying to compare their situation but i thought it was a bit hypocritical of vincent to said that and i was wondering if in their mind they think wiping out a whole family is the right thing to do to avenge what was done to them. sorry if this has been answered before, i was just wondering about what everyone else's opinion on mc's situation.

I do think so, yes.

I must preface that young Vincent and current Vincent don't really share the same thoughts.

Young Vincent was quite obviously a little ball of negative emotions and in his eyes MC's existence made Helios uncomfortable (not exactly the case fyi) and Helios was like the 2nd most important person to him so he was "defending Helios."

I think a lot of people, including all of the main characters except Ikram and Luceris, acknowledge that MC's position is unfair to themselves (okay Luceris to some degree but he brushes it off).

Rosea's common citizens and nobility besides the main cast just don't care enough.

Vesphire and Norazaan's citizens also understand that it's unfair to MC but there's nothing they can do about it nor would they want to disrupt the peace they have for once.

[coeluvr]

Did Luceris marrying MC give him a reputation hit? I imagine it was clear for the immediate court that it was just a power play, but abroad, "King Marries Nine Year Old" isn't necessarily a good look?

It did!

I can firmly say Norazaan and Vesphire's citizens think of him as a weird man to this day, somehow Norazaan more because Vesphire is like "strange man good ruler okay" while people from Norazaan are like "weird man.... weird...." I can see them making songs about his death when he passes and not in a good way.

I guess since Norazaan doesn't have him s a ruler they're not even a bit swayed despite the help in the war.

Rosea is Rosea and while they're like 🤨 about the whole dynamic between MC and Luceris they're also kind of heartless toward MC except very few people so the hit was minimal in my opinion.

[coeluvr]

Hey!! Just wanted to say that i adore your writing and your mind!! All the characters are delicious, complex and an absolutely joy to interact with!

And I don't know if you talked about it before (I'm new here 😅) but after looking at references and reading some of your asks, was Vesphire inspired by Russian empire and MC family by Romanovs? And Rosea by India? Whether it's a yes or no, I love the contrast of body temperatures (it's such an interesting idea) and other details you mention in the game!

Hello! Thank you for your kind words. 💗

And yes, you're right! Vesphire is inspired by Imperial Russia + France while Rosea is inspired by the Mughal Empire (South Asia).

MC's family was inspired by the Romanovs but also the whole Marie Antoinette part of history, I basically took the "rich people and really poor starving public" thing and put it into Vesphire lol.

[coeluvr]

What are each of the kingdoms known for, like what's something iconic about each of them that make people associate it with the respective kingdom?

I think I started saying things that aren't iconic but just generally what people think of when they hear the names of the kingdoms LOL sorry. 😓

Rosea : Flowers from Rosea are the best there are! People also associate it with painfully hot weather, it feels like you are being stir-fried if you aren't used to the heat. The food is spicy too, all of it honestly feels like a terrible prank if you're not from there but something about the atmosphere makes it really fun.

Norazaan : "It's not norazaan if it's not windy" It's always windy. If you're on a date you are not alone together because the wind is always there with you. The people are also known to be quite romantic and flirtatious, so you either luck out and get an awesome loyal partner or they're probably seeing 7 other people at the same time.

Vesphire : Well, MC's family. 💀 But it is also known to have very beautiful scenery with the snow and all, unfortunately now the snow is a bit too much. The nobles are known to be very extravagant, with gems and jewels everywhere all of the time. If you rob a noble wearing all that you're probably set for life.

Elyirse : has been closed off forever so who cares ✨️

[coeluvr]

I tried imaging my MC in white and- it- it can't happen like there HAS to be black in there BRO IS EMO AS FUCK

But I can imagine em wearing white with like gold patterns on it but then it just looks like they're wearing a wedding outfit 💀

Black is considered emo because it is the color of mourning in our world (at least in most places) so in their world white is emo since it is the color of mourning there.

In their world, they wear red during weddings.

So yeah, you can't apply the "rules" of the West to the world of the story because the story's world is inspired more by the East.

If you wear black in Rosea you're just torturing yourself in the heat lmao. Most of the army wears black because the harshness of the sun is supposed to remind them of their position every day.

[coeluvr]

Lmao why does Helios have glow in the dark eyes?

All of the royals and mages do.

[coeluvr]

Where did that "eating the royal family's hearts as a last F you" rumor even start? Was it from Rosea or did another kingdom think that happened?

I think I'll blame Rosea for this one. Plays about that night popularized that idea though and those are all over every kingdom.

[coeluvr]

If I remember correctly, there's a cult that wants the death of the royal families. When did the cult or whatever they are appear?

The cult is as old as the first royal families that ascended the throne after the gods disappeared!

[coeluvr]

Where you inspired by any real world history for the settings for Vesphire? Personally I imagine Vesphire to be inspired by the Russian Empire and MCs family are similar to the Romanovs and Rossetti to be inspired by the Ottoman Empire!

Vesphire was inspired by French and Russian history! And in terms of environment and all that too.

[coeluvr]

Since Catalina was the eldest, is there a reason why she wasn't heir to Vesphire instead of betrothed to be Luceris’ consort? Was Vesphire’s monarchy patrilineal (only passed through the male line)?

All of the monarchies are patrilineal so Catalina was never considered the heir.

If something happened to all of them and the only children left were MC and Alistair and MC was female then Alistair would've been chosen without a second thought.

[coeluvr]

Hey, would a Helios' nd Mc's hypothetical kid have blue or red eyes? Is heterochromia possible in this case?

Would the baby be, like, a different kind of royalty?

Like...... Like a super royal? A royal royal? Limited edition lil monarch

There's basically a 50/50 chance for either blue eyes or red eyes. 🤷‍♀️ Heterochromia is possibly but extremely rare.

Just like how a royal child with amber eyes (also very very rare and hasn't happened/hasn't been recorded) is killed the moment they're born, a child with two eye colors would be killed too.

[coeluvr]

Hell, since people are asking stuff about Falk, I have a question too: Is he a good leader for Vesphire? And do the people (citizens, peasants, commoners, idk which term to use) like him?

Okay so Falk isn't really a leader or ruler by my standards because as I see it he's just Luceris' puppet, everything he does still needs to be approved by Luceris before it goes through.

I'd say most of his "how to fix these issues that appear" plans are approved and they're nothing crazy. I just think he knows what Luceris wants and he delivers it so Luceris can't have any complains regarding that.

So he is a good "ruler" I guess.

I don't want to say too much about the Vesphire's citizen's perception of them just yet so we'll see!

[coeluvr]

I'm going guess Helios did not overhear anything too bad about MC in Vesphire and that made him comfortable with plan to get them there for a little trip. I am also, however, going to guess some of those people kept those negative comments out about MC of his earshot and he's coming back to a fun surprise once he steps foot in Vesphire again with MC this time.

See, people from Vesphire don't really hate MC they just don't feel enough pity or any loyalty toward MC.

Roseans hate MC due to the whole situation as they believe Catalina + Family poisoned their queen and "evil family so this little kid is a demon too."

Vesphirians however just hated how the royal family was ruling over them as they felt like they didn't try to make things better for them and instead it was all getting worse and then the war took place so they were just plain unhappy so "goodbye loser royal family that didn't do stuff for me."

Vesphirians don't hate MC yet, it will depend entirely on how your MC is but well your MC can always clean up their act.

Helios used those appearance changing potions when he lived the "poor traveler totally not a prince" life because yes that was a thing as he wanted to hear from them and know their struggles so he's not a dumb dumb idiot bringing MC to a different level of hell lol.

You shouldn't worry too much about how the Vesphirian public will view MC (unless your MC is an evil little guy who is just unpleasant to be around), Vesphire has enough Rosean nobles to give the feeling of being right in Luceris' home so maybe think of them. ✨️

[coeluvr]

Ok but, saw some of the asks that really think poorly of how Vesphire people turned a blind eye to what happened and think Luceris is the bee's knees: are they going to be just as bad to MC as Rosea people are or will it be more complicated than that in that there will actually be kind people who treat MC fairly?

People who blame Vesphire's citizens drive me nuts but I understand it comes from being attached to MC and MC will be able to blame them and hate them so I get it but if my life was terrible under X's rule and Y significantly made it better I'd be happy to have him too. 💀😭

Maybe that's just me but it's canon Luceris is better ruler (and before people come at me better ruler doesn't mean better person!!) so I'll just put that out here because I sometimes get people who for some reason doubt my words even if it's in the game. 😭

Now for your question, I genuinely think Vesphire's citizens can be worse to MC BUT it depends on your MC and that's the main difference between Rosea's citizens and Vesphire's.

The servants will most likely be normal.

So basically: it depends on your MC which in my opinion is fair enough.