#i guess this is now the tag for this au in my blog jsggsjsg

[curious-sootball]

Some more GoG and TMA crossover thoughts:

Hoole using Beholding powers to counter veiled insults and/or backhanded compliments - not out of active malice, but out of genuine confusion(at least the first few times): he's a very straightforward guy, so royal courtiers trying to play emotional 5d chess during a conversation would be annoying at best and deeply upsetting at worst for him. So, when he finds himself thinking about another conversation with an older noble where they were seemingly polite, but The Vibes(tm) felt off, and another courtier tries to talk to him, Hoole is having None Of That and tells the courtier "Just say exactly what you mean, for goodness sake!". It works like a charm, but the courtier is rattled to their bones afterwards (and probably spilled way too much tea about everyone's plans out of sheer anxiety).

Also: Hoole approaching avatars of other fears with an open mind - he pretty much thinks of them as potential friends/allies unless they prove themselves too hostile. (He also never really got the memo that avatar powers aren't supposed to manifest as early as they did for him - sometimes he unintentionally scares people by showing off).

Not unique to this AU, but: everyone roasting Lord Arrin. You know how in Elden Ring, when you sneak into Stormveil castle and talk to NPCs, they all say how they hate Godrick and how terrible of a lord he is? That's how Arrin's allies would talk about him. He's not a total idiot, he's actually pretty good at being a noble and running a domain, but he is also very good at getting at everyone's nerves and not noticing it until its far too late.

Arrin picking absolutely worst people to get into verbal duels with and getting his ass handed to him on a platter. He once tried insulting Hoole with "Where are your manners, have you been raised by wolves?" only to get "Why, yes; say hello to all my honorary cousins! *wide gesture at the wolves of the Beyond*" followed by the slyest I see what you're doing and I'm having none of that look from Hoole. This isn't even the first time Arrin tried "Have you been raised by [insert species]?" line and got destroyed with the comeback.

Seriously, this guy gets roasted behind his back so much(particularly by his hagsfiend allies), and most of it is deserved.

Speaking of which: Penryck keeps the somewhat unstable gathering of clan warriors and stragglers from fighting each other or Arrin's army. This man is going to have a back pain from carrying this alliance so far. He originally planned to team up with Arrin's son, Baldr(he has no canon name, so I picked one), but that didn't work quite as well as he thought: Baldr supports Penryck's plans at Arrin's meetings, but they are still kind of isolated from most other warlords (they're winning the younger ones over, but it is a slow process)

Penryck actually worked with Ullryck, Ygreek and Pleek before Arrin's rebellion - just not at the same time. Once Arrin made it clear that he's hiring hagsfiends, Penryck reached out to them - recruiting the best assasin and the best tracker in the field (technically, he's also marked by The Hunt and can track people pretty well, but his main fear entity is still the Slaughter, so he'll gladly outsource tracking and chasing to someone he trusts.) Not really related to the Fears, but: he has an accent - it is pretty subtle, but he sometimes puts on an exagerrated version of it specifically to annoy Arrin.

Kreeth is both a local cryptid of the Ice Narrows and a very common point of connection between other hagsfiends: she deals in Fear-affiliated artifacts, among other things. According to the wildest rumours, she can remove Fear marks - she never gives a clear answer if you ask her, though. (She can't actually remove the marks, but can sort of cover them up with new ones)