#i like rambling about my blorbos so i gave the tldr at the top

[awkwardgtace]

What inspired you to create the seer au? It's such a cool idea to dive deep in and see how Delphia interacts with the gods while also being a "background character" in the human world. How long did it take you to map out Delphia's relationships to the gods?

this got very long and probably very much ramble so I'm sorry. I put a tldr and have left most of it under a read more. I'm not even sure if a lot of my rambles are relevant to the question

tldr; I've always liked gods and the idea of false deaths seemed fun. So I ran with that and the overall development probably took a month for Rhys, Vitus, Dabria, Ash, Alessia, Delphia. With everyone I'd up it to two or three months total for the basic plot and relationships I've run forward with since. A lot of times I get an idea and just run with it so that definitely happened here and the lore or ideas come while i'm failing to sleep or bored at work.

ok this is actually a long answer (and i'm super excited to type it out) so i'm gonna just put the short answer of the first story with her before a read more that goes into like the world

So Delphia's original story was actually started by thinking about this post. It talks about giants reaching in through doors and windows and i wanted to write something with that. My brain didn't like the simple idea so it slowly morphed into someone who sees their own death and tries to escape saved by a being of protection. This kept evolving until that original post didn't work as a base anymore. I actually still have like saved snippets from when I wrote up Little Seer and all the ideas that I jumped between. A lot of it was like well she sees things, maybe she helps people and that makes her stand out. When I finished that story I didn't have everything in my head how I do now with the gods and Delphia's relationships.

I think overall it took me a few weeks to actually finish her first story. I only really had the ideas Vitus and Dabria are parents, Rhys is a brother, Ash and Alessia are partners to Delphia (the full all three with each other came later), and Delphia is more human than they are by the end. Then I ran with it, just thought about how she got there and the life she had that would make her give everything up blindly. I also did always want a more full pantheon, gods of war, prosperity, sky, fate, all the fun stuff (cause i was a greek and roman myth nerd as a child and even made pantheons for a class once. If my project partner somehow sees this shout out to the god of war and moist things)

Ok now onto the really long parts going into a read more. It may have turned into rambling. Hope it actually answers your questions :D

So once I decided I wanted Delphia to see the future and be saved by a god of protection I started to kind of dive into things I always thought about. Death that doesn't stick, names holding unbelievable power. I also always had story ideas of someone powerful always ready to sacrifice themself for whatever cause they wanted regardless of how minor or major it may seem.

So basically I made Del and I liked the idea of avoiding her name. I wanted her name to do something when she remembered it. I actually made a note of her name early on because it was going to reveal her connections to the gods in some way with a few that held more significance for her. I spent probably a day deciding how I wanted her memories to act and I liked the idea of an unexpected side effect. So I figured what if it builds up each time she dies. The spell itself gets stronger and stronger until finally the release causes a burst. I also thought it would be a good way to give gods an insight to how a human was feeling. I liked that set up to sort of propel relationships forward if I kept writing about them (which I already knew I was going to)

For Delphia as a character I wanted her to have minimal ties to humans. To give her a reason to see the gods giving her this life among them and taking it. She was also supposed to be the kind of person who sees the worst of people and continues to make the choice to help them. I wanted sort of a martyr who's choosing to be one and knows the consequences of her death. She's also supposed to be a person that if you know her you have good things to say. The stories of a witch or curse bearer doesn't match up with her. People would be overcome with guilt if the thing that turns others against her didn't make her sort of fade away. They don't remember Delphia, they remember someone with magic and a cloak.

A lot of the lore of the world I came up with as I went along. First I wanted a reason for everyone to be afraid of the gods, but I wanted it to be wrong. Easiest path is old gods and it fit in with the myths I loved too. Then I needed a reason they were gone so I figured they had to go too far. And I needed someone to stop them so Fate gives power to Life and Death.

For the actual gods it was kind of easy. Love, Fate, Life, Death, Nature, War, Prosperity, Sky, and Protection. Then I figured it's more fun to have some things not match up. Life (Vitus) looks cold, stern, and stoic, but is warm, caring, and kind. Death (Dabria) at first glance looks warm and bright, but she has to take care of death and those paths. War (Ryder) hates war and fighting despite the view that he'd encourage it and his odd way of speaking. Prosperity(Felix) looks aloof and materialistic, but cares more about others than he lets on. For the sky( Luna and Sola) I liked the idea of the two being children because the skies are ever changing and children just fit that image in my head. Love (Rhys) struggles with his own emotions and anger, while managing the feelings of others well. Nature (Ash) looks intimidating and harsh, but they are soft spoken and kind. Protection(Alessia) was different, for her I wanted her to immediately come across looking warm and welcoming, but strong and commanding too.

On top of all of that I wanted the gods to be human. There's a bunch of lore in my head about why they are how they are and what makes them different from the old gods that I plan to write more eventually. Gods aren't fun when they're perfect, they're fun when they're flawed. They're interesting and make you curious so that's what happens. I've still developed things as time goes on (such as I can't say why but at some point I've decided my gods are always prepared for war don't know against what).

Ok so after all that ramble here's the one about the relationship with Del and each god.

Short answer I'm still working on them all! For the most part I figured it out over a month for the basic interactions. This month based off when the god was developed.

Alessia, Delphia, and Ash have the most defined relationship overall. Alessia and Ash are opposites with Delphia being someone who meets in the middle. I liked the idea of that, also with all of them it's more been deciding how all of them work. For Rhys it's been a little longer than Ash and Alessia to figure it out. I wanted siblings with Rhys a bit more of someone to mess with Del. An objectively normal relationship compared to the reality they're in. I've figured them out more as I work on Rhys in other stories. Felix and Ryder are still being worked out. I know most of how I want them to interact, but their personalities aren't as solid compared to the others. Felix and Ryder fill in the role of older siblings more solidly than Rhys. For Del it's definitely how she sees them. Felix just being aloof and caring preferring to be disliked as long as he can keep the important people safe and Ryder taking blame on himself for things out of his control are newer ideas and change how they'll interact with her. I'd say those two show both the least concern and hold the most in interactions with her. Luna and Sola were instantly younger siblings for her. For the most part the relationship with Delphia is still in development. I don't actually know if I'm great at the whole writing kids things but I try :). I'm actually a younger sibling so I take a bit of how I remember thinking with my older sibling to figure out how they act. Sola needs more work than Luna though. Sola is bubbly and almost naive in ways Luna isn't which is a different thought process for me to write (i have ideas for her though I swear they are coming.). It's taking more to work out how exactly each will interact with her with those mannerisms while being gods. They aren't children forever, but that mindset they have now is the one I plan to focus on longest. Vitus and Dabria are honestly the odd ones here. Maybe the only OCs I have that are developed to a point it's kind of fine tuning when I think about a new fact for them. I think they probably took a few months to get to this point total, but their relationship with Del was pretty much immediate. In old drafts she was their actual child who ran away. I wanted good parents that are over protective at times.

I think the general relationships were all mapped out within a month or two of creating the god or Delphia. A lot are still sort of living ideas too. If it hasn't been obvious I really like found family and I see almost all of them as siblings with Vitus and Dabria as parents. Fate is left out a lot, but i actually do have ideas for them I just haven't gotten to them yet.

I don't think I actually answered your question like at all, but I also don't think I'll be any better if I wait on answering. Feel free to keep sending asks and I will continue to try and answer (hopefully on topic since I have no idea if I am anymore)