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luxshine · 1 year

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Headcanons for that dragon!Ram 'verse

That I might write once Despacito (Moon Knight) is done.

And I need to write this out before it makes my head explode.

Dragon-hybrids are born from eggs. This is important for later.

The British empire has been methodically killing every dragon and dragon hybrid in their territory since forever, as they don't want anyone more powerful than the Empire getting ideas. So they attacked the Dragon villages first, fast and not leaving any survivor.

Ram is a fire-dragon hybrid, and was rescued from the dragon massacre by Venkatarama's wife, who hid his egg by pretending it was her pregnant belly. While neither her nor Venkatarama knew exactly how to take care of a dragon hybrid, they did their best to encourage him to embrace both sides of his nature, while at the same time teaching him to keep his dragon side hidden from anyone outside of the family for his own safety.

Dragon hybrids usually shift when feeling great emotion or under great duress. Ram has taught himself not to shift no matter what, as he is the king of supressing emotion. All that shifts when he's starting to lose control of those are his eyes, which turn gold/red, and his eyelids that start showing his gold scales. HE is quick to hide those, and usually throwing water on himself or deep breaths calm him enough to shift to full human. In full hybrid form, when he's angry, his hair turns white. Very Super-saiyan.

His first book from his hoard was a fairy tale book that his mother gave to him as a gift. He keeps that book with him always, when he needs to move and create a new hoard for himself.

He has wings and can fly, both in hybrid and full dragon form. But he doesn't really like it as he feels that he could forget his mission because he feels so much joy when flying.

Dragon hybrids have an instinct to protect those weaker than them. This has made Ram very conflicted when he is undercover as all his instincts yell at him to help those he's fighting at all times. (This is also why he absolutely forgets all about chasing Lachuu in order to save the boy in the river)

Ram can breathe fire, but he never did it until Akthar found out he was an hybrid and started using it to make smoke figures to make Akthar laugh.

Dragon hybrids mate for life, and have a pre-destined mate. In order to find them, a small section of their scales -usually where they are to be touched by their mate for the first time- are the color of his mate's. Ram has a circle of green-blue scales, the color of the seas, in his right arm so he knows his future mate is a water dragon. (Yeah, I decided to go angsty and yes, Bheem is a hybrid too. More on him below, but he obviously has a circle of gold-scales in his right arm too, just that he has never seen it)

Dragons hybrids are not easy to kill, as they heal faster than humans (Ram's uncle insists that Ram shifts every night in the privacy of his apartment so that he can heal from the punishment he gives his body), and usually would be immortal. However, they can die from a broken heart if their pre-destined mate rejects them for any reason (The mate doesn't die, just never finds a new mate) or dies after the hybrid has accepted them as mates.

Because Ram is a young dragon-hybrid, his full dragon form is still small. He's about the size of a wolf, which is why he can curl easily in a nest of books or on top of his desk.

Once Akthar discovered Ram being a dragon-hybrid, Ram's favorite place to sleep when shifted is on Akthar's chest. He also likes to curl up around his shoulders. Akthar/Bheem is the only one outside Ram's adopted human family who has ever seen him in his full dragon form, and the only one outside his adopted human village who has seen him in hybrid form.

Sita is Ram's adopted sister. He loves her a lot, but he doesn't love her romantically as dragon hybrids only fall in love with other dragon hybrids.

Here's the angsty part because we need MORE angst besides the whole betrayal thing from the plot: While Bheem IS a dragon hybrid, AND Ram's destined mate... He also has no idea he's a dragon hybrid. In order to protect him (And also, a bit selfishly), the Gonds who found his egg and adopted him as part of the tribe have been feeding him a medicine that suppresses his dragon side completely, and rising him to ignore some of his dragon instincts, such as hoarding, while taking advantage of his protection instincts to have an immortal protector of the tribe. He has never shifted, so he has no idea he can.

SO... Ram instinctively knows that Bheem is his mate, and doesn't get why, if Ram has been so open about his dragon side, Bheem won't even show him his real eyes (By the way, they go blue with a green halo). Bheem, for his side, loves Ram but knows that since Ram is a dragon, he can't love Bheem, so he's trying hard to hide his feelings and pretend he's in love with Jenny, even if he only sees her as a nice british lady and a way to save Maili. Bheem also thinks that the reason why Ram is so affectionate with him is because he's the only one who knows the secret, and so, the only one with whom Ram can be himself.

Lacchu is the one who knows how to make the medicine for Bheem, and at some point may have to decide between telling the truth to Bheem to save Ram's life... or let his torturer die knowing that Bheem might survive the broken heart as he never acknowledged Ram as his mate.

Bheem discovered Ram being a hybrid one day when he just went to his apartment late at night to have dinner with him (notice how when he goes there in the movie after the market with Jenny he just goes to the kitchen and grabs food? He's so used to be there it's home), when Ram was already asleep in his hybrid form. Because Ram already had decided Bheem was his mate (Before Bheem convinced him he was human) he just felt so safe he never woke up nor shifted to human instinctively (as he had gotten in the habit whenever he sensed danger)

Bheem at first thinks Sita is a dragon, the way Ram talks about her as his fiancee (As part of his cover with the Empire). He is VERY surprised when he finds out she's human and thus, can't really be his fiancee.

Bheem can breathe underwater. He has never figured out that that's not something other protectors could do.

Before meeting Ram, due to how the Gond tribe raised him, Bheem never had a hoard. But the day he met Ram, he picked up a small pebble from the river where they rescued the boy, as it reminded him of Ram's human eyes. After that, any pretty rock or crystal that called his attention ended up in his hands. He doesn't realize he is creating a hoard until someone else (Sita or Jenny maybe?) point it to him, and he can already sleep on it in human form.

Jenny is a sort of expert in dragons, as she has collected books about them (Some of which at some point would end up in Ram's hoard if she can find a way to give them to him, when she finds out he's a dragon) She hates that the Empire has killed them and is trying to find one alive to see if it's possible to bring them back from extintion. She also is not that blind to how British people treat natives, and in secret she had also been helping revolutionaries escape. No one ever suspected her as she always acts so innocent. She also speaks Telugu, but pretends not to in order to keep her status (This is why she invites Bheem so quickly to the house. She KNOWS he wants to go, but needs to pretend to be completely oblivious in case her uncle's spies are watching. It is also why she has no angst at her uncle and aunt dying. She was actually thinking of doing the deed herself given how cruel they were.)

The very first time Ram loses control of himself, and needs to run to his place to hide, shift and manage to bring his emotions back under control before anyone sees him is when he sees Bheem leave with Jenny for the market.

Edward and Scott have boasted that they have killed dragons single handedly. This is not true, Edward has never faced a dragon, and Scott only saw the dead bodies after the attack on the Village where Ram would have lived if he had been raised by dragons.

Dragon-hybrids are very, very single minded once they got a prey. That is why Ram's uncle was very surprised that Ram was content with just showing the sketch around instead of looking for more clues to find Lacchu, but then, he meets Bheem and understands why his nephew's focus is so divided.

Snake venom usually does nothing to dragon-hybrids. The reason why the bite of the banded krite almost killed Ram was because he was already fighting his broken heart, thinking that Bheem would rather be friends with a human than accept him as a mate and realizing that Bheem had to be the man he was chasing. He just wanted to be wrong about the second thing and die in Akthar's arms, skipping the whole heartache process.

At the same rate, the only reason why his body fought the venom in the end was because the antidote had been given to him by Bheem. Even if his mind wanted to die before hurting his mate, his body wouldn't let him because Bheem wanted him to live.

Before dying from a broken heart, Dragon-hybrids can go completely feral. Despite knowing his dragon form was too small to cause too much damage, Ram was counting on that happening during his execution -that wouldn't take, as you can't kill a dragon-hybrid by hanging- so that he might kill Scott and as many british soldiers he could, hoping that he'd retain enough of his old self not to kill any more of his people.

If Bheem could shift to his half-form, he could have talked to the animals and explained them why he needed them. Then the massacre would've been a lot bigger.

During the whole fight for his arrest, Ram's eyes were in his dragon form as he couldn't control himself. The anger and betrayal that Bheem felt was so great that his eyes ALMOST shifted, fighting the medicine of the Gonds.

Dragon-hybrid's skin reacts to their element. Ram's is always a higher temperature from humans, so those who don't know his secret think he's running a small fever. Bheem's is always cold to the touch, like a river.

The first time Bheem's eyes shifted was when he saw Ram again, in the solitary cage. The shock of seeing Bheem again, looking at him with love, with his true eyes, brought back Ram from the edge of going feral. Bheem, from his part, was too overtaken by emotions to notice that he was seeing more colors and more clearly than usual (Dragon-hybrids can see in the dark)

Once they get the weapons to Ram's village, Ram starts skulking again because Bheem STILL insists he's human and can't be Ram's mate. It falls on Sita, Jenny and yes, Lacchu who has now started to see why Ram and Bheem belong to each other, to bring Bheem's instincts back up so that he will realize who he is (When told directly, he laughs and tells them to stop joking, so more extreme measures are needed.)

#rrr #rrr fanfic #rrr fanfic ideas #rrr fanfic woes #rambheem #ram is a fire dragon #Bheem a water dragon #idiots in love #Ram and Bheem

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kjtoons · 2 years

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AU CONCEPT TIME- (Ninjago Crystallised and LMK Season 3 Spoilers Below the Cut)

Okay so I had this idea for a sort of fix-it AU for Crystallized that also involves a Lego Monkie Kid Crossover as well as a Morro redemption arch, bear with me here- So basically when Lloyd goes golden Oni in the battle for the first time, instead of getting scared and shaking it off, he gets scared and the overlord takes advantage of this and decides to possess him. Meanwhile, the four ninja aren’t able to free their creation elements in time and end up getting corrupted in their dragon forms. Basically everything that can go wrong goes wrong, and Ninjago falls and is basically decimated by these five- Anyways you can tell this is me really wanting complicated character development through a villain arch, continuing- Now I’m not sure how this happens yet (I have a vague idea that MK’s world is the departed realm but I’m not sure how to explain that yet) but I’m thinking when Morro dies in the water that second time he’s reincarnated in the world of LMK as Mei’s older brother. They’re practically glued to the hip until Mei meets MK and the gang and they start growing apart. Morro doesn’t really show signs of having dragon powers and is struggling with feeling useless since his sister’s out here being a badass while he’s stuck with just doing nothing but skateboarding and gaming. He does end up going with the gang to help find the Samadhi fire, but is in Tang’s position where he can’t contribute much but helps where he can. At the end of this during that scene where they’re all eating on top of that cliff (Mountain? can’t remember exactly) he corners Monkey King and asks what he’s supposed to be. The Monkey King simply says his destiny lies elsewhere and doesn’t elaborate- Anyways because Morro was constantly feeling useless after Mei started growing distant with him he start practicing martial arts to fight the feeling, and he’s gotten pretty good at it. He’s out on his family’s mansion’s big porch one day, practicing, when he accidentally discovers that he can control the wind. He’s shocked, thinking this is some kind of dragon power, and tells his parents. His parents are confused since this isn’t a power you can get from being descended from dragons. Now Morro’s confused as well, wondering where the heck this came from. Then all hell breaks loose with the arrival of a new golden demon and his four winged servants. Outside of the idea of MK’s realm being the departed realm, I don’t really have much a reason for why they end up here, but my current reasoning is that the overlord is basically fostering Lloyd’s anger to keep his form up by sending them to the departed realm to basically torture his enemies. Mei, MK, Red Son, and the rest of the crew are struggling to get a leg up on fighting him, since he’s proving to have an otherworldly power to spread darkness that they can’t combat. Then golden guy spots Morro randomly during the battle and goes ballistic, hellbent on killing him. MK, Red Son, Mei and the rest of the gang come to his rescue and get the hell out of there since they’re not winning this one. That’s all I really have figured out right now for this AU, but I do plan on them finding a way for MK and co to get to Ninjago at one point and meet those that are still alive that weren’t decimated by golden dude, as well as Morro gradually gaining his memories from his past life back throughout the story. Also saving the four core ninja from their corruption somehow. I still have the idea to separate these into seperate AUs since I seriously think Lloyd and the other four ninja could’ve been absolutely freaking amazing villains for Ninjago: United and provided such interesting character archs because they’re corrupted and such. I also would just want to write my own version of a Morro redemption somehow because I love this angsty ghost boy so much and thrown it in there with this whole thing. Also, just a seperate AU where oni lloyd attacks MK’s realm somehow. Idk if they’ll stay together, idk it they’ll be seperate, we’ll see- Anyways thanks for reading my word vomit hopefully it wasn’t too indecipherable. I just wanted to get it down somewhere.

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fanboyzuko · 2 years

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How much is a royal title worth in LTF? Dragons Wings seems to imply that it was a really big deal having Lu Ten as a figurehead for the movement, does that importance extend outside of the Fire Nation as well? Outside Ba Sing Se he immediately became a valuable target the moment the wrong person found out his location.

I'm extrapolating from available information mostly to try to figure out how careful the Sazanami needs to be when traveling outside Fire Nation controlled waters with two royals on board. And how dangerous it might be if information about their location and mode of transport were to spread. Would the Earth Kingdom generals consider them a worthwhile target to chase after if that information became known? Would the South Water Tribe fleet?

And depending on the answer to those questions, would the Wings mention having royal backing in any eventual future meetings with other factions? or would they keep it quiet to not risk a repeat of what happened to Lu Ten? (The more I think about it, the more Zuko's Hui-persona seems to offer a vital layer of protective camouflage, allowing him to become insignificant to those who would go after him. How much does Zhao know about the details of that identity? that's the only weak point I can see at the moment.)

TL;DR Royal title has significant political weight in LTF. However, threat levels of being specifically targeted not too high for Zuko&Iroh while sailing about even outside of FN waters. No different than any other FN vessel. Wings will definitely start establishing they have someone suitable to take the throne if they overthrow Ozai, at least to FN allies. To possible foreign allies? Proooobably not after they were burned so hard last time... Hui should be safe from Zhao.

Long rambling answer:

Oh maaan you always ask them hard hitting questions. I really had to think on this one.

So perhaps the first thing I really sat thinking about is how in canon, the political weight the noble class is very... light? Understandably so, as this is a Nick cartoon, not some Game of Thrones style type shit. I feel like that pretty much extends to general fandom perception and content? Like I feel most the time when I see focus on the importance of say Zuko's royal standing, it's to deconstruct it and show him 'breaking norms.' But what ARE the norms?

Zuko may have been banished and (presumably) taken out of the line of inheritance until he found the Avatar, but Iroh still had his title as a prince of the FN. Even disgraced after the siege, he has standing. But it doesn't come off that way at all! And then Azula, Ozai's only heir while Zuko is banished, is sent off to capture Aang. And sure she's a powerful firebender but?? She really had meager guards and protection being IN THE MIDDLE OF ENEMY TERRITORY! And gosh the whole King Kuei running off into the wild with his pet bear is bonkers. No matter how much of a puppet king he was, he's still a whole ass king. Buck wild. But again, kids show lol.

So then turning to LTF... The politics are a litter messier and hold more weight. The Fire Nation royal line 'traces back to the first Fire Lord' and it is a Big Deal. There's probably a lot of nobles who take immense pride in their connections to the royal line. "I'm the great-great grandson of Fire Lord X's youngest sister!" type shit. And it's a big deal who is then brought into the royal family. Hence Ursa coming out of nowhere was such a huge upset in the court.

As far as the commonfolk go, I'd say that ties into the spiritual significance of the royal family. The FN gives off the 'divine right to rule' vibe to their politics, with the original Fire Lord being a Fire Sage and the throne being tied closely to the Fire Sages in its beginnings. Even after the Fire Lords started pulling more power to themselves and from the sages, the Fire Sage clearly still have strong social and political sway. I hinted a bit at it with Ju Long at one point, how the Fire Lord is supposed to be a representative of the FN's spirits of sorts.

So it is important that if there's a faction going against the throne, they have someone from the royal family backing them. No matter how radical the group, they know that if they're going to usurp the Fire Lord and keep someone else on the throne, they need the support of the nobles and commonfolk. Only way to do that is with someone in the royal line. Also touched on that briefly with Bun Ma's conversation with Iroh before she left, about the Fire Lord who was overthrown by the clans who had to marry their candidate to rule to someone in the royal line to secure their place.

Which now gets me thinking, it'd be SO interesting if the Earth Kingdom tried forcing Zuko/Iroh to marry an EK noble and making a claim to the Fire Nation throne.... Oh man that'd be so interesting. Bc honestly, with Zuko's banishment and Iroh basically abdicating the throne, they aren't high profile targets to foreign powers. Lu Ten was targeted because his worth to Iroh was well known, and it seemed like the best move to end the siege. There's no benefit to targeting Zuko or Iroh other than reparations in regards to Iroh (like what almost happened in the show when he was taking his bath lmao), a shot in the dark Ozai isn't as heartless as he seems and would care about a ransom, or the secret third option I just thought of, of trying to upset FN politics from the inside...

I'm losing the thread some maybe... I've been thinking about this all day can you tell haha.

Okay so for the Wings, if they want to have any hope of making significant waves in the FN political sphere, they need that royal backing. So as they start pushing harder, they will need to disclose they have someone suitable to take the throne should they overthrow Ozai. But they'll be playing it safe of keeping it vague just who they're putting their money on. If anyone outside the Wings starts hearing of their movement and mission, they could think it's Iroh or even a noble with direct lines of descent from the royal family.

Coordinating with foreign allies, they'll be keeping their cards even closer to their chest. After Lu Ten they're not going to take any chances. So they'd definitely imply their royal backer isn't in the immediate royal family. Or that they're completely breaking FN norms and saying fuck it. After a century of conflict and isolation, EK and WTs wouldn't necessarily know the political and cultural climate of the FN. They could probably accept and believe a rebel group hoping to overthrow the throne without royal backing, unlike FN allies.

As far as Zhao goes, he definitely underestimates the power of Hui. Even if he did learn Zuko's undercover name, he hasn't remembered it. He just vaguely knows that Zuko's been posing as a scholar. What a waste of time and resources, but go off banished prince, is his mindset. Last he's met Zuko, he went to the library and came back without seeming to have learned all that much. Whoopdeedoo.

If he actually knew just how much shit Zuko's gotten up to as Hui and how many connections he's made, it'd be a different story. But he doesn't, so Hui's safe from Zhao's interference.

#bookwyrmie #atla #jam talks #i had a lot of thoughts lmao #this is stupid long

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rafor · 10 months

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Chapter 56 - Hunter - The Glitch

As a water dragon, I plunged into the depths with them, reveling in the freedom and joy of the aquatic realm. I did not want to be treated as a king, only as a friend. Around me, there were ten water dragons, but only two of them were males. The rest were females, graceful and elegant in their movements. I noticed this contrast and wondered about its cause. Hydra had once told me that the water dragons had a history of bloodshed and strife. The males were more aggressive and territorial, fighting for dominance and control over the oceans. Many of them perished in the endless battles, while the females learned to coexist peacefully and harmoniously. They often sought refuge in the rivers, away from the chaos and violence of the sea. There, they would meet their soulmates and bond with them under the moonlight. It was a sacred ritual, a way to find solace and hope. Even though the wars had ended long ago, the tradition remained. And I was honored to be part of it.

They stayed with me throughout the night, while the other dragons left us alone. Siveth was the only exception. She guarded us from any potential threat, using her fearsome reputation as a deterrent. She was known as a ruthless killer among the Earth Dragons, but she had a soft spot for me and the Water Dragons. She even joined us in the water sometimes, challenging me to races in different forms. I always won, widening the gap between us. She did not take it well and tried to hurt me once, but I dodged her attack easily. The Water Dragons were alarmed by her hostility, but I calmed them down and assured them that we were just playing. They trusted me and did not interfere. They knew that breaking the bond was not easy, and they would only help me if I really needed it. They valued life more than anything else.

The dawn came too soon, and the night flew by so fast. It was time for the water dragons to depart. I wished they could stay longer, but they had their own lives to return to. “When will you come back?” I asked them anxiously. “In about a couple of full moons,” they answered vaguely. That could mean anything from a few weeks to a whole month.

They invited me to join them on their journey to the ocean, at least for a few days. But Siveth shook her head and reminded me of Erebus and Freya. Erebus would never allow me to leave, and Freya needed me. We had a family. I couldn’t risk leaving her alone, not after everything we had been through.

So we followed the water dragons downstream, along the same river we had taken before. We crossed the lower waters again, where the sheep crossed peacefully. My stomach growled loudly. I was starving. We said our farewells to the water dragons and watched them disappear downstream. Then I shifted into an Earth Dragon, feeling the power surge through me.

Siveth looked at me with a knowing smile. “Are the sheep making you hungry?” she asked teasingly.

I felt a primal urge take over. The sheep looked so tempting and easy to catch. I licked my lips and said, “I don’t know why, but they drive me crazy.”

Siveth raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just say that you’d never try to catch one again?”

I shrugged, feeling a different side of me emerge. A side that didn’t care about rules, morals, or consequences. A side that only wanted to satisfy its hunger. “Yeah, I did,” I said.

Siveth sighed and said, “If you’re hungry, I repeat, there’s nothing wrong with hunting them. There are plenty of them, and they won’t go extinct anytime soon. You’d be surprised how fast they can reproduce and..."

I tuned her out and dashed forward, snatching a sheep by its leg. I dragged it underwater and killed it without mercy. I devoured it in seconds, not even bothering to surface for air. It was delicious. I wanted more.

I grabbed another one, and another one, and another one. I lost count of how many I ate. I didn’t feel full, only greedy. Siveth watched me in shock and horror. She didn’t try to stop me until I reached for the fifth one.

She swam up to me and pulled me back to the shore. She shouted, “Hey, bottomless, hungry hunter! Stop, you’ll hurt yourself.”

I protested weakly, “Nah, just another one, please.”

She asked incredulously, “Do you know how many you ate?”

I guessed, “Ehm, three maybe?”

She said angrily, “You ate five whole adult sheep, five Nox! Five!”

I said doubtfully, “What? It doesn’t feel like so.”

She said exasperatedly, “Look at yourself.”

I looked down at my body. It was normal. I had just a shy bump from all the food I had consumed. I gasped, “Oh wow, so?”

She said sarcastically, “You’re lucky that we’re made to withstand such an amount of food, but really, if you eat another one, you’ll feel really bad. That’s your limit.” And maybe she was right because I suddenly felt dizzy and sleepy. She noticed my drooping eyelids and said softly, “Great, I’ll make sure that nobody gets close. Take your time.” I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I loved the taste. Everything felt normal now. Not even a hint of regret.

I opened my eyes after a long nap. I felt a slight relief in my body, but it was still a heavy burden. She smiled at me and said, “Congratulations! You just digested half of your lunch.” I looked at her with confusion and said, “What do you mean by half?” She reached out and gently pressed my belly. “Here, can you feel it?” She moved her hand to two different spots. One was now hollow. The other was bulging. I nodded and said, “Yeah, so?” She explained, “We’ve got two stomachs. You ate so much that you filled both of them, and now one of them is empty until you get hungry again.” I gasped and said, “What? Isn’t that something only herbivores have?” She shrugged and said, “Usually it’s because we can eat fruits too. That’s why I think we have them, but you stuffed yourself with those.” She pointed at the sheep that were still crossing the river. I asked, “What is going to happen?” She said, “Luckily, nothing. Just don’t eat for a few days now. Can you do that?” And then I felt a pang of hunger again, but the food in my stomach did not move to the other one. My eyes were drawn to the sheep, and she said, “Don’t even think about it. We’re going back now.” At that moment, I managed to free myself from the bones, and then we started to swim back. I felt like I was carrying a stone in my gut, which slowed me down considerably. It took us an hour to get down the river. Sometimes I stopped and let the current carry me. Siveth never left my side, as she was worried that I might pass out at any moment and drift away. That did not happen, but the weather turned bad, and for the last fifteen minutes, it was a struggle with the river.

We finally reached the village, and I felt drained of energy. I used my fire to dry myself, and then I collapsed on the hammock. It was only afternoon, but I needed to sleep. A few hours later, Freya came into the room and nudged me awake. She pointed at a bulge on my abdomen and asked with a worried tone, “What is that?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked at her. “Oh, that? I guess that's my lunch. I ate so much that I discovered a second stomach.” I said casually.

She gasped and backed away. “What did you eat?” She demanded.

“Siveth says five sheep. I think it was more like three.” I shrugged.

She stared at me incredulously. “That looks like more than that. Why did you do that?”

I sighed and explained. “I was starving, and I couldn’t control myself. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head and said, “Whatever. I’m not sleeping on that tonight.”

I said, “No problem. If you’re cold, you can take any blanket you want. I don’t need them.” I was warm enough without them.

She grabbed a couple of blankets and said, “Thanks. I’ll take these then.” She smiled faintly and added, “It's already been an intense afternoon for me too; I'm going to rest. Good night, Nox. The great sheep hunter.”

I smiled back and said, “Good night, Freya.”, It wasn't night yet, but who cares? It was fine.

She left the room, and soon after, Siveth came in to check on me. She asked me softly, “How are you feeling now, Nox?”

I said, “Fine. Why do you ask?”

She said, "I'm just curious.” She paused and then said hesitantly, “I have a problem.”

I frowned and asked, “What problem?”

She said, “My brothers are missing, and I...”

I understood immediately what she wanted from me, and I felt a surge of anger. I interrupted her and said sharply, “Oh, come on. Where are they at this hour? Can’t you wait until they come back?”

She said apologetically, “They went with the water dragons. They won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

I groaned and said, “Siveth, you have no idea how much I hate you right now.”

She pleaded with me, “I know, but please, can you help me? I beg you.”

I relented and said grudgingly, “Fine. But we’ll try a different method this time.”

Instead of using my arm to pull out the spine from inside her oesophagus, I gently pressed on the throat from the outside and slowly eased it out. She winced and whimpered with every movement, and it looked agonizing. But eventually it was done.

I said with relief, “There. It’s over. Can I go to sleep now?”

She said gratefully, “Yes. Thank you for helping me again. And sorry for disturbing you.”

I said sarcastically, “Not like I was sleeping or anything. But sure, you’re welcome.”

I tried to be polite, despite everything. She had helped me before when I overate by guarding me from danger. Maybe this was a way to repay my debt to her.

But damn it all to hell. It was disgusting.

The night eventually fell, and it was cold and restless. Freya shivered under the thin blankets, unable to find warmth. She reached for me and whispered, “Nox, hey.” I opened my eyes and asked, “What?” She said, “Do you have any other blankets or something?” I checked the hammock and shook my head. “I’m afraid not, sorry. Maybe you can ask Siveth or check the hammocks of Canine and Vexus. They aren’t sleeping here tonight.” She nodded and got away, leaving me alone. I heard her voice in the distance, waking up Siveth and asking for more covers. Then she came back, dejected. “It looks like I’m already using all of them,” she said. I felt sorry for her. “Oh no, I’m sorry.” She looked at me with pleading eyes. “Can you make some space for me?” I hesitated. “Are you sure? I still have that thing.” She grimaced. “I’ll try to ignore that,” she said, and climbed into the hammock with me. As usual, she snuggled against me. I summoned feathery wings and wrapped them around her. She tried to avoid touching that part of me, but I could feel her body weight against mine. It was a strange and uncomfortable sensation. I didn’t like it in that moment, but I couldn’t let her freeze, so I endured it for her sake. She fell asleep in my arms, but not for long.

During the night, something shifted inside me. She woke up with a scream, and so did I. She said, “Oh my god, I felt all of it.” I asked, “What did you feel?” She said, “Look.” I touched my belly. One stomach was empty, and the other was full. I realized what had happened. “Oh, it moved,” I said. She replied, “Yeah, it did. Eww.” I tried to calm her down. “If you can wait, soon I’ll be back to normal.” She said, “Fine, do your thing.” I got out of the hammock and went outside, walking aimlessly under the rain, and I waited until I expelled the bones. Then I returned to the hammock, dried myself, and we slept peacefully. I swore to myself that I would never do that again. I had to control my instincts, and this was getting worse. I was an animal. And a stupid one.

#chapter #dragon #dragons #elements #fantasy #literature #mystery #story #poetry #adventure #the_glitch #the rise and fall of raphael

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thedivergingpaths · 1 year

Text

Birthright in Conquest

Corrin has grown up within an isolated palace in Nohr alongside his younger brother and sister, Leon and Elise.

Leo will soon be making his debut at the main palace, but one night shortly after Corrin's birthday King Garon comes to visit.

King Garon's visits are few and far between, but on this night Corrin is going to be allowed to officially join the court. There had been troubles for years amongst the nobility, and the ongoing conflict with Hoshido, but Corrin was finally going to debut as one of Garon's children to the whole of Nohr.

Leo and Elise are jealous, but happy that their sibling will be free to stand alongside Prince Xander and Princess Camilla.

Everything begins to go wrong on the journey from the Northern Castle to the heart of Nohr, Castle Krakenburg. A group of Hoshido soldiers, seeking to break the seals crafted by King Garon's late wife, Arete, meet the traveling party.

Corrin is recognized and whisked away to Hoshido, where Queen Mikoto greets them as a mother. Corrin's world collapses, but things seem...nice though odd in Castle Shirasagi.

The oldest three royals are cordial, but distant. Ryoma is frequently away from the castle, and Hinoka frequently patrols the borders. Takumi speaks with soldiers that make Corrin's skin crawl.

It all comes to a head when Corrin's dragon is released one sunny day. Mikoto promised them a chance to understand what they are, and then the castle town is in ruins.

A woman singing a mournful song and dancing with water calms them, and with the help of a repentent ninja and the youngest princess, Corrin absconds from Hoshido through a glowing lake.

In the depths of Valla, Corrin learns Azura's name and the about how Anankos has throttled Hoshido. Nohr attempted to fight back years ago with Queen Arete, but she perished and Azura was taken to Hoshido. Corrin was taken in retaliation, and possibly other reasons Azura is unsure of, though she knows Corrin has ties to Valla because Mikoto does.

The destruction of Valla left Mikoto thralled to the fallen dragon Anakos, and with her magic, the royal family has either been thralled or sworn fealty to a new dragon god.

Corrin desperately wants to go home to Nohr, to be with their siblings, but they also can't abandon their newly discovered Hoshido family. How could they live with themselves if they let Hoshido be truly devoured? Their time there was not horrid - and they made tentative friends in the ninja Kaze and the princess Sakura.

Corrin resolves to return to Nohr with Azura, who is nervous to be back in a nation she only remembers pieces of.

There are no lovely reunions, because Hoshido has invaded Nohr and Nohr is putting up a violent resistence.

Corrin manages to get in touch with Elise and her retainers, and after getting in touch with some allies and leaving news for the other siblings that they are alive, but outside of the war effort, the group returns to Valla.

They come across Arete and Sumergai's spirit, and while they are able to fight them off and escape Valla again, Corrin learns the truth of their parentage and of Azura's lineage.

Corrin has a crisis they decide to put off for later - a child of a mad god? That can be dealt with when the world isn't burning.

The group returns to Hoshido, to try and stop and the war and invasion at its...well, human source. They aren't strong enough to take on Anankos himself yet.

Mikoto and Takumi have remained in the palace, and they reject peace. Corrin is forced to kill their mother, and Takumi falls in battle trying to awaken Corrin's feral dragon. They do not have a dragonstone, and thus no real control, but when Takumi falls and Mikoto is dead, Corrin remains human but grieving.

Princess Sakura and her retainers appear, and while it's a bad situation, Sakura knows Corrin was given no choice. They gather more allies in trying to track down other royals in Hoshido - Camilla and Hinoka are fighting at the front lines in Hoshido, and Ryoma is deep in Nohr crossing blades with Xander. Kaze defects and Corrin decides that before anyone else dieds, they neee to take care of Anankos. Just dealing with the human element didn't work, after all.

Before they can return to Valla, Hinoka appears and challenges them to a battle. Kaze is killed defending Corrin, Hinoka is fatally wounded and dragged away by her loyal retainer, Setsuma. Azama defects and joins Corrin's troupe.

Corrin and co dive into the lake at Castle Shiragasi, and plunge into Valla, moments before Leo rides in with a battalion. Prince Xander is dead and Leo is fleeing Prince Ryoma, who vanishes before there is a confrontation at the castle.

Corrin fights through Valla spirits, barely able to keep everyone well and fighting. Several die before they make it to Ryoma. The fight with Ryoma is brutal, and Sakura sacrifices herself to save Corrin and stop Ryoma, but Ryoma is too far gone and deals a near fatal blow to Corrin.

Corrin goes feral, and tears Ryoma apart before separating from the remaining party.

Azura attempts a pursuit, but more Vallite soldiers block the way and delays the party's reunification.

Corrin finds the feral dragon Anankos, and a fight rattles the fallen nation. Anankos should win, but Corrin's allies appear to help.

When Anankos falls, Corrin does not revert to human form. Instead, the power ebbing fron Anankos is absorbed by Corrin and they thrall all within Valla to them.

On the surface, the thralls are released, and the remainint heads of nations begin planning to deal with the lurking threat. They are tattered, but perhaps they can build a strong enough army before Corrin's power grows out of control...

Especially since the thralls may not be so loyal, as Azura uses her Vallite lullaby to frequently lull Corrin to sleep and rest and is, perhaps, trying to free them all.

A sleeping dragon is still a dragon, however.

Check out these earlier drabbles, one for Shadow Dragon and Minerva and Michalis' swapped roles (Macedon's Twist of Fate) and the other for a fractured rescue (Time is Note Linear) of the Awakening timeline!

It's funny how I was originally going to have these be prompts but they became one-shot botes instead haha. I should probably proof before posting but I just finish so here y'all go

** DO NOT USE AI ON MY WORKS **

#fire emblem #my fanfiction #fire emblem fates #long post #my commentary #corrin #azura #ryoma #hinoka #elise #leo #takumi #mikoto #anankos #fanfiction #fe14

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burgerking-offical · 1 year

Text

alright i am going to begin with all of the (non-train related) history of the isle of sodor

6200BC- Sodor becomes a separate landmass from britain, ireland, and mann

4000BC- the first Indo-Europeans arrive on sodor, and they functionally eradicate all pre-indo-european culture and language on the island

3000BC- the sudric bronze age begins, as there is large amounts of tin deposits on the island, and many nearby copper reserves throughout britain

2400BC- (Alleged) first king of sodor, Ardcaggee becomes king of sodor and (supposedly), defeats seven dragons, six sea beasts, five giants, one giant dog with four heads, three medium-to-large sized rodents, two plant monsters, and someone else vying for the throne of sodor who might have also been a plant (the 2nd century poem that recites these events is unclear)

1600BC- First sudric dark age begins due to an alleged volcanic eruption, which supposedly bathes the island in dark clouds

1100BC- First sudric dark age ends and business continues as usual

950BC- the celts invade sodor and allegedly place Faildergdóit, legendary high king of ireland, on the sudric throne

720BC- first known historical king of ireland, Machan I becomes king, and dies four months later of a disease that most modern historians suspect to be naegleria fowleri, as the king believed that snorting water up your nose was a good way to preserve your reproductive health, and a week before he died, he said he was experiencing headaches, insomnia, and other similar symptoms.

720BC- King Machan II, also known as Machan the Bloody becomes king and he is a really shitty king so all the people rise up and kill him and all his known relatives and the house of Killdane ends at two members

177BC- the island of sodor is taken over by another clique, this time being a band of pirates allegedly from a land that was approximately 4000 miles west of sodor, which wouldn’t make sense because firstly 4000 miles west of sodor is inland and also it’s in the americas, and secondly, the pirates spoke a language that modern linguists believe is very similar to Ingrian, a Uralic language from around what is now Leningrad, so chances are they weren’t actually from the west at all

154BC- The oldest descendant of sodor’s modern royal family, Ulf I, becomes king of sodor

46AD- sodor and ireland have the same king for approximately two minutes until he decides that he doesn’t want to be in charge of ireland

123AD- king Feradach II and his army single-handedly defeat a roman army at what is now barrow, which pisses off the romans and they continually try and invade sodor, and the sudrians keep fending off the invasions until the romans leave britain

312AD- Christian missionaries try to convert sodor, and king Aedan VI of sodor goes down to Rennes and kills the king of brittany, puts his 2nd cousin Breesha on the throne, burns down every church, monastery, and cathedral in brittany, and makes a law saying that everybody in brittany has to be a celtic pagan from now on

420AD- Queen Breesha V becomes queen and she makes the country significantly more progressive

573AD- Sodor and ireland have the same king again and they continue to do so until 732

732AD- king Eochaid III resigns and sodor is left with an interregnum for 12 years

744AD- the king of sodor would have been the heir to the english throne had he not died before the king of england did

871AD- sodor becomes a vassal of england, who decides that Ulf XII would become king of sodor instead of Robert III, who was very clearly the legitimate heir

1066AD- Godred I becomes king of sodor and declares independence during the english succession crisis going on at the time

1324AD- grandson of saint machan of harwick becomes king of sodor, and everybody hates him but they also respect saint machan so one day, he “accidentally” falls out of a window, and dies.

1389AD- king Rolf II is a fucking idiot and gets the whole country taken over by england

1401AD- england loses control over sodor

1450AD- england gains control over sodor again

1471AD- england loses control over sodor again

1499AD- the king of england says that sodor would be “An independent nation for three hundred and fifty years, if not more”

1797AD- a revolution takes place, inspired by the french one, and everyone’s lives get better

1799AD- the first complete constitution of sodor is written, and it is very cool and good (for a country in 1799)

1854AD- the sudric monarchy is back again, and about time too, and they rewrite the constitution to suck a lot

1892AD- sodor is absorbed into the UK, and they still retain relative independence with their own constitution that is very good and cool and is continually modified so it can stay good

1946- railway series is published by the reverend w awdry

1984- a television series is created that’s based on the railway series

2021- a shitty reboot of the television series is created and the governor of sodor makes it illegal to watch within the country and publicly denounces mattel for being fucking stupid

#history #ttte

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dabbling-translations · 2 years

Text

Chapter 8: The Tragedy of the Reinhardt Household: Witch-sama’s Father Almost Passed Out

“What is the meaning of this? Yuo was supposed to have zero magic power!" Gagan Reinhardt, the father who had banished Yuo, shouted loudly.

The reason for this was the bizarre report the Skill Temple sent recently about Yuo’s skill.

Below is an excerpt of the said report:

[Name] Yuo Reinhardt

Adopted daughter of Duke Gagan Reinhardt. No blood relation.

[Skill Name] Heater (Scorching Heat)

This skill allows the user to warm any target through touch. Its weaker form is limited to just boiling water. However, its strongest form has a power output similar to the Scorching Witch of legend, who scorched everything to the ground in the distant past. This may be extremely dangerous.

[Caution]

Although unlikely, if the skill manifests in its strongest form, the danger level is classified as SSS+++. Requires national supervision.

Gagan's eyes darted towards the danger level written on the report, Danger SSS+++.

“What are they talking about…?!”

"SSS?!”

"National supervision required?!”

“W-What the hell is this?!”

Gagan's hands kept trembling as he read the report. His head also started spinning.

National Supervision class is a class that is exclusive only to individuals who have enough power to influence the nation as a whole such as sword saints and saints.

No matter how you look at it, it’s unreasonable for that useless girl to have that much power.

Moreover, the danger level of SSS isn’t merely a disaster class ranking on paper but a ranking given to disasters themselves. Plus, in the report, there’s a +++ attached to it too.

Dragons, who live at the frontier and can easily destroy castles, are only given a ranking of B to A. Even the Demon King of the North, whom nations had to ally together to defeat, and ancient dragons at the farthest reaches of the world, who are now considered legendary, only have a danger level of SS.

To begin with, the term "danger level" is not used to evaluate human skills. Rather, it’s used to assess monsters, dragons, and demons. Entities of this rank are considered a potential threat to mankind, or even to the world as a whole.

“It was reported just a few days, and it's…?”

At the end of the report, it said that Yuo’s treatment should be reported to the royal family. Reading that, Gagan immediately knew what had to be done. He had to call Yuo back to the royal capital and deal with all loose ends appropriately.

Having a National Supervision class member in the family is surely gonna boost the Reinhardt household’s prestige.

Although it could be dangerous, if the Yuo can control it effectively, her skill can become extremely useful.

What if Yuo had a far more powerful offensive power than he does? What if Yuo manages to gain more national support and trust than him? Gagan asked himself, stunned by the thought.

More than family background and nobility, the Reese Kingdom greatly values competence. In the worst case, there’s a possibility that Yuo could threaten Gagan’s position as the family head.

Gagan shuddered at the idea.

Shit, if only I didn’t adopt her…

Gagan recalled the time he took Yuo from his father. Yuo wasn’t his daughter, to begin with. She was an orphan brought back from the frontier by her father, a commoner. He was forced to raise her as his own daughter for 15 years.

What would happen if the queen found out that I banished her?

Gagan asked himself.

His conscience regarding Yuo’s banishment was clear though. Worst case scenario, he’ll live in exile in some remote area for the rest of his life. It’s even possible that Yuo could choose to exile him in the [Forbiden Land] if she comes to power.

(T/N: He’s basically just dramatically overthinking in this and the proceeding paragraph)

Gagan recalled the remote area. When they visited the [Forbiden Land] for an expedition, the land was desolate, barren of any greenery. With no way to replenish his supplies, he could only take short breaks to get out of there quickly. It was truly hell on earth.

To think that I, at the peak of my glory, could be banished to that hellhole.

“This can’t be real! How can I hand the household over to someone with zero magic power?!"

Gagan was resolute in not calling Yuo back to the capital. In other words, he decided to disregard the report and imperative from the temple.

Little did he know that this decision would be detrimental to the future of the Reinhardt household.

T/N Hello! I've decided to stick to posting three chapters weekly, ranging from Thursday to Sunday. Hopefully I could remain consistent hehe~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter and any corrections are greatly appreciated, just refer to the corrections panel on the navigation bar.

[Prev] [TOC] [Next]

#scorchingwitchdtl

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 years

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I’m not sure if anyone requested this yet, but can you write some sweet headcanons where Malleus, Vil, Riddle, Azul and f!s/o bond with their child? Like they've all graduated from NRC and they're adults and parents now. Thanks Raven!

Curiouser and Curiouser...

As the ruling family of the Valley of Thorns, you are often busy with political and economic affairs. One day, your child will become the next monarch, so they follow you around to important meetings (when they’re not with their royal tutors) and sit in to watch you and father work. This way, they are able to learn while also spending time with their parents.

A beloved family past time is taking a stroll in the palace gardens, hand in hand--your child holding one of yours, and one of dad’s. Malleus knows just what their favorite flower is, and sometimes does little magic tricks to get them to giggle--a shower of petals, or perhaps making all of their favorite flowers bloom in unison.

Sometimes Malleus joins his child for their lessons! It can be boring studying history books or practicing the violin alone, so he might read aloud to them, or take up a string instrument himself to show them the ropes!

Malleus also joins his child for the occasional spar. Of course, he never really goes all-out, but he does try to push them to think quick on their feet. Each battle tends to end with Malleus lying on the floor and pretending he has been “slain”--and when his child cautiously approaches to check on him, Malleus strikes back by tickling them until they’re squealing with laughter.

He knows it can be hard to get a grasp on magic, so when the first sparks start to appear in his child, he makes the time to help them control it. Malleus keeps mint candies in his robes to help cool fiery belches, and he kindly guides his child through shifting from humanoid to dragon and back.

There’s always ice-cream--the king’s favorite treat--on hand! He loves to share it with his child (especially if they’ve expelled a fiery burp earlier). Malleus constructs large and elaborate sundae boats to surprise them after a long day of their studies.

Malleus’s imposing height actually makes him the perfect playground for his child! They love to cling to his back or ride his shoulders, all while reaching up for the sky--which they hope to one day soar through with their father.

His status as an A-list celebrity tends to keep Vil away from home for extended periods of time, but he keeps in touch with his beloved family! That means lots of video calls with you and his child--and it makes all the moments you do spend together all the more meaningful. (Your child has a habit of pointing at magazine covers and the TV screen whenever they see their father on.)

Whenever Vil returns from work, he typically has a gift in hand for his child. It could be merchandise from whatever brand he has partnered with at the moment, a souvenir from abroad, or a plushie, flowers, or candy from his fans. It always brings a smile to his kid’s face--because their dad is thinking of them, even when they aren’t together.

Vil’s his child’s greatest supporter. He believes they can do anything they set their mind to, and he actively encourages them to work hard toward those goals. No matter how busy he is, Vil will show up to every sports game, every dance recital, every awards show his child is in.

He takes his child on lots of outings! The movies, restaurants, parks, spas, stores... anywhere, really! He thinks it is important for his child to see and experience as much of the world as they can--and besides, he loves doing anything and everything with them.

Vil allows his child to dig into his vanity and wardrobe for things to use for playing dress-up! He’ll sit at the kitchen counter and pretend to be a commentator as his child struts out in various outfits and looks they’ve thrown together.

Occasionally, Vil will sit down and let his kid make him “absolutely beautiful” with his own cosmetics. There’s a whole photo album in your phone of your husband in crooked lipstick and liner, or wildly messy eyeshadow, courtesy of your child.

If they have trouble sleeping, Vil will read a fairy tale to them--and he’ll crack a little smile when his child tells him he’s like the prince in the story. Other times, he’ll sing lullabies to soothe them. When they’ve, at last, settled into sleep, Vil will brush their hair aside and kiss them on the forehead, wishing them sweet dreams.

Riddle is stern, but not emotionally closed off. He has sworn to never be like the tyrant his mother was to him in his youth. Though he may be upset when his child does an oopsie, he takes a deep breath, brings himself down to eye level with them, and calmly explains why it is he feels the way he does. Together, they’ll talk out their feelings and find a compromise that works for both of them.

He plays tea party with his child, even going out of his way to properly address each of their stuffed animals by their full name and title. Riddle sits down in a small plastic chair and pretends to sip his “tea” (cola heavily diluted with water) and eat his “scones and sandwiches” (colored clay cut into lopsided triangles).

They look after the family pets--a pair of hedgehogs--together. Riddle shows hid child where the hedgehogs like to be scratched, and how to properly hold them and bathe them. They love to give the hedgehogs their food, the lie on their bellies and proper their faces up to watch the pets eat.

He sits down with them to help with their homework. If there’s something they don’t understand, Riddle can talk them through it--though he won’t just spout out the answer. He wants his child to be able to think critically for themselves--he’s there to provide a little nudge, if needed.

Riddle and his child often experiment in the kitchen. He’s sure to pick simple, kid-friendly and easy recipes, and makes sure that his kid follows proper safety precautions. They serve you up the dishes they make, from fruit sandwiches to pasta salads to no-bake cheesecakes.

Whenever he’s eating something with strawberries on it, he offers the fruit to his child, since he knows they also enjoy them. They typically banter back and forth a bit before agreeing to split the strawberries in half so both of them can enjoy~

He often takes his child out on strolls through the neighborhood so they can see what life is like outside of the house. If some neighborhood kids want to play with them, Riddle lets his child run freely--he’ll just keep a careful eye on them from a distance.

Like their father, your child is ambitious and intelligent for their age. You can often find them trying to negotiate with their father for various things: later bed times, more allowance for the week, cake for dessert instead of fruit tonight... Azul usually still wins in the end, but he’s a good sport about it and allows the conversations to drag on a little to encourage his kid to put together a coherent argument.

Speaking of allowance, Azul is sure to make sure his child earns that money through various small acts, like doing the dishes or taking out the trash. That’s part of how he shows his love: by instilling values of fairness and working hard into his kid. He also does his part to teach them about the benefits healthy eating and exercise, so his kid can live a long and healthy life!

His child sometimes surprises him at his workplace. Whenever that happens, Azul grants them their own special table in the corner and serves them himself. There’s plenty of free finger foods and endless refills for them, but he’ll gently scold them if they run the risk of overeating or indulging in too many unhealthy foods.

Azul takes his child to the pool or to the beach to swim! He’s notably less enthusiastic about it if he has to do so in his true form, but he’ll do it if his child begs enough. They’re fascinated by his many arms--and to be honest, they come in handy when Azul needs to make a quick rescue or prevent them from drifting too far out on their own. When they’re old enough, Azul holds their hand, and they dive deep to explore the depths.

When the winter comes, Azul personally secures his child in a scarf and several other warm layers before sending them out into the cold. The Coral Sea can get to frigid temperatures during these times of the year, and he tends to worry for his child’s wellbeing and health because of it.

Azul doesn’t give his child gifts often (he wants them to be appreciative for what they already have), but when he does, they are generous ones--a big kitchen playset, a cash register with tons of play money, a lightning-magic powered car they can actually ride in...

Family board game night! Azul has a cabinet full of tabletop card games and board games specifically for these occasions. Monopoly in particular is especially... stiff competition. There’s betrayal and drama around every corner, but you still have tons of fun regardless.

#twst #twst x reader #Malleus Draconia #Azul Ashengrotto #Vil Schoenheit #Riddle Rosehearts #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #Malleus Draconia x Reader #Azul Ashengrotto x Reader #Vil Schoenheit x Reader #Riddle Rosehearts x Reader #curiouser and curiouser #Reader #self insert

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astaroth1357 · 4 years

Note

AYE requests briefly open you say? Then here ya go: MC (female or gn) turns into a child for a day courtsey of Solomon (maybe around 5) with the Brothers. I think it'd be adorable, what with finger painting on spell books and things, but there ya go!

The MC is Now Five Years Old, Thanks Solomon...

Oh boy…. A little kid in Hell sounds like a train wreck admittedly, but at least they'll have some pretty strong guardians right? I heard It'll Be Okay by SMLE & Helen Tess and decided that was JUST the feel this sort of request needed.

Intro:

Solomon really doesn't mess up spells often. He's been doing this for a while (at least as far as my headcanon is concerned) so he's gotten pretty damn good at magic over the years. It takes a looot to make him mess up. Like say, a natural disaster, an unexpected surprise… or a whole-ass MC getting knocked into what sigil he's using at just the wrong time. Yeah. That'll do it.

How in the world is he going to explain this to the brothers…?

Lucifer

His anger toward Solomon is quite severe… tempered only slightly by how utterly adorable kid!MC is. (Well all know he's got that soft spot for cute things 🤭) It reminds him so much of his brothers at that age…

The man basically reverts back to being Dad!Lucifer sooo fast.

He's the one tying their shoes, checking on them throughout the day, making sure they're not running with scissors… that sort of thing.

Weirdly enough he's not that bothered by it… In fact, his brothers find it a little unnerving just how at peace he seems when he's keeping track of kid!MC doing this or that… It's like he's just put on an old pair of gloves and found out they still fit.

Speaking of his brothers, Lucifer can't turn off "Parent Mode" so it starts spilling over to them too...

When he started telling Levi "It's bedtime" and used a napkin to wipe Beel's face for him in public, they decided to hold an informal intervention. They're grown demons now, damnit!! 😖

Mammon

The first thing kid!MC did when they saw Mammon was fling themselves at him while screaming "MAMMIE!!!" at the top of their lungs… Regardless of his confusion, the man could probably die happy now.

He only gripes a little bit about being saddled with babysitting duty… Because everybody knows he's not the babysitter now. He's the playmate.

"Mammie, I wanna play House!!" "I ain't playing House with ya, kid. How 'bout Tag?" "No way, you're too fast!" "Hide'n Seek?" "Luci said we can't play that no more…" "Well don't hide in the oven again!" "You didn't find me!!" "That was the problem!!!"

Pretty much the Man-Child/Actual Child Duo. He's perfect for keeping up with them and they'll whine incessantly when they can't find him for too long...

Totally the brother to take them to the amusement park or really any of those super fun places kids love. He will be just as excited as they are to be there, too.

It's not uncommon to find Mammon passed out on a couch or something with an equally exhausted kid!MC sleeping on his back. The two can really wear each other out…

Leviathan

He's probably the least perturbed by this change. Sudden de-aging of characters is a pretty popular anime trope, after all...

He's not all that taken with kid!MC though to be honest… Largely because he's too worried about keeping his stuff out of their grubby mitts. 😖

"Levi, what's this?" "GAH! Don't touch that!! That's my limited edition Ultra☆Rainbow Witch figurine!!" "I wanna play with it, though!" "It's not a toy!!" "That's not fair! You have nothing but toys, Levi!! You need to share!!" "NO I DON'T!!!"

In those times where Lucifer forces him to share, Levi goes full neat-freak. He handles all the discs and games himself, everything gets practically sterilized, and kid!MC HAS to wash their hands before they touch ANYTHING (especially the game controllers). He ain't risking any random kid-gunk getting on his precious possessions… 😰

He does enjoy playing games with them well enough, at least. No one's going to pass up a game of Devil Kart after all!

Sometimes he'll let them win just to see how happy they get… Though, then they start getting a big head about it so he has to remind him who the actual gamer is with another string of losses... Sucks to suck, kid! 😌😏

Satan

… You know, five year-olds ask a lot of questions… A looot of questions…

"Satan, what's that?" "An umbrella. You use it so that rain doesn't get on you." "Where does rain come from?" "Evaporated water collects in the atmosphere and-" "Is rain like the sky peeing?" "...." "Satan? Does your face hurt?... Satan?"

Please Lord, they may not be on speaking terms, but someone has to have mercy on his patience...

In truth, Satan's kind of charmed by how curious kid!MC is, he just wished they'd listen more to his boring explanations…

"Satan? Why does everyone listen to Diavolo?" "Lord Diavolo is like a king to us demons." "Where's his crown?" "He doesn't wear a crown." "Oh… You don't wear a crown and people listen to you. Are you a king too?" "I mean, you're not wrong… 😏" "Satan, get back to work."

Eh, maybe having a little MC isn't all that bad. They don't lie, after all. 😌

Asmodeus

OMG he hasn't seen a child this cute since the twins were in diapers!!!!

If Mammon isn't around then Asmo takes over babysitting duties (like an actual babysitter) and he's more than happy to do it. It reminds of him of taking care of baby Belphie!

If kid!MC has any interest at all in makeup then he's happy to foster it. He won't give them the good stuff of course, but he'll show them how to do blush, eyes, lipstick, nail polish, whatever!

He also dabbles in a bit of facepaint so do they want to look like a kitty, panda, or dragon? He's got them covered.

Asmo just likes to let them be creative in all forms, really. He's going to be the one to break out the paint and markers and just the kid!MC go to town! (hopefully not on the walls…)

Takes pictures of whatever they draw, good or bad, and happily displays them to everyone. There's not a big enough fridge to hold all the art he's going to collect (and zealously protect).

Beelzebub

Playmate #2 right after Mammon, but he's the less excitable, more responsible one.

"Beel! Beel! Watch me jump off this slide!!" 😰 "Please don't… You could hurt yourself… You slide down slides. That's why they're called that." "*GASP*... That's right! You're a genius!!" *sits back down* "Not really, but thank you." 😊 *waits for them at the bottom*

If the MC is with Beel, they're doing one of two things. Either they're playing together or gorging themselves on junk food.

Beel actually likes "domestic" games like House and Tea Party because it's an excuse to raid the kitchen. He'll play "house-husband" all day as long as he gets to actually eat at every imaginary dinnertime.

He'll play active games too, of course. Especially action-oriented ones like "Cops and Robbers" or Superheros. No one's better at roughhousing than Beel! Though he'll go easy on them, cause they're small and all… 😅

Everyone can always tell when Beel's in charge of them because he carries them around on his shoulders. He's the tallest one of the family so it's like getting to be a giant!

Belphegor

Belphie was introduced to kid!MC when they started crying during one of his naps. They couldn't wake him and they thought he was dead… Followed directly by them declaring their tears were magic when they noticed his eyes opened.

He proceeded to close his eyes again and purposely play dead just to get them all worried again. It was the smile creeping up onto his face that eventually gave him away… 😏

He likes to play with kid!MC and Beel but he's not going to let it get in the way of his nap schedule or anything. When they play "Knights" he gets to take the role of the world's laziest dragon… Rawr.

Kid!MC will only settle down for naptime if Belphie joins too since he'll read them a book like he used to do with Lilith.

Satan's usually the go-to guy for storytime, but Belphie's a close second (largely because he just imitates what he remembers Lucifer doing for him, voices and all 🤭).

He deals with their myriad of questions by just making shit up and pretending he knows what he's talking about. It's around the time that he told them that little men live inside the freezer and shave ice cubes to keep things cold that Lucifer started getting on his case about it… Killjoy. 🙄

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios

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legolasbadass · 3 years

Text

A Lifetime Apart [1/3]

Artwork by the lovely @gwen-ever

Relationship: Thorin x OC

Summary: Thorin meets his One while still a young prince in Erebor, but their lives are torn apart by their families and the arrival of Smaug.

Based on Alice Tynan’s interview with Richard Armitage in ‘The Vine,’ this fic was inspired by @gwen-ever’s wonderful art for the @tolkienrsb 2021!

Warnings: Angst. Seriously guys, this is really angsty, get your tissues ready. (gwen and I are not sorry lol)

Rating: T

As always, the fic can be read on AO3.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

There is a room in Erebor, a secret place where once their love bloomed in peace. All the memories of that place, where he held her and worshipped her with his lips, were forever engraved in his mind. It was there that, after months of struggling with his feelings, he had realized she was his One.

All Dwarves know that Mahal sometimes creates two of his children from the same stone, bonding them for life. Of course, not all Dwarves marry. Even those granted this honour by their Maker do not always choose to marry, for some value friendship above all other bonds, while others devote themselves to their craft. Still, as a young boy, Thorin had hoped Mahal would deem him worthy, and every night he had dreamt of the moment he would meet his One, conjuring their likeness like an artist who paints a picture and gives it life.

He had also wondered what it would feel like to meet his One. Would he know immediately? And how would he know? Perhaps it would be like in those romance novels his sister liked so much. A tender, all-consuming look from across the room, silently reassuring the other that they had found each other at last.

Perhaps due to long hours in the council chamber, Thorin had become more of a realist as the years went on. He always had to be on his guard, and he learned quickly that he could not trust his desires, for they could be manipulated by advisors and enemies alike. Romanticism was fine for artists but not for princes. The idea of a destined love became no more than a child’s fanciful dream, and Thorin grew gradually less opposed to the concept of an arranged marriage until the thought of it did not bother him at all. After all, his parents had been married for a political alliance and had still grown to care for each other. Thorin knew he would do the same.

At least, that was what he had told himself before he met Rúna, his dear Rúna.

He did not know immediately that she was his One, but from the moment their gazes met, he knew he would never again be the same. Her presence had so bewitched him that he had not realized he was walking toward her until she stood right in front of him. Then, stumbling over his every word, he had thought himself defeated, oblivious to the fact that she felt the same indescribable pull toward him.

“Thorin, at your service,” had been his first words to her.

“Rúna, daughter of Ragni, your highness,” she had replied with a curtsy, enchanting him all the more with her melodious voice.

“I hope you are having a pleasant time, Lady Rúna.” Already, he had loved the way her name rolled off his tongue.

“More pleasant than you, at least, seeing as you have found nothing better to do than stare at me from across the room,” she had replied teasingly.

Blushing furiously, he had attempted to remain formal and composed but, ultimately, had failed miserably. “I had hoped that would go unnoticed, or at the very least, that you would humour me and pretend like nothing had transpired. And just because I was watching you does not mean I am not having a pleasant time. On the contrary, my spirits were lifted by the sight of your fairness.”

Thorin could still remember the beautiful blush that had painted her cheeks. “Forgive me,” he had said hastily. “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“I did not say I did not enjoy it,” she had replied with the most enchanting smirk.

That was how their conversations usually unfolded. Thorin, who always prided himself on being in control and always knowing what to say, would find himself barely able to think. He blamed her low-cut gowns and the redness of her lips for that.

They soon became inseparable. Every day, they would meet in their secret room, a haven where they shared stolen kisses and soft caresses. Âzyungel, she would call him, for she, too, had accepted Mahal’s will. She had accepted Thorin as hers, and in those moments, both of them had believed nothing would ever separate them, for they were destined to be together.

Deep in the caverns of his mind, a voice called out to Thorin, warning him against the intensity of his passion, but he did not listen. He found himself thinking of her at the most inappropriate times, and she haunted the nights he wished he could spend with her. When he closed his eyes, he saw her smile and heard her laughter, clearer than the soft splashing of water against limestone rocks.

What would it be like to spend his whole life with her, his Rúna?

Thorin thought with utter surety that he would soon know when they announced to their families their intent to wed. At first, everyone was overjoyed. Rúna came from a wealthy and respectable family, so the king had no objections to his grandson’s choice — not that any of that mattered to the couple. Ale and Dorwinion wine flowed freely as the news travelled through the mountain. The prince had chosen his princess.

Thorin and Rúna welcomed their families’ approval, but they secretly longed to be alone once more. When at last they found themselves in the comfort of Thorin’s chambers, they drank some more wine between languid kisses, committing the moment to memory. Fingers braided hair then caressed the skin they hastily revealed, their cheeks tainted with the soft glow of love.

That night, like their hearts forever bound, their bodies became one. Thorin was gentle, attentive to her every need, and even afterwards, he continued to bathe her in tenderness, scattering kisses all over her skin as they murmured promises of eternal love to each other, bodies entangled.

Rúna fell asleep to the soft lullaby of his heartbeat beneath her cheek, and though she never doubted for a second his sincerity and devotion, those promises were never fulfilled.

Rúna knew they should have been patient, and although she was usually very sensible, she had not known how to resist her handsome prince, especially not when his body had promised her glorious passion, now and for the rest of their lives. Besides, it was not as though premarital relations were unheard of. However, princes had to follow much stricter rules. And these rules had been carelessly ignored. And as the days went on, Rúna knew she would not have the luxury of keeping their transgression a secret, for inside her bloomed the product of her and Thorin’s love, but also the cause of their demise.

Even if it had not been for her growing belly, her morning sickness and alarmingly fluctuating moods would have given her away. And they did. She had never seen her parents so furious, and their disappointment pierced her heart. Her father shouted about her stained reputation and their ruined bloodline, leaving her in tears as she tried to scramble away in search of Thorin even as she knew it was hopeless.

She knew they would separate them.

King Thror, with the support of Thorin’s parents, banished Rúna from Erebor, never to see her beloved again. She tried to fight them, indignation festered inside her like a poisoned wound, the unattainable promise of Thorin’s love shattering her heart into a million pieces, but it was hopeless.

They did not inform Thorin of this, for it was their firm intention never to let him know about the bastard child. Instead, they told him she was bedridden while they conjured up a more permanent plan. And so, unaware that his One had been taken from him, Thorin brought flowers to Rúna’s door every day. He hated every moment he was forced to spend away from her — it felt unnatural — but he consoled himself by thinking that they would spend their whole lives together.

Then the dragon came.

Thorin had been out hunting in the woods with his siblings when a strong wind began to rattle the treetops. Then a roar like thunder split the sky, and the blood of Thorin’s veins froze when he heard a shout from afar.

“Dragon!”

Rúna.

Without so much as a glance at his companions, Thorin bolted toward the mountain, fear clogging his throat.

Refusing to believe this was real, he did not even stop when the gates loomed above him, riddled in flames, but the screams piercing his ears grounded him to the bitterness of reality. The air was wrought with the stench of burning flesh and the sorrow of a broken people. All around him, children cried in fright, and mothers wept while the distant ringing of useless steel announced their defeat.

No help came from the Elves that day, nor any day since; a betrayal Thorin never forgot. Even if there had been survivors still clawing for breath inside the mountain, they had no means to reach them.

Rúna.

Thorin searched for her everywhere, shouting her name until his lungs burned, but when the moon appeared, and she was still nowhere to be found, Thorin knew it was hopeless. Grief crashed over him like a hurricane.

He had lost her.

He wanted to tear the sky open and demand retribution from Mahal himself, but all his remaining strength he used to remain on his feet. He had to be strong for his people — what remained of them. His family had miraculously survived, but even that could not have filled the gaping hole where his heart had once beat.

Rúna, his dear Rúna. The memory of her lips against his turned to ash in his mouth. When he had last kissed her and held her, he had done so thinking he would have a lifetime to keep loving her. But she was now no more than a memory.

He forced himself not to think of that, for his people needed him now more than ever. Only once he was finally alone did he let his tears run free, and all through the night, he sobbed into his pillow, his only comfort the memories of their secret room, untouched by fire and blood. Thorin held onto those memories all through the years, never forgetting, never forgiving.

—

Khuzdul translations:

Âzyungêl: Love of Loves (used here to refer to the Dwarven belief in a single, destined soulmate)

Taglist: @lathalea @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @mcchiberry @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @i-did-not-mean-to

Let me know if you’d like to be added to my taglist!

#trsb21 #tolkien reverse summer bang #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfic #thorin fanfic #thorin x oc #thorin x reader #thorin x you #thorin oakenshield x oc #thorin oakenshield x reader #thorin oakenshield x you #a lifetime apart

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sagasofazeria · 3 years

Text

OC-tober day one!

Prompt: Journey

Taglist: @talesfromaurea @hellishhin @thelaughingstag

And a special Event Tag for oc-tober: @oc-growth-and-development

For this one I’m doing two things! First, I finished the maps of the rest of Azeria and I’m too proud of them to wait to share haha. The heroes journey across a significant amount of this map throughout the story.

I’ve also included some snippets of each character leaving home for the first time, as it’s the beginnings of their journeys here.

Maps up first!! Behold, the full continent in all its massive size and glory. Super proud of all of this, I think it looks awesome. Also please excuse the repetition of the name labels and compasses and that stuff, I have the maps all on separate pages and wanted to make sure they can stand alone as well.

[Image Description: Six hand drawn maps, each showing a portion of a continent. Besides the northwest corner and a small exclave on the west coast, most of the land is of the country Azeria. The other parts are part of Leinos. The continent is covered in deserts, plains, hills, and rainforest/jungle. Off the western coast is the fog-shrouded sea of dragons, and off the eastern side is the vast ocean of Aksir-Atan. To the north is the Ikarron ocean./end ID]

Now for the snippets!

Gonna put them below a cut so this doesn’t get too long.

“Yep. I’m tired, Ardos,” Faulkron said, moving to push past.

“Of what, son?”

“Well first of all, that! Stop saying that, you know I’m not your son,” Faulkron said with a growl.

“Maybe, but I raised you, didn’t I?”

“I don’t care! I’m sick of all this! I’m tired of being here, with you!” Faulkron snapped.

Ardos’ face fell further, and his shoulders sloped. “You don’t mean that, do ya?”

Faulkron groaned and leaned against the wall, throwing his free hand into the air. “Maybe I do! I don’t know! I don’t even know who I am, Ardos! This town is all I know, but it isn’t me! How am I supposed to live like this any more?”

“Oh, a simple life ain’t so bad-“

“Yes it is, da— Ardos,” Faulkron quickly corrected, turning away.

“You almost called me dad,” Ardos said, a tiny kindling of hope in his voice.

“We all slip up,” Faulkron said, the coldness of the words making him almost regret saying them. Almost.

“You’re sure you wanna leave?” asked Ardos, voice much softer than it had been before, and laced with pain.

“Yes.”

“You even know where you’re goin’?”

“No. That’s the point. I’m tired of the things I know, I want something new.”

“I won’t stop ya, son.”

“I know,” Faulkron said as he turned back to face the door again.

“Come back and visit?”

“Ha. We’ll see,” Faulkron muttered, pushing past Ardos and out the door.

“Be careful!” Ardos called after him.

“Hmph.”

“I love ya, son.”

Faulkron didn’t respond.

•••

Fuego

•••

The fog lay, as it always had, like a heavy blanket over the island.

Fuego lit the lamp at the front of his boat with his fire, coaxing it to life and sending the fog hissing back, the slender ship’s front pointed out to sea.

He turned back to shore. His family, friends, the King even, were all gathered on the beach, similar lanterns in hand. The whole island had gathered to see him off as he sailed into what could prove to be a fatal journey.

Fuego took a deep breath, then spoke.

“People of Zul’Zagan! I promise you all, this great journey I’m taking now? It will be nothing compared go the glory of my return! I swear by my life I will sail the sea and find the fire to burn away the Shroud, the gods have decreed it and so that is what I go to do. I will keep you all in my mind, my heart, and my soul. I know these gifts are a thanks for what I’ve done, but it feels wrong not to thank you all as well. This is and always will be my home, and you are my people. I carry you with me anywhere I may sail.”

The king stepped forward, voice regal and booming. “And I pray for smooth seas and a forgiving sky on your quest, Fuego. We will not forget you either, lightbringer.”

The king bowed his head in salute, and Fuego returned the gesture. Waving goodbye to his family, he whooped as he unfurled his sail and his ship leaped forward into the unknown.

•••

Shakari

•••

“Shakari A’Tusaara. You have violated the laws of the Duulza, your people. You have stolen from the Vhamani, those who are your elders and who wield magic you are not yet strong enough to control. You show yourself to have dangerous hubris. Your ambition could be the downfall of all of us, you know this.”

Shakari hung her head. She couldn’t bear to look at her family, watching from the crowd.

“I am aware.”

“So then you know why we must exile you.”

“I do,” they responded, fury and pain boiling inside their chest.

“Very well. Shakari, you hereby lose your place among the Duulza. You are no longer your mother’s child, and have no home in Duulza lands. You will be sent into the desert alone. If you should return and you have not been humbled, you will be met only with blades. If you should return and have made right your crimes, then you will be welcome once more.”

The elder, a rugged-looking dragonborn with sandblown blue scales, stepped forward, magic swirling around their claws.

“I place this Mark on you now. When it has gone, return to us. Remember, you are not above the world, but part of it. A dragon’s ferocity is wasted on destruction.”

A searing heat pressed into their chest, a white-hot symbol appearing on their scales as the elder placed their palm over Shakari’s chest.

“It is done.”

Still wincing from the brand, Shakari turned her back on her tribe for the last time, and walked into the desert.

•••

Jetra

•••

Jetra scowled at the man on the street corner.

“Marakos, the Hero! He died for you, all of you! He fought off a bandit scourge, and sacrificed his life! Honor his sacrifice. Be a hero! Join the army of Leinos! Remember him, and fight!”

She was sick of hearing the army talk about her father like this.

Setting her jaw, she slunk through the crowded streets toward the recruiter.

She snuck up behind him where he was standing on some crates, and before he could spew another lie she kicked the crates out from beneath him.

He crashed to the ground, sputtering, and Jetra took off back into the crowd.

When she was sure she wasn’t being followed, she made her way back to their house.

Her mom wasn’t home yet, so she let herself in. She packed her stuff quickly, and when she’d finished, she waited.

When her mom finally opened the door, Jetra had already made a meal.

They ate it in silence for the most part. They were both tired, and their minds were making all the necessary noise.

When the food was gone, Jetra finally spoke.

“I’m leaving tonight, mom.”

“I suspected,” her mother sighed.

“I can’t take this anymore, and-“ Jetra started.

“Hush, love. The less I know, the better, remember?”

Jetra sighed. “I know.”

“You’ve got everything?”

“Yes.”

“Come here,” she said, opening her arms and standing.

Jetra walked over and sank into her arms.

“I love you, daughter. Please, be careful.”

“I will, mom.”

With that, she stepped out into the nighttime streets of Anikora.

As she walked through the shadowy streets, she saw a small glowing bird appear on a nearby rooftop. It flapped its wings once, then took off. She smiled, and followed it out of the city.

•••

Alejandro

•••

His parents didn’t say why they were leaving, just that it was today. Alejandro wasn’t sure how to feel. He would miss the village a lot. He waved goodbye to all his friends, his old house, the beach, and the rest of the village, as his dad held him on the horse they were riding. His mother was on another horse next to them, with all the stuff they’d taken with them. It wasn’t a lot, because they couldn’t afford that much more space.

When they’d reached the big city, they stayed for a while, before getting on a boat that took them across a lot of water and to another city. Then they were walking again, and they walked with some other people too, people Alejandro didn’t know. There was another kid too, and they played sometimes, but it was mostly boring. They all traveled for a really long time, and Alejandro quickly forgot which way it was to home.

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rainbow18 · 3 years

Text

Eah Epic Winter episode 1 Snow Day review

It’s summer now which means it’s near the end of the school year and Faybelle gets punished for her behavior during Dragon Games so Dragon Games must take place during the last week or two of Spring.

The Snow Queen and The Snow King are so far the only rulers who seem to be reminding their heir that they are going to one day be a ruler and trying to teach them to be a good one.

Blondie has announced to possibly all of Ever After that Daring isn’t Apple’s destined Prince Charming and he couldn’t wake her. We see Ashlynn’s and Briar’s reaction to this but we don’t see Apple’s and Daring’s families reaction. King Charming’s favorite child is Daring and in A Semi Charming Kind of Life, he ordered Dexter to purposely lose a jousting match to Daring because he didn’t want Daring to be seen as less than the absolute best. How would he feel about the announcement to possibly the whole world that Daring failed at something?

Meeshell should be a mermaid right now since snow is a form of water and there’s snow everywhere.

Meeshell being here also makes the timeline confusing. Why would someone be invited to attend a school when it’s the last month or so of the school year? Or has it been at least a few months since Meeshell comes out of her Shell?

Here Rosabella suggests that the reason why he isn’t Apple’s Prince Charming is because he hadn’t earned it yet. Is that how the Charming’s pages work? Do they just become destined to be whatever role suits them best? Rosabella also said it might help if he thought about helping someone who isn’t him. However until Dragon Games, Daring usually didn’t hesitate to help others when they needed it. He also was willing to put his ego aside more than once.

Daring being cursed to be a beast by someone who is cursed to interpret everything as way worse than it actually is kind of undermines that Daring needs to learn to deflate his head. Because of the Snow King’s curse, even if Daring did exactly what the Ice King wanted him to do, the snow king would still get angry and possibly curse him.

Both King and Queen Charming apparently didn’t show up for career day. Is it because Daring, Dexter and Darling know this is a trap? or did they decide not to call them? Or did their parents refuse to show up?

There’s an empty seat between Dexter and Darling, was someone sitting in between them earlier? Or were they just expecting someone to sit in between them? Or is it just a coincidence?

Here Crystal says that she has chosen to follow her destiny as the next Snow Queen. Did she get her destiny from her mother or her father? What controls if a person has their mothers destiny or their fathers? Or neither?

Overall this episode makes the timeline of events confusing, gives attention to the wrong characters but it is still good.

#eah review #eah critical #ever after high critical

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st-just · 3 years

Text

A Setting: The City of Sethennai

Because I’ve spent long enough tinkering on this that I might as well share it with a population of more than a half-dozen potential players. Also it could almost certainly use an editing pass, and I don’t want to lose it all next time my computer dies.

So, a collection of densely packed plot hooks in the shape of a city

City History

The City of Sethennai is quite possibly the oldest city in the world, or at least the oldest still inhabited. When the first Dwarfs and Goliaths fled the Titans for the coast, they found ziggurats already rising from the water and tunnels dug beneath their feet, ruined by some already ancient cataclysm. Supported by fertile soil and full waters, they built their own city over it, and welcomed their own gods to it, a center of resistance to the Titanomarchy that became an empire in its own right.

Centuries passed and power drifted inland, to the mountain palaces of the Titans’ Giant heirs and the divinely appointed heroes who sometimes overthrew them. The City was rich, but peaceful, its soldiers only raised when one princess or another took it as a capital during a civil war. Such was the case when the first ships appeared from the East.

The adventurers from the League of Free Cities had been spurred across the sea by visions of fortune and glory, overwhelming the defenders with armies of goblin slaves and the ability to evoke demons far beyond what they could deal with. Their leader Sethennai proclaimed himself Emperor and renamed the city in his honour, taking it as his capital. After his assassination some years later the ‘empire’ fell into an anarchy it has never quite recovered from, but the name has stuck, and for the two hundred years since wonders and riches have flowed across the eastern ocean while mercenaries and adventurers have poured west in ever greater numbers.

The city’s ruler for the last fifteen years has been Prince Cael, an adventurer universally believed to be supported by the League’s political rivals back East. If so, they got what they paid for – experts and financiers have been imported and sponsored, and trade opened to anyone capable of paying the reasonable import duties.

Until two years ago, he had been the picture of brutal decadence, rousing himself from luxurious hedonism only to brutally deal with any threats to his power. Recently though, he changed – sponsoring vast expeditions into the ancient palaces of the interior and the ruins buried on the city’s outskirts, and installing a self-proclaimed Hierophant whose heresies had earned her a death warrant back East in the city’s grandest temples (violently banishing the cults which had held them since the Conquest in the process).

One week ago, at exactly noon, the sun vanished from the sky for one minute, and the entire city was filled with a deafening scream. Since then, the Prince’s grand palace has been sealed tight, with ingeniously horrifying magical defences ensuring that anyone who tries to force a door or window isn’t around to try again. Everything’s very rapidly falling apart, and the city’s traditional power brokers are reacting like so many rabid weasels in too small a cage.

It is, then, a perfect opportunity for people with the will to seize it.

Districts

The Palantine

If Sethennai is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, the vast palace complex which crowns its central hill is probably likewise the oldest building still in use. Its foundation is burrowed deep into the hill on which it stands, to the point that some delvers and historians have theorized that it was once a truly massive pyramid now mostly buried by the ages. Rising out of it are two great peaks - impressive ziggurats in their own right - of obvious dwarven make, fashioned to house their ancient Ancestors-Kings and gods in suitable splendor, and since renovated and built over to house the city’s rulers and most favored priesthoods. Surrounding them are a dozen smaller peaks, each the estate of one of the city’s foremost patrician families, teeming with retainers and servants. The land around them is pristine and perfectly manicured, full of wondrous botanical gardens and menageries for the amusement of Sethennai’s greatest citizens.

Location of Interest: The Throne

A palace built on the ruins of a palace built on the ruins of a palace. The grand ziggurat which the city’s rulers have called home since time immemorial is built into and sits at the peak of its highest hill, the highest point in the sky for dozens of miles in every direction. Its labyrinthine apartments, kitchens, vaults, galleries and corridors house the Prince and his family, dozens of favorites and notables, and hundreds of guards, servants, retainers and entertainers.

Or, well, housed.

One week ago, the sun vanished from the sky, and a scream echoed through the city. Since then, the palace complex has proven impenetrable. Every door and window is closed, and attempts to open them by force have fared...poorly. In a ‘never going to walk again’ sort of way. Scrying and other means of magical surveillance so far attempted have simply failed. No one has tried to escape, and no noises have been heard - the whole complex is simply silent.

Of course, that means that all its secrets and riches are there for the taking. Or that’s the growing consensus - at least three separate groups have camped out near various gates and major entrances, each preparing their own scheme to break in and seize everything within. There’s no fighting between them. Yet.

Faction of Note: The Hierophant

Yri Cenred is many things. A self-proclaimed ‘experimental theologian’. One of shockingly few mortal humans to piss off the Illyrin clergy enough to be specifically declared Anathema. A member of the Commonwealth’s very exclusive list of ‘Enemies of Reason’. Empirically immune to thunderbolts from cloudless skies and most other signs of divine disfavor. Easily one of the most powerful mages in the city. And, for most of the last two years, its High Priestess and Hierophant.

No one knows quite how her first meeting with Prince Cael went, and whether she was responsible for her change in personality or if he sought her out because of it. All anyone knows is that shortly after she arrived in the city a few days ahead of Imperial Witch-Hunters looking for her head on a pike, Cael forcibly expelled the Khasali cults which had occupied the Palantine’s grand temples since the Conquest, and installed her in their place with the newly minted title of Hierophant for the city. Since then she and her growing coterie of acolytes (bright-eyed, motivated and young, though you can flip a coin as to whether their hands are stained with ink or blood) have been extremely busy, though no one can say exactly what with. Certainly they haven’t held any public rituals or services. Despite the costs - both political and monetary - in protecting and sponsoring her, Cael never seemed to question whether it was worthwhile.

The general opinion on the streets is that she’s probably to blame for anything and everything worth complaining about. The only real divide is between those who think she bewitched the Prince and turned him into her puppet, those who think she’s the one who killed him, and the moderates who think the correct answer is probably ‘both’.

Foundrytown

The New World is absolutely full of exotic reagents, fuel sources, and materials to craft and invent with. It is also absolutely full of people who will pay in your currency of choice for finished goods, armor, weaponry, and whatever nasty alchemical tricks you can keep from blowing up in their face until they want them to. Foundrytown is the sprawling mass of smokestacks, workshops, factories and markets that has spilled to the north of Sethennai’s walls, exploiting both opportunities to the fullest while limiting the chance that some idiot will burn half the city down (again). Robber barons, militant workers, loose fraternities of tinkerers and half-trainer artificers, and the occasional rogue clockwork or alchemical monstrosity all jostle for space and control of the beating heart of Sethennai’s economy.

Faction of Note: The Grand Bazaar

Official Imperial theology accords true dragons a place of honour - the Princes of the Earth, entrusted by Heaven with containing the fury of the elements within themselves so as to render the world peaceful enough for cultivation by the younger races - and forbids very few things to wyrms willing to play the part. (Principally, do not become undead, a god in your own right, or an archdemon of the elements. Though some justification can usually be found for how any sufficiently problematic dragon is actually doing one of those).

And Tyramara the Magnificent, the Fire of the Deeps has not technically done any of those things. Still, the ancient wyrm has little interest in allowing the wasting disease which has crippled her continue to spread, and her solution is unorthodox enough that she thought it prudent to abandon her palace-lair in Imir and relocate to the New World, six treasure galleons worth of her hoard in tow.

One of the city’s wealthiest residents from the moment she landed, she has bought a plaza in Foundrytown and offered her sponsorship to nearly every tinker and engineer who cares to set up shop there, provided they help sustain and improve the mechanical and hydraulic prosthetics that supplement and replace her dying organs. She has promised a full half of her hoard to any who can permanently deal with her condition, a fortune men have killed for in the past, and certainly will again.

Faction of Note: The Hellworks

They’re not officially called the Hellworks - there are, in fact, absolutely no devils involved. Still, between the billowing clouds of soot and steam pouring from their chimneys at all hours of the day, the severe architecture, and the bound spirits who keep the looms running at all hours of the day and eagerly take any opportunity to leave anyone who gets too close crippled or maimed to vent their anger - well, the name stuck.

One of the most obvious consequences of Prince Cael’s turn towards the esoteric these last years, the ' ‘Royal Sethennai Weaver’s Trust” is the brainchild and absolute domain of the Lady Binder Katerine sol Dalme sol Telrin ir’Paimon. An Illyrin magister with heterodox opinions on the proper uses of magic, popular opinion is divided on whether it’s more accurate to say Cael invited her to reside in the city, or just offered her asylum before her elders had a chance to properly condemn her.

Regardless, after six months of operation she - and her half-dozen strictly bound and extremely unhappy ifrit, and several hundred eminently replaceable more mundane workers - are already well on their way to supplying all the clothing and textiles Sethennai’s teeming masses require single-handedly, produced at a scale and speed far beyond what any traditional artisans guild could hope to compete with.

Crossroads

Dominating the Old City - synonymous with it, really - that the district is called the ‘Crossroads’ is often considered something of a cruel joke by new arrivals. The ‘Labyrinth’ is usually offered instead. Ancient stone tenements and storehouses are basic facts of geography, surviving through conquest and fire, and over and around and through them are generations of newer building - mansions of imported oak and marble, shantytowns of cannibalized carts and derelict ships built on rooftops, and nondescript inns and stores conveniently built on top of trap doors and tunnels leading to much more exciting locales. Natives of a neighborhood who know all the secret passages and blind alleys can quickly get to anywhere they like. New arrivals are strongly advised to pay well for a reliable guide.

Faction of Note: The Dreamers

There’s something under the harbor. There always has been. There probably always will be. Most people can go their whole lives without noticing it, but a certain few find living in the Old City a haunting experience, their nights spent dreaming of drowned palaces and impossible angles, their days spent lost in alleys and markets that have never existed. Inevitably, they come out of a daze and find themselves perched on the waters edge, staring into the filthy, polluted depths with an intense sense of longing.

Called the Dreamers, they’re an eclectic and informal fraternity, living in makeshift houseboats or the cheapest tenements that press against the water. Quite a few simply sleep on the streets. They’re something like a religion, and something like a guild - the most personable and talkative are merchants, selling the fish that others catch, the strange relics and minor treasures that their divers retrieve from the harbor, and the often beautiful - if always uncanny - art they produce. They take care of each other and, though no one has ever seen a dreamer raise a hand in anger, every attempt by syndicates or rival cults to extort or expel them has ended with their opponents going mad, screaming and clawing at their flesh in the middle of the night, or found poised in some elaborate and improbable suicide. After the third time, everyone more or less got the idea.

No one knows who leads them - if anyone does. Insofar as they have a public face, Zoe Alvane is it - a street urchin who ‘found the sea’ before she had hit puberty, for the last few years she has been the one who spends seemingly every hour of the day ensuring her ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ have food and shelter, and looking after the other beggars and poor in the neighborhood while she can as well. She’s also the one outsiders deal with when they come looking to buy information - it’s a disquieting fact of life in Sethennai that the Dreamers’ know almost everything there is to know about almost everyone. They are generally content to be left alone, and Zoe is very sympathetic and willing to offer personal advice and play the part of fortune teller to anyone desperate and willing to trade or do a favor - but it’s generally agreed that trying to force information from them is a bad idea.

Faction of Note: Ironfang Mercenary Company

When Prince Cael seized the throne, he didn’t do so single handedly. He needed trained, disciplined soldiers to seize the Palantine and coastal forts, ensure no one escaped the palace, and keep order on the streets while the messy business of extinguishing the previous dynasty was carried out. For all this and more, he relied on the professional expertise of the Ironfang Company.

Formed around a core of hardened hobgoblin veterans of various border wars and colonial filibusters in the Free Cities, the Company has for the last fifteen years been the Prince’s favorite tool for securing his interests, keeping order, and bloodily making examples of any threats to his rule. For their trouble, they’ve grown fat and happy - a steady paycheck and yearly bonuses have left every officer with a townhouse, and most common soldiers with coin for families and apartments for them to live in.

Despite the lack of real combat - and the need to take on locals as new recruits, as more and more soldiers retire or die over the years - Captain Azaersi is a leathery old warehouse who has never let her troops grow soft. Even week the grand parade ground in Crossroads echoes with screaming drill sergeants and the crack of muskets, and it’s an open secret that the Prince paid to import stocks of grenades and munitions from Quepta for her arsenal. No one knows quite how she plans to deal with the sudden disappearance of her patron and employer, but for the moment the Ironfang seem content to keep order in the corner of Crossroads around the arsenal and parade ground that they call home.

The Ruins

The ruins are not, legally, part of Sethanni, and absolutely no one with anything resembling sense would ever actually choose to live there. No one actually knows where the eponymous ruins come from - or at least, no one can agree which section is from where. Shantytowns of the most despised and desperate and built on top of their predecessors, which are built on top of battered and broken pre-Conquest ziggurats and homes, which are built on top of - well, some of it is just a natural cave system, and no one is sure about the rest. Or ever found just how deep it goes. Aside from the casualties of the Prince’s attempts to map it, the Ruins are inhabited exclusively by those that would be strung up or burned alive if they tried to live anywhere else, or those sufficiently dedicated to their greed or ambition that they’re absolutely certain they alone can unlock the secrets and find whatever wonders are buried beneath all the traps and monsters. Not great company, either way.

Faction of Note: The Weavers’ Masquerade

Sethennai never really followed its ‘sister cities’ in the League in religion, with a sort of tolerant anarchy of different gods and sects almost always predominating over the gleefully blasphemously sublime demon-cults that the conquerors originally brought with them. But the small cultists that did exist at least enjoyed a luxurious, privileged irrelevance, with sanctums in the city’s grand temple. That finally changed when Cael seized the temples for his new Hierophant - and every relic and sacred text in them, as bloodily as necessary. Which with demon worshippers meant a massacre - letting one escape and beseech their patron for aid in crafting some horrible vengeance being generally agreed to be a terrible idea.

Not that that actually worked, of course. One acolyte managed to escape - no one’s quite sure how, but then, probably best not to ask unless you’ve got a particularly strong stomach. Well, that’s one of her stories, anyway - she goes by Maia Dayal, Beloved of the Architect, Wearer of Ten Thousand Faces, and sometimes she prefers to say she’s a recently arrived priestess from Celmy, or a street urchin who found enlightenment entirely on her own. As might be expected by the self-proclaimed title, she also changes her face (and build, age, species…) about as often as everyone else bathes.

While she has shown no interest in actually taking bloody revenge on the Prince, Dayal has done plenty to earn the price on her head. The Masquerade that has grown around her is a carnival of wonders and horrors, where all manner of temptations are offered to the truly desperate, debauched and vile. Skinweavers and facetakers always need raw material, and secrets and deaths can both be easily bought for the right price - though in keeping with their patron, the Masquerade is hardly a safe or stable place to do business, and offending the wrong cultist can easily lead to a shift from ‘visitor’ to ‘canvas for artistic expression’.

Faction of Note: The Keendream Expedition

Over the last two centuries, the actual facts about the pre-Conquest city has (with few exceptions) been buried under the weight of legends, rumors and (when necessary) several tons of rock. Despite this (or because of it) whenever things get bad (...worse) for the original population of goliaths and dwarves who can trace their lineage back to that time, stories about some hidden savior or buried relic that will free them spread like wildfire. This is just such a time.

Ilidak Keendream Kathu-Viano is an explorer from a family with some grounds for its claim of being pre-conquest nobility. For the last year he has worked on commission for the Prince, leading a large and incredibly well-armed expedition into the ruins across the water from the Old City, digging into them in search of..something. No one who knows the goal has been willing to talk, but certainly it has involved hiring every historian and scholar with anything like knowledge of the city before it was Sethennai (not to mention half the charlatans and rumor mongers who might know something).

Once news of the Prince’s disappearance reached Kathu-Viano, work shifted from its previous sedate pace to something much more determined. Certain paranoid minds have said it’s almost like he was waiting for this. Other, moderately less paranoid ones have pointed out it’s a bit odd that the government-sponsored expedition is so short on patricians and city notables and so high on mercenaries form the interior and goliath clans with far more reason to listen to Kathu-Viano than the Prince, should some conflict break out.

The Stacks

Museums, exhibitions, satellite campuses, mystical archives, storehouses of eldritch knowledge, and one actual wizard tower - if the faint taste of ozone in the air doesn’t warn you what you’re getting in for leaving the city’s eastern gates, then the architecture certainly will. Wedged between variously reputable bookstores and inquisitives, different formalized and longstanding campuses are dedicated to the arts of conjuration, enchantment, sparkcraft, and practical cosmology. Competition for new discoveries and to fully unlock ancient secrets are good natured and nonviolent - at least, that’s all you can get out of anyone left standing once the smoke clears.

Faction of Note: The Bookhounds

The Bookhounds aren’t any sort of formal organization - and at least half of them would roll their eyes at the name - but rather a loose network of gutter mages, disreputable academics, private inquisitives and researchers for hire, and people with a little talent or cash to burn and far too much curiosity for their own good. They act as a sort of volunteer police force in the Stacks, passing each other clues and leads and doing each other favors to track down stolen (or escaped) relics and curses, stop idiots from unleashing anything really dramatic, and generally help people and save the day. Not to mention accumulate really impressive bags of tricks and rare books themselves in the process.

While they don’t have anything like a real leader, the group’s beating heart is Nikos Roth, an Esheri academic who arrived in the city as a fresh-faced student on a three month expedition a decade back and who never intends to leave. Running a small, incredibly ramshackle-looking secondhand book store wedged between two tenements, he nonetheless has one of the more impressive collections of occult lore in the city, and is more than happy to trade for more of it, or connect anyone in need with a specialist who can help them. As more than one would-be thief has discovered, he’s also a fairly talented mage, and for all that being entirely self-taught has left him with some obvious holes in his training, it’s also left him with some tricks that basically no one comes prepared to counter.

Redgate

Once, Redgate Prison stood alone, a fearsome warning of the Prince’s power to anyone looking south from the city center. Eighty-some years of steady urban sprawl later, most of its inmates would probably just need a running start from the prison walls to land back home. Filled mostly with those whose dreams of a new world fell flat, but with too little cash or too many enemies to get home, the slums of Redgate are a natural habitat for street gangs, drug peddlers, flesh traders, and everyone else looking to take advantage of the desperate and vulnerable. The prison itself - and its infamous and heavily armed wardens - has stumbled into being the center of law writ large, dealing out summary justice for criminals that are (correctly) assumed to be beneath the Prince’s notice.

Faction of Note: Regate Prison

Sitting on a steep hill across the water from the Old City, Redgate prison was at one point a fortress, but for generations has been put to use housing the city’s worst, most dangerous, and most profitable criminals. Given the sprawling, crime-ridden slums that now surround it, its wardens also work as a sort of brutal police force, keeping the pretence of order on the street and preserving the Prince’s Peace. Usually.

The problems with discipline start at the top, really. The Prison’s infamously brutal First Warden is also its oldest and most dangerous prisoner. Before the Conquest, Vrocdruk was one of the city’s lesser gods, enthroned in one of the Palantine’s grand temples. When Sethennai - the man - defeated him, he chose to pull his demons away before they could tear the god into so much bloody aether. Instead he was crippled, lessened, and bound to a new home in the fortress and a new purpose; defending the city and its rulers. Later, less skillful, princes altered the binding, making him responsible for most crime and punishment and hoping that his sacred nature would make the native dwarves and goliaths more obedient.

Vrocdruk is still crippled, still bound to the prison, still forced to obey the orders of the city’s acclaimed ruler, and still extremely unhappy about it. He takes any excuse to work out his unhappiness on criminals or troublemakers with the incredible bad luck to catch his direct attention. His wardens largely follow his example, often acting less like agents of justice and more like a particularly well armed gang - to the point of semi-officially collecting fees for ‘security’ from nearby businesses, supplementing the cash extorted from prisoners and their families for both necessities and luxuries while incarcerated.

Sootcliff

Trailing south of Foundrytown, on and under the steep slope beneath the city’s western walls, the densely packed tenements of Sootcliff are certainly stained grey enough to earn the name. Existing primarily as a source of blood and sweat to feed into the ever-hungry foundries and assembly lines to the north, The buildings are cheap, massive, and constructed at the lowest possible cost, with all the consequences you would expect from that. With easy access to weapons and alchemical supplies from Foundrytown and (literally) beneath the notice of the Old City, Sootcliff is famous as the home of militant bands, revolutionary conspiracies, disgraced artificers, and generally anyone who has a dream for a new world and a plan that will require a lot of explosions to get there.

Faction of Note: The Painted Doctors

Less a single organization and more an extraordinarily loose confederation of - often feuding - crimelords, the Painted Doctors are a fraternity of (largely half- or self-) taught alchemists who have over the last year grown to be the dominant criminal guild in Sootcliff. The name sometimes refers to the incredibly distinctive tattoos each ‘Doctor’ has covering much of their body, universally agreed to be somehow enchanted or cursed. Otherwise it refers to the incredibly alien and vibrant skin tones that their test subjects and muscle develop after repeatedly ingesting their ‘miraculous’ potions and tonics.

While possessing remarkably little actual magical talent among them, the Doctors have perfected the recipes for several extremely useful potions - several incredibly addictive drugs, a half dozen forms of acids and grenades, and a dizzying variety of enhancing tonics to improve themselves and distribute to their thugs - and have managed to keep both the recipes and their sources for the necessary reagents entirely secret. This has left them in the enviable position of being able to promise anyone signing on with them that they’ll be able to more or less become a regenerating ogre for an hour whenever they need to fight, while their opposition has had to settle with advising their men to stock up on fire and acid.

The leading light of the Doctors is one ‘Dr’ Fadre - almost certainly not his real name - an alchemical savant whose ‘miracle cures’ are bought and resold across the city. A flashy and well dressed sort whose patronage has turned several of Sootcliff’s most prominent dens of vice into something close to palaces for those who can afford it, he’s said to be far less interested in the nuts and bolts of running a criminal empire than enjoying its fruits and indulging his passion for the Sciences. It doesn’t hurt his reputation that he doesn’t look a day over thirty, and has for as long as anyone has known him.

Chance

Facing Oldport from across the river’s mouth, the docks of Chance are significantly new, cheaper, and altogether more ramshackle. Not really a part of any conscious design, Chance grew organically as the city sprawled beyond its original walls, essentially smuggling docks so successful it was easier to legitimize and start taxing them than it was to hang everyone involved. They now provide the city with a constant infusion of nerdowells and fortune seekers, and the district around them takes great pride in fleecing new arrivals of every penny to their name by the end of their first night on land. Hostels and boarding houses are usually safe, traditional vice dealers less so, and anyone selling treasure maps or magical amulets not at all. Still, they’re probably more harmless than the various mercenary recruiters and ‘exiled princes’ promising to give new arrivals exactly the thrill and fortune they came searching for.

Faction of Note: The Red Ocean Trading Company

What is now the Red Ocean Trading Company has gone through several dramatic changes over it’s eighty years of existence. First a privateer fleet hired by the Free City of Celmy during the First Armada War. Then eventually growing strong enough to seize several islands as an independent pirate state, before being crushed by the Esheri Navy during the Second Armada War. It’s remnants learned a bit of humility from that, and it is now seemingly content with its existence as either (depending on who you ask) a obscenely profitable shipping firm, or one of the most widespread criminal syndicates in the world.

The Company’s significant interests in Sethennai - nearly half the docks in Chance, guides and guards for anyone heading into the Interior, and fingers in quite a few less legitimate pies as well - are ably represented by Captain Arun Prem, a(n in)famous adventurer and scoundrel in his own right, apparently enjoying his semi-retirement behind a desk by getting outrageously drunk with his favorite mercenaries and criminals every night and swapping incredible (and implausible) old war stories.

There’s plenty of rumors, of course - that he’s here in de facto exile after angering the Company’s mysterious senior leadership. That he’s a thousand-year-old vampire and is the Company’s mysterious senior leadership. That he ate a kraken’s heart, and is immortal as long as he doesn’t lose sight of the water. That he’s biding his time to prepare an army before heading inland to carve a new kingdom for himself. That he’s only in the city for as long as it takes to carry out some truly spectacular heist. That he killed Prince Cael in a secret duel and trapped his soul in the pocketwatch he wears at all times. And so on. Of course, other rumours say that he started all of those himself to preserve his mystique as he grows fat in his old age.

Oldport

Facing out to the harbour but safely ensconced within the city walls, Oldpot is, as the name implies, one of the oldest ports in the new world - and certainly one of the busiest. Fully loaded merchant ships arrive daily, their cargoes emptied and replaced with the plunder of the New World almost overnight so they can return home on the next turn of the wind. Beyond the grand ports themselves, this district is home to all the most respectable shipping companies, merchant banks, hotels, and townhouses and apartments, as well as all the official consulates and embassies that Sethennai plays host to.

Faction of Note: First Bank of Sethennai

Despite only being as old as Prince Cael’s reign, the Bank already feels like an eternal and irreplaceable part of Sethennai. This isn’t something people are necessarily happy about, but its leadership had done a truly amazing job at keeping dissent to grumbling and resentment of the inevitable, and not actual resistance. They’re good at that sort of thing, even when they used Prince Cael’s (and, thus, the City’s) massive debts to his foreign benefactors as justification for taking control of the city’s tariffs and tolls, and began rigorously enforcing them, possibly for the first time ever.

Combined with a legal monopoly on the ability to mint coins, this has of course made the Bank incredibly wealthy. But not to the degree that might be assumed - the riches collected are to a large degree shipped back east to foreign creditors. Of the remaining, quite a bit is invested with as much an eye for politics as strict profit.

Executive Director Salman Ticaret, like most of his staff, is a Sethennai native who sought education in the Commonwealth (like most, he took a new name on gaining citizenship). Along with modern accounting and investing techniques, he came home with a firm grasp of political economy - and so for the last decade and a half has been more than happy to offer favorable rates to well positioned patrician and merchant houses, in exchange for their own favors and consideration in turn. The result is that the bank’s marble halls and adamant vaults house information as much as money. And Ticaret is perfectly willing to invest both, if the opportunity is promising enough.

Foreign Interests

The League of Free Cities

The League of Free Cities is not so much a single power as a collection of fiercely independent deomcratic city-states held together by the intertwined private empires of their leading citizens, deep and interdependent trading relationships, and a common religion that the rest of the world calls demon-worship - they view this as deeply offensive. Also they’ve been doing it for hundreds of years and they’re not all dead yet, so clearly everyone else is just doing demonology wrong. Politics are a mess of knives in the dark and openly bribing the voting populace with feasts and spectacles, with glory and riches to anyone who can hold the mob’s favor for long.

Demonic evocation - and the arts learned as a result of it, like fleshweaving, orienomarchy , breaking reality down into elemental chaos and shaping it to your whims, and so on - are in the rest of the world generally met with very thorough execution, making the freethinkers of the League the world’s bleeding edge in magical innovation. The entire culture of the League is also nearly custom-made to produce bold idiots willing to do what it takes to get rich or die trying, and the various Free City’s Adventurers Guilds are (in)famous the world over.

Until recently, the Free Cities considered Sethennai, if not one of them, then at least a younger sibling or benevolent dependency. Prince Cael’s coup has been taken as something of a wound, and the merchant interests who have lost out as he opened trade have made sure that in the decades since his name has become synonymous with bloody-handed tyranny. The first broadsheets celebrating his death will sell out in moments, and the acclaimed merchant adventurer Vyas Asraya, said to be en route to the city, is said to be very optimistic about future trading opportunities.

Holy Illyric Empire

Technically speaking a vast and sprawling feudal state unified only in the person of the Sovereign (Empress of Illyrin, Queen of Belthaya, Defender of the Hierophant of Imir, Grand Duchess of Abhari, etc, and so on, and so forth), the Empire dominates the better part of two continents, and in terms of size and prestige is unquestionably the foremost state on the globe. It is also a bureaucrat’s nightmare, its aristocracy distracted from their internal feuds only when they need to defend their ancestral rights from central overreach.

Ancient controls and long established relationships make Imperial binders the most fearsome conjurers and thaumaturges in the known world, a process not at all hurt by the wholesale incorporation of any powerful spirits or terrestrial god who will sign on the dotted line into the official pantheon. Illyrin Paladins are also easily the most storied heavy cavalry the world has ever seen, and Abharic necromancers are generally held to be the heirs (or direct pupils) of the inventors of the craft.

Illyric interests have prospered under Prince Cael’s reign, but the last years have seen Sethennai become a haven for heretical priests and radical binders, something Ambassador Konrad Reingard has been rumored to be increasingly frustrated with, though no one heard a word from his Oldport estate since the chaos began.

The Sublime Esheri Commonwealth

A thoroughly modern and enlightened state, the Commonwealth is history’s gift to the cartographer, an empire with firmly delineated borders and clear, rationally determined administrative divisions. Governed by a Janissary Corps educated and conditioned from childhood to put principle above self interest and the good of the Commonwealth above friends or (nonexistent) family, the Esheri control far less land than the Illyrin Empire, but has been able to fight it to a standstill and even force it to abandon certain far flung dependencies over a series of wars across the last century.

Beyond a ruthlessly efficient system for taxation and conscription, the Commonwealth’s military might is credited to two sources - on the one hand, its marines are the finest and most disciplined line infantry anyone is likely to ever see, experts in the use of gas and artillery and famously cool under fire. One the other, their heavy automata are an answer to any conjured devil or bound beast, enlightened clockwork providing enough force to cleave through scales and enchanted plate without missing a beat. But the Janissaries are as happy as their enemies to admit that they prefer unfair fights - though they credit their infamous spy network to the fruits of their scientific studies of society and history, while their enemies instead blame the corrupting effects of gold, blackmail, and a complete indifference to the morals of those they work with.

While the Commonwealth does have an embassy in the city, it mostly exists as an appendage of the First Sethennai Bank, the private institution responsible for printing and guarding the solvency of the city’s currency, its entire upper rung staffed by experts trained in the Commonwealth and generally considered Prince Cael’s way of paying back their support for his coup. More recently, it has been rumored that the Secretariat has taken an interest in the struggles in the interior. Coincidentally, an ‘Academic’ has been seen floating around various less than reputable bars in Chance, ostensibly as part of a project to record the city’s myths and folklore.

The Warlord States

For the last two hundred years, the interior has been an evershifting patchwork of successor kingdoms, native revolts, monstrous empires, released horrors, and stranger things besides, the unending tide of weapons and adventurers ensuring that no single player was ever able to secure dominance (and the various rulers of Sethennai have certainly played their part in keeping things that way). At the moment the foremost powers are a giantblooded kingdom led by a messaniac priest-king claiming to be the reincarnation of a Titan, a personal union enforced at sword point between a Khasli pirate queen and a goliath ‘emperor’, a red dragon who has claimed an old giant palace and forced the dwarves living in the mountains around it to provide tribute and worship, and several dozen more minor principalities. It should go without saying that war is the natural state of being, and soldiers are sucked up like ships in a whirlpool.

Adventurers are the lifeblood of Sethennai, and they don’t only flow one way. A constant stream of veterans - either enriched or embittered - skulk, limp or run back once they’ve had their fill of the wonders of the new world, usually missing something important or carrying something priceless - sometimes both. The courts and inner circles of every powerful warlord are composed exclusively of this sort of hard, tricky and generally insufferable type of rogue, and they’re often the only agents trusted enough to be dispatched on delicate missions. The line between warlord and criminal kingpin or pirate magnate is also extremely thin - sometimes nonexistent - as smuggling, sabotage and assassinations are simply basic tools of statecraft in the ruthless arena of the interior. More than once, an ambitious Prince of Sethennai has attempted to recreate their ancestor’s short lived empire, only to be found butchered in their bed but the agents of one warlord or another.

The Warlord States view Sethennai as a vital artery for supplies and funding, and for manpower to refill their armies with disposable bodies for their constant border wars. On a grander scale, those with ambition view it as either a crown jewel and future capital, or a bleeding ulcer on the land which needs to be razed to its foundations. In either case, few are interested in a strong, stable government for it. Regardless of their opinions, sending emissaries and embassies to the city is the first (and often only) diplomatic initiative of every new warlord state - though in truth their role is often closer to mercenary recruiter and fundraiser.

#this is theoretically a writing blog #D&D #abhari #well D&Dified but mostly #worlbuilding

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iamdunn · 3 years

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Miraculous Flash Forward Part 14: Tempest

A Miraculous Fan-Fic

Written By

AJ Dunn

Water began to pour into the sky like heavy rain falling upwards. This caused storm clouds to cover the sun casting ominous shadows over the whole of Paris. Wind began to whip through the team as they stood on the edge of the hotel searching for signs of the villains. Still unsure of what their powers consisted of, Ladybug was sure the source of which was the Graham De Vanily ring the mermaids wore on opposite hands. In the video they had pressed their webbed and scaly palms together before invoking the water to rise.

“We have to focus on getting those rings from them.” Purple Emperor said standing back from the team. A beep came over Ladybug’s yo-yo as she opened it she found another video coming from the aquarium. The news station was still functioning enough to broadcast the transmission.

“We are Tempest and we demand Paris hands over their saviors for punishment.” The echoing tone came from both of them speaking in unison. “We will use their miraculous’ to fix our mistakes and the world can go on as if nothing ever happened.”

“What are they talking about? what mistakes?” Viperion asked.

“Anastasia and Annalyse.” Cat and Emperor said together.

“Wow, you two really are twins.” Pigella offered.

“Pegasus, teleport us here.” Cat held up his tracker map indicating the location of the ice trapped girls. Pegasus drew on his power and tossed a ring into the water.

“Pegasus, go recharge your power, Emperor, we are going to need back up, find someone to akumatized give them the power to fight back.” Ladybug asking for someone to be akumatized sent a chill through the entire team's body as they remembered the terror wrought by Hawk Moth.

“What kind of power do you think we’ll need that we don’t already have?” Emperor asked. Ladybug thought for a second. She shook her head.

“We’ll figure it out. Stay put.” Ladybug, Cat Noir, Viperion, Purple Tigress, and the rest of the team jumped through the portal into the waters of the English Channel. The water level was very low as they swam up to the iced twins.

“Minotaurax, can you move it?” “Ladybug asked, looking around for a place to take it. He called on his power causing his body to enlarge then swam to the iceberg and began heaving. The rest of the team encircled it, lifting it with all of their strength. The ice lifted as the team swam upwards. They moved onto the shelf of the sea floor making their way towards the beach. Ladybug pulled out her bug phone to contact pegasus.

“We need a portal to return to the rooftop. And stand clear.” She said as he answered. Suddenly a large blue circle appeared in the water and they swam through taking the ice with them.

“Is this going to work Ladybug?” Cat asked worried about his sisters. “Bringing them this might set them off even more.”

“Recovering your lost siblings, with a chance of saving them.” Ladybug offered. They landed on the rooftop, setting the block of ice down. “Now, we just have to figure out how to call them over here.” Ladybug said.

“Let’s slip up and search for them.” King Monkey offered.

“Right, but don’t engage them, lead them back here.” Ladybug stopped and looked around the rooftop. “Pegasus, where is the Emperor?”

“I didn't know he was gone when I got back up here.” Pegasus shrugged.

“LADYBUG!” a voice came from another rooftop. Ladybug swung her yo-yo encircling the woman with it and hoiting her back to the hotel roof.

“Kagami.” Cat said in surprise. “Are you ready to join us?” He smiled happy to see his old friend.

“Ladybug?” she held out her hand as Ladybug pulled out the Dragon miraculous.

“Welcome back Ryuko.” She said as Kagami called on Long to transform her. “We’re going to need to do something about this ice.” Ryuko nodded and called on the fire dragon to heat it up as it began to shrink. “The rest of us split up, don’t engage them, but try to separate them. I have a feeling their powers only work when they are together.” Ladybug dove into the water followed by the rest. Pegasus hung back in case his teleport was needed. But also to look for Purple Emperor. He searched through the hotel.

Cat swam straight to the aquarium knowing it was one of his mothers favorite places to be. He was sure that Tempest was his mothers. It was odd to think of both of them being his mother, but it was true. He was right, he saw them swimming in the aquarium among the various ocean creatures. Their bodies blend into the kelp and anemones.

“I hear you are looking for me.” He called out. “Well I have a surprise for you.” they turned on him and began swimming fast. He darted off back towards the hotel. They caught up to him faster than he could maneuver. Grasping his feet they began encircling him like eels entrapping their meal. They each grabbed an arm pulling him apart as he kicked about in the water. He couldn’t break free of their grasp so he fought them enough that they wouldn't be able to gain the edge on him and take his ring.

He rolled his body forcing the mermaids to spin around with him crashing into each other. Rotating his arms through the water he managed to break their grip on him as he shot through the water again knowing he wasn’t fast enough to get away from them. He had to keep up this slow battle. He had to think of another way to throw them off guard.

“You know I am friends with Adrien.” He said spinning his body again to slip through their grip. “He told me everything.”

“What are you talking about, you foolish feline?” the voices spoke in unison.

“About how you left your daughters to die on that yacht.” Cat wanted to enrage them, so that their emotions would betray them. “How you let them die. How they drowned in fear.”

“You lie!” the voices shrieked. “We saved them.”

“Oh, did you now?” he swam in circles slipping through their hands again and again. “Where are they then?”

“They rest.”

“That’s not an answer.” Cat toyed with them before shooting faster through the water. “Are they dead or not?”

“Preserved.” the voices shrieked behind him as they once again closed in.

“Oh, see, that's funny because I found them,” he chanted.

“What!” their anger began to betray them as they began making mistakes. Cat grasped one of each of their hands as they tried to grab him, he somersaulted in the water twisting their hands sending them spinning out of control. He swam after them, grabbing their hair behind their heads and throwing them back through the water towards the hotel.

“How do you plan to resurrect them?” Cat asked.

“By wishing it undone.” they voiced.

“Nah, that’s not going to work, because then you two will die in their stead.” He wasn’t sure that was how it worked but it sounded to at the time.

“You know nothing.” they shrieked again.

“Really now, and who holds one half of your vengeance?” he smirked. “It would be Cat a strophic for you both.” He laughed to himself. “You two are Paw itivily insane.”

“Enough.” the swam after him again.

“Look at me I’m a CAT fish.'' He made a fish face at them then swam up to the surface as fast as he could leaping into the air then diving back in, landing right behind them. “Wow, that was CLAW some.” he teased more. He could sense their aggregation as they focused all of their anger on him. Suddenly a yo-yo string encircled the arm of one closest to grabbing him. A stringed melody began to play behind them as they averted their gaze to look upon viperion. They seemed almost transfixed by it.

Minotaurax capture them both in a tight hug trapping their arms to their sides. Ladybug whipped her yoyo string around the three as the group swam up a portal appearing just in front of them. They all landed on the rooftop with Ryuko who was nearly finished thawing the chunk of ice.

“NO!” Tempest shrieked. “You’re going to kill them.”

“You did that 25 years ago!’ Cat hisses.

“We saved them.” the mermaids sulked together. They reached their hands up to each other but Ladybug and Cat stepped on their wrists then removed the two rings from their scaly hands. Their bodies began to dry out as their scales were replaced with white gowns. Their hair returned from the bluish hue back to a pale blond. Emelie and Amelie held each other as they sobbed. “You fools. We were only trying to protect our family.”

“What are you talking about?” Cat asked

“They were going to expose us for what we were.” Amalie announced.

“Shut up Amalie.” Emelie hissed. “You insultant beings, you think you get to decide who get to hold powers, look at you all smug.”

“We’re not trying to hurt others, we’re here to save them from people like you.” Ladybug said standing over her.

“Why are they in ICE.” Cat demanded his heart throttling in his chest with anger.

“We only wanted to scare them, but we lost control of the storm and instead of letting them drown, we…” Amalie tried to be forthcoming. Emelie grabbed her face trying to hold her mouth shut. Minotaurax and Pegasus grabbed them, separating them.

“Talk.” Cat said, pointing a finger at Emelie. She tried to bite him and kick him but was too far away.

“If I melt this anymore, we are either going to find two dead girls or…” Ryuko said. “Did this keep them alive?”

“We don’t know, but we didn’t want to risk it.” Amalie sulked to the ground.

“You seduced my husband and carried his children, knowing that I lost mine.” Emelie sulked. “You tried to take my family.”

“I tried to give you back a family.” Amalie responded with tears. “When my husband found out what I had done, he swore he would never touch me again, and so…’ she cried. “I couldn’t give them both to you,”

“Speaking of which, where is…” Cat looked around. To no luck, the Purple Emperor was gone. Pegasus pulled up a portal to the jail as the water was receding. They dropped Amalie and Emilie into separate cells.

“They won’t work for you.” Emelie called after them. “They only work for twins.” the portal closed leaving them screaming.

“Guys you need to see this.” Ryuko called everyone’s attention to the now partially exposed girls. Their hair hung forward as the ice continued to melt away. “I’m losing steam here.”

“Release your transformation.” Ladybug said, calling on her lucky charm. A large spotlight dropped into her arms as she almost fell backward. Cat caught her then they set about setting it up. Kagami gave Long a snack as they took a break. The spotlight cast heat over the twins as the ice continued to melt.

After a few minutes Kagami called on Long again and resumed the fire on the ice. It wasn’t too much longer after that the ice melted enough to expose the girls from the waist up. Pigella and Polymouse caught them holding their icy bodies. They began to cry as the ice melted from their legs and feet, the girls were now free. Laying the twins bodies across their laps, Pigella and Polymouse sobbed. Followed by the rest of the team as Cat stood back. His heart stalled in his chest. Ladybug looked up at him. Her heart felt the pain in his.

LAdybug jumped up from where she kneeled by the twins, rushing to hold Cat before she tripped over the spotlight. She stood up looking from it to the twins.

“Minataurax, give me a hand.” he helped her toss the spotlight into the air as she called out “Miraculous Ladybug.” the air lit up with ladybugs flying through the sky encircling everything that Tempest had damaged, repairing all of the damage they caused. The water now gone, buildings restored, the ladybugs then encircled the twins filling the air around the team with ladybugs as their wings beat softly against their cheeks then were gone as suddenly as they came leaving the group in awe frozen for a moment.

Suddenly the twins began to cough and choke. Cat’s mouth dropped open as the group separated so he could see them sitting up and looking around.

“Who… Who are you people.” Cat dropped on his knees in front of them. Tears began to pour from his eyes as he took them both into his arms holding them tight to his chest.

“I’ll tell you everything but just let me hold you first.” He whispered into their ears.

“We don’t have time, we have…”

“All you have to do is let me take care of you.” Ladybug stepped up behind him as she rang her fingers through his hair. With all the bad that has happened in the past, he needed something positive, he never knew that the Ladybugs could fix a mistake this old, or that his older sisters would be just mere children. They would need him and He would be there for them.

“We should get them into some dry clothes.” Ladybug said, breaking him from his hold on them.

“You’re right. He stood up taking their hands. They tried to stand but their legs were too weak. He reached down, scooping them both up in his arms holding them to his sides as he walked towards the door. Sirens and news media began to fill the streets below the hotel.

“We can’t just walk out of here.” Ladybug said to him. “How will we explain this to them?”

“The truth.” Cat said. He released his transformation as the girls rested their heads on his shoulders. They looked up at him in shock. Though they never knew him, they could recognize his eyes.

“Do we know you?” one asked.

“Not, yet, but you will, and I know you.” Adrien said. “I will explain everything once I get you two home.” After returning all of the miraculous’ to Ladybug, the group followed Adrien to the front entrance. Paramedics took the girls to check them over as Adrien stood in front of the camera’s.

“Why is your mother and her sister in a prison cell?”

“The superhero Pegasus put them where they belong.” Adrien said. “They caused a storm resulting in the disappearance of my elder twin sisters Anastasia and Annalyse. Entombing them in ice for 25 years. Thanks to Ladybug’s team of heroes and her miraculous ladybugs for restoring them to me, and capturing yet another set of villain Paris is safe yet again.”

“Is this the same Tempest that caused dozens of boating accidents 25 years ago, stealing millions of dollars worth of jewels, antiques and other fortunes?”

“I do not know the answer to that, I wasn’t even alive 25 years ago.” Adrien said. Marinette stood with the twins at the paramedics.

“I have one more thing to say then I need to escort my sisters to the hospital.” Adrien said smiling at Marinette. “If anyone knows where my brother Felix Graham De Vanily is, please let me know.” He marched away from the crowd stepping into one of the two ambulances containing one of the girls.

“It was them.” the girl said as the Ambulance began to pull away. “We tried to stop them, to take the rings away. “Aunt Amalie wasn’t happy that Mom wanted to use them as wedding rings, so she would pretend to be Mom and sneak into dad's room and take his ring when he was in bed or in the shower. So Mom and her started attacking boaters and making it look like a storm.”

“Which one are you?” He asked.

“Anastasia, but people call me Stasia and Annalyse is just Anna.”

“I am Adrien, I am your little brother.” he said. She narrowed her eyebrows. “I know, I am older than you, but you have been in that ice for 25 years.”

“You’re 25?”

“24 actually.” Adrien smiled. “Amalie’s attempt to reconcile your loss to Emelie.”

“Do you have a twin too?” She asked, confused. “All Graham De Vanily have a twin.”

“Felix, though I am not sure where he is right now.” he said, “And about what happened today…”

“I know how to keep secrets.” She whispered

Adrien was happy to finally be home. What was meant to be a weekend trip to London, turned into a week in Paris. Luckily the Dupain-Chengs had kept most of Marinette’s high school clothes. Though a locked room in the Agreste Mansion was finally opened to reveal the girl's belongings. They shied away from it in remembrance of their father. They couldn’t believe what he had done until Adrien showed them his lair.

Adrien had Marinette order the girls' furniture to be delivered and set up in their room. She was ecstatic about the prospect of indulging the girls in fashion. Dressing them, up decorating the spare bedroom for them. It warmed Adrien’s heart to see the three of them get along so well. Though he still found it difficult to tell the two apart.

“Welcome home.” He said to them

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