#varnius

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

52 for Ada if I can? :3 And I have been meaning to ask you about Unquiet Bones stuff, so 54 for the main cast of Unquiet Bones? :'D

Ooooh, these are such good questions, thank you for asking! :D

(also my 'v' key is choosing this moment to fuck up again so if there are any weird typos, including but not limited to 'ergil', that's why lmao)

52. Do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?

Ada does her best to wait and get a grasp on the full facts before acting. Growing up as a human (albeit one trained in combat and magic) around demons has taught her a lot of caution over the years just to stay alive, so she would prefer to analyse a situation and come up with a strategy before diving in.

On a personal side, having seen the clusterfuck of "for the love of sparda why will you two motherfuckers not just TALK to each other with your WORDS" that was Temen-Ni-Gru, Ada tries not to jump to conclusions about possible misunderstandings with her loved ones. She's a pro at taking a deep breath and counting to ten before replying, even when she's seething inside.

On the downside, sometimes this caution comes across as holding her cards too close to her chest. In my AU where Ada raises Nero with Dante post-DMC 3, Nero and Ada have a fair bit of tension and spark off each other as Nero grows up and figures out there's a lot Ada isn't telling him, especially about his father. It's not meant out of malice, Ada is just trying very hard how to figure out how to talk about Vergil and Sparda without creating another Vergil if she fucks up and plants a seed in Nero's head that he's safer embracing his demonic side.

This is all adult Ada, however; as a teenager, with all those teenage hormones running through her, PLUS the stress of her boyfriend possibly kick-starting an apocalyptic demonic invasion and/or being murdered by Mundus? She... definitely said some things she really regrets to Dante just after DMC 3: blamed Dante for Vergil's death (so they thought at the time), for not going with him to stand by him, and to an extent even for Temen-Ni-Gru as a whole, because why wouldn't Dante just be the bigger person and TALK to his brother???

Dante, filled with self-loathing and guilt, and more than half-convinced she was right, just took it at the time. Eventually he explained, and Ada apologised, and he forgave her, but... it was a deep wound, and it never quite goes away entirely.

Hence why now Ada is much, much more careful about what she says and does.

(Putting the rest under a read more because Unquiet Bones deals with a lot of dark topics, including suicide and child/religious abuse)

54. What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

Antanasia/"Tansy" - As a secret necromancer keeping the king alive since they were both young children, Tansy got comfortable with asserting herself early. This was not entirely intentional (the previous king and the High Priestess of Ysa-Munda the goddess of death would have perhaps preferred her more malleable), but when you take a child, tell them they have special powers and the entire fate of the kingdom and possibly the continent rests of their shoulders... Well, in Tansy's case you get someone who learns the meaning of "immovable object" real fast.

King Damian is not exactly happy with the resurrection carousel that is his (un)life, so Tansy often goes toe-to-toe with the king himself to ensure he gets the care he needs (in her opinion... it's highly debatable whether what she's doing is ethical in the slightest). So in most verbal confrontations, Tansy goes cold and stern and tries to assert herself with logic. She does know when to fold 'em, but usually that means just abandoning the head-on approach and finding a more sly solution.

In a physical confrontation, she would probably be more inclined to flee. Tansy is very tall but thin as a reed and has little to no muscle; she'd go down fast and easy in a fight and she knows it.

Lucia - By the time the story opens, a combination of freeze and fawn. Lucia is intentionally coded as autistic in Unquiet Bones, although it's not explicitly called out in the text, and is based off my own experienced as a neurodivergent individual in an academic setting.

Lucia has a defining childhood experience where she was physically and emotionally bullied to the point of exploding (metaphorically and... kind of literally). The backlash she got for reacting as she did, even when it was to protect herself, was so harsh -- from family, friends, and authority figures -- that she became terrified of ever losing control to that extent again. This means that she has trained herself out of a fight reflex, but at the cost of being so afraid of conflict that she either fawns and tries to resolve the situation ASAP, even when she is the wronged party, or just shuts down altogether and waits for the storm to pass.

Damian - Damian vacillates between fight and freeze. As a king, he's simultaneously aware he holds ultimate power and he has a very specific set of behaviours he's supposed to follow for the good of the kingdom. As someone with what is essentially a deteriorating chronic illness, he's also become normalised to docilely allowing people to do things to him that he doesn't want because it's "for his own good".

So his preference is to roar and fight and defend his boundaries as well as he can, but it's also a question of whether he a) has the physical and mental energy to do so, b) is in a situation where he won't damage his own reputation or undermine the strength of his position by setting a boundary, and c) believes that the person/people he's arguing with will even listen to him, or just disregard what he's saying and physically overpower him.

Sometimes it's easier to just let whatever is happening, happen, and pick up the pieces afterwards.

(And that's not even going into the bodily autonomy horror of being a deeply closeted gay man who is married to a woman and expected to get an heir as soon as possible -- in fact, that's the main reason you're being kept alive, so your bloodline doesn't die out with you.)

He also fights (verbally) much more often with people he trusts, at least subconsiously, not to leave him. His wife from a political marriage gets cool, polite interactions. Tansy and Beladon, both of whom he's known intimately since he was a young child, get the brunt of the yelling and harsh words.

Varnius - Varnius was actually the hardest to answer this for! Partly because he's the least developed so far, I think.

Varnius joined the priesthood of Ysa-Munda, Goddess of Death, when he was thirteen. At the time, the Mother Superior of the priesthood took the word of Mother Death very literally, especially concerning that Her devoted worshippers were considered dead to the world when they took their vows. Varnius experienced very harsh conditions in the priesthood during his initiation and throughout his teenage years, leaving him with a profound lack of self-worth, and a conviction that his only reason for existing was to help others.

This means he avoided conflict as much as possible during his younger years. Questions were punished. Failure was punished. Crying because you were tired and cold and hungry and wanted to rest was punished. So he learned not to complain. He learned not to question the will of Ysa-Munda. He learned that he was as good as dead, a vessel who existed only to tend to the dead.

Then one day he met a priest of Xenith, the God of Life. Emil was warm; he was kind; he was patient; and, little by little, he put the shattered pieces of Varnius's psyche back together until he felt like a person again.

The upshot of this was that Varnius started questioning the priesthood again. Started considering if he could maybe one day find a way to leave. Then Emil died, and the resulting mental breakdown of grief that was then swiftly suppressed to fester turned Varnius into a man who looks far, far more mentally stable than he actually is.

Nowadays he still hates conflict and avoids it as much as possible, but he will stand his ground when it's for the benefit of others, especially those under his care at the convalescent home he founded, and where he defends his patients' rights to decide when, how, and if they end their lives.

Beladon - Beladon has been raised to be a chevalier parfait, the epitome of a chivalrous knight. He serves King Damian as a counsellor and close friend, pays the expected level of chivalric adoration to Queen Saveria, excels at the joust, writes heartfelt poetry... etc., etc.

Beladon keeps himself on a very short leash. Self-control is his primary virtue. He identifies the correct way to act in every situation and does not allow himself to deviate from that. His inclination is to fight, and he will throw down with anyone who insults his king and queen, but even that is done very correctly: a verbal warning, a threat of repercussions, and finally a formal challenge to a duel (to someone of his own class), or removing them from his presence (to someone of a lower class who does not merit a duel).

Interpersonally, however, Beladon fawns and fawns hard. He has been Damian's best friend and confidant since they were ten years old, and knows more about Damian than anyone else. He has been in love with Damian for a not inconsiderable number of the years they've known each other, and he cannot bear for Damian to think badly of him. So if he ever senses he's annoyed Damian, he immediately backtracks on whatever he has done or said, trying to please him.

Unfortunately for Beladon, Damian finds this habit infuriating, and would respect Beladon far more if he stuck to his guns and was prepared to have an honest argument from time to time.

[throughtrialbyfire]

𝐖𝐈𝐏 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 ♥

hello, i hope everyones having a good wednesday!! my brain, for some unknown reason, believes it to be late fall right now. maybe i'm just craving that chill in the air AHAH

thank you to the fantastic @skyrim-forever and @umbracirrus for tagging me this week!! <33333

tagging the amazing @thequeenofthewinter @oblivions-dawn @orfeoarte @changelingsandothernonsense

@viss-and-pinegar @saltymaplesyrup @archangelsunited @dirty-bosmer @totally-not-deacon !! as always, there's no pressure, but i'd love to see what you're working on. <3333

this is a section from the very rough draft of chapter 39 of Cycle of the Serpent. the trio are becoming intrigued about varnius junius' plea, and have decided to do something about it.

Falk Firebeard, the steward to Jarl Elisif, had been here a great many years. He said so as he talked to the trio, his voice inviting, with the faintest hint of surprise that they were back. At first he must have assumed they were here to petition for the Burning of King Olaf, a sigh heaving down his lungs and his hands rubbing at his face. When Emeros explained the real reason they were here today, he visibly appeared to relax, and made a comment about the man that the Bosmer had mentioned being jumpy at the best of times. "I'll be honest with you, I was planning to let that go," he admitted in a half-hush, apparently unneeded, as the court made it clear the prior day that they did share his opinion. "If it were anything, I'm certain that Sybille's scrying would have picked up on it." The court wizard, seated near the Jarl, gave Wyndrelis a curious look, her eyes practically luminous under her dark hood. He swallowed an uncomfortable lump in his throat. He didn't enjoy the way she scrutinized him, or his friends. Her eyes, a particular shade of citrine which looked to be peering right into him and down to the veins beneath his skin, set the mild panic to rise, sensation a slow crawl up his back of something very off about the woman. "Yes, but what if there's something the scrying hasn't picked up on? I'm no stranger to magic," Wyndrelis managed out, "if there is something going on, wouldn't it be better to investigate?"

The man rubbed his face, hands fidgeting with one another idly. His glances to Elisif, her housecarl, and other figures in the court landed him with approving nods, and Falk again spoke up. "There have been reports of... weird happenings near Wolfskull Cave. Travelers disappearing, odd lights. I suspect wild animals or perhaps bandits." "Travelers disappearing?" Emeros repeated, his eyes wide as the words left him half-breathless. "And you didn't think that this was worth an investigation?" "Again, I thought it might be wild animals and bandits," Falk justified, enunciating the statement. "We all did. They've taken advantage with the war going on, all this uncertainty, no one is truly safe. But I digress, if you really think it's worth looking into, then I will make sure that you three are repaid for your work." A housecarl nearest Falk scoffed into a drink, prompting the court wizard to scowl. "Is there something funny, Erikur?" "No, no, not at all." The man rolled his eyes as he sipped from his goblet, a sort of wine from the smell of it. "I just find it a bit interesting that we're sending three strangers to investigate Haafingar's matters. This should be the work of someone from our own Hold, not these elves who had to get a military pardon when they first arrived here." Phoebe, over at her desk, winced. She looked to Erikur, a sharp, probably dangerous gaze on anyone else that merely served to make her appear like a mouse scolding a wolf. "Besides, our coffers are emptier by the day. What can we even reward three would-be bandit-slayers when they inevitably return without having spilt so much as skeever blood?"

"Erikur," the hulking figure on the other side of the throne snapped, "that's enough." Erikur shrugged, and took another long drink from his goblet. Elisif looked over the trio, her face worn into a dreary resignation. "Then what do you propose? We've already sent a detachment to Dragon Bridge, and Sybille's scrying has shown nothing, yet, I must admit that the idea of leaving this uninvestigated makes me uneasy." Erikur's focus darted around the room. "We should send a handful of our own soldiers. Perhaps discuss it with General Tullius? See if he will offer some help." The room descended into murmurs of agreement, the idea clearly tantalizing to the court. Wyndrelis frowned. He looked to Emeros and Athenath, both equally unsatisfied with this resolution. "I will send word to Captain Aldis, and ask if he's any new recruits he might test by sending them that way. Phoebe, draft a letter to the Captain, and deliver it as soon as possible," Elisif commanded, tension leaving her as she watched the pale-haired girl scratch something down into a new roll of paper. Athenath spluttered, "but what if it's something- I don't know, important?" "Then our soldiers will have it taken care of, instead of recent strangers dirtying their hands." Erikurs cavalier reply left the Altmer again struggling for words, Emeros placing a gentle palm on his shoulder. Wyndrelis shrunk back, his steps taking him to the stairs. A few mutters from the Bosmer, and Athenath was moving to the stairwell, face scrunched in a look of intense frustration with the dismissal. As the trio left the Blue Palace, the sneer never quite fell from Athenath's face, and Wyndrelis swallowed down the urge to ask of it, or to pry into why Erikurs words prodded so harshly into them as to leave their features twisted, until the Altmer ran a hand down their face and features relaxed, like he'd wiped it all away and resigned to the outcome. This wasn't ideal, but when was anything the trio had been through in the past few weeks?

[the-drunken-huntsman]

When you first walk into the Blue Palace, Varnius Janius is being seen by the court of Solitude for his suspicions of dark magic happening in Wolfskull Cave. Jarl Elisif listens intently to his fears and assures him she'll do everything in her power to keep the people of Hafingaar safe. Sybille Stentor then interjects "Your eminence, my scrying has suggested nothing in the area."

Did she say this because:

A) she's a shit diviner who genuinely couldn't sense the powerful necromancy going on in there

B) she was intentionally bluffing because she was in kahoots with the necromancers for some reason

C) she could see the necromancers but chose to keep quite because if Elisif took a hard stance on necromancy, Sybille herself may be the next one to go as a vampire

D) she just genuinely didn't care about Varnius or his problems and just wanted to get that peasant out of the palace as quickly as possible

E) something else (tell me in the notes)

There is no correct answer, this character just leaves a lot of unanswered questions that drive me a little crazy and I want to know other people's thoughts.

Pls reblog if you vote, I want to know people's thoughts 🙏

[anotherclassicpretence]

WIP Excerpt

In which Mariana decides to enter Bruma the strategic way

Bruma, like most of Cyrodiil's cities, did not really allow horses to be brought inside its gates. The former Countess had entirely expected Mariana to ignore this and show off by riding her glittering retinue right up till the castle gates, as a show of power.

But Mariana had a different subversion in mind- one that was not quite so blatant. Instead of arriving by the North gate, which was much closer to the castle, she guided everyone to the East gate, and duly handed over Obsidian’s reins to the stablehand.

“Mind you take off her armour at night!” she instructed.

The guards at the gate were a little flustered at their unexpected arrival, but the bustle around dismounting and discussing gave enough time for them to throw together an escort.

Mariana naturally took the lead, and though Bruma's citizens were little disposed to admire royalty, many of them turned out to see the small retinue walk towards the castle.

An Empress taking the quickest and easiest route through the city only to disappear into the castle would not have earned any sympathy; one who marched her horse inside to lord her power over them would have earned only disgust. But one who seemingly inconvenienced herself and took the time to gravely nod at the citizens, looking dignified but not ostentatious, was an agreeable sight to behold.

Agreeable, and dangerous. Varnius saw beyond the majority smiling in the streets and looking out of their windows, saw the few faces which grew bitter and restless as Mariana passed them. He did not agree with making statements of courage when there was a real threat involved.

[the-dragonthief-passages]

22nd of Last Seed, 4E 201

I really need to write down what happened yesterday. When I was walking towards the gates of Solitude, the guard warned me that if I wasn't here to join the Legion, "keep your nose clean, or you'll end up like Roggvir." I didn't know what he meant until I got inside. They were holding an execution for Roggvir. I don't know why, but seeing that, and the way they chopped his head off, scared the daylights out of me.

I don't know what was going on, but for some reason, I thought that I was back at Helgen. I kept seeing flashes of that day. The fire, the headsman executing one of the Stormcloaks, the dragon. I was reliving all of it. As soon as I snapped out of it, I was in an alley crying like a baby. I had to wait until I calmed down before I could get a room at the Winking Skeever. I didn't even eat dinner.

I don't know what happened to me, but I don't want to know. I'm just going to continue on like normal. Find myself something to do.

The first thing I heard when I woke up was that bard singing "The Dragonborn Comes." Great start, world. I looted a bunch of stuff that I could find. I have a feeling Solitude is perfect for all my little looting desires.

After that, I left out into the rain and headed into Angeline's Aromatics. They don't actually sell perfume, but they do sell potions. I got a potion to cure whatever I had caught from that Skeever, and sold some ingredients and potions I didn't need to her. She asked me if I had been to Whiterun, and I told her yes. She asked me to ask Captain Aldis about her daughter Fura, who had been assigned to Whiterun after joining the Legion. I figured I might as well. After that, I started selling wherever I could. I had quite a bit this time.

I headed up to Captain Aldis to ask about Angelina's daughter. He asked me to find a book called The Mirror first, then I asked him. It took some convincing, but I did eventually get it out of him: she's dead. Died in a scouting voyage. Damn. It wasn't easy telling Angelina. The tears in her eyes were painful to see. I decided to keep looking around to help me take my mind off of it.

I still had a staff of flames to sell, so I decided I would go to the Blue Palace to sell this to the court mage. When I got there, the Jarl was in the middle of a hearing with a Dragon Bridge resident named Varnius. Something weird has been going on at Wolfskull Cave, and I volunteered to check it out. I did end up selling the staff, as well as looting the palace. Jackpot!

After that, I decided now was a good time to try joining the Legion. It wasn't something I would normally do, but I needed something new to do with myself. This is as good as anything.

General Tullius recognized me. He sounded glad at the thought of me joining the Legion. Legate Rikke, who likely handles all recruitment, sent me on a test to clear out Fort Hraggstad to see if I'm worthy. I'll head out in the morning, clear out both in one fell swoop. For now, I need some rest.

[justaboutjustine]

Varnius Junius: There’s some bad juju at Wolfskull cave

Jarl Elisif the Fair: That will not do. Send every available guard to deal with the problem.

Falk Firebrand: Are you sure that’s wise?

Jarl Elisif the Fair: Oh, maybe you’re right. Let’s just send the next adventurer who visits.

[uesp]

Varnius: "I swear to you, unnatural magics are coming from that cave! There are strange noises and lights! We need someone to investigate!" Elisif: "Then we will immediately send out a legion to scour the cave and secure the town. Haafingar's people will always be safe under my rule." Varnius: "Th...thank you, my Jarl thank you." Sybille: "Your eminence, my scrying has suggested nothing in the area. Dragon Bridge is under imperial control. This is likely superstitious nonsense." Falk: "Perhaps a more... tempered reaction... might be called for?" Elisif: "Oh. Yes, of course you are right. Falk, tell Captain Aldis I said to assign a few extra soldiers to Dragon Bridge." Varnius: "Thank you, Jarl Elisif. But about the cave..." Falk: "I will have someone take care of the cave as well Varnius, you can rest easy. You're dismissed."

[airmanisr]

Inhabitants of Okunoshima by Varnius Via Flickr: Not a lot to do here - you can watch either a lot of small bunnies or you can watch two boars roaming around.

[annalsofadventure]

Alessia - Day Four

---Last Seed, 20th, 4E 201---

I hurried back as fast as I could to Solitude and into the College. 

But when I showed to Viarmo, he was dismayed. Too much of the verse has been damaged and now it is hard to piece the entire verse together. (not to mention that it doesn't sound particularly impressive).

Instead I convinced him to come up with some of the verse and fill in the gaps. Helping him, we managed to create an entire readable verse to present to the court! Viarmo then invited me to go to the Blue Palace for the performance! I'm so nervous and I'm not even performing! I wonder if I will get to see Elisef the Fair and her court I hope she will like the verse!

My heart was pounding when we approached the Blue Palace. I was trembling like a leaf and Viarmo had to convince me that everything was going to be fine. And it was... a huge success! Elisef loved the verse and she even wanted to give further patronage for the College! Even better, she has agreed to continue the Burning of King Olaf. Viarmo was very pleased and promised to induct me as a Bard during the Burning ceremony. I feel so giddy I'm surprised I have not fainted!

I spoke to Jorn and he proceeded to finish making the effigy of King Olaf. He thanked me for helping convince Elisef to continue the festival. It is to start at dusk. I can hardly wait!

As I was leaving the Blue Palace, a man named Varnius had come from Dragon Bridge warning Elisef about strange lights appearing in a nearby cave. He seemed nervous so Elisef decided to send extra soldiers for help. But what about the cave?

I spoke to Falk Firebeard and he allowed me to clear out Wolfskull Cave. He doesn't think there is anything wrong, but he warned me that it was once used by Potema the Wolf Queen in necromantic rituals... I have only read of her name in history books, but her name sends shivers down my spine.

Finally! The Festival has ended and I am now an official bard! Everyone cheered for me as I was introduced by Viarmo. Almost everyone in town attended the festival. Children ran around and sang while adults smiled along to the bard music in the air. It was a magical night. When Viarmo lit the effigy on fire, it was like a great blazing symbol of my success. I played one of my favorite tunes on my lute, an old song my mother taught me that she picked up from Morrowind. Everyone applauded. Never before had I felt so giddy and so proud. Finally, my dream has come true.

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

!!!!

OKAY FINALLY ANSWERING THIS lmao sorry it took me so long, I've been waiting until I had enough energy/wherewithal to do this justice

You gave me a grand tota of 4 !!!!s so I'm going to go ahead and introduce 2 OCs, both from Unquiet Bones

Quick summary for anyone else reading: Unquiet Bones is my original fiction project, a fantasy world roughly parallel to Renaissance Europe except that it is a) a pantheistic society, and b) magic exists, in the form of "academic" magic (i.e. mages) and "religious" magic (i.e. clerics).

There are a total of 14 official gods and goddesses, divided into 7 "Day Gods" (concerned with the material world; i.e. life, crops, harvest, crafts, family, mercantilism) and 7 "Night Gods" (concerned with the intangible world; art, love, poetry, mysticism, and death).

I'm going to be introducing Varnius (the closest thing the story currently has to an antagonist, albeit more in terms of "has goals opposing the protagonist" than "villain bad man"), and Antanasia (our protagonist, a priestess and necromancer who works in the equivalent of her society's forensic crime unit).

TW: UNQUIET BONES DEALS WITH SUICIDE AS A KEY THEME. IF THIS CONCEPT IS UPSETTING TO YOU, PLEASE DO NOT READ.

VARNIUS

Varnius is the less developed of the two -- his original role was as a Jim Jones archetyppe cult leader, but on further thought I've softened his character considerably as making him an out-and-out villain contradicted one of the key messages of UB as a whole. SO please bear with a degree of thinking-out-loud as I type.

Varnius was once a priest of Ysa-Munda, the goddess of death, although his current status is debatable. Officially, he's been stripped of his priesthood -- unofficially, he still considers himself an acolyte of Ysa-Munda and is addressed as Father Varnius by his adherents.

For the first thirty years or so of his life, Varnius was not a particularly exceptional person. He was raised by loving parents in a comfortable but not overly affluent home and was a quiet, thoughtful, bookish boy who was noted for having a great deal of empathy; he was teased as a child for his big heart, the sort of child to cry when his peers tormented the local wildlife and the first to stand up for the underdog.

It was no surprise to anyone when Varnius declared his intention to become a priest, although many expected him to dedicate himself to one of the Day Gods. Instead, his choice landed on Ysa-Munda. He completed his training and rose steadily through the ranks of the priesthood, specialising in the counselling service the priesthood offered.

See, Ysa-Munda is the goddess of death, but her priests and priestesses preach that this means only Ysa-Munda herself can choose when to call a soul back to herself. So murder and suicide are both seen as the most grievous sins one can commit against the goddess -- an attempt to usurp her domain. Therefore, a sect of Ysa-Munda priests created and maintains what is essentially a suicide watch service, to talk down people in despair.

Varnius, empathetic as he is, found his niche there and quickly grew adept at creating fast, strong bonds with the people he spoke to. He was good at his job... if you defined his job as "stop people taking their lives right in front of you".

Except Varnius noticed that while some of his patients did indeed recover after moments of crisis and go on to live happy, fulfilling lives, others were struggling with far more persistent issues and came back again... and again... and again... always only ever just keeping their heads above water. Chronic mental and physical illness, disability, poverty, abusive living situations... none of which Varnius had any real power to change, and which consoling words wore thin over extremely quickly.

At first, Varnius tried to channel his growing frustration into productive action. He lobbied the royal council for funds to create community support projects. When that failed, he tried to fundraise among the wealthier populace. When that failed, he tried to stretch the tithe funds to cover soup kitchens, safe houses, and doctors for the poorest citizens. But systemic problems in society were far bigger than one man and so Varnius began to grow bitter and disillusioned.

Eventually, he reached a breaking point and had a crisis of faith. If Ysa-Munda held power over death -- and if she was not an evil deity -- why would she withold that comfort from those who had no joy left in their lives? The contradiction drove him to despair and Varnius spent weeks, months, coming through every sacred book of Ysa-Munda to find an answer.

At length, the one he found -- whether in the writings or within his own mind is unclear -- was very simple: Ysa-Munda did not abhor a suicide at all. Suicide was merely the call of the void. Just because Ysa-Munda did not reach out and stop the heart in a person's chest herself, did not mean she was not bringing a life to an end. Therefore, since it was accepting that keeping a person alive only to suffer was a sin, it was morally correct to allow someone in true despair to end their life.

This view went completely against the accepted doctrine of Ysa-Munda and when Varnius preached a sermon on his new vision, he was quickly stopped, stripped of his priesthood, and dismissed from the temple.

Now aimless, ripped from the only structure he had known for the entirety of his adult life, Varnius had nothing left to cling to except his belief in his new doctine. Consequently, he pulled together what money he could and acquired a run-down manor house in the countryside surrounding the capital city. There he created a retreat for those who wished to end their lives, where they could escape judgement, meditate on their decision and ultimately pursue death if they believed it was the right thing to do.

Presently, Varnius is viewed with intense suspicion as a vicious cult leader at best, a serial killer at worst, but because he does not kill anyone personally he is not currently falling foul of any law... but that doesn't mean anyone likes what he is doing. Except for his patients/"family", that is.

But not everyone who visits Varnius's retreat chooses death. He does genuinely still want to help anyone he can and the manor estate is populated by a small but growing permanent community made up of individuals who for whatever reason feel they are incompatible with the wider world but still maintain a desire to live. Likewise, it is not unknown for certain residents to spend time at Varnius's retreat on numerous occasions as they try to adjust back to "normal" life.

The tragedy of Varnius's good intentions is that, slowly but surely, his personal barometer for "yeah, it makes sense you'd tap out here" gets progressively lower and lower as he himself falls deeper into despair that life (in general for everyone and personally for himself) will ever improve. So over times he goes from trying to save everyone who comes to him but ultimately allowing them the autonomy to make their own decision over whether they live or die, to eventually just agreeing that death is easier, better, preferable; even, in some cases, acting as a voice of pessimism to someone who is trying to find a reason to continue living.

ANTANASIA:

Twenty years ago, a rumour whipped around the kingdom that a necromancer was wreaking havoc in the isolated farming village of Spurrow, far to the north. The king duly despatched an accomplished magus and a high-ranking priestess of Ysa-Munda to investigate.

They found an eight-year-old girl whose mother had succumbed to the plague and, with her twin sister, had tried to right what they perceived as Ysa-Munda's wrong. The attempt cost the sister her life and brought back the mother only as a shambling shadow of a person, whom her husband promptly drowned in the duck pond to rid the world of such horror.

Annie Fownten was brought back to the capital for interrogation. Where and how has she learned to wield such magic? What had possessed her to pervert the laws of nature so egregiously? But what the king -- who had just one young, sickly heir to his name -- really wanted to know was... could she do it again? Could she do it more successfully?

As it turned out, she could, and Prince Damian grew up healthy if rather cold (physically, that is; the boy had hands like a corpse), proving an adept enough ruler when he unexpectedly inherited the throne at a very young age.

Antanasia, meanwhile, was adopted by the priestess and the magus (who, during this series of events, had fallen into a deep and sapphic love, as you do), and grew up with her future already written: a priestess of Ysa-Munda. How could she be anything else? Clearly she was especially favoured by the goddess. Otherwise she would be an abomination that should be killed before she brought divine wrath down upon the world.

As an adult, Antanasia's life is surprisingly dull. Her main occupation is witness interrogation, specialising in murder victims. Nothing like asking the victims themselves who brought about their grisly end. Sure, sometimes they lie, or are mistaken, or simply spout unintelligeble gibberish due to the trauma of being dragged back from whatever awaits souls after death... but hey, the unsolved crime rate in the capital has never been lower!

Antanasia, meanwhile, is afflicted with PTSD from the crime scenes she has witnessed and the accounts she has heard from the deceased. For some years now she has struggled with a deep and enduring depression; her only ray of sunlight is her best friend, the walking talking skeleton spectacular: Bartholomew Valance, who provides a much-needed stream of wise-cracks and sarcasm to get them both through the days.

Antanasia's story kicks off when a mass suicide in the poorest area of the city ends up destroying half of the Shambles. The blame falls on the cult leader Varnius, despite his protests he had no direct involvement and that this tragedy only proves his point: that living conditions in the capital are becoming unsustainable for an ever increasing number of people, and the royal council needs to intervene before there is more loss of life.

Antanasia's old friend King Damian tasks her with infiltrating and investigating Varnius's cult -- is he really the benevolent shepherd he pretends to be, or is there something much darker going on behind closed doors? Matters quickly grow complicated when Antanasia finds herself resonating with Varnius's doctrine on the one hand, but on the other growing ever more desperate to save a young woman who is tormented by her inner demons and who it seems will inevitably succumb to Varnius's "solution".

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

why am I cursed get my best writing ideas when I'm busy as fuck at work

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

2, 3, and 23 for Tansy!

Hehehe thank you for giving me a chance to talk about my most troubled daughter. TW for discussions of cannibalism, suicide, and religious trauma.

2. What’s something about your OC that people wouldn’t expect just from looking at them?

Well, for Tansy, the immediate and obvious answer is “she’s a necromancer” haha.

I’m still hammering out the exact lore on necromancy for Unquiet Bones, but so far: it’s a power bestowed on Tansy (so those in the know believe) by Ysa-Munda, the Goddess of Death. Mother Josefina, the head priestess of Ysa-Munda, initially thought it more likely it was a gift from Xenith, the God of Life, on the basis that Ysa-Munda would be shooting Herself in the foot a bit giving someone the power to bring people back from the dead. But… she got shouted down. Because, hey, what would she know?

Some followers of Ysa-Munda have a very mild form of Tansy’s powers: they can search the afterlife for souls and occasionally perform seances to bring the soul briefly back to speak with loved ones. Even this, however, is seen as stepping of Ysa-Munda’s toes and only done in special circumstances -- e.g., if someone died in a sudden accident, then with a sufficient ‘donation’ to the temple, it might be allowed for the deceased’s family to contact their soul to say goodbye. This may or may not also be used to figure out inheritances.

(Sidebar: Ysa-Munda is also an unofficial patron goddess of lawyers/accountants, because nothing in life is certain except death and taxes.)

Tansy, however, can go much further than this: she can bring souls all the way back from the dead and place them back in their bodies. This is how she resurrected King Damian when he was dying as a child (and has done so multiple times since).

The downside to this is that Tansy is explicitly a necromancer, not a healer. The soul gets put back in the body in… exactly the state the body is in. So if, say, she resurrected someone who died of a virulent flesh-eating plague -- well, that would probably be quite traumatising for the soul in question.

The other downside is that Tansy requires a physical connection to the person she is resurrecting. For anyone not related to her by blood, this is satisfied by drinking their blood or, for a full resurrection, eating their flesh.

(Damian, oddly, is exempt from this; his father, King Theodoric, claimed it must be due to Damian’s royal blood: he is, via the divine right of kings, connected to all of his subjects. Nobody in the intervening years has seen a good reason to disclaim this, or an alternate explanation.)

Very few people, even within the cult of Ysa-Munda, are aware of the extent of Tansy’s powers, as Mother Josefina feared that widespread knowledge of a true necromancer would cause either a) mass hysteria and danger of violence towards Tansy, and/or b) that Tansy would be petitioned to resurrect multitudes of people. Mother Josefina , especially given her doubt even now that Tansy’s gift truly does come from Ysa-Munda, fears that Tansy using her powers any more than absolutely necessary would bring Mother Death’s rage down upon them all.

3. What is your OC’s fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

This is SUCH a good question because I was honestly stumped for a little while!

After mulling it over, I think Tansy’s fatal flaw is ultimately her inability to see situations from the perspective of other people.

For example, when Damian tells her again and again that he doesn’t want her to continue resurrecting him, Tansy assumes he’s just attempting to shirk his responsibilities as king and not realising how grateful he should be for a miracle (possibly because she heard this expressed as a child by other people).

Or when she asks Lucia to leave Varnius’s commune and come back to Haelgavaard, not understanding why Lucia would turn down someone who cares for her and is willing to provide for her material needs and why that wouldn’t be enough to erase her mental health issues.

Tansy isn’t malicious (although she definitely does some awful things), but she is someone who has rigid beliefs that are extremely difficult to change. She considers herself to be logical and is inclined to think people who disagree with her without (in Tansy’s opinion) a good reason are being controlled by their emotions. The solution, then, is to talk the person down until they realise how irrational they are and come around to Tansy’s way of thinking.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

I think both of these ultimately come back to fear.

Tansy was deeply terrified and traumatised as a child when her first attempt to resurrect her foster mother who died of the plague turned out horribly. Her foster mother suffered immensely until she was killed again to put her out of her misery, the rest of her foster family turned against her and denounced her as a monster, and she was then ripped away from the only family she had ever known and taken to do that exact awful thing again to a boy her own age.

She was then told that the fate of the entire kingdom rested on her doing that awful thing again, and again, and again, as often as needed. Even as the boy she grew to care about grew, in his turn, to hate her for being his tormentor. Even when she fled the kingdom, she was eventually dragged back and the metaphorical shackles put on again. There is no escape from her life except escaping her life, and the thing she is most afraid of in the world is facing Ysa-Munda when she dies.

Tansy has been afraid of so much, for so long, that she’s grown almost numb to it: the fear has been so consistent that it’s become her baseline and she can no longer really tell when she’s feeling it. Tangled up in this is the thread she clings to that as long as she does what she’s told and fulfils her given role then everything will be okay and she’ll be okay and so she just has to keep treading the same path and -- yeah. She’s a mess.