the-collector-series

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reblog if women with swords

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Here! Take a deep dive into Estelle's character that I did for a creative writing assignment!

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHARACTER:  

This character stands at 6’0” tall, making her tower over some of the other characters in my project. I wrote her this way because I really hate that there aren’t tall women in media, especially not tall women of color. Speaking of women of color, Estelle is black, with dreads that she usually keeps pulled back in a ponytail to make them a little easier to manage while travelling---something that she does quite often. She has brown eyes, and she squints a little because she has bad sight, even though she’ll never admit it. Her build is that of a runner, with toned abs and strong legs. This is because she has been travelling her whole life. Estelle is half fae and half human, meaning that she has some strange pale markings around her eyes, similar to that of regular fae. Her nails are usually short and unkept.  

PERSONALITY OF THE CHARACTER:  

Estelle is a very lonely character, considering that she was abandoned by her tribe at the age of ten. She has severe abandonment issues and struggles to make friends because of it. Sometimes she lies awake at night, wondering why her tribe couldn’t accept her as a half-human half-fae being. She has a dark sense of humor that she uses to hide behind and avoid her trauma. She’s a very kind person, but she feels that she isn’t because of the things that she’s had to do to survive. One thing about Estelle is that she’s very scared of being abandoned, as mentioned previously, so sometimes she will leave because she doesn’t want to get hurt again.  

FAMILY HISTORY OF THE CHARACTER:  

Estelle, as previously mentioned, is half fae, and half human. Her mother was a fairy, and her father was human. Their love was very unconventional and despised by both cultures. It bothered the fae so much that they actually had him killed. Little did they know that the love of Estelle’s mother and father produced her. Estelle’s mother lied, saying that Estelle was the daughter of another fae, and they let her stay. However, eventually the truth came out, and Estelle was banished.  

PERSONAL CONFLICTS:  

Estelle has a lot of inner battles about whether or not she is worth it. She doesn’t believe that other people see her value as a person because of her past. Because of this, she has a lot of self-worth related problems. She thrives off of the validation of other people, and then feels ashamed for doing so, creating a lot of inner turmoil.  

CHARACTER SKETCH QUESTIONS  

Why was Estelle given her name in the context of the canon?  

Estelle was named after the star that she was born under. Her mother was always watching the sky, and Estelle means star or light.  

What is Estelle’s nervous tic?  

When she is nervous, Estelle stands on her tip toes before bouncing back on the heels of her feet. She repeats this motion. She also wrings her hands.  

What is Estelle’s least favorite food and why doesn’t she like it?  

Estelle really hates soup. She thinks it’s too thick to be a drink, but too light to be a food, and she hates that. She will eat stews, but not soups. She’s tried, but she cannot tolerate them.  

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guess who made a Pinterest board for the collector ! ! !

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.

wall :D

~ Merissa had to bite her tongue to remind herself that she was talking to a child before she was able to reply. “Chiyoko…Can you possibly explain to me, why you sent your cat to wake me up early, made me walk half a mile through town, crawl through a musty hole in the wall, and break into the palace, the very same palace that the new queen lives in, the new queen who will kill or imprison me for trespassing if we get caught?” ~

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aeriel thoughts? (I love her <3)

I LOVE HER

I feel like overall her character is the clearest in my head.

Like how she behaves, how she reacts to things, it's all mapped out.

Her main motivator is revenge, and then when she realizes that her mother's death wasn't just by chance (Plot a m i r i g h t) she doesn't know what to do with herself and has a hard relapse into her alcoholic tendencies

She's known as Aeriel the Giant Slayer because she went on a rampage at one point where she just. killed giants. like consistently.

She was in the military for about 4 years which is where she got her combat skills.

My girl has an anti-green thumb, and kills every plant basically by looking at it

It takes her awhile to reconcile with her father for two reasons. 1, she thinks that he's mad she left, but she doesn't know how to explain that she doesn't regret what she did, and she thinks that will cause an issue. 2, her massive massive massive ego.

Oh yeah she has a huge ego

in case I didn't mention that

her and zell don't (do?) get along for that reason

he loves pushing her buttons

A song that reminds me of her is That's What You Get by Paramore (the feeling of letting your emotions run hot and take over any situation)

She really likes blacksmithing, but would NEVER admit that to Raymond

cause she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction

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YAY DRAGONS

I'm so excited :)))

This book isn't being written at this moment but it's certainly being thought about

question

are there any dragons aside from the ones that aren't on Mount Nester anymore?

YES

and there's one that's gonna be part of the main gang named Wy (pronounced like the letter y)

see what's going on is everyone thinks that they've gone extinct, but in all reality, they've just gotten better at hiding because they were hunted almost to extinction

there's different types of dragons that are hiding in the northern most parts of the world, the ocean, caves, etc etc

Alsoooo I've been thinking that maybe the dragons on Mount Nester aren't actually extinct, but the dwarves who live there are just telling people that. Meanwhile the dragons are actually living in what is essentially a nature preserve :D

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oh he will >:3

question

are there any dragons aside from the ones that aren't on Mount Nester anymore?

YES

and there's one that's gonna be part of the main gang named Wy (pronounced like the letter y)

see what's going on is everyone thinks that they've gone extinct, but in all reality, they've just gotten better at hiding because they were hunted almost to extinction

there's different types of dragons that are hiding in the northern most parts of the world, the ocean, caves, etc etc

Alsoooo I've been thinking that maybe the dragons on Mount Nester aren't actually extinct, but the dwarves who live there are just telling people that. Meanwhile the dragons are actually living in what is essentially a nature preserve :D

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STOP I'M SCREAMING

THANK YOU <333

I'm coming up with more I prommy

What's the world of the Collector like?

Like, what kinds of people and animals exist there? What kinds of countries and cultures? And what about lore?

OKAY

So there's actually like so much lore surrounding this world

I started to make like a flora/fauna journal but I haven't actually put anything tangible into it yet

So the people and animals and such read like a typical fantasy world, with races like the elves, trolls, dwarves, fae, etc etc. We have griffons, giants, mermaids, sirens, krakens, and so much more

I'm inventing most of the flora for my world, but so far I have a bunch of little fruits and trees and such. Some examples include the Pyrete fruit (pronounced Pie-reh-teh), which is a purple fruit that is kinda like an apple, but with more of an egg shape with a long viney stem. Another example is this pink-tinted tree that almost looks like a weeping willow tree, but the leaves have a feathery texture. I've named it a Roseu Tree. (Roh-sue) Roseus in Latin means pink so I didn't do too much of a deep dive for that one.

I've come up with a couple major cities so far :)

The world itself is called Terra cause I'm basic and don't care :D

Theona (Where the story starts, the location of the major in-story castle. Mostly an agricultural nation.)

Nipala (A small fae nation to the northwest corner of Theona. Tensions between them and the Theonians are always high, but they have a tedious alliance.) 

Kyrota (A neighboring kingdom across the Hydrula sea. Famous for their fishing and mining industries.) 

Plutana (A small rather war-focused nation. All of their citizens go to battle school, no matter their height, age, size, race, anything. If you live there, you’re trained for battle)

Mount Nester: Named after the large amount of griffons and dragons who claimed the mountain as their territory a few centuries ago. Nowadays dragons and griffons are nowhere to be found, as the mountain has been taken over by a small colony of dwarves, who invented sound-based devices that scared them away.

Hydrula Sea: a large sea that separates Theona and Kyrota. It supposedly splits the major continent of Elvala in two, the east side and west side. Contains a large amount of biomass that glows at night. Known for its blue-ish green water color.

Not too much lore I know of right now, but I'm currently doing a deep dive on the lore of alchemy in the world sooo be prepared for a post on that some day!

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question

are there any dragons aside from the ones that aren't on Mount Nester anymore?

YES

and there's one that's gonna be part of the main gang named Wy (pronounced like the letter y)

see what's going on is everyone thinks that they've gone extinct, but in all reality, they've just gotten better at hiding because they were hunted almost to extinction

there's different types of dragons that are hiding in the northern most parts of the world, the ocean, caves, etc etc

Alsoooo I've been thinking that maybe the dragons on Mount Nester aren't actually extinct, but the dwarves who live there are just telling people that. Meanwhile the dragons are actually living in what is essentially a nature preserve :D

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Using this to establish the magic system in my world cause it does exist

Magic in my world exists, and it's natural. People can access it by drawing from their core and the natural elements surrounding them. Various elements correspond to various magic. (i.e. the moon corresponds to healing magic, various minerals mined from the Deep Dark correspond with necromancy and dark magic, etc)

Magic doesn't cost anything, but depending on the spell, or action done, people can become worn out.

On top of that, as time goes on, magic begins to affect the person that is using it. For example, someone who uses healing magic typically begins to glow a little bit, their nails begin to whiten, and their veins typically turn white or gold.

A person can have their magical "core" as it were removed by a team of Master Alchemists, but this is a capital punishment used on witches, wizards, or alchemists who have broken a major law

Magic is common enough that everyone knows it exists, but rare enough that when people see it, they tend to be surprised and stuff

Magic has been in my world since its beginning.

The average person mostly just accepts that magic exists and moves on. Experts tend to spend their entire life studying magic, and therefore can tell you where it comes from, what elements to tune into in order to use various spells, etc. Average people just assume that some people are 'chosen' to do magic, but that's not true. Some people are just more inclined to it than others.

The government doesn't want everyone to be able to do magic, so they spread the misconception that only certain people can do magic.

Magic is typically feared, and the most taboo part of magic, of course, the necromancy, and dark magic aspect of it.

Many people see magic being used for good, building things, healing people, protecting others, so when people see dark magic being used, they tend to freak out. Dark magic isn't discussed in the average magic circles.

There are so many types of magics that not all of them have been discovered. However, mostly, the magics just correspond to the elements.

There is one, 1, magic school in the world, and it's relatively unheard about. However, this school doesn't really show up in my story so...

Everyone can use magic, however, the government doesn't want everyone to use magic because that takes away their power, so they've been spreading the lie that only some people can use magic, and that those people are 'chosen' at birth.

Again, everyone, even the old and disabled, can use magic. Sometimes these disabled people use magic to assist them in their day-to-day life. One may use Wind Magic to carry themselves around, or one may use magic revolving around machines to build themselves tools to assist them.

Education level has nothing to do with magic ability or how much one knows about magic, except in the case that one is training with an alchemist.

It's not easy to gain access to magic in the current timeline, however, in the past, magic was everywhere, and if people can get access to mostly banned texts, they can read about it

Magic is mostly used in the military as a fear tactic. The royals typically have a 'magic army' as it were, and use that to spark fear in the hearts of the people. The royalty and high class members of society can typically gain access to a healer magician, who helps them with sickness and injury.

There aren't really public feuds about magic usage, however the government is always on edge about it because they fear that they're going to get found out, and people are going to begin using magic against them. Therefore, the government keeps banning books on magic, and suppressing magic teachers, and other tactics like that

When people no longer have access to magic, it has been described as "a chunk of themself being ripped out'. It literally feels like a part of their soul is missing. People who have their magic ripped from them typically disappear into thin air. (They usually run to secluded areas such as forests, clifftops, mountains, etc)

and that's the magic system

Worldbuilding and Magic Systems: Things to Consider

Have a magic system in mind for your fantasy world? Here's a list of things to consider to help you tie this system into the rest of your worldbuilding, so that it feels more believable and realistic.

Source

What is the source of magic? Is it natural or man-made? Can humans use magic or is it a force of nature that only animals or other races can use?

Does magic originate from inside a person or does it require external items to use? If it comes from items, can the items be made? How long does it take to make the items?

Does the magic cost anything- money, stamina, health, etc.?

Can a person be cut off from being able to use magic? If so, how?

Prevalence

How common is magic in your world? Is it so common that everyone has seen it or is it a subject of myths and rumors?

How long have the people in your world known about magic? Has it always been there or is it a new discovery?

How much does the average person know about magic? How much do experts know? What do people not understand about this magic? Are there any common misconceptions? Myths?

Is magic revered or feared? Or if it's common, is it taken for granted? Are there any taboos surrounding magic?

How many types of magic are there? Are some more common than others?

Are there dedicated schools of thought surrounding the study of magic? Is it taught about in schools? If so, is it taught to children or only at the college (or equivalent) level?

Accessibility

Who can use magic? Who can't? Is it something that only the rich and powerful can use? Why? Or do genetics determine who can use it? Wealth?

Are there any physical limitations that might restrict who can use magic? For instance, maybe old or sickly people can't use magic because it requires a lot of physical effort. Does your society provide accommodations for people who can't use magic? Is a lack of magic ability considered a disability?

Does education level determine capacity for magic?

How easy is it to gain access to magic? How easy is it to learn about magic?

Power/Usefulness

How powerful or useful is magic for different parts of society? Military? Medicine? Entertainment? Art? Childcare? Government? Communication? Business?

How does magic affect the politics of your world? How does it shape the economy? Are there feuds over the use of magic? Do powerful groups in your world have an incentive to limit the use and accessibility of magic? Why?

What happens when people no longer have access to magic? Does this cripple their ability to go through their daily lives? How?

Mix, match, and cross-reference these with other elements of your worldbuilding to form a believable magic system that lives and breaths just as the rest of your world does. For every answer you give to the questions above, consider and build upon the implications of what that might mean for your world. A worldbuilder's best skill is the ability to ask "How will this affect ___?" So make sure you're always considering the ripple effects of each element you add to your world.

Happy worldbuilding y'all!

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FORGOT TO TAG MY (admittedly small) TAG LIST

(idk if y'all want to be tagged in stuff like this, so if there's only specific things you want to be tagged in let me know)

@nowjumpinthewater @natureforlife

What's the world of the Collector like?

Like, what kinds of people and animals exist there? What kinds of countries and cultures? And what about lore?

OKAY

So there's actually like so much lore surrounding this world

I started to make like a flora/fauna journal but I haven't actually put anything tangible into it yet

So the people and animals and such read like a typical fantasy world, with races like the elves, trolls, dwarves, fae, etc etc. We have griffons, giants, mermaids, sirens, krakens, and so much more

I'm inventing most of the flora for my world, but so far I have a bunch of little fruits and trees and such. Some examples include the Pyrete fruit (pronounced Pie-reh-teh), which is a purple fruit that is kinda like an apple, but with more of an egg shape with a long viney stem. Another example is this pink-tinted tree that almost looks like a weeping willow tree, but the leaves have a feathery texture. I've named it a Roseu Tree. (Roh-sue) Roseus in Latin means pink so I didn't do too much of a deep dive for that one.

I've come up with a couple major cities so far :)

The world itself is called Terra cause I'm basic and don't care :D

Theona (Where the story starts, the location of the major in-story castle. Mostly an agricultural nation.)

Nipala (A small fae nation to the northwest corner of Theona. Tensions between them and the Theonians are always high, but they have a tedious alliance.) 

Kyrota (A neighboring kingdom across the Hydrula sea. Famous for their fishing and mining industries.) 

Plutana (A small rather war-focused nation. All of their citizens go to battle school, no matter their height, age, size, race, anything. If you live there, you’re trained for battle)

Mount Nester: Named after the large amount of griffons and dragons who claimed the mountain as their territory a few centuries ago. Nowadays dragons and griffons are nowhere to be found, as the mountain has been taken over by a small colony of dwarves, who invented sound-based devices that scared them away.

Hydrula Sea: a large sea that separates Theona and Kyrota. It supposedly splits the major continent of Elvala in two, the east side and west side. Contains a large amount of biomass that glows at night. Known for its blue-ish green water color.

Not too much lore I know of right now, but I'm currently doing a deep dive on the lore of alchemy in the world sooo be prepared for a post on that some day!

[the-collector-series]

What's the world of the Collector like?

Like, what kinds of people and animals exist there? What kinds of countries and cultures? And what about lore?

OKAY

So there's actually like so much lore surrounding this world

I started to make like a flora/fauna journal but I haven't actually put anything tangible into it yet

So the people and animals and such read like a typical fantasy world, with races like the elves, trolls, dwarves, fae, etc etc. We have griffons, giants, mermaids, sirens, krakens, and so much more

I'm inventing most of the flora for my world, but so far I have a bunch of little fruits and trees and such. Some examples include the Pyrete fruit (pronounced Pie-reh-teh), which is a purple fruit that is kinda like an apple, but with more of an egg shape with a long viney stem. Another example is this pink-tinted tree that almost looks like a weeping willow tree, but the leaves have a feathery texture. I've named it a Roseu Tree. (Roh-sue) Roseus in Latin means pink so I didn't do too much of a deep dive for that one.

I've come up with a couple major cities so far :)

The world itself is called Terra cause I'm basic and don't care :D

Theona (Where the story starts, the location of the major in-story castle. Mostly an agricultural nation.)

Nipala (A small fae nation to the northwest corner of Theona. Tensions between them and the Theonians are always high, but they have a tedious alliance.) 

Kyrota (A neighboring kingdom across the Hydrula sea. Famous for their fishing and mining industries.) 

Plutana (A small rather war-focused nation. All of their citizens go to battle school, no matter their height, age, size, race, anything. If you live there, you’re trained for battle)

Mount Nester: Named after the large amount of griffons and dragons who claimed the mountain as their territory a few centuries ago. Nowadays dragons and griffons are nowhere to be found, as the mountain has been taken over by a small colony of dwarves, who invented sound-based devices that scared them away.

Hydrula Sea: a large sea that separates Theona and Kyrota. It supposedly splits the major continent of Elvala in two, the east side and west side. Contains a large amount of biomass that glows at night. Known for its blue-ish green water color.

Not too much lore I know of right now, but I'm currently doing a deep dive on the lore of alchemy in the world sooo be prepared for a post on that some day!

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DROPPING THE OFFICIAL ZELL ART

he's just perchance a silly little guy

@nowjumpinthewater (cough cough)

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Character Masterpost!

(essentially posts where I'm talking about the characters :)

Overview of the Characters

The Character Flaws

Merissa:

Zell:

Raymond:

Aeriel:

Aeriel Thoughts #1

Estelle:

Estelle Thoughts #1

Deep Dive into Estelle's Character

Chiyoko:

Hugo:

Sasha:

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THE CHARACTER FLAWS

so I want merissa's character flaw to be her inability to trust others

this leads to a lot of issues with secrets and just general arguments with the other people in the group

my reasoning for this being her flaw is because her mom left and her dad has done nothing but tell her lies for like her whole life

zell's, obviously we know his

I want Raymond's to be his fixation with the past, like obviously his wife, but also his daughter and the life he used to live.

this flaw is so important to me because so many people tend to dwell on the past, and I kind of want to show how that can be dangerous.

I don't know exactly how to execute this one but it's SO important to me

Aeriel's is going to be her anger issues. Like no, anger issues aren't inherently a bad/evil thing, but I want to show how they can cause you to act irrationally and do things that you might regret later (is this foreshadowing >:))

Hugo's is going to be the way that he sees the bad in everything, meanwhile Sasha's is going to be the way that she sees the good in everything

SYMBOLISM

or something idk

Chiyoko's is going to be obviously just her being a kid. Kid's make mistakes, also, I kind of want her to be the kind of person who's in favor of taking things too far, which can be a character flaw

And then Estelle (I lowkey forgot about my girl for a second), it's going to be her inability to commit to things. She's been through so much trauma that it's hard for her to stay in one place with the same people for long, and this is going to come to fruition at some point in the story/series

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I know nothing, and I mean nothing, about your story.

Tell. Me. Everything. (please)

YAYAYAYAYAAY

So my story is a fantasy/adventure/journey type

Lots of found family vibes, a royal plot, and high stakes

The main character is Merissa Shermann, a girl who is just trying to get out of the constant loop of life that she's in.

She succeeds when her best friend, Zell Odison invites her to help him with catching a wanted criminal. The person who wants this criminal caught is essentially a very feared crime lord called The Collector, (which is the name of the story)

The Collector is someone that everyone in the town of Theona is deathly afraid of. No one knows who they are, their gender, their age, their name. It's said that anyone who has seen their face has been found mysteriously (quote unquote) dead soon after.

Merissa and Zell fail the mission due to unforeseen circumstances, and this puts Merissa under the radar of The Collector. (Zell was already kind of doing jobs for the collector on the side)

The Collector calls them to a meeting, and demands that they go and find a special artifact known as Death's Kiss. The artifact is said to kill anyone who touches it, which is why it hasn't been actually located, or officially 'discovered'.

The Collector gives them a map, and tells them to get on with it.

So, Merissa, Zell, and the rest of the characters they pick up along the way, go to find Death's Kiss. Not ominous or anything.

Unfortunately, they find themselves racing against the Queen's army, because she picked up on The Collector's plan, and decided that she couldn't allow that to happen.

So then they're essentially on a race against time, and fighting for their lives against the army :)

there's like so much more but it's kind of hard for me to put it all into words.

you can totally check out my blog @the-collector-series for more like...details and stuff

although rn it's mostly just me yapping with @nowjumpinthewater about it LOL

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Estelle thoughts?

(kind of forgot about her poor girl 😔)

Real I fear ;-;

See I don't know how I brain blipped her because she's genuinely one of my favorite characters in the book and I originally was actually going to have her as the main character but Merissa stole my heart so it ended up being her

I love a character who seems really mischievous and like...badass I guess for a lack of better word and is actually just really distant and suffering with commitment issues, and that's her

She was kicked out of her fae tribe because she's half-human, and in their eyes that's a disgrace, but up until the point they found out, they treated her with love and affection, so to have them just go full 180 on her really screwed her up.

She's really scared that everyone just actually hates her and doesn't want her around, which is why she acts very like nonchalant, and like she doesn't care

but in all reality she cares probably more than everyone else

She has a moment with the gang where it's tense cause they're going through troubles and stuff, and she feels like they're going to start hating her, so she just leaves

BUT TO HER SURPRISE THEY ACTUALLY GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO FIND HER

because they love her

and that's when the healing begins

I think she's the type to put flowers in everyone's hair, and her love language is definitely acts of service. She's always trying to be helpful so she doesn't get abandoned. (don't mind me I'm just crying)

she's a huge animal lover and post series she's the one trying to convince everyone to get a bunch of farm animals (and succeeding RIP)

She's a morning person and the sunrise is her favorite time of day, because it reminds her that every day comes with a new beginning :)

A song that reminds me of her is false self by WILLOW