Please Could You Recreate The Cake Poll(the One With Vanilla Extract Iykwim) And Tell People To Vote

She lived in a superpowered world. Heroes and villains existed, and she became a vigilante due to not aspiring to be a hero from her early years and rules prohibited her from becoming a traditional hero because of that. She portrayed her power as the ability to predict the future, and the other vigilantes spread the rumor of her power being foresight. Thus, she got used by other vigilantes testing her power and using her to take down more villains.

As for her looks, she has jet black hair and pale skin, and her eyes were blue before her power developed but turned gold after. Her hair is wavy, but curls at the end! Like her hair is *trying* to be curly, but a majority just says no. It's loose curls. I also imagine her to have very faint freckles, but they don't show up easily despite how much she's in the sun. Like she can't tan to save her life. Below is a drawing I've done of her! The pose was stolen, I admit that, but her design has been with me for years. Well, not her eye color. I have no drawings of her eyes. Don't want to pass away from her staring me to death.

My main oc has me bsing my way through blacksmithing...

Anyway, she is a lovely, tall young woman who finds a passion in being aggressively protective of things, like her family or a village/community. Her narration reveals that she sees herself as disposable, which is also why I make a certain narration choice with her that becomes quite apparent initially. As her view of herself shifts from negative to positive, she starts seeing herself as a main character, which shows in the narration style.

She has a power she despises despite using it when she needs to--on animals, not people. She got traumatized the one time that happened. She covers her eyes due to her power, although she can still see. It's just that a thin cloth prevents her power from harming others. Anyway, her senses are extremely enhanced because of her power, leading to her narration mentioning her hearing sounds and such more often than not.

She got used by her birth world, which led to her fleeing and living in the woods for a year (which, in her world, is equivalent to two of our years). After which, she is brought to her chosen world. She's my little baby.

If a side character interests me more than the main character they might become the main character in their own little story-

I do.

Hey fellow writers! Do you also try to focus on the main characters and their stories, but constantly get distracted by side characters and their hypothetical dynamics that are only explored far, FAR later on?😅

reblog this if your icon could kill a man

Happy STS! What's the best gift your OC has ever recieved?

I forgot to say happy birthday to you- Apologies-

Anyway, gift giving is rare in the setting of Stars of the Sky, especially where Hades grew up since the lifespan of humans there is so much longer and the Kingdom/general area has a tradition of giving gifts to the living when someone dies. So Hades has received gifts on two occasions, both of which were occasions where her parents died. One of the gifts she got when her mother died from family (aside from having to move in with her aunt and uncle) was a very very shiny dagger with phrases related to Hades (Hades' personal God) and Zeus (Her mother's Personal God) on the blade. She carries it everywhere with her, even if you can't see it. She doesn't even use it. She also doesn't exactly follow the gift giving tradition that much. She likes giving gifts.

Eros (Who, believe it or not, is not a second main character, I just like talking about him as though he is) receives gifts more often than Hades due to being a bit of a player. But his favorite gifts are a collection of gems Hades gives him. Not because people around them died, she just felt like it.

Ares' favorite gift was just the knowledge that somewhere out there, there is a woman with silver hair, black eyes, and a penchant for getting in his way. I don't exactly know why, but he likes the challenge.

Zeus (the Named, not the God) was once gifted lucky bamboo. He lives it and still has it and if you touch his bamboo in any wrong way, you are likely to lose the hand.

Please Reblog is Your Blog is Safe for Non-Binary People.

If my mutuals can’t rb this then we can’t be mutuals

Oh, that is nothing compared to what happens to humans if a dark god takes control of them. They become monsters that look vaguely humanoid, but are definitely not human. They also become bloodthirsty freaks in this state.

And this happens primarily when a human uses a weapon/item with the dark God's name etched in it.

These creatures are different from the followers of dark gods, but I am not going to get into that.

Magic system

How many WIPs

And

Challenges you have faced with your WIPs

Thank you for the ask <333

There's an essay incoming, beware

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How Many WIPs?

I have no less than four novel-intended wips (Flamebearer, A Healing for the Birds, Soulswapped and the Lady's Lament), plus a few shorter works (The Disappearance of Charimone Eschredaine, [Succession of the Underground*] and [The Assassin's Promise*]) and a developing anthology of certain characters' backstories (This Blood-Stained Charcuterie)

*Placeholders; I've no clue what to call them yet

Challenges Faced With WIPs

A Healing for the Birds:

The main challenge with this is dealing with all the plot threads. One thing that has remained consistent even after all the changes since the first ever iteration of this wip (it used to be called Seafarer, then Obsidian Sapphires, and now this), is there being loads of plot threads. The difference is now those plot threads are more centred around the Allaitri Chalice and the political chaos of it being unearthed.

Up until recently, I wasn't sure what the core of the story was, but now I know. It centres around familiar ties and the things that people do in the name of love. (Sounds a bit corny out of context, though lol)

Flamebearer

I put this one on hold because I know it's going to be complex due to the heavy political themes in this. Unlike A Healing for the Birds, where the political situation is a little bit lighter and more petty, in a sense, the political scene is very charged here. There's a lot of resentment pointed towards the royal family due to things like Serrantine trying to rejoin Selade or the legacy of the Twenty-Year Winter, leading to unrest, death, grief, a lot more sombre and complex issues to deal with. I hope to be more confident in my writing so I can do Flamebearer justice, I find people seem to really like the premise and starting ideas, its associated Flash Friday pieces do quite well 😅

Soulswapped

Again, another wip put on ice to focus on the bird wip. I do want to get back to this at some stage, I have some vague ideas for how I want it to play out. I don't envision it to be as long as the two above, because its concept (the main character has to fight her way out of jail and the court it's in) is more constrained. There's nowhere near the amount of plot strings here. (The darker intrigue happens around the end/slightly thereafter 👀)

The Lady's Lament

I do not have experience writing contemporary stuff, which I think is what made it hard to start it. The concept's there, easy enough, but it's just actually sitting down and planning it that's the main thing.

Another challenge that is unique for this one to an extent, is the presence of Gaeilge here. The book is intended to be an ode to Irish culture, and if I was to complete it, I do intend for there to be a Gaeilge translation.

This Blood-Stained Charcuterie

One word: timeline. The setting for this collection has thousands of years worth of history, and so the challenge is figuring out who killed who and when. And not to mention all the stuff going on in the background, some of it is more influential than others.

The Magic System

Basically, it's based on the idea of magic being a biological substance present in the world. Most living things have a tolerance for it, but not all living things can actively use it.

Even then, there's two broad categories; faerie creatures, whom rely on simpler magic like moving things or simple tricks, and then the faeries/Carithaikh [start with one fae/one human parent, subsequent generations by any combination that isn't two faeries; these people can also be dubbed as witches], who can perform magic in a wide variety of ways.

Most people are born with an affinity to an element (such as fire, plant, water/ice, air, light, shadow, blood, lightning, dust, rock, metal, etc), which is then honed as the person gets older. It is also possible to learn certain elements, but some are harder than others, going on into near-impossible (e.g, it's hard to learn fire if one doesn't have an affinity for it [the genes of those who do are adapted to prevent burns and manage the heat more efficiently], but water is fairly easy to learn).

Another aspect that some people have but is much less common, are skill-based abilities. Shapeshifting and teleporting are the most common ones, but there's also a select few who can weave souls or see/interact with the domain of the spirits. Those last two are about one or few in a generation. (And interestingly, in Helinda there's no records of anyone who can interact with the spirit world, likely because Helindians burn their dead!)

But sometimes you'll get people with bespoke abilities. Some are merely unusual powers, such as purple fire, wood manipulation, blending with the shadows etc.

Others, are actual divine elements. They manifest as fire, light or water, and usage of then can have catastrophic effects. If the user doesn't die after using divine magic, it can cause things such as blindness, burns, nerve damage/neuropathy, constant dehydration, reduced magical abilities/stamina, chronic fatigue and/or other symptoms.

If the user has a part of a deity's soul entwined with them, then the effects are mitigated to an extent. (It occurs frequently with Fate's reprisals [her element is blue fire])

And then, there's also the external systems. These rely on the magic of the world instead of/as well as the user's. Things like runes, languages, diagrams, items, gestures and/or other tangible things are used for them.

These systems vary from place to place and between cultures, they're like programming languages in a sense. Each system has strengths and weaknesses.

For instance, Helinda's five-pointed star is great if you are a) in Helinda [or Morilaste]** b) looking to do things like a locating or summoning* spell, as well as anything relating to Helindian geography. It's great with maps!

However, it's not great for highly complex spells with lots of rules. That's where Seldaika's system shines. It has a four-pointed star, but the main mode of it is its language. It's a spell language, the grammar and vocabularly are tailor-made to support spells. Intention is also important, which is an aid in differentiating normal speech from a spell. Gestures also come into play, as do wands (syrchels), which are used as social indicators and statements of magical intent as well as to apply runes.

—

*summoning items is perfectly fine, as long as it's not someone else's item. Summoning people/spirits is illegal under Helindian law

**there's a decent amount of lore underpinning the reason for this phenomenon

—

I'm going to end it here, I hope you enjoyed it :D

I looked on the writing site I use, as a test, and I found this font and- Oh my skies is it nicer to look at compared to the font it had been in. Guess I am swapping all my things for my current WIP to this now. :>

i think i got the major ones

From the behind the scenes game:

❗"how many WIPs do you have?"

🖊️"how does your magic system work?"

Thanks for the ask!

Currently, I have one primary WIP (Temporarily titled Stars Of The Sky) and in the upper end of twenty that I sometimes return to and add on to, but those are primarily fanfiction, aside from one.

I do have a secondary WIP that I return to, which has more of a magic system than my current primary, which is the one that I will talk about for the magic system.

In the world of Sightless, the WIP that I have a planned magic system for, people are born with a set amount of magic power. Everyone has some amount of it, but not everyone is given the same amount, and no one can increase the amount. Most people barely have enough to enchant an item, which is the majority of the populace. The next level are those who can enchant items but can't cast a spell. Then are those who can cast spells.

One can increase how efficient they are with their magic power through repeated use, but for those who cannot use it at all, as in, those who can't even enchant items, this route is not possible. Of course, there are limits to the use.

The first stage of magic overuse is blindness. For those with higher healing factors, this goes away, but for most mages, this is the end of their vision. This doesn't mean the permanently blind cannot cast magic at all, but they would be relegated to being healers and farming spells. The stage beyond blindness, if a mage ignores the blindness, is heart attacks. For the more resilient mages, or those with healers nearby, they live. For most, they don't.

There are exceptions to the rules, but not for reasons most would expect.

The main character, for example, wasn't born in the world with this magic system, but she has quite the large magic power pool. She is also fairly resistant to the drawbacks of magic overuse due to having quite the fast healing rate without magic. She's also one of few whose occupation doesn't match her magic pool, as she's a guard/blacksmith, not a mage. Guards and blacksmiths tend to fall in the enchant but not cast spell range, and she can fairly easily cast spells without giving it much thought.

Her twin brother, Astro, works as a merchant, but he has a relatively good magic pool, falling in the enchant but no spells range, and he has less reason to use magic than his sister.

Their adoptive brother completely lacks magic power. Which is unheard of.

As for magic types, there are quite a few. Enchants and spells have the same types, but the range of effect is limited for enchants.

There are

Cultivation spells, which increase yield in harvest and mining

Fire, which has everything to do with fire (including fireballs)

Water, which is everything to do with water, but not ice

Steam, which occurs when mages or enchanters use both fire and water spells/enchants at the same time

Ice, which is everything to do with ice, including different shapes and temperatures

Holy, which includes healing, undo curses, and light

Dark, which includes poison, curses, and darkness

Holy and dark also include incantations for either banishing the presence of dark gods or evoking a dark god

Earth, which works with rock and soil

Location, which involves teleportation, locating, and gravity related things.

And many others.

There can be blending, as noted with steam, but one has to be careful not to mix the wrong elements because things can go wrong. Extremely wrong.

Yeah, Sightless has a lot just in the magic. That is ignoring the possible classification of powers as magic, in which case... That would be too much to get into.

Hope that satisfies any curiosity. Might add a magic system to my current WIP, but I haven't yet.

Late Seven Sentence Sunday

Tagged by: @illarian-rambling

Rules: Post seven sentences from what you've been working on

Before I post the sentences, I am going to apologize for the late response (Seriously, two days? I must be lazy-). The real reason is that I never got the notification or accidentally cleared it before I could notice. I'll do better next time. Or turn it into fourteen sentence Sunday. Who knows.

Also these seven sentences are not the ones directly after the ones for my last post. Just from a random point. (Though I should have done seven sentences of lore because I was last working on lore for this story/book thing-)

"Father of the Underworld, I thank you. I will be traveling for a while and won't be able to pray during that time, but I ask that you protect me on my journey beyond my Clan just as you have during my life with my Clan," Hades lowers her head, feeling the usual chill of the Underworld that she gets when she prays to her personal god. "I need to take this shrine apart for now, but I will rebuild it in my new home. Thank you for your protection, Lord Hades."

She raises her head as the chill fades, her eyes settling on the amulet that hangs from her shrine. It symbolizes her connection to her personal god with a pendent of a bident with Cerberus' three heads resting between the prongs and a narcissus flower resting atop the center head, a blending of three symbols that represent Hades.

Just as I did last week, I am not tagging people because I am still new to this.

Sometimes I mentally rant about things. Sometimes those things are amusing.

Like I was thinking about an assignment that is due tomorrow, and I'm having this mental conversation between my brain and the voice of the professor that the class is for, as one does. So keep in mind that this is not an actual conversation, just mental rant based on something my professor has said.

Professor: "Worldbuilding isn't the same as setting."

Me: "Well if I want to steal this setting from myself, I need to know where in the world of my story it is!"

Professor: "You can't-"

Me: "I give myself permission to steal it. It is my creation. You can't stop me from yoinking the setting created for a short story that may or may not exist in the world that my eventual novel exists around. Therefore, I can steal it, and therefore, I need to know where the heck in my world this is. And for that, I need to worldbuild."

So yeah, I mentally talk to my professors in my brain. I am not delusional enough to think that this conversation happened. (I have had mental conversations that later happened in life. The deja vu from that was weird because I could have sworn we had that conversation already like two- What do you mean this is the first we've talked about this? Which has genuinely been a mental reaction to something before. Sure it will happen again.)

I don't need this ability.