broken-winged-sparrow

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Hello Bladesworn! How are you? I haven't seen you post in a while. I hope you are okay!

I am okay, just adjusting to full time work life and trying to buy a house.

I think about you guys every day.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Are mates a thing in the Lay’s canon? I’ve seen you use the word a few times on this blog and throughout the story (about Trist and Kiert and about Kit’s parents). Is “mate” different from “lover” or is it the same?

Mate is oftentimes equivalent to “spouse” but without the legal entanglements. Because in the upper castes of Elyos society (and in some places in Asmodae) “husband/wife” is often purely a legal arrangement - the wedding of two Houses of influence to secure property, alliances, etc - “mate” has instead come to mean someone who chose of your own accord and love/are bonded deeply to.

This does not mean that a set of mates cannot get married, or two spouses cannot become mates. (In Asmodae, where OT3s are highly irregular but rarely still happen, it doesn’t even mean you can only have one.) It simply means that, in the case of mates, there is either no or very little heritable property to be distrubuted.

Short version, slanted slightly more Elyos because it is more likely to be heard there: “This is my mate, Janos” - this pairing was likely not arranged by any outside party, we chose each other ourselves; we have little to no heritable noble positions or property that requires legal detailment in the event of one of our deaths/children/other life altering circumstances; according to personal preference, we may or may not have been handfasted in the light of Aion. “This is my husband, Janos” - although exceptions occur, this pairing was probably mutually arranged by our parents/their Houses to mutual benefit; we had likely never met before the engagement, but found each other either unobjectionable enough to marry anyway, or we found out we actually rather like each other, what a scandal!; one or both of us has a heritable position or property, such as a noble bloodline, a castle, a business, etc, that requires a legal detailment; we were married in the light of Aion by an official of the faith, and there are DEFINITELY reams and reams of pre- and post-nuptial agreements that both sides are bound to follow.

In Asmodae, “mate” is much more common than “husband/wife”; Carcarron is one of the exceptions, as a heritable seat of power in the Twinned Duchy, requires marriage contracts to ensure that ducal seat stays within the bloodline that began it, and other legal protections. This ensures that an outside spouse can never rule as Lord or Lady Carcarron, for example. Even if the ruling Lord dies while the heir is too young to rule, the spouse of the lord/parent of the heir cannot, by law, rule as Lord/Lady Carcarron themselves, AT ALL. They instead rule as some form of regent (Dowager Regent in the case of mothers, as is most common, such as when Arkain Carcarron died with his daughter Aurelin an infant) at the head of a council of trustees - often these trustees are also named in the wedding contract! - until the heir herself comes of age and can claim the ducal seat.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

CONGRATULATIONS YOU LUCKY DUCK :D

THANK YOU MI AMIGO :D

[broken-winged-sparrow]

HEY CONGRATS

THANKS FRIEND

[broken-winged-sparrow]

“So, Bladesworn, where the fuck you been gurl”

- Graduated last weekend summa cum laude with a bachelor’s in Graphic Design, 4.0 GPA - Buildin’ a house - Throwin’ my resume and portfolio at literally everything - The Monday after graduation I literally slept 15 hours straight.

Thanks for all of you who have stuck with me on this crazy collegiate ride.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

DEM CHEEKBONES THO. ♥♥♥

I also cleaned up a drawing from a few months ago. The character is not mine, he belongs to the amazing author Bladesworn, ( @broken-winged-sparrow) and is from the story The Lay of a Broken Winged sparrow, go read it if you have time, you won’t regret it.

#fanart #here have proof I am not dead #just mostly dead #graduation is in may #FANART BRINGS ME TO LIFE

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Are you well?

Not particularly, but I’m not dead, either. Thank you for your concern.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Not sure if this has been asked before but what is the age of everyone in the main cast? I’m pretty sure you won’t tell me anything about Oros or Terekai, but what about the rest?

You’re right about Oros and Terekai, though Jaya will find out in the course of the story. To be fair, aside from those two, you can puzzle out the most of the Furiae based on Jaya’s descriptions and some mental math. As daevas go, most of them are considered very young.

Jaya is ~19. (Depending on whose standards you are going by, she has either been an adult for several years or stands just now on the cusp of being grown up.)Nico is ~30. Taion is ~35.Trist is ~75.Kiert is closing in on 100. Kit is ~300.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Is ripping off a rapist's junk a common method of punishment in asmodae or is it just Asphel's. Because if it is I will love asmodians even more.

Well, there’s nothing really common about Asphel’s methods of punishment - by Elysean standards, he’s downright draconian, which contributes to the perception that Asmodians are uncivilized savages.

That said, some Asmodian commanders feel that emulation of their Lord is the best policy.... and Asphel has always been one to lead by example.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

this might be completely unrelated and unnecessary, so feel free to ignore this, but have you ever read homestuck? i was going through the backlog of this blog and you mentioned quadrants. also, a lot of my favorite fanfiction authors have been involved with homestuck at some point or another so i thought it would be plausible that you had read it.

Yes, absolutely. I still reference quadrants regularly when discussing ships of all stripes.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Hello Bladesworn! I just wanted to know if there is any site other than ff. net where we can read your work (be it fanfiction or original story)?

I have an AO3 account, which is where the eventual port of the Lay will end up. That said, there’s not much on there that isn’t A) also on FF.N or B) really fucking weird without context

[broken-winged-sparrow]

First of all, Happy new Year, Bladesworn! May the new year bring you all the luck and happiness in the world! Now a question: in the third chapter of The Lay there's a mention of "Stargazer's Cycle" by Jaya and Oros pales and leans away from her the moment she makes a reference to it. Is there some secret connection he has with the story, or was it just the knowledge Jaya displayed? 'Cause his reaction seems somewhat extreme.

The referenced passage:

“We have our own cities, keeps, provinces, even farmland." I folded my arms and shifted a bit in my corner. "Bloodlines and noble Houses, just as you do. Only, we are somewhat less prone to fighting amongst ourselves until entire bloodlines are wiped away, all for the sake of the Silver Rose of Sanctum."

I referred to the Stargazers Cycle, of course, an Elysian tale of civil war and revenge, based in fact, that had made its way to Asmodae through Shugo smugglers. Oros paled as if struck and actually leaned somewhat away from me, completely caught off his guard that I was aware of the tale.

The Stargazers Cycle is a (slightly) fictionalized account of a series of actual events that occured in Sanctum, wherein a set of three noble Elyos brothers all fell in love with the same woman - the Silver Rose of Sanctum, said to be the most beautiful Elysean woman ever born, save for Ariel Herself. Through the plots and machinations of the three brothers, each trying to win the Silver Rose’s heart, eventually they eradicated not only their own noble House and bloodline, but a few other minor Houses and bloodlines as well along the way as collateral damage. The tale ends with the brothers, their allies, and their loved ones all dead, the Silver Rose left alone at the center of the carnage, holding the broken body of the one man she actually loved, before throwing herself off the edge of Sanctum to dash herself to pieces on the landscape below.

The degree to which the Stargazers Cycle holds true to reality is hotly debated; in any case, as it is part of Elysean history, it is not well-known outside of Sanctum and Poeta proper, especially since it doesn’t paint a very good picture of Elysean society as a whole. Oros is shaken that Jaya, Asmodian to the core, has not only heard of the Cycle, but knows enough of its contents to quote it backhandedly at him. He then attempts a partially successful reversal by bringing up the Lay, which, like the Stargazers Cycle, should have been relatively unknown outside of its home province - except that Jaya is unaware that Kit has already been laboring to translate it by this time.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Is there an Asmodian equivalent to house Helios ?

There is! While the Helios are well-established and open about their bloodline, however, the Asmodian equivalent is very secretive - they are much fewer in number than the Helios, and membership in the House is a bit more complicated than simply who your mother/father was.

We meet a few representatives of this Asmodian House later in the story.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

What is everyone's accent in the Furiae?

Hmm, well. If I had to assign real-world equivalents, or if I were having the Lay dubbed in English with accented voices....

Jaya - Carcarrese, which is a dialect of Asmoth. Equivalent: Irish Gaelic (Billie Piper as Brona Croft in Penny Dreadful). (Note that in Elyan, her accent is much depreciated, as she has worked hard to sound as close to a native speaker as possible. Her Elyan accent is somewhere between Nico’s & Kit’s in formality and class.)Oros - Upper middle-class Elyan with a hint of Asmoth lyricism in his vowels. Equivalent: Northern English (nonspecific) (Richard Armitage in North & South). (His Asmoth is stiff and strange but poshly-accented - north Dublin Irish, think Moriarty in Sherlock.) Nico - Low-class Elyan. Equivalent: Estuary English shading into Cockney (Ciri from the Witcher 3).Kit - High-class Elyan. Equivalent: RP English (”BBC English”).Taion - High-class Elyan with hints of the middle class. Equivalent: Slightly less formal RP English (”BBC English”).Kiert - Rural Elyan. Equivalent: West Country English. Trist - Hahaaa, trick question~Terekai - No accent. No, really, he has no accent in either Elyan or Asmoth.

[broken-winged-sparrow]

What does it mean when Jaya asks for "the white band" in the first chapter? Is it a form of suicide?

Yes.

For a mortal Asmodian to ask for the white band means they are essentially asking for something to strangle or hang themselves with; as white is the color of sorrow and mourning in Asmodae, the band is traditionally a length of sturdy white rope, laces or some other bit of fabric capable of aiding someone in ending their life. Despite the terrible connotations around suicide, especially in Asmodian culture, asking for the white band is considered an honorable way to die - and also the very last-ditch effort of someone who has been denied every other possible way out while keeping their honor intact. It is not uncommon for an Asmodian jailer hosting captives of his own race to slip a prisoner the white band at their asking, in order that they may die on their own terms and no one else’s.

For a Daeva, asking for the white band is unnecessary - if their willpower is strong enough (or weak enough), they can force themselves to Fade without outside intervention. Similarly, in Elyos culture, there is no appropriate analogue, as suicide is never under any circumstances viewed as an acceptable answer to a problem. 

#tw: suicide

[broken-winged-sparrow]

This is exactly the sort of thing I needed to make my shitty week much much better.

Have some of the most on-point, on-character fanart of my cast that I have ever seen.

Super super quick headshot sketchdump thing of *drum roll*  THE FURIAE. 

These are @broken-winged-sparrow‘s (Bladesworn) characters from The Lay of a Broken-winged Sparrow, the most wonderful, magnificent, fabulous masterpiece of fan fiction ever. Seriously. Just read it.   

From left to right (and top to bottom): Taion, Nico, Kit, Jaya, Oros, Trist, Kiert and Terekai. 

edit: I’m pretty sure I didn’t get Nico’s eyes right.

#fanart #lay of a broken winged sparrow

[broken-winged-sparrow]

How does inheritance in House Helios work? Does Taion have no collateral female relatives who have ascended and have a stronger claim on the title?

Once a generation in House Helios - which, due to Ascension, generally works out to be about 50-75 years - the current head of House Helios, the Lady Ecliptic, will announce her intention to step down. It’s considered good form for the Lady to wait until all the children of the “current” generation have grown and had a chance to Ascend; she may delay her retirement by decades if a favored sister or cousin has trouble producing an heir, or if there has been infighting in the Helios, she may retire early in order to deprive a certain branch of the family a chance at the house seat. The original idea was that only the strongest, cleverest and most powerful Daeva that Helios could produce would be worthy to rule - which, in theory, each generation would improve upon the last - and the House would not stagnate under the leadership of a single immortal, but instead shift as the changing world dictated. This policy was put into place approximately around the time of the assault on the Tower, when Israphel and Siel were lost to Atreia; it became clear to the Helios at the time that they could not afford to rely on single heirs or old prejudices to see them through the turmoil.

(In-story, the current Lady Ecliptic has been seated for just under 50 years. She has reached the lower part of the bell curve of average retirement dates, but she has not made so much as a twitch in the direction of stepping down just yet. There is plenty of time to do so, from the perspective of the House and her sisters and cousins - no one is much worried. The older generations presume that the problem that Taion presents will solve itself before competition for the Ecliptic begins in earnest, and while the current generation sees him very much as a direct threat to the Helios way of life, there is still enough time to do something about it before it becomes a very pressing issue.)

Anyway, when the Lady Ecliptic makes her announcement, the current aethelings of the House are named and brought forth in a House meeting, in order that everyone knows who is in the running. The title of aetheling passes from generation to generation among the Helios; only the most recently-Ascended Daevas in that house carry it, denoting their eligibility for the Ecliptic long before the actual event arrives, and those who survive the scramble for the seat but do not become Ecliptic lose the title afterward.

For example, Daevas A, B and C are Helios-born females who all Ascended after the beginning of the reign of the current Lady Ecliptic. All 3 ladies would hold the title aetheling. When the current Ecliptic steps down, Daeva A wins the title and becomes the new Lady Ecliptic. Daevas B and C lose the title of aetheling and are no longer eligible to compete for the house seat.

In the early days of House Helios, when Daevas were much fewer, competitors for the title of Ecliptic were only two or three, or perhaps four in an abundant year. As the Helios grew in size, power and influence, however, and Daevas slowly became slightly more common, the number of competing Daevas for the seat rose as well.

In-story currently, there are 12-15 Ascended Helios Daevas waiting in the wings for the current Lady Ecliptic to retire, including Taion. Most are from cadet branches and are considered by the older generations to have no real chance at winning the seat; the competition is cutthroat among the Helios, and usually within days of an announcement the field has been winnowed down to a handful, either by bribery, dirty deeds, or outright murder. It isn’t unheard-of for a relatively weak Helios Daeva to announce very early that she is withdrawing from the race for the Ecliptic, either; given that immortal sisters have been known to kidnap or kill mortal relatives of their rivals, this kind of formal withdrawal is usually as much to protect their families as it is themselves.

Once the field has narrowed to the strongest handful of candidates, competitions generally become much more public and less back-room. The forms they take vary widely; a Helios lady skilled in the blade might challenge one of her rivals to a fight, or a scholarly type may hold a gaming tournament, or a nimble one a dancer’s competition. No matter the form, eventually the competitions will either produce one clear winner, or two equally-strong competitors, from which the current Lady Ecliptic will choose. That Daeva then becomes the Lady Ecliptic, any survivors of the competition lose the title aetheling, and the previous Ecliptic returns to a life without bullshit political shenanigans.

Then, in about 50-75 years, they do it all over again.