To Igori:
Greetings! This maybe a surprise. But I have some questions. Hope you are willing to answer.
1. How exactly do you manage the relationship between your pack and the Astartes?
2. Any interesting missions you have went on on the behalf of the good doctor?
There are two very different predators dancing around each other here. One of them very large, very confident in its movements and visibly trying to be de-escalating, which does not necessarily succeed. The other much smaller, openly aggressive and with a vigilance that includes bared teeth and the constant possibility of violence.
In the prehistoric times of Terra, it would be a lion that entered the territory of a pack of hyenas. He may be stronger than a single hyena. May be able to tear them apart effortlessly. But hyenas are never alone, their families are tightly woven like carpets. And violence is never just a last resort for them, but an everyday occurrence. The lion does well to be careful. To keep one eye behind him.
"Does the Chief Apothecary know about this?" Igori keeps moving as if looking for the ideal position to attack.
"Not yet. You can give it to him, though, if you want." Saqqara tries his preacher voice and de-escalating body language. Not something that really works well with Astartes.
She bares her teeth at him, an unconscious gesture. "I'm not going to keep this a secret from him!"
"You don't have to. But the message is for you. Are you going to answer it?"
A growl. More growls from behind Saqqara, from above him and from diagonally in front answer. He unconsciously puts his hand on the Bolter at his side.
Igori draws her brows together. Finally looks Saqqara firmly in the eye. "What do you want me to answer? You know how we get along!" - "By getting out of our way and we getting out of yours." - "Exactly. It's working! You do your thing, we do ours. Everyone can do different things and the Pater Mutatis uses all we can give. We see that we are always more than you when we meet. And that you don't know much about us. But we know as much as we can about you. And the beauty with you guys is that you don't even bother to find out more about us. Arrian, maybe. But he only knows what he needs at the moment. Still - he's good." She grins briefly, just a flare from the whiteness of her teeth. "Which also makes you relatively safe. Arrian would be sad if anything happened to you. And then angry. And then unpredictable."
Saqqara snorts and remarks dryly, "Lucky for me!" - "Indeed!", Igori can detect little in the way of irony.
Igori takes a step back. "But I'm not talking about what we do for him. He trusts us. I will not break that trust!" Her voice grows louder, more aggressive.
Saqqara raises his hands placatingly. "Hey, it's all good! You don't have to. This isn't an interrogation, just a letter."
The matriarch of the Gland Hounds nods, a little mollified. "Yes. Good." Then adds very emphatically, "And I'll talk to him about it!" - "Do that! Absolutely."
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I’m mostly unaware of your OC’s, so I’d love to meet them!
You will regret this.
(Okay disclaimer I just finished writing all this after several hours and I do not want to go back and revise/edit stuff for a tumblr ask but uhhhh..... If you wanna know more, ask more stuff, look through my art, etc...
I kind of went crazier as I went on, with each section getting longer than the last so. A. In particular, Violets in the Sunflower Patch is a setting I haven't touched in YEARS but wanna get back into, so the lore is a bit shaky and subject to change gjksdfngjdf. )
Okay here's my fucked up ramblings
So it's probably best to start with the OC that started it all.
THE WORLD ORPHAN
As much as I'd love to go into excruciating detail about every single world-building event that led to this moment, I'll try to keep things simple gkjfdnghjfd.
The Skeinkrofts are a species similar to crabs, bees, etc... They, like many other mortal species, did not naturally evolve- instead, they were crafted by a god. Though this god's name is indecipherable to all mortal tongues, the closest approximation is "The One With a Fish's Face." It's true meaning is lost, but all depictions make damn sure that that thing has a fish's face.
They call the far northern reaches Zenia their homeland- a large continent, spanning from pole to pole, home to a wide diversity of different species- though only a few mortal. These cold, frigid reaches are where the Fished Face God calls home, and where they set about creaturing the creature of their dreams. No one knows why they chose the form they did- perhaps some strange hate-love relationship with the isopod that used to live in their mouth- but they made the Skeinkrofters to be a vicious and parasitic predator. One of the older races, the other gods would eventually make their own mortals, and soon after that the destructive battlefield of divine combat would be passed down to mortals, who were far less destructive in their power-scaling.
However, as the centuries passed and gods fell from their thrones, so too did the Skeinkrofter's time approach. Pushed by a want for power, the high-priestesses of their ilk- who Humanity came to call Red Witches, due to their red coloration and trickery- pushed farther and farther southwards into the divided Human kingdoms. In a tale as old as time, the divided armies of Humanity united to turn the tide and push the Skienkrofters back. What is less romanticized in the history books is how far they pushed- going through their territory with genocidal intent.
The only thing to stop them from pushing them to extinction was a want for even more power.
Skeinkrofters are incredibly gifted magic users. Handcrafted as wellsprings of necromantic blood-magic, the Skeinkrofters were terrifying weapons- and with the right conditioning, potentially controlled.
We finally reach Igori- the apprentice. Without knowledge of who her parents were, she raised secluded in the woods under a strict tutelage of magical study. She excelled everywhere they pushed her and listened very well to her instructors, but still- she couldn't help but feel some semblance of despise. Like she was an outlier they didn't quite like having around. The way they stare at her red hair like it's toxic to be near. The way they flinch every time she tries to cast a fireball- destructive magic is forbidden, of course. The way they never let her near any dead animals at all- not even the bones in their meat. It all feels off. Maybe this is just normal for apprentices like her.
Most recent art of Igori, taken from the Inktober drawing.
(Igori was my first character :D
I've made stuff before like, as a really really young kid- but this one has stuck around the longest by far. She originally started with an idea of "what if a Lich's apprentice was still mortal, and was trying to find a way to become a Lich as well?" That idea eventually grew and shifted. She was originally a guy, but- that changed really quickly. Even before I knew I was trans, it was just a little uninteresting to me...
In fact, she's kind of the reason I started transition gkjdfnhgkfj. I was in highschool and couldn't reason like. Why, for some reason, I couldn't imagine what my future self would look like... unless I imagined them looking exactly like her gdfkjnhjfgdh. My actual egg-cracking moment came later when I first asked myself "maybe I could be a girl but only a little bit." gkjdfnhjfd.
She was my only OC for a while, until I decided I had piled way too many ideas onto just her and split her into a separate OC that was a Vampire. I wouldn't do much with her for a while outside of a concept. But what came next was years later-)
VIOLETS IN THE SUNFLOWER PATCH
Troll is a planet isolated in its own cloud of dust and debris. For a long time, the planet was host to the many different species- Elves, Timbers, Atlantians, etc... After many centuries of development, the planet reached a state of industrial revoltion. It's unique ecology- an intense equator that was near-impossible to navigate, a large central large at each pole that divided the world into two large halves, and an intense separation between the different cultures- led to a world deeply divided. This would finally lead to conflict between the central culture of each half of the world as they finally made contact. Long-standing rivalries would be formed and a constant escalation would overtake the land.
This all culminated into the space-race. A seemingly unremarkable event- people had been flying vehicles for a long time on Troll. It's low-gravity made escape velocity much easier to perform than on Earth, and would lead to a swift moon-landing, especially after learning that the moon was also habitable.
This would be rather innocuous to either empire- just more territory to conquer. Until they found the weapon caches.
Ancient weapons of untold power- locked beneath crumbling tombs, easily plundered after barrages of cannon-fire. The sudden influx of understanding led to an artificially goaded golden age. Peasants went from farming arid dirt to making e-mail accounts in just a day- and then experiencing armageddon before the end of their lifetime.
Feudal lords with the power to break cities under their fingers were unable to keep each other in check long enough as old rivalries re-sparked and new suspicion formed. A cold-war lasted just about a decade before the codes to end the world were punched-in and everyone flipped their death-switches.
As the world lit up, civilization died again. In the years after the fallout, governments grew more strict- technology was now a luxury, held only by government, the serfs even more dependent on their lords as a result. From the stars, a strange voice started humming- any radio in the world could now tune in to GODSTAR, who's randomly generated sentences held prophecies and fortunes within their many-folded scriptures. With the earth cracking, the layers of dirt crumpled away and lifted, revealing the artificial structure of the planet beneath- expanding outwards like Troll itself needed a breath after that brush with death- and from the fold, the monsters of prophetic times rushed forth and began to slaughter all. Only the technology that the lords now held for themselves could fight back, and they used the new opportunity to simply drive their mechanical-fist harder into the serf's back.
A century after the world ended, the disgraced Black Table- a brotherhood known for it's supposed acceptance and love- takes in the first ever female knights officially oathed under the Chivalric Codexes.
Most recent art of Aster (Not actually a catgirl. This was for an Inktober prompt), Sydney (On the right, shown in her Stealth Power Armor), and Devoney (FUCK I HAVEN'T DRAWN DEVONEY IN LITERAL YEARS AAAAA)
Growing up in a small village under the protection of the Black Table's knights, the three girls spent their whole lives believing the good table was protecting them with their lives. They each aspired to be knights, and would eventually be accepted in a landslide move- though, internally it was much more desperate. The Black Table needed soldiers, and anyone willing was to be chosen, and that required a sidestepping of ancient codes. A pretense of breaking the mold was a good way to sidestep any repercussions too.
Three characters this time so I get to explain each gjkdfnhkjfdgh.
Aster is an Elf! Or, in this universe, Elves are a race that lives directly over the North Pole. Once a forested land, after the nuclear winter it resembles an arctic ice-scape much more and the area around the pole had to be evacuated en-masse. Her parents were refugees that had to migrate southward into the Timberlands- essentially "baseline" humans. Fun-fact, elves can change their gender at will like clownfish. Aster was my first explicitly trans OC (during a time when I was still struggling to come out gdkfjnhkjfdg). She loses her arm and both legs pretty early on during a training accident.
Devoney is a baseline human. The daughter of a minor noble's technician, she was one of the few in the village with access to things like a working VCR and mecha anime on VHS. She grew up on great heroes depicted on the screen and aspired to be one herself. It was partly due to the pulling of a few strings that she managed to carve a little spot out for herself and her childhood friends. She would be one of the earliest to succumb to the oppressive traditions of the knights- initially optimistic in her original world-view, she quickly loses herself to a false sense of good and works to enforce chivalry.
Sydney is the final member of the trio. A delinquent child, she was abandoned pretty early on because her parents couldn't afford to keep her around. Of the three, she was the least well-off and the one with the most grievances against the current system. The Black Table was hesistant to accept her, but Dev managed to help her build up the reputation. She would constantly be scorned in the position and looked with tighter scrutiny. Ever since the beginning she questioned the true purpose of the knights, and her intentions would swiftly change from trying to change the system from within to trying to dismantle it entirely.
Sydney and Dev were originally friends. When Aster arrived, she was quickly picked out- but Dev would step in, ever the hero, to try and save her. This led to an initial divide between Syd and Aster- the former of which was concerned that Dev would abandon her if Aster got in the way. This tense relationship would only break after they were oathed in and Dev slowly started to fade out of the picture, leaving them alone together.
(Troll is a fantasy world that was brought down by old superstitions and traditions, basically. The three are gonna tear down the system one plank at a time if they have to. Dev will eventually be less of a cop and join them dw gkjfdnghkjfd
I wrote a lot for this and I might go back and write more for Igori, but. I'm like. An hour into writing dfkjgndfjhfdn
Violets originally started as a Lancer game I could play with myself. Basically, at the peak of my anxiety, I couldn't stand to be in VC with other people at all, let alone GM a tabletop campaign. I wanted to play Lancer so badly though, so I compromised and made my own campaign all for myself. Like playing with dolls, I made sprites and shit and it was really fun gkjdfsgnkdfj. Idk. Might revisit it some day...)
(okay its time to get back to the vampires-)
THE LAVENDER COURT
Varghan is a land not too far from Zenia. Long ago, the gods known only as Himself, Herself, and Themself stole away bundles of mortals from other gods in a desperate bid to appease the god's masters. However, these mortals would eventually rise up and kill the three tyrant gods and their creations with their own hands. Them fled long before the gates crashed open, Her was forced to retreat under the chaos as all their children were killed, and Him was killed by rivals who bid for his throne. On His dying breath, he cursed every mortal with a need to kill; more than a mere desire- a living, breathing, need for the blood of their kin.
Vampirism was a quiet disease, but it spread under the seams of the kingdoms of Varghan.
The kingdoms of man fell and fell again- by their own hands or invading forces- and finally, after centuries in wait, vampires went from urban legend to real kings and queens taking kingdoms in the night. Blessed with immortal life- so that the strongest may kill and kill again, fulfilling the grand tyrant prophecy told in Himself's last words- the eldest of the bloodline rose to positions of absolute power and took the wartorn Varghan into their own hands.
Lavender was a survivor of the old world- having lived through the final days of blundering Kings of Man, and the subsequent rampage of the Seven-Day War and Five-Day Occupation- her isolated village in the Silver Peaks would be taken by an emergent horde of vampires.
Taken as the bride-to-be to the Lord Skrul, she was accidentally turned into a vampire while one of the lord's court was "making his mark on her." Feral and spoiled, Skrul ordered her killed- but she managed to escape with her life by chance.
She'd spend another twenty years mastering her vampirism at Wighthold under a Lord Dimitry, where she would eventually rise to be one of his top lieutenants. After many years of conquest, a small part of her nagged still- a humanitarian soul who did not accept this direction. Her actions were flawed- guided by a primal need to overpower- and she suppressed that need as she faked her death and wandered into hiding.
For centuries, Lavender hid. She could not bring herself to a final death, unable to stop the need to eat when food was available. Still, she starved herself as best she could.
And then, one day, she found a body in the bog.
Most recent art of Black (on the left, shown as already a Vampire)
The woman was nearly dead, her heartbeat faint and her soul gripping by a thread. Lavender hungered, and yet not enough to give in to instinct. She was content to let the woman fall to her fate, or at least put her out of her misery, but she reached forward and did something else- damning her to the same curse as her.
She was appalled and angry at first, begging how the gods could condemn her to such a fate. And yet, within days, she got it. She understood it all too well- the feeding, the strength, the power. It didn't take long for her to shed her old name and take on a new identity- Black.
She was chased from her village for illegal witchcraft- a crime she had never committed. The offenses kept piling on as bitter resentment grew, and eventually she was chased out of the village- lest she be burned on the stake. On the chase, she had tripped, and the villagers chose to leave her to her fate- and Lavender soon arrived. Black's first kill was against the villagers that scorned her so. Compared to Lavender, who still starved herself and spent her days locked in her hut, Black was taking the role like she was born in the pale skin.
After a year together, their bond strengthened. Black had every opportunity to go off on her own, but she stayed with Lavender- though neither hardly knew why. It was only natural that when Black didn't return one night, Lavender would go out to find her. A far elder vampire, she was able to quickly assess that she was held in the last remnants of the Sun church.
The resulting slaughter, her first in many centuries, led to her garnering the attention of a vampire hunter- one that would manage to catch the emaciated beast after its destructive rampage. She was tortured for three days and three nights- more than just starved, the hunter lured the vampirism through her body, trying to rip it clean out. Younger vampires could be cured if the growing void in their soul was eviscerated quick enough, but one centuries old had never been cured. Lavender begged the old man to do it- to either take it all out or kill her on that rack, and the sadistic glee the paladins took in exorcising her drove her mad. With each tug of the iron and each hammer beat her blackened blood dripped and solidified- a bit of that grown monster materializing and dying. So vast was the corruption inside her that it grew and grew, becoming more and more monstrous and deformed beneath her waist where the blood pooled.
Most recent art of Lavender
As time went on, the hunter revealed more of more of his true intentions. The church had long since given up on "curing" vampires. He desired nothing more than to see her suffer as each nail was driven in, her body nothing more than a tally to see how much they could destroy and violate her body before it was entirely broken and she could only beg to be killed.
When Black finally managed to break down the walls of the fort, she already found that Lavender had broken free. Eleven hearts decorated her dripping body, one of which was still pooling fresh in her mouth. Ten dead paladins and a dead hunter, eviscerated after she finally broke free from her restraints- she could have done it long before, but she had held on for some hope of freedom from herself. Without it, she could not stop feasting.
Afterwards, she longed for death. She begged Black to put her down, but they refused. If this world was so cruel, was it not cruel to run?
If you wore the clothes of a god, would you not change the world?
Petty kings and little tyrants dotted the world over. With a body that craves destruction, you should not turn it inwards. Destroy the world around you, and pray the next is better.
And so, Lavender stood once more, and turned her attention outwards.
(And then they kissed :3 gkdjfgnbkjfnhjgf
This was the second idea I had for Igori! She would go on to conquest the world to kill every king she could find, but- alas, other plans. Other plans.
You may notice some design similarities between Lavender + Black and Aster + Sydney. They originally started as a vampire au of Aster and Sydney, but as the stories diverged more and more, I decided to roll Lavender up with my other vampire oc and merge the two. Since that merger several years ago, they've become their own separate thing. I hope their designs reflect that and aren't just copy+pastes anymore gdjfgnkjdfh)
They're gay
CURRENT TTRPG CHARACTERS
These ones I can't go into as much detail, since their stories are still being written and there's things about their backstory I don't wanna be fully transparent with yet.
Q Barghest (and Maskgirl)
A good introduction to Q would be this comic: https://www.tumblr.com/c--iiii6w6/711693697513865216/recipes-for-strawberry-jam-only-color-she-loves
Q is a Fixer in the ProjectMoon universe who is currently working in the Iris Office. She witnessed The Horrors at a young age and was shaped by it pretty intensely.
Her family was abusive and she seemed destined for a life locked away in her room until she was old enough to leave- until they were all slaughtered by a rampaging abnormality. Sparring her life, she had found a strange fondness with the very monsters that threatened all life in the City. Since then, she's grown more and more unattached from other humans, likening herself more to a presence than a person.
Some of the most recent art of Q. Maskgirl on the right.
Maskgirl was Q's only childhood friend. Calculating and cold, she could tell a person's secrets just from studying their face long enough. Q, who wore her fears and inhibitions on her face, quickly caught Maskgirl's eye as someone who couldn't help but tell the truth. The two quickly bonded, and although they're more separate now, they still remain in contact
Morg Nolastname
Another Fixer, Morg Nolastname works for Indulgence Office in collaboration with Leucotome Workshop.
Unlike Q, Morg is very private and keeps to herself. She seems aloof, only living in the present. Each day is her life- she dies at sunset, is reborn at sunrise, and her home is wherever she sleeps that night. Blinded at a young age, she sees using a spray-hose like a cane. She is a prolific sadist, finding great pleasure in the art of murder. She keeps a collection of tapes of nearly every one of her kills over the years. Those who try to pry into her past usually find themselves on tape at some point.
Some of the most recent art of Morg.
Those are all my main OC's! Of course, I have other people but- they honestly aren't as near and dear to my heart as these dummies. Or at least they aren't comin' to mind aack. I have a lot of small-time OC's that if I took the time to describe I'd be explaining every story idea I've had over the past decade dskjgnbfdkjgbndfhj
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