#if u have specific questions feel free but i hope this is like. a legible world overview

[emberglowfox]

okay a few people have asked now abt steelheart redux so i will do my best to give an overview the maelstrom of vague thoughts it consists of at the moment

basically, steelheart is the oc story i've been posting a shitton of on and off for the past while. steelheart redux refers specifically to its latest iteration, which is completely (mostly) sci-fi and mech driven as opposed to the standard dragon rider story it was before.

it focuses primarily on these guys!

arthur is a human, while zarian is a DRACO, specifically a v1, which i will elaborate on below the readmore bc this is a little long haha

the setup for the story is essentially this:

the DRACOs (version 1, aka v1s) are big draconic mechs that are basically the equivalent of a super high-tech fighter jet with some other bells and whistles, the most notable being that they're pretty much human powered. but to be efficiently powered long-term, they have to be (or have part of them, really) permanently fused to a human host (or any living creature, technically, but humans are what they're like. made for).

despite all that, stuff surrounding their creation goes pretty well for a while, until the v1s mysteriously 'wake up'-- as in, suddenly attain self-aware consciousness, and start talking to their hosts (known as pilots) who understandably take this pretty badly. it's like if the fighter jet you've been flying around and are also kind of biologically fused to suddenly grew a brain and started asking about your day. things get even worse when the company producing the v1s attempts to like. undo this by forcing out an update patch, which has the unintended effect of corrupting the (previously entirely benevolent, just curious) v1s and turning them into crazed murder machines. stuff is bad for a while.

the ACTUAL story takes place 15 years after this, when stuff still isn't amazing but has mostly evened out. the company responsible for the v1s collapsed in the initial chaos, but from its ashes came a new company, Defenex, which has been producing DRACO v2s. they're the sleeker, badder cousins to the v1, made for the sole purpose of protecting towns from and hunting down remaining v1s. they're also, very critically, Not Mysteriously Self-Aware like the v1s are (or. were?) which is good.

the plot follows arthur steele, a fifteen year old boy living in one of the surviving cities, who through a series of accidents comes to be permanently fused to a (mysteriously un-murderous but distinctly unhappy) v1 calling himself Zarian. at first, his goal is to get Zarian removed from his back so they can go their separate ways and he can go back to his unremarkable, relatively safe life. unfortunately, this does not go according to plan. at all. but in the process, they start learning more about the mysterious origins of the DRACO incident and asking questions some people REALLY don't want answered. along the way, they make a few friends, come to actually like each other, and accidentally develop a reputation as Public Enemy #1, Definitely Evil, Kill On Sight. oops.

and that's the gist! i know... a lot of what happens, within that window, but most stuff isn't like nailed down clearly or in order yet, because i've discovered that while i am good with coming up with originally story ideas, actually plotting one from start to finish, coherently and satisfactorily, does NOT come naturally to me at all.

but, at the very least, it has become a fun brain playground and happiness generator, because i am veeery attached to these guys. moreso than i ever have gotten about my own ocs in my whole life tbh

:)

#if u have specific questions feel free but i hope this is like. a legible world overview #so much happens here though. they almost die in a rite-aid. they blackmail a grown adult. they meet god(?) and hes annoying. its a blast #sparks speaks #steelheart redux #sparks art #steelheart redux lore

[elsewhereuniversity]

ASKS - Students

Asks sent to my main, answered here. Theme - how would I do at EU?

geekshallinherit said: hey are you sam? i can't give you my name, but i need help. specifically advice. the word is, if one needs help navigating the trickiest of situations life at eu has to offer, they should come to you. people say you know things. i'm sure the significance of that word, "help," isn't lost on you, and anyway i didn't come empty-handed, so i hope you'll hear me out. i have a problem with a name. before i came here, i had never had much of a family. i won't go into detail, but i was in foster care. now i don't keep in contact with anyone i knew before i was emancipated. when i got into eu, i changed my name, like people do here. i followed all the rules and found a tight-knit group of friends. we stick together when our school or personal lives get tough. we even banded together to rescue our friend when she was taken. (she was one of three last year, so you can't use this to id me) my point is we're close. here's my problem: everyone here - human, gentry, otherwise - knows the name the people i love most call me by. my new name has become my true name. my friends know that they know, but others? a chill goes up my spine every time teachers, less-close friends, and campus staff call me by my name. i don't think it's legible on my face, but people here have become good at seeing without showing what they've seen. this school just has that effect. i can't just get a new nickname, because as soon as i tell people to call me something different, they'll know something's up. basically, i'm stuck just letting the gentry call me by my truest name and hoping they don't figure it out. my friends and i have talked deep into the night about this and none of us knows what to do. that's why i'm here. i said i didn't come empty-handed, and i meant it; this teddy bear is the last token i have of my life in the system. his name is taco. he's brown and ratty and i don't remember who gave him to me besides the fact that, like everything, it wasn't my birth parents, but he's well-loved. i hope this will be sufficient for you to help someone who cannot even tell you their false name. you don't have to answer right now; you can find me on the quiet floor of the library pretty late into the night most nights. but if it pleases you, i don't have long to wait. and sam? i would really appreciate your help.

Help freely given, because I have a lot of small kindnesses to pay forward, and I Owe – your best bet is to change schools, my guy.  In a place where reality is less shaky, your true name is just a name, and even someone saying it with intent wouldn’t be able to compel you against your will.

If you’re hellbent on staying at Elsewhere, you’ve got two options. The first is to carry on and keep hoping no one realizes what a precious thing you’ve handed them. The second, if you think you can do so with subtlety, is to try to change your nickname anyway. I know you’re worried it would broadcast the importance of the old nickname, but it’s not actually rare for people to realize that maybe they don’t want to go by, say, Deeznuts for four years straight. It’s a nickname and it gets old. If you’re careful about it, you might be able to shift to a new name without anyone catching on.

If things go really, really badly, remember that your true name is not just a weapon to be used against you. If your loved ones know it, it can bring you home.

(and to answer the ask i didn’t include - i go by she/her, thank you for asking!)

huntressmary said: what are my survival chances at elsewhere u? Just asking. I "changed" my name starting uni to avoid the "wrong name false document" disaster and abandoned the accents. The written word is different, the name I give a shorted one. Will they still have power over me? Also I'm doing biochemistry, and carry around about half a kilo of titanium warped around my spine. Good or Bad?

Whichever version of your name holds the most importance to you would be the one you should keep secret, but using anything similar (nicknames, changed pronunciation) is still flirting with disaster – your enemies are more than capable of putting together clues. I think the half-kilo of titanium round your spine would afford you some respect, however. Caution, even.

fandomlockedfan said: Hi! first of all, i really love your comic series EU! it's really intriguing and unique! second, I've been on your blog for an hour just reading the Q&A and I must say...If I were a student in EU I wouldn't probably last long even though I'm a bio major. (I like talking to strangers, I always say "I'm sorry and thank you" A LOT, I like sleeping anywhere ex. library and I LOVE making poems and stories and sharing them with people I talk to) -_- and plus I haven't done my fae research yet. :(

You miiiight be okay, actually! Some of these could potentially cancel out; the debts you admit through typical courtesies like ‘I’m sorry’ could likely be paid off with poems and stories you’d give out for free otherwise. Combined with the fact that after so long they’re fairly wary around bio majors, and you might make it through unharmed, albeit with a few settled debts under your belt. The biggest issue would be falling asleep in places where time is strange, and I can’t really help you there, but the librarians could direct you to the chairs where the time ration of in/out is 1:1.

Anon said: I'm reading your elsewhere U thing and honestly cracking up bc I cant help but wonder what the fuck the fae would do with me and my girlfriend. She's super superstitious as well as wiccian and she always wears iron and beads and strange little symbols doodled on the inside of her wrists and she's studys old celtic mythology. I have somehow ended up as the campus 'if I ever need anyone dead I'll let u know', between the astrophysics and the several black belts idk what they'd think of me either

Hahaha I think you’d have a peaceful and nondescript existence, unless you intentionally got Involved on other people’s behalves, in which case you’re both accorded a significant amount of respect.

erai-crabantaure said: Another question. I'm a fire dancer. I dance with a metal staff lit on both ends. Would the Fair Folk be horrified, fascinated or both?

Absolutely both. Entranced, really.

writerandstudent said: I'll be honest I haven't been following the hype with the Elsewhere University, but I know as an Anthropology student who loves other cultures I feel that I would stutter my way over to a fae to ask them about their culture and they watch them from a distance anytime they appear. Also as a writer I would then start to put together a book about everything I see (a fiction book).

Approaching a creature who doesn’t want to be seen would end poorly for you eight times out of ten; my advice to you as a friend is to Not Do That. By all means watch from a distance, by all means put together a book that’s ostensibly fiction keep it safe, on your computer or between covers coated with iron-infused paint), but do not strike up a conversation with anything that hasn’t approached you first.

Anon said: So I keep thinking about Elsewhere U... I live in europe and it feels like I've been a college student forever. I keep switching majors, getting various diplomas, leaving for a little while but coming back again, switching majors AGAIN and never quite being able to move on. Some fae just never wants me to leave right?

Yes.  Have you ever even really left?

#geekshallinherit #students #asks #fandomlockedfan #huntressmary #erai-crabantaure #writerandstudent #anon