ravensunset
no thoughts just vibes
I hear rustling in your
dark magic.
dark magic.
A TALE OF MYSTERY.
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♡design by psilocin, coded by uxie♡
"The woods are dark and full of terrors." -- An age old adage you, your mother, father, grandparents, ancestors and everyone else has lived by since the moment you all opened your eyes. Perhaps that was because the first sight you all saw was not that of those who brought you into the world—no, it was of the woods and the absolute void that lingers between the trees and threatens to swallow them whole; it threatens to swallow you, too.
You grew up, here. In a land that is older than anything and filled with powers you do not understand.
Do you have friends? Lovers? Living in castles, huts, villages? Do you have family that saw you grow up here? Do you know every path, every field in this kingdom?
Tell me - how does it feel to see it burn?
It started slowly, as things always do. A missing person here, a weird omen there. Birds falling dead from trees. Crops withering into themselves. Strange but slow, enough that when you noticed, it was already too late.
Nobody knew what the problem was until a woman walked into the village square, vomiting up inky blood. She died only minutes later.
And once it started, it would not stop.
People, healthy people, dying in a matter of hours. Cats walking on two legs and telling of days to come. Livestock going mad and escaping into the devouring woods, to not be seen again. You might be okay for now with food, but it’s getting colder every day and with the fields barren and black, you do not want to see how it will be when winter comes. Outside, by the forest, you hear whispers.
How did it feel, to watch your friends and family die? To see a life’s worth disappear? Did you stumble on the mangled bodies too - those that were made by something else than disease?
A curse has been brought into the kingdom, and now you can only hope you can stop it
---
Hi, and thanks for being interested up to this point! Essentially, a curse of unknown origin and power has just begun spreading throughout the kingdom and infecting everything. Not even the fae are safe from its clutches. From cataclysmic natural disasters and unstable magic to bad luck even, nothing is safe or sacred, and it is only the beginning. Nonetheless, whether it’s because their siblings turned into swans, or they can’t rule over a kingdom of corpses, one thing is clear: our characters must stop the curse, and they’ll have to come together to do it.
Lore Information.
The Kingdom.
The kingdom you live in is all you have known. It stretches at least as far as you will ever travel, filled with small towns, old roads, and of course, the forest. On the horizon, almost too far to make out, lie dark mountains, and somewhere far opposite them, the sea. The family who rules your land has done so for generations upon generations. You hear of them, sometimes, when a member is born to them or one passes on, but otherwise, they do little for you if you’re not involved directly with them. They rarely help, but they say it’s due to them the balance between land and magic, between human and spirit is kept, and you are grateful to be safe. The king has ruled many years, though perhaps you remember his ascension. He’s tall, and strong in a way that instills you with something between unease and comfort, and the queen is beautiful and kind. You farm, or perhaps sew, or tend to animals or make tools, but most importantly, you stay out of the woods.
The Magic.
You’ve heard stories of the woods. In fact, you grew up hearing them. “The woods are dark and full of terrors.” The night breeds monsters, beings of shadows and evil. They say if you stray, you can find great danger, but great riches too. You’ve heard legends, of wishes being granted, and taken away. Of curses, sweeping through families or whole settlements or sometimes getting back at just someone. There are those, you’ve heard, who can wield power in their bare hands, spin weather or fortune or those around them into whatever they desire. You’ve heard of potions and magic flowers. For the most part, magic stays where it is meant to, found only if asked for, and in your home and town you are safe. Most go their lives without ever seeing it, though all have heard the stories. And of course, you have heard of the fae.
The Others.
A group of creatures from Fae, a land outside your mortal realm. Fairies, fair folk goblins, trolls, all sorts of others, all creatures of the fae. They’re cunning, mysterious, timeless. The fae come and go freely from their land, though it is impossible to find or enter if not brought in by one from it. Iron charms are often placed on doors to warn against them, as they’re weak to the metal. The fae can’t lie, but you’ve been told not to let that let down your guard; their words twist and turn, easily making you believe that which is untrue, they’re clever, and charming, with more rules and tricks than easily listed, and act only on their own whims, seeing neither good nor evil. Still, there is a kingdom, perhaps better called a court, deep in Fae and unperceivable to all but them. Rumors on the wind whisper of threats, of tension between their rule and your own, of a battle soon to come. Of course, these rumors have existed for centuries, and yet there is peace. Of course, your centuries mean nothing to the fae.
You grew up, here. In a land that is older than anything and filled with powers you do not understand.
Do you have friends? Lovers? Living in castles, huts, villages? Do you have family that saw you grow up here? Do you know every path, every field in this kingdom?
Tell me - how does it feel to see it burn?
It started slowly, as things always do. A missing person here, a weird omen there. Birds falling dead from trees. Crops withering into themselves. Strange but slow, enough that when you noticed, it was already too late.
Nobody knew what the problem was until a woman walked into the village square, vomiting up inky blood. She died only minutes later.
And once it started, it would not stop.
People, healthy people, dying in a matter of hours. Cats walking on two legs and telling of days to come. Livestock going mad and escaping into the devouring woods, to not be seen again. You might be okay for now with food, but it’s getting colder every day and with the fields barren and black, you do not want to see how it will be when winter comes. Outside, by the forest, you hear whispers.
How did it feel, to watch your friends and family die? To see a life’s worth disappear? Did you stumble on the mangled bodies too - those that were made by something else than disease?
A curse has been brought into the kingdom, and now you can only hope you can stop it
---
Hi, and thanks for being interested up to this point! Essentially, a curse of unknown origin and power has just begun spreading throughout the kingdom and infecting everything. Not even the fae are safe from its clutches. From cataclysmic natural disasters and unstable magic to bad luck even, nothing is safe or sacred, and it is only the beginning. Nonetheless, whether it’s because their siblings turned into swans, or they can’t rule over a kingdom of corpses, one thing is clear: our characters must stop the curse, and they’ll have to come together to do it.
Lore Information.
The Kingdom.
The kingdom you live in is all you have known. It stretches at least as far as you will ever travel, filled with small towns, old roads, and of course, the forest. On the horizon, almost too far to make out, lie dark mountains, and somewhere far opposite them, the sea. The family who rules your land has done so for generations upon generations. You hear of them, sometimes, when a member is born to them or one passes on, but otherwise, they do little for you if you’re not involved directly with them. They rarely help, but they say it’s due to them the balance between land and magic, between human and spirit is kept, and you are grateful to be safe. The king has ruled many years, though perhaps you remember his ascension. He’s tall, and strong in a way that instills you with something between unease and comfort, and the queen is beautiful and kind. You farm, or perhaps sew, or tend to animals or make tools, but most importantly, you stay out of the woods.
The Magic.
You’ve heard stories of the woods. In fact, you grew up hearing them. “The woods are dark and full of terrors.” The night breeds monsters, beings of shadows and evil. They say if you stray, you can find great danger, but great riches too. You’ve heard legends, of wishes being granted, and taken away. Of curses, sweeping through families or whole settlements or sometimes getting back at just someone. There are those, you’ve heard, who can wield power in their bare hands, spin weather or fortune or those around them into whatever they desire. You’ve heard of potions and magic flowers. For the most part, magic stays where it is meant to, found only if asked for, and in your home and town you are safe. Most go their lives without ever seeing it, though all have heard the stories. And of course, you have heard of the fae.
The Others.
A group of creatures from Fae, a land outside your mortal realm. Fairies, fair folk goblins, trolls, all sorts of others, all creatures of the fae. They’re cunning, mysterious, timeless. The fae come and go freely from their land, though it is impossible to find or enter if not brought in by one from it. Iron charms are often placed on doors to warn against them, as they’re weak to the metal. The fae can’t lie, but you’ve been told not to let that let down your guard; their words twist and turn, easily making you believe that which is untrue, they’re clever, and charming, with more rules and tricks than easily listed, and act only on their own whims, seeing neither good nor evil. Still, there is a kingdom, perhaps better called a court, deep in Fae and unperceivable to all but them. Rumors on the wind whisper of threats, of tension between their rule and your own, of a battle soon to come. Of course, these rumors have existed for centuries, and yet there is peace. Of course, your centuries mean nothing to the fae.
Snake's Child.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
Not many humans who get taken by the snake queen come back. If they do, they never come back the same.
Why you got taken, you'll never know. Perhaps it was your eyes that caught hers, or perhaps she has simply grown lonely under the ground, in her caverns where no human foot treads. How she took you, you do not remember either - did she take you from your parents grasping hands? Or shift by your crib at night, singing you songs of days gone? You don't know. You don't know anything outside of your snake mother and the snakes that raised you.
How was it? To grow under the twisting roots, for your ceiling to be stomped from sand and rock? For your playmates to be animals, the occasional human servant that cleaned your fineries? Was it lonely, or everything you've ever known? No luxury of nature was denied to you, no gold or jewels or riches, delicate foods made from berries and spring dew. Your dress was spun from spider silk and your feet were bare. Snakes had no need for warmth and neither did you.
But you aren't a snake, only a human raised by them. And to them you are strange, cold. Cold like the stone you walked over for years. Being sent to the human court might do you some good; you are royalty too, after all. You only wish you could understand them like you do the caverns.
Half-Fae Royal.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
Your Queen mother had a dream once, on a distant summer night. There she stood, in the old forest on the old clearing. In her dream's eye, the air around her seemed to shift like a living thing; and how the trees laughed, how bright the stars were! The winds were sweet in her hair so. From the underbush came a fox, red like splattered blood and white like birch - and so it spoke. ''You are kind, very much so. I shall give you what you want.''
When your mother awoke, she felt sicker than she had in years - such a terrible weight in her stomach, and yet she felt like she had seen something beyond her. A strange night, a strange dream; but she returned to her husband’s side in the dawn, letting the last remains of the dream slip free.
A month later, she fell pregnant. With you. – How was anybody supposed to know you wouldn’t cry at birth?
Fae children are never upset for long. You needed no comfort, no tears leaving you if you scraped your knee or fell from a tree. You walked far too early, talked when your older brother still struggled. Sickness was something you never knew - where other children succumbed, you did not even have a fever. You were different, yes, too beautiful and too ugly to be human. Your parents have heard enough tales of fae children to recognise the signs; and stranger still, they kept you. Your human father eyed the queen mother with distrust, but you were not cast out or killed or thrown into a dungeon.
Only kept inside, is all. Away from the mortal responsibilities your older brother had. The castle and the woods surrounding it are your entire world, your part of the kingdom to rule over.
Lately, you’ve been having dreams, too.
Ambassador.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
You are a long way from home, are you not?
Tell me, why did you leave the fae world for this one? Of course you can always go back, yes, but what or who sent you to whisper secrets into the ears of men? You are not human, after all. A creature born from the womb of earth, dark and brittle and powerful - a fae, bathing in springs and dancing under the full moon. Powers, mysterious and odd, listen to the command of your hand. The human world is so much different, from flesh and blood and - lies. That pesky little word you just can’t get off your tongue.
Perhaps this is simply what your parents expected for you. Or perhaps you wanted to win a favor from your king. Or perhaps you have goals beyond just your own world. After all, the fae court is centuries of politeness and vipers; and you always were a smart one. Ambition fits you well.
So here you are, at the court of beings who will never live as long as you. If you miss your family, you do not let it be seen - weakness is not something you know, and yet the people here show it so openly. Not the royals, never. But their subjects? They bleed so easily, break like twigs under your legs. You do not understand their strange ways, the way they still protect each other, when your family would have sold you out eons ago.
Do you long for it? Or do you just see it as another crack to exploit? Only you know the truth, fae who lives off deceit.
Human Engaged.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
When the moon has thrice filled its bowl from now, you are to marry a fae. That is not so far off.
How were you born? Into nobility, with a house so fine and riches so vast? Or into rags and scraps, your parents poor and hoping for more? It matters little, now. Nothing really does. You grew older and you grew beautiful enough to draw the eye; perhaps no thousand ships will sail for your name, but you’re still beautiful enough to warrant a tragedy. The fae and human kingdoms never got quite along, but they understood each other even less now. For months they have fought and for months they have bargained, until they came to an agreement - ten fae and ten humans are to marry. Maybe now was the time to regret being beautiful enough to catch the eye.
Did you volunteer for it? Or did the guards drag you out by your arm, your feet catching on dust ground? Did your parents weep for you? Or did they take the gold happily, not even being there to see you go? No, don’t tell me. I know it was not easy either way.
Your hair was washed with oils and roses, your face painted with chalk. Your eyelids were the color of sky and your hands adorned with bracelets. In a garden you met your betrothed, only once. Whether they want to be there or not is of no matter; neither of you have a choice. And the moon grows ever fuller.
Now, you pray that you will not find love elsewhere first.
Human Royal.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
You’re not of blue blood, but marriage is as binding as any birth. Your husband, the only prince and the one of two children the king and queen ever had. You married; perhaps not happily, but married anyways. Until he came to sicken.
You made a choice, then. You know it best of all. The prince died, as men tend to do, and left you stranded in a court that is not your own - your husband’s family watches you. Especially his sibling.
Human Servant.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Few mortals have ever stepped foot in Fae. The land is not yours, not how you once had. You once knew the meaning of the passage of time, of distances traveled, but no longer. There is a sun, but it rises and sets where it wants to, no rhyme behind it. Do you know why you were taken into this realm? Did you stumble into an agreement accidentally, or did you choose this? Did a parent, a loved one do it for you?
A fae took your hand, warm and cold at the same time, and pulled you into their world. You cannot describe how long ago that was, but you learned to comprehend it, until it bent to your will as it did to its true children. You do as the fae who brought you says, bound to their word, their every will. They see you as only a servant, or, no, they do not see you at all, only see something they can command. Don’t you want more? Do you yet love the wonder and sinister beauty of the land in which you reside? Do the blades of grass still cut your feet?
You don’t much think of the person you once were. No, you are in Fae now. You’ve learned to act like them, to speak like them, twisting your words into weapons and tricks and illusions. Yet there is something it would be wise of them to not forget; you may speak in their silver tongues, but lies won’t burn rolling off of yours. Use it wisely.
Royal Fae.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Oh, isn’t it fun? Isn’t it beautiful, the land over which you rule? The Fae Court is a delicate thing. Hospitality, of course, must always be kept, mortals who eat your food are yours to have, and well, rules come and go with a wave of your hand. You have tea parties at all times of the day, and you dance, and you laugh, and the world blossoms around you. Is this what freedom feels like? To see the whole world from one single seat?
The fae are funny things, even to you. All shapes and sizes and looks. They live in your forests, in your land, some serve as your nobility on your court. They dance for you, and you with them. You sometimes take in mortals. For their beauty, for their work, because they gave one of yours their name when they shouldn’t have, because they stumbled into the wrong part of the woods. You do not care for such fragile, lying beings, do you? It’s all in fun.
You watch, sometimes, over their land. They have a court there too, an odd thing. You peek in from time to time, sometimes years have passed, sometimes seconds. You send your nobility to chat with them, to spin deals. Don’t you think the humans must be having so much less fun? They are not polite, no, not like they should be. Did you see them nail iron to their doors? How rude to not want you there. How rude to warn against you. In your court, such rudeness doesn’t happen. You’re strong, aren’t you? How easy their bones break. How easy they die. They whisper about war. What a funny little rumor. You’re busy at your endless tea party, but in the breaks between the dancing, doesn’t the thought cross your mind?
Fae Engaged.
FAE COURT. OPEN.
You are nobility. Fae, of course.
Your family might be big or small, happy or not, sick or healthy; but you are a child of them, and so you must carry a burden they pose. Are you high up on the ladder, tell me? Does your mother dance with the king and your father dallies with generals? Or are you just another bloodline with a title and some land, humble in your riches? No matter. Nothing could have stopped this.
Humans - what does that word mean to you? A living thing, yours for breaking? Something you watch with curiosity, like one might look at an interesting insect? Or perhaps you are kinder to them than other Fae, offering solace where your brothers and sisters offer cruelty. Yes, and yet your nature is hard to deny; still these strange powers bend to your will. Still do you feel such a boredom in the face of time, still you dance barefoot in thrice burned forests. You were young, always will be - and that is why you were plucked from idleness. To be married, they said. To a human of some beauty. Whether you have lovers on the side matters not; you are to be wed and your word will not bend mountains like it used to. Sat in a chariot under a full moon, you traveled - your horses white like snow and black like charcoal. There they stood, in flowers and rose bushes overgrown; in fineries and golden rings.
How do you feel, now that you’ve seen them? That you could love them, possibly? Or do you feel the same lack of care your people do, looking down at your spouse-to-be like a giant cat watching mice?
You might change your mind sooner than you think.
Siren's Child.
FAE COURT. OPEN.
A song is a powerful thing. Strange, isn’t it, what words can do when spoken a certain way. They can lead to devastation. You know this better than most. Your mother was a true sirem, a daughter of the sea, with fae-like beauty and terror spread across her features. The waves crashed around the rocks she spent days lounging on, and saltwater swirled through her hair when she dived into the depths. She and her sisters brought passing ships to them, sailors smashing to their end against jagged, jagged rocks.
How did you come to be? How does such a terrific being have a child? The water called to you, as it did your mother, and your tongue yearned to sing. But it was not enough for you. The endless, blue waters. How did you feel, watching bodies shred apart against the rocks, red insides diluted away by the sea? I know well the story of your childhood, if you could even call it that. There’s a land beyond the sea, a land as huge and full of danger, and as inhuman as you are, Fae called to you. But what sent you to the Fae Court? Are you looking to learn, for a place to belong? Are you passing through on your way to better shores? Do you have a bargain, an offer, a message from home? Did you simply wish to spread your song?
You’ve found yourself again in the company of strange, terrific beings of magic tongues and no sympathy for human lives, and you, well, you’re only just beginning to see the true reach of your power.
Beauty.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Your parents tell you that you were blessed at birth. That your beauty was a gift given to you. Such a thing is rare to see; beauty with the power to end wars, or cause them, to build armies to fight for your name. Has it truly been a blessing? You see the devotion given to you, and know it is only for your looks. You’ve caught attention beyond your world alone - they say the fae are drawn to true beauty. Were you willing, when they brought you to their court?
The Hermit.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. OPEN.
To you, the woods are dark. Full of terrors? Maybe, but certainly not as much as the rest of your kind think. Where others tremble at the mere thought, you reach out your hand, grasping for anyone, anything, to take hold and pull you in. You must’ve once shared the same thoughts as the rest of your kind - the woods are not a place to look at, much less enter for beasts are said to await and death always follows - when did that all change?
What entranced you so much as to find solace amongst the trees? Amongst the unknown? To reject humanity for a more… naturalistic way of life? You may not know, perhaps never will; there is never much time to reflect in the forest, but one thing is clear. You are alone. An outcast. A reject. Someone both shunned by the people who once cared for you and turned away by the magical neighbors you left them for. Is that a tinge of remorse you feel? They say the sting of loneliness trumps all other pains.
And yet, there is so much you know - more than a mere human, or even fae, could understand for experience is the king of all teachers, and you - my dear - are the first of your kind.
Nature's Child.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
You’ve never known anything else. Between this village and your parents - who raised you, their one and only child, with enough love and reverence to make even the King jealous - what was there to want? To know?
You are a human, a loved one at that, and yet that answer must not have satisfied you. When did you realize someone was hiding the truth? Perhaps you always knew the origin of your birth, always had the smallest inkling that there was more to your existence than the simple union of man and woman. It must have been strange to learn you were not your mother’s, much less your father’s, - perhaps caretakers are a more appropriate title now - but a product of the woods instead. Born from a single fruit - nay, a single wish made by an elderly couple that desperately dreamed of being parents many moons ago - you are something that no man or creature, not even a fae, has chanced upon before.
Pray, tell me. Do you fear the woods? Nature is your mother, but are humans your maker?
Immune Human.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
You are but a single woman, used to work and nothing much else. – No royalty in your line, no prophecy over your head. No great beauty or great strength. Only utterly human, mortal and gone in a blink. And yet you are lucky - where others choke with blood and curse-blackness, you prevail. Others’ chests fill with ink they throw up in mornings, yours breathe free. The curse can’t touch you, no.
But it takes everybody else.
Changeling.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. OPEN.
Let me tell you a secret - you are human.
The other villagers do not believe it. Not with how you were born, strange and with a two-headed calf born in the same night as you. The stars danced on the night of your birth, the heavens in disarray. And you never sickened, either, never cried much.
Your parents fell worried. And then they fell suspicious. Bad omens follow you like a shadow, terrible events staying behind your back - fae-touched, they call you. The other children would not play with you and threw stones when you passed, and the adults frowned when they saw you. The elder woman in your village said you are not your parent’s, spitting after your feet. – Did your parents love you through this? Or did they cast you out too, the ultimate betrayal?
How cruel humans are to their own. Perhaps they are closer to fae than you.
Of Swans.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
Your family was nothing special. Perhaps you were wealthy, born on a wide expanse of land, or perhaps only a small house in a similarly small village. In the end, it didn’t matter. You and your siblings played in the dirt outside your house. Your parents loved you, though it’s always difficult to divide love fairly among many children. It’s hard to get along with them, sometimes, too. Your family was large, full of love and full of struggles.
You heard of the danger of the woods. You were told to be kind, play nice, stay safe, you and your siblings all. Did you listen? Did they?
True encounters of magic are rare. But in a funny sense, it seems to work justly, coming where it is deserved. You know the mistake that was made. You didn’t see it coming, of course, no one could have, yet someone must have stepped where they did not belong. Have they learned their lesson? Have you? As a result of that encounter, your siblings grew feathers, their bodies shifting, until only swans were left in the place of those you were raised with.
Why were you spared? Perhaps it doesn’t matter, anymore. Nothing does except reversing the effect. Your parents cannot look you in the eye, and your siblings’ lives weigh heavy on your shoulders. They are your responsibility now; but how far are you truly willing to go for them?
Tenth Child.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
There is a rule that your people abide by - if a pair has ten daughters or ten sons, the tenth child belongs to the world.
You are one of those children, tenth and never again your family’s. Heartbreaking, that your parents knew your fate before you did, when the midwife took you into her weathered arms and shook her old head. Gave you to your mother with a sad smile, watched as tears filled your parents’ eyes. Your fate is their own sin - but you have to bear the weight of it. Did you understand why your mother would weep as you grew older? Why your father avoided your gaze? Why your siblings held your hand at every chance they could, as if it might be gone tomorrow? Perhaps they told you. Perhaps you found out yourself.
Perhaps they simply handed you your things once you turned into an adult, closing the door after you and acting as if you had died.
You’ll never come back to your home, must never do so lest your family is struck by terrible luck. And so you wander the world that is yours and you are it’s. The paths of foreign villages wear down your shoes and your tears fill the rivers here.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
Not many humans who get taken by the snake queen come back. If they do, they never come back the same.
Why you got taken, you'll never know. Perhaps it was your eyes that caught hers, or perhaps she has simply grown lonely under the ground, in her caverns where no human foot treads. How she took you, you do not remember either - did she take you from your parents grasping hands? Or shift by your crib at night, singing you songs of days gone? You don't know. You don't know anything outside of your snake mother and the snakes that raised you.
How was it? To grow under the twisting roots, for your ceiling to be stomped from sand and rock? For your playmates to be animals, the occasional human servant that cleaned your fineries? Was it lonely, or everything you've ever known? No luxury of nature was denied to you, no gold or jewels or riches, delicate foods made from berries and spring dew. Your dress was spun from spider silk and your feet were bare. Snakes had no need for warmth and neither did you.
But you aren't a snake, only a human raised by them. And to them you are strange, cold. Cold like the stone you walked over for years. Being sent to the human court might do you some good; you are royalty too, after all. You only wish you could understand them like you do the caverns.
Half-Fae Royal.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
Your Queen mother had a dream once, on a distant summer night. There she stood, in the old forest on the old clearing. In her dream's eye, the air around her seemed to shift like a living thing; and how the trees laughed, how bright the stars were! The winds were sweet in her hair so. From the underbush came a fox, red like splattered blood and white like birch - and so it spoke. ''You are kind, very much so. I shall give you what you want.''
When your mother awoke, she felt sicker than she had in years - such a terrible weight in her stomach, and yet she felt like she had seen something beyond her. A strange night, a strange dream; but she returned to her husband’s side in the dawn, letting the last remains of the dream slip free.
A month later, she fell pregnant. With you. – How was anybody supposed to know you wouldn’t cry at birth?
Fae children are never upset for long. You needed no comfort, no tears leaving you if you scraped your knee or fell from a tree. You walked far too early, talked when your older brother still struggled. Sickness was something you never knew - where other children succumbed, you did not even have a fever. You were different, yes, too beautiful and too ugly to be human. Your parents have heard enough tales of fae children to recognise the signs; and stranger still, they kept you. Your human father eyed the queen mother with distrust, but you were not cast out or killed or thrown into a dungeon.
Only kept inside, is all. Away from the mortal responsibilities your older brother had. The castle and the woods surrounding it are your entire world, your part of the kingdom to rule over.
Lately, you’ve been having dreams, too.
Ambassador.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
You are a long way from home, are you not?
Tell me, why did you leave the fae world for this one? Of course you can always go back, yes, but what or who sent you to whisper secrets into the ears of men? You are not human, after all. A creature born from the womb of earth, dark and brittle and powerful - a fae, bathing in springs and dancing under the full moon. Powers, mysterious and odd, listen to the command of your hand. The human world is so much different, from flesh and blood and - lies. That pesky little word you just can’t get off your tongue.
Perhaps this is simply what your parents expected for you. Or perhaps you wanted to win a favor from your king. Or perhaps you have goals beyond just your own world. After all, the fae court is centuries of politeness and vipers; and you always were a smart one. Ambition fits you well.
So here you are, at the court of beings who will never live as long as you. If you miss your family, you do not let it be seen - weakness is not something you know, and yet the people here show it so openly. Not the royals, never. But their subjects? They bleed so easily, break like twigs under your legs. You do not understand their strange ways, the way they still protect each other, when your family would have sold you out eons ago.
Do you long for it? Or do you just see it as another crack to exploit? Only you know the truth, fae who lives off deceit.
Human Engaged.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
When the moon has thrice filled its bowl from now, you are to marry a fae. That is not so far off.
How were you born? Into nobility, with a house so fine and riches so vast? Or into rags and scraps, your parents poor and hoping for more? It matters little, now. Nothing really does. You grew older and you grew beautiful enough to draw the eye; perhaps no thousand ships will sail for your name, but you’re still beautiful enough to warrant a tragedy. The fae and human kingdoms never got quite along, but they understood each other even less now. For months they have fought and for months they have bargained, until they came to an agreement - ten fae and ten humans are to marry. Maybe now was the time to regret being beautiful enough to catch the eye.
Did you volunteer for it? Or did the guards drag you out by your arm, your feet catching on dust ground? Did your parents weep for you? Or did they take the gold happily, not even being there to see you go? No, don’t tell me. I know it was not easy either way.
Your hair was washed with oils and roses, your face painted with chalk. Your eyelids were the color of sky and your hands adorned with bracelets. In a garden you met your betrothed, only once. Whether they want to be there or not is of no matter; neither of you have a choice. And the moon grows ever fuller.
Now, you pray that you will not find love elsewhere first.
Human Royal.
HUMAN COURT. TAKEN.
You’re not of blue blood, but marriage is as binding as any birth. Your husband, the only prince and the one of two children the king and queen ever had. You married; perhaps not happily, but married anyways. Until he came to sicken.
You made a choice, then. You know it best of all. The prince died, as men tend to do, and left you stranded in a court that is not your own - your husband’s family watches you. Especially his sibling.
Human Servant.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Few mortals have ever stepped foot in Fae. The land is not yours, not how you once had. You once knew the meaning of the passage of time, of distances traveled, but no longer. There is a sun, but it rises and sets where it wants to, no rhyme behind it. Do you know why you were taken into this realm? Did you stumble into an agreement accidentally, or did you choose this? Did a parent, a loved one do it for you?
A fae took your hand, warm and cold at the same time, and pulled you into their world. You cannot describe how long ago that was, but you learned to comprehend it, until it bent to your will as it did to its true children. You do as the fae who brought you says, bound to their word, their every will. They see you as only a servant, or, no, they do not see you at all, only see something they can command. Don’t you want more? Do you yet love the wonder and sinister beauty of the land in which you reside? Do the blades of grass still cut your feet?
You don’t much think of the person you once were. No, you are in Fae now. You’ve learned to act like them, to speak like them, twisting your words into weapons and tricks and illusions. Yet there is something it would be wise of them to not forget; you may speak in their silver tongues, but lies won’t burn rolling off of yours. Use it wisely.
Royal Fae.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Oh, isn’t it fun? Isn’t it beautiful, the land over which you rule? The Fae Court is a delicate thing. Hospitality, of course, must always be kept, mortals who eat your food are yours to have, and well, rules come and go with a wave of your hand. You have tea parties at all times of the day, and you dance, and you laugh, and the world blossoms around you. Is this what freedom feels like? To see the whole world from one single seat?
The fae are funny things, even to you. All shapes and sizes and looks. They live in your forests, in your land, some serve as your nobility on your court. They dance for you, and you with them. You sometimes take in mortals. For their beauty, for their work, because they gave one of yours their name when they shouldn’t have, because they stumbled into the wrong part of the woods. You do not care for such fragile, lying beings, do you? It’s all in fun.
You watch, sometimes, over their land. They have a court there too, an odd thing. You peek in from time to time, sometimes years have passed, sometimes seconds. You send your nobility to chat with them, to spin deals. Don’t you think the humans must be having so much less fun? They are not polite, no, not like they should be. Did you see them nail iron to their doors? How rude to not want you there. How rude to warn against you. In your court, such rudeness doesn’t happen. You’re strong, aren’t you? How easy their bones break. How easy they die. They whisper about war. What a funny little rumor. You’re busy at your endless tea party, but in the breaks between the dancing, doesn’t the thought cross your mind?
Fae Engaged.
FAE COURT. OPEN.
You are nobility. Fae, of course.
Your family might be big or small, happy or not, sick or healthy; but you are a child of them, and so you must carry a burden they pose. Are you high up on the ladder, tell me? Does your mother dance with the king and your father dallies with generals? Or are you just another bloodline with a title and some land, humble in your riches? No matter. Nothing could have stopped this.
Humans - what does that word mean to you? A living thing, yours for breaking? Something you watch with curiosity, like one might look at an interesting insect? Or perhaps you are kinder to them than other Fae, offering solace where your brothers and sisters offer cruelty. Yes, and yet your nature is hard to deny; still these strange powers bend to your will. Still do you feel such a boredom in the face of time, still you dance barefoot in thrice burned forests. You were young, always will be - and that is why you were plucked from idleness. To be married, they said. To a human of some beauty. Whether you have lovers on the side matters not; you are to be wed and your word will not bend mountains like it used to. Sat in a chariot under a full moon, you traveled - your horses white like snow and black like charcoal. There they stood, in flowers and rose bushes overgrown; in fineries and golden rings.
How do you feel, now that you’ve seen them? That you could love them, possibly? Or do you feel the same lack of care your people do, looking down at your spouse-to-be like a giant cat watching mice?
You might change your mind sooner than you think.
Siren's Child.
FAE COURT. OPEN.
A song is a powerful thing. Strange, isn’t it, what words can do when spoken a certain way. They can lead to devastation. You know this better than most. Your mother was a true sirem, a daughter of the sea, with fae-like beauty and terror spread across her features. The waves crashed around the rocks she spent days lounging on, and saltwater swirled through her hair when she dived into the depths. She and her sisters brought passing ships to them, sailors smashing to their end against jagged, jagged rocks.
How did you come to be? How does such a terrific being have a child? The water called to you, as it did your mother, and your tongue yearned to sing. But it was not enough for you. The endless, blue waters. How did you feel, watching bodies shred apart against the rocks, red insides diluted away by the sea? I know well the story of your childhood, if you could even call it that. There’s a land beyond the sea, a land as huge and full of danger, and as inhuman as you are, Fae called to you. But what sent you to the Fae Court? Are you looking to learn, for a place to belong? Are you passing through on your way to better shores? Do you have a bargain, an offer, a message from home? Did you simply wish to spread your song?
You’ve found yourself again in the company of strange, terrific beings of magic tongues and no sympathy for human lives, and you, well, you’re only just beginning to see the true reach of your power.
Beauty.
FAE COURT. TAKEN.
Your parents tell you that you were blessed at birth. That your beauty was a gift given to you. Such a thing is rare to see; beauty with the power to end wars, or cause them, to build armies to fight for your name. Has it truly been a blessing? You see the devotion given to you, and know it is only for your looks. You’ve caught attention beyond your world alone - they say the fae are drawn to true beauty. Were you willing, when they brought you to their court?
The Hermit.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. OPEN.
To you, the woods are dark. Full of terrors? Maybe, but certainly not as much as the rest of your kind think. Where others tremble at the mere thought, you reach out your hand, grasping for anyone, anything, to take hold and pull you in. You must’ve once shared the same thoughts as the rest of your kind - the woods are not a place to look at, much less enter for beasts are said to await and death always follows - when did that all change?
What entranced you so much as to find solace amongst the trees? Amongst the unknown? To reject humanity for a more… naturalistic way of life? You may not know, perhaps never will; there is never much time to reflect in the forest, but one thing is clear. You are alone. An outcast. A reject. Someone both shunned by the people who once cared for you and turned away by the magical neighbors you left them for. Is that a tinge of remorse you feel? They say the sting of loneliness trumps all other pains.
And yet, there is so much you know - more than a mere human, or even fae, could understand for experience is the king of all teachers, and you - my dear - are the first of your kind.
Nature's Child.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
You’ve never known anything else. Between this village and your parents - who raised you, their one and only child, with enough love and reverence to make even the King jealous - what was there to want? To know?
You are a human, a loved one at that, and yet that answer must not have satisfied you. When did you realize someone was hiding the truth? Perhaps you always knew the origin of your birth, always had the smallest inkling that there was more to your existence than the simple union of man and woman. It must have been strange to learn you were not your mother’s, much less your father’s, - perhaps caretakers are a more appropriate title now - but a product of the woods instead. Born from a single fruit - nay, a single wish made by an elderly couple that desperately dreamed of being parents many moons ago - you are something that no man or creature, not even a fae, has chanced upon before.
Pray, tell me. Do you fear the woods? Nature is your mother, but are humans your maker?
Immune Human.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
You are but a single woman, used to work and nothing much else. – No royalty in your line, no prophecy over your head. No great beauty or great strength. Only utterly human, mortal and gone in a blink. And yet you are lucky - where others choke with blood and curse-blackness, you prevail. Others’ chests fill with ink they throw up in mornings, yours breathe free. The curse can’t touch you, no.
But it takes everybody else.
Changeling.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. OPEN.
Let me tell you a secret - you are human.
The other villagers do not believe it. Not with how you were born, strange and with a two-headed calf born in the same night as you. The stars danced on the night of your birth, the heavens in disarray. And you never sickened, either, never cried much.
Your parents fell worried. And then they fell suspicious. Bad omens follow you like a shadow, terrible events staying behind your back - fae-touched, they call you. The other children would not play with you and threw stones when you passed, and the adults frowned when they saw you. The elder woman in your village said you are not your parent’s, spitting after your feet. – Did your parents love you through this? Or did they cast you out too, the ultimate betrayal?
How cruel humans are to their own. Perhaps they are closer to fae than you.
Of Swans.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
Your family was nothing special. Perhaps you were wealthy, born on a wide expanse of land, or perhaps only a small house in a similarly small village. In the end, it didn’t matter. You and your siblings played in the dirt outside your house. Your parents loved you, though it’s always difficult to divide love fairly among many children. It’s hard to get along with them, sometimes, too. Your family was large, full of love and full of struggles.
You heard of the danger of the woods. You were told to be kind, play nice, stay safe, you and your siblings all. Did you listen? Did they?
True encounters of magic are rare. But in a funny sense, it seems to work justly, coming where it is deserved. You know the mistake that was made. You didn’t see it coming, of course, no one could have, yet someone must have stepped where they did not belong. Have they learned their lesson? Have you? As a result of that encounter, your siblings grew feathers, their bodies shifting, until only swans were left in the place of those you were raised with.
Why were you spared? Perhaps it doesn’t matter, anymore. Nothing does except reversing the effect. Your parents cannot look you in the eye, and your siblings’ lives weigh heavy on your shoulders. They are your responsibility now; but how far are you truly willing to go for them?
Tenth Child.
HUMAN SETTLEMENT. TAKEN.
There is a rule that your people abide by - if a pair has ten daughters or ten sons, the tenth child belongs to the world.
You are one of those children, tenth and never again your family’s. Heartbreaking, that your parents knew your fate before you did, when the midwife took you into her weathered arms and shook her old head. Gave you to your mother with a sad smile, watched as tears filled your parents’ eyes. Your fate is their own sin - but you have to bear the weight of it. Did you understand why your mother would weep as you grew older? Why your father avoided your gaze? Why your siblings held your hand at every chance they could, as if it might be gone tomorrow? Perhaps they told you. Perhaps you found out yourself.
Perhaps they simply handed you your things once you turned into an adult, closing the door after you and acting as if you had died.
You’ll never come back to your home, must never do so lest your family is struck by terrible luck. And so you wander the world that is yours and you are it’s. The paths of foreign villages wear down your shoes and your tears fill the rivers here.
1. Please be 18+. All OOC communication will happen through discord, so one would be necessary!
2. Please be respectful - absolutely no bigotry, bullying or rude behavior will be tolerated.
3. We’re allowing one character per roleplayer, to be able to accommodate a larger cast without too much confusion. So make sure you make one you enjoy!
4. Be able to post weekly. If for some reason you need to skip a week, we’ll understand, just let us know beforehand. However, we’ve put a lot into this roleplay and absolutely want it to stay active. So, if you know you tend to be busy, or if you won’t be able to be active at this level long term or aren’t sure about making a commitment to this roleplay, we might not be the best fit for you.
5. Since we’re hoping for this roleplay to be somewhat fast paced and want to ensure everyone can keep up, we’re not asking for novella length or particularly long posts for this. Further, we understand being busy and that different situations will ask for different post lengths. However, please be able to write at least 3 paragraphs per post, just so there’s something to work with.
6. We’ve outlined several roles in the previous tab, however, this is largely to give a sense of the tone of the characters existing in this world. If you have your own idea for a character that would fit into this, and want to make your own role, feel free to do that! We’d love to see it! However, despite this being a fantasy roleplay in a world with magic, our focus here is mostly on people who got swept up in the story, and while we do have supernatural roles, our final cast will be primarily human, so keep that in consideration. We’ve made our roles on the more fantastical side, but we welcome more ordinary characters, after all, most of the world is just ordinary people.
7. Characters will not be all powerful or always successful- it’s far more fun to have characters who struggle, have flaws, and are generally imperfect. We don’t have hard rules for our magic system, to keep with the mystery of it, this shouldn’t be used to make characters who are supremely powerful or able to use it to escape any situation.
8. Finally, we’re aiming to keep this roleplay with a serious tone, this isn’t going to be anything fluffy or slice of life, but something more dramatic and eerie. We’re going for a dark fantasy genre, with inspiration from Grimm fairy tales and just, hoping to explore a more sinister side to fairy tales and fantasy. We’re hoping that not too long replies help with consistency (and we’ll be putting in events to keep structure) but we’re really hoping for committed, serious writers who’ll help keep the tone, so, if you’re on the same page as us and interested in exploring some mystery, magic, fairy tales, and writing for a slightly darker mood, send in an application!
2. Please be respectful - absolutely no bigotry, bullying or rude behavior will be tolerated.
3. We’re allowing one character per roleplayer, to be able to accommodate a larger cast without too much confusion. So make sure you make one you enjoy!
4. Be able to post weekly. If for some reason you need to skip a week, we’ll understand, just let us know beforehand. However, we’ve put a lot into this roleplay and absolutely want it to stay active. So, if you know you tend to be busy, or if you won’t be able to be active at this level long term or aren’t sure about making a commitment to this roleplay, we might not be the best fit for you.
5. Since we’re hoping for this roleplay to be somewhat fast paced and want to ensure everyone can keep up, we’re not asking for novella length or particularly long posts for this. Further, we understand being busy and that different situations will ask for different post lengths. However, please be able to write at least 3 paragraphs per post, just so there’s something to work with.
6. We’ve outlined several roles in the previous tab, however, this is largely to give a sense of the tone of the characters existing in this world. If you have your own idea for a character that would fit into this, and want to make your own role, feel free to do that! We’d love to see it! However, despite this being a fantasy roleplay in a world with magic, our focus here is mostly on people who got swept up in the story, and while we do have supernatural roles, our final cast will be primarily human, so keep that in consideration. We’ve made our roles on the more fantastical side, but we welcome more ordinary characters, after all, most of the world is just ordinary people.
7. Characters will not be all powerful or always successful- it’s far more fun to have characters who struggle, have flaws, and are generally imperfect. We don’t have hard rules for our magic system, to keep with the mystery of it, this shouldn’t be used to make characters who are supremely powerful or able to use it to escape any situation.
8. Finally, we’re aiming to keep this roleplay with a serious tone, this isn’t going to be anything fluffy or slice of life, but something more dramatic and eerie. We’re going for a dark fantasy genre, with inspiration from Grimm fairy tales and just, hoping to explore a more sinister side to fairy tales and fantasy. We’re hoping that not too long replies help with consistency (and we’ll be putting in events to keep structure) but we’re really hoping for committed, serious writers who’ll help keep the tone, so, if you’re on the same page as us and interested in exploring some mystery, magic, fairy tales, and writing for a slightly darker mood, send in an application!
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