HowlingWoods
"And she heaved the forest upon her back"
Hey there! This is my first time making a quest thread, so please bear with me here. This story is set in my own original universe, which you can read more about under the ‘lore’ section. You’re welcome to skip over the lore section if you like, but know that this story was intended for people who have read the lore beforehand, so you might be a bit confused if you don’t read it.
This story is likely to take some unexpected turns, as there are several different plotlines going on all at once. This first post will introduce one of the plotlines, but the main one likely won’t be introduced for a while still. The main plotline may not be to everyone’s tastes, but I hope most people can at least find something they like in this story.
This story is likely to take some unexpected turns, as there are several different plotlines going on all at once. This first post will introduce one of the plotlines, but the main one likely won’t be introduced for a while still. The main plotline may not be to everyone’s tastes, but I hope most people can at least find something they like in this story.
To See the Stars
A Breaktaking Piano Piece by Jervy Hou
filler thing. ignore
It was a bright, sunny day when they buried my fiance. It was autumn, yet not a cloud remained in the sky. It was almost like the Divines themselves were mocking the ceremony with the bright, sunny smile of the sun shining down on so many tear-stained faces. Even so, my eyes were dry as I watched the groundskeepers shovel dirt onto the casket. I hadn't the strength to cry anymore - after all my father had taken from me, what would a few tears do?
"That's the widower, I hear. He looks just like his father, doesn't he?"
"Indeed. If not for the eyepatch I'd have mistaken him for Mikela Feal himself."
I didn't even have the strength to hate myself, at that moment. All I could think about was Frida. Not my fiance being buried for a sin I committed, nor her grieving parents observing the burial with red, swollen eyes. My mind was on the other woman who had died that night, the woman nobody else would shed a tear over. She had undoubtedly died a gruesome, painful death, but there would be no justice for her, nor any other of her kind.
A single tear rolled down my left cheek.
"Excuse me, sir...if I may?"
I glanced up at the feather-light touch to my shoulder, flinching away from the unexpected contact. Before me stood a man with hair as white as snow. The stranger took in my flinch with a keen awareness, a single pale blue eye watching me from behind a veil of wintery hair. The pale hand that had tapped my shoulder fell to the man's side, and I got the odd sense that I was speaking to someone of both great wisdom, and great failure. It was something in the man's eyes - which, I now realized, were not all blue. His right eye was the color of rich honey, the warmthness of the shade a stark contrast from his otherwise chilly appearance.
The man seemed to see through to my very soul with those eyes, and I found myself thoroughly uncomfortable with the intelligence behind those eyes. "You..." The man began, his words slow and measured, "You aren't grieving for this woman here, are you?" He made a general gesture towards the casket, by now buried in a layer of soil six feet deep. I could almost feel all my secrets unraveling before this man. Secrets my fiance had died for. Secrets Frida had died for.
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice the barest of breaths against the breeze. It occurred to me that this was a private ceremony, and I couldn’t imagine this man had any connection to the woman they’d just buried - he showed no signs of grief in the slightest. Even so, I was convinced this man had no ill intentions about him. It was an understanding that I could not explain, but an understanding nonetheless.
The man observed me openly, making no efforts to hide his curiosity. It was almost refreshing, to not be buried neck-deep in manipulation and lies, if but for a moment. “You may call me Relinor.” Said the wintery man, offering the barest of smiles. No hand was extended for me to shake, and I could not help but wonder if this man had somehow known of my distaste for the traditional greeting. “I’m here to help you.”
And that was how I, Juniper Feal, came to join the resistance.
One Year Later“I want to help.”
I was eager to finally see my first mission with the resistance. I’d been with them nearly a year now, training hard to overcome my disadvantages. And yet, it seemed my greatest disadvantage was something that no amount of training could help with.
I’d confronted two of the resistance’s Elites just outside Relinor’s quarters, tired of sitting on the sidelines. I’d watched resistance members who’d joined months after me preparing to leave for their third and fourth missions, and yet I hadn’t been assigned one.
“Oh, you want to help, do you?” The snark in Yuki’s voice was apparent even without the obvious disdain painted over her expression. “Go sit in the corner and stay out of our way, master.” Her jeering tone procured a few snickers from the nearby beast-born lounging around their tents, but Vyrn beside her remained stone-faced as ever.
Yuki was one of the younger Elites, a panda-born with a mastery of poison unlike any other. As the Elite in charge of directing and training the resistance’s assassins, that was an important skill to have. Even so, she was better known within the resistance for her sharp tongue and an intense hatred of the Feal family in particular.
I could hardly blame her for her anger - my species, nor my family, had hardly treated hers well. It was why I was here - to fight against slavery in Agea. It was why we were all here, and sometimes I wished that she could see that. There was no point in fighting amongst ourselves.
Vyrn, the wolf-born Elite in charge of the resistance’s core army, spoke up then. “You’re not even a real elemental. What good do you think you can actually do?” His expression was, as always, unreadable, like trying to talk to a stone wall. I had never been able to tell if Vyrn liked me or not, but today I got the sense that perhaps it was the latter.
- Try to explain how you could be useful on an undercover mission.
- Protest Vyrn’s argument that you aren’t a real elemental.
- Emphasize your skill with a katana.
- Give up - there is no point in trying to convince these two.
Post
The last three previous posts will show up here!
History
The Divine Brotherhood
It is common knowledge that the world in which we live was created by a trio of brothers whose names were Min, Sin, and Kin. Min was the leader of these 3 brothers, and he created all things that had no allegiance - the dirt and the grass, the animals and the trees...At first, there was no such thing as life - Min created the animals and the plants to be inanimate creatures, void of life and there just for decoration. It was Kin who gave these things life, who made the wind rustle the leaves in the trees and the grass grow with time. Kin made the animals dance and play together, and he created life... He also created the Beast-Born. The Beast-Born were his masterpiece, for they were the first sentient life. Then, Sin, who was always known to be the more sinister of the brothers, created death. He said that all things that have begun must end, and he made the animals fight and compete for territory and food. He said he must balance this world, so that everything earned came at a cost. When Kin created the Beast-Born, Sin felt he had been shown up. So, he created the Elementals- the second sentient life, whose very existence seemed to represent physical strength and power.
When this world had been created, the brothers watched it grow, vowing that they would not interfere in this world now that it had been finished. Civilization sparked, and from civilization came governments, and with governments...came corruption.
Sin, of course, thrived in seeing his creations create such systems as slavery, which seemed to appall Min and Kin. Yet, they had made their vows, and they stayed out of the way...Except for Sin. Sin was not satisfied with slavery being such a small part of this world. He wanted to see the entirety of the Beast-Born race enslaved. After all, Kin's creations were so weak, so naïve...His race was powerful and sturdy. He wanted to make his brothers see that his creation was the best of all their creations. So, he broke his vow and meddled in the world they had created, influencing the government to make the buying and selling of slaves a higher priority. At first, Min and Kin didn't find out. It was only after several thousands of years that Sin had a slip of tongue and accidentally revealed to Min and Kin that he had broken his vow. Kin was furious, and tackled Sin. Min tried to separate the two, but all three of them tumbled down from their palace into the world below. By entering the mortal realm, the three brothers became mortal themselves, although still unable to age. Blaming Kin for their new mortality, Sin beheaded Kin, and Min stabbed Sin, determined to not let him loose on the world they had created. Min survived, and it is said that he is still roaming this world under a new name, hiding his true identity and discreetly working to stop slavery and fix his brother's wrongdoings.
The Treaty
Map by HowlingWoods (me), please don’t steal it! I know the labels are crap, Wonderdraft takes forever to load and I can’t be bothered right now.
The world created by the Divine Brotherhood never truly united on a global scale. The divines gave each continent a separate population of beast-born and elementals to develop independently. However, six continents remained devoid of intelligent life: The Rim, The Rift, Ridgras, Talgwort, Queran, and Faluts. Sin’s influence primarily affected Agea, as he caused a great civil war that ended with the beast-born enslaved. However, there is no slavery in any other country, although descrimination certainly exists, and many countries have laws preventing beast-born from being involved in government or voting.
As each country expanded and eventually learned of the existence of other countries on different continents, naturally conflict erupted. War broke out over petty things, such as cultural differences or efforts to expand land. Soon, the entire world was embroiled in conflict with one another, and after many years of war, a treaty was proposed in which each country would remain on their own continents, never to interact in any way. Should an individual or group break this treaty, they were banished to the inhospitable jungle isles known as The Rim and The Rift, often to their deaths.
As a result of the treaty, each country began to develop at vastly different paces. While Midraf, Traif, Emgrant and Yarrow remained in a medieval-like era, Waterlog and Leetze moved on to the industrial era. Agea, having been the testing grounds of the divines and thus older than any other country, is in a modern era not unlike that of our own world.
Elementals
The elementals are the dominant race in Agea, and although the beast-born are more numerous, the elementals are consistently more powerful. Resembling humans in appearance, save for the wider variety of natural hair and eye colors they exhibit, the elemental's main asset is their ability to harness the elements. At birth, an elemental is given the blessing of a single element out of the four cardinal elements: Air, water, earth, and fire. Children can be tested for which element they possess as early as the age of two by seeing how various elemental runes react to them. By the age of five, they can start to harness their element and control it, although they cannot truly master their control without training consistently.
Very powerful elementals can potentially control one of the four minor elements: Lightning, between fire and air; shadow, between air and water; life, between water and earth; and lava, between earth and fire. A minor element can only be controlled by an elemental with the elemental blessing of a neighboring cardinal element. So, a fire elemental can learn to control both lightning and lava, but could never hope to learn to control life or shadow.
Lightning elementals can create electrical charges of various sizes and strengths, and if struck by lightning can gain immense power for a short period of time. Shadow elementals can control shadows and move them around, useful for creating illusions or sneaking around unseen. Life elementals can control the growth of plant life, as well as communicate with animals of any species, including shifted beast-borns. Moreover, master life elementals have a limited mind control over some less intelligent creatures, such as insects, but could not hope to control a beast-born. Finally, lava elementals can melt the earth and create waves of lava to crash down on their foes.
Elementals who have a pure heritage of fire elementals are unlikely to be able to learn a minor element, and thus the mixing of elements is encouraged in order to create stronger offspring. Even so, it takes a massive amount of training to even begin to control a minor element, and you must master your cardinal element first.
However, there are those known as 'noble' elementals, who have a natural gift for learning both their cardinal element and a minor element. It is rare for a non-noble elemental to ever master a minor element. Nobility is a dominant trait, and is quite easily passed down in families, and thus many nobles in Agea come from a long line of nobles before them who are often rich and powerful in their own right. Arranged marriages are very common within noble families in order to encourage the creation of strong offspring.
There is a rare mutation of which no one knows the cause in which an elemental will be born with no elemental blessing whatsoever. In this instance, the child will never be able to learn to control a cardinal element, let alone a minor element. Those born with this curse are known as non-elementals, and are often the subject of much scorn. Many non-elementals commit suicide, or are killed by their families, as it is considered a disgrace to have a non-elemental born in one's family.
Beast-Born
The beast-born are shifters, capable of shifting into the animal of their birth. While beast-born are diverse and vary greatly depending on their animal, there are a few common traits. They all have at least one physical manifestation of their animal, even in their humanoid form. Most commonly, this is ears and a tail, but antlers, tusks, horns, and fangs are also not unheard of. Beast-born in their humanoid form communicate much like elementals do, but communication once shifted is a little more difficult. It is easy to communicate with another of the same species, but communicating with other species can often lead to misconceptions or confusion. While a fox and a wolf might have an easier time communicating than a fox and a deer, in either case all an Elemental will hear is a series of non comprehensible barks, meows, or other vocal calls. In general, the rule is that if the animals have a similar vocal call, then communication is possible between the two species, but may not be completely fluent.
When shifting, any normal clothing a beast-born was wearing will be shredded. While clothing exists that will not be shredded during shifting, it is very expensive and must be made to custom-fit the beast-born. It is usually only afforded by rich masters who have slaves that must shift often for their jobs. A shifted beast-born is often indistinguishable from their animal counterparts until they shift back into humanoid form, but general wildlife have evolved to a point of being indistinguishable from their original ancestors, whereas beast-born still resemble the Earth-like ancestors. For example, there are no living wolves in this world, but wolf-born do exist and are quite common.
The beast-born are often gifted with talents based on their species. While enhanced senses may be the obvious one, many beast-born also exhibit personality traits related to their species. While not a hard and fast rule, wolves will often be more social and protective, whereas a fox might be cunning and devious. This also applies to inborn skills. For example, a fox might be good at thievery, and a wolf might be good at making new friends. However, there have been reported cases of beast-born who seem to defy the animal they were born with. Wolves who are shy and flighty, or rabbits with aggressive tendencies. However, they are often considered oddities, and may suffer scorn from even their own kind as a result.
In Agea, most beast-born are born into slavery and then raised with their mother for the first five to ten years of their life before they are seperated to be sold to their first master. Many beast-born do not have last names, unless they were born outside of slavery or have taken on the name of one of their masters. Beast-born slaves may specialize in a variety of tasks, from entertainment, housework, and agriculture to prostitution and manual labor. Often the task they specialize in is dependent on the individual talents and skills of their particular species.
While the vast majority of the beast-born population is enslaved in Agea, there are the rare few towns on the outskirts of the country where free beast-born have banded together and formed communities. However, their numbers were dwindling fast as many have been rounded up by slavers and sold. A few still seek refuge with either the rumored underground resistance residing in Riwa City, or in countries outside of Agea where slavery is banned, but technology has not progressed nearly as far. However, by sneaking into these foreign countries they chance being sent to The Rim or The Rift for breaking the treaty, a fate few are willing to risk.
The Resistance
There is a slowly growing resistance building strength in the 'Slave Hub of the World', Riwa City. Led by the divine brother Min, who now goes by the name Relinor to hide his true identity, the resistance welcomes both beast-born and elementals with open arms, as long as they are willing to fight for their cause. However, naturally there are many more beast-born in the resistance than there are elementals, and so the few elementals that do exist often bear the brunt of scorn and hatred. The resistance is an underground movement for now, avoiding the public eye and completing covert missions and assassinations behind the scenes as they build up numbers. But sometime soon, Relinor knows the elementals will figure him out and send an army to make an example out of them, and he's determined to be ready when that happens. Branches of the resistance are spread out across Riwa City, in old factories, sewer complexes and unused buildings, but their main base of operations, where Relinor and the elite soldiers spend their time, is rotated between different hideouts at irregular intervals. Currently they are based in an abandoned subway station.
Lore
Post
History
Lore
Music
♡design by howlingwoods, coded by uxie♡
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