book
#quint is writing a book
versed prairie
silent copper
@thin smelt GET HERE
silent copper
@edgy tapir @gray sinew I am dragging you in
edgy tapir
yay
versed prairie
ill paste the foreword from the beginning of the book
silent copper
Ok but what the hell is a gc?
versed prairie
groupchat
silent copper
A lol
versed prairie
In the world of Ern, there were long ago three great continents, fused together by politick and magic into a single radial empire.
Ruled by the twenty-seven Celestials, there were nine Nornir in the arctic land of Ena, commonly called the ‘Far North’, nine Thaumaturges in the far-off land of Vynd, and nine Nulfalkra in Father Tein. This was the state of affairs for many eons: that is, of course, until the Fog and the Drift and the Forgetting came.
First came the Drift, and the continents began to come apart from one another. Then the Fog, a great magical barrier was erected between them. Then the Forgetting, so the races of Man and Celestial alike forgot their common pasts. To the eyes of Tein, there was no Vynd or Far-North, nor was there ever.The Thaumaturges foresaw the end of all things when a great comet streaked their sky black and gold, and many moons later, Vynd was the first to fall.
The Nulfalkra then turned to wicked experiments, and killed the wyverns of Tein. From their corpses were pulled the nine dragons. When the Nulfalkra went to civil war, the dragons burnt all, and from the fire was born modern Tein, split in two to the bone.
The Nornir, similar to their brothers Nulfalkra, raised their staffs and saw the Far North become their new Empire, until Man revolted.
The Amnesia came, and Man forgot their old shepherds.
It is here we find ourselves.
thin smelt
pink satan
versed prairie
pink satan
thin smelt
woo
versed prairie
SO
here are the major points
there are three continents, each with 9 immortal reincarnating celestial deities, making 27 in total
the mechanism behind reincarnation is that it finds someone else of the same gender already living, and essentially shoehorns another consciousness into their body
the souls share control over the body in a back-and-forth until they assimilate and 'fuse' into one consciousness
with shared memories, etc etc
imagine that each body is a mech and each mech defaults to having one pilot but can have multiple take turns or even take over different parts of the body at the same time
the lore in the far north is pretty simple
the nornir, lead by the witch-norn seid, stayed in the shadows of the north, manipulating events to their favor for eons
eventually, seid went too far. her search was always for higher meaning, and she spent much time peering past the clustervoids and the great beyonds, far past the edge of nothing
in search of outer gods that could guide her
from out past the supervoid at the edge of reality, she heard a voice calling her to two children, Eirspa and Idonea
she had them harvested from their homes, and taken to her grand capitol, the Nornhold
where they were beaten into shape by Seid and her people
the words seid uses to describe this process were
...I forged you into a vessel for supreme power. A favor for which I have yet to be repaid.
this 'forging' involved years of psychological and physical abuse, amputations and experiments on eirspa and idonea, while seid worked hard to bring apart the fabric of reality by tugging on the thread of Reincarnation
once that was loose, she was able to kill nornir at will. these infinite consciousnesses from the dawn of time could be moved around and shaped at her will, and so she essentially had Norn souls shoehorned into the bodies of young eirspa and idonea
the process was excruciating. eirspa was left tied to a cold slab of stone for days, wind whipping at her, while seid performed ritual after ritual on her, slashing rites and runes into her flesh and carving and hollowing her bones and muscle
it was then that eirspa became the norn of the wind
meanwhile, eirspa's best friend/definitely NOT codependent romantic interest idonea undergoes something similar, and becomes the norn of high winter
silent copper
Wait isn't idonea seid's kid too?
silent copper
Ye I can tell
versed prairie
eirspa and idonea have a twin-like relationship
seid is a cruel woman for reasons i wont get into now, but the paramount example is that once she got wind that eirspa and idonea had done so much as held hands, she strapped them down and cut them off, grafting onto them new, untainted hands, that served the purpose of War and not Loving
thin smelt
i have bad reading comprehension so this is gonna take a sec
versed prairie
nw
ill keep goin tho
there is a fourth norn of relevance, though, and her name is aldrnari. she is the burning woman, the indomitable human spirit
once she heard of seid's, uh, experiments, she essentially said "fuck them kids" and got together an army of man
she marched on the nornhold and freed eirspa, though idonea was killed in the process and seid escaped
silent copper
once she heard of seid's, uh, experiments, she essentially said "fuck them kids"...
Lebron james grindset
gray sinew
THAT'S CRAZY
versed prairie
once the empire of the norns had fallen, the Amnesia came again, and, in time, the norns slunk back away to the shadows
and thought the nornhold still stands, and man may walk past it every now and again, it was like there were never any norns
thin smelt
this lore is wild
silent copper
Wait is the amnesia something that just happens every x years?
versed prairie
not every x years but it happens twice (to our knowledge)
gray sinew
is it like, a global phenomenon kinda of amnesia
versed prairie
one of the big points of the book is that it's all rhyming. the Forgetting came in two waves everywhere, once to forget the other continents, and once after the celestials had all fallen from grace
versed prairie
is it like, a global phenomenon kinda of amnesia
yeah
it's like uhm
a perception filter, if you've seen doctor who
you can be staring an old norn building in the face and not realize what it is
versed prairie
sorry i had to move to the toilet
thin smelt
ive only seen clips of doctor who
versed prairie
ive only seen clips of doctor who
yea dw about it
silent copper
Wgat the fuck is a doctor who
versed prairie
so there’s two other continents of lore to go over quickly
the first is vynd
vynd got blown up a long time ago by a meteor i think
unsure
that’s the lore
oh and also Di Hiligrid might have been there
and then tein
tein is like. the EPITOME of rot and stagnation
silent copper
I like how far north is like intricate power hungry schemes and wars and saving kids and shit and vynd is like
Ye meteor came. They saw the meteor coming. They are now gone
versed prairie
long ago, there were the nulfalkran lords. they, too, were desperate to retain their power, and far more paranoid than even the nornir
so one day the nulfalkra looked at their pets, the wyverns, symbols of wealth and heraldry but not war
and said
let’s lock em all up!
we’re going to perform alchemy and dark magic and perform horrible experiments on them and bring them to death and back a thousand times
the wyverns were ore, and now we are extracting iron hot off the forge
they mutated and cursed them into capital d Dragons, and they made nine in total
they started with just a couple, but what happens when one country makes nukes?
all the other countries gotta make nukes
so. all the lords nulfalkra are at eachothers throats with essentially a flying godzilla each
and eventually someone fucks someone's wife or something, i'm not sure how it starts, but there's another civil war in tein
among the nulfalkra
the dragons die out, and the nulfalkra slink away to different corners of tein to do their bidding from afar
it is meant to rhyme with the civil war in the north
and same as the north, the amnesia comes
now here's the thing
tein had its civil war a LONG ass time ago. like tens of thousands of years ago, and since then, there's been a Kalpa commonly called the Storm Cycle or the Storm Kalpa
the idea is. the entire continent of tein is covered in massive storms, earthquakes and flashfloods, supercell storms that can shatter mountains and raze citadels
hence, the storm
the entire continent is uninhabitable, so how does life continue when the land is so hostile and the clouds are so thick the sun cannot be seen?
ADELE!!!
im joking
but there arose this class of nobility called the stormsingers, people who could sing songs that made the storms Fear them and run away
anyone can do it, but only the nobles had the time to learn it, while the serfs spent their days slaving away in indentured servitude
the stormsingers are like
comically greedy
they live atop literal ivory towers overlooking megacities hundreds of miles across, because it's cheaper and easier to pack everyone into slums than spend more time protecting more land
thin smelt
damn!
versed prairie
the entire population of tein is stuffed into these cramped cities, with the stormsingers overlooking all
it's not the dynasties of kings and queens you need pay attention to, but the dynasties of voice. it's not blood or gold that tein's politick is measured in, it's song.
versed prairie
this is the state of all tein. to be crammed into these places, waiting to die, while the stormsingers gorge themselves on fine wines and food that they can only afford because of their exorbitant rates
it's a bleak, classist society, where unionization and revolt is met with summary execution, where nothing matters less than the working spirit
the life of an average person in tein is wake up
be escorted to the fields
do agriculture shit for 12 hours while it's raining and thundering and shit
go back home
eat brown sludge
sleep
the storm cycle has gone on for so long that most people alive today haven't seen the sun in their LIFETIME
because of how thick and black the stormclouds are
the people are pale and short and malnourished
it's a place where revolution and change is crushed under the press of nostalgia and status quo
it's gone on so long because it's a spinning top going so fast that anyone on it who stops to think "should it be like this?" gets flung off into space
thin smelt
dystopian metaphor for capitalism woo
versed prairie
frfr
thin smelt
🔥
versed prairie
anyway
enter Di Hiligrid
Di Hiligrid is like. an infinite number of things
originally, it's just a symbol, the broken halo of an angel fallen from the skies
and then people realize. the storm cycle, it can be broken, a broken ring, like the shattered halo
the same as when the sun shines from behind the moon in an eclipse
it's THE way to represent cycles broken and the people who are cycle breakers, the word 'di hiligrid' means 'cyclebreaker'
but it's also the name of a woman
she's charming and enigmatic and she's been around since the dawn of the time, she was a cycle breaker in the truest sense of the word when she freed slaves and killed their masters, when she became the first woman to bear the all-male title of 'nulfalkra' (though shes technically like. bigender)
and, uh, she's set her sights on the storm cycle, next
she's going to tear down the whole thing. by herself, if necessary
and this is where the book begins
oh my fucking god its 3am
i better do this quickly
SO, in the far north, eirspa tracks down seid, and they both die to the mysterious eitr, a result of seid's tampering with the fabric of reality
due to seid's meddling with the way reincarnation works, they both reincarnate into the same body, which has never happened before: rhysa
seid and eirspa strike a deal that if they give seid full control of the body to destroy the eitr, eirspa will get to kill seid
this deal is made without the consent of rhysa, who eirspa views as essentially a "side character" in "her" story
someone not important
rhysa wakes up three months later in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, far away from home, to her body being hijacked by these bickering nornir
she's dissociated the whole time from the cold and the abuse she endures from eirspa and seid alike, until the three of them start to open up a bit after meeting aldrnari during their road trip
eirspa and rhysa start to build a bit of mutual respect and empathy while seid struggles to adapt to the new standard of being a like. good person
rhysa wants nothing more than to go back home to her family, for this whole thing to be a bad dream she'll wake up from any day now
and eirspa and seid, as much as they hate eachother, have no respect for this
they drag her along kicking and screaming into a new, messier, and far more harsh life, far away from home
thin smelt
jesus
versed prairie
i'm not doing the whole thing justice but it's essentially a long road trip journey about loneliness and the cyclicality of abuse, and how the verbal abuse rhysa endures from eirspa is alike to the kind eirspa endured from seid
thin smelt
i cant wait to read the finished thing
versed prairie
the entire trip is essentially a long walk to the nornhold in almost complete silence over the course of like 180 pages
gray sinew
that sounds really good so far
versed prairie
with occasional conversations and glimpses of humanity, when eirspa teaches rhysa to hunt
it's all incredibly cold and lonely and seid, at the end, starts to make some progress towards understanding and acknowledging eirspa's feelings
its depressing but not in an edgy way, it's depressing in like
the real meaning of the word depressing, like you're being pushed down
the entire trip takes like 8 months of malnourishment and dissociation as rhysa learns that her body is no longer hers alone, and that that's no always a bad thing, etc etc
as eirspa learns that not everyone is out to get her
and as seid becomes more and more paranoid
the whole world is massive compared to tiny rhysa, who has seen none of it
eventually, they arrive at the nornhold together, mostly in one piece
i've skipped over some plot nonsense with aldrnari and her new host, talare of the zvandnar, but eirspa ends up having to kill aldrnari, the woman who saved her, because she's been corrupted by eitr
it's at this point two things are revealed
- the true cause of the eitr
- how to banish it
so, one thing that's alluded to is the existence of 'Crowns', things that are manifestations of things far more primordial than the norns or nulfalkra or thaumaturges
one we meet is the Molten Crown, something that isn't made of fire but is fire. all fires, everywhere, burning, always, in all directions
there are nine such things across the three continents
and hidden deep within the nornhold is seid's most prized possession; the Crown of the Stars
and while we've known that the eitr is a result of seid's meddling for a while, it's unclear how exactly it happened
the idea is that the Eitr is essentially the immune system of the universe, a method by which it tries to mend its fabric and repair itself on its own, to repel the meddling of celestials and man alike
but somehow, from far away, it got super extra fucked by a being of immense power, twisted into a mockery of itself that attempts to fix the world and instead amputates it altogether
where it sees sickness and abomination, it doesn't seek to cure it, but to cut it out altogether, until the whole world has been sliced into ribbons
they are able to undo some of the scarring via the crown of stars, but there are two last things that haunt rhysa and eirspa, now that seid has fulfilled her end of the bargain by dissolving her consciousness
but something else, something far more dreadful is coming from beyond the north, something even more ancient and powerful and unknowable
its name is Di Hiligrid, and it is what seid heard in the shadows all those years ago, what corrupted the Eitr
it is fire and revolution and spirit and indomitable will fomenting the flames of a worldwide revolution
we also find out that idonea did NOT die, but was rather frozen in ice at the center of the nornhold as seid's final command
everything past this point is part of the second arc of the book, which i haven't got 100% nailed down yet, so i won't explain yet
the second plot takes place on tein and uh
who do we meet but di hiligrid, in the flesh
it's hard to explain how she's portrayed as i've kinda spoiled the reveal by not interweaving the stories here but
she's this incredibly charming and enigmatic and mysterious woman
versed prairie
everyone is acquainted with her, but no one KNOWS her because she's unknowable
she's managed to make herself the pontiff of the di hiligri, the leader of a cult of ravenous cycle breakers at the edge of tein
together with her ally, the good king, she's planning to take over the rest of tein, but she's kinda got her own agenda
the good king has two kids of his own, though he USED to have three
he had the twins asta and vaera, and his younger son, naea
to put it simply, the good king is actually not that great!
he acted very similarly towards asta and vaera as seid did eirspa and idonea, only that he pitted them against eachother
never once did he lay a hand to 'improve' vaera, it was only when she was stuck losing a war for his approval she'd been fighting her whole life that she upgraded herself
he held the leash of approval on both his daughters, until vaera could not take losing any longer, and killed asta
naea is
naea had more potential than either his daughters, and everyone saw it. even when he was in the womb, he was levitating objects and throwing them across rooms
he could not control his power, and so the good king took it away with his 'Conditioning'. most of his power was locked away, along with most of who he was
the spark of joy and curiosity he had was snuffed out, and all was left was the facade the good king needed him for
dad of the year btw
SO!!!
there's one last character to cover, and her name is haaz
she's an orphan BUT she's also a stormsinger
her adoptive father, iera, was a stormsinger at anyar for many years, until he was assassinated in a coup to replace him with Elysande
when she was abandoned again as a child, it was Di Hiligrid who picked her up like a mother and took her back to the forbidden lands
every day for nigh on a decade, haaz practiced the stormsong, honing and perfecting it in memory of her adoptive father, speaking to few else than herself
it was di hiligrid who saved her and snatched her up, and now that di hiligrid has convinced the good king there is little reason for blood to spill, DH is taking her back to anyar, under the guise that she needs protection from the storms (which is true)
DH's plan is the following:
the good king wants CONTROL over tein, he doesn't want to just slaughter everyone there. if i go first, i can recruit more people to my cult, and thus we'll have a bigger army with less people to kill along the way
which is pretty sound!
except that's not EXACTLY her plan
along the way, she gets to know haaz better, and recruits her into her cult
by the time they arrive at anyar after their long trip, haaz is following her everywhere, receiving special treatment and praise for everything, practicing to essentially coup Elysande back to take back what she feels is 'her' place as the stormsinger at anyar
after they spend time together in anyar preaching and doing good work and furthering the word of Di Hiligrid, it's basically time for her to put her plan in motion
she's become so emotionally dependent on di hiligrid that she's having meltdowns and panic attacks when she can't see her for long enough
she's so obsessively in love with her perfect di hiligrid that she lashes out and rages at anyone other than her, and when her coup fails, di hiligrid basically says uh
oh you thought i loved you? sorry, you're actually unlovable lmao! i'm happy everyone important in your life has abandoned you and now im going to aswell because you're a poison that leeches into peoples lives and takes them over until they're sucked dry
she fucking rides off away from anyar and haaz
haaz fucking loses her shit
the thing about stormsingers is that they can't only push storms away, they can make new ones, pull old ones closer and move them around
and haaz essentially says
the one good thing in my life has left me, and all i'm left with is a life of regrets formed by the fact i was too cowardly to take up retribution against the people who wronged me
it's at this point that the storm falls over anyar, and a single great bolt of lightning strikes the center of the city, cracking open the citadel like an egg
then another, and another, and another, and another
the city crumbles under the stormsong of regret and pain that haaz has been quietly humming deep within her heart without anyone noticing
well, except di hiligrid
hundreds of thousands of people die in the destruction of anyar
di hiligrid herself only narrowly escapes
it's at this point that di hiligrid's charm kind of starts to peel away like wallpaper
and you're left with the true context for who she is and what she does
sure, she's this enigmatic and charming revolutionary preacher with a talent for miracles, but she's also this bored, vindictive immortal
it's only now when you're properly presented with the scope of what she does to people that you go
"oh. oh wow. when she said she wanted to remake the world in flame and fling fire over everything that wasn't hyperbole"
again i'm really not doing it justice because there's so much finer detail and work put into the dialogue that i'm not bothering to make come across here
i'm not going to talk about the second part of the book as it's still very in flux but
that's the gist of the first part
i glossed over a LOT, like the resurrection of the dragons, vaera's mini arc, etc etc
versed prairie
by 'part' i mean like 2/3rds lmao
thin smelt
it’s a lot
versed prairie
vaera has a huge part in the second part, siege of bolsia, but
thin smelt
i havent read books this big without pictures since i was like 10
versed prairie
lmao
thin smelt
my literacy plummeted at age 11
versed prairie
ill not spoil the ending though
ive known the ending for years but
its so beautiful and haunting and like
thin smelt
i bet it’s gonna be real cool
gray sinew
yeah i had a lot of fun reading through the whole thing
thin smelt
whenever i write i don’t really write things with much long term payoff often
gray sinew
had to do it like 3 times to really get all of it but it's really well thought out
versed prairie
ive captured the plot here but not much of the like
vibe
which is the best part imo
gray sinew
yeah that's something only expressed through the writing itself
thin smelt
vibe
the vibe will come through the way it’s written when it’s a completed product
through all the subtleties like motifs and whatnot
and ew i sound like a literature teacher
versed prairie
yea
gray sinew
is it third person limited or first person through rhysa
versed prairie
third person limited
thin smelt
nice
gray sinew
icic
versed prairie
the pov characters are rhysa and seid, then DH/vaera/haaz
thin smelt
nice
thin smelt
silly
gray sinew
That would be very silly
thin smelt
gray sinew
omg kiwis for christmas?
thin smelt
any updates
versed prairie
no