āYou know the problem with heroes and Saints? They always end up dead.ā
ā Leigh Bardugo, The Lives of Saints
Three years have passed since the war that ended the life of the newest saint. Sankta Alina, whispered in reverence and in mourning. Now thereās talk of a heist in Fjerda that has political figures scrambling to hold their fortunes and secrets closer to their chests. Not that it mattered much to you and the others suffering the effects of war and the drug called jurda parem.Ā Surviving as someone who has always been considered an outsider was already hard and having to live through the aftermath ofĀ āheroes and saintsā only made it that much harder.
The rating will be 16+ for descriptions of violence, drug usage and imagery, language, and sensitive topics and themes. A more in depth content warning list will be posted later and will be included in the game.
Features
Customizable MC:
Name
Gender and Pronouns (cis and trans options available)*
Sexuality (straight, gay, bi/pan, ace)
Hair color and length, eye color, and skin tone*
Origins (including any disabilities your MC may have)*
Order of Grisha and specialty*
*These will have an impact on the experience you have in different areas of the game, varying in severity.
Navigate the world with a ragtag group of misfits such as yourself.
Romance or donāt, that up to you.
Live a legend or die a saint.
Romance Options
The main six:
THE SAINTLY SHARPSHOOTER- Kiran (he/him)
āIām not the best Suli marksman, Iām the best period.Ā Adding Suli is just pedantic.ā
Calm, confident, and friendly, Kiran is like a breath of fresh air in the jaded world of outsiders. He tends to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, earning a hero-like status wherever he goes. Some say heās naive, that heāll end up in a ditch some day with all the enemies heās earned.
He thinks only time will tell.
Romanceable by all MCs.
THE FJERDAN FIGHTER- Soren (xe/xem)
āI dream of the day I can finally rest. On that day, Iāll be able to tell myself that Iāve done enough.ā
Reserved, agile, and too caring for xyr own good, Soren is a Fjerdan deserter, a criminal of the state with a dream to start anew.
Romanceable by female and nonbinary MCs.
THE ISLEāS ANGEL- Caitlin (she/her)
āIāll be okay because thatās just how it has to be.ā
Sweet, bubbly, and indiscriminately caring, Caitlin is a Healer from a merchant family, but seen as too weak, she was left to rot. Instead, she flourished upon the discovery of her powers and made herself indispensable.
Romanceable by female and nonbinary MCs.
THE PESSIMISTIC STRATEGIST- Meilin (they/them)
āI earned my place here and no one will ever be able to take that from me.ā
Quiet, observant, and a bit of pessimist, Meilin has a plan for nearly every situation and though they donāt claim to be a leader, theyāre the brains of every mission.
Romanceable by male and nonbinary MCs.
THE VENOMOUS TECH- Tara (she/her)
āIs a quiet life too much to ask for?ā
Sarcastic, sly, and confident in her skills, Taraās hands work miracles. She has a 90% success rate with her machinery and her bombs always work. She has an extensive past with crime and she uses it ambivalently.
Romanceable by all MCs.
THE SILVER-TONGUE DEVIL- Bastian (he/him)
āItās rarely a matter of reality or fiction, but rather what weāre led to believe. I prefer to be the one leading, in this case.ā
Eloquent, intelligent, and undeniably sweet to those heās close with, Bastian shapes words like one would see a Fabrikator do to cloth. Itās not his only addition to the team, but it is his best.
Just bought the entire Grisha triology because of this if. Ive watched the show but was never really interested in reading the books until I saw this if and lemme say I am so hyped for this. The vibes are immaculate. How do you go about creating such amazing characters? Also I loved the pinterest boards, there amazing!!! I hope you have a lovely day!! āØāØ
Oh! Well, despite the issues with the books, I genuinely hope you enjoy it <3 Personally, I like the Shadow & Bone trilogy well enough, but the Six of Crows duology is my favorite. Let me know what you think!
For anyone who isn't aware: This IF is based on the Grishaverse which consists of the Shadow & Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology. Also if you want, there is the book of all the Saints, a book of short stories/myths within the universe, and the Darkling's origin story (I haven't bought nor read this one). I believe that's all but... I could be wrong, I'm terrible at keeping up with books I enjoy (looking at Rick Riordan).
The way I make characters is either the need for something specific for the plot or I just start going. In this case, I really just made them out of nowhere. I also love having characters being FOILs for one another, so if there are some that feel like they're the same but also opposite... It's on purpose. I believe all of the main six have a FOIL.
Kiran to Tara, Caitlin to Bastian, Soren to Meilin.
I'm glad you like the Pinterest Boards, I'm still working on them, but it's a start :] Hope you have a lovely day as well <33
I've just looked through them all and can I just say they're so good!! All the ROs are so fine. I have my eye on Tara though. šš
Tara is quite lovely in my (very not biased) opinion <3
I spent literal hours doom-scrolling through Pinterest for the very little I have for everyone so I'm glad you liked it! I'm now working on character playlists so hopefully that'll come out later.
Hey guys! I know Iāve been pretty radio silent on here for awhile but I have a good reason!
A few other bookish songwriters and I formed a group called the Bookish Songs Collective, and for the last year weāve been working on an album entirely inspired by the Grishaverse. And now the album is officially out on all streaming platforms! You can go to our instagram to learn more about us, or click on our Spotify to listen for yourself.
The childās lip quivers, wrenching their hands before them. āIām sorry, Mother.ā
āOh, youāre āsorryā? Does āsorryā erase their memories, MC?ā The woman paces the length of her childās room, clenching and unclenching her fist.
āI-I didnāt mean to-ā
āNo one means to do anything around here! Doesnāt make things any better. When I tell you to stay in your room, you stay in your goddamn room. Do you understand?ā She stops just in front of them, looming over their small body. They nod vigorously, tears welling up. āI need words, MC.ā
āYes, Mother.ā
-Blood of a Saint, @bloodofasaint-if
š favorite funny quote from a wip
āRight, as if you would do any diff-ā The other cuts off as you lean your head into their line of sight. āOh for fuckās sake-ā
āOf course, //this// mercenary is barely worth the consulting fee. Hello, Z.ā You raise your hand and wiggle your fingers in lieu of a wave.
āOf course you know each other, what did I expect?ā
Hello felix! Lovely name btw! First of all this if sounds amazing and I can't wait to see your spin on the Grisha verse. I'm sure it's going to be incredible! I was wondering how you went about adapting and putting your own spin on the story and universe because I've been looking to do something similar with another franchise's universe but I'm not sure where to start. Hope you have a great day! ššøšø
How I went adapting and putting my own spin on it...
TLDR: Find something that's not well explained in the story that you're interested in, and expand upon it.
Warning, long, sort of on topic explanation:
Well, okay, this process is my own and I'm sure there others who are far better at this than I, but here it is:
When reading the books, I always kind of wondered, what was happening outside of all the drama. Like with jurda parem, we knew it was bad and we were with the heroes all the way through to the end, but what about the people who had to live through it? This is where I started. Imagining people who had to simply live while the "heroes" went on their adventures. So basically, taking an unexplored aspect of the universe to expand upon.
This then developed into the idea of expanding upon saints in the universe. As we know, Alina wasn't a usual case, being the only sun summoner kind of sets a different standard. Most saints were regular people who happened upon a miracle, not being the miracle itself. And wouldn't it be so fun to be a saint?
Then because that wasn't enough, I started to contemplate what kind of person the MC should be. To find this answer, I had to define what I wanted this story to be, how I wanted it to affect the readers. That's how I decided upon the "otherness" that I have going now. It is very obvious how separate and independent the people of the Grishaverse are and a lot of our beloved characters felt the stark contrast between fitting in and being casted out. That's how I got to MC being a Grisha.
Now there were other things I had to consider (of course) such as the issues I had with the stories, but that fit into the theme, so that's not so bad, but there's also ways I want (need) to change the story because a) It can't/shouldn't be a copy/paste of the source material and b) I'm a writer and sometimes ideas are abundant.
hi!! i just found your if and iām really excited for it! bastian already owns my heart <3 despite their flaws, i love the grishaverse books (especially six of crows), so it was neat to find an if based on them! i hope youāre doing well! š
I'm unsure when this was sent, but howdy, welcome! I also agree (obviously sjfjdjf) that while the Grishaverse has some issues, it's still such an intriguing world.
Also, Bastian lovers beware š
I'm doing okay <33 I hope you have a wonderful day/night :]
Hi Felix! I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to spread some love and let u know that I'm really looking forward to this if! Despite its issues I enjoyed the certain aspects of the Shadow and Bone series and I can't wait to see your spin on it. Your writing is amazing and I can't wait to see where the story goes. šš
oh??? thank you so much :(( genuinely needed this tbh <33 i hope you're having a wonderful day/night :]
tries to make the child laugh: Kiran, Soren, Tara
tries to play with the child to make them calm down: Kiran, Caitlin
gives detailed instructions to parents: Tara, Bastian
cries with the child: Bastian
ignores the child: Meilin
is the reason why the child is crying: Soren, Meilin
Thank you, Solange <33 I was going to wait until I finished my discord emotes but,,, it was taking too long ksgdjd
Howdy all, thank you for the answers on the questionnaire. As you may have noticed while filling it out, I had asked what disabilities I should include for the MC. Here is my list so far:
Iām aware that someone asked for physical disabilities, however, I wasnāt sure what... Kind I should include. Iām planning to include the possibility of a leg injury severe enough to cause mobility issues, but thatās one possibility. If you have more suggestions, donāt be afraid to answer the questionnaire or send me an ask on here!
Hello everyone, sorry Iāve kind of been MIA from this blog, Iāve been real focused on Villainās Promise and work for a while, but here I am to talk about some updates with this finally.
I kind of wanted to see where everyone was at with the Grishaverse on a personal level. I still enjoy the plots of the stories, I enjoy most of the aspects of the world-building, but everything is kind of... Uglier(?) now that Iāve done more research on the issues the stories perpetuated.
That being said I had a few questions I hope you could answer on this form.
Other than that, this is what I have so far to offer you:
The color themes... Are still very much a work in progress since Iām not sure if I like them too much, but itās what I have to show you right now. Most of the customization wonāt actually be given right away (or thatās the plan for now), but you will be able to choose pronouns, place of birth, the sex the Saint was born as, and any disabilities they were born with.
my first post is just some simple actions; plenty of room for you to decide what the reasoning or emotion behind the action is.
feel free to make edits to better suit your muse, but please donāt edit or add on to the original post š
[COLLAR] - sender reaches out to smooth down / fix receiver's collar.
[RUFFLE] - sender ruffles receiver's hair.
[BRACE] - sender braces receiver under the elbow.
[FOREHEAD] - sender feels receiver's forehead.
[HANDS] - sender takes receiver's hands.
[NECKLACE] - sender fastens a necklace around receiver's neck.
[SHOULDER] - sender lays a hand on receiver's shoulder.
[SIT] - sender guides receiver to sit down on a chair / bed / wall / etc.
[LAY] - sender guides receiver by the shoulders to lay back.
[TUG] - sender tugs receiver's hand in an attempt to get them to follow.
[WAIST] - sender rests a hand against receiver's waist.
[SUPPORT] - sender pulls receiver's arm over their shoulder for support.
[DRINK] - sender sets something to drink down in front of receiver.
[FOOD] - sender sets something to eat down in front of receiver.
[BACK] - sender rubs a hand up and down receiver's back.
[COAT] - sender zips / buttons up receiver's coat for them.
[CHEEK] - sender brushes a thumb over receiver's cheek.
[NUZZLE] - sender nuzzles into receiver's neck.
[HUG] - sender tugs receiver in for a hug.
[CHIN] - sender tucks receiver in under their chin.
[LIFT] - sender lifts receiver off the ground (or attempts to).
[CARRY] - sender carries receiver to another location.
Hi! I've found a lot of interesting stories thanks to you and now I have a question of my own!! Do you perhaps know stories where you play as a doctor or any kind of healer? Thank you :)
[ID: An anonymous ask written: āHello! I love this blog it helped me find so many good IFs! I had sent an ask but I don't know is tumblr swallowed it or if you already answered it (or a similar ask) but it doesn't show up is I try the search bar :(. Have you already done a list where MC can be in a medical field or a healer? Thank you :) ā¤ļøā /end ID]
Hi Anons,
We've already answered an ask regarding medical/hospital IFs. However, we haven't yet for healer MCs so here's a list of IFs that may fit what you're looking for:
