General Border's Keep OC Lore
General lore post for anyone curious, and of course there's magic involved >:]
TW: Blood (in two of the drawings), mentions of death
The OCs referred to as Representatives, or Reps, are called that because they can represent anything from a massive land region to the demographic of people in a small village. Representative is the most widely used modern term for them, but historically they have been referred to as mythological figures.
They will use the title of [Country] Rep for official business if needed. Their titles can also use smaller areas like states, cities, and even towns depending on how specific they want to be.
Animals can be Reps as well, but I'm mainly focusing on the human Rep lore.
Because of how many places can be represented, most countries have at least 3-5 Reps minimum. Larger/more populated countries like India, China, and the United States of America can have upwards of 100, so there's usually a core group that handles government/diplomacy business while the rest focus on their own stuff.
Most Reps are in contact with their country's governments, but don't work for them full time and instead choose to work various other jobs, go to college, and/or volunteer directly with their communities.
It's seen as dishonorable if a government lets their Reps be treated horribly, so they'll try to ensure Reps have high quality housing and pay, especially in front of the news.
Reps are visually different from normal humans (or normal animals) through splashes of unnatural color in their hair, fur, scales, feathers and eyes. Most Reps have one or two solid colors that appear when they Awaken, with more complex patterns and textures typically showing up in those with higher levels of magic.
Awakenings:
Most Reps are born human first, and as they get older magic will start to build up in their body until it reaches a certain threshold, which is when their hair and eyes start to change colors.
Some Reps grow additional body parts, like animal ears and tails. Their animal can be real or mythological, typically tied to the area they represent.
The most common, modern term for this change is Awakening. Other/older terms include Transformation, Divine Blessing, and 'What the fuck happened to you??'.
Awakenings can happen at any age and typically take anywhere from a few hours to two years to complete; the duration varies from person to person. Longer Awakening periods are harder to notice when the person isn't growing additional body parts like animal ears, wings, horns, or a tail.
It's extremely rare for a baby to Awaken in the womb, and rarer still that they survive, since they'd have to absorb huge amounts of magic from their carrier. If the carrier doesn't have enough magic, or their magic is incompatible, both will die.
If siblings Awaken, they'll usually do so within a few years of each other. Twins, triplets, and other siblings born on the same day will usually Awaken within a few months of each other. There are exceptions where one twin Awakens much later than the other, and sometimes one twin doesn't Awaken at all.
Reps can gain more magic as they age, and if they gain enough to pass a second threshold, they go through the process of Ascension. Ascension happens within minutes, but has none of the drawbacks of an Instant Awakening.
After Ascension, they are referred to as God Reps or Gods since that is the mythological role many of them have and continue to fill.
Most people gauge a Rep's power level based on their eyes, with eyes like 1 being considered the weakest and 8 being the strongest. (while not always exact, this is a decent indicator for rough power levels)
Hair color(s) and placement aren't as reliable as eye colors, mostly because color placement can change based on a Rep's hairstyle and/or hair length, but some people in-universe like to analyze it.
(I usually do colors based loosely on their country of origin/awakening's flag, cultural/mythological significance, or the environment they represent)
Fun Fact! Heterochromia is fairly common in Reps, due to the magical nature of their eye colors.
Instant Awakenings:
These happen when a human close to starting their Awakening is about to die. It can also be triggered while they're going through a longer Awakening period, but the survival rate goes down the closer the Awakening is to being completed.
Magic will accelerate the Awakening down to a few seconds to help the Rep survive. Even if they don't have a natural healing ability, the magic will try to close any life-threatening wounds. This usually leaves scars behind.
Instant Awakenings are so energy intense that if the Rep survives, they'll be stuck in bed rest for two weeks minimum as their body recovers. Reps who grow new limbs have a longer recovery period depending on the size and number of limbs grown.
Powers:
Because magic is real, they've all got magic powers! Powers can be as simple as enhanced senses, and get as crazy as being able to summon any boat they know how to operate out of thin air.
All Reps by default get an extended lifespan so it's not recorded as its own power, though how many extra centuries they get is tied to how much magic they have. One of the most common powers after that is shapeshifting, usually between a human and nonhuman form.
If a Rep has a child who ends up Awakening, the child may inherit some of their abilities. Inherited abilities can merge with each other and become something new.
Humans can carry dormant powers that never manifest for themselves, but have a chance to be passed down to their children.
Reps can have powers that appear similar to each other, but it's extremely rare for two Reps to have powers that function exactly the same, even if they're siblings.
Two Reps with regeneration powers (like in the above drawing) will have differences in the speed, pain nullification, and how resistant to infection they are.
Where they live:
Usually they stay within the area they represent, but with the influence of Unity (Rep for the United Nations), a decent chunk of them have moved to Border's Keep.
Border's Keep is an island that sits in another dimension, accessible via portals all over Earth. Most registered portals lead to the special landing area within the capital city (White Wolf) but a few lead to some other settlements. It's recommended to only take registered portals so you don't end up in the island's untamed wilderness.
The island itself has many magical, self maintaining climates that realistically shouldn't be so close together. White Wolf City sits in the middle of several intersecting environments, thus maintaining a generally pleasant warmth year round (with occasional snow during the winter). The city's outskirts poke into the surrounding magical environments, and Reps tend to settle in the ones closest resembling their homelands.
(I still need to make a proper map, but it's a bit difficult when the landscape of the island can just move on its own.)
Summers in White Wolf are marked by a whole chunk of land nearby moving away, leaving behind a beach and a bay connected to the ocean. This usually lasts for about three months before the land fills itself back in.
This post will probably get edited and updated in the future as I figure out more details, but I wanted a general thing for people to look at.
Also feel free to ask questions about the lore because I didn't share absolutely everything here lol