Disinheritance - A Work in Progress

[metroidprime2-echoes]

[disinheritance]

Half of the characters of Disinheritance. Some of the character designs aren't final, and some of the sketches I'm less than pleased with, but I wanted to get something down.

[disinheritance]

Doodles of the rebellion leaders: Ruie, Lerudani and Kynith.

I'd say no prizes for guessing my favourite, but I'm not even sure which of them it would be. Used to be Ruie. These days I'm not so sure. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Alleya

Alleya is eight years old when she understands that she will never be the son her father wanted. He keeps it quiet, but her mother doesn’t, and neither do the nights in which they continue the attempt. Alleya knows that she is stronger at least than the sons that are carried out in bedpans.

She is ten years old when one of them survives birth, and she joins her parents in celebrating. After all, now they have all they want, they can focus their attention on what they already have – her, and this baby brother. Somehow, she never quite feels the attention is equal.

She’s twelve years old when she stops bearing as much of a grudge against her little brother. She has the advantage in years, which means that in her eyes she will always be stronger than him. He’s still a tiny little thing, and it’s difficult to imagine him otherwise.

She’s thirteen years old when he falls ill, and suddenly the entire family is on edge. He looks more frail than ever, and she can’t bear to watch him wither away. After a few days, her visits to his room lessen. After a few weeks, she stops visiting at all.

She’s fourteen years old when she becomes an only child again. There’s no sense of satisfaction, because it makes her no more valued or wanted, but no real sense of grief, because he was just a toddler that she never really knew. If she thinks of him that way, then it’s easier to cope.

She is fifteen years old when she discovers that she is special, in her own way. She doesn’t tell her parents. She has something secret for once in her life, and she won’t use it as another pointless plea for attention. She knows rumours of others, and chases them. Before the year is ended, the Renith have welcomed her with open arms.

She is sixteen years old when they receive letter telling them that her support does not equal that of her family. The prince is disappointed, as another noble house could make or break the claim to the throne. Alleya isn’t surprised. She doesn’t remember being part of the noble house to begin with. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Artereht

Artereht is three years old when her brother leaves. There’s one small picture of him in the house, a fair-haired baby painted by her father’s own hand, but even to her older eye it looks like every other baby she’s seen. He is never real to her.

She’s six years old when they move house, somewhere slightly larger in a tiny village off the coast. She doesn’t like the smell of the sea; it makes her nose feel raw. She meets others her age there, though, that grow to be friends. It makes the smell easier to bear.

She is eight years old when her mother falls ill with a third child. Artereht doesn’t notice a great deal of difference, because her mother is mostly bedridden these days anyway. But it does make her a little more grateful when the kid is born, even though she’s sure he’s just a replacement for the first.

She’s ten years old when the child dies, no more real than her first brother. She begins to play with the smaller children around the village, particularly the boys. She’s always afraid that they might disappear as well, but she likes to make them smile until then.

Artereht is thirteen years old when she decides to join the Guild. Her parents don’t entirely approve, because she’s the only child they have left, but it’s no longer in their power to stop her. They part on decent terms, and she keeps in touch for a long while.

She’s fourteen years old when her mother falls ill again. This time she doesn’t recover. Art is pulled away on another mission for the Guild, but she later hears that the funeral was a busy affair, with half the village coming to pay their respects. That the others are still looking out for her pa is the only thing that eases the guilt of leaving him on his own.

She’s sixteen years old when she strays across a boy in the streets close to Sol Venia. He’s barely younger than her, perhaps a year or two. He’s older than the brother that died, and too young to be the other, so she takes him as a third. After just a few months in his company, she knows which of the three she prefers. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Eresten

Eresten is five years old when he leaves home, not entirely voluntarily. They do ask the young boy what he thinks about it, because they need his consent as well as his parents’, but he’s too young and overwhelmed to really register what’s going on.

He’s six years old by the time they finish the paperwork which allows him passage in and around the four major kingdoms. He stays in Sol Venia for a long while, though. It’s several months before they find a suitable mentor for him.

He’s seven years old when his earliest proper memories kick in, and they go a long way to defining him. It’s then that the dreams begin, subconscious warnings of what he fears might happen even when he doesn’t understand what’s going on. He cries himself to sleep sometimes, thinking of the family he doesn’t quite remember. At least, that’s what he tells to the older boy assigned to watch out for him. The dreams warn him away, and to secrecy.

Eresten is eleven years old when he gains a firmer grasp on reality, and starts believing in logic more than gut feelings. By this time, he’s long since stopped listening to the dreams, although he still talks about them often. It’s the easiest way to get the attention of the older boy that he now calls a friend. It’s the closest to family that Eresten has come in over half his life.

He’s twelve years old, just barely, when the Guild give him a new sister. Eresten can hardly remember the old one, but he feels something similar between them, despite the fact that the new one, Lalla, is several years older than she’s supposed to be. He all but loses his brother in the trade-off, though, and for a long time he believes in the Guild even less than he believes in the dreams.

He’s fourteen years old when his old mentor gets back in touch, and for a while Eresten feels useful once more. Lalla has him believing, or at least she believes enough herself for the both of them, and Eresten is happy either way. He doesn’t mind what they’re getting into, so long as he can keep feeling the same way.

He’s nineteen by the time everything is finished, over, said and done. He loses a friend because he believed too little in his own dreams, and his friend believed far too much. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Finn

Finn is five years old when he first hears his father mentioned in conversation. His mother has other things she prefers to talk about, and he doesn’t like to ask questions. All he hears is some vague reference to a war separating them. Finn never even hears a name.

He’s seven years old when he discovers magic, and his mother is delighted. She says it must be from his father, but she never says anything further, only that it makes Finn special. Special is still a good thing, at that age.

He’s ten years old when special becomes a bad thing, and he ends up with a bloody face and a broken nose. For a long time afterwards, he pretends the magic isn’t there, so it can’t hurt him. They move, before they are chased out regardless, and Finn goes back to what he views as a normal life.

He’s twelve years old when he’s found out again, and this time he doesn’t wait for them to move. He runs away before his mother can follow him. Things become easier when it’s only him at risk.

He’s seventeen years old when he meets the prince, by which time he’s at ease with both his magic and himself, though he still remembers how to hide.

He’s eighteen years old when he finds somebody else with magic, and he doesn’t know if he belongs or if he’s falling in love. Whatever it is, he lets it happen, because it feels better than a lot of things in life so far.

He’s nineteen years old when he’s called out from the other side, and both he and the girl that lets him belong learn what he really is. Finn won’t ask her to swear to secrecy, because he doesn’t deserve her trust and she doesn’t deserve any blame. He doesn’t know who she tells. He just knows things aren’t the same with anyone again.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Ksen

Ksen is five years old when he’s adopted, and far too young to understand the politics of the situation. He’s brought up as an heir, not a son, but the line between father and uncle blurs quickly.

He’s seven years old by the time he understands the difference, and that between cousins and siblings. He has another brother by then, a young noble in service of the king. Ksen is still of the age at which being a spy is the best job in the world. Stellan humours him, taking on the role of babysitter in addition to his regular duties.

He’s eight years old when something happens, though nobody will tell him exactly what. He only knows that Stellan isn’t the same afterward, and nor is Lady Linaria. In the selfish way of a child, Ksen is glad of whatever it is, because it means Stellan no longer leaves his side.

He’s ten years old when his cousins – his brother and sister – all but disappear. His sister leaves to find another family, one that won’t abandon her. Even at ten, the irony of this doesn’t escape him. His brother stays and clings to the little contact they have left.

He’s eleven years old when his brother leaves, too. The others make sure to make some excuse, but he’s old enough to see through their lies. His brother is the only one remotely honest with him. That, above anything else, is the reason Ksen misses him when he’s gone.

He’s twelve years old when he’s greeted at court by his birth father and treated like a prince instead of a son. That’s when he realises he’s been clinging to a family that hasn’t been his for years.

He’s fourteen years old when he leaves court himself. Like his brother, it isn’t quite voluntary. He’ll do what’s necessary of him, because if he’s been taught anything then it’s duty. Duty doesn’t stop him from nearly freezing to death on the first night, but at least it sends somebody to save him on the second.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Ilimya

Ilimya is seven years old when her mother finally allows her to join her father’s side in the Guild. For the first few months, it feels as though she has both parents close by again. It doesn’t take long, though, before her first transfer, and visits lessen on both sides.

She’s ten years old when she realises that her father’s smile no longer warms to his eyes. He rises higher in the ranks of the Guild until he stands just below the Ten. She no longer gets to see him as much as she is used to doing, though it gives her plenty of time to realise that only she can take herself anywhere in the world.

She’s twelve years old when she is assigned her first partner, a young man four years her senior. She is smitten from the first moment they meet, try though she might to hide it. He fits that fairytale standard of tall, dark and handsome. She tries to please him as best she can, working to propel them both forwards.

She’s sixteen years old when she begins to tire of him treating her like a child, and threatens to ask for a transfer. He doesn’t seem bothered by the prospect. She just happens to be an insignificant girl placed by his side. She will never be his fairytale princess.

She’s eighteen years old when she loses her own smile, forgetting it like he appears to have forgotten his. She remembers that she once had one, and tries in vain to bring it back. But these things take time and patience, and they are both losing that with each other.

Ilimya is nineteen years old by the time she is exhausted by just trying to keep up with him. He spends his time in other company, leaving her cold and alone most nights. She has long since given up trying to win him over.

She’s twenty-two years old when she realises that the rebellion aren’t all so cold and detached as he is. The youngest of the three ringleaders, a man her own age with a smile that warms to his eyes, willingly travels with her for a while. She thinks he might even have grown fond of her, had duty not interrupted such things. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Kynith

Kynith is five years old when her little brother is born, and suddenly there are three of them. She likes the new one even less than she liked the old one. He makes too much mess and too much noise. Rafiel, on the other hand, appears delighted to have a brother at last.

She is nine years old when she finds her brother cute. He learns to walk on his own, but she holds his hand anyway. He can speak quite well by this point. She’ll never forget that he learned to say her name before his own.

She’s ten years old when her baby brother is taken from her and raised by their uncle instead. Kynith cries over him for a week, and every so often after that. She hears Rafiel doing the same, dampened through the walls. She feels close to him for the first time in years.

She’s twelve years old when she and Rafi are close again, united by the loss of their brother. They still have arguments on a regular basis, but Kynith can live with them. She knows they are only friends because Ksen isn’t there. He’s the favoured sibling, and always will be.

She’s fourteen years old when she first hears Rafiel cause an argument with somebody outside their family. She hears the insults thrown on both sides, including a rather long one that she doesn’t understand. It takes a long time for Kynith to pluck up the courage to ask Rafi about it. When she finally does, his explanation is short and bitter. She now understands why Ksen was taken instead of the eldest son.

She’s fifteen years old when the arguments escalate, and the two of them are all but forbidden from speaking to their little brother. Kynith lays the blame firmly at Rafiel’s feet. They stop talking much after that.

She’s twenty-five years old and finishing up work for the Guild when she dares to contact her little brother again. It isn’t just sentiment this time; she needs his help. The reply lets her know that she’s always been his sister. 

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Lerudani

Lerudani is four years old when his mother returns to court, leaving him instead in the arms of a woman who cares more for his education than his wellbeing. He never blames her. She does what she is paid to do.

He is eight years old when he is allowed at court himself, and learns a little of what it is like to have siblings. He feels left out despite their attempts to include him. He takes more of an interest in the adult world, and ends up labelled a nosy troublemaker, albeit a charming one.

He’s eleven years old by the time he finds success for himself in two things – an adult role model, and a useful talent. He becomes far happier playing with the twins and Nathian provided they are games of strategy rather than pretend. Of the three of them, he considers Kasei the weakest opponent.

He’s thirteen years old the first time he falls for a girl. Unsure how to woo her, he watches as she slips away. His father has no time to hear him out. Instead, Lerudani asks advice of Kasper, the man who slipped from being a teacher to a father-figure without complaint from either side. Lerudani forever wonders if things might have gone differently had he received better advice.

He’s fifteen years old the first time he falls for a woman. This time he sets out to give her the world, even if it means losing it himself. She buys him for the Guild, and he considers it a worthy trade for his inheritance. A year later, she vanishes from his life. She never returns, and Lerudani realises he’s left himself alone.

He’s nineteen years old when he meets another woman. The first time she agrees to play at one of his games, she beats him by leagues. Every subsequent time, he wins or pulls a draw. He’s intrigued by her all the same. They keep in contact long after the Guild pulls them away.

He’s twenty-six years old when his past pulls him back to confront his childhood. He allies with an old opponent in an effort to save his country, only to find it firmly in the grip of somebody else he once played against. Sentiment gets in the way of strategy. Before the year is out, he hangs at the end of a noose.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Marlielle

Marlielle is less than one year old when she’s brought to the orphanage. A tiny thing with a cheeky grin and wide green eyes, she’s quickly adopted by a pair of newly-weds too old for children of their own. They are of higher birth than she is by blood, and Marlielle learns about climbing the social ladder before she learns to walk.

She is six years old when she recognises that they are not her parents, although it has never been treated as some great secret. Far from being upset or prying into details of her blood relatives, Marlielle is content knowing that she is different from others. She often feeds the other children reckless tales of parents lost at sea, or those who died fighting great dragons. It’s known amongst the youngsters that dragons hide in the Ythian mountains, and so several of them believe her.

She’s fifteen years old when she becomes an orphan for the second time, leaving nobody to correct her wild fantasies with the truth. The money she is left as an inheritance is not as fantastical as she had imagined, either, and she lives above her means for several years.

She’s twenty years old when everything is gone and Marlielle gets by on her name alone, it being the only real thing she has left to her. It’s then that she meets a nobleman more than willing to support her as his mistress. The Draen courts have no more recently seen an Ythian than the Ythian mountains have a dragon.

She’s twenty-three years old when she walks in on him in bed with another man. Despite his reassurances that she is not merely a showy distraction, Marlielle remains cold to him. It takes another week for him to convince the king that she is trustworthy, and after three years she finally gets the truth. She lets him believe that she is dependent on him, though she stays more through fascination than anything else.

She’s twenty-five years old when she is no longer seen as the exotic presence at court. By this time, she has made several friends among the nobility, most of them with loose enough tongues. The Guild offer her information about her birth family, and Marlielle is bought. She learns of her twin sister even as the Guild learn of the Draen court’s darker secrets.

She’s thirty-two years old when the man who once called her his mistress offers to make her his wife. He has known about her affairs, both with other men and the Guild, for some time. Only after discovering this does she agree to the marriage.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Nathian

Nathian is eight years old when he first remembers asking his father about his mother. To his credit, his father doesn’t dodge the question, although he doesn’t really answer it either. Nathian is told that she is Draen, and wanted to stay in her own country. He doesn’t ask why she didn’t want him to stay with her.

He’s ten years old when he’s brought to the Ythian courts, and is told that being around other children will be good for him. Only one is even close to his own age. Nathian barely has time to settle before his father is killed. They tell him it was an accident, but he also hears talk of some sort of blood feud. He does know that the king takes him in as a ward, and that the other children become friendlier afterwards.

He’s thirteen years old when the oldest boy leaves them. Nathian doesn’t quite understand, except that Kasei becomes even closer in his absence. The two of them become fast friends, and Nathian thinks nothing of it at the time.

He’s seventeen years old, just turned, when the king dies. Unlike his father’s, this isn’t unexpected, and might have simply been mourned if it weren’t for his lack of heir. As it is, it becomes a squabble between the greater houses, and Nathian becomes as caught up in it as the rest of them. The first of them is dead before the year is out, and though the blame is shifted onto another, Nathian knows who is responsible.

He’s eighteen years old when some of the truth comes out about what happened the year before. Nathian’s heart might feel a little lighter if such a truth didn’t come out as it did, with the last of his once-siblings running to escape the politics of their country. He is left with many loyal to his claim, and few loyal to him.

He’s twenty-four years old when he finally manages to catch up with the remnants of everything, and begin to piece bits back together. He fights to give another the crown, not because she deserves it, but because he hopes it might ease the guilt that’s been clawing at him for seven years now.

He’s twenty-five years old when he ties up the last loose end. This time, he’s careful to stain another’s hands rather than his own.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Sabasol

Sabasol is three years old when her parents stop dressing her in the same clothes as her brother. Supposedly it isn’t cute when they begin to walk, either because it’s unnerving enough when they fall in step without matching in other ways as well, or just because one or both of them get the clothes dirtied somehow and ruin their perfect twin image.

She’s seven years old when she and Kasei start doing it again anyway. Their mother resigns herself to this, and focuses on making sure the clothes are at least appropriate for both of them. It’s the last time Kasei is ever allowed to wear a dress.

She’s nine years old when she gets her first kiss from a boy, even though it’s only on the cheek. Neither of them are quite sure what to do after that, so they end up chasing each other around the castle. The memory is forgotten for several years afterward, because they choose to forget it.

She’s eleven years old when she catches her brother impersonating her in order to scare off interested boys. He claims noble intentions, although she thinks the dress has something to do with it. They form an unspoken agreement never to mention these incidents to their mother. Sabasol never brings it up again. She tries it herself once, but it doesn’t work as well.

She’s twelve years old when the portraits are commissioned, halfbody paintings as tall as the two of them. Sabasol likes seeing them hung side by side on the wall. It’s the last time she ever feels comfortable with her own image.

She’s fourteen years old when half of her dies, and takes his child with it. She adopts an identity then, but it isn’t a new one. Her parents burn her female clothes along with her brother’s body. It all ends up on the pyre. Even the remains of the child.

She’s twenty-one and celebrating his birthday rather than hers when another appears that calls her his sister. It can’t be the same, but she lets him believe it for a little while yet. She wants to believe herself that things can turn back. Denied the closeness of her brother, she chooses instead to share one of his old lovers. When she next returns to the castle, she burns one of the portraits.

[disinheritance]

Seven Moments - Ruie

Ruie is six years old when he first meets his brothers. Their skin is darker than his own, though they share similar blood, and for a little while they stare at him like he’s part Cinnish. His mother assures him he isn’t – she’s U’Aldarian, with maybe a little Ythian blood from long ago. His father’s side is as pure a bloodline as any. But then, Ruie’s the blemish on that bloodline, at least for now.

He’s eight years old when he becomes his father’s son and suddenly everything is different. He has to learn to behave at court, and speak three new languages – the higher dialects of both Ythith and Draeneld, and the language of U’Aldar’s own nobility, which he finds hardest of all. His brothers take to it more naturally, and Ruie wishes he belonged as easily.

He’s nine years old when he hears the first suggestion that he isn’t the king’s bastard, or rather that he isn’t the king’s son. Ruie doesn’t allow himself to be bothered by it. He’s not used to having to prove his lineage. He doesn’t know that his reaction only fuels the queen’s belief in the truth of the rumour.

He’s twelve years old by the time he finally feels comfortable at court, and it’s around the time that the first of his brothers comes of age. The younger brother, Paneris, suddenly gets closer to him. He never says why, and Ruie chooses not to ask, but he has an inkling it has to do with their older brother’s equally sudden desire to live up to expectations as crown prince, and stop behaving like such a child.

He’s fourteen years old when Pan comes of age as well, and for a while Ruie finds himself left behind. Somehow, though, the gap between the three of them is bridged. For the first time he can remember, his oldest brother teases him about his name without meaning to be cruel.

He’s nineteen years old when politics happen, and the world begins to break. The king dies of something – Ruie’s too numb to take it in when he’s first told, and as it’s not murder the court is dulled by the details all too soon. Pan later mentions something about a liver condition. Ruie doesn’t take that in, either.

He’s twenty-two years old before he finds another brother to fill the gap left behind by those he had to leave behind. It’s never quite the same, though. He still writes letters to Pan that he never sends.