MOLNIYA 𓂃₊☁︎ the silvered-sorceress of the other world ! with control over weather and atmosphere she also proves to be a skilled shapeshifter; most commonly taking on the form of a black dragon with glacial eyes. she proves to be a deadly adversary if one finds themselves opposite to her in combat. frequently seen on both sides of the law she is a figure often approached by the magical coalition of superheroes known as justice league dark for her knowledge on foreign realms and wide array of arcane knowledge. all of their attempts up until this point at recruitment have proven unsuccessful. although, that doesn't stop them from knocking on her door every few months for advice on their latest mystical mishap. unfortunately for them she has much loftier plans for herself that surpass the safety of earth. her goal is to restore magic back to her world and return to the kingdom of ravka where she rules as its queen.
as a civilian zoya is the adoptive daughter of the prolific crime boss, juris nazaylensky. known in the underworld as simply; the drakon. it is rumored she resides in gotham for at least a portion of her time. she is the founder and owner of a series of art and performance spaces known as os alta with branches located all across the globe. her adoptive father has also traveled with her to the mortal world in search of a relic known as the heart of sankt feliks. the last remnant of a powerful magician of olde that is widely believed to be the final salvation of ravka. if found, it is said that the heart will restore the kingdom to its former glory. tragedy strikes when juris is killed before fulfilling his mission, likely by one of his own men. zoya now overcome with grief is unable to complete her initial quest for her kingdom and begins to plot her revenge. a trajectory shift that puts her at odds with with heroes and villains alike.
▍overview: for the uninitiated deathless itself is a tale that blends russian folklore with the events surrounding the russian revolution. a majority of the book takes place within the first half of the 20th century. because of zoya's status as a mythic figure in this verse her story really is coming to it's close at the start of the book's events. i'm leaning more into the book's lore-based elements to construct zoya's story.
i by no means am i going to be precious with how valente set up her pantheon and the relationships between the deities within them. i will be filling in the gaps with broader slavic and even personal lore since many of these stories have several versions that do not always neatly align with one another. for starters, the tsar of water is depicted as a man in deathless and is somewhat related to both koschei and viy through blood. zoya as tsaritsa of this element is neither of these things as i've chosen to go in another direction with her lineage for this verse.
˖ born moryana ; daughter of the tsar of the sea and a vodyanitsa. she was widely believed to be a sky spirit and wind weaver in her earliest years. although her father dwelled in the sea he feared his daughter's power and allowed her dominion in the sky in order to protect the oceans from her control. this tenuous peace lasted until she was coaxed down from the clouds by the tsar of life. she had frequently inhabited the rivers in buyan, some of the few water ways untouched by her father's grasp. this trespassing did not go unnoticed by koschei and the two entered into a a drawn out courtship. some regard moryana as the first wife of the deathless although this status is highly contested in modern times… few know zoya and moryana as the same figure in myth.
a wedding which marks the end of peace time. tensions between the tsars rise in the wake of such a union. upon their marriage zoya does not take her husband's title but rather transitions into her new role as the tsaritsa. no longer dwelling fully in the ethereal realm any longer taking up partial station in buyan and maintaining its surrounding ocean. this is also when she begins to call herself zoya which originally was chosen as a means to further symbolize their union. this can been seen as a means of taking her husband's name as zoya is another moniker for "life" ( as well as "love" ) she makes weather from her royal seat upon the island and in time falls pregnant with the tsar's child.
˖࿔ svetlana is born and the tsar of death sees an opportunity to take back influence from his brother. overcome with happiness and adoration for their newborn neither foresaw the fate that would befall their child. on the eve of her thirteenth name day she is taken from the land of the living into that of the dead. lured to her uncle's kingdom by the sounds of her deceased animal companions.
their marriage does not survive the death of their only child. svetlana being the first of many casualties at the war's start but not the last. in his grief koschei cuts his own death out of himself and the change in him is swift and vicious. taking to the role of war general on a path of vengeance while zoya herself takes to isolation. in her fury and mourning she weeps so heavily the sea levels rise. buyan floods before it inevitably enters into a drought. the sea leaves with her as she takes refuge in the mortal world deep in the depths of the ocean. despite it being a fault of death's each spouse ends up placing a portion of the blame of their daughter's death on the another.
˖࿔ a war fought on two fronts... in her palace in the deep is when she learns of viy's brutal killing of the tsaritsa of salt. the two tsaritsy had worked in tandem since their conception as their two aspects were so heavily entwined. sisters at their tasks, it was the final piece of heart which broke when she was taken and wedded to death. it is this final act that forces zoya into the position of commander unable to to allow viy's war campaign to continue unchecked. she sides with koschei not out of love for him but out of hatred for his brother, as the two have been separated for an age after svetlana's passing.
this brings us to the events of the book. koschei and zoya are begrudging allies with zoya lending her oceanic warriors to the frontlines, as well fighting the armies of the dead in her own lands. her forces are constructed of salt and sand further honoring her deceased comrade. buyan remains without water or rain in her absence as she has never returned since she initially turned the isle into a landlocked country. since the war she has become a prized general renowned for her ruthless tactics and her inhospitable land beneath the waves that is unwelcome to anyone but her kin.
𓂃₊ verse notes
the sky dragon & the sea serpent; often in slavic folklore the lines between serpent creatures and dragons are skewed. in zoya's case when she was still a sky deity she was a dragon in a very traditional sense with wings and claws. as she progresses into her godhood and her aspects shifts from sky to sea her draconic form shifts to accommodate her new environment. she has a more serpent like appearance, a long sinuous body decorated in black scales that helps her travel with ease in water. she also may employ a more "mermaid-esque" appearance which she uses to disguise herself as a regular vodyanitsa.
the tsar of the sea; her father and a frequent figure of mythology. the sea tsar is depicted across multiple folktales as both a malevolent and benevolent force. he is also a god who has sired many children so zoya is just of his many daughters. that being said in many ways zoya has surpassed him in power and influence once leaving the skies in favor of the sea. he is still present in her kingdom but as an old, somewhat senile force that at times may act in opposition against her.
the tsaritsa of salt; though they may only be sisters by title the love between them was that of blood. salt and water are two domains that lay parallel to one another. since a young age the two rulers came to power and grew alongside one another. zoya herself was responsible for the construction of pearl kokoshnik the salt tsaritsa often donned and coincidentally the same headpiece she died wearing.
koschei the deathless; they are in the seventh ring of hell in terms of divorce. although it was an unconventional marriage to begin with as most unions between immortals are. as stated above, they have a very strained treaty in place between their two armies and factions but this doesn't mean they won't ever act against one another ( which they do often and without much remorse ) in terms of personal sentiment it's very complicated. very much the grief and love never goes away it just changes shape. they re-marry, entertain other lovers, and fraternize with everyone AND everything but neither bear more children after svetlana is lost.
general frost; it is said that during the winter months the tsaritsa of water springs from her ocean holdings and walks the earth to bring snow and death. it's important to note here this isn't her primary role or aspect and it is highly contested whether the two figures are of the same body. this would be cause to say that zoya is not entirely free of viy's influence and when the war begins to turn in death's direction zoya too becomes somewhat of a reaper.
▍note: inspiration HEAVILY drawn from slavic folklore more specifically bulgarian myths surrounding the lamia and the retelling of saint george and the dragon. as well as some very loose influence taken from romanian scholomance folklore, the weather-making dragon ismeju specifically
˖ some clarifying lore on fae and their relation to gods.... within the confines of this au the fae are considered very very distant offspring of pagan gods across multiple pantheons although there are some exceptions, such as various minor gods, even the aspects of some major gods are considered to be fae. they represent older powers enduring through they have shifted form significantly and even gained qualities of their own ( like the rule of truths and the power of names ━ though this is a principle that most gods still adhere to today ) the land beyond the veil is also know as the mirror realm, where the world seems to work backwards though it runs parallel to that of our own. there are no countries though there are borders to define sovereignties and courts.
zoya is technically an unseelie fae and is a direct descendant of a union between a lamia monster and the slavic sky god perun. her bloodline carries both divinity as well as the wicked nature of the great serpent. she is the daughter of the drakon knight juris who served under the former unseelie queen before he defected to create a court of his own.
˖࿔ the ethereal court, zoya's home; is for fae with more infernal qualities and animalistic features ━ they are typically reptilian folk, with an affinity for weather enchantments though they will allow other kinds of fae to swear fealty once trust is earned. the court's name is no coincidence as the confines of the ethereal lands are sky-bound ━ the kingdom is nestled atop high mountain peaks and in the clouds themselves.
while not on the best terms with the other fae as a whole the court typically has the strategic advantage given its location. this is why it comes as shock when their king is found dead within the walls of the sky palace. struck down by poison delivered by a spy from the spring court at the command of their queen, elizaveta. it is revealed that elizaveta's prized general and fellow high fae had an affair with juris which was how zoya was sired. this dalliance was considered a direct act of betrayal to the crown and the spring queen's retaliation came in the form of regicide while zoya's mother is still at large.
˖࿔ the single act calls into question zoya's legitimacy as an heiress to the throne as her people have no way of knowing if she has ties to the spring court because of her mother. members of her court speculate their princess possibly having a hand in her father's murder given her past violences though have no definitive proof of such.
in an effort to solidify her claim and birthright zoya agrees to go to war with the spring court in order to ascend to the throne as queen. currently, she is in the process of gathering allies, scouring the wild lands and seasonal courts alike but she is a young and tenacious monarch ━ and to many a symbol of unchecked power and potential ruin. while the ethereal court readies for war the other folk take note of their crumbling line of succession.
zoya's kingdom is vulnerable on all fronts and even if she finds out the whereabouts of her mysterious mother it may not be enough to put the matter to rest without bloodshed. not to mention, zoya herself is a vengeful drakon with far too much magic at the tips of her fingers than she knows what to do with. a newly crowned sovereign entirely unchecked and brimming with fresh grief in her heart there is little she will not do in the name of her fallen father.
𓂃₊ verse notes
the ethereal court expanded lore; they are a fringe court, not to mention fairly new. they are not as respect as the older more established faerie factions but they are feared for their sheer power. it is this fact alone that makes the other courts eager to appease them to avoid any form of retaliation.
environment; the ethereal court is situated high in the mountains and amidst the clouds. not many other fae can survive in the conditions of this court due to lack of oxygen as well as the air pressure. there are certain rooms that are affixed with enchantments that allow other kinds of fae a place for respite in their kingdom but they are few, as they aren't a court that entertains guests often.
growing up as a beast; zoya has spent her life as a dragon in this verse. she has a humanoid glamour that she employs when interacting with folk outside of her court but it isn't a guise she is used to nor wears often. ethereal fae are easily among the most monstrous of the courtly fae so much so that their presence is not wildly accepted at high court
plotting; easiest way to interact with zoya within this verse is to present your muse as a potential ally to her cause or even a potential spring court sympathizer. i welcome both amiable and antagonistic relationships here or even relationships of convenience which a wartime setting is ripe for.
acotar muses; i really have no interest in writing within the confines of sjm's lore. i feel like all the problems with her work have been talked to death but since her work largely dominates faerie-based stories these days it begs repeating that i am wary of characters from sjm books. i also don't really plan on making this verse fit within the confines of that series in any shape or form .
𓂃₊🌩️ 𝕮ASTLEVANIA VERSE . . . AND WHEN I LOOKED UP, I DID NOT SEE GOD 𓆩 ' but the beast; the shadow who he left in his wake
▍disclaimer: the beginnings of zoya's story take place in kyivan rus' during the 1000s upon land that would now be considered central russia. i'm trying my best to be as period accurate as i can be, but i'm obviously just a blogger not a historian so i may come back to this post to edit and make slight tweaks while i research further! that being said, zoya has been a vampire for many years already before the plot of castlevania season 1 unfolds. that's important to keep in mind when writing with her in the show timeline. this verse is HEAVILY inspired by katherine arden's winternight trilogy please read if you haven't!
sabina and suhm nabri believed their daughter to be touched by the storm god, perun, and therefore cursed. she was a child with magic beyond their comprehension which imbued her with command over the skies. as a young girl zoya was sent to live with her aunt liliyana in a village outside of novgorod to help nurture her blooming abilities. liliyana was a staunch follower of the old gods and maintained a house of worship for both perum and dazhbog. the villagers believed zoya to be an odd girl, with even odder eyes, even going as far as to refer to her as a "vedma" but her presence was tolerated because of how much of a pillar of the community her aunt was.
growing into a capable young woman it is when zoya enters in the early years of adulthood when the first whispers of war arrive on her doorstep. raiders descended upon the village while zoya's aunt was caught in prayer. liliyana was one of the first people to die by the hands of the invading army. zoya finds her brutalized and left for dead before the sanctuary she had been built for perun. in her grief zoya sets both shrines ablaze, swearing off of what had come to be known as pagan worship for good.
soon after this raid zoya enlists in the army disguised as a boy. pledging herself to the cause under the banner of the christian god. she has given into the belief that she had been failed by the deities her aunt once worshiped. zoya proves to be a very capable soldier and is even brought to novgorod proper to meet with the prince. she is honored with the title of general. the war continues but seems her village is entering into a time of peace. it is a tenuous respite, as soon after a dragon arrives in their midsts and begins to devastate the landscape and capture locals.
˖࿔. the dragon is none other than saint george himself, known regionally as sankt juris. after many deaths and resurrections he has become a corrupt vampire drifting between the realm of life and death. this mirrors canon as leigh bardugo has spoken about how juris is a fantasy equivalent to the real life saint and his slaying of the biblical dragon.
zoya's identity as a woman is exposed when she is seen wandering in the night towards the dragon's lair in nothing but her dressing gown. as punishment for enlisting in the war effort as a woman zoya is sent to appease the beast as a sacrificial bride. there is no opposition to the union as zoya is drawn in by the dragon's whispers knowing him to be holy, believing it is god's will for her to be given to the saint.
arriving in the monster's dwelling juris' pleads with the girl. begging her to slay him and for them to become one so he may be "pure" in the eyes of god once more. in her new found faithfulness she pierces the dragon heart and drinks the blood from his veins. when she emerges from the mountainside she is affixed in his scales and has descended into vampirism herself.
˖࿔. this is when zoya's name reaches folk hero status. the villagers are unaware of the dangers of vampires ( or as they are known in rus'; upyr ) they believe that bride they have sent as a sacrifice to the dragon had the strength to beat back the beast into submission. heralded as juris' second coming she is seen a protective force in rus' until her true nature is revealed.
current timeline 1200: zoya's faith has been fractured after having to reckon with what she has become. in the aftermath of her deification she was faced with mortal pilgrims venturing to her village for blessings but in time the constant swarm wore on the young vampire. she feeds on one of the travelers but doesn't drain her victim dry. words gets out about this feeding and soon the crowd of worshippers becomes a frenzied mob. what unfolds after is a slaughter, half-dragon and half-saint, she rains down heavenly fire on settlement and leaves her home village in near ruins.
𓂃₊ verse notes
in the 1400s, by this point zoya's belief is still very much fractured. she is at war with saint in her mind. juris convinces zoya of her righteousness but she struggles to reconcile the state of her being with the holy spirit that dwells within. i see potential with zoya becoming one of dracula's generals in his war against humanity because she is starving for purpose at this stage in her life. she has no real hatred for humanity but she sees the way she is looked at and sees no real path forward that allows her to live with mortal men in peace.
juris is like a ghost, zoya quite simply is being haunted by the saint. she may call it god speaking through her but in actuality the saint is simply an old man with a vendetta against the pagan religions he died defending the world against. zoya's belief is very much entwined with the opinions of the dragon and half her journey is about learning to bend the saint to her will rather than the other way around. her mind is quite literally not her own!!
she is a witch through and through, i am debating whether zoya actually bears some of the blood of the old slavic gods. her family may have made some points when they said she was "touched" in some way by the wild and the nature spirits. after traveling the world she does eventually return to her homeland to better understand the root of her power.
nocturne, please standby i have no idea what she is up to here yet. hopefully minding her own damn business and having a smoothie somewhere away from the drama
𓂃₊🌩️ 𝕻JO / 𝕸YTH VERSE. . . APPRENTICE OF THE WITCH OF BEASTS 𓆩 ' bane of jupiter, daughter of the sky
▍note: this verse easily can work in times of antiquity despite the urban fantasy genre of the pjo series. i'm flexible with when the events of zoya's story take place and i am aware zoya's status as a child of one of "the big three" skews some of the in-universe prophecies. it isn't my intention to have zoya's presence in the story greatly affect the already established plot. i rather her arc unfold on the fringes of canon or just in another time entirely!
zoya was a girl born into vengeance . . . it is the daughter of titans and famed witch, circe who first learns of the conception of the child of jupiter beyond the eyes of the olympians. forced into her exile on the island of aeaea by none other than the king of the gods himself — the notorious enchantress hatches a plot to curse her adversary’s heir with the mark of a beast. she tasks one of her handmaidens to pose as a nurse and slowly over weeks zoya’s mother sabina is tricked into drinking a magical draught during her pregnancy that will inevitably turn her daughter into a monster. when zoya is born she is a happy and healthy baby but as years go by the solution within her festers. it all comes to a head when her aunt is assailed in their home by valentin grankin, a wealthy businessman who was making unwanted advances towards zoya. after being invited over by none other than zoya's own mother. she kills the man in the heat of her transformation into a dragon to the horror of all her witnesses.
forced to flee from her small village on the outskirts of moscow. liliyana and zoya make a home for themselves in ukraine, off the coast of the black sea. it is there that zoya learns her aunt is a follower of the old gods and a practitioner of the goddess devana’s teachings. this proximity to witchcraft was the reason for her aunt’s status as a black sheep among the family. she begins to learn minor spell-casting as well as the usage of medicinal herbs and how to concoct poisons from flowers they grew in their garden. by the day, zoya’s aptitude for the craft seems to grow and her aunt recognizes that her niece’s power far exceeds her own. unbeknownst to her that a god's power wasn't the only force at work within the veins of her niece.
it is liliyana’s prayers and rituals that bring devana to their humble home in her roman incarnation of diana. at just twelve years old under the protection of the goddess and her huntresses zoya leaves home. in her youth zoya spends quite a few years with the hunt but she never takes the pledge to officially become a maiden and huntress. her time with the goddess and her followers is cut short when she is claimed by her father mid-battle and is subsequently taken to the island of aeaea as a means to keep her identity hidden. unbeknownst to zoya her presence on the island is but another punishment for the witch as jupiter has learned of the blight she has put upon his daughter.
as the years go by, zoya matures into her magic but she also makes a stranger of the beast within her. repressing the dragon she turns to her witchcraft as a way to not only keep her inner monster at bay but also to keep her busy. out of fear of her own barely contained violence, she spends as little time as possible with the other handmaidens knowing an emotional spark may ignite her shift in form. circe concurrently begins to get attached to zoya and she staves off the secret of the young witch’s curse knowing that the truth will drive her most promising pupil away. this time of clemency only lasts until zoya turns nineteen. this is when she uncovers the spell, in one of the grimoires she is studying from, that same spell circe used to concoct the tincture which made her into the creature that she is.
from this point on she works tirelessly to find a means to flee from the island. delving further into research about her dragon form she finds she has a kinship with the monster scylla as they are wrought of the same scourge. she is able to communicate with the former nymph and when they reach an understanding they take an oath to form a tentative alliance. true to their agreement the great sea creature leaves her haunting to wreak havoc upon the island and in the ensuing chaos the daughter of jupiter flees. finding her way back to the huntresses they deliver her to camp jupiter in the following weeks. her arrival baffles the senate with her sudden appearance out of seeming anonymity though praetor of the twelfth legion, reyna knows of her briefly due to her stint on the island.
⊹ SLIGHT VERSE DIVERGENCE ft. @daylighter
when the young sorceress starts to grow suspicious of her witch mother’s intentions she begins to realize something is amiss with her apprenticeship. amidst her doubts a roman son of apollo arrives on the island without circe’s notice to deliver a letter from his praetor. he soon lets his true intentions be known; that he wishes to recruit the daughter of jupiter to his own personal ranks. having use for her skillset in the art of magic and mist manipulation . she shows a bit of hesitance at first but is ultimately won over after kenneth agrees to the condition that her loyalty will ultimately remain to herself and not any legion or general, if she chooses to leave with him. still, zoya does eventually come to camp jupiter yet under slightly different circumstances and accommodations.
𓂃₊ VERSE NOTES
zoya's status as a dragon is a WELL-KEPT secret even in the verses where she relocates to new rome. under no circumstances does someone know that her and the dragon are one and the same. she always transforms in hiding and almost always under the cover of night! only after some plotting can this secret be revealed and even then the conditions are fairly strict.
in regards to her relationship with circe… zoya and her witch-mother have a very intricate and nuanced relationship. it goes without saying that zoya was basically raised by her even if circe was effectively her jailer. even after zoya learns that circe is responsible for her condition she still cannot entirely shake the love she has for her. it takes zoya an immense amount of contemplation to eventually escape the island and find her own way in the world.
in regards to her relationship with jupiter… to put it simply zoya and her father are at odds. while she may be of the most powerful of his demigod children he is also particularly resentful of her because she is a reminder of how he was bested by a witch. he only claimed her as a way to keep her in line out of fear. before arriving in new rome zoya's parentage is also shrouded in mystery. she often claims circe as her blood mother and godly parent unless the truth has already been revealed.
on a lighter note zoya has two ventus companions in this universe. they are wind spirits who take on the form of a pair of white tigers named samira and nitya. both animals have heightened empathy like zoya herself and can sense the 'intent' of those around them. they are fiercely protective over her and typically don't let anyone get very close. also due to their nature as venti they have some command over the weather and will call down lightning if they feel threatened in anyway. both tigers are outfitted in silver armor to help them channel this electricity and make them effective conduits for their own power as well as zoya's.
𓂃₊☁︎ A VICIOUS/EO VERSE. . . THE STORM WITCH OF THE EAST 𓆩 ' 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯
▍note: it has admittedly been a while since i have read the villains books so there are bound to be inaccuracies here that i will probably go in and edit once i get around to a re-read. that being said i don't really plan on having zoya's verse interact with the overall plot of the books outside of her run-ins with EON which is still mostly classified information. this also means that zoya's main arc takes place in a post-vicious timeline after stell conceives of EON in response to eli and victor's appearances.
⊹ CONCEPTION. growing up in the rural russian countryside zoya is scouted as a figure skater by valentin grankin at the tender age of twelve. coming from an impoverished home zoya's competition money is what kept her family afloat and she quickly becomes the main breadwinner within a few months of performing. grankin agrees to fund the young prodigy's education and training in what he sees as a sound acquisition. entering into a contract with the businessman zoya's unwittingly signs away her autonomy. the partnership does not last long before grankin begins to expect unsavory favors from his investment. after he makes an advance towards zoya she kills him while squabbling to escape and has to flee her hometown as a result.
her aunt and adoptive sister come to her rescue at the rink. escaping in a car they are pursued by grankin's security detail and they run the family off the road during a raging thunder storm. veering off course the pursuit ends in a devastating crash seemingly killing everyone in the vehicle but that is not the case. zoya dies with rain water in her lungs and rage in her heart and when she rises again she has the power of the sky at her behest. lada garin, zoya's sister technically survives as well and is later rumored to be an eo on her own right. the only victim that didn't rise again was zoya's aunt, liliyana
⊹ GATHERING ALLIES. as a teenager zoya survives off of secrets. initially she couldn't find any subtlety to her newfound abilities. she would bring rainy weather to notorious dry towns and violent winds to the most mild of villages. in time she learns that she can use her manipulation of atmosphere to bend sound waves and she begins to gather intel about other EOs via whispers. forced to move from place to place in order to avoid further suspicion this constant storming around earned her the title of burya vedma ( storm witch ). this is when she meets david and genya two eos with an affinity for technology and disguises respectively. they had followed the gathering clouds towards her and the three from a tenuous alliance.
⊹ MOVING TO THE U.S. zoya is nineteen when she finally catches wind of information in regards to lada's whereabouts. rumors of a alleged pyromancer from her hometown fittingly dubbed, the firebird. at this point zoya has amassed a coalition of EOs… a small army of sorts. she has created a safe haven from them and swears to continue her mission to protect any EOs she comes across and keep their true identities masked from the public. she takes a fraction of her allies with her when she immigrates in pursuit of her sister. she spends years on the hunt for information in her search she has amassed a network of EOs in the U.S. and internationally who become loyal to her cause. the larger her legion grows the more attention she draws towards herself. already EON agents are beginning to put out hits on her and others who are her close allies.
𓂃₊ VERSE NOTES ( TLDR )
zoya's EO abilities encompass a broad spectrum of atmosphere manipulation. as i said above she is prone to using her powers in more subtle ways to help maintain her cover. such as employing acoustic anomalies to spy on her enemies and gather intel on EOs in the area.
her more offensive skillset is reserved for emergency situations. this is the customary calling of lightning, wind and rain. the more subtle way this skillset manifests is how the temperature drops whenever she enters a room and the heavy humidity that hangs around her sometimes in thick vapor.
zoya's network of EO's can be considered somewhat of a rebel army. some of her contacts are more loyal to her than others. david and genya are her left and right hand when it comes to day to day operations. david innovates so that their home base is kept up to date in terms of defense and genya assists in spy craft with her tailoring of the human face. base of operations is roughly on the vermont/new york border in the deep forest.
in her civilian life she is currently enrolled at state university in vermont as a graduate student studying meteorology and atmospheric physics. she still a skating instructor on the side at her local rink, which is more for her own fulfillment than monetary gain. she travels often so she is only a part-timer at her current college.
▍note: a fairly well established fact is zoya's mood directly affecting the weather but i do want to elaborate on the ways this manifests. i think it's a common misconception that when she gets angry or experiences any negative emotion it starts to storm. while this very well does happen from time to time it's important to account for just exactly what kind of storm is being called. zoya delights in rain, she loves the feeling of fresh water on her skin and humidity is her friend, never her foe. so here is a cheat sheet on reading zoya's mood according to the weather. think of it as a very violent mood ring!
⊹ contentment / calm: it's very humid. the rain is coming down in a steady stream with little to no wind to be felt. zoya stands in it when its warmer out she will be there for hours and let herself get soaked to the bone. she is alone usually and her feet are bare. the sky is a smoky canvas with wisps of white. she likes to revel in this feeling because it is rare and it never quite lasts.
⊹ elation / excitement: it's windy, maybe more breezy. partly cloudy but it could turn to rain at any moment. gales may congregate underneath her step; every movement she takes is light, soundless. if you look closely you will find she is barely standing on the ground at all and is being carried by the flow of wind. her hair may stay in a constant state of partial suspension ━ undulating around her in a flurry of dark curls.
⊹ somber / grieving: snowfall. no matter the season it's quiet like the dead of winter. the snow is ceaseless falling in full flakes at a rapid pace. the accumulation is quiet and lethal with its swiftness. it is the kind of weather that can bury you alive without a trace. the thaw seems years away, it's an endless world of ivory. when the snow lands on the crown of her head it does not melt rather it gathers and wreaths her in ice.
⊹ rage / jealousy: the lightning is so close the boom of thunder begins to overlap itself. the world is all sound and light. the sky is dark as midnight and the wind is violent, endless in its torrent. it is pouring and the rain is tossed by the wind utterly horizontal in its path. zoya is a conduit, a conductor of electricity and the lightning sings through her. she almost always is the dragon in this state breathing out distruction with each snarl. her gaze hold so much voltage it is nearly impossible to look her in the eye without being blinded by the brightness.
⊹ love / affectionate: it's drizzling. the sun is still shining but it is accompanied by a dusting of mist. light is dancing between raindrops and there is refracted color everywhere. a dusting of dew across the grass. the world smells like dampened earth and each drop is a pearl in the dark sea of her hair. she is in the garden here, wildflower aroma permeates the atmosphere... spring has arrived after a long winter.
A DARK ACADEMIA/NINTH HOUSE ADJACENT VERSE... THE HOST TO THE DRAGON, A BREATH OF LIFE 𓆩 ' 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥
▍note: while nh is the primary inspiration for this verse it can be easily adapted outside of that canon since i know very few people are familiar with it. i am willing to tweak the conventions of said universe to make plots work definitely flexible when it comes to the loosely established magic system of the nine houses of veil.
in a more true to nh setting zoya is a yale grad student studying botany/plant biology who was invited to join the aurelian house back in her sophomore year of undergrad. she has been an active member since her induction, frequently attending binding rituals and studying arcane texts alongside her coursework. she is working towards her doctorate but her academic life is marred by growing financial strain as well as homesickness. she is an international student from russia in a country she has only called home for the past six years.
zoya's interest in magic starts off as a tame offshoot of her own studies for class. one day she comes across a few herbal magic tomes in beinecke library while doing research for her thesis. the rest is practically history, as her intrigue spirals from then on. once she is recruited into aurelian officially she gets her hands on certain cursed grimoire, the song of storms. said to house the greater demon juris, a dragon prince of hell with untold knowledge and said to bring insurmountable wealth with him when summoned. he had been sealed away for his volatility but zoya is drawn to the mystery this discovery presents.
she keeps the grimoire for weeks, a mere relic to add to her growing collection. it is only when her aunt's illness progresses that she begins to grow desperate in attempting to break the binding spell placed on the text. willing to commune with any god, dark or light as a means to save her guardian's life. one stormy evening on the roof of the aurelian tomb, lightning comes down upon the earth and under the spill of witch's blood the spellbook is cracked open, setting the demon free. the recovery goes far from planned as the dragon takes up station in the body of zoya's thesis advisor.
both demon and hedge witch form a tenuous alliance posing as mentor and mentee under the nose of lethe and the other houses of veil. juris agrees to train zoya in his magical practices but his brothers in hell have caught wind of his release. when the current lethe house coalition goes rogue and journeys beyond the veil several times they thin out the boundary between realms. these crossings allow denizens of the underworld to run free into the mortal world, dozens of underlings of infernal royalty out for a blood feud.
caught in the middle of a battle between brothers it is not long after zoya comes upon her mentor half-dead in his office. unsure of which creature or prince is responsible for the attack she issues the killing blow as a mercy. in doing so she takes the dragon's essence into herself and all the power and station that comes with a disgraced throne in hell. the after effects of such a merging is a slow onset of bestial tendencies. the emergence of scales across skin, of too sharp teeth, of pale eyes slit to a reptile's narrow stare. oh, and she still somehow has to attend all her classes and make all her lab hours before the semester's completion!
AN ALTERNATE CRIME VERSE.... THE WITCH OF WHISPERS, WILL SEE YOU NOW 𓆩 ' 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘴
when zoya’s grisha power reveals itself to her on her wedding day in defense of lilyana instead of being rushed off to the capital she returns to novokribirsk with her aunt. it is there that they formulate a plan to send her to os kervo to begin an apprenticeship with an herbalist there. by the age of thirteen they have saved up enough money to send zoy. a away and she begins her journey to the port city. she does not last as an apprentice for long, her eyes were always set on the true sea and where it could take her. she began to save up money to book passage aboard a ship but eventually she grew impatient and at the rate she was saving it would be years before she could leave the city. a year passes, and when she is fourteen she finally builds up the courage to sneak aboard a trade vessel headed to kerch. when she arrives in ketterd. am she has the little money she has saved up and a collection of kerch words she had gathered from her instructor in os kervo. it was scarcely enough to get her around but it was just the right amount for her to stay at a halfway house and gather her bearings.
they begin to think her ghezen-touched... two years have passed and she is a long-sought after asset. this was not an overnight success though it had started as an accident after lingering around the exchange for longer than usual she had begun to hear whispers... of the very interesting sort. talk of shares and the flow of money none of it was luck though many of the traders spoke of it like it was such. glorified gambling, some men went to the tables in the barrel and others came here to these hallowed halls to do the same. she was privy to where the kruge would land by using her summoning to manipulate acoustics she was able to find out what shares were being bought and sold long before anyone else. in learning the value of the information she could provide she began to monetize her services under the guise of “financial advising”. her business grew but so did the target on her back as she was a young girl living alone in a foreign city. many attempts to kidnap her and force her to perform her services free of charge were made, though unsuccessfully. this is when she meets felix meijer, a kerch merchant with ties to the zemeni jurda trade.
enter, the hidden sapphire of ketterdam. she is eighteen and living in the meijer mansion in the financial district at the height of luxury. in the years prior she had gotten close to the merchant in hopes to uncover the unsavory about his trade ties and it was not long before she did. the grisha girl had found that he was selling the jurda he was receiving from overseas at a higher rate than agreed upon thus pocketing a hefty sum in his name while paying off his partners the lesser agreed upon percentage of the earnings. zoya used this information as blackmail and in exchange for keeping meijer’s secret he would set her up in his home and give her the title of mistress. this new status would allow her a certain degree of protection and let the other traders know that there would be consequences if harm were to come to her. it gives her more freedom than a marriage and also allows her some degree of mobility in ketterdam high society. she carries on this way for years no longer using her talents for anyone outside of meijer’s circle though she will consider lending her services to the highest bidder...
⊹ CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: zoya is in the process of cutting out the middleman. her arrangement with meijer is beginning to prove more trouble than it is worth. she currently is attending ketterdam university studying economics but also befriending the sons and daughters of merchants from all over the world. this is also her way of beginning to establish her own network outside of the financial district. she is finding a way to doctor meijer's will so all his assets will be left to her upon his death. before orchestrating his murder she begins to blackmail the house staff and security with her gathered secrets slowly changing the loyalty of those in her direct environment.
* IT IS IMPERATIVE HER STATUS AS GRISHA REMAIN A SECRET IN THIS VERSE OR IT RISKS TAKING DOWN THE WHOLE OF HER OPERATION.
⊹ ZOYA & THE EARLY YEARS OF HER IMMORTALITY: previously i have said how i fully believe decades ( possibly a century out ) from the start of her reign zoya would eventually abdicate the ravkan throne not to a child of her own but someone she believes is qualified for the job . because zoya’s entire arc is about learning that raw power cannot be unrooted from humanity she takes an active role in relinquishing some of her influence. her immortal life is long one and while being queen of ravka is an important part to it i hardly think it is the end destination for her. i think eventually she gives herself the grace and takes a step away from politics and diplomacy. when you live long enough the concept of nations and borders becomes almost frivolous. it is something a queen who has ruled as long as she has would become desensitized to which would make someone else better suited to take up the crown ━ someone with more skin in the game.
she has always been a near mythical thing and her immortality beginning to truly show only makes her seem less human and more diety. she knows the pitfalls of worship having seen what the people had done to alina in her martyrdom. so in a sense she enters her ‘retirement’ era somewhere where she can embrace the dragon’s eye fully as she feels more kindred to past lives she embodies as the years go on. i think she would make a life for herself in the sikurzoi mountains and nikolai would come with her. this is a phase of her life that she spends most in her dragon form because that is when she feels closest to the earth and the sky ( which coincides with the theory that dragons were actually the first squallers )
on this note, i have used the title moon-eater for zoya before and this is loosely based on the myth of the bakunawa from filipino mythology. the dragon is called this during her stay on the shu-han/ravkan border as her wing span seems to block out the moon itself when she takes flight. the locals believe her a creature of eclipse and a bringer of storms but she is still mostly viewed as a neutral force ━ not benevolent or evil she is simply nature running its course. she stays in the mountains for quite some time debating whether it is time for her to do as juris once did and forfeit her life to bestow her power upon another.
⊹ A DECONSTRUCTION OF MOTHERHOOD. . . a meta in regards to zoya and her fraught relationship with motherhood: what it means to be someone's child and what it means to love someone like they are your own
before, we can even speak about zoya's mother or perhaps those she may have maternal feelings for we gotta start at the beginning. zoya grew up in poverty and it made her options for the future severely limited. although, what truly affected her outside of having next to nothing was living in a loveless home. not only does zoya have an unrelenting drive for something more but she views motherhood and being a bride as synonymous. this path forward is something she views as inferior to the future she wants to seize for herself. in actuality, at this stage of life the choices are a nameless death or die with some semblance of glory.
the first lesson zoya learns is to harden her heart. her mother is one who teaches her this as a child. this whole narrative of the bride, as i said before, falls into her narrow view of what it means to be a mother. a bride is the first stage in the softening of oneself. although zoya loves a contradiction because her mother was a weak woman but certainly not a soft one. she associates being wed with her first marriage ( or the sham of one ) when she was a scared child and she has not been able to disentangle those feelings since.
SABINA
she starved for love and approval literally and figuratively. in many ways it was zoya who took care of her own mother and not vice versa. falling into a caretaker role at such a young age fundamentally damaged the way she sees caring for someone else. it's no surprise, zoya pitied her mother even as a child she had more resolve than a woman who time had broken down. she agreed to marry an adult when she was only a girl to save her family. obviously she was so young and did not truly have a say in the matter but this still puts zoya into the role of breadwinner and the sole provider of her home at such a young age. her mother who should have protected her was leading her down the aisle like a lamb to the slaughter. there were safe people for zoya to rely on at this stage of life ESPECIALLY sabina who was willing to commit the greatest violence of all; utterly stealing her daughter's future for her own gain.
LILIYANA
no one had spoken up for zoya for the first 10 years of her life until her aunt stopped her wedding. this was the first positive adult figure she had ever encountered. of course, once zoya's grisha abilities are made known she has to part ways with liliyana shortly after reuniting. they are family but to say liliyana raised zoya from that point on is not exactly true. her aunt was the first to give her true unconditional love but this did not remove zoya from her caretaker position fully. when she arrived at the little palace she had her service stipend sent directly to liliyana. as much as zoya loves liliyana she cannot fight the age-old habit of showing affection through monetary support and gifts. this is not necessary bad in any regard it is just a lingering trauma response that still remains in a healthy relationship in her life.
that being said, zoya fully views her aunt as a guardian and parental figure. this essentially solidifies the importance of "found-family" for her. she learned the hard way that those who share blood do not necessary have one's best interests at heart. of course this only serves to destroy her ability to give and receive love more in the long run when liliyana ultimately dies along with expanding of the shadow fold. zoya retreats into herself fully in the wake her aunt's death. there is a very pessimistic part of her that believes she is being punished for being a girl with thorns and thus she grows her walls of briars higher. everything she has loved up to this point has been taken from her and she cannot help but feel responsible for it. so she guards her love and tries to keep it from spilling out... this of course backfires expeditiously.
NINA
enter nina zenik, a good portion of zoya and nina’s relationship takes place off the page but that doesn’t make it any less significant. when the two first meet zoya is a grisha instructor at the little palace and she frequently trains the younger children in combat. she is a terrifying teacher and there is plenty of gossip surrounding her methods of instruction but that being said she actually spends a great deal of time around young grisha, most of which are orphans or far from their families. nina is the first child she grows to care about and when she loses track of her on their scouting mission which ultimately ends with nina as a drüskelle prisoner she cannot forgive herself. even after she returns home she shows a great deal of distress with nikolai’s decision to send her back to fjerda to do more spy work. in an argument that is EXTREMELY reminiscent of a quarrel between two parents. it is apparent that zoya views nina as not just her responsibility but family as well.
in the final battle in rule of wolves zoya’s confrontation with the apparat directly calls into question her ability to be a mother, point blank. it is obvious to anyone who sees how zoya cares for nina to deny that they have a familial tie, one which zoya fiercely protects. the amount of grief and internal conflict she wrestles with in this exchange alone is a culmination of all her past experiences with motherhood, mothering, and the mother figure as a whole. her story is about love at the end of the day. coming to terms with the fact that she cannot help herself from loving and loving hard and it is okay for her to mess up in love. it is okay if she will never be a perfect friend. it is okay if she will never be a perfect sister. it is okay if she will not be a perfect lover…. and of course, it is okay if she will not be a perfect mother. lack of perfection does not mean lack of love. perfection actually has no place in love.
CONCLUSION
i am of the mind that zoya would be more inclined to adopt a child based on past experiences. as i said earlier in this post so many grisha orphans arrive at the little palace year after year. zoya feels a sense of kinship with them all and she used to have a hand in raising most of the children at the grisha school. what this means at the very least is that she is open to letting someone into her heart in such a fundamental way. before she could not even conceive of it because the fear of how it could make her seem weak. i also do think she sees nina as her daughter in many ways but it will never be the same as rearing a child from youth onward since their relationship did not evolve into more of this mother/daughter dynamic until later in life.
in regards to having a child of her own she is less open to this. considering she ends the series as queen of ravka the question of a line of succession would arise. if you have been here for a while you know that i am firm believer that zoya eventually abdicates the throne, similar to what nikolai did for her. the whole idea of a royal family basically ends with her. the crown would either pass to another high ranking ravkan official or the beginnings of a democracy takes hold and there is an election process put in place for who rules the country after zoya steps down. this is all a long way of saying of zoya would want to have a child on her own terms if that is something she decides on doing. it would likely be after she gives up the throne ( though there are some verses where this may differ ) and her partner at the time would not necessarily have to be someone she is married to but likely someone she has been with for quite some time. i think it actually would be fairly healing for zoya to have a child in any capacity because it would be a testament to how her love can cultivate and nurture someone. but she is also brutal with her love and i can see her doing the unspeakable for her child without a second thought so that is also something to consider!!
META : FROM TEMPTRESS TO SAINT ━━━━ to damn her or exalt her ; the reclamation of storm witch
this post really is an excuse for me to go off about how zoya abhors being referred to as sankta in any capacity but it really shows how much she has grown to accept her nature that she feels more inclined to refer to herself as a witch . she identifies with that over any kind of sainthood the people of ravka and beyond try to assign to her . perhaps people aren't ready to worship a figure that has been so commonly associated with chaos and evil ( for lack of a better word ) but zoya knows better than to think herself worthy of a pedestal especially when people have made it a habit to disgrace and kill their saints . i don't think she will ever move past that need for the fear ‘ the storm witch ' appellation instills when it is heard and associated with her face and iconography .
it also cannot go without saying that zoya is the only saint that transitioned from her witchery into exaltation all within her lifetime which is a rather short span of time given how young she is . we see with lizabeta that many saints before her were not so lucky and ulla is one of the few saints still alive but she and her saintly counterpart ( sankta ursula ) are so often viewed as separate and not as one single entity ━ there is also the fact that most people do not know that ulla is still alive so her public image is not exactly subject to a shift like zoya's is . this is a bit of a long winded way of saying that ravka has no issue crowning saints but it does take issue with crowning grisha , especially those branded as witches .
in ro.w nikolai is given the perfect opportunity to abdicate the throne to zoya only AFTER she is accepted as a saint for her mercy towards the fjerdan army on the battlefield . this is a game of optics like politics tends to be but the real takeaway here is zoya's act of clemency is not what made her a viable queen but her status as a saint that truly pushed her over the edge . just like with alina , being the first sun summoner was not enough ; being a powerful witch , grisha , or anything is not enough . a grisha queen must be made holy to rule . she must be … a soldier , summoner , and saint !
there is a great schism between zoya's new public perception and how she views herself . storm witch will always capture her essence better than sankta zoya of the storms . the witch is not well loved , the witch is misunderstood , the witch is a symbol and a vessel for dichotomy . that will always be more of who she is than a figure worthy of worship and prayer . at the core of row is the messaging that we have to live and learn to accept our inner demon , our the inner monster . this is a theme that obviously relates to nikolai's storyline but zoya as well . she has always been seen as a fearsome creature and finally she becomes just that and it is suddenly a divine act .
but miracles are not innately sanctified they are written and framed that way . earlier in the same battle she becomes the dragon for the first time zoya electrifies a whole sea of soldiers and ends their lives . it is seen as a devastating course of action and even genya remarks on its brutality while zoya claims it as a necessary show of violence and strength / the narrative shifts the second the seed of sainthood is planted in the minds of public . while it is no secret that being dubbed a saint is of no interest to zoya and even vexes her she allows for that belief to persist because of the access it gives her . she is best suited to be queen and if this is the only path to the throne , than so be it . although , i believe further down the line as she continues her rule , unchanging and powerful , the title of witch will resurface . the people will lose interest in the idea of a saint that is not so easily martyred ━ the storm witch of ravka is a far more compelling tale and what is ravka if not a country ruled by stories both great and terrible ?
⊹ THE DRAGON’S EYE: empathy explored through transmigration
as a warning, before i get into the nitty gritty of this post there are MAJOR spoilers in here for rule of wolv.es so if you haven’t finished or made it to this point in the series and would like to remain unspoiled do not proceed further… with that out of the way let’s begin.
FRUITION: zoya’s empathic abilities begin to manifest themselves a few months following her union with the dragon saint, juris. juris is not the first grisha to bear the title and form of a dragon. when he trains zoya he implies that the dragon is not simply a state of being but it is also a mantle, in a sense, that is worn and passed through generations. this is important to note because zoya’s empathy is not an addition to the presence of the dragon but the two are one in the same. this six sense, this heightened perception, and emotional awareness of those around her is referred to as: the dragon’s eye. this is very similar to the concept of a third eye, which is heavily entwined with both hindu and buddhist traditions. the third eye is said to be located above the pineal gland which i am only bringing up because reptiles specifically use their pineal gland to sense light, or in other words, to help see. the pineal gland is a dormant organ in humans… but not in zoya.
zoya’s killing, and subsequent consumption, of juris in the fold is zoya’s second death. juris explains that the proper conception of an amplifier requires sacrifice from both parties involved. when zoya killed the tiger as a young girl for its teeth, a part of her perished in the process, though at the time she was unaware of it. this was not a proper union between souls and its imperfection is described in how zoya was only allowed a fraction of the tiger’s power. her second death, the slaying of the dragon, was one of totality. there was a definitive ending of one life as she traversed into a new one with the dragon and all the dragons that came before him nestled into her shadow. these past lives and their wisdom, and immortal knowledge are the root of zoya’s empathy. she is firmly imbedded to the making at the heart of the world ━ she is thousands upon thousands of hearts dead and buried and renewed over and over again.
IN PRACTICE: this ability remains dormant at first, with good reason. the full scope of the sight would have driven her mad if she were to let in all her past lives at once. it begins in glimpses into the strongest emotions of those around her: rage, grief, blindingly bright bouts of happiness, and the depthless pits of depressions. without means for regulation it is the emotional stimuli around her that drive her into premature transformations. the dragon is closest when the eye is open widest: she grows teeth, scales like armor, wings that cut through the blades of her shoulders. it is excruciating as she fights against the dragon’s eye; it only results in her becoming more of a half-formed creature. when she begins to allow herself to become more in tune with the internal wellbeing of those she shares her life with it is only then that she can reach a point of equilibrium: the woman and the beast both become satiated through an act of mutual eating.
her act of mercy on the battlefield against the fjerdans is when she finally is able to conduct a fully balanced transformation; whereby both the past dragons and the current zoya are in unison with each other rather than in opposition. mercy, benevolence, and forgiveness is how proper mastery of her power is achieved. she holds both ruin and revelation in her mouth; both pardoner and executioner. her status as a saint being solidified following this display of clemency is no surprise at all. there is nothing people find more novel, more divine, than compassion from a force above that may strike you down. the vengeful god that inevitably… chooses forbearance. thus the people give her a crown and they call her queen but her empathy is not a kindness, it is a form of sapience. a knowledge that comes from a degree of immortality. she only choose mercy because she let go of her childish impulsivity but when she chooses violence now it is with all the ancient conviction of a primordial storm witch. it is deliberate and it is final, and in a way… it is a justice.
WITH REFINEMENT: for the extent of empathic link itself there is no real limit to what zoya may access. telepathic communication is reserved for when she is in her dragon form and is in no possession of a voice of her own so she may project her thoughts into the minds of others. emotion, in its rawest iteration, is closest to her at all times. she can easily sense how others feel about her but more importantly if she encounters an individual enough she is able to recognize their distinct emotional signature in a crowd of thousands. every person has a different psychological threshold, a resting point when they are in a state of calm and composure. for example; if someone is prone to anxiety naturally and zoya is familiar with them she will be able to tell that this is a chemical imbalance rather than fully fledged panic because she is able to identify the root causes of one’s sentiments. that being said, this awareness should not be mistaken for mood manipulation. she cannot calm a person or incite fear, she is strictly a bystander in this process.
it also must be noted that there is an element of memory retention to this skill as well. certain emotions are firmly rooted in past instances, facets to memory like trauma are deeply entwined with one’s individual history. zoya can recall these instances, usually unwillingly, since they bubble to the forefront of a person’s psyche when they are having an emotional response to a catalyst. zoya understands this to be an intrusion and as i stated above getting caught in a wave of nostalgia usually does not typically suit her interests. when she gains the mental fortitude to combat it she typically bars this aspect to her empathy from taking hold and hijacking her senses. this gateway to memory is more commonly used to read the emotional history of places. for instance, if one of the dragon’s past incarnations had visited a building in particular years prior, zoya may press her hand to a door or a wall and be able to see that landscape as it once was through her third eye. if the pull is strong enough zoya can be whisked off into a vision from a departed era that highlights the potency of that tether, if it was a great tragedy she will see those deaths, if it was a joyous occasion, she will witness that kiss. when she fully unlocks the breadth of her empathy she becomes her own creation myth, a genesis and exodus, she is a series of infinite beginnings and cessations.
˖⁺ WHAT CAME FIRST…
THE DRAGON OR THE GIRL? ⊹ affiliated with @wrrnth )
she is not always beneath a hill, she is not always beneath the earth, but there is always a sleeper… the suli are not originally from hyrule, they are not from this realm at all. they were a group of oracles and seers banished from their world into this one before hyrule was even hyrule. coming to settle in the lost woods primarily, they were a nomadic tribe renowned for their fortune telling and magical wares. to them magic was commonplace but in a kingdom where it was a gift seldom bestowed, and in such a generous quantity no less, the suli became outcast by the hylians. relegated to the fringes they begin to settle in the desert by the gerudo valley. at first, the gerudo people are highly suspicious of the suli as they not only have men among their people but their magic is slightly different than that of their own magicians. eventually tensions do settle and the two groups trade and mingle though they do not live under the same rule.
zoya is a fledgling mage at this time, the dragon within her sealed away. her prowess in ethereal magic makes her a valuable asset to the suli and by extension, the gerudo, as she frequently is called upon to summon rain for drinking water. it is a quaint upbringing and she is a young girl who longs to see the sea and is ill-suited for the dry and barren landscape. when passing bandits attack her village and her aunt and cousin are killed during the ransacking the dragon is released. she devastates the enemy faction while also nearly leveling a neighboring gerudo settlement in the process. hostility rises between the two communities again as the storm dragon is heralded as a suli blight. in the night zoya is taken from her home and bound with magic, the gerudo sorceresses seal her away in a tomb beneath a mountain. there she is forced into a sleep like death… this resting place will later be known as the desert colossus.
centuries pass and the spirit temple is erected around the slumbering dragon. zoya’s likeness is captured in the stone around her and carved into the hillside’s edifice. this iconography becomes associated with the goddess of sand amongst the gerudo. it should be noted, that in the passing ages the gerudo people have mingled enough with the suli of the ancient times that the two factions have become one in the same. zoya’s name is lost to time after generations of the suli slowly dwindling in size and becoming obsolete. during the hyrulean civil war many traversed the spirit temple seeking out aid from the goddess in prayer. some more ambitious individuals attempt to find the tomb itself but only one succeeds.
during the events of ocarina of time, nabooru awakens zoya from her sleep to assist in her rebellion against ganondorf. during this time zoya is disguised as another gerudo warrior and the general’s second in command. it is then revealed that the sorceresses twinrova, kotake and koume, are the very same sisters who sealed the dragon away originally. when they are caught, nabooru is brainwashed and zoya is held captive in the temple while the two witches prepare another binding ritual. this is when link arrives to free nabooru and she awakens as the sage of spirit. zoya in the process is also spared from a premature statis. when ganon is defeated, she remains with the gerudo and nabooru to help her rebuild their settlement after being under ganondorf’s rule. it is there the dragon lives out the rest of this phase of her life before her next hundred year sleep.
IN SUMMATION: zoya is not a reincarnated individual in the loz universe so much as she is a persisting figure throughout its history. she appears in different forms with different epithets all throughout the timelines and is seldom seen for what she truly is; a girl displaced tied to the fate of a world she does not actually belong to. depending on the current state of the environment around her she can be either hero, villain, or neutral party.
ASSOCIATED FIGURES / EPITHETS:
historical figures or deities that zoya is commonly… and wrongfully, attributed to throughout the ages
the goddess of sand, the lunar queen, the spirit of farore, a facet of ganon himself, queen of demons, apprentice to vaati, a remnant of demise, queen of the great faeries, the bakunawa
⊹ LEGACY OF MIDNIGHT : endowed with the evening aurora
primarily in zoya's pj.o verse she is a roman daughter of jupiter but i wanted to keep her somewhat grounded in her slavic roots hence her legacy status and relation to the zorya . she also has ties to the slavic pantheon through her adoptive family as her aunt liliyana is not only a follower of the huntress devana but also a caretaker to the slavic demigoddess lada garin ( coincidentally not related to love goddess of the same name but actually svarog , the god of fire )
˖ ⁺ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡 𝗗𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗢𝗚
zoya is only made aware of her legacy status after lada goes missing while on a quest to return the winged lion , simargl to his prison in the sky . the island of buyan reveals itself to her in a dream and she is haunted by the face of her cousin for days until the dream reaches back and she seeks passage into the realm of all-weather .
the first gods she meets of her heritage pantheon are the three brothers — the north , west , and east winds they act as informal guides to her quest and offer more harm than help typically . they do not recognize jupiter’s authority and thus have little respect for zoya and her status but it does not stop her from threatening with her power .
keeping simargl confined to the star polaris is one of the primary duties of the three zoryas of the dawn but the midnight sister( polunochnaya ) has not been seen in centuries . upon entering buyan , zoya is mistaken for the missing sibling and is barred from leaving the island until the lion is returned to his confinement . being that simargl is a fire deity as well , only lada is capable of recapturing the beast as she has dominion over his aspect but she can only do so with the aid of a zorya on her side to quell the flames when the time comes .
it is revealed that simgarl has taken zorya polunochnaya hostage and is stealing her starlight to keep his fire burning . lada and zoya eventually trap the god in a glass encasement allowing zoya to steal oxygen from the atmosphere and reduce the lion to coal thus setting the final zorya free .
˖ ⁺ 𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 & 𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦
the diadem of garafena : garafena is the great serpent guardian of the precious stone , alatyr . this is a gift bestowed upon her by the famed monster himself as zoya had to bargain with him in order to cross into the celestial domain . she brought him lightning confined to dragon-scale and he bestowed upon her a circlet of silver beset with alatyr . these stones give her the gift of healing allowing her to breathe white fire that burns away disease and infection .
blessing of the mooneater : a blessing from the midnight sister herself , often nameless and referred to simply as an eclipse . with this blessing she can absorb and reflect light and use it to further her power . it can also be seen as a curse because moon eating comes at the risk of stealing life from whatever being or person she is using as a source . it is not warm light or anything close to fire when the energy passes through her it becomes a cold and searing force that seeps through her skin in a pale radiance .
ON ZOYA’S HALF-SULI HERITAGE : I haven’t made an explicit post about this since for a long time i was gathering my thoughts on how to phrase this in a way that felt appropriate and respectful . but after reading rule of wol.ves twice over and processing my thoughts i don’t write zoya as “ white passing ” , in fact , i never have and upon reading ru.le of wo.lves i was surprised that leigh made a point of drawing attention to zoya’s ability to pass after releasing promo art that depicts her VERY clearly as a brown woman and also after the casting of sujaya who is also very clearly south asian . it is no secret that leigh retconned zoya’s background in the duology and the insertion of her suli heritage was never going to be entirely smooth but this choice to make her appear white always felt like a very hollow gesture . narratively , i see why she made the choice as the resolution of the duology is about self acceptance and embracing one's history and future but i think the messaging could have been just as strong if zoya very obviously appeared suli or at least non-white .
so what does this mean on this blog ? zoya is very clearly a poc though being as she is mixed white folks do not always know she is suli specifically but suli people themselves could clock her from a mile away ( as they do in canon multiple times ) it really doesn’t change much , since as i stated above , i have never written zoya as a “ white-passing ” individual just someone who is very guarded when it comes to her own culture . as someone who was raised outside of suli traditions she doesn’t always think that it is something that belongs to her and her rudimentary grasp on the language only furthers the alienation she feels . this is a reclamation of self and this relearning of her own heritage is something she is currently working on and will continue to work through . it is part of the process of learning to love every aspect of herself which falls in line with her arc in the duology rather perfectly and is not lessened by the fact that she looks more like her father than her mother .
⁺ A SECOND COMING OF THE AVATAR OF BAAL-ZEBUTH
( ⊹ 𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥 : 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 )
born into obscurity in the backwaters of the kingdom of redania in a village too small to be noted on a map . under the light of a rare mid-winter blue moon known in stories and myth as the sapphire moon , zoya nazyalenskaya was brought into the world an infant with a cry like a beast . a seemingly ordinary child until her twelfth year , on a trip with her father in the northern mountains they are attacked by a streak of white tigers and it is there that zoya assumes her dragon form for the first time . she appears as a rare draconid , a true dragon with obsidian scales blacker than night and breath of lightning rather than acid . a thing of legend seeming to be the first and only of her kind ━ pure chaos confined to flesh and bone ━ she is perceived as a great evil from that day forward .
