Jabberwick

Luthien Leerghast 🔸 He/they 🔸 Queer Illustrator 🔸 Stars, eyes and strange creatures

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Lúthien / Jabberwick he/they 🔸 Autistic 🔸 30's

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Queer illustrator, animator and creature appreciator! I write and draw about a place called Looming. You can expect scrapbooks, study pages, tutorials, paper art and very gay magical critters.

You can copy and closely reference my work with credit! You can also print it at home and use it for non-profit things like wallpapers, D&D games, whatever.

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do you watch ancient magus bride/mahō tsukai no yome? i feel like you'd like it

I could ramble, but the short of it is that while i have a soft spot for Ancient Magus' Bride, I see it through the same lens i see media like twilight. It is has problematic relationships and age dynamics because the main character is the same age as the target audience: teenagers.

That aside, i think it handles the 700-year-old boyfriend trope better than its peers of the same genre, but it is on very thin ice. I would like it so much more if Chise was in her mid 20s.

I really enjoyed lot of the environmental aesthetics, motifs and designs, especially around Elias and Ruth, and i think it has a very charming approach to magic and the fae. I also loved how autism coded the main cast, but especially Elias, is.

I want more media in the hidden magic world genre but where everyone is an adult and no one is going to school lmao

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Happy Pride to my little queer objectum freaks out there

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what kind of world/genre is looming? Is it a d&d campaign world, high fantasy, etc, if that makes sense?

It's like. Folkfantasy. It takes place on earth in a timeline vaguely similar to the real world, but with it's own deviations, inventions, places, etc. It resembles a scramble of eras, but it is placed very roughly in the late 1800s, early 1900s.

Tech: Technology is a scramble of different eras. Early electricity exists, but is unpredictable due to how magic inteference causes blackouts and dead-zones. This unpredictability is wrongly assumed as an inherent property of electricity itself, and so its potential isn't taken all that seriously by the general public. Some small electrical appliances have hit the market but they almost all have hand-cranks built into them for when the wall sockets stop working.

Train, boat and horse are the most common forms of travel, planes are in their early stages. While some modern buildings have lightbulbs, all buildings still have fire-based light alternatives due to blackouts.

Magical Critters: Most humans don't know the whiskered exist. The whiskered have reclused from humanity as humans have become more scientifically minded. Trying to explain the mechanics of magic causes it to stop working, and so creatures made from magic are put in danger by curiosity that seeks to categorize and explain them.

Magic: Increasinly doubted cultural beliefs about magic are deeply interwoven and muddled up with magic reality, meaning as things like snakeoils and charms go out of fashion, so does the belief in the idea of magic.

Where Looming stands magically by those who practice it is also not always clear-cut. Even those who practice magic don't always know what is and isn't "functional" magic. Someone who levitates objects miraculously might also believe crystals have inherent healing powers, because it is impossible to tell what is and isn't folk-belief.

Locations: Both real and made-up locations exist. One of the main settings is a large made-up island called Dimoor. It is an island in the northern hemisphere that exists with a mix of tasmanian and scottish inspired flora and fauna. Animals: Both real and fake non-magical animals exist. There's jackalopes, echidnas the size of cows, large elephant-faced predators called hogbears prowl the woods, large seal-like birds called walfins hang out along the rocky coast. They all exist alongside real animals.

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are jack merlin and wincer a throuple? O:

Oh good question.

Jack, merlin and wincer all have open relationships and a variety of partners that come and go, but plainly, no, they aren't a throuple! Jack and merlin are married, wincer and jack are dedicated "significant lovers" but dont consider themselves in a romantic relationship.

Wince and Merlin are as close as friends can be, but are completely non-sexual and platonic.

Abstract and objectum sexualities are common among the whiskered and kin. Wincer is married to a clock tower, who she is romantically dedicated to. Merlin also considers the Stairwells' boiler a dedicated partner.

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wheeze

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A bunch of normal cats!

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I'm struggling to understand the concept of the snickelways, is there a way you could clarify in any way?

Yes absolutely i can. The snickelways aren't meant to be something really physically easy to grasp. They're supposed to feel weird, abstract and other-worldly, BUT of course creatures in looming want a way to visualize it that gets the point across in the simplest of terms!

Here are two different maps I've made!

Any and all maps of looming should be regarded like early earth maps made hundreds of years ago. Like, they've got the right idea but are fundamentally incorrect or flawed.

The snickelways are inter-dimensional pathways between two primary realms. They all look different on the inside. Some look like hallways, gardens, mazes, alleyways, libraries, you name it.

I intend on making a couple more map versions some time later this year. There is a point in the story where a character gets the opportunity to view looming from the outside, and so he helps create a map based on his understanding of what he saw.

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A bunch of normal cats!

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Can i ask why is it that they're named "whiskered"?

Yeah!

The word "fae/fairy" is a relatively rare human cultural term in looming, and while it describes creatures that do exist, a lot of fairy mythology comes from human imagination and creation: Not all storybook magical creatures have real counterparts. Humans are inventive storytellers that come up with their own things! "Whiskered" is the respectful human-coined term (in english) for the magical creatures that actually exist, that has been enthusiastically adopted by those who live in close contact with humans. While they are extremely diverse, the major thing they all have in common is long whiskers, much like a cat. Sometimes i don't add them in my art, just for the sake of clarification.

Its also good to clarify that the distinction between whiskered and humans/animals is, in some areas, a fuzzy gradient. There's no hard line. The whiskered are creatures of both uptun and undercot, hence why they inhabit the snickelways that exist as a middle ground between the two.

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Maybe you've made a post like this before, and sorry if so! but could you explain some of your lore's terminology? It seems so interesting but i don't have all the context!

Yeah absolutely!

Places:

Looming: the name of my lore world

Upturn: The realm that earth exists. It is our universe.

Undercot: The twin to upturn. The deep dark woods. This realm is so densely magical and abstract that it is hard to exist there safely.

Snickelways: the vast network of tunnels that bridge upturn and undercot. They exist almost like miniature realms. Pocket dimensions if pocket dimensions were a vast sprawling maze or network of roots. some interconnect, some to nowhere, and walking through them in the right order can eventually get you from upturn to undercot: like a series of streets that lead to a city.

ATCW: abbreviation for "A Town Called Wove", name of the town that is the setting of looming's story. To clarify, the town's name is "A Town Called Wove"

The stairwells: The snickelway that my OCs, Jack and Merlin, reside.

Creatures:

The Whiskered: The magical creatures who hail from the snickelways, their strange and abstract ancestors originate from Undercot

Jabberwocky: A wyrm created from a human

Obgob: a type of whiskered supergroup that includes imps, kobolds, pixies and boggarts

Wyrd: a human raised by whiskered, who is changed by their magic. This is different from a human who has been transformed into a specific type of whiskered.

Culture:

Muddle: a rule applied to any language that magically acts as a language among the whiskered. (speaking in rhymes, etc)

Cardinal directions

Pin/Pinwards: North

Blind/Blindwards: East

Dim/Dimwards: West

Weft/Weftwards: South

Something important to note about cardinal directions in looming, is that maps are usually oriented with east as its "north"

I'll come back and edit this any time i think of more!

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Has there ever been a situation in your fantasy world where an abandoned child has been raised to adulthood by the unicorns?

Yeah! It happens! Its not just abandoned children, but also abused kids. The unicorn calls to them, not quite like a trance. More like an offering of escape. They wander off into the woods to answer the offering of a better life.

Kids raised by unicorns become wyrd! Wyrd is an umbrella-term for humans raised by whiskered and changed by their magic. They eat their food, are imbued with their magic, learn trickery and spellcraft. It changes them physically, and they all exist in their own unique and interesting ways. Kids adopted by unicorns usually stay as children. They become impish, strange and cunning. Some grow unicorn horns, others grow tails. They're often mistaken for ghosts: a child goes missing and is then spotted 10 years later, the same age, standing in the old valley grove with billowing white hair.

They help other kids, take care of the land, go on processions with the unicorn to distant magical libraries buried deep in the snickelways. They are babysat by sphinxes, their clothes tailored by the obgobs. Socially and culturally, these individiuals are considered children, and they are protected feircely by their community.

On the other hand, some choose to grow up. They thank the unicorn for it's guidance, and depart back into the world of humans. Most wyrd people live with a foot in each world, keeping in touch with their magical parents and whiskered culture, but stealthing among humans.

Those who depart stay wyrd, carrying the ways that magic changed them forever, hiding their horns, covering their tails, but displaying them with pride among likeminded individuals.

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She thoughtful sat upon the sill

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She thoughtful sat upon the sill

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Unicorn Doodles

Looming's unicorns are highly dangerous man-eaters that stalk the boundary where civilisations meet the wilderness.

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Another!

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Some followup Looming Unicorn lore!

In Looming, magical creatures speak in various "muddles", which is a rule applied to any language that is understood by that magical creature like a language: Rhyming words, whispering words, saying words backwards. Unicorns speak in a muddle called Honours. They can only understand you if you speak (in any language) with absolute honesty to them. Speaking dishonestly is akin to speaking a foreign language - they literally will not understand you.

Because of this, they adore human children, especially autistic kids. Where they are extremely hostile to adults, they adopt, protect and play with human children. In my story as a whole, they represent protection of children, but especially queer and autistic kids.

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Two new illustrations over on Ko-Fi!

⭐ https://ko-fi.com/jabberwick

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Reminiscing on old OCs from different times.

My heart will always be soft for Lucille. Talking about abuse online is always hard, because it is such a heavy, personal and difficult topic to navigate. Lucille was a character I made while taking the brunt of some of the worst abuse I'd ever lived through.

She helped me contextualize my experiences through storytelling and gave me a much needed escape from the physical and emotional hostility around me. I was so damaged, dysfunctional and severely unequipped to deal with the lasting ways my environment impacted me. But this weird little worm helped me get through it.

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Old art + more under the cut (: