Princess Axandrela of Dalem

My nose is in a book and my head is on a cloud. Could you repeat that once again? My thoughts are too loud. Aka @prankprincess123 on her writing blob

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

'Grandkid Round-up'

Dalem Royal Family edition

(I don't have all the adults or youngest kids powers worked out so adults it's not mentioned and littles have a ?)

King Gregorin & Queen Lindal

Princess Kirree & Lord Mierauc

Terann: 16-19yo Superhuman Speed & Strength

Namos: 12-15yo Geokenisis & Zoolingualism

Vedon: 10-13yo Aerokenisis & Quiekinesis

Kresint: 8-11yo Hydromancy & Healing

Emailli: 4-7yo Cryokinesis & ?

Natia: 3-6yo* Agrokinesis & ?

Lynberlyn: 6w-3yo* Healing & Zoolingualism

Crowned Prince Bardyl & Princess Shara

Axandrela: 15-18yo Pyromancy & Telekinesis

Ezailabeth: 13-16yo Invisibility & Clairvoyance

Kalynet: 11-14yo Teleportation & Force Fields

Alore: 10-13yo Electrokenisis & Sonokinesis

Divadly: 7-10yo Gravity Manipulation & Zoolingualism

Saphori: 1-4yo Pyromancy & Sonokinesis

Princess Carty

Prince Rotber & Lady Caram

Gailiabi: 3-6yo* Geokenisis & ?

Miwilla: 1-4yo* Super Strength & ?

Belasi: <2yo Electrokenisis & ?

Ronexan: (Newborn in Fearless epilogue 1y later) Siren Song & Sonokinesis

Princess Amaniki & Lord Hojnatan

Jashou: 7-10yo Walking Through Walls & Afterimage Mirage

Tranent: 5-8yo Power Borrowing & Psychometry

Raia: 3-6yo* Silver Tongue & ?

Arzycah: <2yo Gravity Manipulation & ?

=21 Grandkids

*rounded up a few weeks, cause Powerless starts mid August, while Fearless ends end of May, and they're all summer birthdays

(Oldest 7 in semi-random order, little 13 by age)

(And I mean, powers kinda manifest at random times through childhood, so most of the babies haven't manifested any powers yet by the end of the series - let alone both, but I know them even if it won't be relevant till 10y after the epilogue...)

[bivillains]

So many characters should be permanently disabled in multiple ways or AT THE VERY LEAST have severe chronic pain but everyoens a coward so no one writes the effects of the injuries they inflict </3

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

This is the reason Xan's epilogue is her being forced to retire from adventuring and switch to the 'Wise 'Old' Mentor' role at only 18yo, as she switches from primarily using an arming sword to a rapier hidden inside her cane.

Her knee is injured when she's thrown from her horse in battle at 16yo, and between pneumonia at 15yo and additional damage to her lungs from smoke of volcanos and battle she struggles to breathe on a good day, and her decision to tough it out through another year and a half of war after the fall makes all of these injuries irreparable even with access to magical healing. She is the awe inspiring 'Avenging Flame' and Dalem's beloved 'Little Phoenix', a famed hero and warrior princess to not only within her own kingdom but also their closest allies too. But in battle she leans against her sword just to keep herself stable and standing upright, and she arrives to her coronation as heir to the kingdom on her 18th birthday unable to stand without the assistance of a cane.

As much as she wants to continue on with her adventures and still has the mental and emotional energy to do so, she physically can't. Learning how to use her powers to make herself fly becomes less about the joy of flight and more about the four flights of stairs between the throne room and her bedroom. Her wildfire personality and powers that kept her alive on the battlefield are struggling with being so contained, but the hearth of her home and family now has to be enough. So instead of charging off on another adventure like she wants to, she sits on a garden swing, reading adventure novels to the baby cousin in her arms. Instead of fighting monsters with Rann like she has always dreamed of, she play-fights and trains with her sister and cousins who are over a decade younger than her, teaching them to be able to protect themselves (now that she can now no longer protect them by her self)

And the kingdom looks at their future ruler and sees a child, who sacrificed her body to protect them, without even knowing she was the heir. They come to court and see the little girl who used to sneak into town to play with the village children, forced to sit on a throne for hours and wincing in pain when she rises. They see a young woman - who before the war was hanging upside down from rafters and tree branches, singing sea shanties and acting out scenes from her adventure stories - now leaning heavily on a cane as she learns the politics and bureaucracy of how to rule the kingdom, and they can't help but admire her for this even more than for her feats in battle, because despite her visible injuries she's still fighting in some way for their sake.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

In honor of the first beach day of the year:

Rann is not quite your stereotypical redhead when it comes to the sun. Dalem is a sunny and warm enough kingdom, even in the northern regions, that he's used to the sun to some degree. He's rarely red like a lobster, but in the height of summer is always slightly pink, and if he takes off his tunic he has noticeable tan lines around his arms.

Xan is the type of tan where her untanned torso looks an entirely different ethnicity of person than the rest of her. For all her flaming hair, she does not burn at all. Maybe it has something to with her powers, but her skin just darkens more and more every second she's in the sun, with an even darker band of freckles across her nose. She also retains at least a portion of her tan year round, not that anyone but her is aware of this fact because her tanlines match with her swim clothes which are the least clothing anyone ever sees her in.

Zai, despite her dark hair is the almost the opposite of her older sister. It does take a few hours in the sun for her to burn, but as soon as that burn is healed she is back to being as pale as a ghost with only faint splashes of freckles on her face and arms. Practically all of her pigmentation of any sort is concentrated in her hair, and even the worst sunburn is only a temporary change to this fact.

Mos despite having the most blonde and least red in his hair of all of his siblings, does burn like a stereotypical redhead. Not only does he burn, he also gets sunrash on days where he's out in bright sunlight for long enough. He has all the negatives of being a redhead without the visual aesthetics of it.

Lyn is the perfect balance between her older sisters in this regard. She noticeably gets tanned in the summer, but not quite as dark as Xan gets, and it takes a few months for it to fully fade. By mid-winter her tan has faded, however she's still darker than Zai, and her freckles never fade.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Rann: ...wolves.

Xan: If we're quiet, maybe they'll ignore us?

All the kids: *trying very hard to be silent*

Saphori: wu... wu... wuf! Wuf!

Xan: shhh! We can practice your words later.

Saphori: Wuf! Wuf! AWOOOOOO!

[catgirlwerewolf]

no i dont ride my horse into battle what the hell is wrong with you she could get hurt. she drops me off and then she stands on the sidelines with a gun

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Rann and Xan have the Trickster 'Twins' trope for a reason and are VERY similar in a lot of ways, including their brains and desperation for adventure, especially at the start of the series. The best way to illustrate these subtle differences though is that her outlook going into their first adventure is like the first verse & chorus of 'Legendary' from EPIC, while his take on the situation is much more akin to 'My Grand Plan' from the Percy Jackson musical.

Like, there is none of the parental drama that either song talks about. But she's practically vibrating out of her skin with excitement at the prospect of going on an adventure like the ones in all her stories, and he's coming up with crazy master plans to go on a quest to prove himself even if it means running away.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Saw this on Insta and thought it would be fun to bring it over here, so writers:

NO CONTEXT - What is the FINAL line in your current WIP?

I'll start:

His letter, the first one in six months, is a single sentence, 'I think I'm in love' I can feel a migrane building at Rann's ridiculousness, but instead grin at our baby cousin in my lap, "Well, Terann certainly found his next adventure; do you want to help me find mine?"

Feel free to tag, but I'll leave this open for any one who wants to respond

[willow-does-stuff]

romantic relationships blah blah blah okay but what about risking everything for your sibling. what about the unwavering love and care that can only come from a parent to a child. what about someone who just wants their best friend back. ever thought of that.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Dalem is kind of an odd country when it comes to their royalty

The King, regardless of his rank or gift of Agrokinesis or advanced age, spends hours each and every day tending his vegetable garden by hand, on his knees in the dirt and mud. All produce beyond what the castle needs is distributed through the capital city, but every day the royal table is filled with fresh fruits and vegetables that the king grew, harvested, and cooked with his own hands. What he actually uses his powers for is a game of manipulating and reshaping the hedge maze to be an ever changing labyrinth for his own amusement.

The Crowned Prince and Prince General not only have used their Pyromancy and Geokenisis (respectively) to entirely take over the main forge within the keep. Not only have they each forged their own armour and weaponry, they've also done so for most of the royal family (or taught and helped them to make their own) personally manage and repair the weapons and armour of the castle guard and town garrison, and go into the village disguised as a normal blacksmith to sell his creations. When given the chance to just play with their powers Bardyl does experiments on the metals to make them stronger/sharper/fireproof/more functional, and Rotbur creates the most intricate art and designs possible within metal.

The Princess Consort, takes over the palace kitchens on assorted days for the sole purpose of making cakes and cupcakes that are absolutely to die for taste wise, but still more art than food. Sometimes they'll be for an event at the castle, but mostly she gives them to the castle guards and staff or sends them into town with her father-in-law's vegetables and husband's swords.

The Princess General brings her crocheting to war meetings and the battlefield both. No matter what she's doing, there is either a book or crochet project in her hands at all times. Whispers say she has probably killed someone using nothing but a crochet hook, but no one can prove anything. She's making baby blankets, always just baby blankets.

The little princes and princesses are not revealed to the public until their 18th birthdays. It is announced to the kingdom when a new royal is born, but simply that this royal couple has had a baby, not anything about name or gender. Only people working directly with the royal children, or nobility close with the family, know any more. There are a few tutors employed by the castle, but no nannies or governesses, instead they are primarily taught and cared for by their family, and formal lessons with the tutors are only a few hours a day. Many a noble visitor has been horrified by the flock of wild children running barefoot through the castle and gardens, powers flying through the air, without so much as a nursemaid in sight.

Its almost tradition for royal children to sneak out of the castle to go on unsupervised trips into Kasfel and the surrounding woods. The guards are always sent to retrieve these kids immediately, but it's almost a game, and the children know they won't be in trouble unless they get injured or miss dinner.

There are treehouses in the royal gardens, and training fields filled with toddlers in real sparring sessions, and both are equally play.

Every marriage was a love match. Even the Crowned Prince & Princess Consort - who was a princess of Cona before her marriage - which seems on paper to be a political match was a story of love at first sight. It is a regular occurrence to see the King & Queen slowly waltzing around the parlor, or one of the princes randomly serenading his wife, or open flirtation and reminiscing about falling in love by any married royal. Princess General Carty is the only adult member of the family who hasn't married for love, and thus remains single despite political expectations.

The royal family of Dalem are overall very practical people with very niche interests, and all the excentricity expected of royalty. But most nobility is eccentric in much less mundane ways, and relies on hired help for most simple tasks. Instead they are fiercely self sufficient and family focused, and not very good at even the facade of caring about the traditions and expectations of nobility.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

In the earliest versions of Powerless I had the kids getting magically teleported to modern earth rather than just another continent without much magic, and I need you to know that if I had kept that original plot Xandrie's favorite item of clothing would have VERY quickly become one of those D&D shirts that says "I didn't ask how big the room is, I said 'I cast FIREBALL!!!'" and she would wear it unapologetically with fireballs in her hands and completely serious about the amount of property damage in her wake.

[goldensunset]

hate when people think the only archetype possible for a male sidekick to a female protagonist is a soft boi and/or himbo. like the implication there is that the only reason a man would ever defer to a woman’s authority is if he was a bumbling idiot. love male supporting characters who are smart and strong and confident and can step up when necessary but still kind and humble enough to let someone else take the lead most of the time

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

This is part of why I love that Rann ended up being my deuteragonist rather than my protagonist (when I started working on this series I had no clue which of my five main characters/narrators would play each role) because he isn't a himbo nor an innocent little bean, he's the bratty older brother who's too smart for his own good and too chaotic to utilize his brilliance in any way other than getting into trouble or annoying the younger kids. But he wants to be the hero, he wants both adventure and to go out into the world to make a difference and help people, and his whole story arc is the realization that he may not be THE hero - that's Xan's role in the story - but he's HER hero, simply by being her big brother, and the one she can turn to whenever she needs any help or support.

[littlepinkbeast]

look, it's easy, okay? High Fantasy has An Hero whose Destiny is Sword, and Low Fantasy has Some Schmoe whose Job is Sword.

[littlepinkbeast]

expanding it to a full matrix: Sword And Sorcery has An Hero whose Job is Sword, and YA Fantasy has Some Schmoe whose Destiny is Sword.

[the-real-seebs]

wow, this is an exceptionally effective taxonomy.

[noctuamagna]

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Reblogged this to my main, but now I'm trying and failing to place my Edramel Chronicles in this chart. Because I know it's not Low Fantasy, and I've spent years describing it as 'Youth High Fantasy' with certain characters being WAY too genre savvy for their own good, but they don't solidly fit in any of these categories.

In these books we have a group of magically powered disaster kids running around their fantasy world, desperately checking every sword they find to see if it's a magic one that will give them a Quest, and pouting when it's not. And it is technically a YA series, in that its aimed for the 12-16yo audience and the characters are kids still, but they're far too trained to be schmoes even at the start of the series, because their mentors are also genre savy and know a big war is coming soon. And by the end of the series Rann at least has accepted that for HIM the story is 'Sword and Sorcery' as even if he's not THE Hero he is her hero, and he goes about his journey as the squire to the Crowned Prince and is knighted for heroism at the end of the series. Meanwhile, Xandrie is Crown Heir and 'The Avenging Flame' of Dalem, and still convinced that their story must be 'High Fantasy', not liking her Destiny of being next in line for the throne, and not being content with her magic sword being of her own creation, and for the most part she's content with the adventures she's had, but she also still checking every sword she finds for if it's magic and will give her a Quest.

And I'm even less sure what genre it is for Zai or the younger narrators. At least in the later books, Zailie is almost trying to make her story be Romantasy, complete with an inappropriately old douchebag as her love interest and questionable moral behavior. Mos, Lyn and all the younger non-narrator kids are mostly just along for the ride, but even Mos is only 15yo at the end still, so maybe it's because THE story is done even if their individual stories aren't yet.

[develop-your-oc]

Which OC would eat a rock?

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Xandrie. She trusts her siblings too much, and also likes biting/chewing on things. One of the kids says "eat this" and she puts it in her mouth without hesitation or even looking at it, and instantly regrets it as she bites the stupid rock and hurts her teeth or suddenly has a mouth full of dissolving sandstone.

Also possibly Rann, and in his case he would eat a rock entirely out of curiosity. He has a habit of eating random plants he finds, even without knowing if they're poisonous or not, so it wouldn't be out of character at all.

These two are the oldest of these disaster kids at 15yo & 16yo at the start of the series and 18yo & 19yo at the end of the story.

Saphori or some of the other baby siblings who don't play major roles in the story also would on account of being literal babies.

None of the other kids, even Mos who wields Geokenisis, would even think to eat a rock.

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Flag concept art for my book (made by my wonderful little brother) poll pt2: Cona flag (closest allied kingdom of Dalem)

Sitting

Flying

Voting ended onApr 13, 2025

The losing flag will be used as the base for the variant flag of the duchy that the girls' maternal grandparents rule, while the winner will be the main flag of the country

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Flag concept art for my book (made by my wonderful brother) poll pt1: Crowned Prince Bardyl's personal standard/variant of the traditional Dalem flag

Green

Gold

Voting ended onApr 13, 2025

Current concept art for the normal Dalem Crest/Flag as reference:

[pyroprincessaxandrela]

Xandrie's habit of idly shaving off arm hairs with her sword accidentally helps with her 'blacksmith's boy' disguise, because everyone assumes that 'he's' completely clean shaven as a flex about how sharp the blades 'he' helps make are, when really she's a slightly spoiled princess with OCD and sensory issues who can't handle ANY body hair AT ALL - only top of head and around her eyes (her eyebrows are on THIN ice) - and either shaves or precision burns (VERY hard as she and her hair are mostly fireproof, as evidence by her head hair usually being actively aflame without damage) every single unwanted hair off as soon as she notices it.

[tentacleteapot]

your unreliable narrator fucking bit me

[charl0ttan]

thats not how they told it