Twine WIP author and illustrator (they/them). You can call me Fen. Currently writing Stygian Sun: Total Eclipse, a dark fantasy interactive story. Patreon https://www.patreon.com/FenofCattails
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/fennyth
Check out my art blog @fennythofcattails-ifs https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fennythofcattails-ifs and my website at https://cattailsart.carrd.co/
Nsfw blog @stygian-sun-if-after-dark
After the deaths of your four oldest siblings, taken from you by war, your older sibling, Nour, once fifth in line for the Solar Imperial throne, is now the heir.
This day never should have happened.
As recompense for the ravages your kingdom’s war has inflicted upon the Lunar kingdom of Celestyl, and as assurance it will not happen again, your sibling is to be sent to Celestyl to marry the Lunar King’s heir. An arranged marriage, meant to unite the kingdoms. Or, at least that’s how everyone prefers to phrase it. But you all recognize this for what it really is: a guise. Your sibling will be a political hostage.
And—Theia, grant you guidance—you have had a premonition this is not the worst to come. Should your sibling go to Celestyl, they will not survive.
So you will take their place.
Stygian Sun: Total Eclipse is a dark fantasy interactive fictional story where you play as the sixth child in the proud and grandiose Solar Imperial Dynasty and leave your homeland for a foreign country, where you will take your sibling’s place in an arranged marriage to the heir to the Lunar Kingdom. But something sinister simmers on the horizon—you have felt it in your premonitions; apprehension crawls beneath your skin, foreboding pricks at the back of your neck, dread sinks low and heavy in your stomach. Theia is warning you—of what, you know not, but you have seen the way the Lunar King looks at you. His stare, the dagger, and you, the sacrificial lamb on the altar.
Beware the wolf, little lamb.
Content Warnings: "Stygian Sun: Total Eclipse" contains many upsetting themes, such as arranged marriage, child abuse, child neglect, child death, death, murder, violence, gore, sexually suggestive scenes, optional sexual content, suicidal themes and ideations, and more. "Stygian Sun: Total Eclipse" is intended for mature audiences 18+. Viewer discretion is advised.
Customize your MC's name, gender, pronouns, appearance, personality, and sexuality. Play as straight, gay, lesbian, bi, poly, and/or asexual. MC intro post here.
Shape your personality through your choices and see how it affects dialogue with other characters.
Navigate through the difficulties of court life in a foreign country.
Develop your magic—powers bestowed upon you through your divine bloodline.
Romance one or more of five romantic options, including your betrothed, the Lunar heir; your charming and overly flirtatious retainer; your acolyte, a priestess in training; a kind yet darkly mysterious Celestylian noble; or a peculiar and chaotic mage.
Develop deep and lasting friendships or make enemies. Platonic relationships will be just as deep as romantic ones.
Uncover a sinister plot that threatens everything you hold dear—and decide what you will risk to protect it.
Nour Al’Teia, your older sibling. (Gender dependent on MC’s.) Non-RO Once fifth in line for the Solar Imperial throne, Nour was perfectly content to play a supportive role to Parim, first in line, and the rest of their siblings. Now first in line for the throne, Nour is doing their best to step into a role they were never prepared to fill. Despite their best attempts to reassure you, you can tell this weighs more heavily on them than they let on.
Luca Lupine, your childhood friend. (Gender Selectable. She/her. He/him.) Non-RO Your childhood friend who, at the age of 13, perished in a fire, consumed so completely you were left with not even a body to mourn. Ever since then, whether as a manifestation of your guilt and grief, through some connection beyond the planes of life and death, or through some other means unbeknownst to you, they appear in your dreams, aiding you in parsing through visions and prophecies. [View: Character Profile]
Kieran Zeleskas, the Lunar Heir. (Gender Selectable. She/her. He/him.) RO The Crown Prince/ss of Celestyl. Though not of noble birth, events put into motion by their father have elevated them to this position, one they seem to have adapted to rather well by all appearances. Stoic and aloof, they seem less than pleased about this arrangement between the two of you. You’re inclined to agree. [View: Character Profile]
Alektis de Celestys, the lone princess. (She/her.) Non-RO The adoptive sister to Kieran. The slaughter of her family during the coup that brought Kieran’s father to power has rendered her irascible and hostile to most everyone. Though she mostly keeps to herself, with only her retainer, Nihm, for company, you often find her tumultuous glare trained on you, a complex look on her face you can’t quite decipher. [View: Character Profile]
Nihm de Circené, the guardian. (They/them.) RO Devoted retainer to Alektis and last surviving member of House Circené. Kind and sociable, Nihm is well-regarded in both noble and commoner social circles alike. However, their warm and affable disposition cannot completely hide the apprehension in their gait, nor the trembling in their hands. Still, they do their best to welcome you in a place where everyone seems dead-set on hating you. [View: Character Profile]
Aurynn Anouar, the retainer. (He/him.) RO Seeming to have appeared from out of nowhere, Aurynn rescued you from a dire situation during your first battle experience, and afterwards was appointed your retainer and has served you as such ever since. Charismatic, laidback, and flirtatious to a fault, Aurynn tends to either charm or annoy everyone he meets. Despite his insistence that he is an open book, sometimes you can’t help but feel the opposite; indeed, everything about him seems shrouded in secrecy. [View: Character Profile]
Samira Nahdiri, the priestess. (She/her.) RO Certain events left her family deeply shamed and nearly destitute until her exceptional accomplishments as a healer elevated her to the renowned position as your acolyte, drawing upon the power of your blood to learn healing magic in her pursuit to become a priestess. Strong, loyal, and compassionate, she is devoted to caring for her family above all else, and she counts you among them. [View: Character Profile]
Lilith/Lucien de Arcanis, the mage. (Gender Selectable. She/they. He/they.) RO The adopted heir to House Arcanis, a line of powerful and highly skilled mages. Wild-eyed with a wolfish grin, their peculiar and eccentric mannerisms tend to unsettle their peers, leaving them rather isolated in social circles—a circumstance which doesn’t seem to bother them one way or the other. For better or worse, it appears they’ve taken a rather intense interest in you. [View: Character Profile]
Poly Options (subject to change): any ROs will be able to be romanced independently or simultaneously.
Sibling Character Art: Farah, Nour, Aurora, Parim, Ember, Castor
Evil headcannon thought you might enjoy: Healer Mc with magic overuse marks because they spent all of their power and then some trying to keep one of their siblings alive, only for it to be fruitless 👍
Good thing I was nice and mangled all of MC’s siblings while they were apart so they had to get the news after the fact! :D 👍
i like the way the retainers can kind of bring out different aspects of mcs personality. i have a charismatic/aloof bb and its cute to think about them leaning dignified/uptight royal with aurynn as a way of straight manning his bits while being more openly gentle/playful with samira.
i do relatedly feel like even though they do genuinely love and trust them both, there is a part of them thats always sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop with rynn, while whatevers going on with sam is gonna completely blindside them. Excited👍
I do love that lil trio 💖🐛 also Sam’s and Rynn’s arcs and backstories will def be fun to write in how it affects the trio’s dynamic 👀 (i also really love sam and rynn’s dynamic—they bicker but they actually really respect each other and like if MC acts coldly to one when at odds they’ll jump to each other’s defense 💖🐛) MC also hasn’t shared all their actions/thoughts regarding their attendants’ bgs in the narrative yet (rubbing my grubby lil hands)
I'm getting the sense that a lot of the issues plaguing our family/country are due to Grandmother's actions and resulting madness, is that so?
And if so, will we ever get the chance to tell our father that he needs to get off his throne and actually do something to deal with that or that it'll just keep festering as long as he's just hoping it'll go away?
It’s more complicated than that and will be further explored throughout the story. Theian culture is quite prideful and places great emphasis on family, legacy, and social hierarchies/respect—as such, the people and royal family revered Vikaria as a prophetess and self-proclaimed god-empress. Only Mc’s father and Lady Safina seem to speak of her with more reticence.
MC’s grandmother brought about an era of pride and wealth to Theia through her conquest and had the people’s support—the details of her war on Starfell and the war with Celestyl will be expounded on in-game, but the name of the ‘Mad Empress’ Celestyl gave to Empress Vikaria is one Theians take as an insult. The issues plaguing Theia rn are ones the people blame Starfell and Celestyl for. There are several different sides to the story, and the game will cover those and force a shift in MC’s perspective.
One thing I noticed that I like. Really really like is that even tho mc is friendswith and can romance samira and aurynn there is still like the difference in status like mc is very obviously in a position of power being a royal. Like yes it's an obvious descriptor but yk in a lot of media if there is a similar power dynamic it is often either smoothed out into nothing or very heavy handedly pointed out to bring tension and I like how the power dynamic is like. Casual and sometimes comedic. Like backhanding aurynn into the fountain or forcing him to drink tonics (even tho he doesn't but yk it'stye thought that counts) and generally how they're both friends but also subordinates and one does not cancel the other, at least from mc's point of view. Like I'm sure the tension will come out of it eventually and be very juicy. But I like the way that this power dynamic there it's casual and not something that needs to be pointed out because well it's normal in the setting. That's part of the setting.
Yk what I mean?? Good soup.
Yeyeyeyeyeyeye I have fun writing that trio 💖🐛 the power imbalance is kind of something MC recognizes is there, but their familiarity with their attendants renders it something more casual—so calling attention to it can be casual/comedic at times like abusing it to force tonics on Aurynn, or in other moments that casualness makes mc forget the overarching implications of the power imbalance, like wanting to have asked Sam to dance at Thissys and having her remind them it wouldn’t be appropriate etc 🍜
What would the Ro's be if MC is someone very educated and polite also obedient and well behaved and when they know them well enough they discover that that same MC has a very brutal fight style and fight very well but it really contrasts they personality
Help anyone give me pose (and/or clothes, but i need pose too🥹) references to draw daro in(that includes you fen!!)🥺 i want to start the new canvas so badly but I cant think of anything🤔
I dont have any pose refs saved rn but my friend sent me some beautiful clothing refs a while back: :3 👍💖
Im sure all of them needed to be on top of their studies, but did the siblings have any subject/topic they particularly disliked or were bad at? Or maybe its a different answer for both lol
Answered under the cut! :)
Parim: notoriously bad at debate when it came to his siblings—you’d just have to make him laugh and he’d forget he was supposed to be chiding you. Pushover big brother. Outside his family, he maintained the image he excelled at most everything, tho really he never could quite wrap his head around philosophy.
Aurora: loathes being anything less than excellent in any subject. In her youth, she struggled with foreign languages and mastering accents and pronunciation, but drilled relentlessly with a tutor until her errors were all corrected. Not the fondest of her time with her biology tutor as she found dissections to be icky and gross.
Castor: excellent study and a notorious bookworm. Despite his skill with a blade, he did not particularly enjoy combat and viewed training as a duty rather than a pastime. Struggled at first with it as he would often hesitate in spars, though you wouldn’t know it looking at him later in life. He finds it embarrassing to not appear princely in nearly every regard and holds himself to high standards, so he dedicated himself to overcoming his initial difficulties and reticence.
Ember: UGGGGGHHHHHHH haaaated etiquette and really only ever minded his manners when mama was around. Most subjects except like military history and tactics were boring as hell. Bro hates reading/writing and would rather be training outside or fishing/hunting.
Nour: clumsy and soft-spoken, they struggle much with socially demanding subjects like debate, politics, and dancing (tho they do enjoy dancing privately with Zain). They know their etiquette protocols, but executing them gracefully is often a different matter, and their mother’s overbearing nature and lofty expectations only served to worsen their anxiety.
Farah: very much dislikes etiquette. Most of her tutors think her to be disinterested and unfocused on nearly every topic of study, but it has more to do with her finding her tutors boring or authoritarian rather than a lack of interest in the subject matter. Despite her struggles, she tried to study hard as she had previously anticipated she might join her siblings at war at 16. Now, she ditches many of her lessons.
Are there going to be political implications if mc pursues anyone other than kieran? Or does that fall under the whole you can take lovers in your marriage thing? Sorry if I'm acutely misremembering your worldbuilding lore </3
Not within the span of the game—Kieran won’t care if you take other lovers but asks they stay discreet for now given the delicate nature of their arrangement. Any political implications beyond that won’t really be explored as much given the timeframe and plot of the story—perhaps a brief mention in the epilogue.
Certain people are quite lucky my MC shall shortly be across an ocean.
And by certain people I mean one person and it’s whoever kept harassing Samira.
Leave my retainer alone!!
I have a feeling meeting whoever messed with Aurynn is going to be met with similar feelings if we ever see them
Unfortunately MC never got to make good on their promise to cut out some tongues 😔🤙💔 so they’ll have to make up for it by doing it for Rynn 🤝 (in spirit. via moral support. bc get in line)
I have not seen any ask about this so far! But I'm sooo curious about the worldbuilding,, are there other kingdoms beyond Celestyl & Theia (and I guess previously theres a place for the Starfell? ??) I apologise if this has been asked before! Tumblr search is awful and letting me find stuff,,
There are, yes! Celestyl, Theia, and Starfell are just three countries within the greater world of sste, but remain the focus. Also, Starfell still exists, but their monarchy has been dismantled and the country is in shambles and is overseen by Theia as of right now.
There’s a few mentions in the demo of the Royal Syndicate, which serves as a neutral body made up of representatives from various allied nations—somewhat similar to the UN. Nihm’s mother hails from a country outside of the three kingdoms in sste—MC mentions they don’t recognize the sound of the language Nihm used for some interjections etc in the demo. There will be further info on the Royal Syndicate and Nihm’s mother and her country in later updates, as well. :)
I have to admit, I'm amazed by your talent and writing skills. Usually, when I look at ROs before starting a story, I choose one or two that appeal to me. Then, as I read, I either switch to another or decide my MC will remain single altogether.
This time, before reading, I decided I'd choose a monogamous relationship with Kieran. Then, in Act 1, I thought a trio with Aurynn doesn't sound so bad. Then I fell in love with Samira, AND THEN Act 2 started. I'm lost. I'm crying. Because WHAT THE HELL? Why does everyone seem so lovely? How am I supposed to choose? I know I can romance them in another playthrough, but I don't think I can resist😭
I don't know how my MC will handle all of them and if you'll ever be crazy enough to write such a poly, but know that if you ever decide to do it, I'm right here ready for that hell of a ride 💖
I just finished a playthrough have come to realize I need both Kieran and Samira. One tall woman to bully me the other to comfort me.
Just think about it one tall woman who can beat my ass and will do it and the other who can beat my ass but is too dense to realize that I want her to while we train.
So what if I'm sore in the morning it's where I want to be and where I belong.
You can have a duel fraught with homoerotic tension and then have your bruises homoerotically tended to afterwards 🤝🫣
I think its time I retire this canvas😅 this one canvas has seen me through ALL my daro art. The very first full body, first hair down version, new full body, new hair down, and the newest vogue magazine artwork. If i decide to make another artwork, i'll be using a new canvas, since this has been through 259 minutes and 18 seconds (or..actually, I think thats 259 hours and 18 minutes. I dont believe this whole thing only took like 4 hours. 10 days sounds more right)
259 hours well spent 💖🐛🛐🌈✨ look at all that beautiful art!!!
