Steven Universe Fae-U

The SU Fae-U is an AU reimagining of the Steven Universe story where the "magical" element of gems is replaced with fae. Most gem characters are faeries, changelings, or other related creatures, and Homeworld is replaced by the Courts of Light, ruled by the four Faerie Queens. Or, at least, it was - until the Maiden of Flowers and Thorns bequeathed the entirety of her domain to her changeling son, Steven. FAQ | NAVIGATION | CREATOR ASKS ARE OPEN!

[quixocalypse]

Personal Status Update

Hey, it’s been a few weeks! I realize that I kind of slipped out of certain SU fandom circles I was hanging out in around the time that the finale SU Future promo came out, and haven’t been working on @sufaeu at all, - so I just wanted to write a little about why that is, and confirm that I’m still around. Just keeping my distance for a bit.

One of the big things is that concretely finding out how soon SU was ending was actually kind of a bigger emotional blow than I expected. I completely withdrew from fandom stuff for a while after that promo, because honestly, even thinking about SU Future was making me sad, just because its something I have loved dearly since its early days. I’ve never actually been with a fandom that meant so much to me from start to finish before. Usually, my interest has trailed off before the end, or I’ve come in when it was already over.

Another thing was that SU fandom discussion had become/still is very leak focused - half of the meta posts I was seeing go around before March were about leaks, and sometimes wouldn’t be properly labeled, as if assuming everyone already knew about them. I’ve been steadfastly refusing to view leaks and have really wanted to experience SU’s end on my own terms, so it made the most sense to avoid fandom discussions until it’s all over.

A related factor is that a LOT of people are as emotional about this series as I am, which means that fandom has also been generating a lot of anxiety and worry. While I am utterly sympathetic to people fretting about how it will all wind up, I really couldn’t handle having my own anxiety stoked by other people, so I decided to severely moderate my fandom participation until the series was over. Large amounts of speculation wasn’t doing my brain any good. 

So far, I’m very glad I made this decision - I’m happy to have avoided leaks, and to be experiencing the end without a lot of outside influence. I figure that stuff can wait until after we’ve seen it all play out. Having watched the episodes so far (up to Growing Pains at the time of writing) I am actually super pleased with the direction the series is going, and am super excited to see where it ends up. Even if I’m also sad to think about all the stuff that probably won’t be covered in more detail due to lack of time. (Where are you, Centi?!)

Still rooting for corruption theory (lol) but we’ll see. 

Once the series is concluded I’m hoping to come back, and have plans to write a follow up to my fanfiction Divided - a thing that is very tied up in Steven’s trauma, so I definitely want to see where SUF goes before I do. I want to come back to @sufaeu as well. Just taking a break for the time being, to let the end of canon properly sink in. 

I never really announced I was taking a break anywhere because it seemed presumptuous to think people would care, according to my own anxieties. But, I did want to say something at some point.

[sufaeu]

i can imagine that, if lars ever got to meet steven again, hed be both relieved that he wasnt crazy, and also pissed off cause stevens right in the middle of a fae war and didnt even warn him, (knight lars?)

Lars just can’t catch a break no matter what universe he’s in. At least poor Steven wasn’t fully aware of just how bad it was until that point, either. They will definitely see each other again, though. It’s just a matter of when.

Lars as a Knight does seem pretty appropriate, doesn’t it?

[sufaeu]

what do you base your knowledge of fae on? an ask someone sent recently made me wonder why people think fae are selfish and mean, cuz i've never known that to be true, so i wonder what you think.

I have a lot of different inspirations, both from other pieces of fiction and various mythologies. I think that person was responding to posts I’ve made talking about fae on this blog.

There this post here where I talk about how being fae impacts the behaviour of the Diamonds. True Fae are inclined towards pettiness and pride in this world - it’s a cultural thing, and to some degree a thing they are created with. However, just because they are inclined towards a certain nature doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of variation among the faefolk. 

There also this post where I talk about how fae are generally inclined towards being chaotic neutral personality-wise. However! This is an AU of Steven Universe, and it’s not as if I want to completely overwrite everyone’s personalities with fae bullshit, so even though fae are inclined towards these things, they aren’t doomed to be cruel and uncaring. They are still people, even if they have a sort of inhuman way of looking at things.

Also, like I said, changelings are blessed with the ability to think like a human if they so desire.

[sufaeu]

i'm so in love with this au omg, it's my favorite thing rn

Thank you so much. <3 You make me very happy.

[sufaeu]

More to the point Steven's a pacifist partially because of his homeworld programming, Fae Steven is programmed in the exact opposite manner. Fae are naturally selfish and neutral, they act because it benefits them, this would explain off why Steven would turn connie into a fae touched in the first place, but not why he continues to be a pacifist. In order to be a pacifist Steven would need to resist that compulsion on purpose in lapis levels of patience and determination.

To this, I’m just going to say that I completely and fundamentally disagree with your interpretation that ‘homeworld programming’ has anything to do with Steven’s personality or pacifism in canon. And in terms of the FaeU, fortunately, changelings are blessed with all of that free will that comes with being human. They don’t have to be slaves to any particular nature. Most of the time, anyway.

[sufaeu]

I was worried about the person who GAVE A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL A SWORD, and it isn't an iron sword, much less deadly to fae.

Technically speaking Fae!Steven is doing better than his canon self: in canon Connie was twelve when he gave her a sword. This is borderline responsible in comparison!

Also in this AU Connie is 16 for all the difference it makes.

Steven never claimed to have any idea what he's doing, okay. If people are going to try to stab her, he'd rather she have a sword than not have a sword.

[sufaeu]

It just occurred to me that Steven is going to kill people in this au. I mean it will be FAE but that feels wrong somehow, but there really isn't any way to avoid it sense fae don't go into convenient bubbles and there is no way he is dispelling all of them.

I wouldn't look at Steven killing as a forgone conclusion. It's true that it's more difficult to spare enemies in a situation without bubbling, but that doesn't mean that Steven is simply going to give up and murder the people who come after him, whether Fae or otherwise. He's in a different and, in some ways, more difficult situation - but he's still the same character and is as staunchly pacifistic as ever. Steven hasn't killed and he has no desire to. He doesn't see Fae as more acceptable targets than humans, either.

Anyway, Connie is the one with the sword, here. You might want to worry about her.

[sufaeu]

May we see Lars in this AU or is he dead? He’s been said about so surely he is in this AU.

Lars was actually the subject of the first ask on this blog! You can read that over here. You can see everything he’s been tagged in here. 

[sufaeu]

For Steven, do you remember Lars, or was that drowned out because it was just before your capture.

Part four of the IC Ask Event I’ve been doing. 

[sufaeu]

Could a fae quote a human's lie in such a way that implies that it's the truth? Like "I've heard from my sources that water is orange."?

Yep! That sounds like a pretty classic fae deception. They are just stating a fact after all - someone did tell them that. They never claimed the statement was accurate.

[sufaeu]

Sorry. I just don't like when people confuse those, selkies are a lot more terrifying when you consider being one, kind of scary even when you don't. Though they do translate to the gem race better, if you think about it.

That’s okay - believe me, I am aware of their differences. I just like both of them about equally, and there are a lot of thematic elements that get shared among various aquatic myths, so I just mentioned them together. 

Speaking of gems as selkies, though, there’s actually a lovely fanfiction called The Silver Boy by abel-quartz where that is the case! I love this fanfiction a lot. 

[sufaeu]

I- I really hope that your not going to use a "/" to mark the difference between mermaids and selkies again, you just mentioned you were a mythology buff. and you know what one is! Please just use "and"...

Wait... is your concern that you think I’m implying they are the same thing? I’m aware they are not. I just used a “/” because they are both aquatic creatures with similar thematic elements so while there are differences, they scratch similar itches. 

Also, I’ve never claimed to be a mythology buff. I like to read about this kind of thing and have messed around with my own variations of these creatures plenty of times, but I’m hardly an academic authority on the subject - I just like monsters and fantasy, is all.

I’m a little confused about why this ask uses a tone like I’ve said something deeply offensive by putting mermaid and selkies in the same general category. It feels a little unnecessarily intense. 

[sufaeu]

For the mun, have you always liked mythical creatures like this? And what's your favorite?

Oh, absolutely. I love this stuff. I’ve actually drawn Steven as a bunch of different kinds of mythical creatures over the years, because I love monsters and I also love Steven. 

Faerie myths are one of my favourites, obviously, but I’m also a big fan of dragons, angels, and recently I’ve been pretty into unicorns. Partly because I have another AU where Steven is a unicorn boy. Oh, and also mermaids/selkies! I’ve drawn Steven as that, too. 

I’ve really love to see more AUs like this one where gems are replaced with some variety of magical creature. I know there are a few dragon ones out there but there is a lot of fertile ground. 

[sufaeu]

Could the fae write a lie as a loophole?

Nah, anything that is a language is included within the restriction. Verbal language, written language, sign language. What isn’t included is tone, omission, and implication, since those are subjective. If they are using words, whether those words are being spoken, penned, or gestured, they can’t bring themselves to lie.

[sufaeu]

So, Spinal is a changeling, does she still have her stretchy powers, or did her powers suddenly align more with the queen of flowers and thorns.

You know Groot, from Guardians of the Galaxy? How he can make his limbs grow real long, but in a plant-like way? It’s like that. So, I guess the answer is that she is stretchy and aligns with her mother’s court at the same time.

She probably has some additional faerie powers centered around plant-type stuff, but I haven’t fleshed all of that out yet. She is generally a tree lady, though.

[sufaeu]

So 1: if they touch iron, will they like burn? 2: what would happen hypothetically if there were to lie?

1) Yep! Depending on how potent the iron is, and how fae they are, it could do anything from giving them a rash to melting their flesh like acid.

2) Nothing happens if they lie, they just can’t do it. Like, their body and mind would not cooperate with them trying to do it. So either they would freeze-up, unable to speak the untruth, or they would just find themselves saying what the truth is even if they didn’t want to. That mostly goes for True Fae, changelings get some more leeway.  

[sufaeu]

Quick questions regarding the fae out of curiosity. You've already confirmed that they can't lie but can they still tell half-truth, omissions, be vague, and answer using nonverbal gestures? (Hope so) Iron, does your take of the fae include they're aversion to iron?

They can absolutely do all of those things to deceive people. As long as they are not saying words that are untrue, they can twist things all they want with implications, tone, misdirection, or whatever else. Non-verbal gestures are the one thing they can’t really cheat with - for instance, if you asked a question where the answer was “yes”, they couldn’t shake their head in response. Gestures like that are considered to be language, even if it's non-verbal. Of course, they can always just refuse to answer the question completely - it isn’t a lie to say nothing at all.

As for iron, yes! Iron is the fae’s primary weakness, and the more fae you are, the more damaging it is. “Cold iron” is the most effective weapon, which is essentially iron that has been worked in such a manner that it doesn’t lose its anti-fae potency. Otherwise, the more you alter/process/mess around with the metal, the less potency it will retain. 

Potent iron could deal a killing blow to almost any fae, and they are also unable to use magic to recover from it. Iron is caustic to a fae’s very soul. Being bound with iron removes a fae’s ability to use their power and gradually poisons them. It can also leave fairly nasty burns.

Steel is generally too processed to have very powerful effects on fae, but even changelings may feel uneasy or unwell being in cars for long periods of time, or other constructions made mostly of steel.