While officially Zeus and Hera are still King and Queen of the Gods, unofficially Hera has been the one largely running the show for centuries now since their 'separation'.
Persephone and Hades over the centuries have become rather polyamorous due to their seasonal arrangements, each having a few seasonal partners to spend the months apart with.
The Underworld is basically New York, Olympus is essentially Seattle and the Ocean is more or less LA
Ares has more or less drifted away from getting involved in modern wars. Mostly because the way most wars are fought nowadays bores him to actual tears.
There are multiple 'Mortal Realms', some more advanced than others and each completely unaware of the others existences outside of the odd realm hoppers. These range from realms chronologically locked in the age of 'Classical' mytho-history to basically modern Earth.
I've seen other charts that make guesses at which elvhen gods the Dragon Age: Origins vallaslin are meant to honor or represent, but since I couldn’t find the chart I had used as reference before (and I remember thinking a couple of them should be swapped) I made my own!
The designs I've labeled as Dirthamen and Mythal were the most difficult to place and could easily be reversed, but the one I labeled as Dirthamen's has more resemblance to a raven than a tree and vice-versa. I've also seen charts interpret the one I've labeled as Falon'Din's design as Mythal's instead, but since these all make use of similar symbols and imagery it is open to interpretation.
However, my choice for Mythal is also supported by Mary Kirby’s tweet about Merrill’s vallaslin being a variant on a Mythal design: in Origins, Merrill had the more complex “Mythal” design pictured here. It was made more unique for her DA2 appearance, but you can still see the similarities.
Left: Silent Footsteps. This is the only known picture of him, captured from a security camera. Just as enigmatic and sneaky as his gang is.
Center: Sapphire Blossoms. Has high standards, but believes in her gang members.
Right: Diamond Fangs. Acts more like a father than a gang leader. Isn’t afraid to show his emotions.
Middle row: Electric Demons’ twin leaders. Like to cause mischief and chaos. What’s gender? Who gives a shit.
Bottom row:
Left: Chief of Lightmore Police Department. Workaholic and has no sense of humour.
Middle: Leader of the Sex Workers’ Guild. Acts like a brainless bimbo, but is actually very smart and ruthless. Would kill to protect her guild members. Is known for wearing wigs. No one knows what her real hair looks like.
Right: Scarlet, the leader of Soldiers of Cleanliness. Quiet and task-oriented.
Please enjoy this big old wall of text explaining both the canon and my headcanons about how Coralians work and what bearing these headcanons have on my portrayal. There’s also some tidbits borrowed from the wiki for those not familiar with the universe. Sections have headings for when you inevitably don’t want to read the whole thing.
What is a Coralian?
Coralian is a catch-all term for any creature born of a plant-like intelligent alien life form called Scub Coral. The Scub Coral originally crashed into the Earth's atmosphere sometime in the 21st century. They survived a collision with an artificial satellite (named Eureka) and landed in the Pacific Ocean, fusing with the Ocean’s coral and eventually joining humans as a dominant species on planet Earth.
Tthe Scub Coral are capable of growing into an enormous size in the blink of an eye, which is one of the primary reasons humans fear them. Their tendency toward growth and expansion across the world causes tectonic shifts and disrupts the land regardless of the placement of things like cities and towns. Their metabolic process produces a particulate matter called Trapar, much the same way plants release oxygen and humans exhale CO2. Trapar behaves like water or strong wind currents and is the basis for flight in both human technologies that use it as an energy source and in animals whose bodies have evolved to reflect it.
So They’re Like Corals but Also They’re...People? Sounds Dumb, Bro.
At this point I would like to emphasize something stated earlier: despite having a plant-like appearance, Scub Corals are an intelligent, conscious life form. Though they cannot speak in their natural form, Scub Corals are able to think and to reason, and every creature born of the Scub Coral has a connection to a central connected consciousness that encompasses all Coralians.
While most Scub Coral are plant-like in appearance, the Scub Coral eventually became capable of growing life forms that resemble types of fauna it has previously fused with. For example, the Scub creates dangerous fish-like creatures called anti-body Coralians to protect the control center of their consciousness from threat.
In much the same way, humanoid Coralians were eventually grown in order to bridge the gap between the Scub Coral and humankind. The purpose of these humanoid Coralians is to be a blank slate that can learn to communicate with humans and be impressed upon by them. Eventually that humanoid Coralian will return to the Scub Coral to relay what they learned.
That’s how creatures like Eureka, Sakuya, and Gonzy came to exist.
It’s also worth noting that Archetypes, the exoskeletons that the cool giant robots are built upon in this universe, are actually alive. Archetypes are the first failed attempts of the scub coral to create a humanoid being.
Traits of Coralians
Hive Mind
So if these are all the same creature, how is it that some are coral, some are kaijus, and some are people? What do they all have in common? Well, for one, they all participate in the Coralian hive mind. In my portrayal, Eureka will have some level of awareness regarding will of her kind at all times. She may not be actively thinking about it or asking about it, but it’s there. Coralians do not want to be disconnected from their collective consciousness and humanoid Coralians in particular will become emotionally distressed if at any point that happens. Coralians need to exist in an interconnected group.
It is implied on multiple occasions that Renton has inadvertently accessed some portion of this collective consciousness in the mine, where he hears Eureka’s voice in his mind when she needs help. He also has conversations with her in his dreams that she later recalls the details of when he is awake.
I have a lot of headcanons about the future utility of this trait--mostly that Coralians can form unions of consciousness with humans, but since humans aren’t built for that it’s not very reliable or constant the way it seems to be between Coralians. You probably couldn’t have a full on conversation with your Coralian friend who is across town, but you’d have no problem calling vaguely out to one another if there was trouble. You couldn’t reliably spend an hour cheating on a test together inside your brains, but you could have the best improv game in town. Maybe you can’t communicate the grocery list without calling one another but you might get the vague sense that you need milk at home. Your coralian friend might be able to accompany you unprompted if you broke out into a spontaneous musical. It’s a great party trick but it doesn’t suffice as a main mode of communication the way it does between coralians. In general your coralian friend will be extremely adept at picking up on what you’re thinking compared to most people, but only because this method of connection was their first language in a way that is not true for humans.
Eyes
Not all Coralians need to be able to see, but those who have eyes all share the same distinctive eye type which differs from humans. Their eyes are invariably a purple color with a ring around the iris. These eyes are built to be able to see Trapar, a particulate matter that in large quantities is toxic to them. Naturally occurring Trapar is invisible to the human eye, but to a Coralian it takes on a luminescent greenish color that says STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME.
Wings
Speaking of Trapar, Eureka’s wings are designed not to be flapped against air currents like those of birds or insects. Rather, they are designed like the bodies of skyfish to reflect trapar and glide on top of it.
I honestly hc that she molts the outermost layer on those wings every month or so, the same way reflection film has to be changed on the ships and LFOs in order to keep flying on top of the trapar waves.
That's about everything I can think of right now but if you read this far and want to know any more feel free to ask any questions you might have. Otherwise expect more headcanons surrounding this stuff in the future probably.
After doing the worldbuilding work for the fourth day of Worldbuilding June (theme: history) I was inspired to draw this very cool historical figure from my story: Pax! Her outfit is more like something you’d see the kids wearing on Pax in present day, though... (The planet was named after her, fyi.)
One of the largest and oldest corporations in the Lower Cosmos, Underworld Corp. has been operating since time immemorial under the leadership of it's CEO, Founder and King, Hades. Starting as a mining and land development firm, under Hades' rule the company swiftly urbanized and modernized the once desolate landscape of the Underworld into the jewel at the center of his crown it is today.
Since that time, Underworld Corp. has branched out into multiple different corporate sectors from banking to manufacturing to even electronics and social media and beyond. But the main aspect and driving force of Underworld Corp. is its Shade Coordination Program.
Rather than having the dead who flock to his realm sit idle on the shores or languish away in the fields of Asphodel, the Shade Coordination Program helps transition the recently deceased from one life to the next via job training programs, housing and social welfare so that they too can become productive members of Underworld society.
Many critics have claimed the program is merely a way for Hades to expand his coffers by hiring cheap labor from a near infinite pool of departed souls, even equating it to slave labor.
To these critics we say: Shut up and mind your own business.
Because here at Underworld Corp., you're not just an employee; you're a vital part in keeping the Underworld running and running smoothly.
