#&cathartes

[flygefisk]

Most people never notice a ghost walking beside them. Some can't avoid seeing them- the chill, the whispers. Drawn to the dead.

Cathartes is a necromancer. Not the "raise an undead army" variety, though- her work is more putting spirits to rest than bothering them after they've gone. She helps the departed find peace, be it telling their family a final goodbye, giving them a proper burial, or solving their murders.

Even in her macabre line of work, Cathartes is a warm soul. Gentle, thoughtful, and comforting as a crackling fireplace. She tries hard to calm and comfort the spirits, acting almost as a counselor- her familiars help, of course, a purring cat always helps calm the nerves.

Cathartes' apprentice, Tobias, is nearly as sensitive to a ghost's presence as his mentor. He's just as empathetic and patient. Just as warm-hearted. Cathartes' familiars adore him, and her partner Ambrose has essentially adopted him as their own.

Orchid and Lily, Cathartes' familiars. Lily serves as a comfort animal for the families of the deceased. And Orchid is… well, he's there for the ghosts.

[flygefisk]

remember me

[flygefisk]

looks like ambrose has finally worked up the courage to pop the question- and judging by cathartes' happy tears, she said yes!

(ambrose they/them, cathartes she/her)

[flygefisk]

cathartes v2 is here aaahh

she’s so much prettier... and her eyes are the right color yes

i love

[flygefisk]

i dont think cathartes lets her new apprentice see some of what she does

like most of her job is talking to ghosts and raising ghosts and sending ghosts off to rest but some of it is maybe kinda disturbing? shes the clans undertaker as well, im sure shes seen some bad shit. and sometimes the recently dead can become ghouls/poltergeists and thats not a pretty sight. anything that involves the recently dead does not involve apprentice

so shes not letting him see like, awful crime scenes or animated corpses or anything, as much as he wants to

they mostly just talk to ghosts

shes trying to keep him as far away as she can from any branches of necromancy that involve any body parts but bones. no zombie armies for u, young man

[flygefisk]

so i gave cathartes an apprentice he still needs a name but hes like, a young teenager trying to play off his interest in necromancy as being cool and edgy but really he just wants to talk to his parents again he lost them when he was little and barely remembers them but he wants to see them again meanwhile cathartes is very excited to have an apprentice but also mildly concerned that hes so young and also wildly overprotective like hes technically? her adoptive kid but i dont think that's really their dynamic orchid fuckin loves him

[flygefisk]

my girllll

[flygefisk]

so i have a couple places in my lore that arent rly part of the clan in any way i wanna talk abt a little. there’s the cult cathartes and delphi grew up in, and feldspar’s royal family that granite worked for.

first, the cult.

the cult was in the northen windswept plateau, it was one of very few known cults in wind territory and probably the worst. the leader was, as many cult leaders are, a narcissistic abusive murderer with rage issues, but very charismatic. he’d do anything to keep people under his sway. the cult was obsessed with death and communing with the dead and finding a way to escape death via learning as much as possible about it via some less than ethical means.

cathartes was born and raised in the cult. her parents were devoted entirely to the cult’s goals and taught her to talk to the dead before they taught her to read. she grew up alongside the sisters that would become delphi, they were pretty good friends for a while. she lost her tail to the leader’s rage when she asked some questions about where someone else in the clan had gone. she was lucky to get out when she did. a nearby clan was sick of the cult’s bullshit and murders and such and raided the compound. cathartes and a few other kids were rescued. she spent a couple years with that clan, then took off on her own as an older teen. she found clan flygefisk and decided to settle down there.

the three sisters that became delphi were his children. he found out they were planning an escape and decided to rush his plans to create an emperor. he was successful, sort of. he’d hoped for a massive monster he could sic on his enemies, but got only a slightly-larger-than-the-average-teenage-imperial-sized creature with none of the vicious bloodlust he wanted. so delphi escaped, tracked down cathartes, and found a new home. one would expect some significant trauma, but she really doesn’t have many memories left. she acts weird, yeah, but she’s technically a zombie, so that’s to be expected.

the cult kinda fell apart a couple years after the delphi incident. many members lost faith after the leader not only killed his own children to make an emperor, but failed in it. the more dragons left, the less control he had, the more angry and aggressive he became. one day, he locked down the compound (with only ~20 members left), raised some dead folks, and set them loose. no one died but him. the rest just kinda... left, after that. they might still be out there practicing his teachings in secret, but no one’s heard anything. so it’s probably ok.

now, the snapper royal family in the southern icefields. real fancy fucks. i don’t have as much about them, but they’re an even smaller part of my lore. im imagining a russian tint for them. furry hats, heavy accents, cool architecture. they’re very traditional, very princesses should be demure and feminine, very marrying off kids without their consent.

feldspar was not given the name feldspar. she doesn’t like that part of her life and took a new name as soon as she could. she was the youngest princess and as such was expected to be even more demure and feminine than her older sisters. she had 3 sisters, and one younger brother. she was not, obviously, demure and feminine. she was a feisty kid, argumentative and loud, playfully aggressive. she hated having to be ladylike, she hated her tutors, she hated dresses especially.

what she didn’t hate was sparring with one of the guards, granite. she’d made friends with him as a little kid when she stole his sword and ran through the palace swinging it around, he thought it was cute. over the course of three years or so (starting when she was a young teen, 13-14) he taught her sword fighting, martial arts, the dragon equivalent of boxing, everything he knew. and she was good at it. she won as many bouts as she lost, as a 14yo fighting a grown man. granite was a natural teacher and feldspar was an excellent student.

everything was cool til her parents found out. really, it was impressive they hid it so long. they were pissed. they fired granite on the spot and sent feldspar to a relative to teach her to be a lady, any means necessary. feldspar would have none of this. when the transport caravan stopped for the night, she snuck away with her guards’ weapons and a couple bags of valuables.

she made her way north and caught a ship to the mainland. she took a new name- feldspar, inspired by her old teacher, and wandered for a few years as a mercenary or hunter or whatever was needed of her, and eventually found the brand-new clan flygefisk, in desperate need of a protector.

years later, an old tundra wandered into the clan, looking for a place to spend the night. feldspar, now the captain of the guard, recognized him instantly. he was older, yes, more scarred and missing a horn, but she’d know him anywhere. it was a sweet reunion, and now granite has a place to call home and a farm to take care of and a new student to teach.

no ones gonna read this and my writing sucks i just wanted to get it down somewhere

most of its not even about the places themselves its about my own goddamn dragons again