Hey there! I’m Aurora and welcome to my art/writeblr blog 💖 The blog is named after the original world that I created and primarily draw/write for, Alesseia!
Alesseia is a Filipino-coded country set in an original world where magic is widespread and contributes to modern-day technology. The story plays with a lot of tropes present in coming-of-age fantasy. If you like Percy Jackson, you might like my story!
Feel free to ask me anything, including questions on my stories or sharing stuff about yours! You can also include me in tag games, I think they’re a lot of fun.
More about me and my works under the cut:
about me:
they/them pronouns
I’m aroace, but I tend to enjoy romance and sometimes sex in fiction
I currently have a pet hamster named Mocha
my current fandom obsession is Pokémon, especially the Pokespe manga and nuzlocking the games
popular themes in my works are:
fate and destiny
love and relationships of all kinds
queer outcasts finding a home together
messy people learning to grow and be better
happy endings
content warning tags include:
violence (tagged as “violence”)
minor character deaths (tagged as “character death”)
homo- and transphobia, both externalized and internalized (tagged as “queerphobia”)
anything else I feel needs tagging
Please feel free to ask me to tag for something I missed! Also, please note that just because I write about it doesn’t mean I support it. That said, a lot of my non-main-series works (especially artworks) are really just cute and fluffy stuff, haha. I’m very bad with angsty stuff 😅
alesseia tags include:
stuff related to the main/original series: #alesseia main
stuff related to spin-offs based in the original world: #alesseia spinoff
stuff related to its AUs: #alesseia au
other tags include:
art tag: #ashenart
writing tag: #ashenwriting
moodboards: #ashenaesthetics
playlists: #ashenplaylists
answered asks: #answered asks
self-reblog: #srb
And that should be everything for now! This is the very first post on the blog, so there’s nothing else here at the time of this post, but I’ll be getting around to posting soon. Thanks for reading all this, by the way!
Percy Jackson meets Undertale meets Avatar: The Last Airbender
ALESSEIA
Axel, a young child with no one but their father for company, leaves their childhood home to discover that the rest of the world is magic, and that fate isn't a kind storyteller.
Themes:
love of all kinds (familial, friendship, romance, and self-love)
finding a place to belong when you're an outsider
identity and what it means to be you despite everything
— Share a bit about yourself —
I'm Aurora, a 20+ year-old nonbinary Filipino who's working on a middle-grade/young adult queer tropical modern fantasy series called Alesseia. It's nice to meet you!
— What kind of stories do you like to read? —
I am a lover of fantasy and romance, though I would appreciate some representation as an aroace person. I really appreciate happy endings and hopepunk stories, though I won't say no to a bittersweet ending once in a while.
— Goal(s) —
Something small, like around 10-15k words! I'm just trying to make progress despite having a lot of my finals during the month of April.
— Camp Project Title —
Alesseia: The Dragon's Deed (title subject to change lmao)
— Project Description —
A young child, raised on a mountain with no one but their father for company, decides to leave the barrier that surrounds the mountain to discover that the rest of the world is magic. Unfortunately for them, fate has their eyes on their destiny.
— WIP-related Art —
gonna show the map of Alesseia that I've created (complete with an image description!)
Tagged by @pluttskutt!! You can find their post here.
Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigue them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.
Okay so one thing to note about my WIPs that literally everything is either related to my original fantasy series Alesseia or an AU of it. Sorry for being a one-track mind 😅 Everything except the first four WIPs are AUs!
alesseia book 1
the two heirs
nathan - homophobia
nathan - birds
bodyswap
shining pearl nuzlocke
white 2 castlocke
high school musical au
kidfic/time travel au
time loop
ravhan soulmate au
ravhan - the noh mask
year of the otp 2023 (which is technically a series of oneshot challenges I've been meaning to write)
warm and fluffy bingo (see above)
Tagging: @iced-ginger-tea, @tate-lin, @blind-the-winds, @mrbexwrites, @yors-truly, and anyone else who'd love to join!! NOT tagging 14 people because honestly not sure who'd appreciate me tagging, but feel free to let me know if you'd like to be tagged here!!
jumping on the poll bandwagon because I have not touched Scrivener in FOREVER (read: two weeks)
unfortunately, I do not have multiple stories like most people on Writeblr since I keep fixating on the same story and its characters, lmao, so IDK if I can do the same thing everyone else is doing
HOWEVER, I will be taking my thesis in BFA Creative Writing this year and I am going to do doing something based on my main story! I was planning on finishing Book 1 (which I already have 4 chapters for), but my thesis adviser is heavily discouraging I do a full novel (minimum requirement for word count is only 15k and we're supposed to finish writing that with revisions by early December) so I've got a bunch of backup plans just in case I can't convince her!!
so here's a poll + bonus read more for further description of thesis ideas!!
What should I do?
an excerpt of Book 1 (first 4 chapters or smth like that)
Anthology: Thematic (short stories using all the MCs based on loneliness)
Anthology: Characterization (short stories using same charas but in diff AUs)
Anthology: Timeline (short stories using same chara but diff times in series)
seriously convince your adviser to allow the full Book 1
Voting ended onAug 22, 2023
Book 1 (Excerpt)
This is actually the option my adviser recommended the most. I have already written the first four chapters, even doing major revisions, and that already hit the 15k minimum word count, so she said that just revising these chapters would be the easiest option.
My biggest gripe with this is that I don't want to end it after Chapter 4. It ends on a mediocre cliffhanger, and we don't meet the other two main characters until later on. Not to mention, the BFA CW majors in my university get to (independently) publish and sell copies of their thesis at the end of the year, so it would be much more satisfying if I do the full Book 1.
Anthology: Thematic
I was thinking I could do instead a thematic short story collection linking the common traits of the main characters (Axel, Avery, Leandro, and Nathan). Each of the short stories would focus on a different MC's backstory. The central theme would be their loneliness.
The stories are (without giving away certain plot twists in Book 1):
AXEL: a story about a group of friends playing together, which turns out to be a product of Axel’s imagination
AVERY: the story behind the fallout with her ex-friends
LEANDRO: Leandro talking to his family about getting friends while figuring out he's a trans guy
NATHAN: Nathan talking to other children working under his drug pimp spirit stain dealer
Anthology: Characterization
This one was inspired by fanfiction, specifically the concept of the same characters in alternate universes. How can you tell the character is still the same character when they have a completely different backstory and setting? Up to where do you draw the lines?
The various settings are:
Historical — Pride and Prejudice but set in the late Spanish colonial period and from the POV of Elizabeth’s (Avery) best friend (Axel)
Sci-fi time travel — From 2099 CE, Axel is asked to travel to 2013 Metro Manila to chase after a time-traveling criminal (Raven)
Urban fantasy (Aswangs) — Axel the friendly manananggal helping their friend Leandro, who recently discovered they’re a manananggal
Modern real-life — Axel signing up their friend Nathan on a blind date auction during high school fair season
Alesseia (Original) — Axel discussing how to beat Rex with all of their friends
Anthology: Timeline
A short story collection featuring the same character, likely Axel, at different points in the series. The series is divided into three arcs, so it would likely be:
Before Arc 1
Between Arcs 1 and 2
Between Arcs 2 and 3
After Arc 3
The Actual Book 1
The actual book 1 of Alesseia. Tentatively titled the Dragon's Deed. I really, really, REALLY want this, but like. it's gonna be what, 50k words 😭 so unless I pull a NaNoWriMo again, I can't blame Ma'am
Anyway if you read all that, thank you SO much!!! I really appreciate your support 😄 wishing you the best of luck with writing as well!!
Happy worldbuilding wednesday!! I wanted to ask about the magic in Alesseia—you mentioned everyone has it, but how does it look like at the lowest level? How do the people in caste 6 most commonly use it?
Hello, thank you so much for the ask!! I'm really happy someone is interested in learning about my world 💖 Sorry for answering it a bit late (it's Friday morning in my time as I answer this) but I was busy 😅
Before I can answer your question, I want to talk about how magic works in this world, so buckle down and strap in!
Magic is defined in Alesseia's world as the essence of life, the power that every individual holds. This isn't to say that magic is only found in living organisms (the earth itself contains much magic, which is why Alesseians tend to think of the earth as a living thing) but rather, magic is a semi-corporeal substance that empowers life. Whatever supports magic supports life, as magic is what makes life blossom in this world.
With that in mind, it can be said that every living organism has magic in one way or another. Of course, all humans definitely have magic. If anything, humanoid species are notable for having some of the most powerful¹ strains of magic available.
[1] This is what modern humanoids believe in Alesseia's world. Is it true though? Eh, that's a question that can be answered by reading.
However, magic works differently for everyone; each human has a unique² strain of magic, so not all humans have the same powers. That's why they've sorted themselves into various castes³ depending on the rarity and power level of magic.
[2] On a small tangent related to this: magic is commonly noted to be the unique power of an individual, but that is a bit of a misconception. While each individual has a unique strain of magic in the same way every organism has a unique DNA sequence, this doesn't mean that they don't share magical similarities with each other, or that the outward characteristics (i.e. how magic is expressed) will not be similar. This is a lot of words that basically boil down to "people can do similar magic even when they're not related."
[3] See footnote number 1.
Last notable thing: magic is inherently a natural part of this world. That means everyone can naturally do magic without needing specific tools, accessories, or rituals. Of course, some people may experience difficulties in casting magic for one reason or another, which is why things like wands, potions, and certain traditions were invented to help with casting magic. Some items may even allow them to use magic outside of their capabilities, though technically they aren't casting magic themselves. These inventions may have even brought in new strains of magic that weren't available in the past.
So... How do people in the lowest caste use magic?
The average person in Caste 6 generally has magic underneath one or both of the following categories:
their magic is significantly weaker than others with similar powers (example: only being able to control a few gallons of water at a time)
their magic is too specific to be considered powerful (example: only being able to "communicate" with chickens, not even other birds, just chickens)
Other examples include fruit ripening, flora/fauna identification, healing minor injuries, minor usages of air and earth magic, and lots of other relatively small magical types that are associated with nature.
It's notable that these powers are generally useful in modern day society; the first two examples above are great for fish and chicken farmers. However, they're not considered powerful enough by the ruling families for a higher caste.
trying to change my wip to suit my current values and preferences, which involves quite a few things:
reorganizing the character hierarchy such that the characters I actually care about the most (nathan, raven) become the most important characters in the wip, rather than important side characters
fixing the worldbuilding so that it's less "Philippines but with magic" and more distinctly itself as a setting
changing (most) character surnames to be more obviously filipino-flavored because I don't want people to think any of my characters are white even if they have blue eyes or whatever
there's probably more that I'm missing but those are the main ones on my agenda
