Bfau is a fantasy au indpired mostly by @hopepetal and @applestruda and their boatem knights au, but i put a spin on it and changed a lot. (sorry for tagging you two if you see this lol)
Rambling is under the cut :]
Basically- Grian the avian fire sorcerer is tasked by the king to assemble a small team of warriors to defend an ancient village called Boatem, which has an open rift to a dangerous void-like realm inside of it. It's dangerous as they will live there full time and will be the first (and only major) line of defence against anything that emerges from the rift. Grian agrees, and sends out letters to those he sees worthy.
The first was a ranger called Scar, his former party member and travel buddy. They used to adventure with Grian's adopted older brother Jimmy, and Jimmy's boyfriend of the time BigB, but due to a tragic event BigB passed, and Jimmy left adventuring for good to mourn, leaving Grian with a now unpredictable teammate. Scar died too in that event, but a stolen artifact they had brought his soul back to his body. The problem? Souls that are angry when they die become vexes, which are wild and violent. So when Scar came back to life, he gained otherworldly abilities which he couldn't control. They tried to continue travelling, but eventually Scar couldn't keep risking Grian's safety and they parted ways so that Scar could understand his new life and powers. He had to have control by now, after years of minimal contact, right?
The second invite went to his twin sister Pearl, who he hadn't seen for many years. She had left their home town in response to strange dreams and visions calling her somewhere. Grian hadn't heard from her for a long time until recently, when Tim got word from a traveller that she was alive and well, and strong too. She was some sort of paladin now, and neither of her brothers had any more information than that. Grian knew that his new life would be tough and he would be lying if he didn't admit that he really wanted his twin's support.
The third person to contact was another close friend, a vampire called Mumbo. Grian met him when he was weak and starving, having offered his blood in exchange for temporary shelter. They became fast friends, and talked often. Grian wasn't sure how he was in combat, but the guy was hella smart! He had so many ideas for traps and weapons, and knew hoe to make them. Grian felt that having a more technical teammate would be valuable, so Mumbo was a no brainer really.
The fourth and final invite was tough, as he had ran out of connections. Well- he had his older brother, but Timmy had been left flightless by the same event that took his lover. While he and Grian occasionally talked via messages, Tim was never a fighter, and what magic he did have wasn't suited for combat. Even then, even if Tim somehow said yes, Grian could never put him through all that pain again.
He settled on talking around, and found out about a veteran adventurer called Impulse.
Impulse was a bit of a wild card, and it also showed in his personality. He was noticeably older than everyone else, but his portfolio was nothing to sneer at. He had been a part of an adventure party like Grian, and had gotten pretty well known and respected. Impulse was a knight apparently, the brawn to a pair of brains. But when Grian first met him, he was instantly a little strange. He would frequently refer to himself as a 'we' or 'us', and Grian was convinced he'd caught him talking to himself once as if there was a response. Grian didn't know this yet, but Impulse wasn't just a knight. He was a human sharing his body with a (kind of stupid and annoying) demon, and had been for many years. By now it was almost second mature for him to include Skizz into conversations, even if no one else could see or hear him.
These five indeviduals were the only ones to guard and interact with Boatem, and just kinda have to deal with each other. Not much happens at Boatem, but at least the down time lets them get to adjust to each other and their quirks.
So yeah. Grian gets his sister, two besties and a random dude together to do nothing but bicker and train unless shit goes down, featuring LOTS of background characters with their own stories and development that don't matter as they aren't the pov. I will talk about them though. Just not now.
