#caliah

[spider-gets-artsy]

Baby's first trollsona from back when they thought they were a girl <3

[authorannpaquette]

Worldbuilding whimsy

Writing a novel about a fairy tale land is both easy and hard.

Easy in that nothing needs to follow the same rules as our Earth, nothing has to have the same dimensions, size, or color or even make any known scientific sense.

On the flip side, it does need to be believable. You want Orange leaves instead of green? Maybe there’s a mineral in the earth which causes the color change. You want plants to be giant sized? Better ensure your planet has the necessary precipitation or water sources to support those behemoths. If everything is super-sized, your wildlife, whatever that consists of, better not be regular sized. Imagine the amount of bugs a redwood can harbour when it falls. Now imagine all the trees are redwood sized. That’s a lot of bugs.

I think the trick to making things believable is to make them relatable, or at the very least, explained by some sort of science/magical occurrence. Was there a wizard war five hundred years ago which saturated the forest with magical properties? Or maybe it prevented an entire area from growth, either trapping it in time so nothing actually gets older, or leaving the area barren. (just examples)

There has to be the basics: food source, water, lodging of some sort, weather, fauna and flora (if not a desert planet of course). Don’t forget the native population, how did they evolve thanks to the properties of the planet? What’s their civilization like?

Even magic needs rules. Does the magic come from personal energy or do they pull the magic from things around them? Is it infinite? If so, how? If not, what happens when the magical energy is used up? Does the user become a regular Joe, or do they perish? Does it replenish after a time? Does everyone have access to this energy or is it reserved for a chosen few?

So many things to think about when concocting a new world, this is truly the top of the iceberg. Every aspect affects your characters, their journey, their thought process, their comfort zones, and their abilities.

My world of Caliah is one of those giant worlds, where the redwoods of our Earth would be dwarfed by the pine and oak trees of Caliah. I decided that the fauna of the world consists of insects and arachnids, up to and including scorpions. I haven’t really touched on sea life, as none of my story takes place near large bodies of water, such as an ocean. The first three books, which are written and published, take place in the forest of Argentgrove, the fairy territory; the Fields of Odensbriar, the ancient centaur grounds which is now a neutral territory; and the rainforest of Solandra, a vastly unexplored area filled with all manners of plant and insect life and also the home of the wild fairies. It touches on the different races which inhabit the planet, their territories, and some of their relationships with the fairy people. The fairies are essentially a people that evolved wings in order to deal with the immenseness of their realm. Not all races have survived throughout history, either. There’s mention of the last ice pixies and extinct centaurs.

My magic rules are simple. Magic comes from within and needs to be replenished with food/rest. Not all fairies are mages, but all fairies have some magic, a special talent per say. Some are as simple as creating magelights, others can be healers. There are many variations on the talents available, but this is limited to the fairy race. Other races have different abilities at their disposal.  

Fairies don’t eat meat. They prefer sweet things like fruits and berries. They harvest what they need to make pastries and other sweet treats. Fairies need the sugar to keep up the amount of energy needed to use their talents and fly around all day. This was inspired by hummingbirds, of course. This diet is frowned upon by other races, as they don’t understand fairy physiology. Insects are a food source for most other races.

I’m open to questions on my world and characters if anyone is curious.

[defira85]

A Star Wars: The Old Republic story, set during the KotET era

“Okay, seriously, but maybe let me-”

He strode through the doorway with Kol’aya held tightly to his chest, and the crowded waiting room beyond came to a screeching halt, the silence falling like a hypermatter bomb.

“-go first,” Mako finished weakly, shuffling in after him and peering around his shoulder.

He had never been in a hospital before- not a building that served the general public, anyway. As the treasured prince, second in line to the throne regardless of Valkorion’s disdain for him in private, he had been treated with the utmost care throughout his life, tended to by personal physicians and nursing staff and never ever subjected to anything but the absolute finest medical treatments in the galaxy. This was... a shock, to say the least, crowded and with a vaguely unpleasant odour, clean enough but with a certain aura of desperation that seemed to just radiate from the collective hopelessness of those assembled in the large room.

The chairs were plastic, and the trees were fake. The posters on the walls were faded. If he hadn’t recognised the symbol above the door in the first place, he might’ve suspected Caliah of deliberately bringing them to the wrong place, because surely this wasn’t a hospital?

Everyone was staring at him, patients and nurses and doctors and security guards and people who didn’t seem to fall under any of those categories. He heard someone whisper loudly ‘that’s the emperor, right?’ and someone hushed them almost hysterically. There was a girl on the front desk, wearing medical scrubs and with her mouth hanging open in something that seemed to want to teeter between terror and fury.

[spider-gets-artsy]

I found an old notebook that had a scalemate sketch in it and it inspired me to make a base so I could make Lil fantroll themed guys! :3

Maybe I'll do commissions of these? Probs like, $5, idk

[spider-gets-artsy]

Broken

The Maid of Time has not ascended.

Noises of the raging battle had dimmed as the trolls and humans still fit to fight move to a land not completely leveled by the skirmish. Rhina had been responsible for most of the damage, her ability to grow to gigantic proportions still new and untested. She’d flattened an entire consort town with a misplaced step, and Caliah knew she'll be fuming with guilt later.

She stares up at the blackened sky, afraid to look at her torso. Being stabbed hurt. Being stabbed by someone who was once your friend hurt worse. The hit had been meant for Temgos but missed (to Atrocy’s disappointment, but Caliah’s relief. Maybe it wouldn't be considered a heroic death. Maybe she’d be okay).

Atrocy's scissors had gotten big, alchemized with who knows what to create a pair of shears as long as her arm. Atrocy had taken to throwing them like a javelin, then opening them up, which often led to Caliah’s teammates being wrenched in half. The gold blood had almost looked apologetic when the damn things had speared Caliah instead (or, as apologetic as Atrocy was capable of looking).

She’d retrieved her scissors with a, “sorry about your shirt,” and fled to torment Temgos once more. It's the same shirt she’s been wearing for sweeps, gifted to her by the gold blood in question. She's not sure she wants to continue wearing it after this incident, and heavily considers switching to her god tier pajamas full time.

“Hello?”

The voice is quiet, strained, and Caliah recognizes it as Seonne.

Traitor, she wants to hiss. Seonny is dead because of you. Instead she says, “You too, huh.”

There's a silence, Seonne no doubt is wondering if she’s alive enough to crawl over to him and finish the job. And she might, if she weren't so frightened of moving. Of looking down at the Schrodinger's hole inside her stomach.

“Delrin got me,” he says quietly, and she laughs humorlessly.

“Bet you've got a hole through you too then.”

There's another length of silence, and she can hear his labored breathing, up and to her right. Caliah slides her eyes shut, waiting. She doesn't have to for long.

“I can't feel my legs.” His voice trembles and she knows that if she looks over, tears will be streaming down his face and his body will be broken. She feels a twinge of sympathy and immediately regrets it. Seonne chose his side.

“Have you ascended?”

“No.”

Caliah's blood pusher clenches at that. She’s not sure what she was expecting. For them, immortal and imbued with incredible powers, to fight this war for eternity? The reality of knowing that not everyone has found their quest beds settles heavily on her shoulders. Seonne's death will be the first of many.

“I’m sorry,” she says simply.

He doesn't say anything after that, and she's not sure if it's because he has nothing left to say, or if talking is a labor he just can't continue. She listens as his breathing slows, each inhale and exhale rattling in his chest, until it stops completely.

Caliah opens her eyes and stands, bloody shirt sticking to her stomach uncomfortably. On this day, her death is neither just or heroic.

---

Found some old Homesick drabbles and I liked this one enough to post it : P

Caliah | Seonne

[b8yboop-blog]

"Organs" by Of Monsters and Men. @fueledbydaphne singing for #Caliah on her #happy7thbirthday #singer #ukelele @the1nonlylel @jtui @pascualalejandro @cbaysqueen @cbaytheking @msjoie @da_ky_nat_adventures

[thecharles]

What Went Wrong

Alissa was more invested in our relationship at the time than I was, but I was the one who didn't want to work at it, so that ended on my terms.

Caliah was committed to what we had, she was willing to work with the distance and secrecy we were restricted to and things were great. Then I got scared. Things were going so well, we agreed on so much, we fell in love so... quickly. Something had to be wrong, right? Because why should I be happy? I ended it abruptly and without explanation.

I still haven't fully recovered from that decision. As of now, it's my ultimate "What if...?" scenario.

What Kelsey and I had was probably the most straightforward relationship I've ever been involved in. We were both very direct with each other about what we wanted from the other during the year that we were together and, for the most part, we got it. We didn't see each other particularly often, but we talked enough to satisfy whatever emotional needs we had and when we did see each other we took care of the physical aspect. Then, I think we both just got bored. Towards the end, we seldom had any meaningful conversation and made less and less effort to find alone time.

That's when I met Shellie. Shellie and I started off almost entirely physical. All it took was a rainy day and an invitation to a warm house and things were on. Shellie and I met intimately for about a month before I ended things with Kelsey. It was the first thing we'd talked about since before Shellie and I started hooking up. After another month or so, Shellie and I found that we liked spending time with each other even when our clothes were on, so we committed to the boyfriend/girlfriend deal. Over the next 8 months she broke up with me twice: the first time, because she didn't feel the relationship was going anywhere, and the second time was because I left my phone at her house one night and she interpreted a text conversation as an attempt at infidelity. We got back together after a few days, but I don't think we ever fully trusted each other after that. We went another year, almost constantly worried that the other would see, hear, or do something, and it eventually broke us. All because she couldn't resist the urge to check my phone and read that I regretted a thought I'd had about someone else.

Not anything I did or anything I actively wanted to do. I told a friend that I felt bad about thinking of another girl sexually because it was the first time I'd felt (rather, acknowledged) physical attraction to someone else since I'd been with Shellie. I thought something was wrong with me because I'd thought something salacious about another girl even though I was with someone I loved, and she interpreted that as "He must want to fuck other people."

Things did not get better after this point. We just covered up our feelings about the situation long enough to pretend things were normal. It would come up every now and then, we'd say things we'd later regret, at which point we'd apologize, but there was always that undercurrent of fear. It's what broke us.

I never stopped feeling like there was something wrong with me, like I was becoming the villain in my own story. Still haven't recovered from that, either.

[thecharles]

What's the deal with these dreams?

Last night I had a series of dreams about Caliah in which she talked me through a lot of my emotional hang-ups regarding my exes in a very succinct, yet insightful, way. A lot of the things she said are things I've already tried to convince myself of, but for some reason never stuck until I had a subconscious representation of the girl I developed a lot of those hang-ups with.

I kept waking up during our talks, falling asleep again, then finding myself in another situation where I'd run into her. While the situations themselves were normal, she was not, at least until I talked to her. It was like in Inception when they stayed in a dream too long or changed too much and all of the dream people stared at them and eventually tried to kill them. For me, however, it was just her. She would show up and start staring at me, and no matter where I went to avoid her she would be there until I confronted her, at which point everything would go back to normal, as if she hadn't been stalking me like some sort of dream wraith.

Aside from that weird bit, the dreams were actually very helpful. Having all this time to myself this past couple days, and spending it sober, has turned out to be pretty productive. Maybe that crazy switch will be dialed down to around 6 or so instead of jumping straight to 11.