Some more Haita doodles because I can't stop thinking about them
Also I fixed their color palette so it doesn't burn my eyes out
This is honestly becoming a proper Swap AU to my CotL narrative, but in the Goat's cult instead.
They may be a bit overprotective over the other cult members
Also in the Goat's world, I shuffled around the crown order - so Leshy holds the Crown of Famine and can barely speak.
But that doesn't stop him from being an irritating, clingy little shit
Hastur would also HATE this guy
Haita is almost the polar opposite of Hastur, so their views are less about their own freedom in a prison disguised as Eden and more about being grateful that they get to live in a paradise away from the battlefield outside
Hastur would strangle them
Bonus - I wanted to draw @laserbobcat 's own Swap OC Maryl because their characters were rotating around in my head again and I thought it would be fun if they met Haita
Since it was popular in the cotl community I'll post it in my actual blog, this is the good start au I'll be drawing soon (thx @neoma-butterfly for the name)
Au where when the sheep prophecy is known instead of murdering all sheep's the bishops adopt them all and treat them really well, funerals when they die so they end up in the afterlife with flowy dresses and nice suits.
And then narinder, first time there's a sheep, just tries SO HARD to get them to do the cult thing but that sheep and all sheep after just love the bishops too much to even give it a try.
Working on this more I think this would be a good one for goat as protag bc like, the sheep ain't about to fight the old faith.
The prophecy would be something like "Hoofling with fur of fiber come to slay the ones of old" because you'd default to sheep with it, fiber is wool and the have hooves, but there are cashmere goats, so like, the goat would have "fur of fiber" that way, also got hooves.
I'll work on designs later (I'm an artist of the drawing variety, not of the writing)
But let me know any ideas for this series or anything you'd like to see return in designs, character stuff, etc, etc.
Some more Swap AU/CotG AU doodles while I learn how to use Krita
The first follower collected by the Goat - I really liked my design of Mertyl so I wanted to draw her again. She is the Goat's closest confidant and right-hand, despite the fact that she isn't so much devoted to the purple crown as she is to the Goat as a person rather than a cult leader.
She also really doesn't like Swap! Hastur and finds his constant optimism grating.
Bonus - this quote from Fallout New Vegas lowkey reminded me of Swap Hastur
Did swap Hastur end up in a relationship with Leshy like regular Hastur did
Honestly? I don’t know at the moment.
Swap Leshy is mute in this AU since his domain is Famine now, and given Swap Hastur’s personality change, I’m having issues trying to see how I can make them work. That’s partly my fault since I haven’t worked on Swap Leshy yet, so I don’t have a grasp of his personality yet.
That being said, the thought of “I will fumble you in every universe” will never not be funny to me so I will keep working.
Do the lamb and goat share followers? Or has any of the lambs followers tried switching cult leaders? Are the Goat and lambs gods both the god of death or is goats different?
In the Swap/CotG AU, the Goat followed Shamura instead of Narinder, but they both still represent death. Shamura is still the eldest of the siblings, so the damage inflicted on the other Bishops when they sealed them away is just as violent as Narinders.
Side note: Current thought for a title for Shamura is either “The One Who Weaves” or “The One Who Lurks”
The only follower they “share” at the moment is Hastur, just with a swapped perception where he’s naturally obedient and a religious fanatic.
CotG: The making of a tapestry (again not a story just the plot)
This is basically me setting up the origin for the story.
So Pandora's jar has hope in it but even the fates knew that the small spark left in the jar wouldn’t be able to carry on providing hope to others because she was only a placeholder and hope is a domain that is continuing to expand even more. Which caused the fates themselves to put other gods, mortals, titans, and demigods to the test to see if they would be worthy enough to carry on its legacy.
Yet all of them failed.
Then one day, they saw a vision. One so powerful that the gods were scared of what the prophecy could entail. They scrubbed it off of the Earth and it has only lived on in whispers. Annoyed, the fates continued to search for the one to take up the mantle of Hope.
Anyways, one of the Oceanaids, Theia– who’s parents are Oceanus & Tethys, has hated the way the Gods rule. She believes that there was balance and order without the need for temples or sacrifices that the gods want because now the world is just a mess.
What she hates even more is how many of her sisters have to run away from gods inorder to not get raped. Later on when she learns about Circe being banished/trapped on her island because of her magic, Theia travels to her island and asks for help in learning magic to protect herself from the gods. She became one of Circe’s closest friends and became just as strong as Circe, especially in water magic.
But Theia wanted more power, especially to challenge God's order. So she went to her father asking him for more power. But he told her that it's pretty much impossible for her to even have more power than she does now, but her children could surpass her. In desperation she asks her father for kids. Thus the Cercopes twins were born. And Theia loved them greatly, so much that she actually stopped wanting to destroy the gods for a bit when she took care of them.
She showed her babies to Circe and she made a comment about how she was surprised they were even her kids because their power was less than Theia, This caused her to spiral and begged Circe to help her children become stronger. But Circe couldn’t help them and instead tells Theia the story about an old prophecy about champions and how twins who shouldn’t have been born would become so powerful that they could destroy the gods.
Theia wondered why she never heard of the prophecy and Circe told her how the gods pretty much hide it away. Circe even jokingly told Theia how her next batch of children could be the children of the prophecy if she somehow got Poseidon to chase after her and birthed twins.
That story was always something she thought about in the back of her head and Theia slowly stopped visiting Circe’s Island after a certain age when her sons assaulted some of the nymphs on the island. Then later on the last time Circe ever saw her was when she begged her to undo the curse Zues did which caused the twins to turn into stone. But she said it wasn’t possible to do so, angry she left her island, not without hitting the island with many and high ocean waves, afterwards.
A few years later, Theia decided to pursue her plans of destroying the gods. She started to watch Poseidon and his moves to find patterns of where and when he appeared to chase after some nymph. Once she got the routine down, Theia used a love and memory potion to get laid by Posiedon. Then, afterward, she just continued to move around once signs showed up that she was pregnant.
She knew the Posiedon didn’t remember her, the waters were calm and barely any large storms were created. But just to be safe she kept traveling for the 9 months she was pregnant. She drifts between different places in any source of water, can even hide in mist or fog as well as slipping through the cracks in the sea.
When she knew she was about to give birth, she seeked help from one of her sisters to make sure nothing went wrong while she gave birth. She made sure she was in one of the deepest parts of land, heavily dense trees that even the sun couldn’t see her.
At a river, she gave birth to her first child. A boy she named Acheron, and she couldn’t have been more relieved and proud at how powerful she felt her son is and could be. But she missed her sister’s face when she saw the child– a monstrous form with such raw energy. She was horrified, wondering which god got their hands on her sister and before she could even ask Theia, she started yelling as the next child was about to come out. This child was a girl and Theia looked at the child in stunned disbelief, with fury flickering in her eyes.
A demigod. That's what this child was. Half of a god– worthless to her plans. But her sister curiously looked at the child and how she contrasted compared to her brother. This one barely had any power pulsing through her and her presence itself was calming.
But after the calm comes the storm. Theia started raging, talking about how she suffered for 9 months just for one of the kids to be a reject. And before her sister's eyes, Theia's hands went inside of the child’s body. At first she thought she killed her, but no she did something worse. She could no longer feel the presence of the baby, but she knew she was still alive– if the cries were anything to go by. But the babe’s tie to the ocean was barely even there, Theia cut her off from the sea.
Afterwards, Theia left with Acheron and she barely spared a glance at her daughter. That was the last time Theia was seen by any of her sisters.
As the baby cried, the oceanid panicked, not knowing what to do. So she decided to seek help from her father, Oceanus. She took the babe down the stream until the water opened into the ocean but as soon as she was in the ocean territory, the babe gave an earth rattling scream. As she looked down, she saw the skin of the babe turning red as it steamed. Quickly she went back into the steam and watched horrified as the babe’s skin went back to normal, but her cries never ceased.
For days, the babe cried. And the oceanid tried to ask help from others but they wanted nothing to do with the demigod, knowing all caused trouble in the future so why not nip it in the bud? She couldn’t help splash water on those who followed such ideas and left the child at a nook in the tree while she went to seek help from her father.
Her father did nothing. When she called, when she pleaded, and when she screamed, she was only met with her father’s silence. Discouraged, she went back to her favorite stream to help the babe. But when she returned, she was met with silence. She felt nothing but dread as she rushed towards the tree that held her, to see nothing at all
Okay I've started reading Chalice of the Gods and while I am enjoying it. I just also keep thinking about it but subverted. That its Annabeth who has to get those letters (because children of Minerva shouldn't exist and she has to work off the 'debt') and her two best friends who won't leave her in the dirt.
It can start with her clearly hiding something. They have to figure it out and when she lets them help they shine.
Also, in COTG it literally mentions that she struggles to share her burdens/ problems with others if she can avoid it. It would be fascinating and let Annabeth shine while yes Percy can also be awesome.
