#crying wolf studio

[gaiankind]

Part 1 of The Drosselmeier Chronicles brings us The Solstice Tales, a beautiful weaving of fae fantasy with 19th-century classic literature. Wolfen M’...

Thank you, Fanbase Press, for the sweet review!

[gaiankind]

The Grammary: Loki Laufeyjarson

(NOTE: what follows is an explanation of Loki in the Gaiankind storyverse. It’s inspired by mythology, but not necessarily accurate to it; this is not a resource for research.)

Subject: Loki Laufeyjarson Known Aliases: Robin Hood, Reynard the Fox, Sherlock Holmes Gender: Fluid, but male more often Class: God Birth Form: Wolf Common Forms: Human, Elf, Wolf, Fox, Coyote, Raven, Hare Family: Father: Lugh, merged with the Air Titan Farbauti (so, a jötunn) Mother: a wolf-born demigod of Anansi the Spider's Lineage, merged with Laufey, an Earth Nymph (so, a jötunn) Paternal Grandfather: Hermes (a god) Paternal Great-Grandfather: Zeus (a god) Paternal Great-Grandmother: Hera (a goddess) Brothers: Helblindi, Býleistr (by blood, born of the same litter), Odin (by magic and spirit) Nephews (by magic): Thor, Baldr, Höðr Known Mates: Sigyn (multiple incarnations), The Morrigan Daughter: Hel (by The Morrigan) Sons: Sleipnir (by Svaðilfari), Fenris and Jormongandr (parents unknown), Narfi and Váli (by Sigyn), Jack Frost (father unknown)

Allies: Sigyn, Huginn, Odin, Hel

Note: Loki, at one time, was possessed by the troll Angrboða, becoming a full jötunn; it was then that Fenris and Jörmungandr were conceived, with a different parent for each. Hel existed before then, but was transformed into Hel at this point.

Loki is famous for his penchant for trickery, a trait he inherited from both sides of the family. It's almost a compulsion, but most of the time, he uses the trickery (intentionally or not) to teach someone a lesson, often in humility. Thor (and Thor's vain wife, Sif) was often a favourite target of his lessons.

His greatest trick of all, though, was Ragnarok.

He and Odin had taken note of how humankind was becoming more and more dependent upon the gods and the Elementals. Worse, in their desire for gifts from the gods, the humans were leaving themselves open to possession by jötunar. Loki came up with a plan by which it would *seem* that the gods and the Elementals and jötunar killed each other in a great war. What would really happen, though, was the gods would draw the jötunar into the Otherworld and trap them there, along with any problematic Elementals. To that end, everyone needed to believe that Loki had gone evil, so that the Elementals / jötnar would trust and follow him. He decided he needed to trick *himself*, as well, with Huginn, Sigyn, Hel, and Odin's help. Huginn, master of mental manipulation, made Loki forget the plan. Loki then consumed the heart of a troll, Angrboða, darkening much of his soul in the process, save for a small part held by Sigyn. Odin egged Loki on in the right directions, as necessary.

After Ragnarok, most of the good Elementals decided humans were too corrupt to be around, and went into the Otherworld themselves. Many of the surviving gods opted to follow the Elementals into the Otherworld. Loki was among those who opted to remain in Midgard, under new identities. He would look for his beloved Sigyn every time she was reincarnated -- while he will copulate with pretty much anyone, Sigyn is the one he *loves*.

LOKI AND SIGYN

At sixteen, Sigyn was mean to be a handmaiden to Sif, a goddess of the hearth. Sigyn suffered from a disease that gave her bald spots -- it was why her family chose her as an offering, as they thought they could never marry her off. The disease proved magic-proof, so could not be healed. Sif, a vain being, refused to allow the woman to stay with her. Loki befriended the girl -- and punished Sif by cutting off the golden hair Sif was so proud of, making it into a wig for Sigyn (while making it clear that *he* thought she was beautiful just as she was). Before she eventually died of old age, long after Ragnarok, Loki, with her permission, bound their souls together so that he would always find her when she was reborn, as she chose to stay mortal. One of their lives together was spent as Robin Hood and Maid Marian; another, as Sherlock Holmes and James Watson.

LOKI AND ODIN

Lugh and the Dagdha are Odin’s parents (I’ll get into how in another entry). As Lugh was not in his original form when he sired Loki, Odin and Loki don't share DNA, but they are brothers in soul and magical lineage, and consider themselves brothers of the heart.

LOKI AND HUGINN

Huginn started out as the Egyptian god Thot, a necromancer. When Thot decided to visit his mother raven’s homeland in the north, he became a messenger for Odin. Huginn and Loki became friends through a shared love of studying the potential of magic. Eventually, Huginn became mates with Loki’s daughter Moira, who then took the name Muninn. When Loki fed upon Angrboða, he accidentally awoke a magical genetic illness in Muninn, which spread decay across her body; Huginn was only able to stop it halfway. Muninn decided her place was with the dead, and took on the name Hel.

LOKI AND JACK FROST As a woman, Loki bore a boy named Jack, who went on to slay a giant and excell at ice magic, and became apprentince to his uncle Odin, who by then was going by the guise of St. Nicholas.

DEVELOPMENT NOTES:

The red hair is inspired by myths I've read where he's called Red Loki.

In my reading, I discovered that one possible interpretation of Farbauti is "cruel strike"; given that Laufey potentially means leaf or evergreen needle, and one possible meaning of Loki's name is "fire", the supposition is that Loki is the fire that’s created when lightning hits a tree. Further, I read that one potential name for Lugh, a Celtic god of fire, is "cruel strike", so that's how I ended up connecting him and Farbauti.

Hermes / Mercury, a trickster deity, is a god of travel who wears winged shoes. Loki is said to be a trickster who wears winged shows, so that's why I decided to have them be related. Further, Odin is often likened to Mercury, and another name for either his brother Ve or his brother Vili was Lóðurr, which potentially means fire, and may have been another name for Loki.

See also: jötnar

(I'll add to this entry as ideas come to me / I remember ideas I came up with a while ago. I might also change some things ...)

Many thanks to my Patron Patti Martinson! <3 Like my work? Consider contributing to my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/wolfenm

[gaiankind]

"A Conspiracy of Spirits: The Love Story of Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge" Chapter 1 - Steampunk Journal

Read the first chapter of the second novella in The Drosselmeier Chronicles.

My book has been featured in Steampunk Journal! <3

[gaiankind]

The Grammary: Magic, Elements, Spells, Souls, and Lifeforce

(NOTE: what follows is an explanation of magic in the Gaiankind storyverse. It's inspired by pagan beliefs but not necessarily accurate to it; this is not a resource for research.)

The Nature of Magic and the Elements Magic is the manipulation of five Elements. Four are known as the Earthly Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. The last is Spirit. It's actually comprised of all of the other four, much like white light is made of all the colours. It's actually the force by which all other elements are used. It even allows beings to use, to some extenct, Earthly Elements that they have no wells in (but Spirit has only about a quarter of the strength in any given Earthly Elements). Also, aside from the fact that they all, together, form Spirit, there is a certain amount of crossover between the dominions of each Earthly Element.

The Element of Fire isn't just in the kind of fire you find in a fireplace. Fire power is found in electricity, in chemical fires, in radiation, in light of all varieties, even the heat generated by friction. Also, having a connection to fire means you can also remove heat, make something cold.

Having Wells in Air means being able to manipulate all gasses, be they clouds (yes, which means power over that patrticular form of water), wind, or breath, and can also cool temperatures, turning gasses into liquids and liquids to solids. Air magic can also augment spells cast via speech and music.

Water power is not limited to H2O -- if a substace is fluid, Water can control it -- but power over H2O is still the strongest, and includes some power over H2O-based clouds and ice.

Earth is possibly the broadest of Elements, controlling the subdomains of animal, plant, and mineral, as well as having some limited power over ice (that being the solid form of water). However, most beings only have power over one, possibly two subdomains; Earth elementals control all, but are most powerful when dealing with their subdomain.

Spirit, besides giving one some power over all other Elements, is also used in mind/soul-based abilities, such as astral projection, psychometry, precognition, telepathy, remote viewing, telekinesis, pyrokinesis (for those who have Fire Elemental magic but are not pyromancers), and scrying.

Those who have a well in in Element are a mage of that element; someone who controls all four Earthly Elements is a wizard.

Working together, Fire and Air can be used to effect vision. Healing is foremost the domain of Earth, then of Water, but healing to some degree can also be performed with Fire or Air -- and is best done with all Elements, especially when augmented with extra Spirit. Air can also augment psychic abilities. Earth can effect electricity, by way of controlling magnetism. Earth power or Air power, used in conjunction with Spirit, allows one to perform telekinesis, by manipulating gravity or magnetism, or air currents, respectively. Basically, there are multiple ways to do things, using different Elements -- be creative and think outside of the magic box!

SPELLS:

EARTH - Plant-Commanding, Rock-Shaping, Earth-Shaking, Petrify (turn animals and plants to stone), Physical Healing, Flesh-Shaping (Gods only); Resurrection (Gods only), Shifting (Gifted and higher only)

AIR - Wind-Calling, Siren's Call (mind-control by voice), Sound Barrier (decreases an opponent's hearing), Freeze (use wind to cool things)

FIRE - Flame-Throwing, Thunderbolt, Fire Wall, Radiate (radiation-based power) Hot-Blooded (keeps one warm in cold places), Glamoury / Illusion, Will-o-the-Wisp (floating ball of light), Freeze (remove heat to makes things colder)

WATER - Water-Shaping, Rain-calling, Physical Healing, Scrying, Purify, Ice-Shaping (cannot create ice, only shape what’s there)

SPIRIT - Mental Healing, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleportation, Precognition, Portal-Making

MIXED - The Bifrost / Rainbow Bridge (uses Spirt, Fire, and Air to create a bride from Midgard to the Otherworld)

The Nature of Souls Souls are like sculptures that have been shaped out of Spirit energy: they are "defined" spirit. Bodies can be born with an already-shaped soul inside it, or they can be born with unshaped Spirit energy alone, which in turn is known as lifeforce, and which can eventually be shaped into a soul -- or even multiple souls. Souls can also be shattered, merged with other souls, or returned to an undefined, raw Spirit state. A body can survive the loss of a soul, provided that it still has life-force; ordinary Spirit energy is not enough to make something "alive", but it can be used to animate even typically inanimate objects, as can souls. When a parent contributes matter (such as sperm or an egg) to create a child, they pass on at least undefined Spirit; depending on the circumstances (generally, whether they love their mate and/or consciously want a child), they may or may not pass on a bit of their actual soul.

The Nature of Lifeforce Lifeforce is a mix of all five Elements working in tandem; the total loss of any component causes death. Lifeforce can be shared without causing the death of the source, provided that the source still retains enough to keep their body functioning. For many animals, lifeforce is carried in the blood.

See also: Elementals

[gaiankind]

The Grammary: Threads / The Trait / Genetics

Think DNA strands. Whatever Threads one has obtained, generally by birth or through consuming hair or skin, if one has enough Earth power, one can shapeshift into the being the Thread is from, to varying degrees. The shape one takes is called a Form. If a human of Gifted class or higher has no Threads, they can still change form to some degree, by taking on their “faer” Form — an elf, a giant, or a dwarf, depending on their size. Waer folk with human Forms also have faer Forms. The form a Gifted or higher is in at any given moment is referred to as their “Active Form”. Forms attained by consuming threads are “Acquired Forms” -- if the being was only Gifted to start with, and they acquired a Thread in conjunction with using a Piece of Elemental, they only have the Thread temporarily; it’s gone when they transform into something else.

The word “Thread” is also commonly used to describe materials used for absorbing the genetic material; there’s something of a black market amongst the Gaiankind for “Threads” from rare cryptids.

The Trait refers to the genes that correspond to inherited magical abilities. If you get the Trait from one parent, you are Fey; from both, you are Gifted or higher. (When speaking in general about those who inherited the Trait from both parents, one refers to the group as Gifted regardless of the class of any individuals.) Fey have a 50% chance of passing on the trait; Gifted or higher will unquestioningly pass it on. It’s possible for children with only one Fey parent to be Simple (have no Trait).

The Trait passes on Wells and Threads from the parent, but whether and how Threads can be accessed varies from class to class, and whether both parents carry the same species threads.

In reference to genetics, human and faer Forms are the same thing; a dwarf parent can have a giant child, and vice versa.

A Gaiankind child whose mother's class is ranked at Firstborn / demigod or less will be born in whatever their mother's Active Form is at the time of birth, with two possibilities: - if only the mother passes on that Thread, the child will be born a Doppelganger of the mother's Form. - if both parents pass on that Thread, the child will be an amalgam of physical aspects of both parents.

Fey children live their life in the Form they are born in -- even if it's not one of their mother's original Forms / was just a temporarily Acquired Form.

Once their Seal is broken, a Firstborn / demigod child can choose whether they want to be a Doppelganger or an amalgam, at any given time.

See also: Magical Classes

[gaiankind]

The Grammary: Wells

Everyone has at least four Simple Wells of magic — that is, magical reservoirs that store one of five Elements (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and Spirit), with one element per Well. Everyone has one Simple Well that is filled with Spirit (a sort of wildcard that can be applied to any magic), and the other three Simple Wells are filled with whatever Elements correspond with their Sun, Moon and Ascendant signs of the Western zodiac. Everyone can potentially inherit more Wells of magic from their parents, or be granted more magic, permanently or not, by Elementals, Celestials, and magical items.

There are other wells, ones that correspond with a being’s magical class. When one talks of passing on one’s Wells to one’s offspring, this is a matter of passing on genetic traits; parents do not lose their own Wells in the process. For whatever Elements someone has a NON-Simple Well in, they are considered a mage for that element (so someone with a Fire Well and a Water Well is both a Fire mage and a Water mage). Someone who is a mage in each of all four of the Earthly Elements (everything but Spirit) is considered a wizard.

[gaiankind]

Hello, and welcome to the first post of my new(ly migrated) site for my storyverse known as Gaiankind! Please enjoy this trailer for my two-novella collection The Drosselmeier Chronicles: The Solstice Tales! It could be a great holiday gift for the Gaslamp Fantasy-lover in your life! You can read the book for free at  AO3! Follow this post to my tumblr -- there are links at the top with more info on Gaiankind! If you like it, please follow and reblog! <3