Palace AU Lore
(Copied from messages and edited)
Okay so palace au. There's the Empire which is basically all of the noblesse characters so it's gigantic and the royal line is the werewolf lord line kinda. Current one is Muzaka whose parents are Mevek and Midon. Midon and Mevvy's other children, Sabre and Zmunyattek, were assassinated which is why Muzaka is emperor already. N, his grandmother and empress dowager, is putting pressure on him to get married again and take concubines, and this time to noblewomen instead of a commoner like Erin his late wife who he had Ashleen with. Maduke is his cousin and plotting, with his father A having been behind Midon's (his elder brother) assassination then committing suicide out of guilt. A worked with the Church to do this and Maduke is also a big figure in the Church.
Now for Mevvy. She's from the Agvain's line which is a noble line with a territory a fair bit far from the capital but they are looked down upon by capital nobles and some other regions due to them not really acting like nobles as much. This is bcos i have it that the Agvain territory is the only one the empire didn't get thru war and they willingly joined and the Agvain household was just elected to lead them so that's why they don't really view themselves as nobles. Mevvy was meant to be the next head after Vaktel (who is married to both Lotus and Andraste in this since 8 kids and I didn't want one to birth all 8. plus he only married due to older sisters refusing to become next head so Adam who he was with mysteriously said he should go to a certain territory to meet his destined b4 disappearing which did make Vaktel sad since his beloved,, ) and she used to be a general, and had the highest ranking military position. In fact the Agvain territory is also considered weird for not having misogyny and their women being in the army more than men.
Mevvy was initially engaged to Diana cos they loved each other so Midon didn't do anything even tho he was smitten with this older general woman but Diana died in a battle before they ever married and the two did end up getting together. She was still part of the army even after becoming empress when Midon took the throne and was pregnant and gave birth to the twins while away which made Midon come to her to get the babies lol. After the death of Midon and her two younger sons (of whom Zmunyattek was the heir not the eldest son Muzaka) she left the capital to live in the vacation home made for her by Midon and she has her personal guard (members including Althisya and Aaf'hin Uvib who were both previously part of the church, Kayode-Ime, Wvan'bi Gnivoa, etc aka a lot of them are in love with their widowed forever grieving mistress).
She also doesn't believe in the church's religion and believes in the Agvain one which is basically just respecting the ancestors and related to the stars and stuff. And all the diff gods (tho not the religions exactly) in all these religions are real but the Agvain one doesn't have gods. They're just giving love to those who passed on and now live among the stars. Now these gods can manifest in people too and Mevek is well known for being the divine vessel of the goddess of war and motherhood and etc from when she used to be a general. Mevvy's very devout and prays everyday, and it's very sad tbh.
Lagus is helping Maduke but not cos he believes in that shit. He just wants to see shit go down for the funsies. Claudia is aware and hates this and is a shut in cos of it.
Then there's Zarga. He's the trainer of the imperial guard and lives high up on a mountain next to the capital with his dragon guard (servants of dragons who are given the power to turn into minor ones. longer lived than ordinary humans) wife Tzaphquel. They keep their eldest, Feng Mian, at home since this is ye olden days where she would get ostracised or killed for her schizoaffective disorder and just her personality so. Naye, Tzaphquel's ex apprentice and now part of dragon guard, and also Maduke's older sister, comes to visit Tzaphquel and meets Feng Mian and etc and romance etc.
Urokai is in the palace under the pretext that he was kicked out by his father (Vaktel) but truth is he was sent to keep an eye on things to make sure Mevvy's married family is okay. He's slowly but surely corrupting one of the palace priests (of the church) Thomas because romance ofc. He ends up losing an eye due to shit Maduke pulls but it's fine cos he was meant to lose his life.
Edian is part of the imperial guard and Ashleen's personal guard. She's been a widow for a while and was married to Draconis (Raizel's brother). Now Draconis isn't actually dead and she and his siblings are aware but better for him if everyone thinks he is. She remarries Roctis later who is also widowed.
Roctis is a nobleman from a far territory since Kravei obvsly and his line runs that place but he's in the capital for a while to get Ignes (a rare magic practitioner not under the church) settled in her apprenticeship to Lagus before leaving.
Ignes is heavily crushing on the daughter/heir of the Captain of the imperial guard Raskreia. Raskreia herself is only back in the capital after returning from war and is amused by this woman who she finds to be very passive compared to women in other territories but also is strict and all bout the proper stuff so she's not exactly flirting all in or whatever. Raskreia is also trying to get her darling distantly related cousin Claudia to not be such a shut in. So captain is Ashoka (PL) obvsly who is continuing his family's tradition of inheriting not having married yet having children (Raskreia and Quispe).
Then there's Frankenstein and Artemis who are the head spy keepers or whatever of the emperor. Frankenstein is the one known to the public while Artemis is the one kept unknown and was recommended to Midon by Mevvy. Karias is being trained by Artemis but is known to everyone as a nobleman bard and is Raskreia's childhood bestie. She rejected his courting sometime in the past tho obvsly they're still besties.
The main plot revolves around Maduke trying to get the throne and N and Muzaka's compromise to hold a competition/tournament for his marriage. So there's the initial beauty judgement by each territory and then the narrowed pool has to do 4 tests in the capital (basic bg check and talk by Uro as said by Mevvy since she leaves b4 the thing's held, hike up the mountain that Zarga lives on which is something that upsets them since Feng Mian by Muzaka, having tea with N so she can judge their ass, and raising a magic seed to see their faith/devotion by head priest. that last test the faith doesn't even need to be religious actually but they've gotta have some conviction). Edi's niece is in it but she's passed over even after passing the tests <3
Aris and Maduke get married but she ends up murdering his ass bcos I say so.
Okay so the fucking church. It has 3 gods (water fire death. they're siblings. Church says they're all male but only death is lol) and said 3 gods are just :/ at the church cos they do not like this shit. Because the church is basically one of the empire's colonisation tools as irl too and these gods are interacting with all the other gods like "pls don't blame us we don't want this either". The church itself is very large and spread across the empire though with much weaker influence in certain parts e.g. the Agvain and Blerster territories where the main one is the ancestor stuff i mentioned. The church also has a family of saints (the Noblesse) who are said to be blessed by these three gods and receive prophecies from them and can talk to them which… is all actually true for once lmao. But said saints are very obvsly stifled and not given power and used as figureheads. In fact, Xuvunue raised Hulda as a boy because she feared the ever worsening direction of the inner workings of the church and she was right to do so bcos she died birthing Nadine (who is faked as a stillbirth and given to Gentilus who thinks it's just some poor orphan noble kid to raise). Hulda would 100% gone thru shit if they didn't think she was male. Xuvu's children are also extra special (tho the church is unaware of this) because their father is the death god the church worships and said death god is Caelia who is very upset about it all. So only Hulda gets divine/godly powers since it's really random what you get but the other three can see spirits, do blessings, etc and are pretty immune to poisons, curses, etc so not like they're getting nothing.
So Hulda is always covered up and wearing a mask when not around brothers or Edian and passes herself off as mute to prevent being found out as female. Very smirky and arrogant and seen as being a womaniser. She's been accused of impregnating women which just had her sign "That would be a miracle indeed, but not one i can do" and had her pull aside the judge presiding the case (Amabilis) and revealing her sex to him which had him return into the room like "Yeah… he uh. Can't be the father" and sparked rumour after rumour on how he lost his dick since Hulda just smiled and signed "Maybe I lost it, maybe I was just born this way". She and Edian helped Draconis fake his death after his marriage to escape the church while she and Raizel remain.
Now Hulda is not actually much of a figurehead since she's working towards making the collapse of the church easier since her seer stuff has her know it'll happen in her life plus getting really into the law and judgement stuff and being part of court. And she's capable of doing this cos even the church people cant handle the 'sadistic man' that the saint is under 'his kind exterior that the common people love' completely.
Okay so Hulda! She has been sneaking out since a child since her powers, secret routes only the saints know, being able to pretend she's in isolation for whatever religious reason, and being able to simply just, take off her male disguise made it possible. Was much easier when she was younger and this is how she met Ashoka when she was 13 and he 15. She commented on how he obvsly didn't like the boys he was just hanging out with from up atop a high wall and he was immediately wary of this strange girl in just a nightgown. Still, he was a proper nobleman and when she looked like she was going to jump down he went to catch her except… she simply floated down/walked on air. So even more wary and yet knows she's ethereal in some way. His divine/religious awakening. They met over the years, etc etc and fell in love and between her actions, her looks, and when she was around, he asked if she was the eldest saint which she said yes to. Also means she interacted with his family plenty including his adopted sister Nadine. Their time lessened as they grew older since the church kept even more of an eye on her and though she didn't have too much difficulty keeping her pregnancy with Raskreia at 22 a secret, Quispe's at 26 was much harder and after that she only really managed to meet him once or twice a year. So the kids aren't aware she's their mother or even of her, really. They don't know Ashoka loved their mother and assume she was just some random fling since the rest of the family keeps it under wraps at his request (tho they don't know she's the saint obvsly). Hulda's pregnant with Jor and El in the main plot somewhere but it's fine for her since she also reveals she's female bcos collapse of church is soon or whatever.
But basically Ashoka and his divine demigod gf and the love they have despite not being able to see each other. And i love thinking about when they were younger and he watched fascinated by her just going thru food stalls and them at night markets and festivals and just them peacefully hanging out and and and-
Extras
Raskreia and Quispe would both be in 20s for main plot. So Jor's just a very big age gap.
For this I do wanna say that Vaktel didn't want 8 kids lol. He would have stopped at like. 3/4. Lotus and Andraste are the ones who want the kids and convinced him. In most AUs he only has 4 bio kids (first 4) while the others are adopted.
(In reference to Urokai losing his eye) Mevvy hates the church cos she was there for the assassination and saw some church symbols as everything burnt around her and almost died too + it caused her miscarriage. It's common knowledge that she hates the church tho nobody thinks they were involved in assassination and she knows better than to say it. But she's also in the way of the throne so Uro who watches over the palace as an Agvain and her is also obvsly in the way. So faking a kidnapping event of sorts with Uro and the palace priests and other nobility and then swooping in to save the day kinda builds up credibility etc while staving off suspicion. And ofc it'd be great if Uro died as an unfortunate side effect yes? So the captors aim for him especially since he is a snarky asshole type which makes it seem like it's just cos of that but they didn't account for Thomas and some of the other kidnapped nobility (teen Seira and kid Regis) doing their best to protect him so he lives.
(In reference to Hulda not being found out as female when a child) She's been wearing a mask and cloak since a kid to make it less suspicious. Passes it off as like a eccentric/sensory thing.
(In response to Mevek's inability to do anything about the Church) ...What power after her husband the emperor passes and she's just the new emperor's mother? Like yes previous empress but she is an Agvain still and doesn't have that much power. Yes women can have power in this but there's still lots of misogyny.
OCs and NPCs Mentioned (and their original roles)
A - Maduke's father and one of the conspirators behind the deaths of Midon and his sons.
Aaf'hin Uvib - A Seelie court knight serving Wvan'bi Gnivoa, and being both his and Mevek's lover.
Althisya Mergas - A General/Head of the Central Knights and Mevek's lover.
Amabilis Mergas - One of Hulda's closest confidantes and lover. Chief Justice of Lukedonia after her death.
Andraste Mergas - Ludis' great-grandmother and a previous clan leader.
Artemis Blerster - Krasis' aunt and a previous clan leader.
Basileios Caelia di Kairav - (Doesn't exist in canon) Xuvunue's daemon or lover/husband depending on AU.
Cansu Quispe de Amaia - (Not born in canon) Raskreia's younger fraternal twin sister and co-lord. Belongs to @/adayofwinter
Crespo Iglesias di Xuvunue - Raizel's mother and Noblesse.
Diana - Gradeus' mother and a previous clan leader.
Faysal ur-Hulda es Eudoxia (des illtyd) - Draconis' fraternal twin sister, Raizel's elder sister, and Noblesse. Remembered as the Lady Justice.
Jormungandr - Next Noblesse after Raizel and elder fraternal twin sister of Uriel.
Lotus Blerster - One of the very first nobles and Mevek's mother
Merge Ennea di Gentilus - Ashoka's mother and a previous lord.
Mevek Agvain - Urokai's elder sibling and a previous clan leader.
Midon - Son of the werewolf lord Yunrad and Mevek's lover.
Nadine - Raizel's younger fraternal twin sister and /Noblesse. Belongs to @/adayofwinter
N - Maduke's paternal grandmother and werewolf lord Yunrad's elder sister.
Naye - Maduke's paternal aunt.
Sabre Sunnysky (Agvain) - Son of Mevek Agvain and Midon. Fraternal twin brother of Zmunyattek.
Siriana Feng Mian - Zarga's daughter and possibly a clan leader.
Thomas Summerfield - Urokai's human bonded and lover.
Tzaphq(i/u)el (Siriana) - Diana's aunt and Rozaria's grandmother.
Uriel - Next Noblesse after Raizel and younger fraternal twin brother of Jormungandr.
Vaktel Agvain - Urokai's father and a previous clan leader.
Wvan'bi Gnivoa - Both a dragon and a fae nobleman of the Seelie Court. Lover of Aaf'hin Uvib and Mevek.
Zhuyi de Kayode-Ime (Agvain) - Served as a babysitter for his clan.
Zmunyattek Woodwords (Agvain) - Son of Mevek Agvain and Midon. Fraternal twin brother of Sabre.
