Happy Spoopy Day~ Hope everyone is well. I thought I could celebrate on here with some spooky headcanons!
Venom
Venom is considered to be a haunted, cursed place. There are remnants of several civilizations scattered across the planet, the most prominent being the ancient Cornerus and the far more recent failed Cornerian Settlement Project.
Not much is known about the Cornerus or what happened to them but their ruins still haunt Venom’s eerie landscape. There are rumors of ghosts that dwell within, wailing in a state of perpetual limbo with eyes that can invoke madness. Usually these ghosts do not stray far from the old Cornerus cities but occasionally there have been sightings in the jungles. Most sightings are usually laughed off fearfully-- people don’t want to admit there might be a nugget of truth to any of these rumors but the amount of people who have seen something paranormal in the wilds is incredibly high.
The Cornerian Settlement Project happened quite some time before the Lylat Wars, before even the time of James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and General Pepper. The project was a colonization effort to start a third planetary hub that would function as a center of trade with planets further from Corneria, such as Sauria and Cerinia. Back then, Venom had a different name, tentatively called “Eden”, though that name was quickly nixed after the Settlement Project. Although some experts had already scoped Venom out and had reported high levels of toxins in the air, most of those reports were dismissed by settlers. The sight that followed the settlers arriving was allegedly one so traumatic that the survivors immediately ran back onto the ships in horror. As soon as the first group arrived, over half their number dropped dead on boarding ramp, their lungs clotted with airborne poisons. The survivors wished to leave but eventually did decide to settle the proposed colony area on Venom. However, within two years, the colony was abandoned, even after measures were taken to try to purify the air. It is said that not only did the air make it hard to populate the land but there was an unnatural force that pushed the Cornerians out-- a force no one could see but could feel. A force that would dismantle bits of their infrastructure and haunt their government officials at night. After the Project failed, the planet’s name was switched to Venom and it was used as a place for exile.
Of course, Venom has seen plenty of civilizations who survived the toxic atmosphere -- namely reptilians who have long made their home amid the jungles. Though reptiles are not entirely uncommon in the Lylat System, the varieties seen on Venom were viewed with apprehension, no doubt stemming from the fact that the planet itself seemed cursed, so everything that lived there also carried that same stigma. From these early discoveries of Venomian reptiles came legends of alien-like beasts that would thrive in the dark jungles, abducting Lylatians and feasting upon their flesh.
Fichina
Not many people would consider Fichina to be a terrifying planet-- after all, it’s home to sights such as the aurora borealis. However its harsh climate has led to some terrifying discoveries over the years.
Fichina’s north and south pole clock the coldest temperatures in all of Lylat, however that has not stopped people from trying to live there, even those without any expertise in living in such harsh conditions. Climate control centers dot the planet’s surface, trying to stabilize some of the weather in an attempt to play God. However, there have been several cases of these climate control centers failing, resulting in lives being lost as entire cities are covered in blizzards. Alternatively, heating systems connected to the climate control center have been known to occasionally fail, resulting in the worst case scenario imaginable-- entire cities frozen, its denizens inside, lifeless.
Yet despite the freezing temperatures, arctic animals often make their home on Fichina. When Corneria arrived at first to establish peaceful negotiations with the Fichinans, they spread across the planet’s surface, even venturing out to reclusive villages up north. One military officer reported back to Corneria with a chilling report that they had found several villages that had been infected by a sickness of some sort, turning most of their citizens (arctic wolves) into mindless creatures running berserk. The Cornerians destroyed the village and all who were within to keep the sickness from spreading, later attributing it to something found in a local set of mines. This report was eventually leaked to the public and twisted by media. Over time, these barbaric, berserker wolves became something of a cryptic legend and there are claims some of them even still exist to this day.
Aquas
Though a planet that looks like a gleaming sapphire in the midst of space, Aquas is a planet drowning in a bloody history and filled with dark secrets.
It is believed that the monstrosity Bacoon destroyed the north and south poles of Aquas, flooding the continents with water. This is a tale that has been believed by Cornerians for some time... but no one has really discovered how this was possible. There has been some research done into this legend to ascertain the truth but no one knows for certain how the giant clam was able to do this. There have been, however, strange shrines spotted on the ocean floor. Shrines that bear an uncanny resemblance to shrines found on Venom and Sauria. Did Bacoon... have help? And if it did, what happened to that help?
After the defeat of Bacoon, Corneria opted to help the planet recover from all of the pollution Andross had dumped into its waters. When they did, they also decided to explore the planet, scoping it out as a possible location for a colony. The planet was perfectly fine, they believed, just covered in water-- nothing that they could not possibly work around. However, as they searched the planet, they chose to dive into its depths. Not only were they met with abyssal, dark waters but their scanners indicated an assortment of gargantuan things that lurked far, far below the water’s surface-- things that perhaps had not even seen the light in hundreds of years. Although the colony project was given the greenlight, there were many scientists unsure if it should have been approved of at all. Many beg the question if Bacoon was ever really alone down there.
Exploration into Aquas’s ruins have uncovered what may have been religious worship of Bacoon. Worship that eventually was abandoned, resulting in the beast growing enraged. Some of these depictions of worship include bloody sacrifices to the clam.
Eladard
Eladard’s surface is a nightmarish tangle of factories and cities, the planet’s environment completely disregarded. Eladard has become something of a junk planet, filled with graveyard-like dump sites.
Eladard’s capital city saw its fair share of strife after the planet was abandoned by wealthy Cornerians looking to profit off the planet. The worst of its strife stemmed from its self-proclaimed mayor, who ruled the city with an iron fist and his own personal army of mobsters. After he was dethroned and killed by mercenaries, his manor’s grounds were investigated. Countless bodies were found on the site, some even taxidermied and kept in a trophy room. The entire manor was burned to the ground and his body was allegedly burned with it. The grounds now stand empty, just outside of town, charred. Some folks have since tried to revitalize the area... but for some strange reason, nothing ever seems to grow there. Not even grass.
Eladard’s clusters of factories have seen their fair share of work accidents. From these accidents, occasionally there have been deaths. And from these deaths have occasionally been ghost sightings-- usually late at night, from the graveyard shift. Sometimes when the workers are packing up, they will swear they see their late coworkers, occasionally looking as though they are clocking in. Other times, they can be seen across Eladard’s nightmarish landscapes, wandering about the factories aimlessly, as if they are unable to rest.
Space
Space... the final frontier some say. But despite being beautiful, it is a silent, haunting place.
Tales of the unknown are common among pilots, particularly space-faring ones. But one of the most haunting sights is near Sector Omega, where one of the final fights happened in the Lylat Wars. It is said that there is a spaceship graveyard still out there, debris floating in limbo for all eternity. It consists of both Cornerian and Venomian ships, abandoned by their respective sides and left to drift forever.
Every so often within the asteroid belt of Meteo, pilots have reported a strange portal. Of course not many dare approach it out of fear... but a few brave souls have, plunging into the unknown fearlessly. They disappear within and usually are found days later, sometimes on the other side of the Lylat System, babbling about strange lights and even stranger noises. Each of them has described a world where reality is distorted and the laws of physics don’t seem to make sense. All of their descriptions are similar with a few tweaks here and there-- moons with sneering faces, comets made of rainbows, strange random objects floating about, and strange, terrifying creatures lurking within. Each and every account ends with the pilot being led to safety by something they can only describe as “the Whale”. It should be noted that all of the pilots have experienced some sort of psychosis from prolonged exposure to this strange dimension and have all been needed to be hospitalized. Cornerian officials from the CDF have looked into the matter but the findings have not been made public.
Been thinking on biomes and landscapes and the planets of the Lylat System, so here’s some quick headcanon blurbs on some of the planets.
Corneria has a lot of variation between regions. What we see most often in the game is the area near Corneria City, which is nestled in a mountain range, surrounded by forests (mostly temperate coniferous). I actually have affectionately named the mountains around Corneria City the “Dober Mountain Range”, which derives from the dog breed Doberman. Most of Corneria’s landmasses are large continents strewn across an ocean-dotted planet. Quite a few of these continents have mountains or highlands, with verdant foliage and abundant wildlife. Population spurts from the Lylatians reduced a good amount of the wilds to small slivers compared to before, but preservation attempts have recently been made to maintain some of the wilderness for the sake of the environment and for the sake of the species that live there. Dotting some of the larger continents are lakes— freshwater for the most part with surprisingly deep basins. Ruins from older empires are nestled in clusters— some of them dug into the sides of mountains. Archealogists are presently the excavating ancient cities and cross-comparing the structures to the Saurian ruins. Corneria’s north and South Pole are crested with ice caps and glaciers— not unlike Earth. Vast tundras spread for miles, a far cry from Corneria’s hospitable forests and beachy shores.
Katina is comprised of vast prairies situated between craggy mountain ranges-- some of which are so old that they have been weathered down by strong winds. Collections of mushroom forests dot the various regions of the mostly arid lands-- a strange sight for a planet so dry. These forests indicate where pockets of underground lakes and rivers are located. Fauna tends to flock in these surreal forests, lured in by the promise of water. Katina has no oceans comparable to planets such as Fortuna or Corneria-- instead, they have what one might call seas, though with considerably less salt levels. Though most of Katina is hot, when the sun goes down, the prairies can become quite cold. The north and south are capped with jagged mountain ranges, each lined with permafrost that feels very out of place to the rest of the warm, grassland planet.
Macbeth is a strangely volatile planet, riddled not only with vast cavern systems upon its mountainous surface but also hotspots, creating things such as geothermal springs and geysers. The planet has extremely active tectonic plates that cause a lot of earthquakes. Cities here have been built in a way that is structurally sound. Mining efforts were also planned to be built in the same fashion but due to expenses, it is known that some corporations cut corners, resulting in massive lawsuits when earthquakes do strike. Volcanoes-- both active and dormant-- dot the planet. Thick forests weave into the lands between the more active hotspots. The most prominent forest is the Birnam Wood, which is situated several miles outside the capital city. Though Macbeth does not have any proper oceans, it does have a few saltwater seas and even a few saltwater lakes that are home to peculiar creatures. Unfortunately with the heavy onset of mining (particularly after Eladard was sapped dry of its resources), a significant portion of Macbeth’s surface near its cities has been warped to fit the industrializing needs of the Lylatians-- including the creation of dump sites. Because of what happened to Macbeth’s sister planet, Eladard, activists are adamantly trying to protect Macbeth’s landscapes.
Eladard is a shell of its former self. Once a thriving land of bountiful savannas, mountains, and swamplands, heavy industrialization destroyed the environment, leaving it a husk of empty factories. Its grungy aesthetic has become the inspiration for countless films in the Lylat System. Now it is a mess of abandoned projects. Most of the grasslands have turned to dusted wastelands, where only small brush and shrubs will grow in thin, sparse layers. Emptied riverbeds dot the wilderness, along with forsaken machinery that was left sometimes still fueled wherever their owners could afford to ditch them. In the thickest parts of the wilds, where Lylatians did not interfere with the planet’s growth, one can still find hollows nestled in between ridges with the faint signs of life returning in green grass or moss.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I was REALLY iffy about posting this before the next Burning Stars chapter is officially done, but since I’m pretty close to done on that, I figured I’d just go ahead.
This is a midquel for Burning Stars (y’know, that fic I absolutely will not shut up about) from Leon’s perspective during the events of Chapter 9 (you know, when the group splits up). I would say more but uh... I won’t. :x Don’t wanna spoil nothin’.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Words: 12138
Chapters: 3/?
Characters: Wolf O’Donnell, Andrew Oikonny, Pigma Dengar, Leon Powalski
Ships: n/a
Description: 0 ALW – The climax of the Lylat Wars has come and gone, leaving destruction in its wake. Left without a leader, the Androssian forces falter as the Cornerians begin to re-establish their dominance across the Lylat System. Hunted by the Cornerian Empire, Wolf leads a wounded and humiliated Team Star Wolf to Eladard to lay low for awhile, ever planning his next move. But tensions are high and not everyone is so willing to give up Andross’s dream.
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Another update on the Star Wolf fic. I foresee maybe 2-3 more chapters to this even though it was just supposed to be a short fic of maybe 1 or 2 parts. I really like how this has been turning out so far and I hope you enjoy.
In curious news today, city officials in the Emerald district of Eladard have reported a local art piece as missing. The statue in question depicted a sixteen-foot-tall tree, where each branch ended in the paw, hoof, or claw of a different species, some holding various objects like fish or toilet plungers. It is unknown how the thieves managed to uproot and make off with the statue, as the area is highly populated and it is believed the theft occurred in the middle of the day.
Locals have described the statue as "esoteric" and "kind of creepy". Though officials insist the statue be returned, for its status as a community staple, many residents have taken to social media to express their thanks to the thieves.
