#firefly-factory

[noirandchocolate]

Im a little late to the party but just wanted to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASTER KOHGA!!!🎉🥳🎂🍌🍌🍌

“THANK YOU!!! Hey, bananas AND cake, nice service! And I have to say, I like your name.”

[the-videodame]

Hi hi I saw your reblog about playing dolls with ocs so

🥺👉👈

Im SO intrigued by Rosewood. The whole concept of "Priestess for a forgotten (disgraced? I forget the exact word) goddess struck me as so neat?? Especially in the context of hyrule/majority hylian worship. Ive been working on religion stuff for my writing so I think thats part of why it stood out to

So yeah idk I'd just love to hear some of your lore and oc stuff if youre chill with sharing it :D

yessss. YESSSS i have so so so much to yap about when it comes to Rosewood, I've had her cooking up in my noggin since like 2018 or so and her whole story has been reworked and built upon the more I got into LoZ and ofc when Tears of the Kingdom came out and gave us more lore opportunities - so it might get confusing or just downright cringe and self indulgent but who cares shes MY blorbo and I make the rules

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Overview

Rosewood started out as just a witch posing as traveling merchant, someone who Link was to bump into at random anywhere in Hyrule and she'd sell him potions or other magical items, including trinkets from previous timelines (i.e the Ocarina, various masks, fragments of the Mirror of Twilight, etc.), armor/weapons of past games, or on occasion Forest Dweller weapons. She was meant to be this "obviously knows more than she lets on" sort of character who doesn't seem important to lore but clearly plays some role in it.

And as I always seem to do with my OCs, Rosewood was wedged further and further into the series lore in more dumb and convoluted ways lmao

She went from simple witch/merchant, to a druid with healing properties related to nature, to a witch with subtle connections to higher powers, to being Zelda's older sister in an alternate timeline, to being the vessel of a Goddess who uses her as a physical means of seeking revenge on Hylia. :)

The Disgraced Goddess

So there's obviously higher powers in the Zelda universe. Hylia, Din, Naydra, Farosh, Ganon, Demise, even the Sages can be considered some level of divine (esp when you look at games like Twilight Princess). I had been thinking about having a divine being in this series that represents the natural world, or the soul within, something like that.

At one point while playing BoTW again a couple years back, there was a child in Kakariko that had mentioned "heaven", and that their deceased parent is hopefully there - and that's when I thought: "Well, if there's a Goddess that resides over the heavens (Hylia), then there's gatta be someone who resides over everything else, good or bad, right?"

Then, I remembered the Horned Statue. In BoTW, the statue near Hateno is able to manipulate your health and stamina for a price, and I figured that's the perfect basis for my Goddess.

And then, TotK gives us EVEN MORE lore that fits PERFECTLY with everything I had already been cooking up

In TotK, there's a quest in that bunker area outside the castle where you dig through stone to find the Horned Statue again, but this time buried in rubble in the catacombs of the castle - it's even behind what looks to be broken prison bars.

When you speak with the statue, it gives us more details into what had happened to it from when it was encased in stone to now

It says that the Goddess (likely Hylia) did not like the power it held and how it bargained with mortals (life/vitality for money), and is constantly being relocated to more and more isolated spots because Hylia knows it's still a threat.

Then when you speak to Jerrin again (since she gives you the quest to find it), this is the lore she gives us:

"As there is the Goddess of light, then it follows that she would have an opposite"

Brother when I tell you that I LATCHED onto this and COOKED with it, fuckin SAUTEED it since release, I MEAN it.

I combined everything I had been collecting over the years and so far, I have decided on this:

Hylia - who in the beginning only had dominion over Light and Time - has a sister Goddess, one who takes care of the natural world and the souls of mortals. Where Hylia was she sun, her sister was the moon. If Hylia was light, her sister was darkness. However, in the beginning, darkness wasn't considered evil at first. It was a necessity, a logical opposite to light. It was the shade that cooled the backs of farmers; it was the night that allowed mortals to sleep and nocturnal animals to thrive; it was the laughter of children playing hide-and-seek in the woods next to their homes; it was the moon and the stars that guides them all when it seemed that all was too dark.

I decided to name her Hefna. Because in old norse, the term hefna stands for revenge.

A good part of Hefna's divine power involves life, and all of it's aspects. The earth, the sea, the sky, the living beings that inhabit them, the souls that inhabit those living beings, but also: death. Many people in the beginning believed death to be just another part of life, a time when their soul is lead to the afterlife by Hefna to await reincarnation. But of course, over time, people grew more and more afraid of death; famine, illness, war, poison, mauling, the cold, the heat, dehydration... there were many ways a person could die, many painful ways that were no longer simply passing away peacefully from old age. Death was slowly becoming a concept to avoid at all costs, rather than an inevitable stage of life.

Then more negative connections began to utilize the darkness. Predator animals lurk within the shade; fear and nightmares warp a child's vision in the dark; the moon alters the movement of the waves and throws sailors off course; thieves wait until the peaceful hours of night to break in - or worse, lead entire raids on villages.

People began to denounce Hefna, believing her to be the evil counterpart to her sister, Hylia. But devout followers of Hefna still tried their best to bring a good reputation to her name, turning their temples into places of healing with the power gifted to them by Hefna herself. These followers, these clerics, priests, and priestesses, would open their doors to heal the injured and socialize with the lonely without any need for monetary compensation. They lived off the land, and had no need for rupees, but graciously accepted donations if people felt obliged to assist. Temple repairs can't be paid in prayers, after all.

Hefna, having the power to manipulate the soul, and thus the vitality of the mortal body, allowed her most gifted of followers to heal through the transfer of health. Hylia, eventually, decided this was too much power to have over mortals - specifically, a power she did not have. Hylia masked her jealousy as concern and warned her followers of her wretched sister, a being of darkness who seeks to consume souls for her own power.

Fearing for their souls, followers of Hylia began to cull those who followed Hefna, fully denouncing her as an evil deity whose followers are demons or witches attempting to steal their vitality and souls.

It's said that the blood of those killed that night, along with Hefna's rage, was the cause of the very first Blood Moon - briefly reviving the corpses of her followers and further solidifying the fear Hylia's followers had. Though the corpses collapsed soon after once more, the damage was done.

Hefna was banished and sealed away, with only little power over the mortal world. To bide her time and aliviate boredom, she dealt with mortals through the stone statue Hylia created as her only means of contacting the living.

Having now taken on the added roles of her sister, Hylia grew more powerful, dulling the powers of Hefna and directing her followers to scrape any possible remains of her existence. Statues, books, documents, murals - all were destroyed or vandalized beyond recognition. "So as not to repeat the past", Hylia would claim.

Later, noticing the plight of Ganon and his vessel, as well as Hylia bestowing a mortal of her own choosing to house her power and defeat him, Hefna began planning from her place suspended in the void of the universe. Her powers couldn't properly reach already living mortals, as their souls were protected by Hylia, but her power couldn't work without some physical link to the mortal realm.

Deciding to store her power, Hefna plotted. Waited. Lurked in the shadow of the moon each night, in the smoke of ritual fire, in the wind that blows through a funeral. Then, she felt it - she had stored enough power to bestow upon the earth another Blood Moon. But this Blood Moon would be different. Instead of distributing her revival power towards multiple beings, she instead focused on one particular person.

That night, in the ruins of a temple, Hefna revived the soul and body of her High Priestess who was a causality in the culling of her followers: Rosewood.

With newfound life, Hefna instructs her priestess to expose Hylia for who she is, and assist anyone who also opposes her.

Rosewood and her Powers

Healing / Life Transfer

So even before her first death, Rosewood was born with a very specific healing power. In order to heal herself or others, she must transfer life force from one organic being to another. This can mean she can heal herself directly, or act as a conduit to heal others. However, this depletes the health of the source material equal to the amount taken from it. Touch doesn't have to be specifically her hands, just any physical contact, even through fabric.

I made a little chart showcasing a few ways this can work:

However, this power doesn't always have to be used for morally good reasons. It can actually be a battle tactic when she needs it to be:

She's able to steal the health and vitality of an opponent as well, leaving them worse off. Think of it as similar to how the Gloom and Malice affect Link, except being in light cannot easily heal this.

2. Vegetation Growth

Sort of self explanatory. Rosewood will channel the power of nature through Hefna to create organic obstacles or weapons: trees as barriers, vines as weapons, shifting roots to tear open the ground, etc.

In her living days, she mainly used this to tend to her flower garden and grow herbs or plants needed for medicines.

3. Necromancy

Being a priestess and eventually a vessel to the Goddess of Life, Hefna, it comes as no surprise that Rosewood has some kind of necromancy abilities. I'm still playing around with creative ideas for how exactly she's able to do this, and I'm kinda liking the idea that singing/playing music is her main method of reviving the dead - at least while she's mortal, and not possessed by Hefna.

Unlike the full powers of Hefna, Rosewood can only revive a being in whatever state of decay they're in - usually, they're either freshly deceased, or skeletal. To keep the skeletal ones from falling apart too easily, she reinforces them with plant materials like vines and roots. If a part of their body falls off (or is cut off through, say, battle with a certain elf twink), then those vines/roots will quickly whip outward to reconnect the lost limb.

Extras

She's proficient with many instruments, but mainly the violin/fiddle!

Hefna, to me, is the Goddess of Life; but "life" is more of an umbrella term, which includes: death, emotion, sex, love, nature, plants, animals, illness, injury, fertility, agriculture, the hearth, and much more.

I have an AU of her where she's the older sister to Zelda, born the heir to the throne, but is eventually cast aside when it's revealed that Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom. Rosewood doesn't care much for the throne, but she does care about how easily their father rejects her entirely in favor of Zelda. Sensing the tension between the eldest princess and the king, Ganondorf - as the Gerudo King - asks for Rosewoods hand in marriage. Rosewood later explains it will no longer make him King of Hyrule ... unless the current king dies before Zelda turns of age. [Basically I just want to know what happens in a situation where Zelda isn't an only child, now with added drama!]

Rosewood sort of plays a 'neutral' role when it comes to Link's adventures, or at least tries to act as though she is on his side - when in reality, she's the one sabotaging his quests.

I have a little self-indulgent like, mythology story regarding her. As far as I can tell, roses don't exist in the Zelda universe. So, I decided that before her original death, Rosewood tended to a meticulously bred flower that has no name, with white or beige or light pink petals. During the culling, Rosewood was cornered in her garden within the temple, and was killed amongst those very flowers. Her blood stained the petals, creating the look of what we view as red roses. The few surviving followers of Hefna named the flower after her.

So, technically, the 'traveler' and 'mysterious witch' versions of Rosewood are actually her as a reanimated corpse. Sort of. :)

I ship her with both Ganondorf and Astor <3

[the-videodame]

just wanted to say im very hype for when/if you share your astor drawing :D

your art is super pretty (especially the mermaid gale <3)

AAA THANK YOU!! im glad youre excited!! that man has a chokehold on me and i need to draw him at LEAST once in my life LMAO

hes on hold right now cause i got the TES gala going on this week that im rushing for but then..... it will be back to our pathetic little prophet man 💕

here have a WIP to satiate my fellow starving astor fans

[the-videodame]

Hiya :D

Are you okay with fanart of your ocs? 👀

YES???? YES??! YES!!!!! YES YES I AM!!!!!! I ALWAYS AM I ALWAYS WILL BE!!!!!!!

[the-videodame]

Hi hi!! Coming to your inbox with some questions from the oc ask game! Not quite sure how I cut off the numbers, but anyways :D

An OC that tends to get too absorbed in their activities?

An OC that is afraid of their own shadow?

And finally, an oc that has changed a lot from their original design? 👀

YEAAAAA thank you for this!!! <3333

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An OC that gets too absorbed in their activities

Man this is a good one, because I never consider making OCs who are more 'obsessive' or 'focused' with tasks and hobbies, which is a trait I should add to the list of things I never touch on with characters LMAO

But if I had to choose, I'd say Caliendor is a good match for this. He's always been super interested in trying to make the most powerful or flashy spells, but after his injuries he sort of tones down a bit. Then when he gets more obsessed with relics and Sotha Sil and clockwork mechanics, he begins to spiral a bit again into throwing all his attention and effort into creation again.

An OC that is afraid of their own shadow

She may not seem like it, and typically isn't if she's in a better headspace, but Adelynn is someone who would quite literally be afraid of her own shadow. Not only does she have anxiety, if her mental state is bad enough WHILE she's low on sleep AND her Quirk is acting up? She gets insanely paranoid and fearful of any sort of potential hallucination - she's definitely felt threatened by voices and shadows before.

An OC that has changed a lot from their original design

Oh you know her, you love her, you gatta have her - this award absolutely goes to Rosewood! Both in story and visual design, she has changed SO DAMN MUCH and is STILL changing and growing as we speak (thanks to my obsession with astor <3 and also YOUR cult headcanons!! they inspired me to work more on my own religion lore for the universe, and subsequently rosewood)

this was originally from a, ask similar to this YEARS ago but is still relevant!

[noirandchocolate]

I know it's late but i just wanted to slide in and say happy birthday!!!! I hope youve had a lovely day 🥰💕🎂

Thank you veryvery much! It was a lovely day!! <3 I feel rather spoiled, both irl and on here, hehe. Hope you have a good day today!

[the-videodame]

Hi hi im invading your inbox once again :D

Was driving in to work and the song "The Moral" by Shayfer James made me think of Rosewood and your Astor <3

Idk what sort of music you listen to and the vibe might be TOTALLY off, but I thought I'd share anyways (esp bc Shayfer James is one of my fav artists and makes up a huge part of my own astor playlist lol)

AAA THIS IS THE SWEETEST THING?? EVER??? YOU thought of MY oc??? INSANE.....

and i will absolutely listen to it when i have the chance!! i looked at the lyrics and AAAAUGHGHUHH it IS so them coded.... SOBBING

my music taste is literally all over the place and depends on what vibe im feeling LMAO but if you want a glance into it, there's this post with my headcanons as to what Rosewood sounds like which contains artists/songs that i listen to frequently and associate with her <3

[noirandchocolate]

Omg happy birthday!!! Hope you've had a lovely day <3 <3

(Made something quite dumb that I will be tagging you in shortly XD)

Thank you so much! It was a nice quiet day with a big fun finish. And—omg hold on *runs to look*