Would you please [but only if you want to] tell me all about Maple and co. <3 I love what I've read so far!
Soup I would LOVE to tell you bout Maple and Company!
First and foremost, the Lives and Deaths of Maple Feychild takes place in a fantasy world made up of two major planes - The Feywilds and The Mortal Plane. Our main characters are Maple Feychild and Thomas Reynolds.
Maple Feychild is a fey elf from the Feywilds. Maple's main motivation is to play the violin at Sunhaven's Haven Opry. He visited once as a child and has been trying to get back ever since. The magic of the Feywilds is unpredicatable, and everytime he travels to the Mortal Plane, he ends up in a new location within the Windmere Kingdom and has to make his way to Sunhaven from wherever he ends up. He plays his violin in various inns and bars to make enough coin to get by. He knows the existence of the Feywilds is a secret to the Mortal Plane, but he can't help telling stories from his childhood. Most people in Windmere know about the wandering bard who tells fantastical stories about magic and beasts and wonder.
Thomas Reynolds is a high elf from the Windmere Kingdom on the Mortal Plane. Thomas is an archeologist predominantly interested in understanding what the Windmere Kingdom was like prior to its colonization by humans two hundred years prior. His thesis is that it was the original home of the Fey Elves and Elemental Magic (which does not exist in the 'modern' day). His research is technically punishable by death, but when has that ever stopped the pursuit of knowledge? So when he meets a strikingly handsome elf in a bar who not only casually uses the names of the Forbidden Gods but also looks remarkably like the golden elves in the paintings he uncovered? His curiosity gets the better of him and he ends up following Maple out into the wilderness. It's only after they spend four days travelling in the wrong direction that Thomas realizes Maple might actually be an idiot.
Unfortunately for Maple, Thomas is not the only group interested in him and they find themselves being hunted by the Cult of the Fey who believe Maple's blood can be used to tear down the veil around the Feywilds and return Elemental Magic to the Mortal Plane.
Map of the Windmere Kingdom:
I'm going to put a break here because oh my god this got really long I'm so sorry
Under the cut is more character info!
Maple Feychild. He’s pretty good at introducing himself, so here’s two entries from his diary:
Entry #1
12 Moonfall 15th42
Dying is… an inconvenience. An annoying, painful, downright stupid inconvenience.
I would know, I’ve died 47 times. Well, make that 48 times here very soon. Sometimes I wonder if 50th times the charm. A magic number that 50. Halfway to 100. A quarter of my age. An important number because it needs to be important. Otherwise, I’ve died 48 times for absolutely no good reason.
I should introduce myself, I really should, but right now a mugger has a knife in my kidney and he’s stolen my coin ring, and I’m about 50 seconds from losing consciousness. See? 50 is important.
And there I go. I’ve bled out. Again.
All I wanted was a street taco.
Entry #2
2 Nightscape 15th42
I’m dead for 50 days. Fifty days of utter blackness, my spirit flitting through the Aether, reliving every moment of my life. Two hundred years of living. Fifty days’ worth of memories. Every time I die, my time in the Aether gets longer and longer. Unfortunately, it gets no less enlightening, and these days, it only gets more embarrassing.
My name is Maple Feychild, the fifth son of a seventh son, two short of destiny. I am a Fey Elf, supposedly bestowed with great and fantastical magical powers. My oldest brother Rowan can conjure storms that rage across the Feywilds, mighty in their crashing rain and howling wind. Oak and Pine, the twins, transform into powerful beasts capable of taking down the largest monsters that lurk in the Wilds. Spruce imbues his powers into incredible inventions that revolutionize the daily life of the Wilds. And I, the most fantastical of all, am very good at playing the violin.
And my only dream in life is to perform on stage at the Haven Opry on the mortal plane in Sunhaven.
I just have to not die long enough to make it to auditions.
Maple has the most information about him as he's the protagonist and also a character I play for dnd! Maple started out as a bit of a joke. In our dnd campaign, he's a Summer Eladrin Elf and a bard. His personality started out being based on my best friend, an unapologetic flirt, queer, and well-meaning but occasionally endearingly dumb. We had an ongoing joke about eladrin elves being like country bumpkins, so I made Maple southern. As I played him he found his own voice, personality, and motivations. I wouldn't say much of who he was is still who he is now, other than probably still being a massive flirt!
I have a several page character document for Maple but here's the current opening snippet:
Youngest son of Rose Feychild and Aspen Feychild. The second-youngest Fey Elf in the Feywilds, he is often looked down on by his brothers for being the 'baby' of the family. His relationship with his parents is strained by his desire to live on The Mortal Plane. Maple is swayed by predominantly hedonistic tendencies and is often described by others as dramatic. He has a hard time engaging in self-reflection and also perspective taking. He often acts before he thinks and accepts things on face value. This causes him to get in trouble more often than is good for him. He has died 48 times, in varying and increasingly dumber ways. His most recent death came about because he failed to recognize a potentially dangerous situation and was robbed at knife point. Maple does not have a connection to the Wild Heart, something that is distressing to him, even if he acts like it doesn't bother him.
He lost his ability to perform magic at a young age. He does not remember ever being able to wield magic. He regains his ability to use magic when he and Thomas are threatened in Alire. As a bard, he uses music to cast his elemental magic.
And some info on his personality:
Likes: Being the center of attention, being dramatic, playing music, making other people laugh
Dislikes: Silence, being ignored, sitting still, being told what to do, Rowan Feychild
Love Language(s): All of them - He is needy
Himbo Scale: High Bastard High Stupid (this is how I personally characterize my characters, for contrast Varian is High Bastard Low Stupid)
Moral Alignment: Chaotic Dumbass but generally leans more Chaotic Good
Education: Basic homeschooling from his parents but when that's two thousands of years old creatures - that's quite the education
Fears: Dying alone, not having people like him, being a failure, not actually being good at music
Personal Goals: To perform at the Haven Opry, to find love (secretly)
General Attitude: Abrasively obnoxious, a little too over the top, tends to be in your face, can be quick to anger and sometimes yells without thinking
Religious Views: Believes in the Wild Heart, Is otherwise not religious
General Intelligence: Has the capacity to be very smart, prefers to live in the moment
General Sociability: Extremely social, but markedly aloof; Personable, manipulative, persuasive
Addictions: Praise kink, alcohol, anti-aging creams
And a summary of his relationships which introduces the several of the core characters:
Rose Feychild - Maple loves his mother dearly, but he doesn't always like how she babies him. Rose thinks Maple is extremely naive and she worries that if he goes to The Mortal Plane he will end up hurt. On going events do support her concerns. They are similar in temper and vanity.
Aspen Feychild - Aspen is far more level headed than both Rose and Maple. He is even keeled and generally kind. Maple wants to be viewed as a good man in his father's eyes but he disagrees with his father's stance that the Feywilds should remain cut off from The Mortal Plane.
Rowan Feychild - Maple's relationship with his oldest brother is extremely strained. Generally, the two do not get along and can often be found fighting. Rowan does not respect Maple because he gets all of their parents' attention and also because Maple does not have access to magic from the Wild Heart. As the heir to the Feychild Estate, Rowan views it as his duty to ensure all of his brothers are contributing members of society. Maple's lack of interest in the family business or any other job in the Feywilds causes him distress.
Oak & Pine Feychild - Maple has a neutral relationship with the twins. He prefers Oak slightly over Pine, but he would never admit that to anyone. The twins moved away from the Feychild Estate long before Maple was born and therefore he has not spent a lot of time with them.
Spruce Feychild - Maple is closest with Spruce as the two had some overlapping time together in childhood. Spruce is also the most like Maple, he also travels to The Mortal Plane occasionally. Spruce admires the fact that Maple is unabashedly himself. Maple loves that Spruce is so creative.
Thomas Reynolds - Maple starts out disliking Thomas, viewing him as an obnoxious groupie. Overtime, he comes to find that he cares about Thomas' opinions and viewpoints. Maple has never had a genuine friendship with someone who wasn't family before. After Thomas is taken by the Cult of the Fey and dies, Maple realizes he is deeply in love with Thomas and would do anything for him. Maple breaks the One Rule of the Feywilds to save Thomas - Do Not Enter the Wild Heart
Thomas Reynolds. Our guy hasn't gotten quite the same attention as Maple but I can tell you that compared to Maple, Thomas is very intelligent and analytical. He is always asking questions and seeking to understand the world. He has few close friends due to his research. He travels a lot and rarely stays in one place at any given time. He is amicable with his parents but he stays away in order to keep them safe. It's a dangerous and lonely life hunting down the truth about the world they live in.
In developing Thomas, his name is actually the most important part to me. Reynolds is my grandfather's name and he is the reason I write stories. I lost him when I was young, and giving his name to characters in my stories is my way of telling him that I still remember the gift he gave me. Thomas is also a family name.
I'm still working on putting together his full character profile but working on these dialogue prompts has given me a chance to really think about who Thomas is as a fully developed character.
Some of my and my friends other dnd characters make occasional appearances where needed, so you also have Valiant Nemore the Storyteller (Maple's predominant Entertainment Competition), June and Berry Goldfluff (travelling adventurers), Avi the Dragonborn (all good stories must include an Avi - inside joke - he runs a bakery), and who I haven't decided on roles yet for - Kal, Serra, Lilah, Florence, Gobbie, and others. (These parts aren't set in stone, more like a cast of potential characters to use as needed for plot purposes)
Sixth sense that I'd just sat down to keep working on my book @chalkituptofate Thank you for the tag~
“I’ve bread and jams in the store, I’ll grab you some in a second,” Monty propping her elbows on the bar and rested her chin on top of her folded hands. Her voice was low, a near whisper, “But first, the elf down at that end keeps looking at you.”
Maple matched her pose and shot her a lopsided grin, “Good. I’m worth lookin’ at.”
Monty leaned closer until her whiskers tickled against his nose. Her voice caught a conspiratorial edge, “I think he likes you.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“You are impossible, Maple Feychild,” Monty scoffed. She pushed herself away from the bar and disappeared into the small store room in the back to fetch Maple something to eat
You get multiple lines because they all go together. Also I wonder who is sitting at the other end of the bar? 👀
Idk who has been tagged! So no pressure - @dotflacfile @frankiesoup @thychesters @blueclanmarkings @mimitz0-o and anyone else who wants to play along!
Writing will have you simultaneously doing research on the fossilization of wood and also on the history of the button front shirt and also on the care and maintenance of string instruments at the same time
If you'd like to, would you please tell us all about Maple's big old house? I would love to hear more about it!
*cracks knuckles* Oh Soup, Maple's house has it's entire own lore document.
The Feychild Estate is made up of the Cottage, the Orchard, the Vineyard, the Apiary, the Farm, and the Meadery/Distillery. Maple's family makes and sells hooch of all varieties but are best known for their Spiced Cider and Mead. They also sell a Honeyed Cider that will put a mortal in an early grave (and this is what is contained in Maple's Everlasting Flask of Feychild Hooch) [I use the term hooch more generally to describe alcohol not necessarily as a comment on its quality].
The Feychild's are an old line of Fey Elves. Perhaps the oldest in existence. Fey Elves live incredibly long lives which they largely take for granted (see: Functionally Immortal). For many generations there was an assumption that there would always be someone to ask about history and most families had a semi-official 'Keeper of the Lore'. After the [historical event I need a cool name for] split the Fey Wilds from the Mortal Plane, the Fey Elves realized that perhaps there should be some form of record keeping. The knowledge we have about the Feychild Estate starts predominantly from that time, so we have about 10,000 years of history (or about 2 to 3 generations worth of knowledge).
The Cottage
Although I am in the process of a major overhaul of Chapter 1, here are some excerpts from it:
A modest home that predated written records and had undergone so many revisions over the generations as to no longer match what was written in the records.
The narrator refers to the home as modest because most of the other prominent Fey Elf families have extremely lavish homes. Maple's house is instead smaller but still somewhat sprawling with enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own, a library, a large kitchen, a cellar and pantry, an indoor washhouse, a parlor, a formal living room, an informal living room, a dining room, and two separate studies. A... small... house. As the fifth son of the Feychild's Maple's room is the newest and was built onto the house when he was born. Each generation of the Feychilds fluctuates in size with Rose and Aspen having the largest number of kids since the house's inception.
Passed down along a matriarchal lineage, the Feychild Cottage expanded with each new generation. Someday, when his parents grew tired of running the Feychild Orchard and Meadery, the home would pass to his eldest brother Rowan and his wife Margritte. A breach of inheritance conduct, but sadly, Rose Feychild was blessed with five children, all boys. Despite Rowan’s best attempts to insist Maple looked like a girl with his long honey auburn hair that he typically kept knotted atop his head.
We do get some good ol' fashion gender politicking from Maple's asshole of a brother Rowan. Rowan is not well liked in this narrative. But anyway, we learn the the Fey Elves are matriarchal and when we really meet Rose you'll see that she holds a great deal of quiet authority over her home. So the construction and general makeup of the house has been influenced largely through the women of the Feychilds and its general construction is functionality over form. The Feychild women are based off of my own matriarchal family and Rose is based predominantly off of my great grandmother who was a no nonsense business woman with a very kind husband who loved his children, was good at farming, and bad at business. Each generation adds something to the house, whether its an new tile in the washhouse or new carpet in the parlor, the house is a living history of the women and their families who have passed through its halls.
Dressing gown flowing over the worn tiles, Maple swept into the stone kitchen like a widower who just received news her second husband had died at sea. With a heavy sigh he draped himself across a low backed seat near the hearth and cast an upwards, pitiful glance at his mother.
I placed a hearth in the kitchen for baking, but after our discussion Soup that hearth is becoming a bread oven.
The Distillery
I've not got too much on the Distillery because I'm still researching how distillery's really work but here's what I have so far, taken from Chapter 2 (also in a major rewrite)
The winding path of the Feychild Estate took Maple past a shallow, babbling brook where minnows darted in and out of sunbeams while dragonflies buzzed just above the water’s surface, their many wings stirring up tiny waves. He walked in the center of the brook, disturbing the denizens' peace as his feet slid across the smooth, pebbled bottom. The brook widened and deepened the closer he came to the Distillery, until he was forced to vacate the stream for the bank, lest the trail of his dressing gown get soaked. He continued to pad on icy feet along the shore until the great waterwheel that provided power to the Distillery came into view.
The waterwheel was old and algae trailed in its ever revolving wake, glistening in the sun as it rose from the stream like a comet before flattening out in a wet plop against the wheel's wide spokes before gaining its rushing freedom back in the water again. Rinse and repeat for eternity. The Distillery was as old as the Cottage, and Maple had sat through many a debate over whether the Distillery was in fact older than the Cottage. Uncle Wheat claimed the Distillery was built with architectural features that were at least a millennia older than the Cottage, but Aunt Daffodil insisted that style of architecture had come back at least seven times in the last five thousand years. Maple thought she would know, as she had seen more than those five thousand years with her own beady eyes.
Other General Buildings
Other buildings on the property - Rose's Apothecary, Rowan and Margritte's Farm House, Spruce's (abandoned) Workshop, and a play fort built wilds knows when that the boys played in during their (various and spread out) childhoods.
I'll explore these more as they come up narratively I think.
Land
The exact acreage of the Feychild Estate is unknown and unknowable given the nebulous nature of space and time in the Fey Wilds. But suffice to say it is rather large and takes up the same vicinity as the nearby town. In fact, Aspen employs most of the nearby town to work the various plots of land. The climate of each plot is carefully controlled through mostly Rose's magic but they do not grow year round. Exerting too much control in the Wilds will backfire on you quickly. All things in the Wilds are predicated on balance, control and freedom, order and chaos, magic from within and magic from without.
Again, I will explore more of this as it comes up narratively or as I am inspired to come up with things.
It's not nearly as fleshed out as I would like, but I add to it on occasions and by the time I'm done with the story I think everything will be pretty well explained! Also happy to yap about any point I made or whatever!!
@blueclanmarkings you get this simply because I was in the middle of writing lol
Thomas keeps a journal and has opinions
6 Nightscape 15th42
Starmet isn’t the smallest town on Gossamer Lake, but it is certainly one of my least favorites. Sat right in the middle of farmland and little else, one can’t even really enjoy a view of the lake unless you want to travel to the far outskirts of town and deal with the porters and sailors who crawl about the tiny harbor.
I’ve asked around before as to why the town is built offset from the lake and received mostly blank stares and one unbidden suggestion that if I so desperately wanted to see something wet they could help me. Gross. Best I can tell the town may have at one point been directly on the lake proper given some of the older buildings on the edge of the town center are built on three foot stilts. Avis and Ibbot, the two closest neighboring towns to the south, are also far newer than Starmet and were built directly at the water’s edge on either side of a small river that comes down from the mountains. Ibbot may be my least favorite of the Gossamer Lake towns. Not because Diane lives there. The whole town is full of weirdos. The town’s obsession with the mythos of the unnamed mountains leaves a lot to be desired. Namely because they think giant moles created them. I have it on good authority that giant moles 1) do not exist, and 2) would be incapable of creating mountains even if they did.
Why Valiant insisted on Starmet as a drop point for the book is beyond me, but the next time I speak with her we will be having a proper conversation about parcel delivery and where are the most convenient drop points. She knows I hate to be this side of the Cosk River. Too close to Finere. Too close to home.
I must simply hope that this book is worth the effort of traveling all the way here.
Tagged by @blueclanmarkings and I do think some others and my apologies to anyone I’ve missed 😅
Maple absolutely has zero thoughts about some guy he met at a bar.
“Ah. I’m,” Thomas scratched the back of his head and reseated his glasses, “I’m here looking for something- well, someone.”
“What type of someone?” Maple leaned forward, his head tilting curiously. A romantic partner? Did Thomas have some sordid love affair he was embroiled in? Interest piqued, Maple rested his hands on his knees and watched Thomas carefully. What if it was with the milliner? She had been in the inn earlier, maybe he had been watching her, too nervous to speak with her. Perhaps he preferred the company of men, one could always hope, and he was here for the tailor who was rumored to have been sleeping with someone from Alire, the small fishing village to the east. Could this be his fated partner, come to take him away from his loveless marriage with the logger’s daughter?
“I’m a talent scout with the Haven Opry,” Thomas said in a rush, biting his lip.
Maple’s thoughts ground to a stop and he sat back. Disappointment dragged at his shoulders and he frowned, “Ah.”
I’m having fun over here, if you’d like to join me consider this a tag 😌
Hi Dot! I went for Maple and Thomas because this fit pretty perfectly with a bit that happens way, way at the end of the book.
It’s super rough but it gets the gist of the scene down!
14 - ‘I don’t have the words right now so here’s a kiss’
The green light that had washed over the ruined castle dimmed and faded away. The great barbed vines that had lashed around Maple’s legs and chest disintegrated into dust around him and slowly drifted off on the breeze that had picked up. The world, once frozen, breathed again. The ground beneath his feet shuddered like a great cat settling in for an afternoon nap. The rattling unbalanced him and he fell to his knees. Chipped stone and shattered porcelain dug into the flesh of his knees, drawing out even more of his blood to consecrate these once hollowed halls. He tried to push himself back to his feet, but his limbs refused to cooperate. Only his lungs wished to breathe and his heart wished to beat, but his eyes wished not to see nor his ears to hear. There was nothing in this world except for what was before him.
Where the Wild Heart had sat for ten millennia was now little more than a dustless imprint at the center of the Greeting Hall. The great vine structure that had held the glowing heart was gone and the fizzle and crackle of power that had permeated the halls of the castle was silent. To Maple’s dismay, he heard only the sound of his own breathing, of his own heart. Had he doomed the Feywilds and the Mortal Plane in one fell swoop with nothing to show for it?
Gravel crunched behind him, slow and unsure were the footsteps that accompanied it. Maple could do little more than turn his head as a familiar set of leather boots passed into his vision, quickly replaced by brown eyes as the figures crouched. Thomas’ eyes were so full of life that if they were the last thing Maple ever saw he would be able to die happy. But he was not dead, and neither was Thomas. Thomas tilted his head and smiled softly, his hand tentatively brushing across Maple’s cheek, catching the tears that slid through the dust and grime that marred his face. There was a layer to Thomas’ voice that was thick and bellied disuse, as if his jaw had rusted shut in the hours he had been dead, “Well, Maple Feychild, what do you have to say about all this?”
As if his voice were the key to the shackles that kept him rooted to the floor, Maple felt his limbs loosen and he surged forward. His fingers fisted into the front of Thomas’ torn shirt and he hauled the smaller man against him, their mouths crashing together. Maple kept one hand locked into the fabric of Thomas’ shirt, as if letting go would release the ghost that he now clung to. His other hand he slid to the back of Thomas’ head, pulling him in closer. Thomas tipped forward, pulled off balance by the sudden rush, and together they fell onto the floor of the Greeting Hall. The sharp stones hardly registered as the two of them clung to one another. Tears flowed freely down Thomas’ nose and mingled with the ones already sliding down Maple’s face. Whatever the future held, at least they were both around to see it.
