Imagine seeing this while exploring the Mariana’s Trench...
This is the very first Light siren, a creator of a species far less human than the rest of the other siren types. Their magic is portrayed as pure white, here--in reality, the colour it takes on can be anything from the visible spectrum, potentially even something from an even higher or lower wavelength. These are the colours they can manipulate, creating illusions that aren’t really all there, or changing the patterns or colours of their own skin.
Light wears a mask that not many can claim to have ever witnessed removed. That number has dwindled to near non-existence, now, considering the last seen of this Ascendant was close to two thousand years ago.
Welcome to the Ascendants series of reference sheets! Who knows if I’ll even complete more than this one, but at least I’ll make an attempt.
We actually do meet Light in the third book of Anchored Souls! And perhaps we’ve met them even earlier, though you haven’t been aware... c;
BIG LONG LIGHT SIREN FACTS RANT UNDER THE CUT HAVE FUN
Sirens are (usually) unable to be directly influenced by other sirens’ magic. This rule DOES NOT apply to Light sirens (kinda):
>> Light magic manipulates light waves/particles, which means Light magic users can manipulate and choose which light waves/particles hit your eyes, and which don’t.
>> They’re not manipulating your vision (which would be manipulating other sirens directly), they’re manipulating what enters your vision.
Light sirens have two pairs of eyes. One pair of these eyes sees the world as anyone else would, although often with a higher tolerance for the dark due to their time in the ocean depths, but that other pair (the lower pair)... those eyes see magic “echoes”.
>> Active magic is visible when its out in the open air. It appears as a glowing, colourful mist-like form that flows according to the user’s conscious control. But when inside an object, or generally inactive, it’s virtually invisible.
>> Except to Light sirens. To that second pair of eyes, a faded (but still visible) coloured mist is visible as an aura around stored magic, or as a colourful glow that trails after where it was previously active. The more recent the magic use, the brighter the “echo”. These “echoes” are not technically... of this world (dimension?), so they can’t be manipulated or hidden by ANYONE.
Particularly skilled Light sirens can actually hide their magic use from others by directing the light waves emitted by that glowing magic mist away from witnesses’ eyes. Those magic “echoes”, though? Any other Light siren can see those, which means they can see through the illusion being cast.
Another fact train! Light siren magic isn’t just one colour per individual as it is for other siren types. Each Light siren possesses a spectrum of colours that fall within their control, and those colours are what their active magic gradients through! Aka their eye colour and that glowy mist that happens when they use magic. This spectrum is usually fairly small, occurring in the visible spectrum of light, maybe from green to blue or red to orange, but on the rare occasion they can range three or four major colours, like orange to blue. (Often a sign of more powerful magic.) So a Light siren’s “illusions” can only fall within those colours!
>> It’s rumoured that only one Light siren had (has?) control over all colours, and not only of the visible spectrum.
On another point entirely! Mouths! Light sirens don’t... really... have one? They do. It’s just not. Human at all. It’s a beak! Like a squid or octopus, with a coiled tongue with sharp teeth on it (called a radula). owo This means they can’t speak the same way as other siren types, being unable to audibly form sounds with their mouth or throat, so they usually communicate with their magic by illusion-formed messages!
>> This is super confusing for other siren types, though, so it’s only another reason for the fear of Light sirens by the other types. :c
Light siren skin is usually too delicate and sensitive towards strong light for them to actually swim too close to the surface: on the rare occasion, some brave souls make a trip towards the sky during the night to see the stars!
>> Stars are still very important to Light siren lore, but as they’re such a rarity to see, they navigate by strong magic echoes instead: certain specific regions preserve powerful magic echoes visible to Light sirens and very, very rarely change, so they’re used as landmarks!
As resources are incredibly limited deep in the dark areas where Light sirens call home, stories are valued more than anything. Anytime Light sirens meet, they’ll share what they’ve learned through their magic illusions, usually making them the brightest, most beautiful things, like artistic films! They also share a meal, share a home, and anything else to help each other out, but only for one day-night cycle. They go on their separate ways after.
Aside from that, Light sirens prefer to be alone most of the time. They have their tight knit, tiny families on the rare occasion, usually when finlings (children) are involved, but as soon as a finling hits their first century, they’re typically encouraged to venture out to find their own story.
Some Light sirens follow a nomadic lifestyle, travelling from place to place, and some prefer a settled one, where they usually keep to a certain territory. They’ll welcome a visitor for a night, but that’s about it!
OKAY LONG RANT OVER (for now). ASK ME QUESTIONS IF YOU’RE CURIOUS? (I LOVE QUESTIONS.)
[Send me an emoji and I’ll talk about a related OC!]
A 🦷 (tooth)! Did you know that you can identify a siren’s type by their teeth?
Surge sirens are known for all of their teeth being pointed and sharp (and often serrated!), and they usually have more than one layer of teeth! Just like the sharks they seem so like, they can lose a few of their teeth quite often, but new ones grow in extremely fast!
Mist sirens, similar to Surge sirens, have the majority of their teeth being sharp: however, their front four teeth are identically shaped to humans’, while their eye teeth (canines) are their largest, longest fangs, and the rest of their molars are like miniature versions of these fangs. Very similar to a cat’s fangs! (Mist and Surge sirens are both carnivorous!)
Forest siren teeth are nearly identical to a humans’, but due to their herbivorous diet, their teeth tend to be a lot more dull and flat.
Light sirens... well. Don’t have teeth. They don’t have mouths as we know them, they have beaks! Like most cephalopods!
It’s rather unusual that Celestine’s fangs don’t match any of these four, huh? They’re almost like a mixture of Forest, Mist, and Surge siren teeth... Celestine’s teeth are mostly identical to a humans, but her eye teeth and first molars are replaced by slightly serrated fangs! They aren’t much longer than the rest of her teeth, but they sure are sharp!!
Very little is known of the Light sirens due to their elusive nature and relatively small numbers (as far as we know). These sirens live in the deep, unexplored regions of the ocean and use their bioluminescence and light manipulation magic to lure in marine life with hypnotizing visions and colours. Lacking a true mouth, they are unable to form verbal sounds at all, instead communicating via messages comprised of images projected directly into one’s eyes by way of warped light waves. A Light siren cannot manipulate a visual it doesn’t know, so these messages are often incredibly difficult to comprehend due to the limited experiences of a creature typically confined to a dark, virtually empty environment.
Many believe they solely exist in siren folklore as monsters of stories told to frighten youth away from dangerous activities. With a Light siren’s anatomy being so far from a typical siren’s, it’s no wonder why that is.
MAIN ABILITIES:
Bioluminescence
Alteration and manipulation of light waves
Mild hypnosis
GENERAL TEMPERAMENT: Unknown. Stories speak of a monster more hostile and territorial than Surge sirens, one who abducts young sirens to torture them with hallucinations solely for their own amusement.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR: Unknown. Likely solitary.
HABITAT: The deeper regions of the ocean, beyond the lowest point light can reach. Beyond that, unknown.
DIET: Omnivorous;
Marine creatures
Anything they can find or scavenge
Baby sirens???
MISCELLANEOUS INFO:
Light sirens resemble humans the least, appearing far more monstrous and suspected to grow far larger than all other siren types.
They may be cunning and highly resourceful, but their lack of exposure to other cultures makes them recklessly inquisitive and curious.
They collect anything they can get their hands on, only ranking less than Mist sirens in this respect due to their relative inability to access collectible objects.
These sirens closely resemble creatures of the deep who possess bioluminescence, most classically cephalopods, although other variants exist(? we think?).
LINKS:
WIP page for One Siren’s Soul
The world of One Siren’s Soul - Sirens and Magic - Part 1, Part 2
Other parts of this series: Surge Sirens || Forest Sirens || Mist Sirens
THE SERIES IS COMPLETE YES. If you have any questions about worldbuilding or want to know more about sirens in One Siren’s Soul, feel free to send in an ask! Although I’ll be avoiding major spoilers, I would love any excuse to ramble about my story~
For Storyteller Saturday! Comparing to when you first started writing your WIP, did you do any changes to the later plot/character/whatever that you weren't too happy about? This probably sounds vague, but I mean, did you have to sacrifice something you personally liked for the sake of the story?
Happy STS!
Oohhhh, what an interesting question! Let’s see here~
Um, I did actually have to make a lot of changes to the plot/etc as I went along because I kept finding plot holes and I kept adding stuff that needed some altering to be fit in. Hmm... To be honest, this one’s way later on in the series, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit it in like I wanted to: I wanted to reveal a whole lot more about the Light sirens than I think I’ll be able to.
There’s absolutely too much development I did with that specific type of siren that unfortunately won’t be able to find its way into the series, mostly because Light sirens are very rare and aren’t encountered much at all in the actual story. I’d love to be able to reveal more about how varied their physiology can be, and more about how their culture works, but that’s difficult when you really only have two Light sirens actually show up. ^^’
Aside from that, I can’t think of anything much else at the moment, but yeah! Thank you for the ask~
Story teller Saturday! How is history recorded in your WIP? How is it passed down and studied? What biases have cropped up and warped the view of the past?
It’s no longer Storyteller Saturday, so I won’t be sending out any new asks in return for ones I receive because I have a whole lot to get through! Thank you all so much for the wonderful questions~
Oooohhhhh a worldbuilding ask!! Also @sidhewrites, it appears you sent me three asks in total–I’m not complaining in the least, but I think one of them is a repeat? So I’ll be answering this one instead of the other history one!
One Siren’s Soul takes place on an alternate Earth during the early 1700s—because of that, most of human culture remains the same as it did historically, but what I can talk about here, is siren culture!
The Forest sirens are known as the historians of the sea: because of the massive libraries and the importance of education and learning in their havens, some have taken it upon themselves to act as the guardians of their culture’s history, and the protectors of stories and myths and traditions. They’re amazing record-keepers, and almost always have been, keeping notes and logs and records of events and important figures and rules and names, the like! Because of their incredibly powerful protection and preservation magic, most of these records have survived for thousands of years, although many have been lost to havens being destroyed by human siren hunters.
And despite all that wonderful fact-checking and record-keeping, biases are still incredibly prominent in the original writings of those records, and the interpretations of them. Most commonly the warping of history is due to historians attempting to retain their reputation, or to defend their own theories. In fact, one of the biggest current debates among the Forest siren historian population is about the theory of a Lost Ascendant. No one can find any absolutely definitive proof that a fifth Ascendant existed, but the existence of a fifth Ascendant Artifact seems to suggest it…
Surge sirens, on the other hand, are far less likely to know how (or care enough) to keep physical records. They’re more of a nomadic race, anyways, always traveling with relatively few locations to keep any sort of physical record aside from the Forest havens. They have a very strong oral culture for passing down knowledge and history, their stories often originally based on fact and around actual historical events, and though the tales may have warped quite a bit from the original, they still sustain the original core lesson or moral.
Mist sirens are more or less the same as the Surge sirens, which makes sense, considering the two siren types are often found working together. And no one has any idea about how Light sirens work! (Except for me. I do~ c;)
(Siren history is a major plot-point of book two, so I have a lot of info on it!!)
I haven't talked about Chloelle like at all, but Chloelle is Tulli's three year old daughter. Her best friend is a goddess, and her cousin in law. She's currently inseparable from Bonna, Secret Eater's daughter and basically the usmus grim reaper. But they're just super buddies.
[Send me a fact about an OC, and I’ll reply with one about mine!]
Oohh, Chloelle!! Chloelle and Bonna sound adorable though, ahhhh I love them!! (Even though they’re connected to death and stuff. Shhh.) I love their names, too~
Shall we talk a bit about the deities of OSS?
Light is remembered as a horrifying monster, an abomination of misshapen anatomy and malevolent tricks and illusions, words of light waves that warped the minds of all who came into contact with them.
But this is from the view of other sirens. Other sirens that wouldn’t even try to approach out of fear, who couldn’t comprehend Light’s only way of communication, who were terrified by this powerful ability to deceive their eyes.
... Perhaps Light sirens are not as bad as they say.
Which of your siren types is your favorite and why?
I’ve answered this here and here! My main favourite is Light sirens, for many different reasons detailed in those previous posts! But if I’m to choose a second... aughhhhhhHHHHHHHHH THERE’S. SO MUCH I CAN’T SAY.
They’ve got giant undersea libraries, mate. Museums and archives and educational centers and libraries all mixed up into one! Their Havens are protected by barriers of magic and vary in architecture and styles massively, depending on location and local climate/flora available! More often than not, though, a large part of the composition of their structures are made of living plant material, woven and grown to match specifications through their macroalgae manipulation ability!
The larger Havens are led by councils made up of leaders of different guilds, separated based on the types of their work! Their society is very similar to humans’, but with tons of magic and it’s ALMOST ALL UNDERWATER. So! Cool!!
Also they don’t fight as much as humans do. Which does lead to some trouble, but uh. The thought is really nice. ^^
I mean there’s totally not also the reason that my favourite siren character is a Forest siren and I might just be biased because of that
