Happy WBW from @norahammen! I'm very curious about this trio of monarchs so I'm gonna ask about that. What makes them special in the eyes of the people? How have they kept control for so long? Why is only one ruling the government? Tell me all!
hi!!! happy WBW, @norahammen, and thank you for the ask!!!
i warned on my profile that i go all out, right? either way, sorry this is so long a;sldfkja;sldfkj
So, the Eternal Three are special, for the most part, because all three of them are immortal! However, one of them, Tieling Evergreen, is also special because way back when he was still mortal and A Literal Child, he was Chosen by the temple he was born in to stop this destruction of magic they had predicted. And because Prophecy and the temple he belonged to are major facets of the religion of the area, he’s considered a major holy figure.
And I realize now that the way I phrased it in my WBW profile was a little misleading, but each of the Eternal Three rule their own government/people! Tieling Evergreen is the one, in particular, who has a revolution that’s ready to yeet him out of the picture, but the other two (Veratrum K’Ron and Arthur Coldstone) are pretty well-liked among their people, and also much better at taking criticism than Tieling. Each of them has a different reason/strategy for staying in power for so long, too!
Tieling, for one, has relied heavily on his religious status, sweet talking, and damage reduction skills for most of his reign. This isn’t the first time he’s had a rebellion amongst his people! This time is just the worst, because it’s happening right when he needs to pull things together to actually stop magic from being destroyed. Also, there’s, like, twenty other really bad things going on for him, right now, and he’s overwhelmed. I’ll include the details under a readmore, cause I actually have a slide from my reintro that’s relevant for this a;lskdfj
Veratrum K’Ron, however, is the queen of a very different culture (i.e. chaotic but in a different way), one that values parental bonds and physical strength more than Tieling’s court does. She was immortalized after having a kid, so she has a line of direct descendants, which helps her credibility. She’s also dedicated a lot of her immortal life to learning all she can, with a special focus on battle, which she does so that she can protect her people single-handedly.
And Arthur never wanted to be 1) immortal or 2) a king. He’s the most down-to-earth of the three -- where Tieling sees himself as the Only One Who Can Save The World, and Vera sees herself as a demigoddess powerhouse, Arthur just sees himself as a dude who was unlucky enough to be caught up in the mess of religious Ehlven drama that birthed them. His court is famously casual in comparison to pretty much every other court in the world, and he’s generally pretty humble, kind, and fatherly to whoever crosses his path. He’s also still really traumatized by the whole immortal thing and how it happened.
The important difference in their levels of power, really, is that even if Vera and Arthur weren’t immortal and holy-adjacent, they would both still be loved and respected by their people. Tieling, on the other hand, thinks he’s nothing without those aspects of himself.
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oh god that got really long
TL;DR: These three are REALLY important in religious and historical contexts for the world, especially Tieling. They have really different ruling styles between the three of them, and Tieling’s has a tendency to piss of his people, despite his religious significance, to the point of them doubting said significance. And for Firebreathers, specifically, we focus on Tieling’s government for the most part!
the relevant slides from my reintro are below the cut, and they feature art of the Three, as well as a little bit about each of them, and also all the things going wrong in tielings life right now ;sladkfj;alfdkj
[id:
The slide is titled "tell me more about these 'Eternal Three'...". Directly to the left, in a very light font, is text that reads "repost my art and you'll die by my hands i swear to god. hasn't happened yet but this is insurance.". Below the title, there is a note that says "i'll get more detailed in a proper intro down the line, but for now:".
The middle stretch of the slide has three portraits aligned in a row, each labeled with the subject's name, title, and a small caption of important information.
The image on the left is a square portrait of a white human man in his late forties, with blond hair and beard that is starting to go grey. His eyes are a deep brown, and his nose appears to have been broken and healed incorrectly. He wears a simple wooden circlet on his head and a blue cape. There is a cobbled stone wall behind him, with a window that looks out onto the night sky. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Humans" and the caption reads "This is Arthur Coldstone. What you should know: 1) he didn't want to be immortal. 2) actually a p chill dude, would die for his people but cant anymore. 3) wasn't gonna be king but then the king died and he was suddenly immortal and he's still mad about it".
The middle image is slightly taller than the other two, and features an androgynous man with long, vaguely round ears that stick out past his shoulders. His hair is a dark teal that fades to a bright cyan and then to a cool grey at the tips. He is wearing a maroon robe with a pale magenta collar, a translucent golden capelet, and an ornate metal crown with a yellow jewel embedded into the center. His expression is carefully neutral, with an air of condescension. He is standing in front of a large window of blue stained glass, which is embedded into a wall that looks to be built into the side of a tree. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Tieling Evergreen. What you should know: 1) he's technically the villain. 2) rolled a nat 20 to persuade the coddesses to keep magic around until he could fulfill their requests. 3) he was Chosen at, like, 13 and it really fucked him up. still a Bastard tho."
The portrait on the right is a square of the same size as the portrait on the left, and it features a brown-skinned woman in her early fifties. Her ears are shaped like cresting waves, and stick out from her head. She has freckles on her exposed shoulders, on the tips of her ears, and a few on her cheekbones. Her hair is a deep, velvety purple with streaks of grey. She wears an ornate crown of woven vines and wood that has streaks of blue along the bark. Leaves, feathers, and large claws stick out from the crown to frame a large red jewel at the center. A similar, smaller jewel hangs from her necklace, strung with teeth and claws. She stands in a swampland, with vines hanging from branches behind her. This portrait is titled "Queen of the Rill Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Veratrum K'Ron. What you shuold know: 1) she uses immortality to learn as much as possible about everything. 2) has a direct line of descendents because she had a kid before all this. 3) duels ppl before they're allowed an audience to keep shit interesting."
/End slide one.
/Start slide two.
The slide is titled "ok, cool, so what's happening??" with two question marks. The subtitle is in a dark magenta font, and reads "big picture? a lot of stuff at once, really." The body of the text reads: "the Goddesses asked Tieling to prove that magic could be controlled, that people would stop getting hurt. He had been told all his life that his task would be to unite the Ehlves, so that's how he's trying to go about fulfilling their request. Things have gone downhill about 8 years before the due date, though…" and what follows is a bulletted list, with accompanying text boxes.
The list reads: "1) the Ehlves in Deltierin have broken away from his control, so he needs to get them back." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: war." "2) Veratrum's heir, who's required to have a high seat in his council in order to keep her as an ally, has gotten on the bad side of Vera herself. 2a) also, she disowned and banished her OWN heirs." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: do his best to keep from pissing Vera AND her heir off when they're both v important in these last few years of prep." "3) the Ehlves in Emarye don't have any central government anymore, so he has to convince all of them to unite somehow." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: beg the current governments over there to enter a compact with him."
The fourth bullet is circled in red and labelled "this is the big one". The bullet reads: "someone has started a fucking rebellion among the people he already rules" and the accompanying box reads: "his solution: quell the insurgents ASAP".
The fifth bullet is back to the usual format, and overshadowed by the circle above it. It reads: "and, the one that hurts most for him right now: Arthur stopped talking to him for valid reasons." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: cry".
The top right of the slide is on a slightly darker shade than the rest of the slide, to draw attention to it. The text within reads: "too long, didnt read: Tieling's starting a war, the people are angry about it, there's a rebellion ramping up. Almost every ally he had has abandoned him in the last five years (approximately), and most of them are now helping the rebels.
