#mediaeval fantasy

[morelorethenthereseem]

Hey I made a fictional organization/religion/government/theology thing known as The Braymourne collective (also called the old Gods faithful or “the order”)

Ask me literally any and all questions about them. I need to flesh out their stuff more

[iffeelscouldkill]

Fic: a dream or two (away from you)

Dear @breeze-tells-tales - happy Fence Secret Santa! I was inspired by your prompt to write a Harvard/Aiden fantasy AU :3 It's a (loosely) mediaeval fantasy with some dream magic. I hope you enjoy it! 💜

a dream or two (away from you)

Rating: 12+/Teen

Ship: Harvard/Aiden (and a tiny mention of Nicholas/Seiji)

Summary: Everyone knows that magic isn't real. Never mind that Aiden, crown prince of Feldhaven, has been having strange dreams from a young age in which he meets and plays with a young boy from a far-away kingdom.

He can't explain it, but he isn't concerned - until years later, when an eighteen-year-old Aiden is suddenly introduced to the new Captain of the Guard: Harvard Lee. The boy from his dreams.

---

Aiden was standing in the middle of a wood.

This was a bit strange, because he’d gone to sleep in his bed in the castle, and he didn’t remember coming out here. Also, he was still wearing his nightclothes. But everything around him felt clear and vivid – the grass under his (bare) feet, the wind through his hair… The only other odd thing was that he didn’t feel cold at all, even though it had been a chill night.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement among the trees and turned quickly. “Who’s there?” he called.

A boy emerged from the trees, about his age, slightly taller and with dark skin. He was also dressed in nightclothes, and holding a stuffed teddy bear. “Hello,” he said, with a reassuring smile. “Who are you? I’m Harvard.”

Aiden wondered if Harvard’s family must be from far away, if they didn’t know how to recognise him, Crown Prince Aiden. Then again, where was this? Were they near the castle grounds? (He wasn’t allowed to go beyond the castle grounds on his own. Definitely not without at least two bodyguards). The wood didn’t seem familiar.

“I’m Joshua,” he said, which was his middle name, but he didn’t know what this strange boy might know about him and he decided he’d like to keep it that way. “Where are we, do you know?”

Harvard shook his head. “I thought I was asleep in bed, then I was here,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t think this is near my house.”

So this other boy didn’t know where they were either. Aiden thought. This could be an elaborate plot to kidnap him, but he didn’t see any kidnappers, or anyone else here besides Harvard. And he’d never been able to make a friend just on his own, before. His mind suddenly flooded with excited possibilities.

“Do you want to play tag?” he asked.

Harvard frowned at him. “Shouldn’t we try to find out what’s happening? Or find our parents?”

What Harvard was saying made sense for a boy like him, but for once Aiden’s parents (or the castle guards, or his nurse, or anyone) weren’t around, and he was desperate to make the most of it. “Maybe we’ll find out as we go.” He mimicked the way he’d seen commoner children playing out of the windows of his carriage, and reached out to brush Harvard’s arm. He felt solid. “Tag. You’re it!”

A grin grew on Harvard’s face as the thrill of a new friend and the game took over, and he chased after Aiden. Aiden shrieked and ran, and at one point tumbled to the ground and got leaves in his hair, and generally did a lot of things not befitting of an heir to the throne. It was glorious. He never wanted it to end.

He couldn’t say what it was that gave him the sense their time was up. But the sun cresting over the horizon might have played a part. “Harvard, I think I’m… going. I think I’m about to be home again,” he told his friend urgently.

Harvard nodded. He’d sensed it too. “It’s okay. We’ll see each other again,” he said.

Aiden was suddenly pierced by a stab of panic. “But how will I find you? I don’t even know where you live. What if we never come back here?”

Harvard gave the questions some careful thought, and then solemnly handed Aiden his teddy bear. “Here. Now you’ll have something of mine to keep.”

It didn’t answer his questions, but Aiden clutched the bear close to his chest. “I’ll take good care of him.”

Harvard smiled at him. “Bye! I had fun!”

“I did too,” Aiden said, but he found himself saying the words aloud to the dark of his bedroom. He was back in his own bed in the castle, like he’d never left. The only thing that had changed was the worn, stuffed teddy bear clutched in his arms.

(Read the rest on AO3!)

[morelorethenthereseem]

“some says she’s a demon of a Swordswoman.

But it’s more fair to say she’s a swordswoman of a Demon…”

[morelorethenthereseem]

Braymourne is The land that the heart of creation lays, All around the heart of creation impenetrable walls and barriers were formed, except for north, there the mountains did the job. it’s not inhabited by elves or humans. But There are very very rare exceptions, those who made it in, and had children too.

The Braymourne collective (also called the old Gods faithful or “the order”) are Those who still grieve the gods of old. The Organization acts both as religion and government and was formed to preserve the ideals and rules of the gods after their deaths, Each of these were dubbed virtues, and as the gods embodied aspects of reality, certain individuals Embodied the Principles and ideals of the gods.

There are 19 virtues, but 8 were lost the time, here are the remaining 11 that are still known of today:

2 Creation, to create, make the world a better and fuller place. This covers art, architecture, cultural advancement, unfortunately, such a core value basically makes abortion illegal under this government, despite the other principles.

3 Protection, To protect, to protect yourself, and to protect others, To protect the order and protect the land, and to protect the heart of creation too.

4 Perseverance, to follow through and go on, To live. To continue. To never quit, a simple principle. perseverance is to walk through hell and arrive on the other side, A fortitude and inner strength

5 Allowance, to be allowed, to let one make Their decisions. Although this seems like a good tenant at first, it’s underlying implication. Is that something being allowed is not the default, you are allowing them to be allowed to do something, so to speak, but at least it’s encouraging people to do so, “within reason”

7 Understanding, to be empathetic, to put yourself in anothers shoes, the capacity to acknowledge and accept, the ability to understand, Or to agree, or to agree to disagree. Or simply just knowing what someone’s talking about.

8 Preservation, to maintain, to stop the towers from crumbling to dust, To keep your body clean. To keep the world alive, and to help those who cannot.

9 Reflection, The ability to reflect, introspect, contemplate. Ponder, to *think* about yourself, and you role in the world, And the worlds role in you.

10 justice, to see wrongs righted, they have the crooked be set right, To ensure recompense paid and wrongdoers punished,

11 cooperation, to comply, to collaborate, to obey and get along and not kill each other, To do what you were told when you need to and to work together to achieve something great.

13 wonder, to imagine, to see the world with a fresh perspective, To see the strange in the mundane, to search for the wonders of the world, to think of how miracles could be made.

14 transcendentality, to be more than you are, and to know that you are not forever, To leave behind you a better path than you had walked, to be great.

And 19 volition. To pray, to grieve, to trial your will, to test it, or to measure it, the will of the individual, and will as a force of reality. That is why each and every member of the order prays every single day. To grant meaning to the meaningless. May it raise the gods.

Here are the ranks and their structure:

Morner: a general faithful, without any obligations or authority within the order, except for under investigative compliance.

above the Morner are the disciples, those under direct control and care of the witnesses, usually serving as a custodians, or assistant.

Above disciple is the Witness: the lowest real position that holds any sort of power, usually residing over a local area, on the low end, they can take care of a single building all the way up to a few cities in some cases. Their obligations are mostly informative, keeping the organization up-to-date with local affairs, and keeping the people informed about the organization, spreading the word

Above the witness is the Guide: The guides are agents of the inner order, they hold executive power over any witness, however, such actions of a guide over a witness, must be filed under record and can be vetoed at any time, although, generally, the guides are only above the witnesses in certain scenarios they do command much more power, witnesses if required also double as internal affairs officers and investigators, however the power to act with such authority can only be granted by those above the virtues, but once granted, they maintain this power as long as they’re set task is complete, but, their every move is watched.

Above the guide is the overseer: overseer is actually a blanket roll with multiple levels of station. An overseer is usually assigned to a certain person of asymmetric rank, this can range form a witness to above a virtue, commonly the job of an overseer is to watch over and control a number of guards or sentinels, and is the only other rank able to issue direct commands to soldiers besides wardens. Overseers usually command units on their own, but sometimes they’re forced to cooperate with other overseers. Although some overseers do you have authority over others, to request the assistance of another overseer they need to file an admission of aid, but once the request has been approved the higher placing has complete authority over the other.

(Here is each level:

Officer (4-1) officers usually assigned to a witness, usually has control over a singular unit of guards ranging from 8 to 30, Although some 1st and 2nd overseer officers are known to be put in the assistance of a guide.

Lieutenant (4-1) lieutenants have authority over officers and are usually tasked with looking over a large number of troops, ranging from 100 and 300. They can, and usually do request the assistance of 3 to 1 officers. They can also make requests for aid from one of the elite inner units, and in extremely extenuating circumstances, they could even be given direct control over one.

Captain (4-1) captains have the capacity to command the elite inner units although this is rare, and only usually happens temporarily well a division overseer is busy. Captains have authority over lieutenants and officers as well as all of their previous privileges. Division overseer: a division overseer is someone who has the authority and capacity to completely oversee and command, captains, lieutenants and officers as well as multiple elite inner units,

division overseas, commonly work with the virtues, as each virtue has their own elite squad. Although a virtue technically has authority over a division overseer, it is fairly common for those above the virtues to give a division overseer extra special privileges, authority and command, making them ostensibly equal.)

Keeper: keepers are archivists and filers, where other ranks might collect information keepers Maintain it, they keep records. Keepers are permitted authority to ask for any information from any rank below division overseer, they also have authority to command guides to perform an internal investigation.

Guard: the way in which the rank of guard is positioned within the order is a tricky one, the only people who have direct authority over them are the overseers, the virtues and above, but they can be stationed anywhere from under a 4th overseer officer in the single prayer house of whatever witness there assigned to being directly under a virtue, if the circumstances permit.

Sentinel: these are the troops that make up the elite inner units that can range anywhere from a shadowless infiltration to the personal bodyguards of a virtue, to a juggernaut massacre. Only overseer captains, division overseers and virtues have command over them.

Virtue: virtue is the highest rank known to the public and lower ranks (with previously specified exceptions) each one aims to embody one of the 12 remaining core ideals, additionally, each virtue has their own inner elite unit, virtues have authority over keepers, witnesses, overseers, guides and sentinels and guards.

Devotee: “the secret hunters,” “the silent breaths,” “the whisper men.” “The utility knives of the order” Loan agents who can be sent out by lieutenants, captains, division overseers as well as virtues, guides, and wardens. The devotees fill a wide spectrum of roles with some overlap with the inner elite units, only on a strictly individual level. These guys are heavy hitters However They don’t like violence and they don’t have experience in battle, despite their power. They sometimes work as scouts, assassin’s investigators, etc. they are highly skilled in many areas and they do what they are told.

Warden: the judicial position among the order, they often work in tandem with guides who they are of equal rank to, and witnesses, keepers and even devotees who there above. although guides are responsible for internal investigation, the virtues can still veto their searches, as such guides often go to wardens who have special authority over the virtues. The wardens are to everyone else what the guides are to the order. There are the cops and the courtroom.

Enchanter: after an assassination attempt on the virtue of perseverance enchantment in Braymourne was made illegal to everyone but the government or those the government permits, an enchanter is someone permitted and paid by the government to enchant legally.

Affiliate merchant: merchants partnered with the order, They give a cut of their earnings to the order in return for certain negotiated things.

Founder: although not an official rank, it isn’t uncommon to know that there are those above the virtues, and logic would follow there Has to be somebody at the top of the order, so it was that rumours spread and common belief became that the founders whoever they may be, witnessed The Fall, and are still living to this day, a council that runs the order.

(order command structure.)

But no matter there rank All in the order still pray for the dead gods, it’s a test of will, or a measure of it, the will of the individual, and how weak will as become as a force of reality.

(Also of note This is only one of many organizations that worship the dead Gods, but it’s the only one that really knows more than nothing.)

So why do I tell you this all to you? Well, A Devotee Of the Braymourne collective known as “of the black bones virtue” was sent north from the heart of creation alone with an enchanted lantern to investigate the Many MANY claims That a few of the old gods are back standing in the land of life, So to speak.

Normally such claims would be ignored because of their absurdity but not this time, this time, it was too many…

The following is the section of the devotee’s journal that was written just after crossing out of the Ule ruins:

“It was seen.

Over the mountains, thousands of years ago.

There was talk of a great kingdom, And then there was the talk of the end of a great kingdom, after so long, I had assumed the peril would’ve died down a notch only to discover that now in our time as I am passing through it is worse than I ever imagine the peak of the chaos to be, I shutter to think what horror it would have been, to be here in the destructions prime.

Would it Have killed me not to think the mountains were the hard part?”