#nelhem

[jackpotjuicers]

character. for the thing i posted about.

[jackpotjuicers]

Dude

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um, im tired. really tired. and i will continue talking about my dumb fantasy world. woe upon ye

wrote adwyn a little profile and i had answered some questions about the nature of the whole. sexy activity for magic in my discord

but magic has a "taste" and by taste, i mean just a sensation that fills you. it's usually not ever a very negative feeling which is why anxiety master 9000 adwyn's is more a light, happy type of nervousness and not the raw immense dread she feels from existing

some other characters i haven't introduced/drawn yet have tastes that are like. "eating fresh berries and fruits", "the warmth of a hearth". that kind of stuff. it varies in intensity so it might just be the vague feeling or you might get hit so hard you start crying. such is the way of magical emotional bonds.

nsfw talk under the cut

Adwyn sucks as an Arcane because her anxiety has made sex really, really difficult. In order for the actual bond between her and a warden to happen, mutual climax is required. She almost never can achieve it. Even when she's drugged! She needs a klonopin stat. Granted, it may of been easier for her if she had therapy and if people treated Arcanes with respect. But therapy doesn't exist, only religious shame and repression.

(The source of her anxiety, of course, is childhood abuse that was inflicted on her by the same people. It's no wonder that she's like those tiny animals that die if you touch them.)

She got paired with Wydan, who, despite his scary looks and reputation, is actually quite a chill dude. She now has a very big emotional support dog. It's like when you get your extremely anxious pet another pet so they can gain confidence.

That's two pet metaphors in quick succession. I'm really tired.

I have some other characters I will like to introduce soon. It's really been making my brain creative, which is fun, even if I'm just here by myself. hopefully the art is still engaging.

[jackpotjuicers]

Nelhem Lore :^) I've been working alot on this as I am bed bound and typing on my phone is easy. I hope it's interesting! Please feel free to ask questions, I'm trying to make a world that's interesting to others.

General warning for all Nelhem related posts: brief mention of coercive sexual acts.

Arcanes - Aka magic users

So Arcanes are the magic users of the world. But magic isn't really a good word for it since there are no spells, it's just energy. Arcane energy, or Arcanium energy. Fancy.

It is genetic, so there are Arcane bloodlines, but it can manifest at random or be influenced by environmental factors. (There is, in fact, Arcanium radiation in certain parts of the world.)

It manifests around puberty, sometimes early, sometimes later. When it manifests, they are taken to monasteries for training. Arcanium energy is really dangerous and even though Arcanes generate energy, they can't properly use it without causing harm to themselves. Using the energy in any way always causes physical injuries, ranging from lacerations to broken bones.

A big part of the training they undergo is how to safely discharge the magic. By self harming, basically. How to release small bursts of energy to cause minimal damage to themselves and not let the energy build up too much. Arcanes that are brought in at young ages are taught this, as the only other method of releasing the magic is Transferal.

Transferal is where the Wardens come in. Through a ritual, Wardens are granted the power to channel Arcanium energy. They do not generate this energy, however, and get it through the Arcane. Transferal requires sexual contact. Climax isn't required but it does make the transferal more effective.

Any Arcane can be used for this with any Warden, but if they undergo the tethering ritual, it is even more effective. An Arcane being tethered to a warden prevents any other Warden from being able to use them, so this is offered as a very coercive "protection" to Arcanes. Because Arcanes are treated more like property than person.

Wardens can use the energy in almost any way they see fit, often using it to enhance their combat abilities. They cannot use it to heal others (They can use it to speed up their own healing) To this day, only Arcanes are known to be able to use Arcanium energy to heal. This requires a lot of training and still causes them great physical harm. It's very rare and they are very valuable, and they die young since healing takes such a huge toll on their bodies.

[jackpotjuicers]

new world thingie i am chewing on since my sleep has been so bad (yay 3 days of no sleep). as of now it has yet to be named, because i am really bad at names.

content warnings: coercive relationships, dubious consent, non consent, generally abusive and exploitive systems

the premise: dark fantasy. theres people with magic they can't quite use. they're referred to as "arcanes". using their magic is very dangerous and physically harmful to them (it will literally break their bones, burn their skin, or just cause cuts or wounds) but also if they don't release their magic, it might overload and cause mishaps around them or to them.

so they have to transfer their magic to someone else. these people are part of a organization that go through a ritual to be able to channel magic. they don't generate magic but they can use it. once they go thru this ritual they start requiring magic to not go crazy and die. pending terms for these guys are either wardens, vanguards, or knights

transferring magic requires sex. uh-oh. it ends up not being very ideal for the arcanes involved.

arcanes don't get rights and are heavily monitored and controlled because they are dangerous. the people they're assigned to are referred to as their "handlers"

anyone can yoink magic from an arcane but if they go through a bonding ritual then it limits who can. this is advertised for their safety :) you know. safety :))) don't worry about it

very effective in fighting Horrors That Come From Beyond. it just sucks that now this military unit comes with a shit load of personal drama because the bonding ritual creates, whether they want it or not, a deeply emotional and intimate bond (never inherently romantic, more often than not it's platonic)

sticky situation when the arcane has no legal rights and is considered property

not a monogamous situation, arcanes can be paired with multiple wardens. it depends on their magic levels though because draining an arcane too much will kill them. and particularly powerful arcanes don't get a choice if they are tossed at multiple people (they never get a choice, though, but in this case neither does their handler)

um there's some more stuff but i'm still working on it. when i can form coherent thoughts. very obviously a world made for sexy indulgent nonsense and inspired by various Things I Like

ok thanks for reading, be nice to me i am so very tired bye bye

[jackpotjuicers]

So im working on a thingie. Kind of started writing it impulsively because I just need to sit down and write instead of thinking about it. And so far it's going good cuz I wrote a lot and got a lot done, even if I end up redoing all of it as I refine the story and get a better feel

Anyway, I have always wanted to write interactive fiction. Originally I wrote this huge thing in Ren'py (it hit some insane word count, like over 100k? but no doubt alot of it is pretty bad lol) with my own little system I coded (To morph the NVL style with what I had in mind.... which turns out to just be what choice script is doing. Without the visuals. And I was like, ykw. I should just go with choice script. After playing a bunch of CS games I was like, yes, let us move the project here.

The original project, which was for Toryn, I'm going to crack open and repaint it with my Nelhem thing. Yes, I'm know those fantasy words mean nothing to you. I'm kind of like, does it look stupid to talk about an ambitious project that I might not complete? Probably... but I wanna talk about it... Too much stuff gets stuck in my head and never becomes anything. so... here are the characters... I want to flesh them out more and I do that best by talking about them. They are all gender neutral here rn, because inspired by CS games I think I want to give customizable gender characters a whirl. It's actually pretty cool to write them in a gender neutral way and see how it feels.

minor backstory idk where/if i talked about it. Player is an Arcane. Arcanes generate really dangerous energy that might kill them. Only Wardens can use it. They get it through sexual contact. Yippee.

Breigh - Warden and leader of their little group. The oldest out of them. Treats Arcanes very well, which is rare for Wardens. This is because they had a close bond with their last one, who died. Pretty warm and kind presence but still very much a leader in a military group so they know when to crack down.

Vadrek - The worst person ever. Irritable and hot headed and seems to get a kick out of mistreating anyone, but especially Arcanes. Becoming a Warden was their only way out of a bad situation and they don't seem particularly interested in things like duty or morals or whatever.

Imril - Baby of the group. Very young and really eager/excitable to be a big ol hero. Struggles a lot with the power dynamic they have over the Arcanes, like as in they don't really recognize it or they see it in a very superficial way. They're very easily manipulated which brings me to

Eln - An Arcane. A very manipulative, scheming freak of one. They found their lot in life and decided, well. I'm going to Win, actually. They have a lot of hatred deep in their little heart and if they can't be happy, nobody can. Whoever they're paired with, they turn them into the worst version of themselves

Nerir - Another Arcane and probably one I have the least knowledge about right now... I just know they are a stark contrast to Eln. Laid back and pretty chill despite the horrors.

As you can see, two arcanes to the three wardens. The plan is they pair up with the remaining after the player picks theirs. And I don't want the player's warden to automatically mean The Romance. the Warden's names are their last names, I did come up with gender variants of their first names.

i disabled reblogs because I'm nervous, but feel free to comment. even if I don't ever finish this project, it's still fun to talk about and work on (me telling myself so i feel less like a sham who never finishes anything)

[jackpotjuicers]

more nelhem lore!

This time... It's about the Wardens! Might be a bit too rambly. A lot of what I have written out already is stuff relevant to the story I'm writing.

Quick refresher: Arcane - Magic user Arcanium - Magic Lorthad - The main kingdom in which my story takes place

The "Wardens" are part an order, Order of the Caer Arcana, but you know, everyone just calls them Wardens and Wardens refer to it as the Order.

It's a sort of religious order, as they are attached to the church but not very strictly. Just kind of in that way where everything is related to the church anyway. But since the Church directly oversee and manage Arcanes (Arcanes live in monasteries run by an Abbot)

Arcanes don't get a choice in the matter of being an Arcane but Wardens do. They have to undergo a ritual to gain the ability to channel arcanium energy. This ritual doesn't have a high survival rate, and is quite costly to perform, so they are very selective. There's definitely an abundance of Arcanes and very few Wardens.

Deployed units of Wardens are pretty small as a result, they are spread pretty thin. They are expected to be extremely skilled as a result and are offered a lot of power to utilize by the Church. Requisitioning resources and soldiers if there's a conflict going on. This couldn't possibly be abused and be the source for possible growing hostility towards them, no. Don't worry about that.

They are not really neutral, they are very tied to the Church's interests. While they themselves would ideally like to combat threats of the arcanium and ever growing threat of monsters (moon's haunted, I'll explain later), they are more often used in political conflicts. And useful, as the Lorthad church holds the secret of the ritual very close and others in Nelhem can't quite catch up to them. Which means that Lorthad is kind of the only player on the board that can use magic. That gives them a huge advantage and explains their recent, extremely aggressive, expansion in the southwest.

The only thing that can directly compete with Arcanium users has is access to aelium. Which is another post in of itself, but to sum it up very quickly: What if you grind a wizard up into a fine paste and then refine it into a precious metal? And what if you then use that to make magitech. Okay byeeeee

[jackpotjuicers]

I answered some discord questions for Nelhem/That Thing I posted about :3 yey. I will need to more flesh out the world itself but rn we shall focus on the magic stuff since that's the hook

nelhem will always come with a general warning for the sexual coercion and dubcon inherent to the setting. this post talks about possible child abuse very briefly.

What are the plans, if any, for the setting? Game? Ttrpg? Cool setting to subject blorbos to?

rn It's just a cool setting to subject the blorbos to. I think it'd be a cool setting to write interactive fiction for but that's for later to think about. If this thing sounds interesting to you, I am offering this up to any one who wants to play dolls with me. yay for ocs!

(Was asked who this is/are they an Arcane) This Character is Adwyn. She's a failure of an Arcane (in their eyes) and was originally slated to be killed to power rituals (That's what they do with Arcanes that can't cut it) but she was spared and got paired with a retired Warden who needed a new Arcane. (As even if they retire, a warden will always need a source of magic)

"How young are Arcanes taken in/when do their magic manifest?

The typical age range is 13-16 when powers manifest but it can be earlier or older. They do not allow children to behave as Arcanes to any Warden (due to the requirement of sexual activity) and instead they are taught how to manage their magic levels. This does require that they basically self harm (Using magic in small bursts, usually results in minor cuts and bruises) since there is no safe way to expel magic outside of the transferring to a handler. Once they're adults they'll start being used as Arcanes and be given to Wardens.

There have been attempts to use them when they're younger but the mental trauma ultimately wasn't worth it.

"What about the Wardens?"

Anyone can partake in the ritual to become a Warden, at any age. They actually probably seek out slightly older people who have experience in combat. Usually they are from upper class families but there is a branch of the Wardens for criminals of severe offenses that are sentenced to death. These are paired with other failed Arcanes or similarly Arcanes that have committed a crime. No wasted resources!

"What does the magic look like? Is it that crown?"

The Crown that's showed on Adwyn's art is more of an aura and it's a brand that all Arcanes get when they are brought in. The physical brand is on the palm of their hand but the aura is always there and can only be seen through certain circumstances. (Usually in major cities, there's a like blanket barrier-spell situation that highlights the Auras)

"How do they channel the magic? (Like wands, scepters, etc)"

Wardens can channel magic in any way they want but they commonly use a tool instead of just their body as it's easier and safer. Typically a weapon of some kind. No wizards with staffs here, unfortunately.

"Is the magic more like 'spells' or 'special abilities'?"

It's just a general source of power that the Warden can utilize in any way they want. There's no spells and there's no 'this arcane only gives out ice magic!". Wardens choose what they specialize in and it makes sense to pick focuses for training, so a Warden can choose to manifest their magic only as ice. It's also attached to their emotions and thoughts. It depends entirely on the Warden how the magic is manifested, the Arcane is just the source.

Bonus: Magic has a "taste". But like, not a tongue taste. A sensation. It's unique to every Arcane and Wardens can interpret this differently. (Some might hear a song, some might literally taste something, some might just envision something) ?This is a representation of the bond they create as it's a form of communication

"Is the amount of magical power something that can be trained or enhanced or is it set from birth?"

Both, kinda. Arcanes have varying levels of magic but any Arcane can train to improve their magic and how much they generate or how quickly they can generate. It's also connected to their physical health and willpower as their magic is basically their life force.