McMuffin: i know about nayuta
McMuffin: but what about her sister?
McMuffin: how did they both come about?
McMuffin: did they have a childhood together at all or nih?
Yeah, they shared most of their life together
They relied on each other to survive. In the vast and violent universe, they only had each other, and they clung to that connection... While it was convenient.
Nyla clung a little tighter than she should have. Hence why Nayuta's betrayal was so devastating to her.
The betrayal happened when the two of them were caught in the Shadow Spire - home to the Goddess of Chaos and center of Hyrr's power - trying to steal info about the Magistrasa, so that they might become rulers of the universe
Hyrr caught them, but Nayuta cleverly bartered with the goddess, trading Nyla's life for her own freedom. As Nayuta made her escape, Nyla was left to die
But Nyla was spared, against all odds. Hyrr had just decided to kill her when the Goddess of Change stepped forward to take the shape shifter under her wing, giving Nyla a home and a friendship she'd never truly known. More than anything else, she gave Nyla a chance at redemption. The girl was given a chance to change who she was, and in the end, she was a happier person for it.
There's still hints of her old self in who she is now - that subtle yearning, lusting for power and blood - but she's stepped out of her sister's shadow and put her past far behind her.
"I'm no good // You're no better" is a really good summary of her life philosophy
"Everything is shit. Everyone is shit. So yeah, I might be shit, but you think you're any better than me just because you're shitty in a different way?"
She's similar to Dion in that regard. In that she's at peace with who she is and what she's done, and doesn't look either up to or down at the people around her. Both of them only look forward.
McMuffin: awwww neice and nephew duo <3
McMuffin: I JUST WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY
Dion actually hates Nyla lol
Like sure they'd be able to get along well enough, but. Dion just doesn't want to give her a chance.
who (whether by fortune or misfortune) DIDNT get the soul of an old god bound to her blood, so she didnt get the sweet power boost nayuta got to take advantage of
however. nyla would get that rectified a few years later
in the worst possible way
the reason why theyre identical is because nyla kind of worshipped nayuta for a good portion of her life lmao
because they lived and worked together and were almost attached at the hip
but then nyla became the weakest link, and nayuta left her to die alone
they look alike because nyla modeled so much of herself after her sister, who was so powerful and clever and nyla was just like "i want to be just like her!"
even after the betrayal, and nyla got the chance to redeem herself, that kind of idealization never really went away
nayuta's form settled on who she is independantly. nyla is the copycat.
they come from a race of demons called the Nirra - named after their bloodline, who unified the race under the rule of an iron, bloody fist. Asriel and Sariel were born into the race, with the purpose of being the harbingers of their destruction. the twins' mother, Dima, was queen over her people, and a powerful witch who managed to bind Asriel's soul to the blood of her daughter. Sariel saw this and escaped, before she met the same fate.
Allie: okay so why would a god get his blood bound to a demon?
Asriel and Sariel aren't gods at this point. they USED to be gods, but they were reborn with a little more mortality. and the binding was definitely not voluntary - Dima tricked the old gods into lowering their guard, and she used the opportunity to curse them. Or, well, one of them at least. better than none.
Allie: but which god bound thier blood to nayuta?
Asriel was bound to Nayuta
which is how Asriel in turn was bound to Dion. because Nayuta used her blood in his creation. in doing so, he seized the chance to free himself from Nayuta's body and create a new vessel of his own. Which is why Dion and Asriel look almost exactly the same. but Things Went Wrong and Dion became his own person, and Asriel couldn't even attempt to take control of his new body until years and years down the line.
so Asriel is no longer with Nayuta, because she was more like a temporary living arrangement. being bound to one's blood is different from being bound to their soul. she still gained a HUGE amount of power from the situation, but ultimately Asriel and Nayuta never truly became one.
Dima's plan was to seal Asriel and Sariel in Nayuta and Nyla, and then kill her children so that she could kill the old gods with them. that didnt really pan out.
Allie: but she kept the power she gained from being bound to asriel?
Allie: nayuta i mean
yes
Allie: ohkay. so what did she lose when asriel escaped her blood?
basically nothing
to be honest, she had no idea he was even there to begin with
Dima didn't raise her children. she sealed Asriel inside Nayuta and then abandoned the both of them.
Allie: so does asriel have limitless power
Allie: because he gave dion power too
Allie: i mean is he losing anything by being bound to two different people? even though hes bound to each of them different;y
its a little more complicated than that
like, he didnt really GIVE nayuta anything to beging with. its just that as she grew, part of who he was became part of who she was. he somewhat corrupted her by living inside her for so long. its more like things just kind of came more naturally to her - she picked up magic very quickly, she was good at killing things, she could lie really well. when i say she was "more powerful" i dont really mean in a quantifiable way - theres no "power metrics" in my universe - its just that she was better at everything than she ought to have been, because Asriel's subconscious or something sorta leaked into her over time
Allie: OH okay so just his personality and mindset drove her to become who she was. so she didnt really gain any power from him, she just grew because of the drive he gave her?
yes, and shes also able to make connections easily if theyre things he understands really well. so magic comes easily, fighting comes easily, etc etc. she doesnt KNOW THINGS like she wouldnt have lingering memories of people shes never met, but these A to B connections came very easily to her. something like muscle memory, i guess you could compare it to?
she learned things more quickly, and it gave her a sort of subconscious affinity that you usually only find with a great deal of experience
Allie: so when asriel leaves she wouldnt learn anything from him anymore, i mean, in the way that she had in her life before
no, but at that point, its basically just with her. you cant take that away from her at that point.
it became her knowledge, after all that time
Allie: i mean she still is who she was before he left but that drive that was there before, even though its not needed anymore as she is alread her, is gone
this baseline knowledge/experience business is also what made dion who he is, but his situation is so fundimentally different from nayuta's on so many different levels that its hard to even begin on the differences
Allie: well dion recognized that asirel was there as one thing right?
Allie: whereas nayuta was like "oh shit hai there well okay then"
when nayuta found out about asriel it was WAY after dion found out himself. she was very confused and, quickly after, very upset
"I HAD THE SOUL OF AN OLD GOD IN MY BLOOD AND I COULDNT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS"
she actually found out during the final showdown
she saw dion had this swaggy sword and was like "lmao the fuck is that"
and dion told her the whole asriel thing and she was like "???????????? WHAT THE FUCK"
the only thing is, he was really banking on the sword being able to kill her
because it carried a curse with it so that it'd kill whatever it so much as scratched
but, without telling him, Sonia had sealed the sword's power. which is super fortuitous, because she did this SECONDS before asriel (who had possessed dion at the time) stabbed her, forever ruining her bikini bod
the thing is, sonia didnt actually know that dion didnt know, because she'd never actually thought to tell him about it because technically he was the one stabbing her, so months later theyre standing up against nayuta after this long journey to reach that point, and dion is standing there telling nayuta all about his rad demon god sword thats totally gonna kill her ded, and sonias in the back gesturing wildly and trying to tell him "UM ACTUALLY LOL ABOUT THAT"
if it hadnt been for that actually. none of the other awful shit would have happened. because the way they defeat nayuta during this showdown actually ends up just being a temporary fix - they use the World Gate they'd been fighting at and they launch her into fucking space
technically, into the Void - which is where nayuta just kinda floats aimlessly for a while, screaming "FUCK" a lot
but then nayuta runs into her dad
Allie: hahaha omg i love the thought of nayuta just really pissed in space
Allie: just real pissed
its the kind of rage that could birth a new universe
incidentally, birthing new universes is exactly what her dad is into
Allie: im into long walks on the beach, pina coladas, and birthing universes
Allie: call me
no one would call him
hes the worst
i dont even mean that in an affectionate way
Lucius is the literal fucking worst
he kills everyone
i know i say that about nayuta but
Lucius kills everyone
when Asriel and Sariel came knocking on the Nirran race's door, Lucius packed his bags and abandoned his pregnant wife-queen AS SHE WAS GIVING BIRTH and only looked back to laugh about how fortunate he was that her corpse might slow them down
he didnt even know he HAD children until Hyrr told him
Lucius is actually the real reason why Asriel and Sariel were sent in to slay everyone. because Lucius is ALSO an old god who is no longer a god. Lucius isn't even his real name - he was rechristened after he lost a huge war he helped start and the gods were like "we could kill you, but lets make an example of you instead" and it was actually super humiliating for him
his true identity is Thanatos, the Old God of Death
and hes a piece of shit
when he was a god, he was like. super hot shit. but when he was reborn as a mortal, he was a weak ass lil bitch and he was PISSED about it
Asriel and Lucius were actually Mega Bros back when they were both gods. which makes every interaction between them as mortals low key kinda awkward
its also weird calling them mortals because theyre both definitely demigod-status. why do i keep saying "mortal" when there are better words.
Allie: and what does demi-god mean in youre universe?
Allie: i mean in the character's universe haha
extremely powerful and conditionally immortal, even if theyre not really part of the pantheon
usually i use the word in reference to the Old Gods who never really got reinstated to their former glory
Nirran words are difficult to spell, and there’s no real consensus on how things ought to be spelled. “Nay” and “Ny” often make the same sounds, and all the Y’s you find in their language get written down a lot as I’s or Ai’s or anything else even similar to the sound. They don’t have a written alphabet for their language, so it makes it hard to settle on one spelling for everything.
“Nayuta” means “night song” in the Nirran language. And Nyla’s name means “night dancer.” Dion’s name means “death-bringer,” and Dima is “death witch.” Nyx means “darkness,” or night in general, and Cern means “light,” or relating to the sun.
Today I'm going to talk about Nirran culture and how their shapeshifting works.
Shapeshifting for a Nirran (the race of demon that Lucine, Nayuta, and Dion's families are a part of) has many different layers of complexity, and is so difficult to master that over half of the population simply weren't able to do it, even though they are one of the only race of demons able to shapeshift in any capacity. It's a gift many Nirran children are able to do, but as they age, their forms settle into something more permanent, and changing out of it can be very hard. The biggest deciding factor as to whether or not you're able to shapeshift is how you view and embrace your identity.
Every living creature has a soul, and in that soul you find who each person really is. It's what determines what physical features you have, what kind of magic you'll most easily be able to use, holds all your emotions and memories, and protects you from curses and other kinds of spells. There's a magic inside a soul that's unlike any other, and it determines the abilities of all kinds of different creatures. For example, the soul of an elf is very closely connected to their bodies, and they cannot even give birth to a child without tearing that soul out of their body and using it to light the fire of life in their successor. Nirrans are almost the complete opposite. Their bodies are mostly detached from their souls, and its form is decided by whatever the soul decides. By imitating the souls of other creatures, Nirrans are able to take on their appearence - and some are even able to go beyond that, transforming parts of themselves with no guide to go off of. The most powerful shapeshifters of their race are even able to turn parts of themselves into deadly weapons.
As a result of their ability to mold who they are to fit whatever image they choose to wear, identity crises are very commonly found in Nirrans, and many experience an instinctual pull towards simply not having one. It plays a major role in Dion's life, as well as Aria and Alex - none of which are able to shapeshift, as they resolve this problem by figuring out who they really are and sticking with it. Some Nirrans never decide upon this image themselves, and they're always appropriating someone else's face so that they can maintain a physical form. For these types of Nirrans, and during the stage in a young Nirran's life when they've yet to discover themselves, the purifying elements of water and fire can be particularly dangerous.
When coming into contact with water and fire, most demons are simply weakened and can't fight back. But for Nirrans, it completely ruins whatever disguise they've decided to take. Nirrans who have a sense of who they are have a form they will be forced to return to if this happens; but those who have no true form are turned into a cloud of black dust and scattered on the wind. If this happens in a rain storm, or if there's another splash of water or spark of fire that hits them when they're in this state, they're as good as dead.
Aside from being nigh-limitless shapeshifters, Nirrans are particularly dangerous for their cursed blood. Their bodies are made using their wicked, demonic souls, and the weapons they make using their bodies come out pure black, and incredibly deadly. It carries a curse that slowly taints the body of whoever endures even the smallest cut, and as the black mark spreads across their skin and corrupts their soul, the victim's body crumbles and they just disintegrate entirely. The Nirrans who aren't able to create weapons for themselves using their bodies just smear their blood all over whatever they have. They're hard enemies to fight, and even harder to kill - their bodies are, in a way, not even real, so only the pure elements of fire and water can kill them. And, almost ironically, the same black blood that is so deadly to everything else. Mortal wounds can slow them down, however, as it disrupts the connection between the body they've chosen and the soul they've used to choose it. Nirrans who can't shapeshift are also able to be killed with severe trauma, as their bodies and souls are more closely connected, and they can't reform themselves as easily as the average shapeshifter.
Part of changing their souls to change their bodies relies on complete and total immersion in the act. Nirrans are so difficult to detect because in many ways they are truly becoming whatever person or thing they choose to imitate. If someone is suspect, they're bled to see if their blood is red or black, and some followers of Tal are able to sense the nature of someone's soul and through this, they can tell if someone is a demon in disguise, or an innocent victim. For the Nirrans who have no true form, it's a little more difficult to tell if they're a demon or not, because they are so completely devoted to the act that it's really what they become. But for Nirrans who do have a true form, hidden away while they assume this new role, it's usually very easy to tell them apart using this method.
Before the Nirrans were hunted to extinction, they were the most powerful demon empire to walk below the stars. Now, there are so few that they can be counted on your fingers: Dima, Nyla, Nayuta, Dion, Aria, Duet, Alex, and Anna. The harbingers of the race's destruction, Cern and Nyx, were born to Nirran parents, but they cannot truly be considered Nirran. Their origins are traced back to the First Circle, where they were created as the embodiments of Justice and Revenge. Lucine, the king of their race, is in a similar position. While he isn't actually Nirran, he was given new life as a pseudo-member of the race, after being reborn from his role in the First Circle as the God of Death. These gods of Justice and Death and such weren't necessary for the Second Circle, as Tal was made to handle these things without influence from any outside forces, but these warriors were so valuable to the gods during the First Circle that they were remade. Nyx and Cern came long after Lucine, who was among the people for centuries and led them in a war against the gods. They were brought back because, after this act of rebellion, the Mother Goddesses decided the Nirran race was too powerful to be allowed to live, so they sent down their old heroes with the sole mission of wiping out the entire race. It very nearly worked, but when Dima, standing alone as the last survivor of her race (aside from Lucine, who abandoned her, and her two newborns), sealed Nyx away in the body of her daughter, Cern fled so as not to meet the same fate. Still, that impulse did not recede with time, and both spirits of the First Circle still yearn to complete their task. Cern, being a former servant of Shi, went to Elysion to serve her god, and soon became the Archangel Justitia, despite her demonic origins. Nyx, as we all know, was instead passed on and bound to the body and spirit of Dion Dissidia, where he simply bided his time and waited for the opportunity to be free once more.
Lucine, Dion, Aria, and Alex were never able to shapeshift in their entire lives. Dima once had the ability, but lost it with time as she finally settled down and was content to be just one person, instead of trying to be many. The Duets are shapeshifters with ever-changing forms, but with time they grew to settle on one each - not because that's a reflection of who they are, but because it was convenient. Anna is a shapeshifter of moderate skill, only able to transform into people she knows and understands. Then there's Nayuta and Nyla, the strongest shapeshifters of them all. There's almost nothing these two can't turn into, and while they were a team, they were an extremely deadly one. But as a result of her fusion with the demigod Nyx, Nayuta is much stronger than Nyla, which is why Nyla was abandoned and left for dead by her sister as soonas the going got rough and Nyla couldn't keep up.
So that they grow up uninfluenced, Nirran children are often abandoned at birth. Even though they were the last of their kind, and even though one of her daughters had a powerful demigod sealed away inside her, this is what Dima did the moment she was sure they had eluded Cern. It's also how Dion grew up without knowing his relationship to Nayuta, having also been abandoned by her (though to a lesser extent than is usual for their race). The thought goes that if a child is raised by their parents, they'll become whatever their parents influence them to be - and since their power relies so much on a lack of identity, this might stunt their development as powerful demons. So instead, their emotional and mental development is abandoned, and these children come totally unhinged before long. By nature, they are already drawn to chaotic tendencies, but with the lack of any support from either their families or communities, the instability they develop makes them the most dangerous and unpredictable demons you can encounter. (The false idea that the mentally unstable are always horrible and dangerous is frequently tackled in the story.) There's also the idea that Nirran children will simply turn on their parents and kill them one day, which does sometimes happen (especially in the royal family).
Cleverness is sometimes even more highly valued in Nirran culture than strength, as they all hold dear to them the most important message the Goddess Hyrr ever bestowed to her children: "Be whatever you need to be to survive." Even kings and queens are torn down with time, and the gods themselves can be defeated and sealed away. So long as you're quicker and smarter than your opponent, you'll live to fight another day. But power also has its merits, as evidenced by the royal family. Hyrr never made this race unified under a leader, and most other races of demons simply splinter apart and live as clans, isolated from one another and surviving in whatever way seems best to them. The same happened with Nirrans at first, until they were unified by the small clan under the name Nirra, who rounded up their people and killed any who opposed them. After crowning themselves kings and queens of their race, all Nirrans were named after them (before having been just given the name "Dissidian," which became a generic name for most demon races), and their rule remained unshaken to the end of their days. Part of why their power has been unchallenged is the fact that they have held the secrets of powerful blood magic, passed on from generation to generation and guarded closely by whoever bears it. Dima used that blood magic to seal Nyx into the blood of Nayuta, but chose never to pass the magic along to either of her daughters.
In conclusion, Nirrans are an old race of dangerous demons and volatile magic. How lucky for the universe that they are now a dead race. Very, very dead. They'll never bother anyone ever again. Totally unimportant to the story.
I will start with her super cool sister Nyla. Nyla was very dependant on Nayuta when they were growing up, always following her lead and looking up to her as they were going through life. Their sisterly bond was strong, which is unusual for a Mudor because there isn't a whole lot of familial love and loyalty in that culture. However, that sisterly love amounted to jack shit when times got tough, and Nayuta left her poor twin sister in the dust as she beat a hasty escape from certain doom. But, rather than get burned alive, Nyla's life was spared and her memories of a past life all but erased as she was given a second chance at being a good guy under the service of the Goddess of Change. And, well, the experience has indeed changed her, and while she's just as malicious and mean as any other member of her race, she's also got a good, clear head on her shoulders - and she has no desire to go back to the way she once was.
Nayuta's mother, Dima, is an enigma as far as Mudor go. She was born to her crown, but pledged not to marry or have any children - the reason being that every other prince or princess of the family had risen up against their parent and slain them to get their crown. Husbands and wives even turned against one another, each unwilling to share the power of the throne. Many suitors came to try to change her mind the only way a Mudor can - through force. But, Dima was a powerful queen, and showed no mercy to the men and women who came knocking at her door - until one arrived that finally overpowered her, and in a desperate bid to save her own life, she agreed to wed him and bear his children. It was an unhappy marriage, for she hated and feared him with all her heart, feeling more a prisoner to him than a spouse, and when he turned tail and ran from Nyx and Cerna, she had never felt more free in her entire life, even though she thought she would die by their power. But, she escaped that day to live another day - and one day came where her shackles would return. Her husband was back and enlisting her aid in turning the heavens upside down. She felt she had no choice but to begrudgingly agree. Though the situation was grim and horrible, Dima held her head high and hoped to see the day where she could plant a dagger square into her loving husband's back.
That husband's name, by the way, is Lucine, and he's basically the leader of all the bad guys in the story, pulling every string and issuing every order from the shadows. He was a Mudor born a nobody, with no real ability to transform and no name for himself at all, but his destiny and ambition far exceeded the caste he was born to. After forcing Dima to wed him and becoming king of his race, he helped the Old Gods orchestrate their little rebellion against their creator, and while he never had a hand in any battles, he was a great ally to them and committed many deadly soldiers and weapons to their cause. Since the Mudor had Chaos's favor, and since Lucine hadn't openly denounced the gods or personally fought against them, he got through the loss of the rebellion with little more than a stern warning. But as time went on, the gods recognized what a danger he and his whole race was and sent judgment upon them in the form of Nyx, the Harbinger of Death, and Cerna, the Herald of Ruin. He managed to escape certain doom by a hair's breadth, but losing everything only caused him to realize he had nothing to lose. The gods wanted him dead and he could never rest so long as it was so. So, he decided to work to find a way to turn heaven on its head and come out on top. And he's got a lot of filthy schemes in the works. As far as personality goes, Lucine is very calm and collected, which is very unusual for someone of his race, a race known for being unhinged and untamable. This trait is partly responsible for his rise to power, along with his natural charisma and incredible intelligence. He knows how to get what he wants and he knows how to manipulate people. There's not a person in the world he can't play like a fiddle.
Next in line is a woman named Nirial Nerravine, who is second in command under Lucine and was once second in command under the gods. Once upon a time, she had Sonia's job as a Maestro, a very powerful and very respected mage, and she was very good at her job. But one day, she faked her own death in order to get out of the position and make sure no one tried looking for her, and went looking for the same "ultimate power" that had consumed Nayuta's life - Laura Lucarhest. Even though she had spent most of her life in service of the gods, she was a very ambitious person by nature and was quickly dissatisfied with taking orders from a distant god. So she decided to turn against them, and become a god herself - and make them start taking orders from her.
Now let's talk about a dragon named Ardor Sacredfire. Ardor used to be a well-respected dragon lord who had a place in heaven and served the gods faithfully - but when the rebellion of the Old Gods took place and dragons were chief among the traitors numbers, Ardor was caught between his faith in the gods and his love for his dragonkin. In the end, he chose the gods, and was instrumental in fighting back against the rebels. He mourned the loss of his kin as the traitors were all sealed away, but that anguish turned to anger and rage when the gods decided dragons were too dangerous and wanted to seal them all away indiscriminately - which meant they wanted to put him away too, even though he had been such a service to the gods and had been faithful to the end. He escaped being encased in ice along with his fellow dragonkin, only to wander the empty Void as his hatred and rage burned him from the inside. When Lucine found him, he was all too happy to help take down the gods, not caring in the slightest about whether or not it would mean his own death.
Speaking of Old Gods, here's a real kicker. The Old God of Fire, Ukrum, is a supporter of Lucine's cause, as well as an old friend of his, but the situation is a little complicated, seeing as how Ukrum is kinda permanently sealed inside Karin's sword. Lucine made a failed attempt at getting the sword and undoing the seal, but Karin and her friends proved stronger than the losers he sent after her and Ukrum stayed sealed up after all. Still, he uses what power he can muster to assist Lucine's purpose, be it misinforming Karin or simply not working with her when she needs his power.
Lastly we have Notos, the Old God who rebelled against the heavens only to double-cross her comrades at the last second when things weren't looking too good for them. It's this dick move that moved the gods to spare her from punishment, but in secret she still harbored fear that retribution was soon to come. This paranoia caused her to turn against them again at the first opportunity. She was under the impression that the gods had not forgiven her and that if she were to stay and serve them, they would seal her away - if she joined Lucine's cause, she would have a fighting chance. She stayed in the heavens a long while, feeding Lucine what information she could, but it got to be quite difficult as Aria's suspicions of Notos's activities grew. Soon enough, her cover was blown, and she was forced to hide away with Lucine and wait for the war to begin.
There are other Big Bad Dudes too in the Big Bad Dudes Crew but these are all the important (and best developed) ones so there u go
