They met when Sira moved to the Silvergrove from another village as an adult. She went to go get potion ingredients from the local gardener, Anthea, and was momentarily struck dumb when she saw the pretty pink flower girl. Anthea clocked it immediately and got also Mildly Flustered by the attention. Sira managed to recover her words once addressed, but she was a little stammery. Anthea managed to dodge stuttering, but she couldn't help the flustered grinning. After a couple more meetings as they both got better at talking to each other (including several visits Sira lowkey just made up reasons for) she was the one who asked Sira out. They are for once not idiots, so they got together with no major acts of stupidity. The worst part was before they were properly together when Verace hit on Sira and Anthea was So Dismayed. Verace was like you should have told me you were into her omg?? but luckily Sira just turned him down anyway, she's a lesbian. Also was probably keeping an eye out for Anthea at a public gathering when this occurred.
It's been too long since I did this and I don't have all my stuff in one place anymore, so this is my fix for that. You all get to see it too because it's the easiest place to compile these things.
Starting with
The Moonshadow
Arethis
Runaan's deceased mother, whose horns should be a similar style to his, but stained purple instead of pink. The marks on her forehead also fuse with the ones on her cheeks, and the ones on her jaw fuse under it into the one on her chin. Her shoulder marks are moon sigils like his, or rather Runaan's are like hers were. She was a dedicated, serious woman who nonetheless had a soft spot for those with more open kindness than herself. She was an assassin whose sense of duty outweighed her love.
Reldaar
Runaan's deceased father, who passed away twenty years after his wife died out of grief, and finally making peace with the idea that his son would be okay even in her path. He was a gardener with a soft heart and an admiration for Arethis' discipline and sense of duty. He disliked that Runaan became an assassin, though he offered Runaan his physical support anyway, loving him too much to get in his way. He disliked Ethari even more, seeing a shred of himself in how much this smith loved his son and fearing that Ethari would drive Runaan to pour ever more of himself into his work, as Reldaar had watched his wife do, and end up dying as well. They made their peace after he realized Runaan was pouring more of his life into his love instead, but that was his last great fight before he let go. His horns should be shorter to be proportionate, and his top isn't quite proper Moonshadow vibes. His horn stainage was green. Ignore how his eye markings changed, I forgot that HF had updated with the smaller marks for lashes and fixed it.
Elathin
Ethari's father, a smith who specialized in jewelry and tokens. He gave up the smithing aspect after an illness took his sight when his children had grown up, and switched to wire work he could do with his bare hands. He was a friendly, magnanimous type with an infectious laugh and relentless charm. He's also quite tall for a Moonshadow elf, nearly as tall as Runaan at 6 feet, though he doesn't quite match his 6'2" Sunfire elf wife. He took up trading at Moonshadow Market to get his social interactions in, more of a people person than most Moonshadow. As usual, his horns are a tad oversized and too textured, but the blue stainage correct. All the little markings around his brows should probably be fused into one or two lines, though I like the triangle at his hairline and the longer marks on his cheeks. His hair also doesn't have nearly enough volume for an elf, but I did my best.
Selene
Ram's late mother and Keeper Lyrennus' wife, Selene. A confident, steady woman with an incredible well of patience. She tended to be a mediator, who preferred not to argue herself. She had her own beliefs and was steadfast in them, but she simply didn't engage with arguments unless she had to. She was a steadying force on Lyrennus, and by the time they had a child all she had to do was give him a certain look to have him pause and think through whatever was causing him to lose his temper, which was usually all it took to calm him down. She was kind, and this ability to calm and provoke thought was one she carried over to most people in her life. Ram got a lot of his looks from her.
Maien
Hadan's mother, a village guard with a strong sense of justice and a tendency to be loudly opinionated. She met her Earthblood wife at Moonshadow Market, annoyed by how the woman's alleged partner was treating her, and fought with him over it. Previously, I had hc'd that she essentially "won" Virga off him, but with new knowledge gained from combing through frames of Season 4, I've concluded instead that Virga just came back the next year and chose to stay because Maien impressed her. Maien's also a trans woman. Horns should be somewhat shorter and less textured but stained purple.
Elyrin
The husband of the assassin Andromeda. Elyrin is a charming bard with an inner light and joy that he tries to share through music, though he's also a master at wordplay and can bring audiences to tears with sheer devotion or grief (vibes of Joey Batey, music and voice of Hozier). He's always wanted to be a dad, and was relieved to find out Andromeda felt the same about being a mom. He caught feelings first, but was too nervous to do anything about them until realizing Andromeda had them too. They grew up together as part of the same pride of Mooncubs, so they know each other's whole story from the beginning. He was also the first OC of mine to spawn artwork from @Lithuiwen2016, as I recall, which can be found here on their blog, and here on mine!
Verace
Verace, who grew up alongside Ram as part of the same pride of Mooncubs. Verace was the eldest of the pride, two or three years Ram's senior. He's a charmer and a flirt with no particular attachment to his gender, though he defaults to whatever people perceive. The marks on his cheeks and eyes should start as one at his temples, and both might be swirls rather than streaks. Same with his arms, those circles are swirls. The lines that frame his nose trace from the inner corner of each brow down the curves of his face to meet the corners of his mustache. His horns are a tad too upright, and the growths at the base shouldn't be there - his horn shape is a lot like Ethari actually, just smaller because he's younger, and with a pale blue stain.
Anthea
Also from Ram's pride, the youngest, Anthea. She'd be 19 as of Year 0/season 1/Different Paths era, but in Moonshadow culture, would have been considered an adult for three or four years already. She's a florist/botanist who cares for the flowers around the Silvergrove and does general village upkeep. The mark on her throat should be a full moon sigil, with her arms showing waning moons (rather than the sideways circle they seem to show here), with waxing moons on her thighs. She's also a lesbian who ends up married to Sira, who will have to go in a reblog because tumblr only allows 30 images per post. Who knew.
Her horns, as always should have wood grain type lines. Her staining is pink. I erred more on the side of pink with her because purples are my nemesis, being blue-yellow colorblind, but she would probably wear a mix of both regularly. I like the way the marks on her face turned out, other than that one on her nose should be more defined. The mark on her throat should be a full circle, though, with delicate lines leading to the waning moons on her shoulders, and waxing moon symbols on her thighs. Man, I should have put a flower in her hand, but I'm too lazy to go back and redo the screenshots. She'd be a florist if Moonshadow Forest had that sort of profession. As it is she's a general beautician and maintenance worker for the entire town, so she's simultaneously the most aesthetics-aware person you've ever met and the most down-to-earth gardener type you'll ever speak to.
Verace:
Notes:
Again, wood grain lines, his staining is pale blue. Ignore the growths around the base of his horns, too, they should be smooth, though the extra dimension down there is warming me up to the idea of Elaborate Horn Cuffs this bitch might wear if he ever gets married. His markings should be more defined, and he has a full moon mark over his ribs as well, for which he's more than happy to wear a cropped shirt to show off the edges. An awful flirt, often doesn't mean anything by it, but grows into a bit of a slut too.
So I've been catching up on your other TDP related stories. And with the small chance that this question may or may not send you into another Hero Forge spiral....
Have you given any thought to future Assassin kids? Aka, children of Ruthari, Andromeda/Elyrin, Ram/Astrid? I know Skor/Callisto are on the fence about having kids, so not sure if I can include them in this ask?
It did send me to HeroForge, which is part of why this one took so damn long to answer, lmao. A small part, anyway, I'm also just bad at clearing my inbox.
I've always had the thought Ruthari would try again now that Rayla's grown up, but it wasn't until this ask that I sat down to imagine what that kid would actually be like. Andromeda and Elyrin have twins right off the bat, a boy and a girl, and put a pause on any more for a while because two is enough to begin with, the elves don't seem to have large families. Skor and Callisto are definitely having at least one kid, I might stick them with just the one that formed in my head as I made her HF. I actually haven't considered Ram and Astrid having kids, I don't really have any thoughts on that front even after experimenting in HeroForge for a bit with the others.
The images of them came before their names. Ruthari's second daughter's name is Fyrenai (fear-en-ai). Androlyrin's kids are Talyr and Selai (sell-AY), and Skoristo's daughter is named Aria.
HFs under the cut:
Ruthari:
Fyrenai got Runaan's eye color and Ethari's eye shape, Runaan's hair and Ethari's brows, Ethari's jaw and Runaan's chin. She's heavily affected by growing up with Rayla as a big sister, takes after her in personality more strongly than either of their dads. She managed to tame a nightfox, shown here, which is something most people won't even try to do. She's got a knack for animals, though it's not the same as Ezran's empathy with them.
Andromeda and Elyrin:
Talyr:
Talyr took more after his mom, he'll be a warrior like her, probably going into the same profession the assassins become after being disbanded. He shares her aversion to covering clothes. Like both of his parents, he uses a blue horn stain, and I like these markings for his face.
Salei:
Salei (sah-lay) took more after her dad, in contrast, and became a bard. To separate her from her parents (who both use stringed instruments) she plays a pan flute. She should have smaller horns, especially at the base, and I'm strongly considering just making her match her brother, but I did hers first so I didn't think about it before. She's a softhearted soul who does her best not to live in constant fear for her more warlike family members, and clings harder to her dad as a result. She's just as fun-loving as he is, though, a bright spot in the dark.
Skoristo:
Aria is the daughter of Skor and Callisto, and her design was inspired in definite part by the girl from Lydia the Bard's music video for "RUN". Her name is derived from it too, being as close as I think a Moonshadow name would get to the Greek Ariadne, the princess who escaped the labyrinth. She's definitely growing into a warrior like them. She stresses Skor the hell out with her recklessness, he complains constantly that she's growing up just like Rayla, and he's never giving Runaan shit for his parenting ever again. Callisto is quieter about it but sets their mind to making sure she's prepared for Literally Anything, including training with magic.
The music video in question. I have also just now realized I used the same corset top for all three of these young women, but fuck, it worked so WELL layered with other things, it gave them all some of the delicate lines Moonshadow tend to have in their clothing that were hard to imitate.
Do you have any thoughts abt what Ram’s mother/Lyrennus’s wife was like?
Some!
She had to be an incredibly patient woman, in the sense that she could wait out Lyrennus' temper tantrums without giving way to them. That sullen glare that Ram gives out in the show is something he learned from her - she gave it to his dad whenever Lyrennus started losing his temper around her or their son. It got to the point that just seeing it was enough to make Lyrennus pause and think about whether he really needs to be that upset about something, and calm down unless it actually merited that strong of a reaction.
As for who she was as a person, Selene (my hc name for her) was a very sweet, kind woman with a spine made of absolute steel. She had all the love and patience in the world, but that patience also translated into being incredibly stubborn. She was a seamstress, which was how she met Lyrennus in the first place - she makes clothes, and well, everyone needs those eventually. She was the instigator of their relationship, catching a fancy for the elderly Keeper and pursuing a friendship with him, much to his surprise.
Her workshop was outside the house, so it was usually Lyrennus home with their son instead of her, after Ram could be away from her. She did have a spare room set up for work when she had to be home, though. She taught both her husband and son to sew, and Lyrennus took up embroidery as a hobby after she introduced him to it.
She always had a ready smile for everyone, and was quick with a laugh. She had the same kind of all-encompassing love and compassion that Sarai does - offering it to everyone in equal measure, until lines are crossed that she can't abide. She's much more quick to just write off the perpetrator as if they don't exist, though, mentally Ghosting them, rather than responding with violence. She doesn't have much active aggression in her, rather tends to just refuse to put energy into things she dislikes. It undercuts her husband's temper rather nicely.
HeroForge of her, extrapolated from genetic traits Ram has and Lyrennus doesn't, and just filling in the gaps with what I liked:
Ram got his eye color from her, along with her more rounded face shape and small brows. He actually takes after her quite a bit.
I have . . . limited drawing skills (and frankly limited enjoyment of doing it) but HeroForge is amazing for giving a general idea of an appearance for OCs, so here's a couple I have already done.
Elyrin (Andromeda's husband the bard):
(just imagine his horns are solid and not slightly forked like that ok)
Sirius (Andromeda's brother/Rayla's friend, the mage):
I've had a crappy couple of days, I'm just playing on HeroForge instead of writing.
Ayuret touching Elathin's horns and getting him distracted in the wrong direction as she goes to hand him a gift, and Elathin just laughing at her antics because he may be blind but he Knows Her lmao. Ethari gets his sense of humor from both parents.
They don't have a name yet. They don't even have a major role in any stories. They are making a cameo in the next Sarai chapter of Long Live The Kings, but they may not even get an in-text name. They just produced such a strong mental image I had to make them.
The sunburst around their eyes should be longer/more dramatic, and I'd like that geometric pattern on their wrists to be on their biceps as well. They're from an outlying town in the Sunfire Kingdom, and consider the Lux Aurean local culture/fashion to be a bit "uptight". They're heavily tattooed for a Sunfire elf (less unusual in their hometown, but it stands out in Lux Aurea) and also tend to wear less layers. They're either ace or pan, there's no in between, come across as flirting a lot but about 80% of the time they're not trying, they're just Like That.
Was a soldier for about ten years, which isn't long for a Sunfire military career. It was enough to get scarred up, to lose the leg, a hand, and a best friend. They moved to Lux Aurea after medical retirement for the advanced prosthetics they could get there, and never left. They take great joy in scandalizing the more reserved Lux Aurean elves with their somewhat more risque personality. They wouldn't really be described as flamboyant so much as suggestive and a bit arrogant. Can be incredibly authoritative, usually comes across as being A Bit Bossy towards their clients. Friendly enough, has no personal trauma with humans. Should also be wearing gold rings on both horns (as that seems to be just a fashion statement among Sunfire elves) but HeroForge doesn't have those.
