approx. 400 AA
(Glavni timeline)
approx: 640 AA
(global timeline)
(due to the Faewildes' space-time distortions, timelines across countries are neither linear nor consistent)
(features tAR spoilers)
Gene: [in his eighties; has been busy carrying out Magic's work]
Gene : [… and recently, it's found him in one of Water's regions, digging up details about its history and magical artifacts.]
Gene: [head low, eyes on the ground as he thinks… but very much 'keeping an eye' on his surroundings through his aura]
Gene : [and, miraculously, not running into a single person despite being in a crowd. They always find one excuse or another to move out of his way, giving him his well-deserved and much needed space]
Gene: [except… finds his feet stalling—coming to a stop—as he was going to go past a building]
Gene:
Gene: [hesitates, heart twisting, as he tears his eyes from the ground to look at the building]
Gene: [skims the title painted across the side {some cliché, punny bar name}]
Gene:
Gene: [throat swelling, clenches his jaw and tightens his hands into fists]
Gene: [scans the area around him, where people continue to walk around him absentmindedly—completely ignoring him, and yet giving him a wide berth because he's magically hiding himself, but emitting vibes of "don't walk here" to get himself personal space]
Gene: [sighs slowly, looking back to the bar's doors… and heading inside]
Bar: [almost an entirely different vibe the moment he opened the door. One that got all the worse as he stepped inside, chewing his lip and eyes immediately finding the powerful soul seemingly minding its own business, sipping at a drink while sat at the bar]
Bar: [incredibly loud, way too hot from overcrowding, and overwhelming—]
Gene: [but just anxiously adjusts his earmuffs on his head as he magically muffles the sound of the area directly around him]
Gene: [—and makes his way to the bar!]
Zenebe: [as Gene approaches, spins in his seat to grin at him—but very subtly tense]
Gene: as if I couldn't notice, [he thought, almost wanting to roll his eyes]
Zenebe: "hey! You're Gene, right?—It's been a while!" 😉
Gene: [stops, surprised, a few feet away from him]
Gene: [glances away for a moment before meeting Zenebe's eyes again]
Gene: (hesitantly) "you… remember me?"
Zenebe: [face flickers ever-so-slightly—so quickly that even Gene almost missed it—but quickly returns his charming grin to full force, lifting a hand to rest his cheek against his knuckles!]
Zenebe: (voice light and amused) "of course I do! How could I ever forget?" 😉
Gene:
Gene: [fighting the urge to roll his eyes, sighs slightly as he shifts his satchel into his lap, slips his cane into his essence, and sits down beside him]
Gene: [mirrors Zenebe's position, meeting his eyes with quirked eyebrows]
Gene: (slightly sarcastically) "because it was only a few times. And the last time, I'm pretty sure you wanted to kill me."
Zenebe:
Zenebe: [visible confusion flashing across his face and eyebrows furrowing, glances away as he clearly struggles to remember—]
Gene: [sighs slowly, turning away from Zenebe to dig into his bag; defeatedly) "literally or metaphorically. Sorry, sometimes I forget how seriously avatars take that stuff."
Zenebe: [hesitates, frowning and eyebrows furrowing further as he scans Gene's face, struggling to recognize him]
Gene: [draws a sketchbook and pen from his bag, immediately settling to sketching the bar in front of him]
Zenebe: he really is familiar, so why am I—?
Zenebe: (suddenly) "Oh!"
Gene: [looks at him, still half-hunched over his sketchbook]
Zenebe: [grinning a bit more genuinely, the tension in his shoulders slowly disappearing]
Zenebe: (voice warm and slightly amused) "I remember you now—you're Gene, that abstract Tazin brought around, like, 30, 40 years ago? But not Order's." [waves dismissively] "Some family business."
Gene: like I didn't notice you eyeing my cane… >:/
Gene: [offers a dry smile] "you got it."
Gene: [lets out a slow sigh, tearing his eyes from Zenebe to return to drawing]
Gene: … why did I even come in here. Of course he doesn't care to see me. I'm some random avatar he doesn't even know… he expected a fight from me. [Remembering how tense Zenebe was] … even though I explicitly came in peace… >:|
Zenebe: [runs his hand over his hair as he watches Gene awkwardly, admittedly a little guilty—]
Zenebe: (awkwardly) "you know… I didn't want to kill you."
Gene:
Gene: [turns as little as he has to to meet Zenebe's eyes, an eyebrow quirked slightly] :|
Zenebe: [sighs, but offers an apologetic grin as he curls a hand around his jaw… and cradles his drink with his other. Can't exactly keep his eyes on Gene's, though he tries to]
Zenebe: (voice still awkward, and slightly strangled) "it was a really bad time, and I couldn't really—but yeah, that's on me. Sorry to have acted that way."
Gene: [evenly, fighting the soft smile that wants to come to his lips]
Gene: (voice light, almost sounding absentminded) "it's over now. Decades ago."
Zenebe: [chuckles slightly, though it's obviously forced to Gene]
Zenebe: (faux-amusedly, an edge to his voice) "ahhh, yeah. That's how it goes, isn't it?"
Gene:
Gene: [just silent, filling in more lines in his drawing]
Zenebe:
Zenebe: [awkward, but watches Gene draw for a second as he sips his drink]
Zenebe: [after setting his drink down, awkwardly) "… so, you're an avatar now?" [knows it's true. Asking how.]
Gene: [not looking at him; dismissively) "yeah… for about…"
Gene: [pauses, looking at the ceiling as he does the math]
Gene: [and glances to Zenebe for a moment—and only a moment—as he answers matter-of-factly) "thirty-four years now."
Gene: [then back to sketching!]
Zenebe:
Zenebe: [watching him; voice genuine and sad) "I'm sorry to hear that."
Gene: [freezes, caught off-guard]
Gene:
Gene: [hesitantly looks over to Zenebe]
Zenebe: [yep, watching him with a compassionate, sad look as he sips his drink again]
Gene:
Gene: [tears his eyes from Zenebe's to stare blankly at his drawing]
Gene: [bitterly] "… better than being dead."
Zenebe: [grins darkly, fighting a snarl] "ah. So that's how they got you."
Gene: [half-scoffs, half-laughs in agreement, only giving a slight nod as he shades the bar] "they never mention 'the death clause' when you sign the agreement."
Zenebe: [grins bitterly] "don't they?"
Gene:
Gene: [spares him a glance, eyebrows furrowed] "what do you mean?"
Zenebe: [waves his hand slightly, face half-hidden behind his glass as he prepares to take a drink]
Zenebe: (dismissively) "you know. In the fine print. It's definitely in there somewhere. Everything is. They just make sure you don't read it."
Zenebe: [and finishes off his drink!]
Gene:
Gene: [face flashes between uncertainty, anger, and… defeat.]
Gene: [finally looks down at his art again]
Gene: (exhaustion and sadness leaking into his voice) "… I was seven when I signed my first one."
Zenebe:
Zenebe: [bitter smile] "… same."
Gene:
Gene: [fighting biting his lip, glances over to meet Zenebe's eyes again]
Zenebe: [wide, bitter smile!… his own exhaustion visible for once]
Gene: [gives a hesitant, slow nod… understanding]
Both: [silent]
Gene: [awkwardly looks away again, staring down at his drawing... although he isn't really looking at it]
Gene: (voice quiet, unable to help it) "… sometimes, I think I was always doomed to end up like this."
Zenebe:
Zenebe: [gives a slight, dark smile as he puts his elbows out, lays his cheek against his arms, and watches Gene's face]
Gene: [uncomfortable, but… not going to mention it. Just carefully controls his expression as he returns to drawing]
Zenebe: (voice bitterly amused, but genuinely curious) "what do you mean?"
Gene:
Gene: [awkwardly spares Zenebe a glance, but quickly drops his eyes back to his drawing; matter-of-factly) "… as an avatar."
Gene: (voice going bitter) "no matter what I did… I was going to end up here. Zhrizn—"
Zenebe: [pauses, genuinely startled to hear Gene say his god's name so easily, but stays silent, simply observing]
Gene: "—stacked up a lot of favors from me when I was young, before I could know any better… and then, when I died, came up to me all—" [rolls his eyes, but actually accidentally magically distorts his voice to sound like Zhrizn's… and says sarcastically, even mimicking Zhrizn's mannerisms) "—'it's time for you to pay up, Yevgeniy. Oh! Looks like you're dead! I know how we can fix this.'"
Zenebe: [admittedly very amused with Gene's imitation, though he has no idea how accurate it is—]
Gene: [face twisted in anger, gripping his pen like a knife… and one he wished he could jab into Zhrizn's eye—]
Gene:
Gene: [suddenly blinks in surprise and looks to Zenebe, remembering where he is—]
Zenebe: [gives a dark, bitter grin]
Zenebe: [starts taking a deep breath and about to respond, but—]
Gene: [tears his eyes away to stare at his drawing, forcing himself to continue shading it]
Gene: (defeatedly) "but… it was going to happen regardless… if I died of old age, or to something else. Or…" [gives a broken uneven, sharp laugh] "—I guess I really didn't even need to die at all. He just wanted me to need him—so I had no room to argue with him on the terms."
Gene: [stares blankly at the drawing, eyes unfocusing as he starts to space out]
Gene: (ruefully) "… at any moment since I was young, he could've roped me into that. I had so many favors—"
Zenebe: [lets out a heavy sigh, sitting up and stretching an arm over his back]
Gene: [and quickly looks to him as he does—]
Zenebe: [gives him a wide, bitter grin as they lock eyes… and stretches his other arm as he says) "listen, kid. With your blood? That family you were born to? There was no way you'd escape your life without becoming an avatar. Too many gods want access to that sweet, sweet chaos magic." >;'D
Gene:
Gene: [face twists—]
Gene: [sighs, turning away and burying his face in his arm]
Gene: [wants to mumble, but actually raises his voice slightly so Zenebe can hear him) "… I know."
(part 1/?)
(prob ~4 or 5 lol)
ALSO, LOOK!
IT'S @the-letterbox-archives'S BOYS!
also-also, istg I gave Zenebe a last name, but I can't find it anywhere... >:/
Also I'm a bit curious about the "avatars" you mentioned. If you want to lore dump I'd love to hear it
For context, this is referring this ask game!
23. Are they loyal? Do their superiors trust them to go off on their own and come back, or are they kept on a tight leash?
There's technically two different, opposite answers for this question. It depends on when in his life I'm answering for Abdiel, with his answer completely flipping on its head with a certain incident...
However, I'll go with the version of his character that is my favorite, and that takes up a majority of his life!
AND OH, BUDDY, IS THAT A RESOUNDING:
“NO!”
Though there's major nuance to the whole situation, but I'll get into that shortly, haha.
I'll go more in-depth at the end of the post, but for now I'll give a quick explanation: avatars are the agents of gods. As far as the public is concerned, they're “physical representations of the gods”, but they're still individuals with their own thoughts and feelings. They just carry out the will(s) of the god(s) they work for, and thus personally carry the same authority as the god themself would.
... so you'd better do exactly as the avatar says, or risk pissing off their master.
Abdiel is an avatar of the Existential of Order—the very existence of Order given consciousness. She's been given many names and had many interpretations throughout history, but her most well-known is Veritheya: the Savior Goddess.
In the early years of the Reborn World (*cough cough* FAERIE'S DAWN *cough cough*), she helped human civilizations survive the brutal conditions of the Faewildes and eventually worked with another Existential to begin healing the world.
So, of course, the Existential of Order is seen as a benevolent, loving, and kind woman who does all she can to aid humanity.
Abdiel knows of her as a bitch he would do anything to escape.
In Abdiel's early years, he saw Order as someone deserving of respect, worship, and love. He saw her as his mother.
Because she was.
But Abdiel was turned into a weapon to fight other avatars for territory and privileges within the Existential War.
Due to the fact that Order, his handler and god, was literally a goddess who existed just about everywhere, always, it's literally impossible for Abdiel to truly escape her. No matter what he does, she will always be able to find him... eventually.
But the Existentials have rules in how they play their game, the Existential War. They cannot teleport their avatars in or out of other gods' territories without the reigning god's permission, for one. So he can run into and hide out in another's territory for a time... until she's gotten impatient enough to send someone after, or wager with the local god to retrieve him.
But he knows better than to push her that far.
They cannot hurt or harm an avatar that does not “belong” to them, for another. And an avatar can be bought, sold, or hand themselves over to another god... so he could trade himself to another god to escape her.
Except, then he's still enslaved an avatar. While Order was one of the top Existentials. She was petty, and, of all people, Abdiel knew how long she could hold a grudge.
If he left her, she'd pit her avatars after him until he'd killed them all, he died, or...
... he found himself face-to-face with ones he could not fight.
His family.
Her family.
Order's other avatars.
Order has dozens of avatars, and half of them are his full siblings. Another fourth of them were at least half siblings, nephlings, or descendants of them. There were far too many of them for anyone to be able to take them all in. Not without owing Order a high price. One nobody would want to pay.
But Abdiel would never abandon his family.
So he can never truly escape.
Except... he doesn't need to escape to ruin her plans.
He doesn't need to escape to sabotage her, pretend he's unable to do what she asks, or refuse to humor her entirely.
Abdiel is kept on a tight leash for his rebellious nature, his hatred for Order, his hatred for the Existential War in general, and his overall obvious desire to find any and all ways to mitigate Order's control on his family.
Order keeps a close eye on him for signs of rebellion, and if he acts too out-of-pocket for her liking...
Well...
He knows what she'll do to him.
NOW THAT I'VE GOTTEN ALL THAT OUT OF THE WAY— ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
As I mentioned earlier, avatars are the agents of gods.
Or... that's how they're portrayed to the general public.
In reality, avatars are essentially slaves. Most are born to the god they are indebted to, trained and conditioned to need them, and quickly trapped into a life under their thumb... with no real way to escape their control.
They're gods, after all.
Even if they die, the gods themselves have a way to bring them back.
Although, there's a rule against that...
... so long as they die in the Existential War.
So the only way to escape is to die within it.
And, well... the only ones willing to do that have already done it.
So those remaining... well...
They're stuck.
AND THAT'S A GOOD AMOUNT OF CONTEXT FOR THE AVATARS RUNNING AROUND IN THE BACKGROUND OF MY STORIES!!! :DDD
The Existential War spans the millennia that separates the many, many titles i will be writing for the next several years... and hopefully even beyond that.
Unlike other wips, the Existential War is something closer to a setting than a story—it is the game the Existential Gods are playing with the world. Through their immortal avatars, they manipulate all of humanity along their whims, trying to see who between them can take over the entire world.
... while falling in-line with their majority-agreed-upon 'rules'.
probably.
Zenebe: [vaguely waves a hand in the air, his elbow in the other's hand, and rolls his eyes as he paces and dismissively explains) "Well! Long story short, there's a bunch of gods called the Existentials—they're the Existences of stuff, yadda yadda yadda, {Water} is Water. A long time ago, the Existentials put their heads together and decided it would be a really great idea for them to play chess with a bunch of us lowly, lowly mortals. So!"
Zenebe: [stops, turning to face Louise with a wide grin and a clap of his hands, which he then points at her. With hints of anger underlying his expression and in his otherwise-amused voice:) "They play a game of 'who has how much, and if I have the most, I'm the best' by having us lowly mortals fight each other to claim them territory, and get them even more lowly mortals—"
Mitzie: [has been standing off to the side, listening silently with a scowl and her arms crossed. Finally, turns a sharp look onto him and interrupts:) "Zenebe, cut to the chase."
Mitzie: [turns to meet Louise's eyes instead; voice harsh, but matter-of-fact) "we're avatars. That means, basically, we have to do what a god says. Since we're {Water's} avatars, we have to listen to {Water}."
Zenebe: [offers her a smirk, but turns a much more serious look onto Louise]
Zenebe: (dryly, hints of tension in his voice) "right. What she said."
THEME SONG:
I'm still living in a knife fight
Living like a bad guy
Can't stand what I look like
I keep praying like a saint
Believing it'll change me
But the voices won't leave
I see the tunnel full of light again
I never reach it and it's getting dim
I feel the darkness try to pull me in
It just won't end
It's sinking in my skin
I'm stuck in a war
I️ am broken and torn
Dividing my head and my heart
Between the good and the evil
God and the devil
Demons and angels
They're tearing me apart
(...)
I keep begging for these bad things
Living out my dark dreams
Don't you try to save me
I'm just looking for forgiveness
Someone who can end this
Can I get a witness
It's good for my flesh
It ain't good for my soul
I want it to stop
But I got no control
(reminder: these characters are spread across many stories, each with variable relevance between them. their roles are significant within the war itself. in other words, only a few of them exist per named story—maximum.)
(the trainer avatars are those tasked to train many of the other avatars owned by the same god. due to this role, they often have a lot of influence over their mentees... whether positive or negative.)
EXISTENTIAL RANKINGS:
THE "TOP DOGS":
♛ Order
♛ Storm
♛ Fire
THE "SLEEPING BEARS":
♝ Fate
♝ Magic
♜ Air
♜ Cold
THE UNDERDOGS:
♞ Dark
♞ Earth
♞ Water
NONCONTENDERS:
♚ Death
♚ Chaos (comatose)
ADDITIONAL INFO:
♙ this is not a singular story. it is a collection of many stories, mostly disconnected besides following the individual characters. there will be individual "novellas" pulled out of the existential war/avatar nonsense most often encapsulating their early years or certain important events
♙ there are many HEAVY subjects within these stories, with miscellaneous content warnings varying across each. while i will be listing all of them (i can think of) here, they are not necessarily universal across the novellas
♙ there WILL be deaths. this is magic-war.
♙ most are concentrated in the early existiwar
♙ the early years are especially brutal
♙ avatars from different gods aren't... kind to one another.
♙ despite the deep trauma involved in all this, there IS a planned (and never-going-to-change) ending to the existential war. those who know of the ending say it is a good ending
♙ what that means will not be shared at this time :>
♙ some of the oldest avatars are alive from 20 AA to the very end of the existential war (approx 1000 AA). by nature of the progression of humanity, this will see a variable level of "technology" (read: magitech) across the stories.
♙ being as the avatars are all immortals, they inherently run on a MUCH longer time scale than us. 3 years might feel closer to 5 months, for example
♙ timelines will be displayed along with scenes
♙ HIGH HIGH HIGH AF FANTASY
♙ sometimes even WITH the weed!
♙ i mean wut
♙ MAJORLY action-filled
♙ i mean they're literally at magic-war
♙ includes:
♙ allegories. SO MANY allegories
♙ ex: 90% of avatars are bio kids of the god
♙ like it ain't even subtle
♙ gays. so many gays.
♙ they're all queer
♙ neurodiversity
♙ especially:
♙ autism & ADHD
♙ PTSD
♙ anxiety, depression, &—
♙ racial/cultural diversity
♙ gods exist across the whole world
♙ avatars are born within or adopt cultures
♙ also most are POC.
♙ like over 50%
♙ 25% of the rest aren't even human
CONTENT WARNINGS:
♙ parental issues
♙ as i said, it's allegorical
♙ avatars are LITERALLY slaves
♙ and most are the bio kids of the god(s)
♙ i don't think it's hard lol
♙ neglect, abuse, exploitation, parentification
♙ general abuse, exploitation, and struggles
♙ again, the avatars are literal glorified slaves
♙ addiction
♙ drugs
♙ both "normal" (alcohol, weed) and "hard"
♙ gambling
♙ sex
♙ sex is openly talked about and implied, but will never be shown. fade to black in this hizzouse!
♙ sexual themes will be included in cws
♙ (both in tags and prior to scene)
♙ SA implied and mentioned
♙ NEVER openly displayed
On a similar note, I'm answering these questions from Abdiel approximately around the time of tAR. 😄
(also these are from this ask game)
1. What is their weapon of choice? (Or do they prefer fighting barehanded?)
Fisticuffs! Abdiel very much prefers using his fists in a fight, but he's extremely competent with shortswords and daggers as well! Regardless of his plans or lack thereof for the day, he's always got a few daggers (and parrying daggers) at his belt... and within his essence pocket.
4. Do they groom themselves? What details about their appearance are chosen by other people?
He does the absolute minimum grooming to not feel like trash... physically. He already emotionally feels like trash, so he can't really fix that.
Although he or many of his family members could magically remove them, Abdiel is forbidden from removing specific scars on his arms and legs... which he claims to have gotten from broken bones.
Still, he covered up his arms with tattoos of flowers, and hasn't had them forcibly (magically) removed. So that's a win!
5. How obedient are they? Are they defiant or more compliant?
I don't know... why don't you check out this ask? 🙂
14. Do they have a favorite food? How often do they have it?
Abdiel's favorite dish is moqueca, though he'd next to never have it.
The only person who ever made it right was Victor, and, well...
... he doesn't really get to see him.
17. Do they have a squick in their job? Something that bugs them (like blood under their nails) or pisses them off?
Inefficiency, sloppiness, and laziness—both from himself and others. He gets extremely salty whenever he feels others aren't taking things seriously, especially when he's trying to be nice.
Take that for granted, and Abdiel isn't likely to let you take anything for granted ever again.
20. Do they have survival skills? If they are on their own, can they find food, take care of themselves?
Absolutely! Like just about every single avatar, Abdiel is a pro at surviving in the wilderness and rough conditions. He almost always carries around a backpack full of clothes, survival equipment, and general supplies—even if he's just wandering around town.
24. What makes them relaxed?
The beach, surfing, and Victor.
29. Can they endure torture? Is there a method that immediately breaks them? Are they good torturers?
He's extremely good at enduring torture... or, all except for one.
Abdiel is terrified of isolation, and will almost immediately crumble if held in solitary confinement... especially if it's combined with darkness, bindings, and/or magic restraints.
He'd be good at torture, but hardly proud of it. Mostly, he'd play with psychological tactics and wait out anyone he needed to... convince.
