I'm still brainstorming, but a Swap AU of a sorts in Imperium. If anyone wants to take this one for art or fanfic writing or whatnot, by all means, go ahead. I have enough story ideas as it is. But I HAVE to get this out because my brain is throwing ingredients into a pot and calling it Good Soup.
So d(a)emons are sort of the privileged beings instead of vampires. They get special pardons and excuses, some can be as cruel or kind as they want. In fact, they're part of the reason why the empowered will be so frowned against. Because magic use punches holes through and damages the Meridian, d(a)emons successfully warned against it, and also stick around Elegy to ensure that magic use is kept to a minimum.
However, that grew from "Taking measures of precaution" to "Empowered people will destroy us all." So some see empowered as Free Game. Considered a plague on the human plane.
And the praise of d(a)emons being basically the saviors put on a pedestal and given special rights, and people both empowered and not want to be charges. Meanwhile some others become charges against their will. Either way, the only way to be safe as an empowered person is to either have your threads cut, or become a charge.
Maybe the conflict, instead of magic use weakening the Meridian, is that d(a)emons have become too careless and stopped paying attention to the Soverigns, and the Soverigns themselves are feasting on the Meridian? Or the lack of magic use also had negative affects?I dunno. This is still a new idea.
Meanwhile, vampires are discriminated against. On top of being a different kind of empowered than the norm, they also have to physically feed on people, draining a life force to survive. They're seen as almost nothing but parasites.
Because of the comparisons I've seen before, Vincent/Lovely will swap with Gavin/Freelancer.
Gavin partnered with Caelum (unlike Vincent and Adam, there's nothing sexual or romantic) to get food. Caelum calms people down, Gavin gives people an escape, those people are happy, and the pleasure they got feeds Gavin, while the joy the human feels afterwards feeds Caelum. Gavin gets greedy and wants people on tap, people who are always "willing." Which is something Caelum is against. And Freelancer comes around wanting to be a charge. And there are 1 of 3 ways this can go. 1.) Gavin wants them on tap. Caelum is against it and goes against him. Gavin kills Caelum. Freelancer deals with it because it gives them some safety from the entire rest of the world. 2.) Caelum snaps and gathers the very little violent energy he has in him to kill Gavin, and becomes over protective of Freelancer to the point of keeping them locked up, but still treating them with care. 3, and this is if you want to add at least a little softness.) Gavin and Caelum both accept Freelancer, who gets too scared to go out into the world again, and accepts their fate as a locked up charge.
Remember how it was briefly mentioned that Vincent was desperate enough for companionship that he went to Adam? Ya. Like that. Except Adam takes pride in trying to create an army. Think like Victoria's newborn army in Twilight. Trying to "stick it to the Imperium," is what he'll say. Really, he doesn't fucking care. He just wants food, power and control. And he keeps the desperate lonely Vincent on a tight leash to have help. So when a human whose blood smells absolutely divine crosses their paths, Adam debates just drinking all of their blood instead of turning them. Vincent says he hasn't had a proper meal in forever and talks Adam into granting him the one human, when really he sees them as a means of escape. And we get a classic "Vincent ripping Adam's head off." Of course, there's also the issue of the other people Adam had turned. So when he mentions hearing about a sanctuary for vamps, he doesn't just think of it for himself, but for these other vampires who were mostly turned against their will. Of course, turns out that sanctuary was a fucking lie.
Instead of an empowered person ruling and keeping their unempowered lover by their side, instead it will be an unempowered person and their empowered family. Which is to say, King Aaron, and his younger adopted brother Elliot. And Elliot can be like a duke, or a war general. Aaron doesn't care what people say, his brother is smart, is his brother no matter the blood or powers, and he's keeping Elliot as his right hand man. Maybe the only reason empowered people only get as treated as "well" as they do now is because Aaron tweaked as much as he could without inciting a revolution, maybe holds just a slight grudge for everything Elliot being empowered put him and his parents through. But Elliot is NOT happy with the way things are, and tries to join on the revolution...and then Aaron has him executed. (If some things seem ooc even for an evil version, apologies. I only know Aaron from The Balance and from a bit of his playlist).
Still trying to figure out how shifters would be treated. If I don't think of anything and someone wants to pick this up and try to figure it out, go for it. All I have on my mind is the Shaw pack become sort of a small rebellion.
And let me open the gates to this. Kody, Blake, and...was it James? I forget the third member of their crew. But Kody who willingly works for d(a)emons because it gives him a sense of control, and he gets like a sort of guard job. But Blake, too. Blake being new...vampire Bestie...they accidentally somehow end up at the Meridian unharmed...
Basically Blake becomes a vessel again. Imagine how different the Soverigns might be in this version.
Back to the whole thing of the false sanctuary, it has Vincent, Alexis, and Sam, along with some of those vampires Vincent had led to there. Maybe Fred and Bright, even? And they're all in there trying to make plans. Um...who would take Lasko's place? Maybe Kody can be more than just a guard, but also running shit? Oh my gods, Lovely and Kody interacting sounds horrifying. Especially if Lovely is still a latent-
THAT'S IT, THEIR POWER AWAKENING MOMENT WILL BE WHEN THEY'RE TRYING TO GET INFO, LOCKED IN A ROOM, KODY USES HIS WATER POWERS TO CONTROL THEIR BLOOD, AND IT AWAKENS THEIR CORE
And near the end, Vincent and Lovely agreeing to run away together and try to live in peace 😭
Well, I feel I squeezed all the milk out of this utter that I could. If someone else has a good cow they can also use to add milk to this bucket, go right ahead.
