(Ventuswill is an elf-like creature in this AU, so if you aren't sure who the elf lass with the feathers is, it's her)
Finally finished this. Started this months and months ago.
The Divine Wind Hotel AU features a good portion of the RF4 cast working at a hotel. The remainder of the RF4 cast show up to the hotel as guests. I'll be making another comic (sometime) that actually explains the roles each characters have and shares one extra titbit about the lore of the AU.
I actually have a lot more I'd planned for this post too but I'm already losing steam and I think I can get away with posting the rest later.
(Sorry for the rough anatomy in some of the comics. I really wanted to get these done and I started to trail out in my motivation towards the end there... Tiny arm Dylas exists now and there's nothing I can be bothered to do about it.)
personal dylas design for me and my friends' rf4 au!!! :))
his outfit makes me cry so i just wanted him to resemble thunderbolt & like. a fisher a little bit more. because he is one. yeahhh... more below the cut
Not me having this (and one other thing for this au) sitting around for nearly a month just forgetting to post until I was mostly done with the current picture I'm working on for this au whooooops
Anyways, Rune Factory 4 AU where Ling is the Earthmate protagonist (and transfem because I can). I'll put more au details under the cut! I warn you, though, I am wordy so it's not a short amount of details, yeah? I do hope y'all detail oriented sorts like me will enjoy, though!
As promised...
So, like RF4 canon, the main protagonist (Ling in this case) has memory loss. Her only memories before waking up in front of the Native Dragon Greed is a vague recollection that her name is Ling, she is a girl born some time in spring, and that she was on an airship that some soldiers took over before their threat to push her off to intimidate her into telling them what they wanted instead of 'faking amnesia to make fools out of them' turned into reality. Greed made for a surprisingly cushioned landing, though, so beyond some bruising and confusion, she was fine.
Due to a misunderstanding, Ling's thrust into the position of acting Princess, even after Princess Noah, the actual Princess who was supposed to come and fill that role in the castle (and the lady Ling was mistaken for despite her insistence she was pretty sure she was not, in fact, Princess Noah) actually arrives and chooses to relinquish the position to her so she could have more time for her own pursuits that she's actually passionate about rather than spend that time on 'chores she considers tedious'.
Ling does fully accept the position, but thankfully that doesn't mean she actually has to communicate with the Royal Capital or the Royal Family at all. Noah still handles all of that and neither capital or family are aware of the arrangement. Only the people in town are.
Ling and Greed are quick friends. Mainly because the airs Greed puts on as the 'deity' of town were smashed when Ling fell on him from the sky and his more natural way of speaking came out to make sure she was alive and okay. He is a stickler for keeping them up when others are around for a reason Ling doesn't yet know or understand, but they both enjoy the connection they forge with each other when it's just them.
Ling's body and reflexes still remember being very proficient with long sword class weapons even if she herself doesn't remember why.
As for Ling's outfit... Other than when she's getting ready for bed and putting on pajamas, the cloak only comes off on hot days in the summer. If it's spring, rainy, autumn, or winter, she keeps it on. The belt with the attached skirt panels is something she steps into and pulls on when the ribbons are loose, then she tightens the ribbons once it's where she wants it, and lastly ties the ribbon to keep it comfortably in place. (The skirt is meant to mimic shorter hanfu style skirts like how the dress she wears underneath the cloak and skirt is more based on the qipao/cheongsam)
Another note about her outfit is that there are different colourations to it. Since you unlock the ability to get different colourations of your outfit in game once you reach a certain Princess rank and unlock the clothing store outside of town, I think that still fits here! If I ever draw her in a different colour version of this outfit in future pictures, that's why. (I do have all of them compiled, but since it's basically this picture but with the yellow and white of the cloak and skirt altered I'm not posting them. I will say though that there is an orange, purple, green, pink, and light blue!)
Ling prefers keeping her hair tied back into a ponytail with a ribbon and only takes her hair down for a bath or for bed. Since she also does not like her ponytail strands going all over the place in the wind or when she's running or being active, she uses the other two ribbons to keep it all together.
Beyond Princess duties and gaining the trust and friendship of the town that's now hers, Greed sends Ling to investigate a disturbance in the forest. This is only the beginning of a puzzling journey where monsters turn into humans when defeated, hidden pasts and hidden secrets, with lives, the country, the town, and the state of rune energy in the land on the line...
As for the townsfolk (other than Greed being the Native Dragon, revered as a deity and watchful, protective eye over 'his' town and Noah once she fully moves in...
Alex Armstrong is the head butler of the Castle. Unbeknownst to Ling, the butler title, while one worn proudly and authentically, is a cover up to him being a soldier from the Royal Capital stationed there to protect the town from potential invasion for the country of East Amestris since it's near the border of West Amestris. (because Amestris was split in two after a successful uprising about two decades or so prior to the main story. Whether they are called East and West Amestris is perhaps subject to change depending on my whims.)
Maria Ross and Denny Brosch are the acting 'Dragon Knights' in town. However, they are stationed there for a similar reason to Armstrong, him being their superior officer they report to.
There are technically a few more such as Darius and Heinkel, who work more in the airship docks and carrying heavy deliveries both to and from the airship, and the very sparse visits from Mustang and his subordinates to collect reports in person, but they aren't really important to the story. (Greed is aware of these posts. He agreed to the arrangement with the caveat that they better not make a battlefield out of HIS territory EVER or else)
Rose works as a servant in the Castle, predominantly in charge of meals and cleaning work. She reports to Armstrong. Until a certain villager makes their home in town, she also works part time at the bathhouse and inn.
Sheska is also technically a Castle servant, but she was so bad at meal prep and cleaning due to always getting distracted reading when cleaning the archives/library that Greed decided to just put her in charge of keeping the library tidy and well kept instead. Once Noah moves into town, she also helps Noah organize her papers from business and trade deals in her office, and she and Noah both gain a helper to their tasks eventually.
Dr. Mauro (and yes, it's Dr. Tim Marcoh's alias for a reason, and I'll just say that no, Armstrong does not know him previously or else the alias would not work) is the acting doctor in town. He can treat both humans and monsters, and he eventually gains an assistant from some very strange means.
Izumi and Sig Curtis run the local and very busy restaurant with the help of Mason and later, an unconventional addition to town they take in.
Halling and his son Kyle run the bathhouse and inn, but they're never working at the same time since they're also miners. They become less stretched thin after employing the full time help of an odd newcomer to town.
Garfiel runs the local blacksmith and carpentry shop with his two apprentices, Winry Rockbell as the blacksmith apprentice and Paninya as the carpentry apprentice.
Mr. and Mrs. Havoc (first names yet to be determined) run the local General Store. Russell and Fletcher Tringham live with them in exchange for helping out at the shop.
Gracia runs the local flower shop but is also the landlady for that section of town. Alfons Heidrich lives with her in exchange for helping at the shop, and she's the one who rents the place Noah uses as both her business office and home.
Mei Chang, while not a permanent citizen, visits frequently along with her monster companion Xiao Mei. She's friends with Kyle and helps out Dr. Mauro whenever she's in town. Beyond that, she can tell you what materials were used to enchant your weapon and also sells some of those materials if she has any on hand. (added note that yes, Ling and Mei are still related by sharing a father in this au, however they have never met nor do they know each other's names, so it's not helpful to Ling's memory loss.)
I'll go ahead and put this here since I'm not sure where else I'd put it...
Rather than their being four Native Dragons (or six if you count the two added in RF5), this au has seven Native Dragons, one for each element of magic that's used in RF4. If you guessed the other homunculi fill the rest of the Native Dragon spots, you are correct! However, they are not characters in the story really and this is more for world building purposes. I did, however, put a lot of thought into which of the RF4 elements would fit each of them the best! I wonder what y'all think those elements might be and who they correspond to...
Another thing I decided is that the Native Dragons technically (and I say that very loosely) do not go by their sin name. Technically. Born from not knowing how to make a nickname out of 'Greed', I decided 'Greed' would be the nickname and not the actual title he's referred to by and followed suit for the others.
What I decided for that? Well... mainly based on vibes, it's their corresponding virtue and sin in Latin with either Lord or Lady in front of it. (Greed does not care which, but most tend to use Lord with him, and he doesn't hate that.) Does that make sense as a name? Probably not. Feels very on the nose. Like naming the electricity kid in MHA Kaminari Denki, iykyk. But it's what I've decided on!
Currently, only Ling is allowed to call Greed by nickname. He did try to go more by Greed in the past but... Well... He has his reasons for not doing that anymore. As such, everyone else in town uses his name, albeit it's usually a still shortened form of it because the full thing is too formal and 'stuffy' for him. (Yes, he did choose to use the 'Avaritia' part of the name rather than 'Caritas')
So here's the other picture I've had laying around for the RF4 au for like, a month. My reference for Edward Elric and the Guardian form he is first met in and must be battled in to wake him up.
If you're the detail oriented sort like me, then you're in luck! I'll be sharing more details pertinent to Ed under the cut! I'll warn you here that I am wordy, though. That's why I put au details under a read more.
Details, as promised! A note here is that saying 'you' in these bullet points means I am referring to Ling as the protagonist since she is in the role of the 'player character'.
First off, Ed's guardian form and his boss battle!
Edward's Guardian form is a seven tailed fox monster, with each tail corresponding to the different elements of magic in the game. His monster form is the top picture of the fox form. Those 'auras' around the tails you see in the bottom picture of the fox form is more for reference of which tail corresponds to which elemental energy in a battle and not what it always looks like.
His boss battle is very heavily magic based. When he's about to use a magic attack, the tail that corresponds to that magical element will glow with its aura to hint what type of element he'll be attacking with next.
Elements can be strong, neutral, or weak to each other. When a tail glows, if you attack him with magic that is strong against that magic (think you using water when he's charging up fire) then he will take more damage for the brief time the tail glows before he fires off his magic. If you attack with magic that's weak (you using fire when he's charging up water) then you will do less damage.
This does still count if your weapon has elemental damage to it, but a weapon can only have one elemental damage type to it (if it has one at all. No element always gets you neutral damage here) while you can alternate between the magic you have equipped easier since you can have three equipped at a time.
The center tail corresponds to healing magic. Ed is unable to be poisoned, paralyzed, or sealed (a status effect that prevents magic from being used) since he can always immediately heal it. (There is merit to a strategy that constantly inflicts status effects on him if you have the resources and ability to in order to prevent him from casting his other, offensive or defensive elemental magic as frequently so you can get in close with your sword for a few hits before repeating.)
Ed always starts the battle by activating a barrier using light magic. This barrier is four medium balls of light that circle him to keep close combatants away. The ball of light will disappear when it hits you, dealing a set amount of light element damage to you. (If your weapon and armour/accessories have dark element on them, you will take more damage from these balls of light. However, dark element is also strong against light element, so you would do stronger damage to him whenever he goes to activate that light spell if you're willing to take more damage.)
Ed roars, a tail glows to indicate what magic he's about to use, then if not healing or activating a light barrier: if earth magic, he'll slam a paw into the ground and from it rock spires will stab out of the ground in a line that loosely tracks you for a short distance. If wind magic, he'll swipe at the air with a paw and three sharp blades of wind will spin out from his paw with one straight, one diagonal left, and one diagonal right, does not track and dissipates once it hits the wall behind you. If fire magic, he will spit a fireball in your direction that has an area of effect impact. If water magic, he will form a ball of water in his mouth and shoot a beam of water from it towards you and follow you a few seconds. If dark magic, he swipes a paw and a singular ball of darkness oscillates from left to right across the battleground until it either hits you or the wall behind you.
Ed is not restricted to magic attacks only, but he does favour them. He has a swipe attack with one of his front paws, as well as a bite attack. He won't use these as often in the first phase, but they'll always do neutral damage.
Once he's taken a set amount of damage, he enters his second phase. He uses his physical attacks more often and with increased speed (that also applies to his magic attacks). In addition to swiping and biting, he adds a lunge to his physical attacks to close the distance fast before chaining into either a bite or a swipe.
A tactic he will employ is getting in close and close the distance from you by using his lunge move before swiping to knock you down then immediately going to activate his light barrier to catch you in it. This light barrier for second phase has seven smaller and faster moving balls of light. It's dangerous if he catches you in a tight spot with this, especially if you're using anything with dark element.
After Ed's been awakened from his Guardian post, as well as some details about Ed prior to his being linked to the Rune Spot in the Xerxes Karnak...
Ed retains the fox ears, fox tails, and rune markings on his body as well as having a more claw shape to his right fingers and left foot.
Yes, his tails in human form do still have the same aura effect that happened in his Guardian form when he's about to cast one of his magics, however he casts them using hand signs now, no longer spitting fireballs or concentrated beams of water.
The rune markings on Ed's right arm and up to his knee on his left leg cause tingling/prickling sensations near constantly in those portions of his limbs on a spectrum of mild tingling/numbness to intense nerve pain.
The markings on the base of his tail don't get nerve pain but can have tingling/prickling sensations there. The more 'tingly' they feel, the more Ed will flick around his tails to get rid of the tingly feeling in them.
The ones on his face and the 'bands' around his wrists and ankles do not tingle or cause nerve pains.
While Ed is proficient in magic attacks, he is not proficient with a magic staff as a weapon because the amount of rune energy he has from being a Guardian is too much for magic staffs to channel, thus he always breaks them. Ed's actual most proficient weapon is the spear!
After Main Plot happens, Ed is taken in by Izumi and Sig, lives with them, and assists in their restaurant at first as a waiter but with some training also a cook. On the side, he sometimes helps Noah translate old documents if they're written in Xerxian.
If you have the proper materials, he can upgrade your magic to higher levels. Max level for magic is level 10 (and most you buy or find is at level 1), however the materials get increasingly harder and more difficult to find the more you want to level up your spells.
Ed mostly keeps it to himself, but he does struggle the most of the Guardians to adjust to life after waking up. Because things are so different and everything he knew other than Greed is long gone, he sometimes feels like he's in a dream.
(It doesn't help that Alfons Heidrich has vague resemblance in places to Ed's long gone little brother. There are, of course, many differences between the two and they have no relation to each other whatsoever, but enough is adjacent that Ed refuses to call him by Alfons or Al like everybody else, calling him Heidrich and then eventually Hei.)
When not working with the Curtises, assisting Noah, or adventuring with you, he is more often than not found in the archives/library. Due to Main Plot reasons, Ed's the only Guardian for a little while who visits with Greed during the day.
Ed is the only one among the Guardians who has seen Greed's human form. They met when Ed was 18 and Greed was using his human form, and the two ended up forming a close and rather intimate relationship with each other. He had no idea Greed was a Native Dragon until a few years later, when the rune energy of the land began its rapid decline and caused Greed to struggle to maintain the human form he preferred using to sneak away from his post until he could no longer shift into it.
(Greed manifested a human form due to his fascination and love for humans and decided walking among them as one of them would satisfy him. However, the state of the land's rune energy means he no longer has the proper energy to do it. Perhaps he'd be able to build up enough one day thanks to the Rune Spheres replacing the Guardians in the rune spots...)
While Ed was the first to be linked to a rune spot (and the one who coined the term Guardian), he was the Guardian linked to the land the youngest, being somewhere around 23-24. Unlike the other Guardians, he had an extra motive for it beyond 'protecting' Greed: the Earthmates were talking about linking Alphonse to the nearby rune spot because he was the one who attracted rune energy the best out of everyone in Xerxes. To prevent his little brother from setting aside his passions in life for a cause he had no tie to, Ed volunteered himself for the role instead, and since he also attracted rune energy better than most others, the Earthmates agreed.
Ed isn't awkward with Greed, but he's uncertain about some things both because he doesn't know where things stand between them now and because he thinks Ling and Greed have something like what Ed and Greed had prior to Ed's sealing going on. Whether or not Ed's conclusion is accurate or whether Ling truly understands the position she has with Greed, Ed also doesn't know, but he's not willing to poke at it.
Some miscellaneous notes surrounding the other Guardians (because I only have some very haphazard sketches and notes for designs right now)
The other Guardians are Dolcetto, Martel, and Roa. In chronological order of sealing, it was Ed, Martel, Roa, then Dolcetto. The order you find them is Dolcetto, Martel, Roa, Ed.
Ed was sealed in the heart of Xerxes and what eventually became the Xerxes Karnak, Martel was sealed in the Aquroya Ruins, Roa was sealed in the heart of the Obsidian Caves, and Dolcetto was sealed in Yock Forest. They all volunteered to be sealed away to protect Greed.
Probably not hard to guess, but Dolcetto was a dog/wolf monster, Martel was a large water snake, and Roa was a bull/ox. Dolcetto gets taken in by Dr. Mauro, Martel works at Halling's inn and bathhouse, and Roa assists Sheska and Armstrong (as of right now, at least. Maybe subject to change based on my whims.)
The amount of rune markings they have and features from their monster they keep once awakened is dependent on how long they were linked to their rune spot.
They all have the bands around the wrists and ankles, though. Those bands represent the 'bands' that linked them into the rune spot and 'held' their energy there.
Essentially, the human was put into 'slumber' when the Earthmates linked them to the rune spot and over time, that link of two energies manifested a monster out of them to 'guard' the position. The longer they were sealed, the more the monster grew.
(If you're wondering where Bido is, he got to live a long and healthy life after sharing a friendship with Greed when he was in town. Left town to become a big city doctor at Greed's urging, and he was the last friend Greed had between Dolcetto and Ling.)
Yeah, it's me the person who posted this hours ago and deleted it without thinking.
Anyway, have an Arthur to celebrate RF5 releasing this month (March 25th for me)
Featuring Margaret! Hotel/Semi-Modern AU.
Here I am with more content from my Hotel AU which I deleted almost all past content for because I'm dumb (EDIT: apparently I didn't delete it lol)
More in read more!
It takes a long time for news to reach the sleepy town of Selphia. By the time the staff of the Divine Wind Hotel staff heard the news that one of the princes of Norad had gone missing they were already too distracted by the sudden hiring of a new CFO.
(Yes, it took three years to get there... When I said news comes slowly I said it for a reason)
Leon is the only one who seems to realise the missing prince and the new hire seem to share a first name.
For extra context:
Dylas works at the restaurant attached to the hotel, which is of course run by Porcoline.
Arthur is a recent hire and he has the position of financial officer of the hotel, and by extension the restaurant.
Xiao Pai is the assistant manager of the hotel.
Leon has no official title nor job description and he doesn't even seem to actually work in any way.
He just showed up one day at Lady Ventuswill's request and people still aren't entirely sure what he is doing here.
This art is old, I drew it back in October. It originally had two more panels which I never finished. I scrapped them recently so that I could finally post this, sorry if the comic makes less sense :( ...
