Musing and thoughts on Seidric, the Order of Martyrs, and the Visionist “rehabilitation” process (emphasis on quotation marks) :
#self harm tw _ #abuse tw _ #torture tw
Previous devotees to The Order of Martyrs are known to outsiders as “strange”. They’re often quiet or mute, prefer to keep to themselves, and suffer deeply from agoraphobia and social anxiety. This is often misdiagnosed as a result of their lifestyles in the conclaves themselves.
The behaviours are more often a result of trauma during the “rehabilitation” process, which frequently involves physical and psychological abuse (ie: the purposeful infection of self-inflicted wounds, ice-bath therapies, social/sensual deprivation, etc.). The “rehabilitation” of Martyrs during the main timeline is controversial in that, with a population growing more and more dedicated to medical science, the process only boasts around a 50% “success” rate, with most subjects dying as a result of poor mental and/or physical health before reaching the integration process.
Seidric was incredibly social before rehabilitation - the Order encourages an (albeit very flawed) support system where all are considered family, and communication during ritual self-harm is emphasized heavily.
Verbal communication does occur in some communes, but most (including Seidric) communicate through sign language. This is a trait which, depending on the culture and area, is discouraged among puritan Visionists. For Seidric, he was threatened with the removal of his fingers if he did not dedicate himself to learning “the common tongue”. Post-integration, he’s affected severely by agoraphobia and rarely communicates with anyone other than Zachariah (who, for his sake, learns and speak with him through signing), even having Z speak with their clients and patients on his behalf.
***Some of the more experienced and dedicated healers in the order of martyrs -- like Seidric -- may hide very small surgical instruments literally under their skin when faced with captivity and “rehabilitation”.
Seidric, when forcibly housed with Visionist puritans in his first years out of the conclave, could have fashioned himself a sort of hidden pocket of skin with some grafting and patience. I imagine it being on his inner thigh. Certainly somewhere that his “carers” would be reluctant to inspect. Just a little sleeve of slit, but healed skin where he can hide very small scalpels, or a sewing kit. He’s deft enough in surgical ability to create and/or stitch even serious wounds with comically small supplies so...
Off topic design rambles: Seidric has evolved from having very long, almond shaped eyes to being rather bug eyed. His eyes are black, now round, spaced quite far apart, and not very deep set in his skull. His cheeks suck in from tight, contracture scarring after years of annual ritual involving the splitting of cheeks. His lower jaw juts with a subtle underbite. He’s become more haggard since I first designed him, which I love and I’m incredibly comfortable with. He has more character now and I love him
Zachariah quivers, desperately clutching a fistful of Seidric’s robes as he stares into seemingly nothing. A cold sweat trickles down his brow and he trembles. “I see him right before my waking eyes-- I can smell his ruin, taste it on his breath...! Oh heavens, Seidric, make it stop!” He cries. “Make him go away!”
Hello! I need to know - is Seidric an OC? because I felt my heart catch in my throat the moment I saw them, i gotta know more
AAAAAA I AMSo glad you like him dude thank u aw heck
Seidric is indeed an OC of mine, belongs to a cult following a god of masochism so they all practice self-flagellation, and Seidric was raised as one of the cult healers. But his convent was ran through (worship of their pantheon is technically illegal in this verse, especially when they worship Seidric’s god), and he winds up working on the surface as a surgeon at my boy Zachariah’s medical practice
Seid’s just lovely and weird, 7ft tall, barely speaks, best surgeon in the country tho people get spooked by his passion for guts and stuff
