#teres

[living-at-walgreens]

Immortality as a metaphor for being unable to move on and an inability to change, my beloved.

[living-at-walgreens]

The Astral Keys and Mechanus are both core components to running the universe.

Mechanus has been called the "breaker box" or "control panel" of the planescape. Primus is able to manipulate the law of physics and makes sure everything is running the way it should. Artificers learn how to manipulate matter and build mechanisms from Mechanus and how it functions, the traditions kept there. Even in civil war, Primus does their best to keep the structure of reality in tact.

So where does the Astral Keys come in?

Where Mechanus is the breaker box, the Astral Keys are the electricity, the wiring, the switches. A book written at the start of the universe in a language only beings born in the era of its creation can read, the Astral Keys contain the codes to reality itself: the nephrons, every plane, and every person. When the nephrons were stolen, Teres was able to get his hands on it to produce his blade. However, the book follows no real laws but its own. It traveled across every plane, falling into the hands of many.

With the Astral Keys (and nephrons), Platysma plans on becoming the Astral Witch. A failsafe at the end of the book allowing someone of intense magical ability to make themselves a creature beyond gods, beyond eldritch beings. Beyond time and space. A creature who can recreate the entire world and reset it in case it is ever destroyed.

So while Mechanus tweaks and changes the present laws, the Astral Keys can flip everything on its head instantly, altering the state of the universe.

[living-at-walgreens]

Teres started the first wars literally ever between every world, and then immediately upon getting out of jail for that, he decides to start a million more for shits and gigs.

[living-at-walgreens]

Iliopsoas dyes her hair in order to separate herself from Teres and more importantly, Lady of Pain's perception of her as a clone of Teres, becoming her own individual (the only thing she's ever wanted to truly become).

[living-at-walgreens]

13, 23, 29

13. …has a different native language than you

Rio Akiyama is my Guatemalan-Japanese JJK oc from a while ago. He's multilingual in Spanish, Japanese, and in an indigenous Mayan language (plus English but that doesn't count for this question).

23. .…tends to hog up a lot of space in your brain

Raymond... Teres... the blorbos.... To be fair though, these fall into ttrpg characters in some way which has been a long-standing love of mine. I doubt they're leaving my brain anytime soon. They better start paying rent.

29. .…is grieving.

I think the better question is which oc of mine is NOT grieving. However, I'll talk about my very "first" (I made a bunch in childhood but I'm talking fandom level middle school oc time). Amber Reid, cousin to Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. She lost her parents in a plane crash and now lives with Spencer grieving their loss. The only reason she wasn't on the plane with them was because she was home sick with the flu. Been a long time since I've thought about her...

[living-at-walgreens]

It's really fun actually, every iteration of Teres, any version past or present, is symbolic of a different unhealthy coping strategy. He literally represents unhealthy habits and coping strategies, both within himself and how others treated him. Amazing.

[living-at-walgreens]

Tell me about the boss. What horrors do they wish to commit? Do they have a tragic backstory? Or are they evil for the fun of it? Are they even evil and actually misunderstood?

Hehehehe I'ma take this as asking about my beloved boyfailure Teres. This will be fun...

What horrors do they wish to commit?

Teres wants to turn the entire world - planes and all - into pain.

This dream started back when he was an apprentice to the Lady of Pain, a goddess of torment. Now, she isn't an evil goddess or anything, she represents pain as cleansing, as a sign of eventual healing. That doesn't mean Teres understood that.

Teres, driven by the power pain had given him, decided he was going to steal the "nephrons", the barriers into other planes. At the time, the material plane, inner planes, outer planes, etc, weren't so separated and distinct - they ebbed and flowed into each other. Really, they were one plane, with just some paper between them you could easily walk through.

He succeeded. War broke out. The planes separated. Teres took the chaos to make Lymphs, souls of people turned into fleshy monsters of rot, disease, and fear.

It looked as if his dream would come true until his old master and chosen warriors from each of the planes - the Forged Family of Fire - came to stop him, sealing him in the new city of Sigil. Sigil, where all the nephrons now reside, powered by Teres himself.

Do they have a tragic backstory?

Yes and no. Teres lived a pretty nice life. Son to loving, working parents, in a warless world.

But, he killed them, his parents, making himself an orphan. Why did he kill his parents, you may ask? Because he wanted to. That's it. He felt like it. That should have been an early warning sign, but the Lady of Pain found him and took him under her wing. He was found sobbing after all, scared.

Or are they evil for the fun of it? Are they even evil or actually misunderstood?

He's evil, not much to say about it. One could argue he's the one misunderstanding things: the Lady of Pain's teachings, the nephrons, etc. But I also wouldn't say he's doing it for fun either.

It's more he's finally found some goal to put effort into after a life of stagnation. Is the goal good? No, there are flesh people and curses now, but it gave him a spark. A spark he won't stop chasing down until it gives out.

[living-at-walgreens]

Teres Major, Apprentice of Pain.