Presenting the Cormorant Spear! This spear is one of the main weapons of a group of Rito who live in Holoryna, a nation to the north of Hyrule in my fic series The Realm Walker. These Rito live on the Crescent Islands, alongside Zora, Tokay, and Gorons. [The Crescent Islands are not shown on the map in the link, but they're near the strait that leads to and from the Inner Sea.]
Technically the weapon is more of a glaive or halberd...
Anywho... you may notice the odd yellow tint of the spear's head. That's because it's made of an alloy of steel and a unique, corrosion resistant metal used by the Zora, which has a gold color. (Like the jewelry worn by Yona and her aides in TotK, in my fic this region is where they're from.)
A couple images to show how big this thing is.
This was, without a doubt, the hardest/most time consuming part of this build, the decorative ribbons on the shaft. I wanted to establish a cultural distinction between Holorynan Rito and Hyrulian Rito, so rather than having the color stripes found on Rito Arms be horizontal, I decided to make them diagonal.
These are cords of fabric, the color of which can vary from smith to smith, or based on a warrior's preference if a piece is commissioned. For this particular spear the ribbons were placed in the following order: red, dark blue, green, yellow, purple, and finally white.
The buttcap at the bottom of the spear is usually adorned with feathers. Most warriors will use their own feathers, but some use the feathers of family/friends/loved ones.
The feathers on this spear came from a Rito OC named Sarli. He's pretty much a cross between a Great Blue Heron, and a Tricolored Heron (plumage of a great blue heron w/ eyes, beak, and yellow face of a tricolored heron). His outfit is more or less like Penn's but with a metal breastplate like on Teba's outfit (though again, it's a slightly yellow color like the spear's metal bits). [In my fic, Penn is also originally from this region BTW.]
Thinking about how in BotW/TotK you can straight up eat a meal/switch weapons/change clothes while paragliding or swimming or climbing, etc.
Now so far in my fic I've been more realistic about things. And while Link's probably only changed his outfit like three times over two fics, I got to thinking, what if when he gets Rauru's arm I just say Zonai magic lets him snap his fingers and change clothes/weapons instantly? IDK I think it might be funny...
(I've already written that his inventory is being handled by the Sheikah Slate. It just dematerializes his stuff and stores it, like a pattern buffer from Star Trek. [Probably partly inspired by other BotW fics, maybe inspired by the Elite Force Star Trek games, but seasons 3-5 of Discovery (which take place in the 32nd century, like 1,000 years after the first two seasons and like 800 years after the end of VOY) actually has personal pattern buffers to store stuff. And maybe personal replicators making their phasers.].)
Announcing the release of Elsewhere, a side fic for my LoZ fic series The Realm Walker! (Or a Side Adventure if you wanna use game terms for a fic based on a video game...)
This fic is a companion to The Ballad of Kass, starting some time after the events of chapter 7 and continuing until... chapter 23 or so (TBoK's still a WIP so we'll see).
Summary
While Guardians stir and monsters become more bold in Hyrule, outside the cursed land's borders it has been relatively peaceful until now. A group of Rito Warriors will put their lives on the line for the sake of people who might not do the same were the situation reversed.
This started as a chapter of TBoK focused on one of my MANY Rito OC's, Virli (who you may know from TBoK as Kalia's (Kass' sister) fiancee).
Tags & Such
Mature, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rito OC's galore, Not Canon Compliant, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury and Violence and Gore, Action, Profanity, Specific Warnings in Chapter Notes, Pining, Background F/F & M/M Relationships, References to Homophobia, Character Death.
Thought I'd share some behind the scenes details for my LoZ fic series, The Realm Walker. As the title suggest, I'm going to talk about how I'm handling certain BotW game mechanics in the fic series.
First up food & elixirs.
Some foods have different effects for different LoZ races. For example:
All the biolumincent ingredients that make stealth boosting food instead recover magic for Twili. (This also means that TotK's Glowing ingredients make bonus magic foods.)
Since Rito are birbs and birbs lack capsaicin receptors, Spicy Peppers do not provide cold resistance for them. However, they have natural cold tolerance anyway (but reduced heat tolerance).
Sizzlefin Trout provide better cold resistance for Zora than say Spicy Peppers would (or maybe they can't eat spicy peppers?). (I guess that begs the question of Zora can even eat non-seafood... I mean we know they eat fish raw. And that one guy was eating raw crabs and that freaked out Bazz. Hm...)
Rito and Zora need stronger fireproof elixirs than Hylians, which requires collecting preen glands from Hotfeather Pigeons and Eldin Ostriches.
Gems can be used in different ways by different races, although so far the only thing I've really nailed down is that opals can be used to help Zora avoid dehydration.
Clothing Upgrades
So cause the Champions are still alive, there needs to be new rewards to replace Link getting their weapons. So this has boiled down in some instances to Your Reward is Clothes, although that's mostly stuff for the Champions and not Link... Anywho, this means that the Champions get some new outfits, and get to upgrade their old ones.
However, each Champion has to make their own rupee offering to the Great Fairies.
Don't have a full upgrade list yet, but I do have one for their Champion Garbs. So Link's still requires dragon horns (Farosh, Naydra, then Dinraal's). Mipha, Daruk, and Urbosa are different though, requiring different dragon parts based on element.
He needs parts from all the dragons in the same order as Link's Champion Tunic. Fun coincidence isn't that? And yes, him needing dragon scales is a Wind Waker reference (the Rito needed a scale from Valoo to gain their wings in that game). (And Dinraal is like Valoo's great great (great?) granddaughter, just FYI...)
And yeah they all still need Silent Princess flowers, it has long been my headcanon that the Royal Family Blue color was made using Silent Princesses and I think I saw that one of the Voice Memories in the Switch 2 version confirmed that.
Are the Champions going to get copies of all of Link's outfits? Don't know yet. Urbosa will likely get a Snowquill Set* while Mipha's getting a unique winter and desert weather garb. I don't know about the more unique outfits that were found in the Shrines yet...
*Huck is, shall we say, "mammal curious" and has a habit of "accidentally" brushing his feathers against Hylian women's skin when taking their measurements for clothing cause he likes hearing them giggle. (Well the first time was probably honestly an accident...) Let's see how that plays out with Urbosa... >:3
Talked about A and B here, and here's three more polearms for the Bahreyo (Bah-reoh) Alliance. You may notice the different colors on the shafts of the new weapons, that's because the nations of the Alliance paint their weapons with their colors. A & B are used by Yosikun's (Yosikun) Imperial Army, while C, D, and E are used by Gorai (Go-ray), a nation primarily inhabited by Ketons (hybridizing the OoT/MM and Minish Cap appearance so humanoid foxes with three tails). So without further ado, here's more details on the new polearms.
"Curved Bladed Polearm"
Standard issue polearm used by Gorai forces. The blade is designed for anti-cavalry use in addition to mid range fighting. The blunt buttcap is designed for to give the weapon a blunt end for combating armored opponents and Stal monsters in The Dreadlands.
"Staff Spear"
Technically not a spear but whateves... This weapon is designed to give mages a method of physical defense and non-mages an edge in magic use.
Closeup of the blade.
Closeups of the magic rod end. Based on the magic rods used by the Wizal of Boegukai (Bo-goo-kai) with the addition of smaller gems that allow the user to select one of four elements for their attacks. (Link for the magic rods offers more explanation on which gems offer which elements.)
"Hook Trident"
Okay so maybe not an actual trident but close enough... This one is loosely inspired by the dangpa of Korea.
Me writing 20 steps ahead of where I should be writing Monday!
So exactly ten days ago today I posted a little fic snippet of the TotK branch of my fic series The Realm Walker that focused on Link doing a Dorothy impression and chatting to some Zonai. What's Zelda and the Gang up to you wonder? Well you can click that read more link to find out! Note there are spoilers for The Ballad of Kass and Shifting Tides of Fate. Click here for @3leggedmagpie's awesome art of my disaster birb Rinili (who shows up in the fic segment below). It's around 4.6k words of WIP-y goodness.
A group of seven Rito fly high above Central Hyrule, higher than most Rito usually fly, in a chevron formation like migrating birds. In the lead, of course, is the one and only Rito Champion, Master Revali. To his right is an orange-red plumed warrior with a Falcon Bow. The warrior looks to be about Revaliâs height, but with a much shorter crest and a pluma, what Hylians confuse for hair, tied into a single braid that branches into four smaller braids at the end, with a sky blue feather tied into the left most branch.
This warrior is a woman of the Cristatta (Cris-tat-ta) Tribe, the same Tribe as Master Revali. Women of his tribe lack the tufts the men do and the side braids that Rito of other Tribes have. To her right is a brown plumed Rito of the Accipi Tribe, distinguished by their sharply hooked, hawk like beaks. Behind this individual is a Rito with sky-blue plumage and parrot-like face and a spear. The lack of crest on this Arini Tribe individualâs head indicates that she is a woman. She also happens to have a pin behind her left eye with a single orange-red feather attached.
To his Revaliâs left is an Orni Tribe man with sand colored plumage, a bandanna around his head, and a small backpack. Behind him is another parrot-like, sky-blue plumed Rito, with an accordion strapped to his back, the Loresinger Kass. Behind him is a Rito with ornamental tail feathers with long thin quills. The plumage on his upper body is midnight blue, while the plumage on his legs is powder blue. He has a pair of axes at his hips and a large wooden club with a variety of metal spikes and hooks strapped to his back.
Revaliâs group finally approaches their target, a large landmass hovering high above Hyrule, like something out of the Tale of the Hero of the Skies. A Sky Island! This one is the largest of the Sky Islands to appear over Hyrule. Ever since they appeared, the Rito have been making flights to investigate, however; their efforts have been impeded by the presence of hostile machines on the islands.
They fly high above the island, much of it covered in the strange yellow grass and trees that all the Sky Islands seem to have. There are a number of large and small bodies of water as well, complete with waterfalls flowing off the island and into the air. Oddly, the east side of the island is covered in snow. But the most interesting thing is the very large, peculiarly shaped stone structure at the north end of the island. From above it almost looks like a rectangle but with two protruding rounded sides and two indented rounded sides.
He spots what appears to be the entrance, a large flat area with several ruined staircases over a lake. Itâs as good a place as any to set down. He lets out a cry, letting his wingwoman know to descend with him while the others remain above. As they close in on the structure, one of the machines comes into view. Itâs armed with a sword and a shield. Before it spots them Revali unslings his bow and catches it in his talons. He drops into firing position and lets loose an arrow.
THWIP!
The arrow sails effortlessly through the air and strikes dead center in the red glowing spot on the machineâs head! It falls apart!
A quick scan of the surface reveals another machine nearby. It doesnât appear to be armed, and is of a slightly different construction than the hostile ones. Itâs sitting by a fireâŚ
Revali calls to his compatriots, âKass, Kalia, Rinili, Isili! Use Purahâs contraptions and circle the island!â
Kass, his sister, the Warrior with the ornamental tail feathers, and the Accipi Woman split up and beginning circling the island with the devices Purah gave them in their talons. Sheâs been working on a way to map the Sky Islands since they appeared, and she claims these devices will do that. Testing them is part of the reason theyâre here today.
He calls out again, âBillson, Virli, follow me.â
He dives and his wingwoman and the bandanna wearing man follow after him. After a moment they set down on the stone platform. Billson takes off his backpack and sets it down.
âCover me,â Revali says and Virli nods and readies her bow.
Revali unhooks his Sheikah Slate and unfolds it. He scrolls through itâs menus until he finds what heâs looking for, the Portable Travel Gate Robbie gave him. He selects it and it materializes on the ground in front of them in strands of painfully bright electric blue light.
They had found one of these in a chamber in the Lomei Labyrinth island in the Akkala Sea, unfortunately that little knight had it with him when he disappeared. But luckily Robbie had managed to finish his duplicate of it before they set out on this little trip. Hereâs hoping the thing actually worksâŚ
He switches to his Slateâs map. Itâs blank except for the Travel Gate. At least itâs registering it.
Kass and the others set their devices down and land. Revali taps at his screen and it displays a message.
Syncing with Portable Mapping Units⌠Please waitâŚ
He sighs, âRinili, go check on that machine we saw not that far from here. It looked like one of the ones in ruins beneath the village but Iâd rather be safe than sorry.â
Rinili nods and heads off, opting to simply jump and glide from the stone platform to the area below instead of properly taking off. His wings and flight muscles are sore from the flight up here.
He approaches the machine cautiously and crouches a distance away from it. Itâs just sitting by a campfire. Suddenly it tosses something next to the fire, some kind of mushroom. It watches as the mushroom is toasted and removes it before it burns up. Why would it be toasting mushrooms? They donât eat do they?
Suddenly it turns its head towards him and beeps inquisitively. Then it⌠waves him over to it?
Rinili gets up and walks towards the machine, one wing behind his back ready to unsling his Harpy Maquahuitl at the first sign of danger.
When he gets close to the machine...
âHello.â
It suddenly chirps in Rito! Although, itâs an old dialect and he canât make out much more than the greeting.
He replies, âYou know our tongue?!â
It tilts his head and beeps a few times before chirping back, âYes.â
â Meanwhile â
Revali materializes on the Portable Travel Gate, returning from the outpost built around the Sacred Ground Ruins where he was named Champion all those years ago. His trip was for two purposes, first to make sure this thing would work and second to update the other Championsâ maps. Once whole, he steps off the device and opens the Mail Rune on his Slate and sends a message to Daruk. A moment later Daruk materializes with four Hylians.
To Darukâs left is a dark haired man with green eyes and wearing a light purple tunic with long sleeves, fingerless leather gloves, brown trousers, and boots with metal pads on on the toes. To his left is a man with a mustache and goatee wearing a Soldierâs Helm, red cloth armor over a white tunic and dark blue trousers. Hoz, one of the soldiers who used to guard the East Akkala Stable.
To Darukâs right is a brown haired, yellow-eyed man with a mustache wearing a worn down piece of Soldierâs Armor. Revali spotted this man around the Tabantha Bridge Stable during his travels with Link and the other Champions, though he canât remember his name at the moment. To his right is a woman with green eyes and light brown hair wearing a red tunic with white armor pads. Flaxel, he remembers helping her find her companions who had gotten split up while in Gerudo Canyon.
These four have volunteered to join the newly formed Monster-Control Crew, and are apparently part of the leadership of said group. They spread out and Daruk heads towards the edge of the platform.
He scratches the back of his head and says, âLooks like I wonât be going anywhere for a while. Guess Iâll stay behind and keep everyone safe.â
While Daruk materializes supplies from his Slate, Revali taps out another message, this time to Urbosa. A moment later she materializes at the Travel Gate with six others. Three are Gerudo warriors, one is a Gerudo woman wearing standard Gerudo garb, and two Hylian men.
The Gerudo civilian looks around at everything awestruck for a moment before heading over to the door to the structure. The three warriors head after her. Revali canât remember her name, but sheâs some kind of scholar.
One of the Hylians is familiar, name ends in sonâŚ
Karson! Thatâs it. One of those construction workers working for that guy who set up Tarrey Town, Hudson. To think there would be so many people with âsonâ in their names⌠Heâs been supervising the construction of Lookout Landing and thatâs probably why Princess Zelda requested him for this trip.
The other one also works for Hudson Construction, judging by his outfit. Heâs got green eyes and a large brown hairdo.
They move away from the Travel Gate and Karson starts giving his cohorts instructions while Urbosa materializes more supplies from her Slate. Revali sends a message to Mipha.
Mipha arrives with four Zora and two Hylian men. One of them is another Hudson Construction employee, with purple hair and blue eyes. The other has green hair and gray eyes and is wearing a pink tunic. Apparently heâs the chef at Lookout LandingâŚ
He recognizes one of the Zora, Laflat the chief secretary for the Zora royal family. Sheâs conversing with one of the men about something. He has orange scales and based on what theyâre saying heâs some kind of scholar. The other two Zora are warriors, one a purple scaled woman and the other a pink scaled man.
Once again they move off the Travel Gate and Mipha materializes some supplies. Billson and the Hudson Construction crew have already set up a few tents. They work fastâŚ
Revali taps out a message to the princess and a moment later she materializes with six more people. He recognizes Robbie of course, and that peculiar man Tauro. He had shown up to investigate the chamber beneath Torikirika, and the one deep beneath that one. The Princess has seen fit to make him the leader of the Zonai Survey Team.
He doesnât recognize the other four though: a gray haired man wearing glasses, a man wearing a beret with a feather in it, a woman with brown hair and green eyes, and a woman with black hair and blue eyes. All members of the Zonai Survey Team given their outfits.
Zeldaâs wearing the same type of outfit she used to wear before the Calamity, although now sheâs got a modified Hylian Hood to go with it. She also has her Bow of Light and a Royal Broadsword they dug out of that little knightâs messy pile of weapons in his houseâs storage shed.
Sheâs better with the bow than the sword, but sheâs learning quickly, or so Urbosa tells him. Unfortunately her powers are still weakened from holding back the Calamity for a century. She canât imbue her arrows with light magic. Right now the Bow of Light is just an overly decorative regular bow, but sheâs rejected his offers of a quality Falcon Bow.
Wings flapping above catch their attention and Rinili lands. Revali asks, âWell?â
Rinili replies, âIt spoke our language, or at least an old dialect of it.â
Kass asks, âOh really? Which one?â
Rinili shrugs, âI have no idea, Iâm a Warrior not a linguist. Itâs roasting mushrooms.â
Revali crosses his wings, âWhy? Surely those things donât eat.â
Mipha chimes in, âThat odd device Link found could be recharged by depositing various materials in it.â
âHm. Thatâs true, but why bother roasting them?â
Wortsworth chimes in, âWhy donât we ask it?â
Zeldaâs eyes light up, âA good idea.â
Revali warns, âWeâve spotted a number of the hostile machines on this island. We should clear the area before you make the attempt.â
âRevali Iâm not sure thatâs wise. If we can communicate with them then perhaps we wonât need to fight.â
Rinili adds his two rupees, âIf your highness is going to talk to that thing, then Iâd recommend taking some back up. I spotted a few hostile machines in the forest to the south while it was talking.â
Zelda nods, âVery well. Wortsworth, Kass letâs attempt to talk to the machine. Urbosa, Mipha, Pinoa, and Resco will come with us.â
Robbie comments, âHm⌠In that case Iâll help Ifumo with examining the door to this structure.â
Wortsworth adds, âSila go with him.â
The brown haired Zonai Survey Team member replies, âOkay!â
Karson orders his workers to head out for supplies, and Billson offers his assistance. Kalia and Virli agree to escort Billson and aid him in bring back supplies. Burmano begins setting up a cooking pot, while Tauro, Calip, and Cori begin examining the decayed machines around their camp.
Zelda and her group heads towards the machine. Zelda opts to leap from the platform and use her new paraglider to glide to the ground. Itâs similar to the one Link used, with a slightly different pattern on it and a couple streamers attached. One of Kassâ daughterâs ideas, Revali forgets which one proposed the idea. Urbosa and Mipha too opt for gliding. Resco, the pink scaled Zora, and Pinoa, the purple scaled Zora, jump into the water below and swim to shore. Kass generously offers Wortsworth a ride so the man doesnât get wet.
Revali and Rinili opt to scout around the island. He uses his Gale to launch himself skyward and Rinili makes use of the whirlwind to do the same before it dissipates.
Zeldaâs group approaches the machine, itâs body resembles the ones they found beneath Torikirika. However those were inactive, and had condensed their bodies down. This one is active. Itâs components spread out and held together by pale blue-green energy. It reminds her a little of drawings of the Ancient Robots mentioned in the Tale of the Hero of the Skies. It notices them and beeps a few times before speaking a greeting.
Wortsworthâs eyes go wide, âT-thatâs Ancient Hyrulean!â
Kassâ eyes go wide as well, âYou mean the language spoken at the time of The First Calamity?!â
Zelda remarks, âThe Zonai disappeared from Hyrule around the same time if I remember correctly. So it makes sense that their creations would speak that language. I wonder if this machine has been operating all that time.â
Urbosa asks, âDo you know what it said?â
Wortsworth replies, âBut of course! It said that it hasnât received any visitors for a long time and that weâre welcome to warm ourselves by the fire.â
Zelda takes the machine up on itâs offer and Wortsworth and Kass follow suit. The others stand.
Zelda is practically vibrating with excitement and says, âAsk it what itâs doing.â
Wortsworth translates Zeldaâs question, and the machine replies.
âItâs roasting ingredients and invites us to do the same.â
âDoes it eat?â
âNo. It says it has heard that roasting ingredients enhances the flavor.â
Mipha asks, âWhy would it roast ingredients if it doesnât eat?â
âIt says that is itâs task.â
Urbosa remarks, âSo itâs just following old commands?â
âThat would appear to be the case.â
Zelda says, âAsk it where itâs creators are.â
The machine beeps a few times before saying, âThey left a long time ago.â
Kass squawks, âYou can speak modern Hyrulean?â
âI can now,â the machine replies, âMy language programming is designed to be adaptive. I analyzed your speech and compared it to what was in my memory banks, allowing me to speak your language.â
Zelda asks, âWhere did your creators go?â
âI do not know where those who made us went.â
âMy name is Zelda, this is Wortsworth, Kass, Urbosa, Mipha, Resco, and Pinoa. Do you have a name?â
âI am Steward Construct J-732-P-98.â
âSteward Construct?â
âYes. We were built as caretaker and general purpose units.â
âAre there others like you here?â
âThere are several Steward Constructs that tend to the Garden of Time. Each one has different tasks.â
Urbosa asks, âWhat about the armed ones?â
âThose are Soldier Constructs or Captain Constructs, they were build to defend our lands.â
Kass asks, âFrom monsters?â
âFrom any and all trespassers.â
âCan we talk to them? Convince them we mean no harm?â
âI am afraid not. Only a Zonai can change their instructions.â
Mipha comments, âOur Rito friends have spotted larger machines on the some of the Sky Islands. Are they constructs too?â
The Steward Construct nods, âYes, they are called Flux Constructs. They are very powerful and used to guard our most sensitive areas.â
Zelda asks, âAre their other types of Constructs?â
âThere were plans for a mid-sized model larger than Steward Constructs but smaller than Flux Constructs. However, I do not think any were ever completed.â
Suddenly Zeldaâs Purah Pad beeps! Sheâs received a message from Daruk!
Hey Princess! Tauro says heâs found something you should take a look at!
Zelda remarks, âWe should go see what heâs found.â
Zelda says good-bye to the Construct and uses the Fast Travel function to return everyone to camp.
â Meanwhile â
Revali flies high above the eastern part of the Sky Island. He notes the snow covered landscape. His fellow Rito wonât have a problem, and Urobsa, Mipha, and Princess Zelda all have cold weather clothing. The rest of the team however will have to fix warm meals. He supposes he could spare some Spicy Peppers.
Although that wonât help with the ice covered cliff faces. Urbosa, Mipha, and the Princess could use his Gale to get around that particular obstacle. His Slate suddenly chimes, heâs received a message via the Mail Rune.
He swoops down and perches on the trunk of long dead, hollowed out old tree overlooking a structure with three peculiar grooves on the floor. There are strange green objects scattered around the groves shaped like birds. Thereâs also one of those machines near a large device. A blue orb that appears to be filled with some kind of objects.
The machine hasnât spotted him so he looks at his Slate. He mutters to himself, âSo theyâve found something. Guess I should head back.â
He takes off again and heads back to camp.
Approaching camp, he spotâs Princess Zeldaâs group materializing at the Travel Gate. They walk towards the door to the structure and he lands near them.
Princess Zelda asks, âWhat did you find Tauro?â
Tauro excitedly replies, âIâve translated the text on the door!â
Revali queries, âWhat does it say?â
âOnly those with the three powers may open the way.â
Revali raises an eyebrow, âThree powers?â
Princess Zelda approaches the door and suddenly a glyph appears in front of it. Just like the ones those machines beneath the Village were projecting. She attempts to touch it and suddenly tree circular indents light up with glyphs: a red hand shape, a blue sword shape with a halo around the tip of the blade, and a stick figure surrounded by pale green light coming from the center of a circular shape. One by one red lines cross the glyphs and a loud buzzing sound rings out each time. Finally the large glyph turns red.
Revali remarks, âWell I guess that means you donât have these âthree powersâ the inscription is talking about.â
Urbosa elbows him in the wing hard and he squawks.
Princess Zelda remarks, âThese three smaller glyphs must represent the âpowersâ the message on the door speaks of.â
âMaybe those stone structures with the glowing rings have something to do with it?â
Revali turns his head to find the source of the voice. Rinili stands behind them. He didnât even hear him land! Although, stealth is something Ryski (Rye-ski) Warriors excel atâŚ
Calip adds his two rupees, âThereâs one not that far from here.â
Indeed, the closest one is to the west. A large stone object shaped similar to a flower bulb, surrounded by a stone ring. A swirling light hovers above it, light blue near the stone and gradually turning to green as it drifts upward.
Robbie chimes in, âYou know, that kind looks like the structures we found underneath the Ancient Sheikah shrines weâve been taking apart.â
Revali adds, âWeâve spotted similar structures on some of the other Sky Islands. In addition to stone rings without the central fixture.â
Zelda replies, âWe should investigate then, but first we should talk about the Constructs.â
âConstructs?â
âYes, thatâs what those machines are called. The hostile ones are Soldier Constructs and unfortunately we will not be able to reason with them.â
The man with the purple tunic speaks, âI see. We will see to taking them out then.â
Princess Zelda commands, âNo Gralens. I donât want to interfere with this place any more than we have to.â
âThen what should we do?â
Urbosa speaks up, âLittle bird, weâre going to have to take out the ones closest to the camp at least.â
Princess Zelda sighs, âI know, however Iâm ordering all of you to avoid unnecessary combat. Only engage if there is an immediate threat.â
Gralens nods and moves to instruct his troops.
Revali asks, âHow did you find out what those things were called?â
Princess Zelda replies, âThe Steward Construct by the fire told us. It actually learned our language as we were talking!â
Revaliâs crest twitches slightly. It would seem these Constructs are at a similar level of sophistication as the Divine Beasts. Well perhaps less sophisticated, Vah Medoh did learn modern Rito by scanning his mind after allâŚ
Zelda makes her way to the western end of the platform. Revali asks, âWhere are you going?â
She turns to face him and replies, âTo investigate that structure.â
âIâm going with you.â
âVery well, Mipha, Urbosa, you may come along as well. Resco and Pinoa you should help guard the construction teams and researchers.â
They nod and walk off while Wortsworth stays at camp and Kass heads off with Rinili to investigate the landmass floating near the camp.
The Princess, Mipha, and Urbosa glide down to the western shore of the lake while Revali takes to the skies to cover them from above.
They make their way to the structure, and Revali spots another Steward Construct near it. The ring around the central object ends in a pair of creature heads emitting light which makes a glyph like the one at the door and the inactive Constructs beneath the Village. The Construct looks directly at him but doesnât move from itâs spot.
He glances away to find Urbosa and Mipha dispatching some Soldier Constructs. Even from up here he can hear the Princess scold them. Apparently she feels as though she needs to get better at fighting with Link not around. While he admires her tenacity, Hyrule needs her if it is to be rebuilt.
The stairs around the structure are broken in places. Before he can swoop down to offer a lift with his Gale, the Princess starts climbing the structure, grabbing Rushrooms along the way. He smirks, sheâs more like that little knight than she knows.
Finally they reach the last set of unbroken stairs and make their way to the structure and Revali sets down near them. They approach the Construct and it beeps a few times.
The Princess speaks to it, âHello.â
It responds, âHello. It is satisfactory to see a Rito, Zora, Gerudo, and Hylian traveling together.â
Mipha queries, âHow so?â
âHyrule has not always been unified and a great many years have passed since this place was lifted into the sky. It is good to know that the alliance formed by King Rauru is still intact.â
King Rauru⌠Why does that name sound familiar?
Revaliâs crest rises as he remembers. Mipha had drawn a figure that looked like a humanoid goat with three eyes that she had seen in that demonâs memories. Princess Zelda said it was a Zonai, and that the King of Hyrule during The First Calamity was a Zonai named Rauru.
Princess Zelda asks excitedly, âWait. This place was lifted into the Sky?â
The Construct answers, âYes. The Zonai replicated the power used by the Goddess Hylia to create Skyloft. This place was once part of the Great Plateau.â
Princess Zeldaâs eyes go wide and gawks for a moment.
Revali breaks the silence, âHow come you can speak our language? I thought the other Construct took a moment to learn it.â
âMy compatriot transmitted the necessary information to the rest of us on the island.â
Zelda asks, âWhat is your task?â
âTo await one worthy of the Ukouh Shrineâs trial.â
âUkouh Shrine?â
The Construct waves an arm towards the structure, âThis Shrine of Light is the Ukouh Shrine. The Shrines of Light were built to cleanse the land of evil spirits. Inside each shrine is a trial for those worthy. Tell me, what are your names.â
âThis is Revali, Mipha, and Urbosa. My name is Zelda.â
The Construct beeps loudly a few times and raises itâs head. âYour name is Zelda?!â
âYes.â
It extends its hand as it says, âPlease, take my hand.â
Zelda complies while Revali reaches a wing to his bow, just in case this automaton tries anything.
It remarks suddenly, âYes I sense the Power of Light within you. You clearly carry the Blood of the Goddess. However it is⌠weaker than I thought it would be.â
Zelda sighs, âYes I⌠Had to hold back Calamity Ganon for the last 100 yearsâŚâ
âSay no more.â
It detaches an arm guard from itâs body. Itâs the same green and copper color as the Construct, but thereâs a large black section.
It hands it to Zelda and says, âHere, take this and put it on your arm.â
âWhat is it?â
âA device that will allow you to use Zonai powers and technology.â
Before he can even get the warning out of his beak, she puts the arm guard on over her right sleeve. Suddenly a symbol appears on it, a red hand shape!
Princess Zelda remarks, âOne of the three powers!â
The Construct explains, âYes. This is Ultrahand. It allows you to move object freely regardless of their weight. You can also use it to attach different objects together to build whatever you desire.â
Revali asks, âYou wouldnât happen to have more of those would you?â
âI do not. However even if I did it would not be useful to you. Only those with the Power of Light may use this device.â
âTch.â
The Construct points towards the glyph, âZelda, touch the glyph and enter the shrine. Use the power of Ultrahand to complete the trial and receive the shrineâs blessing.â
Well this feels annoyingly familiarâŚ
Urbosa remarks, âI take it the Princess has to do this alone.â
The Construct replies, âYes.â
âBe careful little bird.â
Princess Zelda replies, âI will.â
She touches her hand to the glyph and it disappears. An ethereal green portal materializes on the surface of the central stone. Revali can see some kind of structure inside, with similar architecture as the Zonai ruins on the Sky Islands. Zelda passes through the portal.
Revali unhooks his Slate and materializes a meat skewer, might as well eat while Zeldaâs doing whatever asinine puzzles this shrine will challenge her with.
The machine beeps inquisitively, âWhat is that device you have?â
Ye old directory is getting to be a mess, so here's a new one!
Intro
Hi, I'm TNC-N3Cl, and you've found my blog! I'm a fanfic author and digital artist. My current long-term (named) projects are The Realm Walker, a LoZ saga spanning from 20 years after Wind Waker to 20 years after BotW, and Fate's Final Cycle, an original story set in the Final Fantasy multiverse. I'm pinning this post so it's easier for visitors to find these things cause I reblog a lot of stuff.
Places you can find me
AO3: Where my fics live. (Archive locked, must have an account to view my fics)
Pillowfort: I post art here as well as Tumblr.
Cara: I don't use it much, but art goes here too.
Dreamwidth: Plan on posting lore rambles here.
DeviantArt: More or less my art archive.
Main Project Links
The Realm Walker Masterpost: Everything about The Realm Walker! Announcement thread with fic links, links to arts, links to lore!
Fate's Final Cycle Masterpost: Everything about Fate's Final Cycle! Fic snippets! Arts! Announcement thread with fic links!
Untitled Resident Evil Fanfic Project: Evil Company Lab Floor Plan | Evil Company Lab B1F Floor Plan | Evil Company Lab, Building Mockup Update | KARC, Dorms 1F WIP (Update) | KARC, Dorms 2F&3F WIP | KARC, Dorms B1F&B2F WIP | Margrave Island Map WIP
Untitled Scifi/Fantasy Original Universe Project: Avestren Languages (Alphabets) (Old Art) | Writing Snippet | Scoreasi Lore Dump (w/ art)
Art Archives
Star Trek: Gorn Togor-class Heavy Battle Cruiser | Borg Ships Art Dump
Stargate: Sakarran (Original Stargate Aliens) Tech & Stuff Art Dump
Misc
Fic Rec thread: A post for fanfic and fancomics I'm recommending. Mostly LoZ fics. There are Explicit fics at the end of the list so if you're not into that stop reading at the warning. Feel free to reblog it with your own recommendations! [Updated List | Updated List 2]
Finally making the final update to the Yiga Spear I posted previously. (First WIP, Second WIP)
So I went with the "murder pineapple" buttcap design, and gave it a name, Oniyari. But the big thing is this!
When Yiga teleport, they do hand motions and nine Hylian letters appear in a circle around them. So for this spear, I decided to engrave them into the weapon itself, but with Sheikah letters.
Closeup of one of the letters.
So this spear is used by a Yiga OC that's kind of a BotW version of Agahnim from A Link to the Past. If Sooga is the "Right Hand of the Inverted Eye", then the guy who uses this spear is the Left Hand. The spear doubles as a magic staff thanks to the magic crystals dangling from the head. In particular the wielder uses attacks similar to Agahnim's (lightning bolts, energy balls, energy balls that break into smaller energy balls), firing them from the hole in the center of the spear head.
He'll also stab you with it, or hit you upside the head with the big mace buttcap, whatever works...
