The Garden That Burned

Hi there! I'm TailorOfFates, I go by TOF for short. - She/her - Writer - Eccentric worldbuilder - lover of tea and twinkies. This blog is dedicated to The Garden, which is a world created for a dark fantasy book series and WIP Tabletop RPG. Here we discuss lore about the world, worldbuilding tips, creature creation, writing tips, and sometimes we even chat about anxiety because let's face it... Anxiety sucks.

[tailoroffates]

About this blog...

This blog was made to tell fantasy stories and talk about the struggles of anxiety, be it minor or severe. The majority of what you'll see here will likely be the former, however, there will also be posts about tips for those who struggle with anxiety as well. To find these posts search for the tag. "Anxiety tips."

Anything else you need to know about this blog is below, so if you're interested read on. :D

In a world once used as a battleground by the divines, the Guardians of the Mortal Plane banded several ancient races together to place a multidimensional lock on the gateway linking all realms. The gods were physically sealed within their own realms, and the mortals were left to pick up the pieces.

During the War of Gods, the divines fought as titans. Massive deities kicked holes through mountains, splashed the sea onto the mainland, and devastated mortals throughout the Mortal Plane. Two races went extinct, and the continents were left forever changed.

Centuries later, the threat of a second coming arises when the lock securing the Omni Gate begins to crack, however, the world is divided. It's up to Danny, the last Guardian, and their friends to ally the armies of divided races before the lock on the Omni Gate breaks.

Meet the protagonists! (or at least the ones I've had time to draw :P)

This is the main party of protagonists in The Garden That Burned series in the year 6276 TN.

I intend to release 3 different book series based in the same world in order to tell the full story. Though the timelines of the stories told will vary. The series will be released in the following order:

The Garden That Burned - The second coming of the War of Gods. I'll be releasing 5 books in this series. The first is in its final editing process right now and the second has already been started. I originally intended to release 3 books in the TGTB series, but it turns out I'm way too overopinionated to have only 3, so... Yeah...

The Rise & Fall - This series will be about the rise and fall of the Guardians . You'll learn why they broke apart and sneaky, hidden secrets about the next series. I hope to release 3 books in the TRAF series, but I only wanted three in TGTB and it ended up 5 books, so I don't know guys. I just don't know :P

Eldergenesis - This series can't be elaborated on right now because y'all haven't read the first two series and this one has spoilers :O This one will likely be 5 books. EG will tie all three series together.

My dream is to share my stories and one day make enough funds to create a fully immersive, open-world RPG PC game. Then I could actually be a part of the world I tailored :D

Closing Comments

If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to ask me about it.

[luna-azzurra]

Some tips for using a few words to describe voices:

1. Tone Words: Use tone words to convey the emotional quality of a voice. For example, you can describe a voice as "melodic," "soothing," "sharp," "gentle," or "commanding" to give readers a sense of the tone.

2. Pitch and Range: Mention the pitch and range of the voice. Is it "deep," "high-pitched," "raspy," or "full-bodied"? This can provide insight into the character's age, gender, or emotional state.

3. Accent and Diction: Describe the character's accent or diction briefly to give a sense of their background or cultural influences. For instance, "British-accented," "Southern drawl," or "formal."

4. Volume: Mention the volume of the voice, whether it's "whispering," "booming," "murmuring," or "hushed."

5. Quality: Use terms like "velvet," "silken," "gravelly," "honeyed," or "crisp" to convey the texture or quality of the voice.

6. Rate of Speech: Describe how fast or slow the character speaks, using words like "rapid," "slurred," "measured," or "rambling."

7. Mood or Emotion: Indicate the mood or emotion carried by the voice. For example, a "quivering" voice may convey fear or anxiety, while a "warm" voice may express comfort and reassurance.

8. Resonance: Describe the resonance of the voice, such as "echoing," "nasal," "booming," or "tinny."

9. Timbre: Mention the timbre of the voice, using words like "rich," "thin," "clear," or "smoky."

10. Cadence: Highlight the rhythm or cadence of speech with descriptors like "staccato," "lilting," "rhythmic," or "halting."

11. Intonation: Convey the character's intonation by saying their voice is "sarcastic," "apologetic," "confident," or "questioning."

12. Vocal Characteristics: If applicable, mention unique vocal characteristics, like a "lisp," "stutter," "drawl," or "accented 'r'."

[tailoroffates]

Last Line Tag Game

I was tagged forever ago by @amewinterswriting and @doublegoblin, so here it goes. I'll be using a snippet from The Garden That Burned - book 1, Kindling.

POV = Dual

In hindsight, I definitely should have geared up before going head-to-head with the General of the Cosmos wars, but at least I got what I came for. I thought to myself as I looked toward the windows. It was already almost dawn, meaning I had quite a bit of work set out for me before I could arrive at the desired location at midnight with all the ingredients needed to perform my ritual under the light of two full moons. The ideal time to release the scariest Soulmancer Eden has ever known.

Here's a polite, non-obligatory tag for @toribookworm22, @words-after-midnight, @winterandwords, and @talesofsorrowandofruin.

As always, I hope your days to come are blessed to be the best! <3

[tailoroffates]

Happy STS! Let's talk about secrets. Do your characters or world have them? Are they considered a good thing or bad? Who in your cast is most likely to spill one? ♥️

Yes... The amount of secrets in my world could be a book on their own. There's even a god of secrecy called the Unnamed god, and he's incredibly powerful due to the fact that not only is the world full of them, but even his name is a secret. So I'm not going to get into that, or we'll be here all day. Halfway through my book, the POV splits between my protagonist party and my antagonist party. Character-wise, I'll share that instead.

Protagonists - Only Freitza would spill the beans, but it's not because she doesn't care about other people's privacy. It's moreso because she doesn't have a filter and says the first thing that comes to her mind.

Antagonists -There are two from this group. Magnus - He would tell a secret for sure, but he'd do so because he knows the Unnamed god and would never intentionally grant him more power. Alternatively, he's seen the damage that the wrong secret could cause. He compares secrets to ghosts. No matter how well the secret (or murder) was covered up, the ghost will always find a way to haunt you. As an experienced Soulmancer, he deals with the dead enough as is. So when asked if he'll keep a secret, he politely tells whoever is asking not to tell him. Vox - Vox is an absolute antagonist. He'll share it just to see those trying to keep it suffer.

[tailoroffates]

Happy STS (a day late)! If you had to choose a favourite line from any of your WIPs, whether long in the past or a hypothetical WIP from the future, what would it be?

It's a bit more than a line, but here you go. It's from a future work where my antagonists finally butt heads.

Vox - "You call me a tool because you hate me!"

Dual - "Nope. I hate you because you're a self serving jackass. I call you a tool because you are one. Tools only work when someone is using them. Just. Like. You. You've spent your entire life allowing yourself to be used. You do nothing for yourself, tool. Have an original thought. Act on your own and I'll stop calling it like I see it.🤷‍♂️"

[tailoroffates]

Happy STS! Do you hide any secrets in your writing that only a few people will find?

I absolutely do and it brings me unfathomable joy when someone does finally notice, though it happens more often with my TTRPG beta team than my beta readers. Which I think really says something about the gamers of this day and age😁🎲

[tailoroffates]

Happy STS! If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

I was told as a young writer, "write what you know." I took it to heart and it severely limited me. I'd tell young me to learn something new everyday, so writing what I know becomes a useful tip instead of a limiter.

[aurorawest]

PACING IS ABOUT LOAD BEARING WALLS.

*staples violently to my own forehead*

[tailoroffates]

This is absolutely excellent advice!

[tailoroffates]

New TGTB content!

Heyo! I know it's been a while since I posted new content for The Garden That Burned lore, so here's some fun stuff with an air of unusual nature.

First up is the mysterious religion based on the worship of the Unnamed god and his domain of secrecy. I can't wait until my beta players for the TTRPG get mixed up with this! *maliciously rubs hands together like a scheming goblin*

Enigmatism

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Next up is Ine! A follower of Enigmatism who was sainted by the Unnamed god and granted unmeasurable power, though the power came at a steep price...

Ine - Illiya the Loveless

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And finally, the guy who started it all. The deity known only as the Unnamed god. This guy has a bit of a Rumpelstiltskin mechanic to him, allowing him significant power over anyone who either doesn't know his name or those harboring secrets of their own. He'll be a fun deity to run in the tabletop RPG.

The Unnamed God

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As always, thanks for reading, and I hope your days to come are blessed to be the best! <3

[tailoroffates]

Why I Disappeared

Hey everyone! I have always done my best to be open and honest with my followers, so I'd like to let y'all know what was going on when I disappeared. I went to the dentist 3 different times, and then the hospital emergency room another 3 times before they found out that I had something called "Trigeminal neuralgia," and lemme tell you... It sucks!

I was in consistent pain described as "lightning in my face" by both myself and doctors alike, and once they figured it out, they put me on seizure meds to numb down the nerves.

Want to know the scary part? There's a strange white lump in my gums that seems to be causing the neuralgia, but no one knows what it is. :O

So I've got a biopsy coming up to try and get to the bottom of this. Fingers crossed that it's something simple and we can treat it, beat it, then yeet it. Otherwise, I'm going to try and keep all my pals here updated and do my best to rejoin the community as a person (as lately I've barely felt human, lol).

Thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this and all of y'all who kept following me despite my inactivity. I love you all, and I hope your days to come are blessed to be the best! <3

[tailoroffates]

Last Line Tag Game

Hey everyone! I was tagged forever ago by @doublegoblin, but went inactive due to some health issues. Now that I'm back, I'd like to play along :P

Rules: The rules are (from what I understand) that once tagged, you go through your original content and choose to share the last line or paragraph with us. Mine will run a little long, but that's mainly because it might not make sense if it doesn't.

This will be taken from Ariya's POV in The Garden That Burned, book 1 - Kindling. Context: Ariya just learned that a powerful witch that doubles as a seer/oracle has foreseen the death of someone she cares for deeply.

“Hey, Avery…” I asked in a meek tone.   “Yes?” He responded quickly, meeting his eyes with mine.   “In all the time you have spent together with Rizza, have any of her predictions failed to come true?”   “You mean, is she ever wrong?” He asked, scratching his head.   “Yes, have her visions ever been wrong?” I elaborated, nervous of his answer.   “Never. Not even once.” He replied, readjusting the swords on his hips before heading inside to eat. Not even once… Those words echoed throughout my head like an early bird's morning song as I stood up in a daze and followed him back into the witch's hut.

Thanks for the tag! I'll be tagging @winterandwords, @amewinterswriting, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @the-wizard-writes, and @the-stray-storyteller with a non-obligatory option to participate. Anyone else is welcome to join if they like. I'm excited to see the work of others, and as always, I hope your days to come are blessed to be the best! <3

[tailoroffates]

Writing tips # 6 - The Body

Hey, hi everyone! I'm back again with yet another segment of Writing tips. Today I'm going to chat about something many struggle to describe. The body. Below will be several categories containing words synonymous with descriptors used when explaining someone's body. Hopefully, now y'all won't end up struggling for an hour like I have trying to figure out a socially correct way to explain that this particular character is obese :D

Thin

Angular, bony, emaciated, dainty, ethereal, frail, gangly, lanky, lean, malnourished, narrow, petite, puny, rawboned, scrawny, skeletal, skin-and-bone, skinny, slender, slight, slim, stick, twiggy, underweight.

Heavy

Beefy, big-boned, bloated, brawny, broad, bulging, bulky, burly, chubby, chunky, dense, elephantine, full-bodied, gargantuan, heavy-set, husky, lumpy, massive, obese, oversized, paunchy, plump, plumpish, portly, potbellied, pudgy, robust, rotund, round, shapeless, solid, stocky, stout, thick, wide.

Short

Compact, dwarfed, dwarfish, little, low, miniature, pint-sized, runty, squat, stunted, stubby, stumpy, tiny, undersized, wee.

Tall

Alpine, beanstalk, gangly, giant, lanky, lofty, skyscraping, stick, stretched, towering.

Weak

Decrepit, delicate, effeminate, emaciated, feeble, flaccid, fragile, frail, puny, sickly.

Strong

Beefy, brawny, burly, firm, herculean, huge, hulky, husky, muscular, powerful, ripped, robust, rugged, shredded, solid, stalwart, stout, strapping, tough, well-built.

Fit

Athletic, hardy, healthy, hearty, shapely, robust, toned, trim.

As always I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day and let your days be blessed as the best! <3

[tailoroffates]

9 lines 9 people

Thanks @winterandwords for the tag! I can't say I've played this one yet either, but I'm always down to play along. I'll be using a chunk from The Garden That Burned, book 1 - Kindling.

Context: Danny just finished the first transformation into a Lycan that he was mentally present for. The others have been blackouts that happen just after seeing a Lykoi. A Lycan is a werewolf, however, a Lykoi is what becomes of a Lycan when it loses its humanity and regresses into a beast forever.

  “I’d like to hear your opinion...” I replied, hoping her answer would bring me more comfort than what was going through my head. My fear was that the Lykoi was a vision of myself from the future and that I would eventually fall to my animal instincts and become more beast than man.   “I like to believe that the Lykoi is a subconscious representation of how you now see yourself. You learned of your heritage and the first thing you did was call yourself a monster. I think a small part of you has known all along, and that you see this black Lykoi as the part of yourself that you do not know how to control, so instead you lock it away and you fear it from afar. You see it as an animal, or a monster, as you so blatantly put it, but it is not. A true monster is defined by its actions, not the way it was born. If you believe what you just became was a monster, then you have clearly never seen what becomes of a man with nothing to lose.”

I'll be tagging @doublegoblin, @amewinterswriting, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @lexiklecksi, @thewardenofwinter, @nightlylaments, @fire-but-ashes-too, @antihell, @the-stray-storyteller with a non-obligatory option to participate. Anyone else is welcome to join in!

[tailoroffates]

Writing tips #5 - Conditions

Hey y'all! I'm back again with yet another segment of Writing tips. Today we're going to cover something a bit more vague, conditions. No, not the terms and/or conditions of some contract. What I'm referring to is the current condition of an item, a place, or even a creature.

Clean

Blank, bright, cleansed, clear, dirtless, flawless, fresh, hygienic, immaculate, impeccable, laundered, pristine, pure, sanitary, shining, shiny, sparkling, spick-and-span, spotless, squeaky, stainless, taintless, tidy, unblemished, unpolluted, unsoiled, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, washed, white.

Dirty

Black, contaminated, cruddy, dingy, draggled, dreggy, dungy, dusty, filthy, greasy, grimy, grubby, grungy, icky, impure, mangy, mildewed, moldy, mucky, muddy, murky, nasty, polluted, raunchy, scummy, scuzzy, slimy, smeared, smudged, soiled, soily, snooty, sordid, splotched, spotted, squalid, stained, sullied, sully, tainted, tarnished, unclean, unsanitary, unsightly, unswept.

Damaged

beat-up, bent, blemished, broken, burnt, burst, busted, collapsed, cracked, crippled, crumbed, demolished, destroyed, dinged, discolored, disintegrated, dismembered, flawed, fractured, fragmented, impaired, injured, mangled, marred, mutilated, peeling, pulverized, ripped, ruptured, separated, severed, shattered, shivered, shot, shredded, slivered, smashed, split, tattered, wrecked.

Faultless

Complete, entire, faultless, firm, fixed, flawless, full, intact, mint, perfect, perfect, plenary, preserved, replete, rooted, safe, secure, set, settled, shipshape, solid, sound, stable, steadfast, steady, unblemished, unbroken, uncut, undefiled, undivided, unharmed, unified, unimpaired, uninjured, unmarked, unmarred, unruffled, unscathed, untouched.

Messy

Bedraggled, botchy, careless, cluttered, dirty, disheveled, disordered, disorderly, disorganized, filthy, foul, frowzy, frumpy, grimy, grubby, ill-kempt, lax, littered, muddled, mussy, nasty, raunchy, ruffled, rumpled, shabby, slack, slapdash, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, uncombed, unkempt, untidy, wrinkled, wrinkly.

Neat

Chipper, clean-cut, combed, detailed, fastidious, groomed, immaculate, kempt, meticulous, orderly, organized, prim, shipshape, snappy, snug, spick-and-span, spruce, tidy, trig, trim, uncluttered, uncluttered, unwrinkled, well-groomed, well-pressed.

New

Advanced, brand-new, contemporary, current, cutting edge, fresh, latest, modern, new-fashioned, newfound, new-sprung, novel, original, recent, stylish, trendy, ultramodern, unfamiliar, unspoiled, untouched, untrodden, unused, up-to-date, youthful.

Old

Abandoned, aged, ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, broken-down, cast-off, crusty, dated, decayed, decrepit, deteriorated, dilapidated, discarded, dowdy, faded, hackneyed, historical, moth-eaten, neglected, old-fashioned, outdated, out-of-date, outworn, primitive, primordial, raggedy, rickety, run-down, rusty, scruffy, shabby, shoddy, stale, tattered, threadbare, time-worn, traditional, used, worm-eaten, worn, worn-out, wrinkly.

[tailoroffates]

Writing tips #4 - Hair

Hey everyone! I'm here to do yet another segment of Writing Tips! Today we are going to cover the many options writers can use to describe the hairstyles of their OCs. Without further adieu, let's talk hair :P

Hair

Billowing, cut, dreads, fuzz, locks, mane, mop, strands, tendrils, tresses, tufts, wisps, wispy.

Color

Amber, ash-blonde, auburn, black, bleached, blond, bronze, brunette, chestnut, coal black, copper, dark, dirty blonde, fair, fake, fiery red, flaxen, frosted, golden, gray, highlighted, jet black, light, pale, platinum, raven, red, russet, sandy blonde, silver, silvery, snowy white, straw, strawberry blonde, streaked, tawny, towheaded, washed out, white, yellow.

Condition

Bouncy, clean, coarse, dingy, drab, dry, dull, fine, flaky, flowing, fluffy, flyaway, frizzy, glistening, glossy, grimy, groomed, messy, neat, oily, puffy, raggedy, ratty, shaggy, shiny, silky, sleek, smooth, soft, springy, straggly, straw-like, stringy, tangled, thick, thin, tidy, trimmed, wiry, unkempt.

Length

Buzzed, chin-length, cropped, long, mid-length, receding, shaved, short, shoulder-length, waist-length.

Style

Afro, bangs, bobbed, bowl cut, braided, bun, buzz, cowlick, crimped, curled, curly, feathered, flattop, gelled, kinky, knotted, layered, nappy, mohawk, permed, pigtail, pinned, pleated, ponytail, ringlets, side swept, shaved, slicked, spiked, stiff, straight, teased, tussled, twisted, uneven, wavy.

[cinnabuncrumbs]

elon musk should kill himself elon musk needs to kill himself elon musk would make society as a whole better if he killed himself now

[lesbianzombie]

if you're an artist on twitter and don't want to move for whatever reason PUT A FILTER ON YOUR ART. a mild grain effect will fuck up the AI and make it more difficult to learn. ive been using paper textures on my digital art and not only is it a cooler effect but also protects your art.

there is also glaze, which is a tool developed by the university of chicago + used by professional artists to prevent AI from being able to learn from your art. free to download, link leads directly to download page.

do not let tech bros take away our art

[tailoroffates]

This is outright disgusting...

[tailoroffates]

Creature Creation - Praxis

Meet yet another danger cat created for The Garden That Burned series TTRPG.

This is one of my favorites. Not just for its design, but also its playful nature. My beta players, however, did not share this sentiment :P

Praxis

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