Brie's corner of scribbles and miniatures

this was given even less polish than normal. not as bad at that first thing, but i'm not incredibly happy with some of the wording.

Spoiler: Onyx (shorter than i'd like but i want to introduce it)

Onyx strolled into the slave-seller's office, having made an appointment. This business wasn't as nicely decorated as she was used to, but she wasn't looking for anything too special. The owner rose eagerly as she arrived.

"Princess Raven, welcome! Any coffee, tea...wine?" His eyes glittered. Onyx was sure he'd increased the prices, knowing her pedigree.

"I am well. I want to look at Nicole Anderson, Adam Vega, and Priya Lacroix."

He paused. "You don't want to...look around?"

He'd probably cleaned up some of the nicer-looking slaves hoping she'd make an impulse purchase. It was a common tactic.

"Not unless you've had any come in that weren't on your website two hours ago."

"No, my lady. Who would you like me to bring out first?"

"The vampires, please. I'd like to do a physical inspection."

"Yes, my lady. Right this way."

He led her into a white tiled room, a little too brightly lit, with a drain in the floor. He offered her a plastic chair.

"Sorry, my lady. You know how messy some of the fresher ones can be, a-heh."

"Mm hm." She declined the chair and the seller slipped into the slave pens.

The first thing she noticed was Adam's posture. Despite being gagged and shackled, his back was straight and he looked her in the eye before remembering to turn his gaze to the floor. Or pretending to remember. Onyx had read that he was crafty. The woman, on the other hand, looked like an angry cat. Her hair was tangled, and her body language was hunched and defensive. Her eyes were bright, the only part of her that resembled the pictures online, where she was rather pretty. Those had been taken before she was enslaved.

Adam was patient and agreeable when his bindings were removed so she could feel his limbs and check his teeth. Priya tried snapping at her, to which Onyx responded by knocking out a tooth.

"Don't worry, I'm buying her," she mentioned offhand to the startled merchant. "They are both fine. I would like to see Nicole now."

The vampires were removed before the human was brought in. She was Nordic in coloration, and though some might find her attractive, Onyx thought she was plain. But she was suitable.

"I will take her as well. Don't try to up-sell me, I will be annoyed and demand a discount."

"I wouldn't dare, my lady."

The human looked scared as she was led away. Onyx would be tempted to pity her, if she hadn't of known why the woman had died.

After paying for her slaves and having them signed over, Onyx headed out to her ship while her purchases were readied. She owned a stout, black ship that was inspired by her younger sister's personal craft. That ship was an heirloom, and Onyx had built hers to be more comfortable. Larger bedrooms, no brig for prisoners, smaller engines, and fewer weapon caches. She had moved the living room furniture into the central navigation room, and turned the old rec area into a proper dining room.

Her slaves were brought outside and lined up. She'd asked for Priya to be rebound and gagged for easier transport. Onyx had made up three small cells with attached bathrooms. She'd had too many spare bedrooms to begin with. Once the vampiress had been dragged into her cell, Onyx closed the door, loosening the shackles and leaving Priya to vent. Onyx had little patience for screaming.

Adam remained outwardly agreeable. She led him into the cell next to Priya's.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'll be back to speak with you in a moment. You may call me Onyx. Would you prefer Mr. Vega or Adam?"

"I didn't realize I'd get a choice, Princess."

"It makes things easier when people pretend to be civil, isn't that right, Senator?"

He paused to choose his words, and Onyx continued. "I know what you've done. But you aren't always foolish. If you cooperate, I will treat you kindly. If you prove I can trust you, I will give you a longer leash. It is unlikely you will have true freedom for a long time. I don't want you to cause trouble for me or anyone else. So, Mr. Vega or Adam?"

His eyes grew darker and more calculating, though his expression remained passive. "Adam, please."

"Of course."

Finally she led the human inside. "This is your room, you may call me Onyx. I won't spy on you unless you give me reason to. You will not be able to harm yourself or anyone else."

Nicole's voice was shaky. "Why did you take me?"

"No real reason. Honestly, I figured if you came from the same world as the other two, I might as well."

The human swallowed, speaking more bravely. "My kind see slavery as a barbaric practice."

"I would agree! The enslavement of innocents is inexcusable. And yet, you died because you betrayed your allies."

"They refused to give-"

"Ms. Anderson, you would have made a terrible vampire, as proven by your treachery. I don't blame them for being cautious about turning someone."

"But-"

Onyx silenced her for a moment with a spell. "The other woman was turned as a last resort to save her life. Frankly, the fact that you begged to be made into a vampire was probably seen as a red flag. I don't blame your employer for wanting to make sure he wouldn't regret it. Now, I didn't buy you to argue with you. If you are good I will give you freer reign of the ship. If you are very good I might free you one day. You have fewer evil deeds under your belt than the other two. Think about it. And remember that I can sense your intentions."

Nicole glared at her with puffy eyes.

"I almost forgot, I'm taking you three to a store soon to pick you up some clothing. Take a shower or something in the meantime, if you wish. If you ask nicely, I might buy you some toiletries you'd prefer."

Onyx smiled at the human and closed the door. Then she had a cool drink and rested for a few minutes before knocking on Adam's door.

"It is open."

She opened the door and smiled at him. "Pretend civilities, remember? Now, you are familiar with Ms. Lacroix. Could you let her know we'll be going to a clothing store soon? If she manages not to bite or hiss at anyone I might buy her some nicer toiletries. It makes me look good if my slaves are well-kept, Adam. And I do prefer when those under my roof are comfortable."

"If I may, Lady Onyx...what are your plans for us?"

"I am readying some land that I wish to build my manor on. I'll be breaking ground for a garden and getting other things in order. I know you aren't familiar with physical labor, but I'm sure you can manage some gardening. I may have other work for you later."

"You will have trouble getting Priya to work."

Onyx smiled coldly. "I have a different plan for Ms. Lacroix. I enjoy having pretty women around, and she enjoys fine things..."

For the first time, Adam let his anger show. "I will not allow-"

Onyx giggled. "I won't touch her without permission, fool. I thought it would be amusing to keep her as a pet. But unlike her old houseboys and 'muses', I won't be leaving her in bloody pieces. I am wealthy enough that I can keep a woman around to spoil for no reason than I wish for it. If she wants to mope around instead, one more mouth to feed is hardly an expense."

She studied his expression. "I encourage you to take comfort in each other, if you wish. That is one of the reasons I bought all three of you, there is some familiarity already."

Adam cleared his throat. "Ah, yes...how is Nicole?"

"Well enough, Scared, but I think she'll grow more comfortable. Would you like to speak to Priya now? Our appointment is within the hour. Will the two of you need any blood?"

"I will ask her, my lady."

"The title isn't necessary, Adam."

"I know, my lady. But it bothers you."

She chuckled. "Carry on, then."

Onyx carefully let him into Priya's cell. She didn't need to be cautious, a barrier was on all three doorways so that no one could enter or exit without her permission. But Priya didn't need to begin her stay by running face-first into a barrier. Onyx doubted it would improve her mood.

I'm uncertain how often i need to emphasize that they are doing something with magic instead of physically...it might grow repetitive.

Also Adam is judging Onyx, her limits, what gets her angry, etc. He is going to do his best to be a model slave in order to gain trust and 'freedom', but he wants to pick at her too. It doesn't bother Onyx to be called by a title, he just assumes it does because she clarified that he could use her first name.

Nicole is very afraid (she's seen how the vampires treat their slaves, and she won't be certain of her treatment until Onyx proves she will not be cruel for no reason) but in time she will act more like Adam does. they were one-time allies. Their attempt to fuck over Adam's fellow vampire's failed. Priya goes with whoever lets her be cruel to her prey, and whoever has the most power. She will be annoyed that she cannot play with her food, but she will try to cozy up to whoever is the most powerful, as she always has.

Onyx's main reason for claiming these three is that she knows her sister has contacts in their old world, and she doesn't want them escaping from a less-capable master and making trouble for Orchid. Also she thought Priya was pretty.

 

i'd be tempted to commission @TheMockingCrows for a pic of Orchid in an "i'm trying to impress people and also entice a spouse" ball gown one day. goals.

if that'd be cool with you, Ryn lol.

 

That sounds like a p excellent choice imo, they're so good at fancy clothes!!

(Also haven't read the other info yet bc it's late and I am too tired to process all this atm but I will do so in the morning--don't let me forget!!)

 

thank you for cheering me on, it helps me want to keep sharing this stuff :)

 

Any time! I'm legit interested, and I'm so thrilled you're sharing!! :D

 

c: yeah, I'd be down for that haha.

 

it's late but here's a reminder for @Acey if you havent checked that one update

I'll probably post the second chapter of the Orchid-centric stuff tomorrow night, i need to go through and tally up all of the people from the Luke Duffy series because i ended up reading all four books. i like his characterizations, he's good at making people likable or at least sympathetic.

 

Thanks for the reminder, I'll read through when I'm a bit more awake! :)

 

going to type up the second 'chapter' of the Orchid stuff.

after that i need to actually write more XD this is the last of the grabbing-people-from-zombies stuff, so we are now getting into day-to-day life in and around the palace, and seeing how folks settle in. Also beginning the slow process of introducing more GoT people. i spent a long time creating a death-timeline, it might not be perfect but i did my darndest. Wrote down the ages everyone died too. Not as important for adults, but i was curious about the ages of the adults too. Everyone is So young in this series, it is crazy. Most people died in their mid thirties. Everyone is going by the book age.

anxious about how writing interactions are going to go, it's a lot easier making a movie scene in my head than it is in words. ah well.

 

this all takes place in the first book, since the other books are further on in the timeline and this world's "plug" was pulled only a few days into the major zombie-nonsense. Basically, by the end of the book is when everyone is gathered up. There are some characters that Orchid will be gaining that she doesnt pick up herself, but they are not dead by the end of the first book, so they are simply dropped off by the authorities a day or two later. She focuses on the people she can pick up within her time frame, and the ones who are in the most danger. England is small, but you still need some time to travel.

Spoiler: Orchid and the Luke Duffy chars

The nest mission took more forethought, as they were going to be bringing back many more people this time. Orchid and her people loaded the ship with clean clothes, plenty of soap and towels, medical equipment and food. She also had a small military transport ship on standby, as the flagship would become overcrowded. On board were Brandon, Lyanna, Miles, and Dr. Winston.

Many of the survivors this time were part of a secret military force, so Orchid decided to try contacting their higher up as she approached the continent.

"Hello, is this General Thompson?"

A clear, dry voice answered. "Yes. Are you with the Council?"

Orchid wasn't expecting that response. He couldn't mean...the Council? "My name is Orchid Raven."

"Queen Raven of Xaurius?"

Maybe he did. "They've contacted you?"

"They let a select few know that you might try to interfere."

"I assume you want more of your men to survive than not. Are you willing to cooperate?"

"I might."

"Hearing from you could make things a lot easier on everyone. If you want to help, I'll make sure your communications stay connected and keep power."

"That would be appreciated. But they told me not to change any plans."

"Of course, we can't change fate too much. I've already planned for the outcome I was given. I can let you talk to one of my men to fill you in. I have limited time."

Thompson agreed, so Orchid handed the phone off to Brandon and finished locating Nick Robert's remains. After his zombified corpse was killed, his body was labelled as medical waste and cremated. Lacking the raw materials to bring his body back properly, she had to sacrifice some of his muscle mass, which pissed him off. Orchid was like, "Listen man, I'm a miracle worker, not a MIRACLE worker, I did my best." Nick told her to fuck off and demanded to know where the kitchen was. But she could tell he was pleased to be alive again, so she considered it a decent exchange.

The next two stops were in London. Eileen Crawford had been euthanized in a hospital, but her room had a window so it was easy to get her out. Orchid healed her on the ship and left her with the medical staff to ease her into the situation. Then it was time to fetch a group of government workers and military from a bunker that had been infiltrated by the dead. Luckily General Thompson had ordered them not to leave their floor, which gave Orchid time to reach them before the zombies did. Despite being warned, the small group of Air Force (American, for some reason) on the roof were shaken when an unfamiliar ship landed next to their helicopter. Orchid unboarded with Brandon and Nick, who'd insisted on coming. She quickly made a perimeter and began killing every zombie in the building, explaining her actions as she did so. The helicopter's co-pilot gaped at her.

"How do you know you aren't missing any?"

"I'm an Angel of Death, zombies don't do shit if I don't let them."

"Then why don't you kill them ALL?" The co-pilot, Mike, gestured at the city around them.

"I'm an angel, not a god."

"Don't worry." Brandon pat his gun. He'd given Nick one as well. "If she gets sloppy, that's what we're for."

Orchid looked at him, dismayed.

"I helped raise you, you can't impress me."

Despite the disrespectful words of the heathens, they made it down to the bunker and back up without interruption.

Gerry was the official CO for the nameless group. It wasn't meant to exist in a legal way, that was the point of a secret operations team. Captain Samantha Tyler was another handler for the group, Jonesy was a tech guy, and Emma had been down there for added firepower. The other American pilot, Melanie Frakes, had been with them too.

"We're off to Manchester now," said Orchid as she piloted the ship away from the dying city. "We're picking up a woman named Michelle, then the last big group."

"Who is Michelle?" Samantha asked, nursing a cup of coffee next to the captain's chair.

"A woman with no family. She could be useful and she's dead, so I'm not poaching." After a minute she shook her head. "Shit, I forgot Paula. We're grabbing her last, she's not going anywhere."

"Dead?"

"Yep." Orchid was tired. "I don't know how many people are still alive at the airport. I'll take who I can, but I don't have time for more than these last few stops. I got a strongly worded letter about last time, and I don't want to push my luck too far."

"What about the General?"

"He's safe, I'm going to let them drop him off at the Palace. Anyway, he said he's busy."

As they neared the airport, Orchid put Lyanna in charge of landing the ship, then went down to the lower level. Opening the main ramp mid-flight with civilians on board could be dangerous, so she used one of the hatches on either side of the hanger. She needed a bird's eye view, as this would be the largest perimeter yet.

It surrounded the entire airport and most of the landing strips. As she flew down on dark, feathered wings, she began killing every zombie in the area, starting with those closest to the living.

The airport had been fenced in with large concrete barriers, and she cleared an area of bodies to make room for the ships and a VW bus to park. With the threat cleared, the soldiers guarding the airport opened the gates. Orchid landed, very aware of the eyes on her.

"How many people are here?" She asked the nearest soldier as her ship landed. The VW bus, filled with the other members of Nick's group and three other survivors, also came to a stop.

"Around three thousand civilians, ma'am."

Orchid faltered. "I was expecting...less than a thousand. Give me a moment." She pulled her phone out and turned away.

"Joanna? We've got more than three thousand coming. How many berths does our largest transport ship have?" After a minute she nodded. "Good. Get that started please. We'll park it on the south side of the orchard. And check to see if the rice in the vault is still edible."

Orchid turned back to the waiting soldiers. "It'll be tighter than I was expecting, but we'll manage." She pointed what looked like a key fob at an empty space on the tarmac, and in a moment a very large ship was deposited. "I'd like to be out of here in a few hours. There is food, water, showers, an infirmary, and clean clothes in there. Here are maps." She handed out small electronic tablets. "Distribute these to the people leading folks in. They'll only be in there for a short while, it's okay if they're crowded. Direct everyone who is badly injured to the smaller ship, I have a doctor there. Do not leave anyone behind. I've healed everyone in the area of the disease. Now, I need someone who can drive."

Someone stepped forward and Orchid took out another key fob for her car, turning the sporty little four-door into something that resembled a small bus. "It's set up like an American vehicle, sorry about that. On second thought, you should probably have one or two people with you to help. See those orbs?"

Dotted around the airport, near crashed planes or by the edges of the perimeter, yellow balls of light floated above small figures. Orchid pulled out two small handguns. "Collect everyone you can. If they try to attack you, these will disarm and render them unconscious for one to two hours. If anyone has luggage, take that too. You will not run out of fuel or bust the tires, I promise. Any questions?"

After the briefing, she checked back at the flagship to make sure Dr. Winston wasn't having trouble setting the clinic up. There was a loud, happy reunion between Nick and his mates, and a quieter one between Manus and his mother Eileen. He was trying not to cry in front of the others, but Orchid smiled at the pair's embrace, and at the knowing grins the other men had.

After Orchid had spoken with Dr. Winston, Samantha approached her. "Is there anything we can do, ma'am?"

"You can help get folks out of the airport, or direct them once they're out, if you like. I'm going to fly around and help anyone who might be stuck."

"I'll get the boys working too."

"Get them fed and watered first, gotta keep the morale up. Thank you, Samantha."

By the time they were ready to depart the transport ship was full to bursting. Once they'd collected everyone within the perimeter, the soldiers on the bus had made small excursions outside to find more survivors.

When Orchid made it back to the flagship the final time, Lyanna spied a number of white hairs on her head and demanded she rest. After Orchid was pushed into her bedroom, Lyanna piloted the ship to Matthew and Emily's old neighborhood, the transport ship tugging along after. There, Paula was finally returned to her family, and Emily then asked if Orchid could help her friend, who had been torn apart with her baby just a few houses away. Orchid blearily agreed, and when she returned to her room on the ship she did not wake up until well into the next morning.

~

General Charles Thompson

Stan
Manus (Bull)
Marty
Nick Roberts
Brian
Taff
Bobby
Danny

Gerry

Samantha Tyler

Melanie Frakes
Mike
Jonesy
Emma

Michelle

Matthew
Emily
Paula (12)
William (10)

Eileen Crawford

Catherine
Thomas (under a year)

I'll get more into Orchid's strengths and weaknesses later, along with the ways her body shows stress and the like. there are some that are meant to show her body is under stress, or in danger, and also some signs that are meant to warn people that she is angry. The gods gave her family a few 'tells'. They are mostly OP, but not quite. I do give them a few shortcomings. Mostly in terms of mental health and shit, but also Shame. They are bad bitches but if people give them shit they Feel Bad. Have to give the normies some ways to make them cooperate lol. Also their power, status, and even the kingdom is forfeit if they fuck up too badly. They like to pretend they are nice because being Evil is Bad, but it isn't that simple. oh, and there's also a reason she's not able to bring EVERY zombie back to life.

i forgot to write down the pick up of Michelle, but she was just lying in an apartment building, it was boring. she's fine.

i feel like @ChelG is upset i'm not doing anything with werewolves yet XD it's on the list! i'm not good at working on fewer than five things at a time

 

Heh, no, I'm cool. I can wait for werewolves!

 

"The people on the ferry despairingly accepted that it would be much longer than anticipated— or hoped—before any degree of normality would return. With no other choice, they made the best of their situation.

Inevitably though, and after years of safety away from the rampaging infected that infested the world, the people on the ship began to ask themselves if there was more to life. At first they had been happy just to be away from the mainland without the need to barricade their doors or sneak about through the shadows. However, just being alive was not enough after a while. The human mind soon forgets hardships once they have passed, and the group living aboard the ferry was no exception. They needed more from their lives than mere day-to-day existence, the soldiers included.

Stan and his men were becoming victims of the same monotony, pining for the action of the old days, without consciously meaning to. They carried out the same tasks each day, played the same pranks, and joined in on the same conversations. It had gotten to the point where many of the ship’s compliment had unknowingly slipped into auto-pilot, mindlessly drifting from one day to the next. They should have been satisfied with what they had, but they were not. People needed more than a safe place to hide and wait for things to blow over."

Continuing to simp for Luke Duffy

Idk man, I just think hes neat.

Finishing up the tally of named/unnamed characters in the 4th book, going to work on the next chapter soon.

Trying to fight off the other 3 plot bunnies XD

 

After...more hours than I wanted to spend, I've finally hammered out the timeline, up until the end of the tv series, which I've used instead of the book timeline since we don't have a full timeline for those. Im using book ages though. No aging up the younger kids to make viewers more comfy. Also randomly aging up some people would confuse my timeline even more and I spent too many hours on that fucking thing.

It spans the second year of Orchids reign (since she doesn't start "ruling" until she's 17) to her 8th, and years 299 AC to 305 AC in Got time. I just realised the bc and AC stand for before and after conquest. Im very clever.

 

Now I need to figure out everyone else's ages.

 

@swirlingflight it wasn't that hard, i just subtracted their birth years from 305. A big chunk of wiki is devoted to calculating birth and death dates, so it was just a matter of looking. I haven't read the books in a while, im mostly using the wiki for details and fanon/what I remember for characterisation.

 

Sometimes canons are very vague on some details but very specific on many others, making the gaps all the more frustrating to deal with. Glad this ended up being pretty coherent!

 

I have no idea when Olenna was meant to have died, but it was sometime between 303 and 305 so I slotted her into 304 lol. Other timeframes are trickier, like (I don't have my notes with me right now) renly dies after Robert and ned but before Catelyn and Robb. That all happens pretty close together. Then a few months later Joffrey dies on the first of the year 300? According to wiki. So Ned isnt dying in my story until sometime in mid summer, and it's currently spring.

The calendar Xaurius uses is close to a 'normal' one but off by some days. I'll post more if i can find the notes tonight.

 

Ive decided I AM going to include Shireen. She was raised as her dad's heir so she's pretty well taught, and since Renly is going to marry Loras and they aren't likely to have kids. I mean they might? Depends lol. But Shireen will bring the Baratheon line to Xaurius. Orchids needs help with all her land, so an old tradition she'll be bringing back is duchies. Dukedoms? Idk I'll look it up later.

 

There are nine months in a year, 40 days to a month, so a year of 360 days. It's not too far off from an earth year but those five days add up. The months are named for the dominion of the gods. It isn't quite elemental, since they are all kind of literal as well as symbolic? i havent thought about the worship properly for a while, i'll try to do that at some time. The gods are from the old world, they were still worshiped once the sorcerers were sent to their hell-world and made into new forms (that they named demons. but they aren't Proper demons and they are kind of self-conscious about it. like, it's good that they aren't Actual demons because being a Proper demon sucks most of the time, but they aren't sorcerers anymore either? they've kept the name but its sort of a borrowed term. ITS FINE. after you've called your race something for a few hundreds of thousands of years it sticks, right? they definitely don't dress in black to compensate. i have managed to give an entire fake species my anxiety. ok, mostly its just the Ravens that care)

Anyway, their new world didn't have much in the way of weather, water, cold, or plants. A smidge of each: dry deserty, predominately poisonous plants, scarce water, it rained a bit like, once a month during a good year, and during the "winter" it got to be chilly but not really sweater weather. maybe long-sleeves weather. some windier weather and dust storms on occasion. but even the dust storms are lackluster. so they kept worshiping the old gods, but it faded with time into something fewer people did, but some of the gods were prayed to for crafting, forging, healing, games of chance, all kinds of things. they evolved past the main 'elemental' bits and became more focused on the symbolic stuff. Overall the gods had very little control over the new world.

Until one of the higher gods (the 8 elementals are sort of everyday gods, the royal family kind of took over/were given the role of the unnamed ninth god once they grew strong enough. Life/Death, two sides, same coin, ya'll know the deal) then there is the current patron goddess of Orchid and her family, and then there are a few gods above her, all the way up to the god that is so fucking far up people dont even really think about them. that god is technically me. sometimes something random happens and it is because Me. i have somewhat jokingly written the power of the author into the theology. Anyway i decided i was tired of the mostly red landscape and said Let There Be Plants, and so in Orchid's 13th or so year stuff started getting greener. The lava ocean (lovingly called the Locean, by Me) is still there, and it doesnt normally rain directly over it, maybe a hundred or so yards inland. It started with some nice grasslands, which is why she started a cattle ranch, but eventually stuff kept getting bigger and now there's proper trees (not very big, 8-10 inches in diameter because their growth was sped up during the first few years) and proper biodiversity. and rain. some birds and small mammals. lots of good little bugs. A depression in the land to the east filled in with water and became a large lake. There are some smallish rivers, none big enough for more than a kayak or something. Big old swamp to the south which the 'neighboring' queen Zsecha quietly filled with her own people until Orchid finally noticed and Did A Diplomacy so Zsecha's land wouldn't eventually bump right up against her palace. they've worked it out, mostly, though Zsecha still pulled a dick move tbh. Can't blame her though, perfectly good swamp. what was Orchid going to do with it anyway? Demons don't know how to treat a good swamp. I'm getting distracted again.

Anyway the gods are back and quietly doing their thing, they don't have a lot of power and aren't planning on showing themselves to people, but Orchid knows they're still around and other people might read about the old religion and start it back up slowly.

Anyway, months. I've got them mostly in order, going from Life - Water - Light - Fire - Lightning - Wind - Earth - Ice - Dark

The Life month isnt super lively, it's more a marker of "hey the cycle is starting again and this cold shit will eventually be over"
Water month is when stuff starts melting and there are some rain storms. Light is when days begin to lengthen and warm up, ending sweater weather.
Fire is when that good old hellish heat (not as bad as it used to be or as it still is when you get closer to the Locean, but now there is this new invention called Humidity) comes back, and Lightning is monsoon season. Wind is pretty breezy, it used to be prime dust-storm season but it's chilled out and it's just nice growing-weather mostly. Earth is when the rest of the crops are hurried through, because Ice is when it starts getting a bit frosty. The ground doesnt get too frozen until most of the way through the month, but plants aren't too happy past the first half, which is why the harvest festival (they call it Halloween, borrowed from humans but more like a mix between los dias de las muertos and thanksgiving. i will explain more of THAT later) is normally in the beginning of Ice or late Earth. I might hammer out a more concrete date later.
Then Dark is boring cold shit. The area around the palace and the other 'low lands' gets a bit of snow but it doesn't stick for more than a couple days at a time. The mountains and land leading up to them is colder. Then it gets to be Life again. Not a super long cold season, its from mid Ice to mid Water, but that's still like 120 days of cold shit. Or two months and two half months. I know i said Light is when it's supposed to warm up, but the latter half of Water isn't cold, more soggy and a bit chilly. Light is when t-shirt weather returns.

So it gets proper seasons, but Xaurius is still a pretty warm climate. Depending on where you are, humidity and heat might change. There are drier grasslands between the southwestern forest and the northwestern mountains, and in the center of Xaurius and down in the swamps it stays warmer. The palace is a few miles away from the border of the swamp to the south, and the Locean to the west. To the far east there are mountains, the range goes all the way around and back up to the Locean. Sort of natural border. Xaurius isn't on a planet, it's more of a realm with no true sky. I like to imagine the sky looking like shimmery nail polish when it's still in the bottle. Navy blues, purples, some green. And then grayish clouds are between you and the sky, so some days are better for sky-watching. Not much is behind the sky, if you fly up in a ship the breathable air gets thinner and the sky lightens and grows paler until you are just in a white void. It isn't part of a universe, just a large pocket.

that took a while, hopefully it was interesting to read and not too repetitive.

 

whenever i feel self-conscious about my plans for the fic, i need to remember the show's bullshit, because it makes me feel better.

i need to think of something for the Dornish people to do. they will have their own land, but it wont be the same type of land that Dorne had. I think i might need to bite the bullet and reread the novels so i can think of something worthy of them, because i can't remember a lot of what happened with them in canon. I like what other people have done with the Snakes and Oberon in their fics, and the Martells always seemed to be a pretty loving family, by westerosi standards. Hell, the best we have as far as a decent family dynamic is the Starks, and even then there was poor Jon bein a bastard (Ned why couldnt you have said his father was Brandon, you fucking idiot. even the canon Brandon would have probably approved of that)

idk GRR Martin drives me crazy. not as much as the show writers do tho. (i didnt watch the show but i followed along and winced from the sidelines)