Thread for me to post about my OCverse. Honestly there's no organization to be found here it's just disjointed ramblings. Main characters Tekai Spoiler: large ref image Spoiler: old ref A Good And Fluffy Boy, trans (although gender in this universe probably doesn't have the same implications wrt sex as it does in ours), the protagonist. Fire mage (however that manifests, I haven't figured that out), was on a hunting trip and when he returned his family group was gone, leaving behind a handful of gryphons dead from The Plague. Story begins with him roaming and looking for his family and friends when he stumbles across Kophis. Kophis Spoiler: large ref image Spoiler: old ref A (demigod/possibly minor deity) of chaos, whatever that means in this case. Fell to the planet below during conflict between the two main gods. Tags along with Tekai- goal is possibly getting back to their home? Still unsure. Ferra Spoiler: large ref image Spoiler: old ref Belongs to the pack Tekai originally came from. Plot-relevant, probably. i was going to type more but i already spent several hours getting distracted @strictly quadrilateral you wanted me to @ you i think @Technicality @palindromordnilap here's the thread. alix and nicole, i have no idea if you're interested in this but here it is anyway
i have a lot of questions but first and foremost: how did they evolve i didn't want to make them a created species because that seemed... lazy somehow. possibly creation myth re: these four-legged creatures petitioned the gods for the gift of flight in return for worship, "how much of this is true and how much of this is actual evolution but muddled by the myths around it", etc ferra is more skua-based than most of my usual designs, hence the long sharp beak and pointed wings and, if you look closely, slightly webbed feet the population of gryphons that live near the sea and gain most of their sustenance from it have webbed toes, which limit their fine motor skills, so their hereditary magic is slightly more widespread than in the general population and manifests as a weak telekinesis, mostly to aid their grip back to the original question, i.e. what are they, since catbirds are not very practical. probably some form of mammal-like reptile? after looking it up something like... andrewsarchus? (side note, i saw something that referred to andrewsarchus as a Big Boy and honestly? good) only smaller. about the size of a modern wolf, maybe a hair smaller than that even, since otherwise it probably wouldn't be practical for them to live in large groups ..in retrospect they could be larger if their prey was larger, why didn't i think of this before moving on, i don't actually know enough about mammal-like reptiles to speculate if one could evolve into something feline/avian-like, but i'm going to say they can for world purposes because i'm not planning on researching evolution extensively at least not right now throw in some more extreme mutation, considering the raw magic of the world is rather volatile, and some deliberate re-shaping by whatever gods there are and. there. gryphons
their "fur" is a fine covering of feathers. in coastal or otherwise aquatic subsets of the population it's sleeker and more penguin-like, although probably not engineered to trap heat as effectively considering the climate i was thinking about..hm their talons at least in front are prehensile. pros: ability to pick up objects. cons: probably not as effective at running i mean, lbr, they're four-legged creatures and they can fly there's something screwy going on there just from that alone
don't get me started on genetics and patterning. i have no idea how it works. "jay, why is ferra patterned black and rust-ish if she lives near the ocean?" good question, i have no idea JOKES ASIDE......that's not actually necessarily that inaccurate, looking at terns, for example, or, again, penguins, although most seabirds tend to be overall lighter from what i've seen.. less black, more light grey. oh well, impracticalities can be explained away, i like that design for her as a character tekai is the much more confusing one since technically since he lives inland dark browns would be more practical for him as a forest hunter. that being said, black/etc seems to exist fairly frequently in wolf populations, so i'm not overly worried apophis is an outlier adn should not be counted because they're not a mortal gryphon and their body is not the result of evolution that being said, they're probably closer to desert gryphs also i'm getting tired of the name apophis i'll probably change that in the future
after coming back from his first solo (almost solo) hunting trip, tekai found half his family dead, flipped out, lost control of his powers, and set his family's former living area on fire it died out quickly but it had the dual affect of 1. sterilizing the area, therefore protecting his ex from the plague, and 2. causing permanent damage to his ex's voice out of his mind with rage and grief and guilt he fled and wandered the area, searching for his family. other young gryphons avoided him, both because he was just slightly too young to be traveling alone and because he wasn't exactly looking to make friends. his emotional state was fairly tumultuous. somewhere a while after the accident apophis joined him, and while tekai was initially uninterested in anything beyond "escort gryphon to the sea and then leave", he grows closer to them, because gryphons are a fundamentally social species and he's been alone for a long time
some notes about mages: they're not extremely rare. almost the entire population of coastal gryphons have weak telekinesis to offset their decreased fine motor control. tekai's power is very uncommon around the area where he lives, but he originated from a volcanic area, where his coloring is much more practical and so is his power. normally he'd apprentice under a mage once he left his family group (most adolescents do not remain in the group they grew up in, but leave to travel with other adolescents and form loose packs/family units. think wolves or corvids), but he's scared enough of his power he's not particularly interested in training it. ironically, if he trained he would have more control. eventually at some point he learns how to control himself and not set things on fire but it is a long and angsty journey
therapist: keeps pressing about tekai's gender identity me: this society doesn't have the same connotations linking gender and genitals the way we do, which means that transphobia isn't really a thing because there's no basis for it. so yes, he's comfortable with himself, because there's approximately no reason for him not to be
[sits bolt upright in a cold sweat] tekai and ferra come from the same area, which is why she's plot relevant. how do i explore this in canon? fuck if i know ferra............................also has minor powers, but they might just be telekinesis.
tekai character development: his greatest strength is his independence, probably. he was stranded alone at a young age and he had to learn to live on his own quickly. he, miraculously, found shelter for winter and cached food for when it was too cold to hunt and managed to not die, and in spring he set off again. his greatest weakness is probably either his social awkwardness or his inability to open up. being alone at a crucial time for development does not make for good social skills and he never quite learned how to small talk. he also furiously repressed his emotions because it was either that or Spoiler: self-harm attract predators by drawing his own blood and he wouldn't have survived that. his pent-up emotional pain manifests in furious bursts of anger that more often than not also trigger his powers. it's difficult to be around him. if things had been different he would have been moderately outgoing and cheerful but as it is he is. a Lonely Rage Ball and he cries himself to sleep every night
tekai's parents are not his biological parents and he did not originate from the forest. i'm not sure what happened here but nothing good.
tekai's ex is named litai and i haven't drawn him yet but he's scrawny and smaller than tekai and better suited for forest hunting tekai is a really good hunter but not very good at ambushing because he was built for hunting against a background of black and gray rock. ferra is somewhat the same but she's slightly more aquatic which is why she has a significantly lighter underbelly. the rust patterning is some sort of color inhibitor but considering she mostly hunts near/under the water it's not a huge deal
fuck i forgot how little i had posted here? tekai is originally from a volcanic island region, same as ferra. he's more of a shore hunter, while ferra's more of a sea hunter. his black and dark grey coloring is suited for the volcanic rock and black sand that he would have hunted along, if he had grown up there. as it was he learned to disguise himself in the forest. either his parents were thrown out of the island or they left him on the mainland. i don't know yet?
here's a long... i don't know what it is, exactly. unedited first draft of a script for a comic? or half-comic, half-text, mspa-style? not sure. this is a possible idea for my pseudo-self-insert's role in this universe, as is relevant to the protagonists. also, it's colored text, sorry if it's unreadable on your chosen theme. Spoiler: long like two pages long tekai, the first night the storyweaver stays with them: storyweaver, what is your name? [the storyweaver pauses, “...” face.] storyweaver: that is a tale for another time, traveller. [later] tekai, as the storyweaver prepares to leave: thank you for your stories. storyweaver: i have one last tale to tell, in exchange for your hospitality. sit here beside me. storyweaver: a long time ago, when gods walked the earth much more often than they do now, there was a gryphon called jaeryn ne gwasdau. they were gray-blue and crested gold and hunted the plains with their pack, the family line who had stayed in their territory for generations. they were vain, spending too much time admiring their own golden markings, and foolish, but above all this was their fault: they loved the moon god zaliel, they who oversaw love and loss from their home above the sky. storyweaver: they spoke to the moonlight in winter, sometimes, when the days were short and the prey scarce and the fields vibrant with snow. the days turned and the shadows grew longer and on the coldest night of the year a gryphon they had never seen before spoke from behind them. “what is your name?” jaeryn asked. “i cannot answer,” replied the apparition, and they settled next to jaeryn in silence and listened to them speak. storyweaver: this was not the last time the apparition appeared. they would never tell jaeryn their name, and they would never let jaeryn touch them, nor would they touch jaeryn. but they would sit and listen to jaeryn’s wild tales of gods and storms and heroes who rode lightning, or sometimes, on still nights, they would listen to jaeryn’s quieter stories. pack life, pack deaths, how they wanted to leave this place that felt so open, nowhere to hide. as they spoke this, they felt doubt for the first time. would this strange apparition follow, if they fled the plains? storyweaver: time passed. days lengthened, nights grew warmer and jaeryn grew older. the strange gryphon no longer appeared every night, and when they did they were distant and sad. on the night before the solstice, the longest day of the year, they appeared, faint and flickering and not entirely present. they said their time was running out, but refused to explain. for the first time, instead of sitting and telling stories, jaeryn ran, and the apparition followed them without question. their soft paws made no noise. when jaeryn tired of running they jumped off a ridge and flew, spiralling higher and higher, and as they flew the other gryphon seemed to not only grow stronger and more present but began to glow, the light surrounding them not purely from the moon above. storyweaver: “you asked who i was, acolyte,” the apparition replied, and they were changed, no longer entirely gryphonlike. their eyes were no longer warm brown but silver, and their gaze burned like frostbite. jaeryn finally recognized them. storyweaver: “for your stories, for your broken heart and your restless feet, i gift you and curse you. i am zaliel, they of love and loss, and you are my willing servant, by your own admission. as the wheel spins the gods have less and less hold in this world. you will never see me again, but you will not forget.” storyweaver: with these words, the moon deity dove upon them, and their talon gripped jaeryn’s fur and chilled their blood. they shrieked and tried to twist away, falling, but the god was relentless, clinging to them as they tumbled toward the earth far below, and jaeryn could feel their life burning away in white-hot frost. the light flashed behind their eyelids and grew dark, and they knew no more. storyweaver: when jaeryn awoke, it was with the feeling of a lifetime passing away. it was many days later, and when they regained their sight they found themself on a ridge above the plains. a nearby pool of water provided a reflection, and they saw themself changed: where their crest had gleamed golden it was silver now. their front legs were bare to the ankle and dark grey, and their tail was ringed in the same silver as their crest. most shockingly, their face markings were pale and almost luminous, and where they had curved down just past their eye they now stretched straight down to their mouth in front, resembling tear marks. behind their eye the curve was exaggerated, resembling a crescent. storyweaver: with these changes came a knowledge that they were marked by their goddess, and for their love they had lost everything but their life. they could never return home, fated to wander and tell their stories until their death. they would never see their family again, but firesides would be open to them wherever they travelled. they could never stay for too long, but their path would always be lit by the moon. storyweaver: and they could never give their name without telling their story, the curse and blessing that ran deeper in their blood than any fable about cubs and straying from the pack nest. jaeryn: i am jaeryn ne illeuad, the storyweaver, once called gwasdau but no longer plains-dwelling. i have no home and many remember my stories, but few remember me. it has been years now, and my wings are weary of the skies and my feet are sore from travel. jaeryn: the world has changed, gods come and gone, and the merciless moon has lit my path for cycles uncountable. but it’s time for me to return to my birthplace. i did not live there, but i will die there. jaeryn, over their shoulder as they leave: thank you for your hospitality.
fun trivia -"ne" is the stand-in signifier for they/them (idea-of-name-part-to-signify-gender-credit goes to @Void), i may or may not keep it. -gwasdau is a lazy corruption of the welsh word for plains, but "gwas dau" means two servants. kind of hinted at that? -lleuad is welsh for moon, illeuad is a corruption and also an iliad reference. get it? get it it's because the iliad is the prequel to the odyssey and the odyssey is about a journey--[gets dragged off-stage] -i used google translate for all of these, if i am wrong please feel free to correct me because i know fuck-all about welsh despite it being my heritage and my aunt studying the language
tekai, existentially staring off into the distance with a single tear running down his face: i can never use my power.......magic can only be destructive kophis, telekinetically filing their talons: i can't hear suddenly
basic butch do you wanna hear abt ...........illva and ferra and mystery witch gryphon whom loves ferra 12m 12 minutes ago Sent basic butch illva and ferra were... vaguely antagonistic acquaintances w benefits, is probably the best way to describe them illva is small and ferra is Large and illva liked being able to rough up a gryph one and a half times her size or whatever the fuck, and it mostly suited her bc... romantic feelings. she is not good with them 9m 9 minutes ago Sent basic butch but she fell for ferra and flipped out when she realized what had happened, alternatively pushed her away and tried to spend as much time with her as she could ferra was ??? bc ferra is. large and fierce but also genuinely kind, and illva was terrified and lashed out in her fear 8m 8 minutes ago Sent basic butch she started getting way too rough and finally ferra threw her off, told her to get lost in not so many words bc it was toxic for the both of them 8m 7 minutes ago Sent basic butch and then ferra and witch gryphon made heart eyes at the both of each other and that's why hate u love u is an illva song "you want her, you need her, and i'll never be her" 7m 6 minutes ago Sent
Spoiler: large img quick sketch of ferra's future love. she's loosely based off of a western reef heron and keeps her neck bunched up as often as possible so she can weird people out when she extends it
