Created Sunday 23 October 2022
Ere
Ere is one of the strongest maligned hunters. He is a transgender man. He uses an enchanted glove and sword, but unlike hunters from his original clade, no whips. In effect, his philosophy is to match the maligned in style and pattern as much as possible. Transing as a mortal in this world requires alchemy, and he started with the type of alchemy that can kill you and it turns out he also had a weaker liver than expected so he was slowly dying because it was actively toxic to his body. He later went on to a witch of The Art and she made a solution for him that was better and not gonna kill him either. When he was going on to be infused with maligned blood and enchanted he recovered faster than most would, and ended up the youngest to go through that process. Ere started his transition early in puberty because no one in his life that mattered was against it and mostly supported it fully. Ere is Asexual and Aromantic.
Him, his sister Outerra, and his childhood friend Prince Kherren Amaran had wild energies. He was quiet but dangerous, stronger and faster than anyone would expect and fucking durable due to transing. Outerra was a decent mage but for the most part what she did was be tough and plan out ways to scare people that fucked with any of them. Kherren was big, friendly, but if you hurt or bothered someone he cared about he wouldn't fuck around. He would pin you to a wall and threaten you, and often fought folks too. He was also really clever in his own right, charismatic, and good at oration. Ere and Outerra both were royal kids too but their kingdom had a rebellion that started with the leader promising freedom and lies about how evil the current king and queen were, and ended with him being a tyrant who killed his closest allies. Ere and Outerra went to the kingdom of which Kherren hailed because they were already friends. Kherren couldn't do the full hunter training due to being a prince, and Outerra was with them in the hunter training but not as a hunter and instead as a medic.
Outerra and Kherren later fucked and then eventually got married and had four kids, five years seperating each. The oldest whos name is Rosik, the middle who are twins named Ishamel and Khazhek, and the youngest Naya, which is short for Nayazakhar. They all have names in Kherren's native language. Ere and Outerra are native speakers of a different language that sounds sorta French but not really.
Khazhek is the offspring of a maligned father. What happened was Outerra was kidnapped by that maligned when she was just a few weeks pregnant with Ishamel. Kherren and Ere killed the fucker and nine months later two babies were born instead of one. Ishamel and Khazhek are somehow still near identical despite being heteropaternal! The difference is Khazhek is a bit shorter and less stocky. Both have green eyes and black hair like their mother, and both mostly look like her. Naya was born a few years later. Outerra was permanently damaged by the earlier pregnancy and birth and the doctors basically said either you both die or the baby lives. Naya was born perfectly healthy and never knew her mother.
So the reason maternal death happens so often with maligned is that maligned blood is actively dangerous. When in the womb, their blood mixes with the mothers and thus can cause damage. Fire maligned blood can catch fire or just spontaneously combust and it can cause burns. It also runs fairly hot in their veins. Ice maligned blood is freezing cold and can cause frostbite. Shadow maligned blood can cause necrosis. The fact it isn't more common is because some maligned offspring have less dangerous blood, and sometimes their blood can be helpful.
Outerra was actually expected to be fully infertile because of the damage done. She was predicted to die shortly after the twins were born, but she made it five more years and could have probably lived longer. The only thing they thought would happen upon her survival would be chronic pain and physical weakness.
Kherren and Ere made sure Khazhek, Ishamel, and Naya were raised good tho, despite one of them being a maligned child. Khazhek grew up to be gregarious compassionate and a whore, Ishamel grew up to be a brooding rude bitch. Naya grew up to be loud, stubborn, and snarky, but only when around Khazhek whom she was closest with. On her own she was less confident.
Khazheks best friend and his longest and "favorite" romantic partner is an AMAB nonbinary prodigy mage named Meridan. They were chosen as court mage when they were 12, and they quickly developed a friendship with Khazhek. Their prodigal power comes from their innate spirit sense. Meridan is a year younger than Khazhek and Ishamel. Meridan is a prodigy intuitive caster so their spells are all entirely themselves, but they have a small crew of helpers that will do what they all need to activate the ritual. They are exceptionally fast at improvising magic because of this. Their magic is often more dangerous and unpredictable, but they mitigate this with assistance from their assistants who are trained to help stabilizing the unstable casts. Meridan has enchanted gloves that allow them to carve into most natural surfaces. Full metal alchemist flavored sure, but w/e.
Rosik and Kherren are cishet, Outerra is a cis bi/pan demi woman, and Ishamel is cis and ace. Naya is cis pan and demi like their mom and may or may not have a crush on Khazhek, she doesn't even know herself, but she's pretty sure she doesn't. Khazhek is also pan and demi, and exclusively a relationship anarchist. He is a demiboy but doesn't feel sure about that. He's into casual relationships but is overall a romantic at heart. Ere is aroace and trans.
Khazhek Naya and Meridan are basically explicitly anarchist in philosophy. Ishamel it depends on what time of his life you ask him during his late teens and early 20s then he's anti anyone having authority but himself. Rosik and Kherren are basically social democratic leaning but in a monarchist system and position. Ere is also basically an anarchist and if we're being honest probably the source of the anarkids ideology since Ere was the one who mentored them the most. Kherren was busy doing moral monarch nonsense and Rosik was mostly being taught by him due to oldest child in a monarchy. Ere jokingly called it "benevolent tyranny".
Ishamel has paler green eyes, Khazhek's are a more vibrant green.
Everyone in the Amaran family is physically affectionate. The two exceptions are Eŕe and Ishamel. With Eŕe its because he generally has a tough time openly expressing his emotions, and with Ishamel it is a genuine discomfort. Khazhek is very physically affectionate and also a big fan of platonic cuddling. Gentle touches, holds, hugs, but only if the person already consented. he's also a big fan of kisses.
Kherin gives suprise bearhugs. To everyone he likes. He has cracked one of Eŕe's ribs before.
Rosik sits close to people who'll let him and often rests hands on closest shoulder, but he is the least developed character in my mind tbh. He exists! He's nice! He's the good kid in a family of trouble makers!
But beyond that? His name is Rosik, he has blue eyes and light sandy fur with sandy blonde hair like his father, and he's tall and strong. Comparatively, Khazhek and Ishamel are like, ~5'9" (with Khazhek being an inch taller), fairly lithe (with ishamel being just a bit stockier w/ just a bit more muscle definition), and both have dark fur and dark hair and green eyes. Naya has green eyes, is the shortest at 5'7", lithe with muscle definition, and sandy light fur with black patterning here and there and dirty blond hair. Basically, beyond Khazhek and Ishamel, all of them look very different.
Theres an Amaran family sword. Jt js one of the only known enchanted weapons (or enchanted anything) to have a constant, stable, self-reinforcing antimaligned effect. It has a special quality to it where it resonates with soul rather than spirit, so what happens is when someone wields it, it becomes an extension of their soul. They're basically weaponizing their soul. Interestingly, if a maligned or half maligned tries to wield it, it causes a positive feedback loop that will eventually tear the Maligned soul away from their body, killing them but not necessarily permanently. Most weapons that permanently injure maligned don't actually permanently injure them throughout many different remanifestations/resurrections, but this blade causes truly permanent damage to the shape of their soul. Khazhek tried to touch it once and it was just sudden intense pain where skin met sword. Maligned blood infused individuals will feel anything from severe discomfort to searing pain while wielding it, but it won't kill them.
The swordspell has literally never weakened, but it is also one of the only known examples of anything enchanted via soul rather than spirit.
Whether or not this is just a property of soul based enchantment is not known
For most of my stories:
Rosik and Kherren are tertiary characters.
Ere and Meridan are Secondary.
Ishamel, Naya, and Khazhek are primary.
But each has a chance to be the primary role depending on specific story.
Everyone described here are some sort of wolf people. Wolf people from King Kherren's homeland tend to be stockier and on average shorter while from where Ere and Outerre are from they tend to be lither and overall smaller in build but taller on average. The difference is minute but noticable. Strong Dogs V. Fast Dogs.
So Naya used to be a boy. I don't mean she's trans, I mean her character used to be Khazhek and Ishamels younger half brother from different mother but I changed that so long ago that it doesn't matter. The old form was boring and bland beyond being nice and heroic. Naya has more character. I think the only thing to hold over was some of the role they played in the story and uh... the mild crush on their brother aspect. Which is a weird trait to be consistent, but whatever. Its a character trait that doesn't affect much at all. Like, its just "I had a childhood crush on my older brother and now I'm embarrassed about it and randomly remember it and feel embarrassed that it ever happened." Meanwhile Ishamel over there convinced everyone in the family hates him while absolutely adoring Khazhek and so he has a grudge on him (that actually started when they were like early preteens because Ishamel hurt Khazhek very badly emotionally and Khazhek responded by lashing out. Before that they were basically best friends)
Accepted pronunciations for each, but tbh it really doesn't matter as long as you follow syllables ig because none of these are exact:
KA-zek
ISH-a-MEL
Eh-REH
Na-YA
Ro-SIK
ke-REN or KE-ren
OU-te-ra
me-ri-DAN
khazhek: kind and caring, overall tries to hide his own feelings and thoughts as much as possible but also has a habit of monologue about existentialism to himself, doesn't sleep. still struggles with his demons but prioritizes helping others as best he can.
ishamel: Spoiled for the fact we're not there yet in the story: Legitimately feels like a garbage person who will never truly deserve forgiveness for what he did, no matter the circumstances. Wants to care and connect to people but can't help but feel distant. Genuinely good at making sure people are organized during times of stress. Quiet and reserved and a little bit super fucking unaware of social stuff as it's happening. really good at piecing together mystical type stuff on his own based on very little data
naya: bitch but loves family, likes to tease people. good natured, loud, and very open. has a few things she doesn't share but for the most part. very willing to give anyone shit for bad choices or stupid decisions, but especially khazhek
atare: shy and sweet but also sarcastic when he wants to be. legitimately has troubles with self worth, self image, body image, and feeling like he fits in. doesn't feel like anything about him is correct but has no idea hwat that means. cares a lot about people but also has a deep conection with khazhek (which grows in this arc but hasn't really been a thing yet)
etanya: rude but also funny. jealous and territorial, but also protective and caring. the type to bitch at you for not eating and force you to eat.
ere: cares so mcuh for his family, cannot connect to anyone because of fear of loosing them. nosy as all hell, loves gossip, and sneaks up to eavesdrop but sometimes can't fucking help himself and has to join in despite the fact he's not a part of the conversation. when he has his mind set on a task he goes for it.
meridan: very very very queer. willing to push back against anyone, takes no shit even if they will start crying while arguing. very very smart and able to figure stuff out just through obeservation but also very very good at keeping it to themselves. makes khazhek very happy, one of the few people that sleeping in the precencse of will make him not have nightmares (atare and naya are two others, but there are more. his mother was one.)
meridan is also snarky but in a more playful way
[10:20 PM]
atare is snarky only to people he knows already, and specifically towards them
[10:20 PM]
naya is a bully
[10:21 PM]
etanya doesn't tease or snark or sarcas, she does jokes
[10:21 PM]
usually about situations more than people
[10:22 PM]
conversations between these goofuses where they randomly discuss deeper things before back to being goofuses
[10:22 PM]
and sometimes some of them might kiss