Friends of Perlysia
Yello Madlings, today is a bizarre day for many reasons. First, if all goes well, we will meet our first deadline imposed by Perlysia. Twice a week, written content on Wednesday & Saturday to kick Maiden in the ass to get shit done. Second, and this is the weird bit, a new Madling has shown interest in our little world here. That was unexpected and broke Maiden's brain for a minute because I didn't give this person the site or any info. Their organic interest happened without me mentioning it. I also respect these individuals; they spend much time lost in fantasy worlds. Hearing them enjoy the Obsidian Wail felt nice, which was weird. I am an introvert and never feel like this place is good enough, so thank you to everyone reading anything in the Madhouse.
I mention all this because we introduce characters that are not mine today. They are my friends, the nerds/muffins that held this lost soul together over the past year. I wouldn't have had the drive to build this mad world without these people. Even in the Black Forest Inn, where all this started, my friends brought this all to life. I asked the people I care about to give me a character and then molded it into my world out of notes they had given me. Without my people, the Madhouse is just a cage for an insane old wolf. As cheesy as it is, nothing you read would exist without them. My friends populate Perlysia's world. The first Madling to join was the pirate Kass.
Kassandra (Kass)
The first supporter of the Madhouse was our resident pirate captain, Kassandra or Kass. Her surname is redacted and doesn't matter as she wouldn't speak it anyway. Before Kass became a pirate, she was a childhood friend of Perlysia's. Kassandra's parents were prominent members of the Twilight Orthodoxy (more on them later) and Althea's Lunar Court. Free thinking even in her youth, Kass disagreed with the rigorous beliefs of the Twilight Orthodoxy. Kass believed any group that demanded blind obedience and the eradication of anything they claim is evil was a cult. She wanted no part of the cult, a decision that would brand Kass forever a traitor to her family.
Kass decided to do what any runaway child who hates her parents does: she joined the circus. This circus was the crew of The Eclipse, a merchant ship captained by Eldra Seaheart. You had never seen the most admirable set of smugglers than the crew of the Eclipse. It was Captain Seaheart who gave Kassandra her new name. She had told Kass a story once about being the greatest Jarl in the entire history of the sea. A tale where Eldra had a different name and threw that life away to follow her heart into the sea. Eldra taught Kass to be free of familial responsibilities and expectations by throwing away the name they forced on her.
Aboard the Eclipse, Kass spent her teenage years soaking up every bit of knowledge she could from Captain Seaheart. Luna is far to the north and shines under the moon's glow ninety percent of the year. However, Kass never knew the majesty of a star-filled sky till her life on the Eclipse. The artificial magical light illuminated Luna and dimmed the shining crystal stars in the sky. Kass would spend late nights navigating by the stars while others rested below decks; she would memorize every constellation in the sky. It only took a few years before Kass could navigate the Violet Sea merely by following the stars.
One significant drawback to being Kass on a ship is that she always has an explosive personality. During extreme emotional situations, Kass tended to lose control and make things explode in giant balls of fire. This wild magic made Kass a colossal liability in emotionally charged situations. After a scary incident in which Kassandra's emotional outburst almost destroyed the Eclipse, Eldra was nearly forced to boot Kass from the crew. Desperate to stay on The Eclipse, Kass sought a solution to her problems.
Kass learned from an old shop hand about a magical crystal lost to time known to fix her particular problem. The crystal was said to be on an island far to the east of the Obsidian Wail. The seas east of the Obsidian Wail are treacherous, with constant violent storms. To many sailors, it is considered untraversable. Eldra and the smallest, bravest crew she could manage agreed to seek out the island. Kassandra would find her prize in the end, and it would cost the crew of the Eclipse a hefty price. It would cost Kass more than she knew; months would pass before the emotional control became emotionally numb.
The quest for the crystal left The Eclipse damaged but miraculously salvageable; the same couldn't be said for its Captain. Around two dozen sailors lost their lives on the voyage to the mystery island. Many blamed Kassandra for the loss of life and were planning for her to meet the same fate. Only people's belief and trust in Eldra kept their blades sheaved. Captain Seaheart had always loved the sea more than anything. On this day, she gave up her life at sea and sold The Eclipse to pay for a shelter to support those who lost their families. Thus, Eldra's Seafarers Haven was started to support those who lost loved ones at sea.
In the Seafarers Haven, a very enthusiastic Perlysia noticed a numb Kassandra. The gap in age between Perlysia and Kass was around ten years. The last time she had seen Perlysia was when Kass was a teenager; Perlysia was maybe seven. Kass had no idea who the silver-haired beauty was, yet the adult Perlysia recognized Kass immediately. Perlysia could tell her friend longed to be at the sea once again. Reclaiming The Eclipse from its current owner (Perlysia tried) was impossible, but she could commission a small ship from the Mystic Shipwright Guild.
A hefty sum from Perlysia's funds was spent to afford a small vessel so Kass could return to her life on the sea. Kassandra named the vessel Voidheart to represent the emptiness she had felt since the loss of The Eclipse. Captain Kassandra has begun assembling her circus to accompany her on the Voidheart to navigate the Violet Sea again.
Nathe
Another friend of Perlysia, while a bit contentious, is Nathe. Nathe is a brilliant scientist and alchemical genius. He was born to a prominent family in Rainbow Town, a district of shining crystals and commerce in Luna. Rainbow Town is shiny and, to Nathe, an obnoxious distraction. From a very young age, all Nathe wanted to do was be lost in his research to progress his experiments. Nathe found peace and focus in research. It's too bad that even in his youth, Nathe's studies were constantly distracted by frivolous work.
Many in Luna become household names by rank and nobility, lofty titles for "Royalty," politics, and bureaucratic bullshit; Nathe hated it all. Nathe's family became famous for a magnificent ice cream shop called Iridescent Dreams. Being a family business, Nathe began working inside the shop when he could mix cream in a bowl. This early desire to develop new flavors and styles led Nathe to study alchemy. Many things patrons enjoy about the Iridescent Dream were created by Nathe. Holographic projection panels create fairy servers who deliver ice cream that changes colors and sometimes flavors with every taste.
The most incredible creation (Perlysia's opinion) was crystals that could read the user's thoughts and emotions and harmonize music and color to match their current mood. This invention caught Perlysia Luna's attention on one of her many days of escaping the castle and the disapproving look of her tutor. Nathe usually hated the politicians and the royals in the court who thought themselves better than others simply for being born to a name. Perlysia was different; over time, she would chip away at the distance Nathe usually kept from other people.
Perlysia was well known; the spoiled princess got special treatment anywhere she went in Rainbow Town. That was what Nathe initially thought about Perlysia, and it took a while to realize how selfless and giving Perlysia was. Nathe believed Perlysia was childish and naive, but her love for the people of Luna was sincere. A few years into their friendship, Perlysia presented Nathe with the opportunity to join the Frostweaver Academy. Inside the Academy were the Celestial Libraries, centuries of knowledge traced back to before the time of Luminara and the founding of Luna. A life of research and study was a dream, and Nathe accepted Perlysia's invitation, often reserved for the elite alone.
Unfortunately for Nathe, he quickly learned a life of research was not in his future, only a life of tedious work. As an apprentice, Nathe would be tasked with making trinkets, annoying trinkets he made in his ice cream shop. At the Iridescent Dream, he was paid for his work for his family. As a Frostweaver apprentice, it was just his "duties." Even worse, knowledge in the Celestial Libraries was forbidden to a fledgling apprentice. Bureaucracy be damned, Nathe's knowledge of magic far surpassed his tutors, and making flashy crystal lights while freezing was beneath his skill.
While researching how to obtain more time for...research, Nathe was approached by a new student in the Academy. The frail woman had a similar dilemma; she was drowning in work and so desperate she wished there were two of her. As the conversation with the woman progressed, Nathe had a sudden idea flood his mind. If her story was correct, there was a way to project a second copy of himself, thus doubling his work output while retaining the knowledge. The irrelevant detail that such spells are forbidden for a reason the woman couldn't remember made the prospect of success more exciting.
Thus, Nathe mixed the formula that would forever change him. The recipe the woman gave Nathe as a reference, a family heirloom given to her, was incomplete. It would take months of research for him to attempt a working formula. Nathe was a hyper-focused genius who, in his hubris, decided to test the final result on himself. The change was instant as a guttural hissing sprung to life in Nathe's skull. His mind felt as if it was splitting apart, and after the most painful experience (so far), Nathe would never have a moment of peace again.
Nathe's formula didn't work the way he had intended. The intended outcome was for Nathe to be able to project a duplicate copy of himself that could make his trinkets so he could focus on his studies. The result was a shattering of his psyche, bringing his subconscious voice to the surface. Nathe now struggles to keep his primitive lizard brain under control as it invades his every thought.
Avantasia “Ava” Trixiana de Dragaô
Obnoxious positivity is the best phrase to describe Avantasia. Preferring to be known as just "Ava," she was born in the darkness of the Obsidian Wail. In her youth, Ava lived in peace with her mother, that life was absolute perfection. Ava always felt safe with her mother there to protect her, even in a forest of blood and monsters. Ava was an anomaly in her family. Everyone around her was gifted magically in a way Ava couldn't understand. As she grew into a teenager, there seemed to be no magical aptitude within her. When Ava was about 16 years old, her mother had vanished, leaving only a note. The note only had two words, Erebus and Lucien.
Ava was alone for the first time in a world of chaos where nearly everything was trying to murder or eat you. Never one to think negatively about her situation, Ava rode that permanent silver lining across the Umbra Arborum to the massive obsidian castle town of Erebus. Erebus has been the staging ground of the Sons of Cain for an eternity; now, it is ruled by the twins of chaos. Unfortunately, the day Ava appeared before the guards seeking entry to the dark castle, Adriana Nyxaris answered the summons. Adriana hated most things in life, and she hated nothing more than a beautiful girl with golden hair. The girl had the nerve to appear at her door and request the presence of Lucien.
If Adriana had her way, she would have drowned Ava in the Crimson Nexus, never to see that derpy smile again. Unfortunately, Adriana wouldn't have time to toss her off the bridge before Lucien appeared to discover the cause of the commotion. Lucien Nyxaris was the light to his sister's chaos, and he instantly noticed something Adriana could never understand in Ava. Much to the chagrin of his sister, Lucien welcomed Ava into Erebus not as a servant as Adriana demanded but as an extended family member.
From then on, Ava became "Lady Ava," a distant cousin to Lucien Nyxaris. This began a cycle of years in which Adriana tried any cheeky way to dispose of Ava. On one especially heinous attempt, a friend approached Ava, claiming to have a solution to her problem. Cheerful and trusting, Ava gasped, horrified as the woman she had spent weeks getting to know shoved her from a tower window. Ava's short life flashed before her eyes during the freefall from the tower. One final image of her mother flashed in her mind as her body plunged into the Crimson Nexus.
The Crimson Nexus was a fountain of magical energy that pooled near Erebus. Its blood river flowed from the mountains, said to be the blood of Lilith that gave the Nyxaris Family immortality. All that Ava felt was a torrent of excruciating pain as the thick, sanguine waters penetrated her body. Terrified screams of pain only forced her to swallow more of the disgusting fluid. Ava's body had grown limp before something vital gripped her hand and pulled her from the waters. Ava fell into a coma while seemingly unharmed; Ava would spend nearly a month stuck in slumber.
As Ava slept, her dreams were vivid nightmares of a tiny demon that promised her the magic stolen from her at birth. The demon promised Ava the power to defend herself and change the world for the better. Ava pledged herself to the tiny, annoying chaos gremlin and awoke to a disheveled bearded Lucien watching over her. Lucien was always so clean and put together. She had never seen her cousin so unkempt. The proceeding revelation of her "rainbow magic" was nothing to her compared to a rugged, struggling Lucien.
Lucien told Ava his twin sister was "dealt with," but he wouldn't give her more details. Instead, he had made arrangements for Ava to meet an acquaintance of his. This acquaintance was heavily armored and only answered Ava in handwritten notes. One note stood out to Ava. It was written in a familiar script, a code developed by her mother and taught to her as a child. The note had a date and a dock number in Bloodtide Harbor to the south of Erebus Castle. Optimistic to a fault, she left Lucien's protection and fled to the Harbor alone, hoping to find her mother. What she found at dock number four that day wasn't her mother. It was a woman desperate to build a crew for a tiny vessel called Voidheart.
Ava never questioned her instincts, and the demon patron in her agreed she was standing on that dock for a reason. With boundless positivity pushing her forward, Ava joined the crew of the Voidheart. Soon, the crew of the Voidheart would see a prosperous boon to their ailing fortunes. Captain Kassandra also seemed to be having a turn in fortune, acquiring hefty transport orders she never could have dreamed of. Erebus rarely exported goods to Luna or Drakescar, so when the Prince of Chaos commissioned the Voidheart to transport goods to Luna, it changed everything for the crew. The purse from that shipment alone was more than Kass had made in nearly a year at sea.
Now, as a crew member of the Voidheart, Ava joins Kass as they navigate the Violet Sea. With every passing day, she is introduced to a world of magic and splendor she could never have imagined. Ava was a shining light in Erebus and had never left the Obsidian Wail's dark forest, which she found beautiful. One day, Ava swore to return to her home and dispel the evil she had witnessed beneath its canopies of blood. Ava swore she would carve out a beautiful light in the Obsidian Wail, a light so bright she could find her mother.
Althea Luna
Althea Luna is the current Lunar Queen and sovereign of her Kingdom. In Althea's youth, her father had given much of the control of running the city over to the Twilight Orthodoxy. War between Luna and the Nyxaris family had been a constant since its origin, and there was no sign that war would change in her lifetime. Knowing the impossible, Althea devoted her reign as Queen to attempting to bring peace between her Kingdom and the demonic forest. She would face many obstacles in her path towards peace.
The first problem was her cousin Emeric Solis had no intention of allowing any form of peace. Politics in Luna revolved around the power struggle between the Lunar Queen and the Twilight Orthodoxy in the Solis Temple. Emeric's ancestor Typhon used the ancient doctrine of Twilight to foretell a world consumed by the dark forces that permeate the Obsidian Wail. To prevent the spread of darkness, the Twilight Orthodoxy created a Templar order to fight an endless crusade. This crusade's mission was to eradicate any "monster" from the Obsidian Wail, including the Nyxaris family or any of Lilith's demonic bloodline.
It was this doctrine of hatred that Althea had been attempting to bring an end to. As Lunar Queen, Althea had resided over the funeral ceremonies of too many templars lost in a needless war. The cycle of death needed to stop somewhere, and she had made enemies of many in making this decision. Some, like Emeric, truly wished to erase darkness from the world. Others, like Perlysia's father, the Solar King Orion, had gained prestige in the war, adulation that Orion was unwilling to give up.
Orion Luna was a foreigner, an implant from Drakescar who took Althea's name and used it to gain power. Like many others in her bloodline, their marriage was a political arrangement. A creepy advisor Althea was never fond of had chosen a suitable mate for the Lunar Queen. Althea loathed fulfilling her "Queenly Duties." The only benefit is that her duties blessed her with young Perlysia. No doctor could explain Perlysia's silver hair; every Queen since Luminara had curls of brown hair. Althea saw it as a gift from Gaia to her chosen daughter. The belief that Perlysia was special would lead Althea to spoil the child in her youth.
Miraculously, the three kingdoms circulated rumors of peace between Luna and Erebus. Althea had somehow negotiated a cease-of-hostilities between the two Kingdoms a few years earlier, and trade had begun again. Lucien Nyxaris was proving to be a different creature than his father. Vorath was cruel and relished in the conflict as much as Emeric. Lucien was diplomatic and intelligent and seemed to seek peace as much as Althea genuinely. Althea's dream is to gift Perlysia a world free of the pain and expectations forced upon her. Perlysia was a light so bright Althea couldn't see the shadows closing in around her.
Madlings, we hit a deadline and got this out on a Wednesday as scheduled. Today, we discussed four positive influences for Perlysia. I will introduce four negative influences on Saturday: people who wish only for Perlysia's destruction and for her Kingdom to crumble. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my little post here. Blessed Be Madlings.
