Miscellaneous Drawings #5

Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, and #4

Greetings Adventurers, 

I thought it was time to do another miscellaneous drawings post! In regards to later posts...I have two Inktober posts planned, as well as a post introducing my novel for this NaNoWriMo, and a post involving Shakespeare coming soon...

But back to this post...since Halloween is near I sprinkled some spooky drawings throughout the post, along with my Fantasy drawings: 

A drawing of Elm, I really like how it turned out.

I thought I would include the sun necklace she wears in the drawing. 

A drawing of Karleon, the god of mischief, from Arisias's world. 

This is a drawing of Galadriel from Rings of Power. I drew this long before the show came out, since I saw a promotional photo for Galadriel and thought her armor was awesome. My main focus in this drawing was the shading, which I think turned out well.  

As for the show, I'm watching it now and am I really enjoying it so far. However, there are bits that bother me (the way the elves act--they're too human for my taste, also don't get me started on their hair).

A drawing of Salissah. I figured out that she is the goddess of the moon, but also the goddess of strategic fighting (fencing, archery, martial arts, etc.), as well as philosophy, much like the Greek goddess, Athena. Whereas the god of the sun is like Ares, and just cares for bloody warfare in general. 

I've recently been drawing illustrations for a story with a dog character, and I decided to make another dog character. The dog doesn't have a name yet or a story, but I plan to come up with one later... 

I figured with Halloween being this close, I couldn't not include a drawing of this eerie door. I drew this a while ago, and I decided to include a figure hidden in shadow on the other side of the door. 

A drawing of Arwen from Lord of the Rings. This was inspired by the scene where Arwen rescues Frodo from the Ring Wraiths. 

**Warning eerie drawing ahead** 

This is a drawing that I created a while ago. I put the warning up in case viewers don't like spooky things, so they can scroll past it. But, my idea for the drawing, was that the woman had her dead fiancée (or husband) return to reunite with her in death. I am thinking of turning it into a short story sometime. 

But this drawing also helped me explore making some of my drawings spookier, which is something I intend to do when I illustrate (and publish) my book Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass. 

**The eeriness is over now...** 

Willow the dryad. This is a reimagining of a Pixton character I created. I didn't include it in the post where I introduced her, since it wasn't a majority vote. But I like how it turned out. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? And do you have any favorite animal characters? 

-Quinley 

A Look Into a World #3: How the Power of Prophecy Came To Be (+ P.2 of the Q&A)

So, in this post, I wanted to talk about an aspect of my general process of writing but one that is still related to Becoming the Body Thief and Arisias. So, I decided another installment for A Look Into a World. If you want to read the previous installments, here is #1 and #2.  

A Look Into a World: 

How the Power of Prophecy Came To Be

The Myth

Before Karleon had power over prophecy, the power belonged to the God of Time. The prophecies were very direct and to the point. They did not have any rhyming nor were they hard to decipher. Because of this a lot of prophecies came out sounding like threats rather than prophecies. Since a lot of people were not pleased to find out when and the exact date and time of their death, prophecies became less and less like a thing that people would travel to receive. It seemed prophecy was becoming a dying art. However, Karleon the god of mischief decided that he must steal the power. 

(Karleon catching the god of time in a form of a firefly (he's not a real firefly, so his glow wouldn't be yellow but instead silver)). 

So Karleon insulted the God of Time and challenged him to a shapeshifting contest. They took on different forms of different animals, until the God of Time turned into a firefly and Karleon caught him in that form and extracted the power that way. 

As a result, the temples that housed the God of Time's oracles suddenly became Karleon's temples of prophecy. And devotees to the God of Time were still devotees to him, but they had suddenly become devotees to Karleon as well--and not in the typical way which would happen during The Festival of Magic. 

This caused Karleon to get in trouble with the King and Queen of the gods again. But they were unable to remove the power from Karleon for he threatened that the power would cease to be in use if they removed it. Since he could see the future, they took what he said to be fact (though variations of the myth told by the God of Time's devotees, say it was one of Karleon's lies). 

But, even though they were not able to remove the power, the King and Queen tasked the God of Time with punishing Karleon. So Karleon was temporarily frozen in time. 

The Oracles & Their Powers

                                                            (An elvish oracle in a trance foretelling what is come) 

There are many oracles across the different kingdoms. When an oracle uses their power, they go into a trance. Their eyes glow a bright vibrant blue, and they talk in a voice that sounds unlike their own. 

The prophecies of course are told in rhyme and also are very ambiguous in meaning. In regards to prophecies related to heroes, some people in the world believe in "chosen ones." Others believe that the people mentioned in prophecies relating to quests are just descriptions of people who could fit the criteria, but not an exact person.

 But it does all come down to a belief in fate, and what power it has over actions in the world. 

The Relationship between the Devotees 

  Nisis/Nyro's and Karleon's devotees are on somewhat good terms. (The gods aren't exactly enemies, and despite their disagreements, they have teamed up more than once). On the other hand, the God of Time's devotees and Karleon's are not friendly. 

This is because some of the devotees, think that the power should have been left with the God of Time, as prophecy foretells the future and is related to time itself. They are also upset that they could have received the ability but the god of mischief, Karleon stole it from them. 

It is not unusual that arguments--even heated debates--would happen between them. The devotees to the God of Time would like the power back, whereas the devotees of Karleon think it is rightfully theirs. 

                  Part two of the Q&A For Becoming the Body Thief 

Now, we're back with part 2! If you wish to read part 1, you can so here. Many of the questions that were submitted related to the 2nd book in my Fantasy murder mystery book series, Becoming the Body Thief, and there were other questions relating to the world in general.                                      

Questions from Diane at Always Crave Cute :

I'm wondering how far Arisias will go with her ruse. Will she hold back just enough to not commit an actual crime?

Without spoiling anything, Arisias does admit she has had a lot of regrets from having to do things because of her alias in the 2nd book. She actually said that in this post (note, that I called her "Annabelle" then, so the post is a bit outdated in terms of names but not content), in response to the question "what is the hardest thing you've ever done?" So, I will just say-- she has a lot of regrets. 

                          Will she change the behavior of the real criminals?

                     You shall see, Arisias may be able to, or she may not. It all depends...

                 Does she use costumes, disguises, to hide her true identity and intent?

(Arisias in disguise) 

         The criminals Arisias works with, have no idea they're helping Princess Arisias. So, yes. She's in disguise, and she is using an alias, so no one actually knows it is her. However, that is not to say that someone won't discover that she isn't who she says she is. 😉

                                                  Question from Anonymous:  

                           Will Arisias find friends among the criminals?

 She will have to be allies with them, even if not close friends. Because if she is enemies toward them that will not help her get to where she needs to go. 

         Will she turn these in to the police when she sees the crimes they commit?

This is one time, where she cannot turn criminals in to the civil guard (police) because, she herself has become a wanted criminal. So, by doing that, she would risk being arrested just for the sake of arresting a criminal. At this point, she is at the same level of the criminals so cannot do much to go against them-- unless, she wants to end up arrested, too. 

                                               Questions from Fleming: 

What made you decide to change the character’s name to Arisias, especially after living with Annabelle for so long? 

(Still from the video where I announce Arisias's name change). 

When I named this character "Annabelle" back in 2016, the name fit her character at the time. However, when she was developer further, it stopped fitting her. So, it felt appropriate to call her "Arisias" as was drafting it now. 

Also, I realized the name "Annabelle" sounds very strange when there are other characters with names like Cerawen and Vonivera. And also since she is the main character, it felt weird that the other characters had fantastical names, but she did not. 

In the first book, Horatio only knows the character's name, rather than her as a person when he first wakes up. I thought "Arisias" as a name held more mystery than "Annabelle."

 The name Arisias also seemed closer to who she was, and as for the background in creating the name I talk about it in this post here. 

 Also, are there any characteristics of the fairies, elves or dwarfs that you feel are completely original to this world?

(Image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_mythology#/media/File:Riders_of_th_Sidhe_(big).jpg)

I wouldn't say anything is completely original. I am taking a lot of elements of my story from mythology from thousands and thousands of years ago (Greek, Norse, Irish, etc.), along with inspirations from some more modern fantasy stories. But, I would say they're different in some ways from other elves, dwarves, and fairies I have seen in the media. 

For my fairies I actually took some elements from Irish mythology. Because of that they're more trickster like, not someone you want to anger, nor someone you can completely trust which is why they have a bad relationship with the humans. They have the ability to make themselves "invisible" (go to  another dimension), and realm-travel. Both elves and fairies came from another realm, but fairies have the ability to actually magically get themselves there if they want to, whereas for an elf it would be harder. 

The elves are more trustworthy. They have been there for thousands and thousands of years. They are able to detect gods from within a crowd more than a mere mortal (human) could. And elves believe themselves to be made in the likeness of the very gods they worship-- which is why they're so ethereal and live longer than humans. 

Dwarves I'm still working on. At the moment, only two have shown up (the two criminals that Arisias has to work with). So their culture, beliefs, and society are things I'm still working on building as a whole. But, I will say that not all dwarves are miners. There are some who are, but while wealth is important to the culture (particularly jewels and gold), not all dwarves are miners.  

....And that's the end of the Q&A. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. They were fun to answer. 😁

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What would you (or your character) do if you could tell the future? What's your favorite Fantasy creature? 

-Quinley 

My Art from Inktober 2022 (Part one)

I am back with another Inktober series! This year is my second year doing Inktober, I did it for the first time last year. Continuing the theme of last year, I will be dividing the series into three parts-- 10 drawings for each part, and then 11 in the final post.  If you wish to check out my Inktober posts from 2021, you can check them out here: part 1, part 2, and part 3. 

Also, as a reminder, I am doing a Q&A on this blog for novel. If you wish to leave questions for the second part of the Q&A (if you haven't already) you can do so here.  But back to this post, let's get started with the drawings: 

                                                       The Official Prompt list for Inktober: 

And here are my drawings... 

Day #1 Gargoyle, I thought it would be interesting if someone (a spy/rogue), was hiding amongst gargoyles waiting to make a move. 

.  

Day #2 Scurry, I drew of a dog character from a children's book I'm working on, whose name is Toto. This isn't one of the drawings for the book, but I thought it would be fun to draw none the less. 

Day #3 Bat, I drew an (elvish) vampire, since that was the first thing that came to mind. She has a tattoo/face-paint of a bat on her left cheek, and I gave her red eyes. 

Day #4 Scallop, I had to look up what a scallop was to make this drawing. Once I figured it out, I decided to draw a mermaid with a scallop as a necklace. It ended up turning into Arisias as a mermaid.

Day #5 Flame, Since Karleon the god of Mischief gives his devotees blue fire magic (along with sometimes the gift of prophecy, but that will be talked about later), I thought it would be fitting to draw him.

Day #6 Bouquet,  This drawing was inspired by a John William Waterhouse painting "Gather Ye Rosebuds While You May (1908)". I took the life drawing approach and only drew the lower part of the body (not the face), so that I could focus on the hands. 

Day #7 Trip, This reminded me of my characters traveling in my novel, Becoming the Body Thief. So, I drew something inspired by that. Since the writing on the sign got a little messed up, I'll tell you what it says. It says "The Woodland Tavern." There is an also an altar to a god off to the side with coin offerings from travelers. 

Day #8 Match,  The first thing that came to mind was lighting a match. So, I decided to draw that along with a candle. 

Day #9 Nest, It's been a while since I did a drawing of a bird! So, I decided to draw a bird sitting in its nest. 

Day #10 Crabby, For this I thought I would reference the mermaid theme from earlier, and draw a mermaid sitting with a crab. I really like how it turned out. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? And are you doing Inktober this year? 

-Quinley 

How Camp NaNoWriMo Has Been Going for Me (Part 1)

 

So, I was not prepared for Camp NaNoWriMo this month. In fact, I didn't even think I was going to be doing July's Camp NaNoWriMo, but I then had a sudden change of plans and decided to do it anyway. 

But this is why this post is not my usual "announcing my..." project post, like I did for April's Camp NaNoWriMo. Because while the project I am working on is a new one, I did not have the time to plan ahead for a description of what my story was or  make drawings of my characters like last year.  That is not to say that I won't make a post like this, but I don't have what I need to do it right now. 

So, instead this post will be more like a journal entry about how Camp NaNoWriMo has been going for me this month. 

                                      My Writing 

The project I am currently working on is called Becoming the Body Thief, and it is the project I mentioned in this post. Basically it is the second half of The Mystery of the Body Thief, but since I felt like this was a whole novel smashed together into another whole novel, I felt the need to separate them. 

Without spoiling anything, I can say there will be a whole new view of the world. In the first book, I primarily focused on the upper class--royalty to be more specific--and on detectives. In the second book, however, there is a change of perspective, and I am now focusing on the criminal world.  This is interesting, because the series as a whole focuses on crime in the Fantasy world, but crime from the perspective of a detective not a criminal. I feel is really helpful in world-building and understanding the characters, in seeing both sides of crime. 

I will say, I have taken inspiration from a lot of TV shows in doing this. I feel the dynamic of characters in my story currently reminds me strongly right now of the characters from Leverage. In fact, a character whose stage name is Venus (I'lll talk more about her in later posts) started reminding me of the character of Sophie Devereaux. Venus like Sophie is a con-artist and an actor. 

By the way, here is a small update on the renaming of my characters, which I talked about in a previous blog post:

My characters' names for this novel series are probably going to steadily change over time, as I am give them more fantastical names. So, I renamed Angela. Her name is now Cerawen (pronounced SERA-wen or SEERA-wen) which I think fits her better than Angela. (Even from the beginning, I thought it was a little weird to call her Angela given that the name meant "messenger of God" and given that the world has Greek mythology-inspired polytheistic religions, it felt really out of place). 

However, I am still working to create a new name for Annabelle. I haven't yet, but I feel I am getting closer, and once I come up with one, I will update her character sheet.

But, I should say what helped me create the new name Cerawen was actually a technique that the YouTuber Ginny Di suggested which was "keyboard smash." If you can believe it, the name Cerawen actually came out of the gibberish, "Ceqw," from the keyboard smash. 

As for songwriting, I made these not too long ago, and they are kind of a work in progress. However, since I am talking about my story which does involve world-building, I thought I would talk about some songs I've been working on that are for my story: 

 

   

I am planning to make more songs of this type. Basically, these are songs that the priests/priestesses or devotees would use when doing healing in my Fantasy world. I also thought it would be neat if it had an atmospheric background instead of a musical one (that is sounds of fire cracking, forest noises, etc.). These are the musical versions of the chants I had written, here. Like the last song I made a music video for, I am thinking it would be neat to make a music video with all of these songs combined somehow (once I am finished of course). 

 I should say I am in three different cabins this year for Camp NaNoWriMo--two that are being run by other people, and one that I am running myself. It is fun, as usual. I love connecting with writers from all over the world and getting to discuss writing as we're doing it. I've had a lot of really thoughtful conversations that just happened over an element or a character from one of my stories, and I love it. And actually, two of the drawings I drew in a previous post came from prompts from one of the groups I am in. Anyway, these prompts are really inspiring my writing and motivating me, which is awesome. I love being in writing communities. 

                                    Books I've Been Reading 

(Images from Goodreads, here and here) 

The two books I've been reading recently are Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. For Dracula, I am in fact following the now-very-famous Dracula Daily I love getting it, because I feel like the main character is emailing me, which is fun. However, I do admit that when I get shorter emails I tend to get impatient for the next response. Unlike when reading, I have to wait for the next part (well not really, I could read ahead but it would defeat the purpose of doing Dracula Daily).  This is frustrating because I really want to know what happens next. I also love how beautiful the prose is. The prose in classic books are usually so beautiful, and I love taking my time reading it to just get lost in it. 

I'm also really enjoying Where the Crawdads Sing. I love the descriptions and the characters. I am listening to an audiobook version of it, so it can be nice to just close my eyes and listen to the descriptions. I love how we get to see Kya's everyday life in the marsh. There is something nice about that, and I will say Owns's writing really reminds me of Shirley Jackson's writing style. Shirley Jackson is another author I love. I will say, though, for any younger readers of this blog, that there are two disturbing adult scenes in the book. They are done for the plot and have a purpose later on, but, I didn't want anyone who is young here to pick up the book and get traumatized. Other than that, I am loving the dual time-lines element of the story. It's always cool to read books that have that, because there are basically two storylines to follow, and it is fun to see how they intertwine.

 And while I haven't seen the movie yet (I have plans to see it when I finish reading the book), I really love the song that Taylor Swift wrote for it: 

I feel it captures the character of Kya so well. And it's also so relaxing to listen to. 

                            Music that Inspires My Writing   

I've included playlists for my stories in prior Camp NaNoWriMo posts, and while this post is very different than the usual structure, I thought I'd keep up the tradition.  

                                 Some Fun Things  

Okay, so I would usually talk about Webkinz on my other blog. However, I just realized Webkinz is actually a really good place for designing rooms for your characters. I made three rooms that I want to share: one for my story, and two inspired by the classics (Gothic and Greek mythology).

I made one of the taverns that appears in my novel in Webkinz! I found that making it in game, was really helpful to figure out the layout. This is the tavern where the main characters meet Venus (character mentioned earlier). It is one of the most luxurious taverns that appears in the story. While some very shady things happen in it, outsiders who go to it are kind of unaware of that. Basically it appears to be safe, but it is a place where criminals often meet and shady things happen. It wants you to think it is safe, but isn't. 

One of the reasons why the tavern is so luxurious is due to Venus's performances (at least one of the least shady reasons). Because of her, this tavern has many expensive things in it: an exquisite rug, a beautiful fireplace, and intricate tables. And my Webkinz room is only part of the tavern: the tavern in the book is pretty large, so I may create the second half in the future. (However, I will need to get the same wallpaper, which may take a while, since I had to win it from JumbleBerry Fields, a game within the virtual world). 

And since you know I love Gothic literature, I of course made another room, based on one of my favorite Gothic books. This room is inspired by "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I tried to make the room seem cramped and uncomfortable, like it was in the book. Unfortunately, Webkinz did not have aging yellow wallpaper, so I had to improvise with yellow paint instead. 

One of my Webkinzes is actually named Apollo, after the Greek god of the sun and music. So I made a room for him. I tried to give it musical references as well as light ones (with the fairy lights). So anyway, I thought I would share this room, because it was Greek mythology inspired. 

Also, I thought I would show what kinds of things you can create in a game like Webkinz, because not everyone has the money to use a more expensive game like Sims 4 to create rooms for their stories. But some people do have Webkinz accounts they made when they were children, so it can be an affordable  option for creating rooms for your characters. 

And that's all I have to say for now, but I will say more later in part 2! There are a lot of adventures I'm going to have later in Camp NaNoWriMo, and I will update you on them. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How has Camp NaNoWriMo been going for you? And have you read any good books or played any fun games recently? 

-Quinley 

A Look Into a World #2: How Magic Came to the World (The Lady Annabelle Mystery Series)

                                                   Click here to read the first post in the series. 

                                                                       Happy Holidays everyone!

This particular post is for the world of the Lady Annabelle Mystery series. These posts have helped me so far to know the world better. Also, in case anyone is confused and wondering why the gods from All Is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again are involved in something from the Lady Annabelle mystery series, that is because I ended up moving the gods (except the Creator Goddess, who will be modified) to that world, due to the setting change in All Is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again. The gods seemed a bit out of place, so I moved them to a series that seemed very in keeping with their nature.  

Along with the world-building series on my blog, I will also be occasionally posting articles on World Anvil  about this world. So sometimes when a Look Into a World post is published I will also post a World Anvil article that is related to it. I have an article that goes along with this post called "The Festival of Magic," which I will be linking on the world-building page on this blog. (You will see it under the "World Anvil" section of the page) and I will update you about it in a blog post. 

Anyway, on to this post: 

        How Magic from the Gods Came to the World- 

Nisis (left) and (young) Karleon (right) 

Two trickster gods were involved in bringing to the world magic that is not inherited at birth. Their names were Nisis/Nyro and Karleon. These two trickster gods were very fed up with the fact that the King and Queen of the gods were hoarding all the magic and were unwilling to teach the mortals any. 

So, Nisis/Nyro and Karleon came together and formed a plan to get the magic and give it to the mortals. Karleon played a role in distracting the god who protected the magic, while Nisis/Nyro took the magic down to the world and gave it to the mortals. The mortals were really happy about this; the king and queen of the gods were not. 

While Karleon escaped punishment, Nisis/Nyro did not. Karleon told the king and queen of the gods that he completely misunderstood the plan that Nisis/Nyro had "told him" and didn't think the magic of the gods would come into the world of the mortals. In contrast, Nisis/Nyro got banished to the world of the mortals for a few years so they would learn from their "mistake." Though there are variations on this myth (some where both the gods get punished, and some where Karleon is the one who gets punished instead of Nisis/Nyro), all end with Karleon and Nisis/Nyro not being on good terms. In the version of the myth I'm following, Nisis/Nyro got banished because the other gods worried they would take on the form of their loved ones (since Nisis/Nyro has no clear form other than that) to escape punishment. So this was the reason for their unfair punishment of Nisis/Nyro. 

After Karleon and Nisis/Nyro released magic into the world, the king and the queen of the gods decided to put restrictions on how much magic the mortals could have at once. This is because it turned out the other gods were very unwilling to take their magic back. Hence they created rules for becoming a devotee to a god or a goddess. This made it so that the gods whose magic was in the world was limited and had to be taught. The king and queen did this because they believed the other gods would be too vain or not feel that the mortals were worth their time. However this backfired, because the gods whose magic was given to the mortals spent a lot of their time teaching them the craft. 

And out of this event came the Festival of Magic. It is celebrated biannually given that there are two different assumed dates for when it happened.  These two dates are in the middle of spring and the beginning of winter. 

                                  Magic given at birth- 

The species who have this are fairies, elves, and some other creatures. According to the religion that is predominant in Dragon's Province, the gods created them to have these powers and gave a little bit of their magic to those creatures. 

For the fairies, the gods decided to give them the ability to make themselves "invisible" (though in reality they go to another dimension). This is a power that every fairy has, and the gods gave it to them so they could protect themselves if they were in grave danger (to hide from their attackers or from wild monsters). 

For the elves, they were given better eyesight and hearing than humans, as well as a better connection to the gods. While they may not be able to turn "invisible,"  elves can spot a god within a crowd of mortals or see a god when a human couldn't. This also links them to the major religion in Dragon's Province, where the gods teach mortals magic. 

                                   Enchanted Objects- 

An enchanted mirror

There are many different kinds of enchanted objects: one being enchanted crystals and jewels. If one believes the legends, then out of spite Karleon made all the jewels have different powers. (Some versions written by Elven scribes who don't have to mine in cold and damp mines say this is a  "blessing;" most others call it a "curse.") Karleon thought it would cause confusion for mortals (dwarves in particular) and that it would be fun to watch. To this day, no one is quite sure what the powers of enchanted jewels and crystals are, and in mining them people have to be careful or they could be cursed by them. 

There are also objects that are less dangerous and unambiguously blessed by the gods. These are considered sacred and can grant certain powers. Some are even said to be given to certain heroes on their journeys. 

One notable magic object is a magic mirror, which can have different abilities. Usually they can used as a way to look at different areas of the world or see the true nature of a person.  Fairy dust is also commonly described as being an "enchanted object," because it can be used in many ways: as a dye, as a way to find fingerprints, and for other uses. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What magic exists in your Fantasy world? And which way would you like to get magic? 

-Quinley 

A Look Into a World #1: Medical Magic (The Lady Annabelle Mystery series)

                       This series was inspired by Meri Greenleaf's awesome world-building posts . 

This is the beginning of a new blog series on the novels I am writing. 

I'm still writing the Mystery of the Body Thief. My goal in the first draft was lay out the story. The second draft is going to be a little more centered on character development and world-building.

This blog series will also show you more of the worlds of other Fantasy stories I am writing (All is Not Lost for All Will Begin Again and Eyes in the Night). I will be featuring the religions, the magic, the history, and the different species of the worlds I create, and maybe some of the world's scientific discoveries. 

Medical Magic in The Mystery of the Body Thief 

                                                 The song that inspired this: 

If one is to be a nurse or a doctor in Annabelle's world, it is much more time consuming for the student than in our world. This is because not only do you have to learn how the different parts of the body react to different magics and medicines, but you have to learn to devote yourself to one of the various nature gods and then learn nature magic, which also doubles as healing magic. The various gods that you may devote yourself to are the fire god, the air god, the earth god, or the water god. All have different ways of healing someone through magic that the student will have to master.

Because of this, nurses and doctors are kind of druid and witch like, and sometimes even someone you might turn to for spiritual help. People believe they can heal their body and soul. It is common that two doctors of different elements will work together, because they can heal the patient more thoroughly if the two elements are combined: like earth and water, or air and earth, or air and water, but never fire and water, because they would cancel each other out.

A lot of the training involves prayer to the god or goddess whom you have chosen to learn magic from, and looking through different spell books and delivering the sacred words.

                                                         Earth's healing abilities: 

                       The Goddess of the earth.                            

 Earth is very centered on grounding the body if the owner of the body doesn't feel like they have their feet firmly planted on the ground. The goddess also wants the person to feel the healing power of the woods and creeks. Another healing thing Earth does, is to help the patient realize they are part of the cycle of the world, and that they are not separate from the cycle. They can be one with animals and plants of the world.

Spell to invoke the goddess: I call upon the goddess of the earth, to give me strength and ground myself, tell me the secrets hidden deep in the ground, open my eyes to what I may have overlooked, 
allow me to care for all the creatures of earth that you do, allow me to harm none. Give me knowledge to heal the wounded and the sick, goddess breathe life into the dying! 

                                                            Fire's healing abilities: 

The Fire god

Fire tends to do something very acupuncture like. The person who has the magic related to it, will touch the patient's body and temporarily heal them of the pain they have been feeling in that area. It only lasts twenty four hours or a little more, but it helps ease the pain of the patients.

Spell to invoke the fire god: Oh, ever changing fire god, I call upon you. Let your warmth heal the sick and those who feel cold, like those who are in pain feel energetic like your flickering flames, 
let the body feel worth, let the injured be able to move again, let them feel energy flowing again! 

                                                           Air's healing abilities: 

The Air God 

 Air wants to help get the body to its higher (or divine) self. This also helps on the spiritual level of having the patient get more spirituality connected to the gods and the universe.

Spell to invoke the air god: Ever high up air god, let others reach your height. Let the injured and the sick feel your presense, breathe healing wind in their direction and send not the sickening winds, but the healing winds with (Nurse or doctor chanting this adds in what they want the god to send), give me your knowledge and wisdom, let me heal the sick, and let your winds come close to us! 

                                                            Water's healing abilities: 

The Water Goddess

Water makes the body feel more fluid and in the moment. If the patient is feeling like they are overwhelmed the water elemental has powers that will help them feel more like they can affect the world in positive ways.

Spell to invoke the goddess: I call upon the ever flowing water goddess, help me heal, help me heal others with your enchanting gaze, let knowledge of healing trickle onto my fingers, let it flow onto the sick and the injured, let the stuck flow like a running river, like them feel whole instead of empty! 

Because of this, the religion of the world and the magic are intertwined, and while you don't always need to be a priest or a priestess to have magic, you do at least need to be devoted to a god or a goddess in your practice of it. And if you aren't you are frowned down upon by society. 
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Which god or goddess is your favorite of the ones I created? If you had a choice what element would you have the powers of? 

-Quinley

The Terrible Idea (Short Story rewrite)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I first posted the story here back in 2017, now three years ago. It was very short, and the characters were still growing at that time. I didn't know that much about them, but now...

(2016/2017 version of Gletta)

Gletta went from being like Tauriel from The Hobbit to being a very Goth elf (she wears black armor that is really sharp, black eyeliner and lipstick, and has nose and lip piercings) with some elements of Tauriel remaining,

(2019/2020 version of her)

(Another drawing of the 2019/2020 version of her, though her face should be less thin) 

This is interesting because I don't know of any elves who are really Goth in Fantasy. As it turns out in my story, there is a sub-culture of Goth elves, which Gletta is a part of. She also became someone you probably wouldn't want to get into fight with (physical fight, not verbal fight)...at all, you would probably leave with a broken nose and possibly broken ribs.

(here is a progression shot of it) 

I am currently working on the personality of Mr. Short. At the moment, he is still very similar to Bilbo Baggins in terms of personality. So, I am still working on making his inner and outer character unique.

(2016/2017 version of him)

  As for Tirfendiel, he was never really like Thranduil by any means. He resembled Pippin more in terms of personality and is very clumsy for an elf. (Gletta also has come up with the theory that Tirfendiel is not an elf, but a very tall Halfling who lost the hair on his feet.) In the picture above I, for some reason, decided to make him look almost identical to Legolas. 

(2019/2020 version of him) 

 Tirfendiel now has black hair instead of blonde like his sister, but that was a smaller outer appearance change compared to Gletta. Also unlike the elves in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who have perfect hair, Tirfendiel usually has very messed up hair, which has leaves tangled in it. He repeatedly reminds Mr. Short that it is a myth that elves have perfect hair, and he doesn't know where Mr. Short came up with the idea.

I should say that before I began the story I took a little inspiration from this short film when rewriting "The Terrible Idea." And I also tried to add more aspects of Nordic culture into it, even if the characters themselves are not Norse but are from a Fantasy world with Nordic and Tolkien elements.

Shall we Begin the story?:

                                  The Terrible Idea 

Tirfendiel opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and stared upwards. There was nothing as far as his eye could see, only darkness, black engulfing darkness. He let out a long sigh and reached down for his sword. Finding it in the darkness was rather difficult. He touched the hard stone ground a few times before actually getting ahold of it. As he gently pulled it out, green light emerged. 

He groaned, Great! There must be some beast still around waiting to kill him in the midsts of the darkness. That's absolutely wonderful, he thought, and pulled his sword fully out. 

The green light shone around the carven, all he could see from the light of his sword were rocks. There were rocks of many different assortments, but even so rocks, no monsters, thankfully. That still didn’t explain why his sword was glowing, if there were no monsters around…strange, something must have happened to it, but what? He had never known there to be a time when swords glowed when no monsters were around, so then, it had to be that there still were…monsters. He looked around, and gulped he hoped none of them wanted to eat him. If they did he would, would…stab them! That was what he would do! Thump! 

Tirfendiel gulped and looked around. “W-who g-goes t-there?” he asked, his voice coming out more shaky than it meant to. “S-show y-yourself.” 

He realized after having said that, that telling someone in a dark cave to show themselves was very difficult if they didn’t have a torch. He hoped there would be a way to know who it was, without having something sneak up behind him. He had heard stories about creatures sneaking up on people in the dark, most of them ended quite horribly and in death. He clenched his hands more tightly around his sword and looked around in its dim light, hoping whatever it was would answer. 

“S-show y-your s-self, I-I…” he whimpered, “command you!” 

There came another thump within the darkness. 

“You know that logic only works if the person who you are commanding to show themselves has an torch or a sword—“ began a voice, which sounded surprisingly familiar. Tirfendiel walked hesitantly towards where the voice had come from...and slowly raised his sword, it was Gletta. Her long braided blonde hair hung over her shoulders, but it was tinted slightly by the green light of his sword. She was wearing her battered and spiky armor. 

“That’s really bright.” she muttered, putting her armored hand over her eyes. 

Tirfendiel let out a long sigh of relief, and moved his sword away.  “Thank goodness it’s you, and not some goblin or troll lurking in these caverns!” he said, still looking around and shining his light in any crook or cranny he could find. And then turning back to Gletta with his sword in hand, “for there might be one, perhaps, even behind you or me.” 

Gletta looked around. She walked around the small chamber as best as she could, tripping a few times here and there. As far as she could tell, there were no goblins in it, let alone rock giants or any cave dwelling creature you could imagine, perhaps a few very faint glow worms or two, but no goblins. 

“Tirfendiel.” she said. 

“Y-yes?” he said, clumsily dropping his sword on the ground with a loud thump. The sword flickered slightly but continued to glowed even brighter. He picked it back up and grasped onto it even more tightly than he had before. 

“Do you think…” she began, “..that something happened to your sword?” 

Tirfendiel looked over at her, something couldn’t be wrong with his sword, could it? He looked down at the sword, and it was still glowing uncomfortably, so perhaps there could be something wrong with it. But what exactly? He shook the sword, hoping that it would stop glowing but nothing happened...

 

“Tirfendiel! You are going to poke someone’s eye out if you shake your sword around like that!” said Gletta. 

Tirfendiel groaned and lowered the sword, “but you're the one who wears incredibly spiky armor, not me! So why do you critique my waving my sword around—“ 

“I don’t throw my armor around, that is why I am critiquing you.” she replied, and then looked around in the darkness, “anyway, at this point, I’ve decided your sword is broken.” She ran her fingers through her braided hair, which hung about her in a stiff manner. 

“How, do you know it’s broken?” he asked. 

“I know because I haven’t seen any goblins here, and besides this part of the cave is too small for any such gob—“ she began, but before she could even continue she heard screaming from deep inside the cave it echoed around, and seemed to be coming from every direction. 

“And how is that not a goblin?” asked Tirfendiel, hoping that it was, so he would have a chance to use his sword in a way that wasn’t merely a torch. 

Gletta groaned, “…it sounds more like a Halfing, a goblin’s cry would make your blood curdle….” She picked up her bow, and walked into the darkness towards the cry. She stood there for a moment and then looked over at Tirfendiel, who was standing there almost like a statue, not moving and not even making a sound. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked. 

“No.” 

“Why not?” she asked. 

“I would rather…stay here.”

 

“That’s not an excuse!” 

“Gletta! I have a strong desire to stay here.” 

“To be a coward?” 

“No— No, I’m not trying to be a coward, I just…would rather stay here…thank you very much.” 

“But you said you wanted to chase after a goblin!” 

“I changed my mind.” 

Gletta groaned, there was no use trying to argue with him, she had to go alone then, “but at least give me your sword.” 

Tirfendiel’s eyes widened as if in fear. He had a strong desire not to hand his sword over to his sister, but he decided to, and then quickly followed her, “…I sort of changed my mind again.” 

Gletta sighed, and grabbed onto her brother’s hand as they both walked deeper into the cave. While Tirfendiel muttered under his breath that if it was a goblin he would be very much prepared, Gletta cautiously investigated holding the sword in front of her, and the light soon fell upon a small figure huddled in a corner, who was whimpering rather loudly. She walked over to the figure, handing Tirfendiel the sword. She kneeled down to the figure’s height, and could see through the green light that the figure was not a goblin. Unlike what her brother ever so fearfully imagined, it was in fact a very lost Halfing.

 

“Mr. Short?” she asked, leaning closer to him. 

He looked up at her and into the green light, “If this is some spirit coming to taunt me—“ 

“If it was, I’m sure the spirit would taunt you with more than merely green light coming from my broken sword.” replied Tirfendiel, who moved the sword around in various ways, casting shadows on the rocks around them. This was meant to prove to Mr. Short that the light was coming from his sword, however he wasn’t sure how much of it Mr. Short actually understood. Mr. Short covered his face as the light seemed a little too bright for him, he glanced up at Tirfendiel and then at Gletta, “you could still easily be spirits—“ 

“Tirfendiel, do something else with your sword, you really aren’t helping—“ Gletta moved his hand down so the sword lit their faces in a much less blinding way. “See? We aren’t spirits, I'm Gletta and this is Tirfendiel, who should really learn how to control his sword.” Gletta than crossed her arms and stared down at the ground, hoping that Mr. Short would realize who they were and perhaps stop worrying about being taunted by spirits. 

Mr. Short looked at them, studied them for a moment, and then slowly ever so slowly stood up. He let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods, it is you!” he shouted, and then ran over to Gletta and tried to hug her. His attempt failed most miserably as her armor got in the way. He stood back, luckily only his one pinky finger had been wounded from touching the armor. 

Gletta let out a frustrated sigh and then turned to Tirfendiel, “Well, we found the halfling—“ 

“Who you nearly killed with your armor.” he replied. 

“I didn’t nearly kill him, he has to learn to control himself and not rush headlong into an elf wearing armor.” she replied. 

“If, he ever tries that again and gets killed, I'd hate to write the letter home, ‘Dear Mother and Father, Gletta accidentally killed the halfling with her own armor—‘“ 

“You do know I can hear you, don’t you?” asked the voice of a very worried Mr. Short. Gletta looked over and groaned, Tirfendiel looked over at Gletta they shared a look of deep concern.

 

“I can't believe you made me say that out loud. That is going to deter him from the quest.” she muttered.

“I didn’t—“ began Tirfendiel, but his protests were not noticed as Gletta and Mr. Short talked. Their voices echoed across the cavern and Tirfendiel was left alone holding his sword trying not to shake it. He hadn’t meant to cause trouble, and he certainly had not meant to bring everyone down to that cavern to begin with. He had hoped to figure out what was controlling the weird behavior of the goblins, who were usually not hostile and left other creatures alone. Now they were violent, and it didn’t make sense. His plan had not worked and had almost gotten everyone killed. The idea had seemed better in his head than the reality, because if he hadn’t acted on it, they wouldn’t be in the cave to begin with. But on the other hand what would have happened if he had not led them into the cave? He wasn’t sure. He fingered a strand of his black hair, and looked over at Gletta and Mr. Short, perhaps he could prove that his ideas could work after all. He had plenty of ideas for how to get out of here, most of them he was sure would work. Gletta and Mr. Short seemed to be deep in conversation, but he didn’t mind interrupting them. They were probably talking about something boring like the polite way to eat at the table, or why he shouldn’t have come on the adventure to begin with. After all, Gletta had taken a liking the halfling, he had not however… 

“This sword…” she said, lifting up her own sword, which had a spiky scabbard for its protection. Gletta said it was to fend off monsters from taking it, but really it was used so Tirfendiel didn’t try to steal her sword as he did when he was younger “…was used in a battle long ago to fend off—“ 

“I have an idea!” Tirfendiel interrupted, seeming to have missed what Gletta and Mr. Short were even talking about. 

Gletta and Mr. Short looked over at Tirfendiel. The look on their faces wasn’t a very good one, it was a cross between a warrior about to rush into battle and an annoyed sibling. 

“Yes?” asked Gletta, pulling herself together, deciding that it was probably better to listen to Tirfendiel, even if it was his idea that got them here to begin with. 

“Well…” said Tirfendiel, “…You know Ariel always contacts spirts when we are in a time of need?” 

“Yes.” nodded Gletta, hoping that this would go somewhere and not verge into trying to find Ariel who at the moment was missing, and have them begin calling her name to an intolerable extent. 

“I was thinking…” said Tirfendiel, “…there are actually some bones lying around the cavern, which you both seemed to not notice.” He beamed a little at being the only one who noticed them. He was the only one who felt pride at seeing the bones lying around in the cavern, everyone else looked dismayed.

 

“So?” 

“So, if there are bones lying around there is sure to be a ghost…of sorts.” 

“But how big are the bones?” asked Mr. Short. 

However his question was heard as Tirfendiel interrupted, “So I thought, you know, Ariel does a seance every now and then, and I thought ‘why don’t we?’ do it alone and all…so, perhaps we could all try to contact whatever spirit may be lying around in this cavern…” 

“Lying around?” muttered Mr. Short. 

“Or floating around, whatever spirits do for fun.” said Tirfendiel, who had decided that some spirits probably jousted for fun, or did some sort of sport-like tournament. “Shall we do it?” 

Gletta and Mr. Short were silent, they didn’t speak a word, which caused Tirfendiel to let out a frustrated groan, “Shall we do it?” 

“Yes, YES!” exclaimed Gletta. 

“Good.” muttered Tirfendiel. He slowly and dramatically sat down on the ground and held his hands out for Gletta and Mr. Short to hold. Gletta and Mr. Short, who had been very upset that their conversation had been interrupted, and were now even more upset that they had to perform a seance without the assistance of their beloved Ariel, grabbed onto Tirfendiel’s hands. Both Mr. Short and Gletta held hands. Tirfendiel closed his eyes and muttered words that Ariel had said many times before with a few adjustments, “I suggest you don’t leave the circle, I don’t know why exactly that is a rule, but the circle is protected because we are all holding hands, so I suppose something bad will befall you if you leave…” 

“I know, I know…” muttered Gletta. 

“And if you sneeze, perhaps try grabbing Mr. Short’s pocket handkerchief with your foot, so you don’t leave the circle, and die…” 

“Ariel never said you would die—“ 

“—but she never got into the details…anyway, spirts, or spirit who dwells in this cavern, please come to us…come to us!” Tirfendiel paused. Did Ariel usually say anything else besides talking directly to the spirits? He couldn’t remember, but he continued headlong into it, “Spirit or spirits, we really need your help as we are really nice elves—“ 

“And halflings.” 

“Two elves and a halfling.” he added on, “and I suggest for members of this seance, do not speak unless you want to be dragged headlong by a spirit to your death—“ 

“I know Ariel never said that!” replied Gletta. 

“Gletta, do you really want to die? Anyway, spirits despite the other rather boisterous people around me, I am a safe person, so…speak through me!” 

The cavern was silent for a moment, there was nothing to be heard but the breathing of the members of the seance as they waited for something to happen. Then there came a soft sound of foot-steps, was it foot-steps? Tirfendiel wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed to be coming closer whatever it was. Hopping even closer, he felt a cold feeling around him, like a new energy had leapt onto his shoulder. He felt the touch of something against his hands and then whatever it was came towards his mouth. He felt energy go all along through his body, but this energy felt very hyper, and not like what he imagined most of the ghosts were like. 

He felt his mouth open this time against his will— “Humans, do you really wish to disturb my peace?” The voice echoed from inside Tirfendiel’s mouth. It sounded like a squirrel would sound, if it could speak in their tongue, 

“I’ve lived for so many years in this cavern, after one of your hunters chased me here.” 

“Tirfendiel is this a joke?” asked Gletta. She almost releasing her hand from the circle, but Mr. Short grabbed more tightly onto hers. He had taken Tirfendiel’s joking warning very seriously, perhaps a little too seriously, 

“And, I watch you now with bows running around and fighting in battles hoping to die in battle, die a glorious death! Well, it is not quite fair that we squirrels don’t get that. We are shot with no fight whatsoever, it is not so glorious, is it?” 

“Tirfendiel?” shouted Gletta. The figure, who appeared to be Tirfendiel looked over at her. His eyes were wider than usual and his nose was twitching more than usual.

 

“Oh, you mean that human? He’s still in here. Don’t worry, but you humans most know—“ 

“We aren’t humans!” exclaimed Gletta, “Me and my brother, who you are holding captive right now, are elves. I am an elf, and Mr. Short is a halfing.” 

“You all look like humans to me. As I was saying I was left without a glorious death, no fights, whatsoever, just a gloomy death. But, your brother requested assistance to get out of the cavern?” 

“Yes.” replied Gletta. 

“I have been stuck here, for years and years, and there is no way out. Food will run out for you soon enough—“ 

Mr. Short gulped, he hated those six words… 

“And then it will start getting dark and cold, you three warriors will meet a non-glorious death like me!” The energy that had been trapped in Tirfendiel’s body slowly began to move out, and he felt himself coming in control again. He blinked for a few moments and then looked over at Gletta and Mr. Short. He cleared his throat, and then cheerfully said, “How did that go?” 

Gletta and Mr. Short looked at one another, the answer was terrible. When Ariel had contacted spirits, they usually weren’t animals, and usually they didn’t talk about how they hadn’t met a glorious death. Usually the spirits offered words of wisdom to help them on their journey. But all the only information they had gotten was that they were likely to die alone in the cavern and soon would come to be with that angry squirrel spirit. This was not a comfortable thought. 

“Terrible.” said Mr. Short.

 

Gletta nodded her head, “I hate to agree, but yes, it was terrible.” 

“But why?” asked Tirfendiel. 

“Ariel thinks about it before she contacts some random spirit, and most of all she isn’t an amateur. She has been contacting spirits for years and years, and you…thought it might be fun to do five seconds ago—“ 

“Five minutes—“ 

“Whichever! I am sure that if Ariel was here, she could teach you how to do it correctly!” There was a silence, no one in the group had any desire to talk about Ariel. They didn’t know what happened to her, or if she was alright. Gletta, feeling guilty, sighed and looked over at Tirfendiel, “Sorry.”

“Well, since that idea didn’t work...” said Tirfendiel, awkwardly trying to make the situation better. It didn’t help much. Gletta looked down at the floor, and Mr. Short looked in the other direction, “I have a second idea, we could contact the god of war, and have an army help us out—“ 

“Wouldn’t you be praying for a war?” asked Mr. Short. 

“Well, yes.” replied Tirfendiel. 

“How do we know that the army wouldn’t kill us—“

“I haven't figured that part out.” 

“That seems very unwise!” both Mr. Short and Gletta exclaimed.

 

Tirfendiel sighed, “Idea three...” Tirfendiel picked up his glowing green sword. He bent down to the ground and carefully picked up a small rock which was lying on the cold stone floor, and then went down on hands and knees placed the sword on the rock, “I use a catapult to get out of here—“ he placed a pebble on the sword and launched it. It flew through the air and seemed like it was going to make a wonderful landing— 

“Ow!” muttered Gletta, as the pebble hit her smack in the face, “Tirfendiel, you could knock someone’s eye out with that!” 

Tirfendiel groaned, “Well, you see that was not the end goal. I wasn’t planning to knock any of your eyes out, but I was thinking if we found some wood, we could create a huge catapult and catapult ourselves out—“

 

“And do you see any wood?” asked Gletta, looking around the dimly lit cavern, she had seen no wood or even bones when she first walked in, but perhaps Tirfendiel had noticed something that neither of them had. 

“Well…no.” replied Tirfendiel. “But I was thinking, we could tie all our bows together and create one.” 

“We only have two bows.” replied Gletta. 

“Yes…but—“ 

“Therefore how on earth do we catapult ourselves out? And through what hole?” asked Gletta. 

“…Um…I didn’t really think about it that much.” replied Tirfendiel, realizing that he hadn’t thought that much about his other ideas either, which wasn’t exactly a good thing. 

“Tirfendiel.” replied Mr. Short, “Really, I don’t know how your idea is going to get us out of here—“ 

“I don’t know either…” replied Gletta. “…and I am quite worried some of these ideas will have a terrible end…”

“It’s not my fault that is how most of my ideas end…really, it is just fate that causes most of it, I blame fate!” Tirfendiel moved his hand angrily up at the sky, “And if it hadn’t been for fate, surely the seance would have worked, we would have wood, and the god of war would be more reliable…” he paced around, leaned his hand against the wall. He leaned back even further. He was very discontent, why had most of his plans not worked out? He still believed fate was the cause of most of it. A god must have written some terrible things about him and made it so his plans didn’t work out. He let out a groan, “It’s fate, it’s fate’s fault!” After he said that, he heard something, a cracking noise, a long cracking noise. He took a step away from the wall, part of the stone was moving, moving and making itself into a door form. 

“Oh, OH!” Both Gletta and Mr. Short stared with wide eyes at the door that had not been there before. It was now creating a gaping hole in the wall. 

“I…suppose fate created a way out!” he said, pointing over to the door rather clumsily, “shall we…go in?” 

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What are some of the wildest things your characters have done? And have your characters ever held a seance? (If so, then did they succeed in connecting with the spirits of the dead or did they just connect to a spirit of a squirrel like Tirfendiel?)

-Quinley