thought crimes

Mica is still not human in this au. They're a mix between dragon age spirit, changeling and fucked up third thing. The farm in this universe wants to learn how to cheat death so they take people's corpses, forcibly summon a specific type of spirit-like being wherein said creature will take on the appearance of the deceased (still haven't decided if it's true possession of a corpse or the nature of the spirit to "steal" the appearance of the first person's face they see). The only way to tell these beings aside from the real human is a series of markings they have throughout their bodies.

Every single one of these spirits posses different magical powers.

Said beings are also widely regarded as purely evil creatures, mostly brought upon the world to curse people.

They made a name for themselves as a masked bandit/rogue who helped people, meeting ortega and the rest of his knightly crew in the process.

Ortega is a knight of the kingdom operating in the province of Los Diablos. He was still in an accident but the way he was put back together is more reminiscent of the way magic works in witch hat atelier + runic "magic" (they're regarded more as augmentations rather than pure magic). This fix has left him with lightning/electricity "powers" he's unable to really control at all.

Part of what should be the LD province is under the rule of Hollow Ground which causes constant skirmishes between the two territories and HG is still Ortega's nemesis even in this au due to killing his knight captain at the time: Hood.

After a mission gone horribly wrong it was believed Mica died but they actually survived and a few years after the society of the farm had them in captivity they decided escaping to Hollow Ground's territory would be their best bet at staying alive and safe while they plot their revenge.

Mica pretends to be Hollow Ground's real missing sister and is immediately established as a princess of the region.

Despite both being nonbinary, Hollow Ground plays the part of male king (tough, charming, intimidating) and Mica is convinced by them to play the part of female princess (humanizing force to HG's more ruthless persona).

Mortum is an artificer under the rule of Hollow Ground. He creates all sorts of contraptions and even though HG retains some sort of charmspeak abilities he is there through mostly intimation + blackmail/extortion tactics.

Mica takes on the appearance of a different deceased woman (still haven't decided if they posses her corpse through newly found powers or if it's some sort of. malevolent amulet that has her essence stored in it or something) to get close to Mortum.

Mica takes a liking to Mortum and tries to get him in the good graces of Hollow Ground but Mortum despises the entire royal family for the situation Hollow Ground has put him in and Mica especially due to "Jane" being a supposed lady in waiting to them which makes their relationship extremely tense and awkward.