iyo's worldbuidling shitshow

(also if you’re interested in joining the ping/dm list for when this massive roleplay is open, just shoot me a message or comment!!)

In which we feel the weight of our history and bear the burdens of our responsibilities.

This took… way too long… here’s the background only version w all the little Easter eggs and such.

Some progress images! From layout to finish.

This is my most ambitious piece to date…maybe my last fanart for a while haha 😞😞

Some lore thoughts going into this illustration — feel free to ignore:

I was thinking this takes place in S2 in the Zianna Ro’Meave rescue arc, where Garroth returns to O’Khasis after many years to rescue his mother…He comes across their oldest (historically, the first in Ru’aun) cathedral and finds it in a wrecked and pillaged state.

The pious folk have pretty much abandoned the cathedral following Zane’s disappearance for 15 years and the Tu’la invasion was the nail on the coffin. The cathedral is completely barren of life except for the few intact stained glass windows that recount the history of the Divine Warriors.

Around this time it’s revealed that Garroth is the current holder of Esmund’s relic— is he anxious? Lost? Jumpstarting his quarter-life existential crisis?

anyways, here's a wip of the high priest of o'khasis! (might or might not get finished o_o we'll see)

for some reason he's one of the only mcd/aphverse characters i've ever drawn in my life but. yk what. that's okay. the desire to draw emo boys has been strong since a young age

(ps. i need aph mcd enjoyer friends . i've been alone in this for way too long. please be my friend . my hyperfixation isn't that strong but it's strong enough for me to get the motivation at 1am to draw this mfkr. thank u for coming to my ted talk.)

if you can’t understand this, i will not blame you. it’s super convoluted—but here is a collection of 2022 magic notes mixed with current ones (i tweaked stuff a bit)

all realms have extremely high magic levels, but the end and nether have races with the most magical capability. this is because those realms were created for the shadow lord / shad and the ender dragons (the nether and the end realm respectively) + the biomes are "less drastic" than the overworld ones and caused a lack of sentient biodiversity. so, with only a few sentient races, the magic is distributed less and subsequently causes their magic concentration to be a lot more dense/higher than an overworld race , because in the overworld there is an *array* of races / sentient species, and causes the overall population to have lower magic concentration levels . the level itself varies from race and individual, however, but this is the general gist of it all.

+ this is why nether (including sks), end, and draconian races have blood that either is white or black and glowy. to those with low levels, it would burn to the touch as that is where all the magic is stored -- besides the core (an orb-ish thing that contains all your magic, and it's essentially in a personal pocket dimension inside your chest) , but that's another conversation

loosing lots of blood will do damage to what magic you can perform at that time -- think of it as mana pools -- and that's why lots of the nether and end races were inherently carnivorous or omnivores. it's like toh where belos needs a palismen's magic/bloodish thing to survive. while they don't kill people for their blood, they hunt down animals of their respective realms for that magical blood + their cores. removing a core is less gorey than it sounds—it’s like reaching into someone’s chest (your hand would go through the solid material of said body. typically takes some practice to perform) grabbing the spirit. there are no blood cults and all that shit, as you can even get some from certain plants + it's like vitamins or pills . it's very common for it to be mixed into food, healthcare items/consumables or gauzes, and/or drinks. probably brought up the idea of vampires in human folklore, but then again, there are soul-eaters lurking around (i’ll talk about them later.)

shadow knights are completely magic — their will and determination to continue living on boosting their core to remain after the perishing of the mortal/physical body. wounded knights will need to return to realms with higher concentrations of magic in order to survive. the mortal plane/earth will not have enough to sustain them, unless they are ingesting copious amounts of magic . since shadow knights can’t really digest food, the lava from the nether or a magical item like a golden apple are typically used to replenish.

the more magical one is, the thinner the barrier between the spirit and the mortal body is. so a magical race like a draconian would have to be especially careful during near-death occasions, as they would probably not pass on to the next life or would completely perish when their mortal body does. wounds take quicker to heal, but humans have the advantage of reincarnation or resurrection afterwards.

sks who perish completely disappear due to this — no way to get them back after their second chance. and i can’t imagine they would want to.

gods and divines are very similar to this, but typically whatever gave them their major source of power (aka a relic) just passed on into the next generation since they aren’t tethered to the previous wielder after death. typically these higher beings don’t have to worry about dying due to unnatural causes—you’re a goddamn divine, you probably wouldn’t have much trouble killing your opponents or leaving. but there are always scenarios one should be aware of.

when one dies, their core magic will either be consumed or go back into the environment they died in. like water, there’s a set amount of magic, but the amount in the air and “free” depends on the amount of people.

when one dies, their mortal body decays and either:

their core completely dissipates and returns to the world — higher levels of magic since the barrier of both bodies get more and more thin

persists for a while to reincarnate, become a sk, or something similar

while it seems like a big blow to those with higher magic, this trade off allows for them to perform much more complex levels of magic than the average person. it can be used in technology and other wild feats much quicker—since you have less of a barrier to get across. witches, albeit humans with a genetic history of a thinner barrier, or with non-human ancestry, are somewhere in between, allowing for a somewhat stable body and non-core magic use (harnessing the magic from the world outside of your body—ex. potions, runes). due to this, they’re seen as making pacts with a “demon” (essentially an enderian. fun fact, the demon warlock is one) and are typically shunned or burned. because we can’t have nice things, obviously.

I was also thinking on the whole Shadow Knights becoming immortal thing, and like how they achieve that.

I think it would be interesting to see a AU if Laurance like, actually considered becoming a full shadow knight. And like taking the steps to get to be one (like killing Aph). All to become immortal, JUST to see Ungrth again. Like, if their bond was so strong that he would actually consider taking the steps to actually see Ungurth again, the Wyvern who SAVED him from the Nether, would he do it?

There’s probably some facts I got wrong or stuff I could add to this idea, but there’s so many MCD episodes I have such a hard time trying to watch them all LMAO

Sorry I haven't made any real posts in forever. My drawing phone broke and college has been a bitch so i haven't really gotten the chance to make anything (though I finally made some more progress on the next chapter of my rewrite). In any case, please accept this next installment of head canons I wrote like 10 months ago and completely forgot about in lieu of anything that requires actual talent. Love y'all:

Laurance lost an incisor tooth in a fistfight when he was 19

When he got turned into a shadowknight it grew back, now he purposefully goes out of his way to loose teeth just cause he knows he can grow back an unlimited supply

Hayden has a cat named Bog Butter. He’s the color of butter and he found him in the bog. 

Vylad’s favorite vegetable is avocado

There are three major guard academies in Ru’aun: one in O’Khasis, one in Scaleswind, and one in Bright Port. 

Bright Port’s is the largest and most well known

O’Khasis’ is the most prestigious

Scaleswind’s academy is the most difficult

The bare minimum age to join is 14, though most people join between 16-19

Every guard must have a minimum of 2 years training to earn the actual title of Guard, however to serve in O’Khasis you need a minimum of 4 and for Scaleswind a minimum of 5. 

Part of that training includes apprenticeship, so they do get some in-field experience with their mentors (think unpaid intern)

Technically you can train for up to 8 years, however most people only train for 2-5.

Garroth was in academy for 3-4 (although to be fair he had been trained in sword fighting since he was like 9)

Laurance went for 5 years and Dante went for 6 ½ 

Dante lied about his age when he enlisted though

He was barely thirteen

Both went to the Bright Port Academy however they were in different divisions at different times since Dante is younger, so they really only saw each other in passing and never actually talked to one another

The only personal interaction they ever had was one time at the academy Laurance was trying to get back to his dorm after a night of copious drinking and partying and could barely walk out the front door of the bar. Dante (who was pretty tipsy himself) ended up half-carrying back to Laurance’s dorm before going back to his own. Neither of them remember this. 

Katelyn’s two older brothers’ names are Kaj and Khareem

Khareem is the oldest, then Kaj, then Katelyn, then Kacey

Occasionally, when he is absolutely, positively, 100% sure he is alone, Zane will sing to himself sometimes

Dante once did a Zane impression in front of everyone and Garroth got so freaked out by how realistic it sounded he made Dante swear he’d never do that voice around him again. 

The worst argument Kenmur and Emmalyn ever had during their marriage was whether their system was heliocentric or geocentric (Kenmur argued the former and Emmalyn argued the latter)

In most colleges across Ru’Aun, there is usually some statue of Enki that students will leave offerings to before their big exams

Offerings vary, but it’s usually something like food, money, trinkets, or paper. It varies on how important the exam/how desperate the students are

Kenmur went to one of these colleges for a few years

One time he fell asleep the night before his final exam and he woke up like an hour before his exam was supposed to take place and in a fit of panic he dumped his entire wallet in front of the statue. He passed with flying colors.

One time at the Narhakan college someone left a life-sized horse statue made out of gold. No one has any idea where it came from or who left it. It’s become kind of an urban legend among all the colleges

Zenix never learned how to read and by god he isn’t about to wimp out now

Garroth tried to teach him once and it… did not go well

Let’s just say Garroth still owes Emmalyn a book from that incident. And a new table. 

Zianna came from the same region that Esmund was native to

Katelyn absolutely despises the feeling of sand in her shoes

Dmitri and Nekoette raided the Bright Port guard academy kitchen the first night they got sworn in

Dmitri also had to go to the infirmary after getting shot in the arm by one of Nekoette’s loose arrows

Laurance can play the piano and used to play it at some of the taverns in Meteli

Levin and Malachi both know a good bit of Elvish thanks to spending so much time in Yggdrasil