nil apologist zone

I won't be posting most of my art here, but I will be reblogging oc art I post on my main onto here occasionally, along with some bonus doodles when its relevant c:

main blog: tiktaaliker

this is because rasputin and bo both throw SO many problems design-wise. theyre both not similar enough to characters they SHOULD be similar to while also being too similar to characters they should NOT be similar to. ESPECIALLY when it concerns how theyre both connected to each other

like. rasputin is a bird but not meant to be directly connected to ANY of the other bird/bird-adjacent characters besides the general "bird = connected to Weird Shit" motif going on. EVERY birdlike character other than rasputin is directly connected to at least one other bird. he's not even connected to the OTHER bright orange birdlike guy (lucky shot). theyre not even in the same cycle!!!!

SEE ok. ive actually been tossing around the idea that the Event that makes Boghast also causes the "spirits" of people who PREVIOUSLY died in the area to also be bound to the are but theyd be significantly less substantial to the point of being more creature than people. like whisps yknow???

So, the big three eternals (Hark + Lythe + Sar'kai) are the "creators" of the mortal coil, but it was not originally intended to be a universe with sentient beings, or even any sort of space/time/matter/etc. It was instead meant to be a power-sink, a battery of sorts.

Those in the Eternal Coil all have similar amounts of raw power, so having an external storage of power is the only feasible way to stand out in any way. An eternal can create a sort of pocket where they can sink a small portion of their power into and build up over time. Well-made pockets with a lot of power invested into it can also become self-sufficient systems, where power can be regenerated in the same way an actual Eternal regenerates power, allowing for the Eternal to invest less power for a higher gain. However, the initial power investment needed for this to happen is so steep that it's practically impossible for a single Eternal to start a self-generating pocket system.

This is why the big three co-created the Mortal Coil. They would be able to invest enough total power to jump-start power generation without completely draining themselves.

The creation of matter and objects in a pocket-dimension is uncommon, but not unheard of. It's more of like... a really expensive hobby. It's not feasable in any pocket without a self-generating system, considering it makes a portion of the energy in the pocket unextractable. Hark started making stars and planets as their own little project, and eventually Lythe and Sar'kai joined in because it is also their pocket.

This also means that Hark forcibly trapping Sar'kai into the mortal coil is the eternal coil equivalent of committing a war crime because your roommate fucked up your model train setup but tbh eternal coil conflicts are also sometimes just Like That.

but anyways the fact that the Mortal Coil has Actual Sentient Beings is kind of a big deal, even in the scale of the Eternal Coil. Lythe giving four mortals Raw Coil helped jumpstart things a bit, but they were ALREADY doing shit that should not have been happening. So the Mortal Coil is a Big Deal.

this means that other eternals are.............. interested in whats going on

eternals are VERY protective of their pockets, considering they're dumping parts of themselves into it in order to Get More Power, but a lot of the time the big three are too busy bickering to really guard the mortal coil as vigilantly as they should, hence a few have managed to skim off the top, so to speak.

There are two that are particularly relevant, but ill only be mentioning one rn.

so i sometimes change a character's name just because i decide that i don't like the old one or it just doesn't fit for some reason. i figured instead of like making a new post for every time i do that ill just make a big list of guys who get different names. I'll also be including spelling changes and shortening/elongating of names if it's of particular note.

general format is old name -> new name; some have multiple name changes, so the current name will be furthest to the right. any characters that still "keep" an old name for any reason (alias, nickname, etc) has the old name in question in italics. if I'm PLANNING on renaming a character sometime soon I'll be listing them with (TBD)

mortally coiled

Hook -> Hark

Line -> Lythe

Sinker -> Sar'Kai

Fake News -> Fane

Panik -> (TBD)

Obnoxious Warfare Operative -> Talos

Kakistocrat -> Kakisto

Sanctuary -> (TBD)

Oilslick -> Blacktar

(like 12 different spelling variations of "rougarou") -> Roupgaruke

Baby -> Baily -> Bailey

YEAH ok so. ive always pictured boghast as more animal-like in terms of motivations and such. like i havent decided for sure but ive always pictured bo as not ever speaking but i digress

in terms of 'why the hell does he do that if it doesn't solve the problem of there being Guys in his bog' is that it actually DOES solve the problem in a way. the Big Issue with the haunted cranberry bog is that there's WAY too much unwound magical energy concentrated in there (and yes i do have a draft fully explaining mortally coiled's magic system in the works its just taking 3 billion years to properly document)

so when someone is killed and revived in the bog, some of this "unwound" magic is used up (settled, more accurately- like i said, full magic system explanation coming soon). so very very very slowly all the unstable magic is being stabilized- it's not very efficient, considering the unwound magic is ABSURDLY potent, so only a teeny tiny minuscule amount is used up in this process

but also. i think that boghast might not even realize that the ghosts and revenants that pop up after he kills an interloper are The Same Guys he killed. there's almost always some sort of delay between the death and the resurrection, and a lot of the time the souls get kind of... jumbled. the vast majority of the time the person is revived as a sort of "wisp," very small and only slightly sentient because most of the stuff that made up their soul ends up getting reincorporated into The Cycle, and only a small bit that got caught in the bog's magic gets resurrected. Blacktar, Roupgaruke, and Lungfish are all very rare exceptions, all remaining relatively "whole" compared to the others due to unusual circumstances at their times of death (which ill probably elaborate on further)

first of all: locations. The Event when the novice ripped Noxa Krov in two and wiped most of their own being from existence had a VERY large and destructive impact on the surroundings. as in completely leveling the surroundings and gouging a crater into the ground, with a pretty significant radius and depth. this specifically is how the two halves that would eventually become null and nil ended up completely isolated- the null-half got sealed underground and the nil-half stayed on the surface

by the time nil settled enough to have a physical form, so much time had passed that there were trees growing in the crater. it's all monoculture growth- same type of trees, same age, because they were all manually planted around the same time post-Event. so nil grows up in this crater, and null lives underneath it. they both eventually move on because of the same event- the crater is flooded, making it unlivable both on the surface and underground (at least for null and nil)

the final confrontation between null and nil happens on the cliff surrounding the crater. nil is knocked into the floodwater and dies, and null is petrified on the cliff overlooking the crater marking where Noxa Krov was defeated.

Fane does not leave null's side. A temple + sanctuary is eventually built around them. it is called Rest No Longer. Fane is treated as a guardian spirit of the temple and the crater. so is null, but to a lesser extent considering he's made out rock at the time

Rasputin is one of many travelers who takes respite in Rest No Longer. he actually ends up befriending Fane, up until he fishes Nil's stinger out from the crater and discovers he can use it to kill eternal-aligned beings with it and harness their Coil for his own gain and power.

after Rasputin uses the stinger to ascend both himself and Gazer into dragonhood, the two go back to Rest No Longer with Rasputin planning on a ritual in involving Fane and the stature of Null that would theoretically let him cross into the eternal plain. Instead, gazer (who has been loathing Rasputin for a while at that point) murders Rasputin with the stinger, dumps his body in the crater, and gets the hell out of there because fane found out what was going on and was PISSED.

at some point (either at that confrontation or at a later point) fane gets his hands on nil's stinger, and is able to use it to un-petrify Null. They both leave Rest No Longer for good, and it falls into ruin.

with the corpses of nil and Rasputin rotting in the already really magically unstable crater, and with petrified Null no longer acting as an "anchor" for all the unwound coil in the area, something was created from the remains of dragons.

thats bo. Boghast comes into being, and the flooded crater slowly but surely settles into being a bog. Along with the trees, there's now a whole bunch of cranberry bushes growing. What's significant is that this is the only place in the entire coil where cranberries can grow, and they're chock full of pure Coil.

most only know about the bog from rumors, as it's the sort of place where most who go poking around don't make it out the other side completely intact.

Boghast is vicious and territorial, and will attack and kill any intruders to the bog. however, anyone who is killed in the bog is eventually brought back as a revenant or ghost. or at the minumum the stuff their soul is made of is recycled into a new, technically-undead being.

the empty chain is the earliest known established mage's collective, founded in the late creation era after the collapse of the first infinite empire. it started out as a basic guild focused on development of magic-using as a skill, and did early research on Coil-manipulation as the basis of magic.

at the start of the destruction era, the empty chain pivoted to act as rescue teams in the wake of Noxa Krov. they did a whoooooole lot of stuff, including but not limited to search + rescue, rebuilding, and even stuff like acting as bodyguards protecting refugees/survivors from ppl trying to take advantage of a really really shity situation.

but what the empty chain eventually became the most known for was their medics. theyd pretty much help out whoever as much as they could and if you were sick or injured at the time your best bet would probably be finding the nearest empty chain mage, because even if they weren't a healer they'd either know a healer or know how to contact a healer

some years post noxa krov, after sar'kais restoration, the empty chain converted entirely to a healer's guild. it's a pretty gradual change. there's a lot more mage collectives out there at that point, so magic users who want to specialize in something specific tend to go for like-minded collectives. since the empty chain got this reputation of being healers, more mages who want to pursue healing join the empty chain, until the empty chain is just. The defacto Healers Guild

HOWEVER there's still a small amount of empty chain members who are more old fashioned in that they're more interested in the discovery and development magic usage in general. this paired with the new healer focus of the collective gave rise to some pretty dubious research into shit like necromancy and pursuing immortality by a small suspect of the collective

this eventually culminates in a very public and messy scism between the "do no harm" sorts and the unethical researchers. Those interested in pre-noxa style research and experimentation formed a new collective referred to as "Chain-Breakers," with the healers adopting the title of "Latchless." the Latchless remained pretty well-liked, if a bit less prolific, while the chain breakers operated mostly underground (often literally). after a while the chain breakers were effectively disbanded due to major public backlash and dissavoument from the Lachless

when mechanics became more commonplace, the Latchless pivoted to adopt a hybrid of mechanics and magic. the latchless developed automated testing and treatment devices using both magic and mechanical means. at this point they're less of a mages collective and more like a modern medical organization. they set healthcare standards and safety guidelines. think of like. a combo of OSHA and the college of american pathologists

meanwhile despite chain breakers being Not a Thing anymore, there's still stuff going on that would fall under the chain breaker umbrella. specifically, Gar, founder and head of D.I.R.E. is a chain breaker revivalist. while the rest of DIRE aren't chain breakers, theyre chain breaker adjacent due to most of them being raised on breaker rhetoric by Gar.

GENUINELY. whats funny is that. i havent worked it out entirely but in the eternal coil it's kinda common to make these sub-spaces that typically act as like. batteries. but because of how difficult they are to make it requires a group to make anything worth having. so the mortal coil was specifically made by the three of them working together but for a very long while it was just hark fucking around and making rocks in what was SUPPOSED to just be like. a way to shore up power.

one of these things is the major mage factions. ive thought of them operating more like independent organizations instead of colleges or anything like that, so there's a variety that all have different goals and ideals.

one of them ive been trying to work out is a health/disease control mage guild. theyre the earliest ever established mage guild (like. this is pre-noxa krav old) so it's the one that goes through the most change over time. they start out as more plague doctor-y but in more modern eras they're almost like a magic version of the red cross.

but ALSO there's a lot of infighting because the guild started out as a collective of mages trying to End The Cycle, specifically via immortality. so at some point the faction splits, with most of it rebranding into magic red cross but a handful go into hiding to continue researching. the cycle is a BIG thing so attempting to break it is almost always considered extremely taboo and Not A Good Thing but in the modern day the people in the secret offshoot are actually kind of chill about it. its less trying to achieve immortality and more like really really ambitious research into health magic thats technically just necromancy

there's also a guild that's focused on the collection of and archival of knowledge and books that's more of a classic mage guild vibe. they have a big tower library where mages come to learn things. it's also being infiltrated by rasputin and the children of the unseeing eyes but its fiiiiine

alongside mage stuff im working on developing major powers and governments and such. i'm not sure if i'm going to stick with it but ive been picturing in more modern times the common thing is independent city states with their own governing powers, and a handful of smaller kingdoms, but nothing too big or widespread.

but since ive thinking about history ive also been working on the concept of there being a series of failed empires. specifically there's the Infinite Empire that has a handful of waves but never really sticks. the first infinite empire is entirely pre-noxa krov, lasted for a while but ultimately collapses in on itself. the second infinite empire actually forms during noxa krov's rampage, eventually disbands into what would become modern city states and a kingdom or two.

ehhhh i mean garte doesnt any supernatural protection from drowning out of it no. but he's a former captain turned lighthouse keeper who practically spent his whole life in or around water so i think garte has a enough of a healthy respect and fear of the ocean to know better than to go near/in the water if there's any risk to it

either the projectors are physically attached to the lab or they just dont have the time/expertise to make them operate outside of the lab, or maybe there's just no way for sq to "live" in them due to being eccentro-mechanical. so at first it seems like sidequest is trapped in the lab permanently until they realize. wait they have mobile units able to store and preserve a EM.

and talos downloads sidequest into their own body. talos specifically because they have a large amount of normally "unused" hardware for DDOS attacks that can be repurposed into brainware.

even BETTER if talos doesnt agree to this willingly. sidequest pretty much strongarms them into it because sq is NOT going to be left behind, and if talos doesnt let them in they're going to cram themself into Lockjaw. since lockjaw doesnt have the hardware to support two EMs, sidequest would put LOCKJAW into the lab's system. and if that isnt enough lockjaw's body is a weapon fitted with a flamethrower and while lockjaw is a pacifist sidequest is very much. not.

been thinking about nulls design a lot lately and i think i want to update the hands a bit. ive been slowly altering nulls design to be more "practical" over the years since the design was originally made BEFORE the context. i wanted to make his hands more paddle/shovel-like without loosing the old silhouette entirely and without altering the finger number, which is an EXTREMELY important detail i do not want to ever change. this is a bit of doodling to figure things out

first one is a completely new design, leaning fully into the more mole-like shape. biggest problem imo was the loss of the thumb. it would be a step BACKWARDS considering it really closely resembles the shape of how i used to draw hands (which is why null specifically had 3 fingers- i used to draw hands ALWAYS with just 3 fingers, i just decided to intentionally keep it with null lol)

second one is the current hand design, three fingers with one acting as a tumb.