gut

the architect, or sammosris, is a cosmic being (godlike). veruca is the daughter of a witch who helped seal the architects lover, adrisdiona, inside of her daughter. the architect comes to earth and finds veruca at a young age, kills her parents, and takes her. he raises her (using this term loosely) and forces her to try and remove adrisdiona’s presence from herself. ______ is also featured in this plot. i consider their story to be the pain story plot.

celestine mayvale and her cult are a subplot. celestine was born from her mother, amaranth mayvale (the previous leader) and an unknown man from the cult. the cult worships a “blood god” and offers blood sacrifices in return for healthy land and healthy bodies. she becomes leader and matriarch of this cult as a teen when her mother dies of sickness.

amaranth mayvale is important to both celestine and auger. auger is the son and first child of amaranth, cast out as a baby after his father deceives his mother. a huge point of the cult is to be fruitful and multiply, and amaranth learned young she was infertile. their god came to her as she had called for him, asking him to bless her with fertility and a first born daughter. he didn’t, he gave her a son, one that inherited part of his power. amaranth ended up being able to conceive celestine, but ultimately died.

auger’s father is eoheme, another cosmic being albeit a lesser one. he’s considered a “blood god” and heavily relies on his followers sacrifices for power. he is under the eye of the architect. he is manipulative, suave and deceitful.

auger is a subplot. he was raised in group homes, a troubled child, until he was a teen when his father came to him to reveal he was essentially a demigod and sort of “unlocks” his abilities. from there he dedicates his life to semi-organized chaos in the name of appeasing his father. marisol is featured in this subplot as well as “god” and faelthiel.

ultimately veruca and adrisdiona team up and take the architect down, eliminating many of the darker cosmic beings (eoheme), thus rendering auger powerless and celestine safe but unknowing of what to do with her newfound freedom.