(As I've written before, my writing is a bit rusty and off, so heads up for that.)
Lady of the Swamp Kingdom: Last swim.
The sky was clear as Briar looked up at it while also making sure to keep herself balanced on the fallen tree trunk. She was hoping to see the veil shimmer erratically for herself. She had heard reports of the veil shimmering and rippling more than it should. It only did that when something or someone accidentally bumped into it, and that only happened once every few years. So, it was nothing to be worried about.
But now, the rippling had increased to a few months, and every single outer Elemental Kingdoms knew and feared the obvious answer as to why.
Ancient enemies of the Elementals had returned.
Briar knew it was a matter of time before she would be sent out to join the other Variant Elemental lords, and they would all have to find and convince the main lords of the nature of what was happening in hopes of uniting all Kingdoms to defeat the ancient enemies.
She was, of course, unsure and nervous. Who wouldn’t be? This was a huge duty. After all, the stone chose her as the wielder. But…what if she failed? What if they all failed? Every Elemental Kingdom would suffer.
Briar hastily shook her head to dislodge the horrible and doubtful thought. No, she wasn’t going to fail. None of them were going to fail. Everyone trusts them all. She and the others had to do this in order to save their world.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the sky started to move, catching Briar’s attention. Briar looked up and carefully observed. She saw it, the shimmer in the sky. And true to the reports, the veil rippled erratically. It only lasted for a split second before it calmed down.
When the moment passed, Briar looked down at her Gorm Stone. The stone that had chosen her out of all people in the crowd. She was just a sapling back then. That’s what her Fathers told her.
“You were just a wee little one, barely able to walk or open your eyes fully. Yet, by some chance, you were chosen at the ceremony. The stone shone brightest for you and you only, not for those who were on stage. That day, a duty had been bestoned upon you, even when you couldn’t understand your surroundings yet.” That’s what her fathers, Scourge and Dagger, would tell her whenever the two saw their daughter doubting herself.
Briar looked back up at the sky and sighed heavily. She hopped off the trunk and entered the murky swamp water. To outsiders, jumping into the water of the wetlands was seen as icky and dangerous. Who knows what could be in the water and what a person could contract? But to the Swamp Elementals, it was nothing; it was like taking a shower, bath, or swim, but with swamp water.
This was her last swim before she would be set out on a long journey to find and join the other Elemental lords to save Gorm.
Who is Briar and why is she a lord of Gorm?
The reason why Briar is a Gorm lord of the Swamp Kingdom is that I don’t think any of the other Swamp characters, that I already know and planned out, would be fit for the role of Gorm Lord because, one, they’re all part of LOE (Legion of Elementals, the world I created if I want to take a break from the fandom). The characters are kind of part of GNU, if I want them to interact with that world and the canon characters, but their main home world is LOE.
And two, cause the other Swamp Characters have either their own thing going on, they’re powerful on their own and don’t need no stone to prove their power, and/or are too busy with another thing to even pick up the title of Gorm lord.
Briar isn’t part of LOE; she’s fully part of GNU. So, she’s the perfect and permanent option as the Gorm Lord of the Swamp.
I also created her not just because I wanted a Lord of the Swamp, she was also created because the name Briar belonged to a Multifandom OC, but later I changed that Multifandom OC’s name to Evren instead. And honestly, I like the name Briar. It’s a pretty name, and I wanted to create a character with that name.
Why isn’t Zambak a lord of Gorm?
Sure, Zambak could be a lord of nature, but if she puts the stone on, it would straight up rot her to death. Yes, she can die from it. The Gorm stone is too much, even for her.
Even if she doesn’t die from the stone, the other reason why Zambak isn’t the wielder of the stone is that she doesn’t need the Gorm stone to be powerful when she’s already powerful without it. In other terms, she doesn’t need to prove her worth, skills, and power with the stone when she’s already all three without it.
Will there be a longer story for Briar?
Nope. For now, Briar is only getting short, summarized stories.
How does she interact with lords?
When she encounters them, she doesn’t trust them because she’s been taught to be careful about who she trusts. The lords need to earn her trust if they want her to join them.
When she joins them and spends time with them, she’d be mostly the quiet one in the group because she’s introverted.
(Haven't much thought-out here)
Why does Briar kind of look like Zambak?
It’s a nod to an idea I had a long time ago where Zambak was gonna be a lord of Nature when I started to create her. But that idea was scrapped as the character was further developed.
The other reason is the fashion and common traits in the Swamp Kingdom. A lot of Swamp folks have free feral fashion styles, such as: wild-free hair, roots shaped like ribs or any type of bone, sharp claws, etc. So, Briar happens to inhabit these fashion traits in her design.
Is she different from Zambak?
Yes. Unlike Zambak, Briar is not a crazy and cold C-word. She cares about her family and friends the common way. When it comes to training sessions, she will give her opponent a fighting chance. However, with Zambak, the moment her opponent steps on the ring, they’re gonna wake up in the healing hut after their short coma.
Briar tends to be too curious about things that strongly catch her attention, which leads her to step into dangerous situations without a moment to think ahead. Zambak is observant of her surroundings and is aware of the danger around her.
Briar is a shy optimist, while Zambak is a straightforward and harsh realist.
Briar has a warmer and brighter green color palette, while Zambak's green palette is cold, plain, and neutral.
Briar also lacks traits Zambak has, such as Zambak’s six-petal ears, the three-petal forehead crown, and white marks.
Briar’s hair is short compared to Zambak's hair.
In Briar’s short story, the way she got her Gorm stone was when the stone shone brightest for her only.
In the Show, it’s unknown how the Princes obtained the stones in the first place. They already have it. For all we can guess, the former Gorm lords probably handed their stones to their kingdoms to keep safe.
But still, why do the main Princes have it in the first place to begin with? Shouldn’t the stone be given to experienced folks?
My headcanon is that the stones shone bright when the princes were close enough. The stones only shine brightest to those who are worthy of it, even if they’re too young to comprehend what’s going on and what their future holds for them. Tasaru, Noctis, and Agrom already had theirs on them, so we can guess that the stones were given to the three when they were very young.
But that’s just a headcanon.
And that's about it for Briar.
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