Lore Drop!
Idk if this is something anyone ever noticed, but whenever Ebony needs light they always use floating glowy orbs!
From the very beginning, glowing orbs have been one of Ebony’s primary powers, though they vary in color, number, and function.
In Arcana canon, the apprentice does tend to use a lot of glowing orbs, but that’s not the only reason for Ebony!
One of the key features of Ebony is that they don’t tend to be very emotional; they’re calm in just about every situation, and very rarely exaggerate any facial expressions. A soft smile is for sure the default. So, what sort of things could possibly rattle them?
These are the only instances of Ebony being associated with fire: in small doses around loved ones, for a comedic moment in a rare instance of strong emotion, and when they were a ghost.
Yeah, turns out being stuck on death island due to plague and the only way out being cremation, and eventually being cremated yourself, can leave some lasting trauma that extends even beyond amnesia :)
(artwork by the always stunning @void-slip!!)
(art by the super talented @persep-hia!)
Now, another key trademark of Ebony is headwear! There are very few overall images out there of Ebony without anything on their head.
(very happy art gift from the endlessly wonderful @ancientartifacts1010!!)
(another example from the ever-lovely @armallo-and-roul!)
Now, there are certainly Variations on the headwear, but there’s almost always Something. It’s just not Ebony without it!
The two main variations are a full-on flower crown, and of course their primary mistletoe/leaf crown.
Now for the part I don’t have artwork for XD
Essentially, there are only 2 things that are guaranteed triggers for Ebony: Fire, and being stuck in large crowds. Though they aren’t generally phased by anything, those two things will absolutely ruin them.
The headwear acts for Ebony in a very similar way myrrh acts for Muriel; the smell of it acts as a positive trigger.
The flower and mistletoe crowns are the easiest way for them to access a calm and grounding scent, though they still try to keep those positive triggers on all their headwear. For example, the forehead jewel in @ancientartifacts1010‘s lovely art secretly being a tiny vial of perfume, and the pearls in @armallo-and-roul‘s example being both dipped in the scent and hollowed out so each pearl holds a small amount of perfume.
Unfortunantly I am no scent connoisseur XD I associate Ebony with the smell of pine needles and sea spray, and I’d assume they smell like myrrh although i got no clue what that’s like. But whatever smell they actually use to ground themself I may never know.
Thus ends the lore dump! Super big thank you to everyone who gave me Ebony artworks, they mean more to me than I can say!
