#chan replies

so the pink one is B and the witchie is Hayes Highwater!! they're oc's from a story that i've been calling hell&highwater, and they've got a lot going on :- )

here's my toyhouse folder for h&h with those two and more!! i'll also actually talk a bit about hell&highwater as a whole since... i don't talk about it at length often and usually just share tidbits!!

hayes and b live in a universe 500 years after magic went from not real to very real, splitting the world into five major territories; the Cloud United, the Boss Chair Colosseum, the Godlands, the Promestian Republic, and the Flowstate Covens. their story mainly takes place in the flowstate covens, a territory that has fully adapted magic into their society through the power and symbology of tarot, witches, and beings called arcane saints.

so i've basically done a LOT of worldbuilding for these two, including a pretty in-depth magic system. it just dawned on me i could/should use this as a chance to explain all the weird terminology that's on the toyhouse profiles....ok!! i've made magic a bit more extreme in h&h (think like... Look Outside levels of things changing, but with an equal number of positive and negative effects). in a nutshell, magic works on three levels here; tangible reality, intangible reality, and the overlap ("reality", but with full context). the five territories all survived the advent of magic by finding ways to anchor their cities/lands to all three realities, stabilizing the turbulent flow.

the flowstate covens did this by way of tarot. 22 sacrifices became 22 arcane saints, who made the 22 major covens. they made 56 works of art and enshrined them, creating 56 minor covens. once the territory was anchored, magic settled down nicely and people began to work with it, developing different schools, methods of study...and of course a new faith, for the 22 arcane saints whose souls would forever keep these covens safe. this faith and study of magic is called The Path, and pilgrimage is a very important function of the covens.

practitioners of the Path make use of suits; their wand, sword, cup, pentacle, and major. each suit helps manipulate a different mode of magic; active, external, internal, passive, and real, respectively. through the creation of a grimoire, where they declare what their suits ARE as well as their function, they begin to hone and develop their craft...and through pilgrimage, you are able to...well, basically prove your magic is real.

now those terms on the toyhouse real quick:

name; i mean, it's obvious, but names have special power in this world. i only really bring it up to mention B has never told her name to anyone, she has only gone by her call. connected to the soul.

call; a secondary name of sorts, the name magic knows you by. often used in spellwork and communication magic, and legal documents. connected to the spirit.

affinity; the medium a person can best interact, manipulate, and feel magic through. connected to the heart.

title; there are so many titles. most people who really study magic end up with several titles, they can be bestowed, earned, granted, taken, inherited...and so on. connected to the mind.

spread; in the flowstate covens, practitioners of the path are blessed with a spread of tarot cards that help them understand their magic (a five card spread, one cup, wand, sword, pentacle, and major). each comes with documented boons and banes. connected to the body.

enter B! the (future) arcane saint, Saint Heavy, the Devil!! and enter Hayes, a literal saint killer, born and raised by the most hated cult on the whole planet. all arcane saints go on a major pilgrimage when they turn 22, to...basically become real, and become real magic. B's pilgrimage is coming up. the devil has a special pilgrimage, of course. normally on a major pilgrimage you would visit all 78 covens, starting with the fool and ending with the world...but for the devil, their pilgrimage ends as soon as they return to their coven...where their life is to be sacrificed to keep the coven functioning.

hayes meanwhile, has been apprehended and brought into the covens for aforementioned saintkilling by the supreme witch of the coven of Strength, Judith Creed, a full decade after the deed. she and creed strike a deal. after proving herself with a probationary pilgrimage (live where we tell you to live for a designated amount of time without causing trouble) for a year. then, she is to attempt a major pilgrimage so she can become an official witch for the covens and work for them. if she refuses, she'll be left in the Deep Hold, the Moon's under-sea prison for dangerous entities, where she will likely die in the dark.

lucky for hayes, she is extremely, totally, and utterly devout to the path, so there are worse things for her. she has incredible faith in path teachings and reveres the saints as holy beings worthy of service and even worship, and has since she was a child, long before she ever met or killed any saint. b meanwhile....... needs anything he can get his teeth into to make his limited life suck a little less.

anyway!! haha!! their story is going to cover the year of hayes's probationary pilgrimage (which is taking place in the devil's coven, named Sleepless), their (spoilers) shared journey on the major pilgrimage, and maybe just a bit more after that. :- )

i've mentioned offhand before that i have, like...over 300 oc's and it's all because of this plotline. i decided each coven should have five positions of leadership (one for each "suit", thematically)...so. 5x78...and that's just for (most) of the covens. I have characters for the other territories too, as well as just...well, other regular characters for the overall story. on top of that, each character, essentially...has 2-3 names. i did also design all 78 covens, and i've been working on putting together a little zine to show them all off~

i'm quite proud of it all, really....it's a lot because that's the kind of thing i'm good at. decided to stop fighting my own creative urges when i'm making something just for me!! part of the reason i asked for game recommendations the other week was to get inspiration for the game i plan on making for these two!! i recently outlined and thumbnailed the first 30 chapters... and have been writing the script.

one last tidbit before i stop myself...the current titles for the first fifteen chapters :- )

we enter the circle at night

welcome to solitary

new house slippers

makky chi, corndog, and esports bastard

breakfast with nana

the grafitti temple

going to bed

waking up

genius in hiding

rusty

blacksheep dinner

the collection

exercise in socializing (glamour to make me look normal)

down time