#charivari

my contribution to Dames Prod.’s Charivari art book! The kickstarter has been funded but late pledges are still available 🤲 {kickstarter link here!}

i chose to focus on the aspect of role reversal in carnival traditions, and on ‘unmasking’; also anime OPs where a running character overlays a zoomed in face haha

My full piece for Charivari, Masks and Swords~

The KS is at 99% and just needs a bit more to reach the stretch goal! There's so much beautiful artwork (and clowns!) in this project~

Mevolent should be a descendant of the Ancients.

This has been rotating in my mind for a long time. It's one of those things I'm pretty sure aren't canon, BUT they 100% should be.

Hear me out, it would lead to some interesting dynamics and narratives that just make so much sense.

Why It Makes Sense

His Size For one, it would explain why he is so tall. It appears the Ancients were taller than normal humans judging by the size of the Grotesquery's torso which originated from the remains of a Faceless One that had possessed an Ancient [source].

[Landy says it was either an Ancient or a mortal, but according to the Grimoire mortals only showed up after the FO had been banished, so it must have been and Ancient, and not only bc of the unusual size.]

His Power It would also explain why he's powerful beyond what an average mage should be able to achieve without knowing his True Name. The rule that 'if you get good at one element it will make you weaker at the opposing element' doesn't apply to him. Not sure if it applies to SP in general, but I feel like it should. Just one of those things that make sense, ya know?

Honestly, this is the weaker argument since I much prefer the explanation that Mevolent is that powerful because the Unnamed's training motto was succeed-or-die so those that survived his training were the best of the best that were pushed to new heights of power by his cruel but effective methods.

This point would work better if he was magically ambidextrous, since that seems to be a canon trait of god descendant mages. While Mevolent showed some sensitive abilities during SoW, it wasn't confirmed if those are actually his powers or if his sensitive wife was aiding him, which is a popular headcanon. He also is shown to be equally adept with sigils as an expert Signum Linguist such as China Sorrows, but again that seems to be more the result of rigorous study (under the Unnamed and after) than a sign of him being magically ambidextrous.

Narrative/Character Dynamics

His Master The Unnamed, a powerful and relatively pure-blooded descendant of the Faceless Ones, took great joy in finding and turning an Ancient descendant into a loyal servant. Mevolent's betrayal of his master with a weapon he had forged himself for the exact purpose of disposing of his master mirrors the betrayal of their ancestors.

Mevolent created the Obsidian Blade to kill the Unnamed. The Ancients created the Godkiller weapons to kill/banish the Faceless Ones.

His Gods Yet, unlike his Ancestors, he still worships the Faceless Ones. The pure-blooded ones and not their traitorous offspring that sought to be worshipped in place of the true Gods. This is heavy headcanon territory but while serving the Unnamed, a young Mevolent was clinging to the belief that the FO were better, kinder masters, and his faith is what gave him the strength to survive his youth.

His servitude to his Gods is repentance for the sins of his forefather. And he does view them as evil. After all, what kind of people would fight their own kin into extinction? It's why Mevolent doesn't want to fight this war, at least not for as long as it had been going on. That's why he was willing to listen to Vanguard and form a Truce with the Sanctuaries. He is terrified this war will drive mages into extinction, repeating the mistakes of his forefathers.

His Wife Mevolent's and Serafina's marriage was more than just political. They were trying to mix Serafina's Faceless One Blood with Mevolent's Ancient Blood to produce a Child of the Faceless Ones. The Of The Unveiled blood wasn't pure enough on its own, and Strosivadian's deformities are the result of a failed activation. (x)

The Descendant Of The Faceless Ones It would give a nice twist to his dynamic with the heroine, Valkyrie. She, a descendant of the bad guys, does the right thing for all the wrong reasons, while he, a descendant of the good guys, does all the wrong things for the right reasons. They're on opposites sides where they should be. It's always interesting to have the villain be the mirror image of the hero tbh.

I admit this point would work better if Valkyrie was more heroic and less villainous herself. I would have preferred this over Val and Skul turning evil over and over again bc of their heritage. It kinda sends the message of 'you can't change who you are born as'. While Mevolent is forging his own path, defying destiny and heritage for better or worse by being a descendant of the Ancients and yet deciding to worship their foes.

(also apparently the Ancients are evil now too in phase 3, but I'm going to ignore that bc I didn't read phase 3, and I'm kinda tired of everybody being an asshole and there being no good guys so I'm just gonna ignore that)

Repeating Histories Over the course of the history, the two enemies keep clashing. First the Ancients and Faceless Ones, then Mevolent and the Unnamed and finally the Child Of The Ancients Ones and The Child Of The Ancients. Each Sorcerer Era has their big clash between the two.

It has something poetic in its inevitability to it.

Here are some pictures: