#ditd lore

Library of the Forgotten

CW: death mention in lore, so I'm linking it instead this time 💛

It explores what one aspect of death care could look like in a fantasy world (more specifically in my comic universe)

Available as a print and sticker set this month only (November 2023) on my Patreon for Professional Napper patrons and above :)<3

As a warning, this month’s lore deals pretty heavily with death and trauma, and has mentions of war (in the past).

Shadowlings and No Magic Zones lore:

If you find yourself in a place where traces of humans are slowly being reclaimed by nature, marked by a glaringly red and yellow coloured sign that says “NO MAGIC” on it, odds are you’re standing at the site of an old battleground from the Long War.

No matter where you go, if there are humans around, you can likely find a no magic zone there too. And the reason magic is disallowed in such places is because they are the dwellings of the Shadowlings, who are said to be soldiers that fell to a curse in the war, and hence harbour very negative emotions towards those who use it. Fear, anger, grief… And all explosive feelings at that. They aren’t exactly capable of rational thinking anymore, so it’s best not to upset them, especially since they tragically harbour a lot of the Wild Magic they resent so much, and can be incredibly dangerous while emotional.

Because of their experiences that live on inside them, it doesn't matter that magic has now become a good and necessary force in human society, or that magic folks and humans have both done equal amounts of good and bad.

Using magic in their presence truly can only be done at the risk of your life for most people, and the exceptions to that rule can be counted on the fingers of just one hand.

However if you do not provoke them, they are completely harmless and very gentle - loving even.

Being a Shadowling is leading an existence that hovers between life and death, unable to participate in life, but also unable to move on from it. And yet a Shadowling is not quite a ghost either.

As newly turned, most Shadowlings retain an almost human shape, but they slowly begin lose their shape and memories with the passage of time, except for a few exceptions who hold onto them as much as possible for the sake of their loved ones.

Still, they know instinctively that they were once humans and therefore tend to seek them and their warmth out as much as possible. In the absence of humans though, they feel the safest around human-made objects that have been left behind in the zone, and with each other. Shadowling are rarely alone, instead they tend to huddle together in big groups where they do their best to comfort each other and help each other hold onto their memories, and dream of the day they’ll be able to return to humanity.

For quite some time after the end of the war, those who lived on would take care of the Shadowlings and the areas in which magic was forbidden. After all, no matter how unrecognisable they had become, they were still people’s beloved family members, lovers, and friends. And if you look into their eyes, regardless of how much they have lost, you can still see and know who they were in life.

But time is ruthless to us all, and the last living generation who survived the horrors of the war has grown old and started to disappear. For some time, their descendants would take care of the no magic zones instead, but the vast majority of these places would slowly become completely abandoned with the introduction of magic in human society.

And so, the Shadowlings kept getting more and more shapeless and wispy, clinging to the traces of humanity they can find in items that were left behind and the occasional visitor.

Few people visit these days. And even fewer still are visitors who still do not have traces of magic on them or aren’t afraid of the Shadowlings.

But maybe one day, as long as there is hope, maybe one day their curse can be lifted.

Some lore for these babies from my comicverse:

Stove bunnies (or braskaniner in Swedish) used to be a massively popular pet back in the day in the Devil in the Details universe due to them being friendly to humans and being able to control their flames, so they would be great to cuddle for warmth in the colder seasons. On top of that, they quite enjoy living in people's wood burning stoves, which was a huge help for heating and cooking.

If you want to take care of a stove bunny however, just don't mistreat them or the people they love. If they get angry, they can and will burn your house down. For safety, if you see one of these little guys start turning blue: Run! That means they're incredibly angry. (But this is thankfully extremely rare.)

With that said, there's another fact about them that perhaps is a bit counterintuitive, which is that they also are excellent guards against accidental fires. You see, they enjoy consuming flammable things because it strengthens their own internal energy - and for that reason they're also happy to consume actual fire.

Nowadays, with magic being an every day tool for humans, as well as times changing, the practicality of having this cute fiery rabbit around has greatly diminished. But people still love having them around as pets and familiars.

Candlelight spirits 🕯🔥

If you wanna get these as a print and sticker set, you can do so until the end of May over on my Patreon by pledging to the Professional Napper tier or above <3

Or if you just wanna read about these little friends, that's more than okay too 🥰

Candlelight Spirits Lore:

First off, don't worry, that mouse can pop in and out of the lantern at will, it's not trapped :)

If there’s one thing candlelight spirits know, it’s that the best stories are the ones told in the light of flickering candles and around campfires. And so fire became the very essence of their being! They burn bright, curious and passionate, with an appetite for good tales.

Back when humans and magic folks were at war, they used to hide to listen to the stories of both sides, which was not always the easiest. As a fire elemental they could hide within the flames themselves, but in the face of interesting stories, it was terribly hard for them to not burst out of their hiding spot and ask a thousand questions.

But alas, that was what they had to do. Humans were wary of magic folks and creatures of any kind, and the magic folks did not like that the candlelight spirits would not disclose information about the humans.

But how could they pick sides when they have hearts that melt as easily as wax, and when they knew that if either side won, millions and millions of stories would be lost forever?

So for them, it was heaven when the Long War finally came to an end. There was an abundance of tales like never before, and they did not need to hide any longer.

However, as society started to advance, the introduction of electricity and magic lights ended up thinning out the opportunities they had in the end. And even more sadly for them, storytelling was no longer the primary method of entertainment, at least not in the same way.

From a time where fire was the source of all light in the night, to one where it’s rarely used at all… The poor spirits are nowhere near as common now, given that their presence is tied to the flames, which act as portals for them to come into the same plane as us.

But they persist! Because as long as there are people, there will be good stories to tell.

And if you want to find them, your best bet is arranging a cosy candlelit dinner or campfire night with loved ones, or you can go to a temple or church, or sometimes even a restaurant – any place where there’s always some kind of fire burning.

However, tragically enough, candlelight spirits are banned from the places they adore the most; libraries. This is for understandable reasons, as they cannot control their flames, unlike other flame elementals such as stove bunnies. After all, they came into existence at a point in history when books had not even been invented yet, and fire was what brought people together. And yes, sadly this ban applies even to candlelight spirits in the protective casing of a lantern.

An endearing fact about the candlelight spirits is that they’re shapeshifters from birth, their forms flickering between different shapes much like the flames themselves, but at some point their bodies become stable and stop shifting. In the end they take on the form of whichever character first truly resonated with them. So for that reason it is very common to see candlelight spirits resemble storybook characters, or a storyteller’s loved one.

Sometimes this can be a little bit strange for those who tell their stories to suddenly come face to face with a tiny version of a member of their family or beloved, but it’s usually strangely soothing.

Some who have had these little spirits take on the appearance of their loved ones who’s passed say that instead of being upset, it makes them cherish the memory of that person even more. After all, they took on that form out of sheer love for the person they were in the storyteller’s heart, rather than being disrespectful to their memory.

The candlelight spirits are also excellent storytellers themselves! Who wouldn’t be after listening to so many tales for decades and even centuries?

And they share those stories with joy, which is why a lot of the time historians in particular love them, even though stories are just stories and may not be entirely truthful. But regardless, they’re a goldmine of information from the past.

However, as much as historians love listening to the tales of the candlelight spirits, the love isn’t always mutual. They’re more than happy to tell their stories, but they’re not as excited to hear what the historians have for them. Why? Because they’ve already heard those stories long ago, over and over again, and more accurately too. So they would rather be somewhere else.

Or at least that’s how it used to be. Because in a plot twist this caused a lot of historians (and academics in general) to turn into absolute party animals and adventurers and extroverts in general to appease the spirits’ appetite for good stories so they’d hang around more. It’s to the point that the history department in any given university now has a reputation to be the wildest one there is.

So, I’ve posted these before, but I don’t think I posted the lore at that time, so here we go :-) Mothice

These little friends are called mothice, and are a species from The Devil in the Details  (my comic) lore.

They're very misunderstood, being both mouse and moth; two creatures commonly considered household pests. But as a matter of fact, they are very friendly and caring animals who want to help more than anything.

In the past, people used to chase them away from their houses, before they knew better. The mothice had a history of trying to warn humans of danger being near by making the patterns on their wings glow red, which sadly was taken as a bad omen due to the accidents and bad things that would often follow.

Thankfully at some point, however, people figured out these little fluffy friends not only are harmless, but also downright lovely creatures. Unfortunately the damage was already done, and though mothice still love and care for humans, they are very, very cautious due to their past treatment at their hands.

Hello hello, I am returning with some more lore from my comic universe :)

If you want to get these as an A5 print and sticker set, you can grab them from my Patreon (Professional Napper or Big Sleepy tier) until the end of February, CET :) But also, as always feel free to just read the lore <3

Dawn Dreamers lore:

A dawn dreamer is a silly looking being that appears in spirit form and has features of both angels and demons, while having the grace of neither. Such is the life of a blobby being.

Other traits of their forms are that they use their ears as wings to fly, and that they give off a strange glimmer as they float through the sky. They can be small as a golf ball or large as a horse, and they also never open their eyes as they seem to be perpetually asleep.

Reportedly, they make a bunch of cute noises as they dream too.

There is actually very little known about these beings. They appear only at dawn and only in front of people who have been going through a difficult time, but whose fortunes are now taking a turn for the better, as though to signal a new beginning.

Due to this, as well as the fact that they cannot be photographed, people have had a very different image of what they look like in their minds. Given the symbolism they have in folk tales, the general consensus is that they probably have a poetic appearance; in fact drawings and paintings of them have been widely disregarded as people simply wouldn’t believe such a silly-looking being could have such a profound meaning for them.

But when you see them, you understand. The feeling they give off when you see them is that of the first laughter after a long period of not smiling – suddenly you remember there is joy in this world and it makes your burdens seem to not be quite as heavy anymore. They're just silly little things, and life doesn't have to be that serious. Things aren’t fixed yet, but you’re on the right track. And you feel more resilient and hopeful.

The little knowledge we do have on the dawn dreamers unfortunately come from the most fickle and unreliable source of them all; gods. Gods are the only being with the power to cross the boundaries of different worlds, but they are also unfortunately known to rarely interact a whole lot with people in the mortal realm, and a fair few of them are known for making up tales for the fun of it since they’re perpetually bored. So how much of that information is to be trusted isn’t entirely sure.

However, it has been said that our realm actually is the place where dawn dreamers go when they have a good dream – hence why they appear in spirit form only. It has also been said that they have their own society and lives in their own world, not all that different from ours.

Owlbits! 🦉🐰🌺

These are the March 2023 Big Dreamer sticker and print rewards that you can grab over on my Patreon until the month is over 💛 Some lore:

Owlbits are a magical relative of regular owls who have developed an almost supernatural sense of hearing, even compared to their relatives who are known to have the best hearing among non magic beings – they can hear a pin drop as far as fifty kilometres away. The reason for this extremely keen sense of hearing is that they used to be hunted for their incredibly soft and beautiful feathers centuries ago, as well as being sought after pets due to their ability to learn to both speak and understand humanoid languages.

During the war between regular humans and magic folks, magic folks also often tried to catch them to use them as spies, not only to spy on humans, but to spy on their magic folk enemies as well. It was a cruel twist of fate that the very hearing that was supposed to protect the owlbits was what caused them to become even more sought after.

Luckily for them however, they actually make extremely poor spies. You see, they have trouble differentiating sounds from one another in settings they are not used to, which often causes them huge headaches that essentially render them useless.

Moreover, they are incredibly emotional creatures and will cry if you make them do anything bad, to the point their captors considered it annoying. Additionally, most of their spy missions failed miserably because they turned into little agents of chaos that would fly straight into the enemy’s keep and ask them to help them be free or release their captive families from their evil kidnappers. And those said enemies would not waste an opportunity like this.

After all, if the owlbits can hear your enemies from that far away, they can also hear you. You can’t keep a secret from an owlbit once they get over their headaches unless you’re highly proficient in a particular type of magic – but even then, owlbits are known to be able to hear through magic wards.

So, picture this: You’re a lord plotting the downfall of your nemesis when you suddenly hear a loud thump on your window. You got to check it out, and to your surprise you find an incredibly frazzled and panicked little owl with rabbit-like ears. It’s crying.

It yells for you to help save them in a strangely adorable voice. A bad guy kidnapped them and told them to spy on you, but they can’t do it because the surroundings give them a headache.

“Interesting”, you say. “Tell me more.”

The creature cries harder and starts to list the ill deeds and plans of their kidnapper that they learned while they were supposedly in spy training for a many months – long enough to get used to the new environment.

You grin and pet their silly little head. “That must have been very scary”, you say. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now", you say, and then proceed to ask your new friend all the details they know, including the layout of the enemy’s stronghold.

Some time later, when you’re done dealing with your pesky foes, you release the little friend. They thank you, happily chirping that you’re a good person, before promising to come over for dinner occasionally and flying off.

You may not necessarily be a good person, but they don’t need to know that. All you know is you feel in your bones that trying to use this bird for your own potentially nefarious purposes would backfire spectacularly. That, and you can’t stop smiling.

You tell your staff to prepare a feast for next Sunday’s dinner, in case you have guests.

Despite their rather unfortunate past, the owlbits are now thriving. Much like humans, they truly enjoy the beauty of nature and are often seen stargazing on clear nights or basking in the sun on a warm spring day. They also enjoy decorating their nests with flowers and pretty trinkets.

And another fun fact: After learning more about people and society, they started to trade their own feathers and information they’ve acquired in their local area – nothing harmful though, of course.

These little business birds surprisingly do incredibly well.

Fairywhale lore:

Seeing a fairywhale is extremely rare, let alone several in one group. It is usually considered a blessing and a monumental moment in one's life. Those who slumber in the presence of a fairywhale will find long forgotten tales, and those who view them with their naked eyes  are blessed with life changing knowledge.

Some people spend their entire lives tracking the fairywhales, but this is a tremendously difficult task, as they not only move through space, but also through time, and tend to prefer sticking to their own kind. Very rarely, however, they will get attached to people or beings who are pure of mind and have a thirst for knowledge, and on such occasions they may carry them on a journey through history, known and forgotten.

Appearance-wise, young fairywhales have grassy backs, but as they mature the grass grow into a blooming meadow. Some ancient fairywhales have grown so large that they cover the entire sky with their presence, and some of them carry lost villages or even entire forgotten civilisations on their backs. However, these ancients are seen so rarely that they are generally considered merely a legend.