#general lore

In the 2020s. I'm hesitant to lock in the specific year for now, but it's modern day.

trying to flesh vinny out a bit. have a tiny lore dump. i don't have the gumption to show instead of tell right now. when i'm not sticking her into bullshit universes and tweaking her accordingly, she's a descendent from a blended family of both mages and demon hunters. more often than not, these walks of life do not get along.

Max had been welcomed amongst the Dragons quite quickly. His time with Red Bull prior to joining the full Team had already led to quite a number of introductions. While his sudden acquisition of fire resistance was a horrifying moment for himself and the team around him, he quickly adapted and began using it for good.

Just a few months after learning about his fire resistance, Max was able to rescue a dragonet from her egg. The brood mother was concerned, but accepted his help when Max didn't blink at her display of fire, and Max was able to crack the shell open wider to let the small dragon fully hatch. This same dragon would go one and be the one who entrusted Max with her runt egg when he won his first Championship.

No one is sure whose idea it was for Oscar to be introduced to several of the Pegasus Herds, but everyone's money is on Charles, since he's the one who did all the introductions. While McLaren was nominally responsible for the Pegasi on occasion, the reality tended more towards fully Ferrari. Only two McLaren employees were even remotely tolerated by the Pegasi herds when Oscar joined, and someone had the idea that maybe Oscar could become the third.

The introductions go politely, but decidedly distant. Oscar is allowed into their space, but the general feeling is that he is mostly allowed this because of Charles' company. For the whole first year of his employment at McLaren, Oscar is never truly needed for the Pegasi, and so he turns towards a specialty with the Phoenix.

It's only in Oscar's second year with the team that he becomes completely accepted by the Pegasi, or at least a selection of their herds. The first instance that required him was a major forest fire. Every Ferrari employee in the area was needed to help the Pegasi get out, since they were having trouble flying with the fire causing hot and chaotic air currents along with the thickness of the tree cover. Oscar and the two other McLaren employees were also recruited. Oscar was the one who found one of the younger Pegasi stuck in a hunters trap. They'd covered a large and deep hole with a net and forest debris. The young filly had been tangled into the netting and was screaming in terror. Oscar managed to rescue the panicking Pegasus, but not before being kicked in the ribs for his troubles. It was after this instance, word spread amongst the Pegasi that Oscar was Acceptable, if not fully welcome.

The second instance was towards the end of the 2024 season. After a strenuous birth, Oscar was the only one in the area able to attend the Naming Ceremony for the new colt. Charles had helped the mother through the birth and was too exhausted to leave his bed for the next few days, though he was able to answer all of Oscar's questions on what he should do at the ceremony before passing out. Oscar attends. Is completely respectful. And at the end, when the rest of the herd approaches and leaves feathers around the new child, giving it a safe place to rest made of family, Oscar carefully walks up and offers a lock of his own hair. The parents, fully prepared to be offended at his ignorance of custom, were surprised, but managed to accept.

After that, the Pegasi were much more welcoming to Oscar. He might never be as fully accepted amongst them as Ferrari's Pegasi team, but for the few herds he has interacted with, he's completely welcomed. The Pegasi yearling whose Naming he attended has sworn to be his friend and the young mare he saved makes relatively regular visits when she has the opportunity.

While the general depiction of the Loch Ness Monster tends towards dinosaur with fins instead of legs, the real LNM is actually more similar to a cross between that and an alligator. The body and tail is quite a bit more angular, with webbed feet and hands, rather than fully fin shaped legs.

The Loch Ness Monster is also not a solo cryptid. There are actually many of them, now dispersed throughout the world's lakes, though the most numerous and diverse population of them lives in Michigan's Great Lakes. All of the LNMs have also been removed from Loch Ness, to prevent any accidental sightings due to the numerous tourists travelling there specifically for the LNM.

Most Monsters are between 18 and 25 ft (around 5.5 to 7.5 meters) in length, there have been several adults in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan measured to be nearly 40 ft (12 meters) in length. This discovery has caused many to believe that LNMs, like several species, grow to their environment, rather than having a normal size expectation.

When Franco was first recruited to the Williams Driver Program, it was kept quiet that the instigating factor was that one of the Vampiric team members recognized his natural allure. Because he seemed unaware of this at the time, the Vampire in question thought it best to bring him into the Fantasy world with the Williams team.

Franco was excited to join the team and finally learn there was truth behind his family's oral history of being mixed with Mythical beings. When he discovered that he in particular, had a benefit from his Mythical bloodline, and that his benefit was a natural allure that made most people more amenable to his wants, he was moderately horrified. Obviously, Franco had no way of knowing this, and he wasn't using it intentionally, but it was there, subtly influencing people around him.

The Vampire who had identified his Allure offered to help him learn to control it and Franco gladly accepted. Vampires also have an ability to sort of coerce people into doing things for them, though it a more active skill than a passive one. After a month or two of trying to figure out the best way to control his allure, Franco and the Vampire decided to reach out for help. They contacted a Witch on the team who agreed to determine the origin of Franco's allure. Upon the discovery that the Allure was Siren in nature, Franco and his Vampire friend realized there wasn't and easy fix to control it.

By the time Franco was moved to F1 and the Williams team officially, he was able to dampen the effects of his Allure for short stretches of time, thanks to a lot of trial and error and contacting several actual Sirens and some of their mixed Human descendants. Franco knows he might never be able to fully negate the effects of his natural allure, but he's now able to minimize the effects of it for most of a day if necessary, though it leaves him drained. Franco also remains in contact with many of the other Siren descendants he's talked to, and as a collective, they all help others who are just learning about their natural, bloodline gifts.