#questionverse

Okay so qv. 

Basically the starting conceit is that there's been this war going on between basically the people who call themselves the naturekind and the people who call themselves the machinekind, basically a kind of nature vs tech thing?? both sides have magic, and there's a lot of magitech and magibiotech going on, there's kind of a bunch of ambient magic hanging around it's as-of-yet undefined and complicated but anyways

So this war, which has been going on for longer than any people can remember, has been literally tearing the world apart

As in, there is literally a giant desert in the middle of the world

And there are indescribably deep cracks running through that desert exuding a kind of sickly yellow light

I hate yellow Yellow is evil in this story because I hate it Like u know how, like, color symbolism exists? Throw that out the window, in this story, yellow symbolizes bad shit Anyways

So yes the war's been tearing the world apart

Now, it should also be noted that scattered across this world are these things called waypoints

A waypoint visual: http://ailavyn-siniyash.tumblr.com/post/139987447085/so-my-wonderful-amazing-incredible

They are intensely magical perfect circles, generally composed of one plant-type and one rock or metal

And each one is inhabited by a creature, or spirit, or mysterious being, called a Guardian

Now, it should be noted that in Kabbalah, the term tikkun olam, that wonderful Jewish concept, refers to regathering the sparks of divine light that got shattered across creation at creation

(I don’t actually know anything about Kabbalah so take everything I saw abt it with a grain of salt but. that is the impression I got.)

It should also be noted that the Guardians claim to have originally been a single being

It should also be noted that every single time I turn my back this story gets even more Jewish

At any rate The world is being torn apart

In the early days of the war, when people still had some accounts of a time before, one of the Guardians granted Fantasy Elijah the power to pull the world back together--repair it, essentially

In terms that I will probably change, that Guardian became Fantasy Elijah's patron

In Abrahamic terms, one might say that Fantasy Elijah became a prophet

....and, of course, true to their inspiration, Fantasy Elijah was completely ineffective

Oh, they were angry, and they tried, and they threw flashy magic around...but nothing got done

And yet, they didn't die

They stuck around, still with a measure of power but not enough anymore to actually do anything, and they did small things for people but it was nothing against the overwhelming tide of the war and they softened over the years and they met Mom-Friend and married her and gave to her some of the power they still carried so she could live with them for however long they were both needed

And the Guardians saw the war worsening and the people polarizing and while they still had some hope, they had given up that prospect

That project was, essentially, kaput

That is, until En came into the picture

En gave no shits

She had no opinions about any of this, she only cared about herself, and the Iron Cascades Guardian fixated on her

It was somewhat miraculous--how could you be raised in this world and not take a side?

And so with that question in mind--there is something about her, she must be special--the Iron Cascades Guardian especially but all the Guardians, really, pinned their hopes on her

The Iron Cascades Guardian became her patron, the Guardians granted her free passage between waypoints without even any complaining, they all hoped she would grow and begin to care

It didn't work

With the power she was given, En created chaos, with no thought for the world or indeed anyone except herself

Now, it should be noted that En had a sword

It was a plain sword, unremarkable until you looked closely and saw how it didn't wear and it didn't dull and it could cut through anything if she wished it to

It was someone's masterwork, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of creation, but she didn't know whose--she stole it off the body of one of the people she killed

The one thing she had always wondered whether it would work on was a Guardian, and so, one day, she tried

She swung her sword and the Iron Cascades Guardian, and everything went even more to shit

Another thing to note: magic is, in essence, the world's life energy--therefore, everyone carries magic inside them, by virtue of being alive, and the Guardians are made of that magic

En was standing inside the waypoint circle when she swung at the Guardian

The Iron Cascades Guardian, in a desperate bid to stay extant, drained her life energy, and she toppled, a skeleton, to the ground, the sword skittering out of her grip to the very edge of the circle, and the Guardian was left clinging narrowly to conciousness, unable to do anything except fight to stay alive and stare at its hope and its murderer for the next few centuries

Now, En caused chaos even in comparison to what was already going on with the war

And a band of refugees, mixed from both sides, pled desperately with a Guardian until it sent them to the Echoing Sands waypoint, right in the center of the desert and indeed one of the only waypoints which existed in the desert at all

They developed a little society there, blending their languages and their customs over a couple centuries, surviving on the ice of the Echoing Sands waypoint and the small herds of livestock they’d managed to bring with them

There were a few specific families designated as water-carriers, who carried ice from the waypoint to a large cistern in town, to have a more convenient water supply

Anat was born to one of these families, and followed in its legacy

One morning, they walked up to the waypoint, to get a first load of ice, and they found the waypoint itself in disrepair The ice was slushy, melting The forget-me-nots were wilted and browning And the Guardian's presence in the air was faded and desperate

"I am being torn apart," it said

Anat, in shock, asked what they could do to help

The Guardian said, "I hope they can forgive me my hope," teleported Anat to the Drowned Forest waypoint, essentially declared itself Anat's patron in absencia to the rest of the Guardians, and faded out

The story begins here

Btw Mom-Friend is running the machinekind refugee camp/resistance and Fantasy Elijah is running the equivalent naturekind one

They do what they can to keep people safe

There's also Niv who is like 12 or something and her equivalent tiny lesbian over in naturekind, they argue a lot and then have crushes on eachother and it's cute

They hold hands in the finale probably

So you have..........................two pairs who are in opposition, and then Anat

Who, by the way, turned into a Moshiach figure when I wasn't looking because of course they did

The whole point of this is that Anat ends up, well, repairing the world

You get Mx Ineffective Prophet, Ms Disaster Prophet, and the Mx It Finally Fucking Worked Prophet