#rovian

I know the dual prompt options is usually an either-or choose for yourself kind of thing but I immediately thought of aroace-alloaro besties Rovian and Halek of “my OCs” fame so this post is about them and their relationship to each other and to aromanticism :) Drawing of them under the cut!

Halek is alloaro. He doesn’t internally distinguish between romantic and platonic attraction. He tends to have very intimate and intense emotional relationships and the intensity of his feelings is not limited by the relationship label. Sexuality is an important part of his identity and his relationship to himself and select others, as is sensuality, and he struggles with it sometimes because of past experiences and being surrounded by the cultural narrative that relationships of the spirit are higher than relationships of the flesh and physical closeness shouldn’t matter so much to him. He is very much polyamorous, placing many different relationships high in importance to him, including Rovian, his qpp, and his close sexual friend.

Rovian is aroace. She is best described as greyromantic and burstromantic, and demisexual. She occasionally seeks out romantic interaction (mostly from Halek) but is generally content without it. Her aromanticism is not as important to her life as Halek’s is to his.

Halek and Rovian label their relationship as BFFs, with emphasis on the ‘forever.’ They have been close friends since they were very little and this is expected to be the case for their whole lives. They will probably live together and coparent in the future.

[ID: a drawing of Halek and Rovian with their arms linked. Halek is a fat man with very dark brown skin. He has dark reddish hair in twists and a scar on his face. He has one hand and is holding a walking cane. Rovian is a broad-shouldered woman with dark brown skin. She has a cleft lip and a birthmark taking up almost half of her face. Her short hair is dyed blue with black roots. She is holding a DeafBlind long cane. /end ID]

Sorry about the lighting lol, it looked kind of bad originally so I played around with the saturation a bit but now it looks weird in a different way. Halek’s supposed to have significantly darker skin than Rovian but whatever lighting + iphone camera + fiddling with the saturation + glaze + tumblr upload shenanigans went on darkened Rovian’s and did something to Halek’s and made them look kind of the same, alas.

more of a worldbuilding post this time! I want to talk about the Ðíúharlaes concept of “boat-family”

as an aromantic person, it was important to me to have an established non-marital way of recognizing chosen family. So, I came up with boat-family- the Ðíúharlaes were originally a nomadic people who travelled on and lived alongside the network of rivers in Ðíúharlaeslai, and "boat-family" essentially comes from who you would choose to have in your boat with you. It can include romantic, platonic, sexual, siblingly, parent-child, whatever kind of relationships, and can include biological family but doesn't have to. It is fundamentally about care, prioritization, and commitment. A boat-family can be made up of many or very few people. Before being conquered and subsumed into Rāmia, the Ðíúharlaes didn't have a separate concept of marriage, as that would be covered by boat-family; nowadays they do have marriage because it is legally recognized by the imperial government and boat-family is for the most part not, but it isn't culturally prioritized over other boat-family the way it's prioritized for us or in Rām. As of fairly recently, when Moghrlai Gurodstadit finally had both a Ðíúharlaes mayor and mostly-Ðíúharlaes city council, boat-family is legally recognized by the municipal government. There is a special ceremony to become boat-family (now including a city notary to officialize it) in which the people involved step into a boat together on the riverbank, often with lots of community members present to recognize and celebrate it. It is a promise to be home for each other.

:>

hello mystery mutual-in-law (via Sami I assume? My one extremely dedicated fan). I will do my best to sell it to you funstyle and also here is the detailed logically-progressing explanation :)

ok so imagine this place that is heavily religiously built on a set of prophecies. A good 80% or more of people across the empire believe they're true. Coming up soon is basically the end of the world, but in a good way because it means everyone will stop reincarnating and be in their true soul forms in the realm of the gods (until the next world-cycle of course). But for that to happen the world has to first 'be united,' which is up to interpretation as all prophecies are. The empire's like "oh well obviously we'll expand across the world and in a couple generations the world will be united and everyone will ascend! Sounds great." This interpretation is heavily supported by the powerful Temple of the goddess of strength (mostly the aspect of conquest is emphasized right now). This interpretation is NOT supported by various political and religious rebels.

The empire is a diarchy, so it has two rulers at any given time. Jue, on of the main characters, is technically one of them- however, ze is underage and has intellectual disability, so hir grandmother is currently serving as hir regent and a significant faction think hir throne should be under a regency forever because ze is not mentally fit. Jue's grandmother and hir uncle- who is the other ruler- are very much aligned in the conquest thing and Jue of course has no say. The main issue Jue is currently facing is that hir grandmother and uncle are arranging marriages for hir and ze soooooo does not want to get married (ever, to anyone) and will do just about anything to get out of it (including but not limited to running away from home with no plan and no world experience outside of the palace). Hir guardians have also tried very hard to isolate hir from outside influence, but they have not entirely succeeded and Jue has at first reformist and later straight-up revolutionary leanings.

Another main character, Daanah, is an established user of divine magic but turns out to be way more powerful than she thought when she semi-accidentally resurrects her colleague (with whom she then develops a fairly obsessive relationship, though it won't get quite to the *most* obvious and destructive point until book 2). This is very exciting for her religious leader, who has a different interpretation of 'uniting the world' that leans more on a united faith than a united government and wants to use Daanah to help promote it. Daanah is happy to avoid the empire conquering more of the world and is dazzled by being Special and wants to explore her power and bond with the resurrected colleague more, so she gladly goes along with this, despite it putting a target on her back. In the next draft there's gonna be more sciencey stuff about figuring out her power (let's run Experiments on blorbo!) but there's not so much in this one, alas.

Halek is very chill and normal, trust me, he has no anxieties or conflicts or struggles with identity and relationships or panic attacks about leading a double life as a rebel. He's fine. It's fine when the empire decides that their religion is a great reason to try and expand more. It's fine that he has to come home from school. He's even fine when his comrades jump the gun and kidnap Jue when they see hir unguarded in their city and the revolution is in no way prepared to deal with that. Everything is fine and he is managing it all wonderfully. This entire paragraph is a lie.

Zhe'ārani is kind of committing heresy all the time because she believes in a different denomination of this religion but is an Initiate at the Temple of the goddess of strength, because she owes them a life debt. She doesn't remember anything before them anyway, which is not suspicious at all even though she was fifteen by then, because she almost died and trauma can do weird things to the mind right. There's a lot about the Temple she doesn't like, like all the violence, but they saved her life and anyway she's become really close with the other Initiates and they're all the family she has now; she can't really remember who she had before and is pretty sure they all died in the fire anyway. Oh no now they're asking her to kill someone.

Next draft I will also get to centre Rovian, who is Halek's best friend and Daanah's older sister (and! Zhe'ārani's half sister, though they haven't met yet) and will suddenly be thrust into a leadership role she is so not ready for when her mentor, the primary union organizer of her factory, dies. The employees are all either kids, disabled, and/or non-citizen immigrants (Rovian is two of these and her mother is the third), since they don't have the same protections, and Rovian's closeness with her late mentor and previous organizing experience (assisting said mentor) and social associations and five-year tenure there lead to everyone looking to her.

Halek: went to public school, dropped out completely at fourteen after he was arrested because when he tried to go back he just couldn't handle it. Learned the basics of math, science, history and geography (as told by the empire, plus for geography Moghrlai Gurodstadit schools include things like river charting and navigation), Standard Lowlands Rāmiloq and very basic Standard Rāmian Sign and Southern Ðíúharlaesoghk (native language), physical education (dyspraxic and did not enjoy the active part of this), and possibly at some point religion (meaning Dac Senki, not remotely his). (Rāmia seems like the kind of place that wouldn’t care enough about the arts to mandate them as part of the basic primary curriculum, alas.) He did fairly well for the most part until later in his last year, when things started to get really stressful in his life and he couldn’t focus as well or put as much energy in. He is now at a school in Meelasugaado that focuses primarily but not exclusively on the broad field of magic; due to lacking several years of lower-level education that his peers there have, as well as the fictional learning disability dysmagia, he is in mostly remedial/extra-support classes, and for the most part he’s fine with that and generally enjoying school except when he starts to feel especially insecure about his identity and gets upset that he’s not living up to Beri gender expectations by being very scholarly. Right now the classes he has in his schedule are probably: languages (Meelasugaadic and Collective), art, biology, chemistry, physics, basics of magical theory, basics of practical magic, and foundational social sciences (next year he’ll be able to split up social sciences into more specific disciplines, which I think he will enjoy). Eventually he’d like to go to medical school and become a doctor.

Rovian: public schools in Rāmia are not required to provide signing interpreters so Rovian couldn’t go there. She went to a Deaf school run by a partially-municipally-funded nonprofit, which could only provide the mandatory six levels of education, so she was out of school by the time she was twelve. She had some struggles, but the school was fairly accommodating of her (relatively mild) learning disabilities and it was a really good community, and she wishes she could go back to school at get at least a high school (equivalent) education. She wants to be a city councillor one day and that will be a lot harder, if not impossible, to achieve with such a low level of education. She has tried to do some independently, but with her learning disabilities it’s difficult for her to do without a real teacher, and at this point she’s put it on the backburner and is working full-time (as she has been since she was about fourteen, because if she can’t go to school anymore maybe she can at least bring home a bit of money).

Jue: Jue has been educated by private tutors hir whole life. After all, Raiqiongshē’s not going to send hir to school to mingle with the lower classes, and given hir intellectual disability and the attitudes surrounding that, it’s better for hir to have one-on-one attention and not to be even at a private school around other people who will notice that ze is nowhere near the same level as the other students hir age. There is also the safety concern with sending hir to be educated outside of the palace. Ze “should” be deeply immersed in learning detailed and intricate politics and governance and international relations and oration by now, but they are still working on the basics of addition and subtraction, Standard Lowlands Rāmiloq writing and reading and speaking (ze has a speech impediment and a lot of work goes into trying to ‘overcome’ that), formal dancing, manners, very basic history and geography, memorizing family trees and official factions, etc. Ze also gets to do music, initially because learning to play the ehru was supposed to help with hir dexterity and continuing because it’s something ze can truly say ze’s actually pretty good at and that’s very rare and Raiqiongshē’s not about to get rid of hir one decent skill for no reason (it’s on thin ice though if it ever starts to distract from hir other, more ‘important’ studies). Ze has mild intellectual disability and struggles with pretty much all of it despite the specially-trained tutors, and is very ashamed of that, which the disappointed attitudes of everyone around hir contribute heavily to.

Daanah: went to public school like Halek. She’s still in school, but only part time now, to make room for her duties as a Divine Scribe. Really the only good things about school for her were that she got to read sometimes and her friends were there, but she’s having a slightly better time now as she has learned to manage her ADHD more effectively and gets more choice in what classes she takes, and she wants to take advantage of the opportunity she has that her older sister Rovian was not given. As a Divine Scribe, she was also given classes in writing Ancient Norvian and the collected knowledge of previous generations on how her magic would most likely work, and nowadays she was able to leverage her position as a Divine Scribe into becoming a member of the Senci order of Scholars in order to pursue her passionate special interest in theology. She really likes learning, just on her own terms, and mainstream school isn’t really built for her as a neurodivergent person. She’s actually really good at math, just not at doing homework or studying, and finds numbers and statistics and probabilities comforting. As her divine magic gets stronger and weirder, studying it becomes something she is very invested in.

since it's Face Equality Week (finished this JUST IN TIME YAY), this is A List TM of characters with facial differences in Aros Against Fate (mostly in book 1, Empires Always Fall, because that's what I'm currently working on and have all/most of the necessary supporting characters made for)

Your question is: How disability friendly is your world? How do disabled people interact with this reality? If it is accessible, how long did it take to become accessible? If it's not, is there anyone fighting to make it more accessible?

YESSSSSS AMAZINGLY RELEVANT QUESTION FOR AAF

So, Rāmia is very militaristic. Someone who hasn’t served in the military isn’t a full citizen and doesn’t have the same legal rights and protections; even if they were born there, they’re only a second-class citizen. This primarily impacts congenitally disabled/disabled-in-childhood people, disabled immigrants, and children, since the majority of disabled people are barred from service and the minimum age to join is 18 (mandatory for most at 20, the age of majority, but possible to volunteer at 18 or 19). There’s an exception for Dac Senci religious service, but this is an option that is only accessible to very few and is a lifelong commitment; if possible, parents of mildly to moderately disabled kids will often try to get them into service to a Temple so they can achieve full citizenship. This has a large domino effect, including:

lack of access to appropriate education. Mainstream public schools are not required to be wheelchair accessible, have interpreters or alternative programs, give accommodations, etc. There are private schools for disabled kids, most of which are quite expensive; middle and lower class disabled kids who technically maybe can struggle through the mandatory six levels of public school without accommodations are often forced to do just that and end up with a lower quality of education, and more severely disabled kids often either just can't go to school or have their families go into debt to give them even a little bit of education. There are some exceptions, which I'll get into later.

lack of healthcare and domestic care access. These are free and federally provided if you've done your military service.

lack of labour protections.

social devaluation. Those who become disabled in older age sometimes get a pass because age is valued and they've done their service to the empire and therefore deserve to be taken care of in return, but they are often still othered. Those who have been disabled since they were young (or immigrated but couldn't become citizens because they couldn't serve in the military) are seen as a burden on their families and communities, and it's their family's job to care for them rather than society's.

But!

Moghrlai Gurodstadit, the city where Halek, Rovian, and Daanah live, is somewhat progressive in terms of disability; the city provides some care. For instance, there is a fully-public free municipal hospital, though it is only able to provide lifesaving procedures and medications due to lack of federal funding- it stays afloat on municipal taxes, donations, and mostly-volunteer admin work. The city also sometimes partners with nonprofit organizations to partially fund certain programs, like the Deaf school Rovian went to, which again is only able to provide the basics of the mandatory six levels of education because they lack federal funding and don't charge tuition. (Rovian has been saving up since she learned her also-Deaf sister-in-law is pregnant to help send the baby to the good, twelve-level private Deaf school if the baby is born Deaf too.) There are also independent nonprofit organizations that provide some programs.

Jue (ze/hir or o-hā/o-hān): aroace, romance repulsed, sex repulsed, nonpartnering, likely demisensual, touch averse with most people. Main character in book 1

Halek (he/him+): platoniromantic, romance ambivalent, partnering. Main character in book 1 and probably 3

Daanah (she/her): aegosexual, nonaesthetic. Main character in books 1, 2, and 3

Zhe’ārani (she/her) or Ši Arroakhai Kjú (they/them): aromantic, romance indifferent-leaning-averse and occasionally repulsed, loveless, nonpartnering. Main character in books 1, 2, and 3

Rovian (she/her): greyromantic, burstromantic, demisexual, partnering. Main character in books 1 and 2

Sei (they/them, she/her or o-mē/o-mēn): frayromantic, aplvague. Main character in books 2 and 3

Kaelía (she/it or o-nai/o-nain): demiromantic, demisexual, demiplatonic, demisensual, demifamilial, etc. Main character in books 2 and 3

Talí (they/them+): greyromantic, cupioromantic, asexual, aplatonic, cupioplatonic, (theoretically) favourable. Halek's sibling, Daanah's best friend, and Jue's new friend

Fiitsãn (he/him or o-rū/o-rūn): lithsexual. Jue's best friend

Miwaanii-Shémelús (main one present in AAF) (he/him): quoiromantic, plato-repulsed, nonpartnering. Some kind of queerplatonic situationship thing going on with Daanah

Miwaanii-Shémelús (the rest of them) (he/him): quoiromantic. Two of them are minor characters Daanah ends up meeting

Līs (he/they/she/xe/fae or o-nai/o-nain): demisexual, sex averse. Kaelía's and Zhe’ārani's close friend

Qatriong (she/he or o-nai/o-nain): acoromantic, caedsexual, romance repulsed, sex repulsed, loveless. Zhe’ārani's best friend

Guodei (she/her or ai-nai/ai-nain): aromantic, aplatonic, experiences no emotional attraction, romance repulsed, sex repulsed, touch repulsed. Kaelía's sister, Kaelía and Zhe’ārani's cohort-sister

Retmiq (he/him or o-nai/o-nain): nebularomantic, romance favourable. Kaelía and Zhe’ārani's cohort-brother

Abhaonai (he/she or o-nai/o-nain): aceflux. Kaelía and Zhe’ārani's cohort-sisterbrother

Nesyue (she/her or o-nai/o-nain): acespec. Kaelía and Zhe’ārani's cohort-sister

Kjotar (he/they or ia-nai/ia-nain): lithromantic, acespec. Kaelía and Zhe’ārani's cohort-brother

Gētnyx (she/her or ei-nai/ei-nain): aroace. Head of Kaelía’s Temple and a major antagonist.

Fiyavu Ozast (she/her): aroace. Daanah and Rovian’s sister

Juraji (xe/xem): demisexual. Halek's queerplatonic partner

Ãye (she/her): greyromantic. Halek’s friend

Itheo (they/she): loveless aro. Halek’s friend

Gbunii (he/him): aroace. Halek’s friend

Neefa (she/her): aroace, nonpartnering. Halek’s friend

Ffwyn (she/her): demiromantic. Halek’s friend

Gwimwyl (she/her): burstromantic. Ffwyn’s partner

Saafeera (she/her): recipromantic, recipsexual, demisexual, sex repulsed. Daanah and Rovian’s mother

Raiqiongshē (he/him or ē-hā/ē-hān): lithromantic, lithsexual, demiromantic, demisexual. Jue’s uncle and guardian and a major antagonist

Wnahé (they/she): asexual, sex averse. Halek’s parent

Taehogh (he/him): aroaceflux. Halek’s grandfather

Maaziariitna (ffe/åddå): asexual, loveflux, afamilial, aplspec. Halek’s cousin

Luivo (varying, he/they/she): aplatonic, nonfriending, asensual, touch-averse. Halek’s cousin.

Otuikas (he/him): aceflux. Halek’s uncle

Ausse (she/he): aegoromantic, asexual. Daanah's counterpart

Mkera (she/her): asexual. Betrothed to Jue

Yna (she/her): frayromantic, asexual. Marries Sei

Waleiyi (she/her or ai-lo/ai-lon): aromantic. Candidate to marry Jue or Sei, Līs’s biological sister

Paona (she/her or o-lo/o-lon): aroace. Effectively betrothed to Jue

Úsírae (he/him): aplspec. Halek’s father

Attendant Ngeh (she/he or ai-rū/ai-rūn): asexual, recipromantic, romance favourable. Works at the palace.

Elèrí (he/him): demisexual, aromantic, aplspec, loveless. Halek’s family’s patron water spirit

Āvolú (they/them): greyromantic, aroflux. Zhe’ārani’s friend from home

The Historian Royale (she/he or io-pā/io-pān): apresromantic. Palace historian.

The Librarian Royale (she/her or io-pā/io-pān): acespike. Palace librarian.

Raenaa (she/her): asexual. Miwaanii-Shémelús’s sister

Naakiiwé (he/fae): aplspike, aroflux, aegosexual, greyalterous, frayaesthetic. Miwaanii-Shémelús’s brother

Qeirana (ze/hir, he/him): frayromantic, loveless, romance favourable, nonpartnering, nonfriending. Religious Scholar Daanah knows

Tafeet (ffe/ffer): greyromantic, greysexual. Maaziariitna’s ex

Deivan (she/her): aromantic. Līs’s biological sister

yes I would love to! @sodaliteskull sent me essentially the same ask so I’m going to reply to both of you here :)

turned out pretty long so I added a readmore