So wait, what’s the deal?? How can you even substitute that many people for each other, you ask? Here’s a quick summary of how their roles in the story have changed:

Lucas is the Chaandesh Prince who ran away from his home, being too optimistic about wanting to end the war, and got killed somewhere on the border. His friends of nobility, Nina, Penny, Francisco, and Lou are understandably distraught and grieving their lost friend. (Also, they’re all witches now!)

Meanwhile, Hala is no longer dead, and is a badass pirate princess who leads all of her sisters together in a super cool band of pirates. As a result of, y’know, being away from their overbearing mother, and also Hala not being dead, all of them are very happy being coffee pirates. Hala’s search for the mermaids stems from her encounter with one having saved her life once, and she wants to repay them for the favor.

(Somewhere in Langtree, a grumpy old lady sits in her recliner, thinking to herself, if she'd been a better mother, her daughters wouldn't be pirates...)

Ruby is still a sour, grumpy old lady, and about as terrible as the original Queen in not wanting to end the war with Rulle. She’s a bit kinder to Lucas on account of him being her only successor.

There’s a whole headcanon in the Wandersong fandom about how Ruby and Grandma Saphy are related, too, right? Yep, in this AU, they’re sisters! And that means...

The Queen of Chaandesh is Miriam’s grandaunt. And Lucas is sort of an uncle to her now.

Miriam gets two dead relatives in this AU, unfortunately!