#tsato

Thank you @quona for this gorgeous artwork!!

Chapter written by @kotias

As per the teaser video shared on Saturday on our subreddit...

We made it.

February 19th, 2024: launch date of the epic fic project.

January 19th, 2025: the publishing of the epic fic, named The Serpent and the Owl, starts.

11 months in the making. Wow.

Total amount of people who wrote or made art for this epic fic: 

69 writers and artists. 

Nice.

Total amount of people involved in the project: 

75 people, including:

35 writers

31 artists

4 creators who took on both writing and art

5 betas (+3 writers and 1 artist who took on the task)

1 podficcer

This is the first part of a series in 7 parts.

Expect a new chapter of this epic fic every Wednesday and Sunday for the next 6 months.

And I promise: there is a happy ending to this story. Just not quite yet.

When I launched this crazy idea, based on Soggy’s request on the GOAD Writers Guild subreddit, I would never have thought it would turn into this.

Hell, part of me didn’t believe the project would succeed. 

Did I wish very hard it would? Yes, of course.

Was I fully convinced it would? No. With such an endeavour, with so many people involved, and a full narration to develop with dozens of participants, I had no way of being certain of it.

And yet, look at this: it’s ready, after 11 months, to be shown to this subreddit and to the Good Omens fandom.

I cannot begin to find the right words to express how I'm feeling as well. This feels a little surreal; we managed to make something cohesive, might I even say a good story, with so many people involved.

Thank you all Epic Goblins so much for being such amazing people to work with ❤️

I have to say... seeing the first bits of conversations that we had on this project, and remembering how everyone was confused and scared at first, throwing ideas left and right and trying to even start to having something coherent and cohesive...

We're finally there, and it's beautiful and glorious and it's thanks to everyone and.... ❤️

Enormous thank you to @theravenmuse for your undying support during this entire endeavour. It took months, but hell, thank you for holding the fort when I wasn't able to, and for this gorgeous spreadsheet that helped us keep track of EVERYTHING.

My most sincere thanks to my dear lieutenants and Art General: @quona @eybefioro @whatareyou42 @gaiaseyes451 @theonewiththeshippinggoogles

You have all done amazingly to keep the teams together, to wrangle them, whether I was here or not, and working so hard to find a cohesion within each team and a narrative direction for each story that was created within the greater narration.

And of course, thank you to everybody involved.

Thank you for trusting me and for following me here. And ENORMOUS thank you to our betas, who have been phenomenal: ModernDayKlutz, DBacklot, WiblyWoblyTimeyWimey, GlitteringRock, ireallyneedmoretea, itsscottiesstark, TheGaroMask, Abaddon Sahar, cordsycords, without whom this fic would not have gotten to the quality it has reached today.

I love you all, thank you all so much for embarking in this crazy adventure with me. We’re done. And we did remarkably well. I am very honoured of having been given your trust, all of you.

I won’t lie, I've been crying from the emotion quite a bit in the last couple of months, and got very teary eyed writing this blurb. :')

Please enjoy the very first chapter to this epic fic project, starting with Volume 0: The World I Created, Ch.1: Bringing upon the Dawn

Word count: 3418 words

Tags (for the whole fic): Crowley's Name is Crawly | Crawley (Good Omens), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Crowley is a Singularity, Aziraphale is an bird alien, Slow Burn, Porn With Worldbuilding, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Major character death, but… Reincarnation AU, Eventual Happy Ending, not in this part though, Inappropriate use of astronomy, Original People, Monsterfucker Aziraphale (Good Omens), Cloaca, Hemipenes, Crowley is a naga, Crowley is a Giant Snake, Star Snake, This is an epic, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Bottom Crowley (Good Omens), Top Aziraphale (Good Omens), Power Bottom Aziraphale (Good Omens), Top Crowley (Good Omens), Oral Sex, Crowley's enemy is Life itself, War, Intercelestial War,Aziraphale is "just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing" (Good Omens), Crowley is Bad at Communicating (Good Omens), Crowley is Bad at Feelings (Good Omens), Crowley is Down Bad (Good Omens)

TW/CW (for this chapter): blood, death, war

Summary:

~This story starts, as it will end, in the stars.~

Crawly is a singularity, born in the Empty and thriving in it, until the day Life settles into the universe. As that happens, she descends onto the planets in her vicinity.

Several centuries, maybe even millennia, pass; Crawly got integrated enough in the society of a planet that she (I'll go with she/her pronouns) is the long-standing Queen and main deity of that planet.

Aziraphale comes as a scientist from another planet that hers made an agreement with; thus begins their relationship. Crawly slowly comes to terms with her feelings with Aziraphale as their story evolves and their travels through the galaxy continue.

Excerpt:

Of all the places that Jala could have expected to find the Mother of All Suns, the cemetery of a remote village wasn’t her immediate thought; and yet, when she saw Her, there was no possible doubt.

A statue was standing on a pedestal, holding a sword in front of her legs. She had her eyes closed peacefully, her eternal beauty remained in her stone flesh, a lone ruby shining on her forehead like a diadem. Her hair fell like a veil from her head over her shoulders, arms and waist, circling her entirely.

Jala was certain of one thing; anybody who didn’t need her presence or believe in her would have passed this statue by without much thought, or might have just recognised the shape of the statue as an ancient former Queen of the planet. Jala however remained in awe before it for a very long time, pulled in by its magnitude.

She eventually closed the distance between them, climbing on the pedestal and rising to meet her gaze, raising a hand to stroke the stone cheek. “How long we have looked for you, my Queen,” she whispered, a tear breaking from her eye and trickling down her face. “How desperately we craved your presence.”

The statue remained lifeless between her fingers, but Jala smiled. The end was nigh.

Keep reading here!

The Serpent and the Owl Volume ∞ - To Be With You Chapter 2/3

This is the second of three concluding chapters for an extensive epic. For those of you coming here before reading the first six installments of The Serpent and the Owl, hello! We have done our best to make this part of the story beautiful on its own merit, and I do believe it would be an enjoyable experience reading it on its own. However, where it truly shines is as the ultimate conclusion of a truly epic adventure. If you have the time, I highly recommend starting back in Volume 0,  and finding your way here through a path that explores the meaning of eternal love, with all its joys and sorrows.

Rated E, 6k words (chapter), 350k words (series), angst with a happy ending

This chapter features gorgeous art by @daneecastle

And a huge thank you again to @ireallyneedmoretea for beta work.

And of course, thank you to @kotias who is the brains behind this entire operation.

Excerpt:

It should have been too dark now to see the clouds, save for their shadows blotting out the stars, but the light from the raging fire Crowley had left behind illuminated them where they billowed up like pillars of glowing flame rising in slow motion. They were dark and fat with rain, and they growled in deep, threatening rumbles.  Rain would be good. Rain might put out the blaze Crowley had started, sparing some of the humans which they were now fairly certain hadn’t been deserving of their wrath. But rain wouldn’t return the ones already sent to their unwarranted deaths. Rain wouldn’t wipe away the painful memories of those who survived. Destruction.  That’s what Crowley was. What they always had been.  They had been Creation once too, but that had been a long time ago. They doubted they would ever be that again. Their cycle, Creation and Destruction, ever chasing one another through time and space, had turned into a vicious spiral with only one ending at the centre of it. They could slow the flow, or speed it, but there was no stopping. No reversing. No escaping their fate.

Read chapter 2 of the conclusion:

Or

Start from the very beginning:

New chapter of the fabled Epic Fic for u/soggyfritter, mod of @goodomensafterdark , is out!

Authors: @saucysmutpigeon and @kotias

Artist: CommentDismal

Word count: 3527

Summary of the volume:

During the last millennium, Crowley and Aziraphale have worked together life after life to better the world as well as they could. The Order of Eden was founded with one objective: finding Aziraphale every time he reincarnates to train him, making him look for Crowley and helping him figure out the fine reasons why this eternal curse is happening and how to make it stop.

Only this time, something is changing, and fast: Crowley’s power is starting to overflow.

There are times when he has to retract away from anybody, as his powers get out of control, provoking high ocean tides, tornadoes and erupting volcanoes. Aziraphale will join him, and will find ways to calm him down and bring him back to reason.

But how long will they be able to last this way?

The wish to find a cure to this curse afflicting them becomes nothing else than an urgent necessity.

Excerpt:

One thing Crowley hated about being among the clouds again as this nebulous, disembodied being was how annoying it was. Space is itchy. One wouldn’t think there’s much happening out there — and very few who knew what it was like — but Crowley knew, and was very quickly reminded of it upon returning as he was before. His expanding space jelly form, as he liked to refer to it. There’s very little to do; you can observe and all that, and it is sorta pretty, but doesn’t really change much. But the itchy thing, probably from all the dust floating around, there’s no great way to deal with that when you don’t have hands. Or anything or anyone to scratch. So you’re just sitting there, itchy and unable to do anything about it. Annoying.

One would suppose that being a floating space entity would be relaxing, all that time to not worry about whatever people (or other beings like himself) usually worry about, surrounded by quiet and pretty colours. Nope, annoyances will find you no matter where you are and there’s no peace from anything so you better just get used to it. Of course, when Crowley thought of how it all started… it only made sense.

Life had made a place everywhere, and had made.

Everything.

So.

Itchy.

It had always played with his nerves, looked for any nook and cranny to manifest — even there, in space, scraping against the atmosphere, Crowley could feel its presence. Grinding, hiding in a little nook in the corner of his core, it pulsed, and it itched. All. The time.

As Life had made a space for itself on the Earth, it had jealously protected the planet, had fed on Crowley’s power as he fell into its crust, six thousand years ago. Life had made the Earth a gigantic cage for him; too itchy, too tiny, and too fragile for a being like Crowley.

Continue reading here!

Start Volume 5 Chapter 1 here

Words by me and @ambermissy , art by @kiratastic !!

Rated E, ~6,2k words this chapter!

Volume summary:

Aziraphale is a trained warrior that slays monsters. A prophecy says he will once be killed by a monster, but he never has failed a task. He’s summoned by the high priest, and receives the mission to end another one – he vows to protect the land and to kill the monster that endangers the people — who will be revealed to be Crowley.

Aziraphale understands during his time out in the monster’s area that Crowley was simply a thorn into the monarch’s foot, and that Aziraphale had been sent as a mercenary, not as a protector. He understands that Crowley is not the monster, but actually the saviour of the area.

Chapter excerpt:

Mist erupted around Crowley, her scales glowing with heat and transforming the air in steam. The space around them got hot, hot enough that Aziraphale had to close his eyes, and when he opened them his heartbeat stilled.

Crowley had almost tripled in size, and towered over him. Instead of gazing at her face, he was now staring upwards at her belly button, nestled in emerald scales. He swept his eyes even higher, her lithe torso shimmered with muscles and the same scales that seemed to be covering almost all of her body. Her petite breasts were out, but she had her neck and arms adorned with the most stunning jewellery – golds and emeralds and pearls, making her look divine.

Continue reading on Ao3!

Or

Start from vol 0!

The GOAD Epic Goblins Present - The Serpent and the Owl Volume 1 - Soiled Shore - Chapter 4

Thank you @floofyraptor-art-and-writing for the gorgeous chapter art

Chapter word count: 3,449

Volume rating: Explicit

Summary of this volume:

Aziraphale is a trained warrior that slays monsters. A prophecy says he will once be killed by a monster, but he never has failed a task. He’s summoned by the high priest, and receives the mission to end another one – he vows to protect the land and to kill the monster that endangers the people — who will be revealed to be Crowley.

Aziraphale understands during his time out in the monster’s area that Crowley was simply a thorn into the monarch’s foot, and that Aziraphale had been sent as a mercenary, not as a protector. He understands that Crowley is not the monster, but actually the saviour of the area.

Chapter excerpt:

As he slept, Aziraphale's subconscious filtered through everything he had learned, and he awoke to half-solved puzzles. It was clear that the High Priest was hiding something. Recalling his last visit to the ziggurat he thought of the new lift and the changes that had been made to the topmost shrine. In his mind's eye he could see the new glints of gold that had adorned the faces of the Archpriests. At the time he'd noticed, but not truly seen. All around there had been clues, evidence of the greater wealth at the High Priest's disposal. A sick knot formed in Aziraphale's gut as his mind raced towards an explanation — the High Priest had been selling the Blades as mercenaries. Sending them off to fulfill their sacred vows, and reaping the rewards, while the Blades lost their lives. Little wonder the King’s levies were so brutal, if he was paying for the services of the Blades of the Eternal Flame for his own nefarious purposes. As Aziraphale gazed down at his still sleeping lover he knew one thing with certainty: there was a monster to destroy, and it wasn't Crowley.

Continue reading on AO3

Ianto: Name a more iconic duo than my crippling fear of abandonment and my anxiety. I'll wait. Tosh: You and me!!! Ianto, tearing up: Okay.

      “——Hey,  Tosh?  I have to ask:  Do you have a +2?”