ROAW Stuff - Weekly Writing Post #1 (spoilers)

ROAW Stuff - Weekly Writing Post #1 (spoilers)

Hello!

Since this is just the first real post i've made that isn't an introduction, I won't talk about any lore stuff this time. The reason im doing weekly is because having a schedule feels better than doing it randomly, and also because i didnt know what to title this post. Maybe I will do it randomly anyway, we'll see. It just depends.

For future context, the series title is Record of Another World, abbreviated as ROAW. The "collection" title (encompassing the "main" series) is Party of Three. The first book will likely also be called Party of Three. idk if that makes sense.

So I suppose like how you have A Song of Ice and Fire - Game of Thrones, or A Song of Ice and Fire - A Tale of Dunk and Egg, you have Record of Another World - Book 1, Party of Three, Party of Three(?) idk lol

In any case, in this post I wanted to go over who the people in my book are in a bit more detail, as that feels like an appropriate first "real" post, to me.

Taka

Starting off with our main POV, we have Taka. When he was born, his parents didn't want to deal with the burden of a child, so they gave him up to a lizardfolk who had been a part of their party for a very long time. This lizardfolk, named Dane, became Taka's adoptive parent. At the beginning of book 1, Taka has just turned fifteen, the age of majority in Kommodia (and the age one is allowed to register as an adventurer) and wants to experience the world for himself.

He may have seen a lot of the world traveling on Dane's ship (Dane is a captain with his very own port, and at a certain point became responsible for the Advent Route, which is the sea path from ports to adventurer-centric towns.) but he wants to see it on his own two legs, of his own volition. He wants to explore, and meet new people, try new things. He wants to live, and satisfy the intense wanderlust he'd harbored for so long.

Even still, he is very young at fifteen, and has a lot of anxiety and worries.

Taka is neurodivergent, like most people in my book are in some way. He has ADHD and Autism.

Soon enough, Taka finds himself wrapped up in a world of adventure, surrounded by people he never thought he'd meet, friends with people he never could have possibly thought he'd befriend.

Beriyl

Next up is Beriyl! He is a half-elf who hails from a very prestigious noble family. While he can come off as abrasive and even incendiary at times, he has his moments of genuine caring and warmth. He connects with Taka on a very deep level, I think.

Beriyl is probably one of my favorites to write because he's a know-it-all, he possesses a very large vocabulary and REALLY wants to show it off. He's spent so much time cooped up reading, his brain is a literal vault of random tidbits and facts. He is a textbook bookworm, and he *will *make sure you know it. He's very snarky and sarcastic and I find some of his exchanges with Taka really funny. Their dynamic, although it softens with time, is one of my favorite things ever. Not unlike Taka, I believe Beriyl also has Autism.

Arthur

Last of team Lucky Seven, Arthur.

When we first meet him, he's incredibly depressed, giving off this awful vibe of a man who has all but given up. He hasn't slept in days, probably hasn't eaten or drank much either. His eyes dark pits of horrible despair, but gradually he learns to live again, to love and forgive himself.

The rest is a bit spoiler-y, revealed within the first half of the book. I will be spoiler marking it, but just so you all know! (The stuff at the end about Rend is never revealed, so that counts as lore i guess)

Anyway, pretty big spoilers actually, and i cant hide them because tumblr doesnt have a spoiler text feature for some reason, and i cant figure it out with html or anything. All of this is revealed at roughly 55% through the book or so, so i guess it is pretty massive spoilers. Don't read the stuff about Arthur, skip down to the Advent Route if you don't want to be spoiled on Arthur's backstory and my read on his mental state.

Arthur is a sufferer of extreme PTSD, he likely has DID. When he tells Taka and Beriyl of his past, of how he felt when his friend and family died, when his town was razed to the ground, I believe it's really hard for him to really stay "present". I think he probably suffers from an extreme emotional block, he feels very absent and er, numb, I think is the right word. When he was a mercenary, I don't imagine he was truly himself. I do think he created a separate persona who didn't think or feel just so he could get through it. At that point I think he was just biding his time until he died, only truly happy when he was able to do things that reminded him of his parents like train or cook. Yet, we see that when he meets Taka and Beriyl, he starts to look better. He starts to sleep, to eat. He makes Taka and Beriyl his life's goal, his one true priority. He becomes unhealthily co-dependent on their safety and existence, so I think that reflects in how overwhelmingly overprotective he is, how quick he is to justify violence in the sake of defending Taka and Beriyl. Without them, he never would have had the "color" restored to his world. He'd still be wandering in a storm without a light. Taka and Beriyl are that light-- without them, he would be dead, most likely.||

Hell. He says it himself: how he tells them he'd become an adventurer to die helping someone, so he'd have an excuse for Rend in the afterlife.

(little does he know, Rend died young enough, and as a person who was isekaied to Tamalnh without his memories from Earth, the Gods allowed him to reincarnate again. He is the Spear Warrior that Taka asks for directions to the guild in Chapter 1.) I will elaborate more on how this works, how the afterlife and things like that work, and summoning and blablabla, all will be explained in a future post.

some minor adjustments 8-26-24. Rend cannot be the Spear Warrior, iirc Arthur was a merc for about 10-15 years, from 18-26? i think? Smth like that, anyway, that means Spear Warrior would have had to have been born the instant Rend died, so... it makes more sense to believe he isn't the Spear Warrior, but someone else. Arthur will probably meet him (whoever rend reincarnated into) towards the end of his (arthur's) life.

Now, about the Advent Route...

The Advent Route, to be better explained, sort of works like this.

On Kommodia, the most popular starting town at present is Leln, a town named after the legendary hero who felled a Dark God several thousand years prior.

Each port runs along a prescribed route and anchors on the coastline. From the coast, adventurers are taken via carriage to the town of their choosing.

Simply put, the Advent Route is a searoute chosen specifically to maximize safety and efficiency, seeing all those who'd wish to become adventurers to their destinations with relative safety, barring extreme circumstance. It is conducted at a time of year (the book starts as summer ends.) where the water in the sea becomes cold enough that sea monsters like Krakens and such go into a state of hibernation.

I'll do a follow-up post talking about the people Lucky Seven meet at the end of ch1 and their incredibly important role in the overarching story, also with spoiler tags soon. I will also elaborate on the afterlife/reincarnation process and what that really means, how people were summoned from another world, their role, and about what a "starting town" actually means.

How Cuddleable Are Your OCs?

I got tagged by @jev-urisk, so might as well :D

Premise: Answer the title question using a scale of 1-10 and give context.

These are the "main six" from Party of Three.

(also im re-flavoring the prompt to how huggable as in b1 Taka is 15, Beriyl is 16, and while they might be adults in their world its weird asf by our worlds standards, and i have 0 idea how cuddle-able they'd be, but i have more than enough figured out for hugs!)

fun little fact: i used the color of the persons soul for their text color here :D

(and i wrote up some what-ifs just for the prompt, the descriptions beneath the scored stuff. for everyone but qlul and eirairr :p)

Taka:

7/10 I think he's kind of an awkward hugger, but otherwise it'd be like getting a normal hug from your friend. I think sometimes he struggles with knowing what to say, so if he was trying to give you a comforting hug, hopefully the hug itself helps lol. It was a strange feeling, being hugged by yourself. Yet it wasn't a bad one-- Taka felt oddly calm in his copies embrace. "It's nice..." He murmured. His face nestled in his other self's scarf, he remained there for a time. The faint scent of cinnamon lingered in the air. "Yeah." It finally answered. 'Kinda creepy though. How is this even happening? Well... whatever.'

Beriyl:

7/10 This really, really depends tbh. If Beriyl's in a bad mood, good luck getting him to hug you at all. Other than that, his robes are probably really soft and he uses expensive cologne/perfume so I imagine it'd smell good. He's the best-groomed out of the six (not to say that Taka or Arthur neglect themselves, i think both of them do a good job too), so... like hugging a fresh, fluffy towel I guess? Beriyl wrapped his arms around Taka, pulling him close. "Wh- B- Beriyl?!" "..." "Uh..." For a moment, Taka hesitated, his arms stuck outward. But then, he wrapped them around Beriyl and returned the gesture. His mind swam in a pool of anxiety as his heart pounded in his chest, countless worries making themselves known-- was his posture too awkward? Did he smell bad? Did he remember to reapply the cinnamon stuff to his scarf? He did not remember. Uh... Hm. His robe was soft. And it smelled like flowers. 'Control yourself.' He commanded himself. 'Don't get a... Don't. Do not.' The hug was still happening. It was beginning to make Taka antsy. "U- uh... Beriyl?" In reply, the half-elf only squeezed him tighter. Taka exhaled a shaky breath and tried to steady his nerves. He returned the squeeze. It had felt comforting. He wanted to make sure Beriyl felt that, too. When Beriyl finally released him, Taka just smiled. A hug from your best friend was always nice. "Thanks." Beriyl beamed back. "The pleasure is mine."

Arthur:

8.5/10 Well, first of all... Arthur is huge. He's like, 6'3? It'd be like hugging your dad. Except you'd probably be a little scared he'd accidentally crush you to death, despite knowing he wouldn't ever. (The thing with Arthur is... if he really wanted to, he probably could. He's that strong.) That's the best way I can describe it. I think he gives really good, warm hugs. "Come here, Taka." Taka approached as told, and immediately found himself swooped up by Arthur's imposing form. "Whaagh!" "I'm so proud of you." Arthur was so warm. That was the thought pushing itself to the forefront of his mind as this happened. 'He really is like my dad. I guess I have two dads, huh? I mean, three, but... Wait, no. Arthur isn't my dad. That's weird. Well, no it isn't, but...' His thoughts meandered and spun about uselessly as they tended to do, and before long Taka was back on his feet, looking up at Arthur who was grinning down at him. "You've come so far." "...Yeah." Then, he turned to Beriyl, who immediately shrunk away. "You too, Beriyl. But you don't have to hug me if you don't want to."

Ecirr:

10/10 Feathery birdboi, but most of my evidence for him points towards being great. Taka describes him as a "beacon of warmth" or something to that extent iirc, so. He's a master of comforting/seducing smiles, he's definitely very flirtatious. I think his score goes up or down based on this, but i'd put him up on a 10 because of how hot he is. And also i bet his plumage is soft :p Taka found himself being suddenly pulled upward into the towering birdfolk's feathery embrace. As he was practically cradled against Ecirr's form, he felt a steady blush wash over his face. He tried to hide it, to no avail. Ecirr noticed this, and smiled like he tended to do down at him. Which only made him blush harder. 'Gods. Why the hells does he have to be so cool? And why do I feel like this every time he smiles at me?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!' Yet, when those feelings subsided, all that remained was warmth and happiness. It was truly comforting. Like resting in a cloud of feathers, or something. Something like that... Taka could almost swear he was being lulled to sleep. ...

Qlul:

10/10

Same as Ecirr, he's warm and caring. I think he takes extra good care of his feathers and is very proud of him, so they're probably super soft, like Ecirr's. As a healer, he is a very genuine, kind person. I think that reflects in his hugs. And hey, maybe he can cast some healing magic on you while he hugs you :p

"This too, shall pass."

"....Qlul. Is there a specific reason you're doing that?"

lol

Eirairr:

1/10

Good luck getting him to stand still long enough, maybe if he was in a serious mood and there was a reason he'd hug you... It'd probably be pretty nice, because he's an elf. I imagine his hair is really soft and literally perfect.

But otherwise... I think he's going to be too busy climbing around everything like he's a 2 year old who just discovered a jungle gym for the first time.

"Uh... Eirairr?"

"Hold on! I wanna see what this is... See ya!"

can we talk about how good of a song tagatame is?!?!?!?!?!?

something a bit random

I'm replaying BG3 on tactician as Gale (he's hot asf and i was like, well i'm not gonna be able to romance him this playthrough, why not play as him?), and was thinking about how the people my book follows would answer this question.

I think their answer changes based on where they are growth-wise.

For the most part, Twin Feathers reason stays the same. Perhaps until book 2, anyway.

Taka: 6

Early Beriyl: 5

Late Beriyl: 2

Early Arthur (pre. ch1 most likely): 3/some sort of middle ground, lingering in "i dont care." territory

Late Arthur: 4 (Except only in reference to people he cares about, as he truly would give up anything and everything to save someone he holds dear.)

Ecirr: 2

Qlul: 2, 6/maybe 1

Eirairr: 1 (and maybe jokingly, 5 or 3)

Special bonus: (villains and other, exceedingly minor or otherwise unmentioned people)

Coile Eisner: 3 (dead serious)

Edge (Edward Dagger): 5

Valerius: 5/3

Ergo: 1/2/4

A certain katanese catfolk: 1/2/4/6

Eortimer: 1/2/4

Esmerelda: 2/6

Beriyl’s parents: 2 (6 depending on interpretation) 3/5

Vitsmunir: 5

Sargantas: 1 except it’s “no life matters!!!! we’ll all be equal in death xDdDdDd” 😊 *kills you*

poll time

i thought i'd do a poll and see how much engagement i get!

if i get no engagement, i will probably start posting less and just use this tumblr as an archive to lore dump (and stop pretending im talking to people in my posts), so that if i ever do succeed, then if anyone is interested in reading it (it being lore), well here is an archive from back when i was writing it!

i guess, to begin with, an archive was the point, but... I'm a little sad that it seems I have kind of, well, completely failed to create a community-- which was one of my biggest goals with this tumblr.

:D