Deepest Lore - Tumblr Posts
I think I’ve mentioned before that you can make more proxies/avatars of Bastion by summoning them. Which essentially gives the new proxy permission to exist in the new state you summoned it in. Some Fae in this world use this to go places that their main Oaths and Mantles keep them from. I.E. Every Fae of the Unseelie or Seelie Court are obligated to attend if the acting Monarch calls them. But Fae like Bastion are bound in ways that would keep them from actually showing up as the entirety of themselves. Hence summoning.
I realised I never mentioned how Bastion’s human avatar and Ida can have so many uninterrupted conversations. The Manor has safe zones in much the way a real spider web has threads that aren’t sticky. Ida is good at spotting those zones. It’s also how she can squat there safely. Wouldn’t be able to crash there otherwise. It’s sort of based on the video game hubs and Resident Evil safe zones idea again, because Ida will always be a survival horror protagonist in my eyes even if she’s not from a game.
The Occult Containment Experts
They’re kinda based on the SCP foundation, except take all the logistical bullshit that the Foundation gets away with and bin it.
I.E. they do not have infinite human resources to throw at their problems. They don’t have the budget to go around containing every individual with weird eyes or vaguely supernatural mutations they see and they’re generally powerless to keep something on Bastion’s level from luring unsuspecting victims in for dinner. Because the Fae location will actively mess with their tech and senses or else manifest spiriting away properties on a completely different forested road to the one they have blocked off.
They also tend to recruit people that have experience with the supernatural rather than erasing their memories because again, they do not have the Human Resources or budget to turn away skilled help. They’re baffled by Ida’s continued survival but despite the rescue and retrieval rate still being pretty low she actually has a better chance of rescuing “guests” than they do. At least once they’re already in the Manor. They’re considerably more convincing about the whole “you shouldn’t be here it’s off limits routine” on account of being armed and in uniform.
They aren’t actually guarding the same road Ida used to get to the Manor because non-Euclidean shenanigan's. She does let them know there’s more than one entrance and operatives do get assigned to Ida’s area later on. Only to be completely swamped with work because they’re right next to a small town with a dark secret type situation. Bastion genuinely had nothing to do with that, he just likes the local vibes. Magic calls to magic and all that.
I know I treat Bastion like a cute smol bean in some of my posts and tags. I’ll be honest, on one level he kinda genuinely is that. Like he’s very sincerely in love with Ida, even if he wouldn’t be able to resist devouring her, there’s nothing else he’d allow to get in the way of treating her well. If he makes other friends, which once I’ve gotten his and Ida’s story more solidified to the point I can branch out and work on other characters for them to interact with he just might. I can imagine he’d also make a very dependable friend as long as what you’re depending on isn’t him sparing you. But that’s the thing he’s also a predatory monster that doesn’t know how to go against his hunger because at a very fundamental level he IS his hunger. So despite having things about him that are endearing. He’s very much not a safe person to be around. Ida is alive because she’s a good survivalist, with an innate talent for understanding puzzles, excellent reflexes, instincts and a good bit of genre savvy mixed together. Most normal people who enter the Manor do NOT come out without intervention from Ida or the OCE. Ida is alive because she’s scarily good at what she does. Not because Bastion is sparing any effort in trying to claim her. I think it’s important to remember that when they talk they’re usually in “safe” parts of the Manor, the parts of the Spiderweb that aren’t “sticky” so to speak. She is conversing with his human avatar which is under geas to not harm “guests” but Bastion also IS the Manor and the dangers inside it. He’s really not safe. Despite Ida treating him so casually in the snippets I’ve shared.