Shapur - Tumblr Posts

2 4 and 24 for Shapur? 👀

Thanks for asking me…..

Ooh this are some interesting questions.

2) When I think truly started to like them

Immediately……I first saw him. It was the brief moment when Kahrlan introduced the Marzban at Atropathene. I more like him after the fight with Kubard on the battlefield.

And for a short moment I dislike him after he died……Thanks for that

I must say that I first watched the anime and later read the manga. I am a late blommer when it comes to the heroic legend of Arslan. But when I catched up with the story I even more like him because of the rescue scene in the manga. It love the character even more when I found out that he rescued his little baby brother from the mountains and the death. And I stiln thinking that Shapur is a character with so much opportunities (we were robbed of this opportunities)

4) How many people I ship them with

Not many…….My OTP is still KubardxShapur and I don’t know why but the ship DaryunxShapur is works very well for me

And of course my OC Kayra

So as I say I don’t ship Shapur with many other characters because I think for a relationship he needs another character that can handle his charter traits. On the one hand, that would be Kubard, who keeps challenging him, and on the other hand, Daryun, who brings him down a bit with his way and point of view..

And of course KazaixShapur @tired-reader-writer OC. They both are my absolutely favorite and I adore their relationship so much

24) What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

Mmmh ok this one is quite tricky…..and I must say that I am not quite sure about this.

Like @innerchorus and @tired-reader-writer I am quite sure that in canon he is not good at swimming but I am not sure if this is a secret.

But I am also sure that he is a fear of heights and that this is something that I wouldn’t tell someone. Imagen Kubard how he would tease him about that.

In my Au he is also afraid of spiders and would keep it a secret.

I like this scene so freaking much…I can’t say how glad I am you designed this idea. I need it to be canon

From my back-and-forth w @innerchorus in the comments of a post of theirs, I can't stop rotating the scene in my head of Shapur pulling Kazai into an embrace after the Sindhuran duel before the gods thing (yup, it's now concrete that Kazai would be chosen by Rajendra instead of Daryun for a reason: said reason being Kazai's magic was perceived as him being favored by gods) uncaring of the gore and grime on his husband's face (I mean, man did rip out Bahadur's throat with his teeth) and it's a Sight™ to everyone else bc 1) he's being affectionate/intimate with someone?? (they kept their relationship pretty private in terms of affection) and 2) dude why are you letting his face and those biting teeth near your neck, didn't you see what he did to the other guy???

Shapur just doesn't care. He was afraid Kazai was gonna die, and he's just too relieved to care about any of that nor the gore getting on his cloak. It was meant to get dirty anyways, it's fine.

Oh my god I am so excited

Can’t wait to read this chapter and see how your thoughts and ideas will all fall together. I am so hyped

So this might be a surprise to some of you but I realized that the ficlet I wrote a while back of Shapur's meetings w my OCs could work as a first chapter for a longfic and so I sought to tweak and extend it a bit to make it better-suited as a first chapter.

Which means I added more stuff to it! New lines, new dialogue, and of course, new sections. Because my vision for chapter 1 didn't end with the third encounter.

So I kept writing and showed not the entire thing not yet it's not finished but a certain section/scene to my lovely beta @concernedbrownbread that... y'know what, I'll just let their reactions speak for themselves <3

AAA NO AYUNNEN

NOOOOO

Why would you DO that

I mean it's fucking cool and I love the description BUT NOOOO WHYYYY

So yeah. Please look forward to the moment Winds of Wolfsong will go live on AO3! The first chapter is... aaaaalmost finished, save for one last section.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48496429/chapters/122328199

Chapters: 1/?

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warnings:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Fandom:

Arslan Senki | Heroic Legend of Arslan

Relationships:

Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan)/Original Character(s), Esfan & Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Arslan & Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Shapur & Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Gieve & Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan & Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), More tags to be added - Relationship

Characters:

Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Original Characters, Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan), more tags to be added - Character

Additional Tags:

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Worldbuilding, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, non-canonical parentage for Arslan, Shapur raises Arslan, Protective Esfan, Shapur is a good parent, eventual redemption for Hilmes

Summary:

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” When Shapur rides up the mountains on a wintry day to rescue his little brother, he meets someone he was not expecting to— And it changes the trajectory of his fate. Shapur, a young lord still green to the world, raises two boys as his own.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAND IT IS UP, FELLAS! HOO! Sure took an ordeal and a half to upload.

Oh my god it’s them

It’s them *inner screaming*

my inner teenage fangirl is freaking out right now

And Kashi, go get there ass girl!!!!!!! (I can hear the door flew open from here) it’s time to kick some asses!!

@innerchorus They!! Very nervous about sharing this but ehhhh they are taking over my brain so here ya go.

And a Kashi based on the Aragon opening a door gif.

So I actually have created a small and simple timeline for my Arslan AU. ( I am actually writing a new chapter for the story and yes I am really, really slow). The Timeline is not fully complete, for example the year where Narsus became Lord of Daylam missed and I am not really sure with every canon data. So they will mixed up a bit with my AU and the canon data. A big thanks @tired-reader-writerfor the help to collect some year numbers and canon events.

In the timeline are some events from my AU that are a bit of a spoiler and I hope I can dissolve them with the new chapter I actually write. Hopefully I can posted it in a few days xD.

I don’t know what version I like more……

I absolutely adore it that Shapur has black hair in both versions!!!

But I must say that Arakawas versions looks more like something out of this timeline…in the Ova Bodin reminds me of Gandalf 😂

Ok but I think the OVA definitely had good parts aswell…..but even if the scene is really hurting me Shapurs satisfied grin in Arakawas version is the best.

Like he still mocks Bodin even though he's already dead. Eat that you fanatic.

I don’t know if Shapur is yelling for an arrow to rescue him. But the speach he gives his comrades inside Ecbatana in Arakawas version is really great aswell.

Also every Shapur content is good content

OVA!Shapur for @tired-reader-writer

(I avoided the nastier moments where he's actually being beaten by Bodin. A small change in this scene: Gieve actually shoots a few more arrow and pins Bodin to the cart, and Shapur is shot in the chest rather than the head and manages to say some last words of thanks.)

Gieve's sheet is stumping me currently so I'm winding down by thinking about Narsus and Shapur's potential dynamic instead...

For real though, the moment Narsus realizes this uptight can't-lie-for-shit strict man has been pulling a con on the entire country for like a decade he's gonna be indescribably gleeful.

Yeah, honestly Narsus is going to be delighted! And now he knows that Shapur will be a great support for his long-held ideal. I love to see it. I always felt like Narsus would have had respect for Shapur but found it hard to imagine them ever being close / friendly on a personal level, but maybe their dynamic will wind up being something closer to friendship in this AU?

and while we're at it. I've always wondered what Shapur's coat of arms symbolizes. when I first saw it I kind of thought of a lily but then I kind of thought that lilies are always represented differently on a coat of arms and then dismissed the idea.

then I thought it might represent a rose. but when I did some research I found out that especially in the Middle Ages and on coats of arms the rose was always depicted with five petals.

It was thus modeled on the wild rose. Unfortunately, Shapur's crest only has four "petals" (if it is meant to represent a flower at all).

But then I realized that Persian wild roses look completely different from the roses that are usually known. It originally comes from the Orient. This rose grows there in nature in steppe-like areas of Iran and surrounding countries.

The red center spot of its sun-yellow flowers is particularly striking in this type of rose. They are more reminiscent of a hibiscus flower.

To be honest I don't know exactly which flower is depicted on Shapur's coat of arms (I don't quite understand the 8 in the coat of arms either. Maybe someone has a theory).

in any case, I have not found anything closer to the meaning of the Persian rose. probably it is identical to the meaning of the well-known rose and that would be love.

However, I then found out that the hibiscus does not only grow in Hawaii but also in China

it is particularly at home in Asia and is also found in parts of North Africa.

Anyway, I thought that geographically it wouldn't be a big deal and Pars also borders on Sindurah and Turk and Turan and Shapur's country could possibly be in the Turan/Turk border area. so wouldn't it be so crazy to think that a hibiscus flower can also grow in Pars.

In addition, in some cultures, the hibiscus represents family (I firmly believe that Shapur family is very important). in China the flower stands for glory and in Hawaii it stands for splendor and symbolizes something royal (which I think would fit since the second king of the Sassadin and founder of the New Persian Empire was Shapur I.

so crazy and thinking around ten corners.

I just wanted to get my mind off my head as Sam's crest just popped up here and my mind was just racing through my mind.

Don’t know if all of this makes sense but feel free to discuss this.

@importantdestinydefendor

Here's Sam's crest. (These are actually all still posted here on the official site for the anime.) The design feels appropriate for the Marzban renowned for skill in castle defence, as it reminds me of both a shield and a closed door/gate. At some point I'll try to do some research into what the botanical element could be and whether that might mean something, too.

If I may, Shapur for the bingo game? 👀

You get me with this one………..can I mark everything 😂

Ok…he is a bastard….why did he have to die? I mean what is the fucking point? Only that Gieve get his big entrance????…..come on that couldn’t be all……I need some good excuses for this *slams fist onto the table*

And yes….when everything happens to them I would cry I don’t think about the head in the jar theory here

Doing a quick scroll-through of some name sites for Shapur's mother and I've collected a bunch of appealing options:

Banu (Persian: بانو bânu), also spelled Bano, is a Persian name for girls popular in Iran and other Persian-speaking countries. It is also used in Turkey, Pakistan Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, India and Sri Lanka. It means "grand lady" and "princess" in Persian.

Gohar/Gauhar: from Persian گوهر (gohar) meaning "jewel, gemstone".

Jahanara: from Persian جهان (jahan) meaning "world" and آرا (ara) meaning "decorate, adorn", thus meaning "to adorn the world".

Basically I was looking for something that could be the name of a highborn lady...

OK so after @tired-reader-writerand @importantdestinydefendor have posted your crest for your Arslan fanfiction. I was super hyped and got my started coat of arms out again for my Oc Kayra to finally finish it. I almost completely reworked it but I'm very happy with the result.

Once as information in front away. The coat of arms does not consist of white borders. Unfortunately, since I don't have any digital drawing tools like a tablet or a pen or an app (shame on me), I tried to work on shapes and outlines. Unfortunately, I couldn't color all the outlines in white with this program and the result looked… well, not really nice. That's why the outlines are shown in black here…but you can imagine everything in white on a red background.

So the coat of arms is easily recognizable based on Shapur's coat of arms. I thought I'd go with the canon variant here, where family crests are similar.

So now to the symbolism I used in the coat of arms. I can already anticipate that not all symbols here have their origin in Arabic/Persian. I'll go into more detail on that later. I'm trying not to spoil too much here because I'm not that far into the story or haven't written it yet. However, here is some background information on Ka

The first thing you see at the top of the coat of arms is a dahlia. The dahlia is a popular flower and has a special meaning: in the language of flowers, we can use it to express "forever yours". The symbolism of this summer flower also stands for strength or as a sign of charity and gratitude. But it also stands for renewal and birth.

I found the symbolism here very appropriate as Kayra has gone through a "remake" and healing process throughout the story. This process marks her strength, for which she herself is very grateful. At this point in the process, Kayra's feelings for Shapur have fluctuated, and for a time she even hated him.

This is where the symbolism "forever yours" comes into play. Because after Kayra was reborn in a way, she realized that Shapur was too deep in her heart to simply forget him or not love him at all.

This flower is also equated with the sun in some cultures, which is very fitting because Kayra is also often compared to the sun due to her red hair and her charity. Personally, I realized back then that I always liked comparing Tahamyne to the moon. Maybe I created Kayra as a counterpoint to hers… who knows. The flower grows in many regions, but here it is meant to represent the region of Japan.

This is for the following reason and here comes again @tired-reader-writer in the game. Because Kayra has to leave Pars with the age of 21 and did not return until nine years later.

Originally I had planned to have them travel further east…so probably towards Serica and beyond. But since I'm not familiar with the culture, I changed my mind at the time and wanted to let them travel more north. But somehow I got stuck at a certain point and a lot of things didn't make sense. After me with @tired-reader-writer

I'm going back to my original plan. However, I quickly realized that Kayra was very restless at this point in her journey and would not have stayed in one place for long. I then exchanged views with a friend and she then said why not tell a story like in the novel eat, pray, love. Here, the main character travels through different countries to find himself again and that is why the dahlia is also associated with the country Japan. As a point for Kayra's journey……and that leads us straight to the branches below this flower.

These are sage leaves which represent healing and thus Kayra's ability to heal with her magic and her knowledge of the healing arts and medicinal herbs. She acquired this ability on her first stop on her journey, in a country which will be based on our Nepal (at least according to the plan).

The fox in the middle of the coat of arms stands for Kayra herself. Like the wolf for Isfan, the fox can be equated with Kayra. Not only does the color red play a role here (in relation to Kayra's hair color and the fox's fur), but also adaptability and skill. As a power animal, the fox stands for your own life! Foxes are the symbol of growth and inspiration, but also cleverness, cunning and magic. As a soul animal, the fox shows that it is time to act. Especially the area of magic inspired me in this animal. The fox is also equated with magic in almost every culture. But the aspect of action also stands out here, as Kayra prefers to tackle things directly rather than spend hours discussing them (diplomacy isn't exactly her forte either, maybe that's why she gets along so well with Kubard?.

But the fox also stands for cunning, cunning and deceit. This doesn't mean that Kayra is treacherous, but Narsus already has a hard time playing chess against her. She is also very adaptable and really excellent at hiding and disguise (who do you think Elam got the wig from when he was spying in Ecbatana as a girl).

Another aspect….have you ever heard a fox laugh? No? Should you do it… that's what Kayra's laughter sounds like. At first everyone is surprised, but this laughter is so contagious that you have to laugh along with it.

So finally we have the gladioli at the bottom of the coat of arms. These flowers are very old and were given to victorious gladiators as gifts in ancient times. The name comes from the Latin term "gladius", which stands for a Roman short sword. This flower originally comes from Africa and the Arab countries. Thus, the flower symbolizes strength, victory and pride. This meaning dates back to Roman times where gladiators literally fought for death or gladioli, for the victor of the fight was showered with gladioli. Also, the bulb of the flower is believed by some cultures to possess magical powers. But also the meaning "You pierce my heart" - (Due to its sword-like leaves) the flower was associated with infatuation. The flower can also symbolize love at first sight, sincerity, and remembrance. Which in this context stands for the connection between Shapur and Kayra as lovers.

But this flower can also be seen as a symbol for the family. Blooming in a variety of colors, the gladiolus represents the diversity and uniqueness of each member of the family, yet all are bound by a common bond. The flower also represents sincerity, honesty and integrity, values that are important in building strong and lasting family relationships.

The gladiolus is a powerful reminder of the strength, courage and diversity that exists in families. Since family is incredibly important to Kayra and she lost her parents early, this flower has a very special connection to her. She has found a new family in Shapur and Isfan who loves her more than anything and wants to protect her. However, she also sees in Arslan and the group a family that is not connected by blood but has continued to strengthen their cohesion through their strengths and abilities.

I personally think that the gladiolus reflects Kayra very well.

So I don't think I've ever written such a long post but I'm just so super happy with the end result. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Ok so actually I am on vacation and today I did a wonderful hikingtrip through a forest and up to a little mountain village.

And after a while I was thinking that Isfan would totally like such trips and I was imagen whole nice it would be to go on a hiking trip with Isfan and his little wolf puppies. Because I think that Isfan would totally be a good partner for such a trip and I would absolutely like his company. He would totally know a lot about flowers, trees, animals etc. and could tell a lot about it.

And because I am from the small size and I picture Isfan as a tall guy ( so taller as his brother and I think Shapur is about 5,90 feet when I rember the character charta right) he would totally make bit fun of me when I struggle to climb about something and my arm lr lwg would be to short to reach the other side/rock/tree etc (like my sister and cousins) and he would be like „come on little dwarf you can do it“ with a wide grin on his face and in the end he would lend me a helping hand, when he sees I struggle too much.

So yes I would absolutely like to hike with Isfan on a big sister/little brother or good friend base. And I would love it.

If we'd had a new chapter of ArSen this month it would've been released yesterday. It's not quite the same thing but maybe I can try to soften the blow a little bit by sharing a (very old) snippet of fic featuring some implied Kubard/Shapur.

Kubard walked towards the row of stables, stretching as he did so and stifling a yawn. The morning sun was bright in his eyes. As he passed under the stable’s awning, Shapur’s chestnut stallion snaked its neck over the door of the stall, ears laid back, as bad-tempered as its rider. Upon seeing that it was Kubard, the ears came forward and the nostrils flared wide.  “Here you go,” he said, extracting a sugar lump from his pocket, not above bribery. Farnaspa, who had been waiting for him in the courtyard, looked surprised.  “Is that…?” “Shapur’s horse? Yeah,” Kubard grinned. “Careful,” he added, seeing his captain begin to extend a hand towards the horse’s muzzle. “It bites.” “But not you, apparently,” Farnaspa said with a raised eyebrow.

Uhh let's see, although I can't remember very well I don't think this was ever supposed to be part of a longer work, just a little scene I came up with that amused me. It's set pre-canon, naturally.

Farnaspa is an OC of mine (it's not his usual timeline, but I felt like giving him a little cameo here)

Kubard bribing Shapur's horse with sugar lumps in exactly the same way he learned to soften up Shapur himself with sweet goods ahaha, but as you can hopefully tell, both the horse and rider have become a bit more welcoming of his presence over time (with the implication here being that Shapur spent the night and hasn't left yet).

There's a persistent myth that chestnut horses are fiery/hot-headed in temperament so it always amused me that in the anime Shapur rides a chestnut, given that I see those same traits in him.

Slightly tidied up Google Translate of the blurb on the right:

'A battle in which Pars attacked Lusitania, an invader. In the fog caused by sorcery, the Parsian cavary charged, fooled by Kharlan, an ally of Hilmes. However, what awaited them was a huge fault. The Parsian army fell into this natural pit and was covered in oil and hit by flaming arrows. Seeing that the front line had collapsed, Andragoras retreated and was captured by Hilmes's ambush. More than half the Parsian army was killed, but Arslan was rescued thanks to Daryun's bravery in battle.'

I thought this was interesting because it gives a view of the formation before the Parsian cavalry charge, and it's a little different to the battle map included with Chapter 3 of the manga:

The first map I shared is from the Battle Guide section of the mook 英雄譚 (光文社ブックス 81). I have no idea whether they consulted Tanaka himself about the precise details of the lineup here because I don't think the novels stated the exact positions of the Marzbans aside from Daryun's removal and reassignment to the rear of the army, so whether or not you want to take it as canon is up to you, but I did think it was notable that of the front line, Kubard is the only survivor. That's pretty incredible. And also you can see that Shapur is stationed behind him, and must have had to move forward in support when their front line fell into the pit and collapsed.

However, I did also like Arakawa's take on it because it features Kubard and Shapur at opposite ends of the line, which is exactly where they were rumoured to stand when all the Marzbans were lined up before Andragoras.

This is so freaking awesome. I am crying. I really love the brotherly bond between Shapur and Isfan and I am so sad that the story didn’t focused more on them and their relationship and Isfans grieve to loses his older brother.

Also I am a big Gieve and Isfan shipper!!!!

And I didn’t find many fanart or fanfics about them or Shapur and Isfan so I am really happy that you share your art with us.

I just clean my room and find my old sketches. When the hype of arslan senki (hiromu arakawa's version) i love the brother relationship between shapur and isfan. I read somewhere that isfan is the son of mistress/slave of some noble knight, the wife is jealous so she banished the mother and child to mountain. When the legitimate son come home, shapur, he immediately search his lil bro, and find him among the wolves. Apparantly his lil bro survived and raised by those wolves. Shapur then became father-brother-mentor figure to his lil bro, who in turn idolized him greatly. ... well i kinda weak for brothers stories like this (and to hiromu's elric brother too).

The anime nor manga didnt focused on isfan grieve too much. But i imagine he would felt his brother dying, since maybe raised by wolves would strengthened his instinct... but maybe it's only me being dramatic, haha

Isfan and gieve! They really tease me to just ship them together! (Now i think, it like madaraxtobirama kind of thing) they interaction began with gieve provoke isfan (later known that it was a part of narsus' plan to deceived enemy). But then isfan realized that gieve save them from ambush secretly. Some source told me that isfan then has major development in the novel (?) That he would tolerate gieve, because gieve killed shapur as an act of benevolence to avoid shapur being hummilated by the enemy. I kinda sab because despite quite hype (arslan senki), unfortunately, at that time there's not many fic about them...

Sometimes I find myself wondering why Shapur's mother waited two years before she attempted murder on Isfan and his mother. Or perhaps she tried/wanted to try earlier but was unsuccessful due to Shapur's presence and interference? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

Okay, I have a confession to make. This ask unlocked a memory in me and I went to look in my drafts and sitting there was an unfinished post about this very matter, in which I tagged you because I think we had been talking about this in comments somewhere, and I checked the date and it said July 2022 🫠

Anyway, this is going to involve a lot of theorising and definitely veers into headcanon/possible fic backstory stuff, but it's a question I've thought about a lot and there are a handful of possibilities, in my opinion.

My first thought was that to begin with, she didn't know for certain who Isfan's father was. I'm sure there were also male slaves employed by their household, or it could have been any number of soldiers of other visitors that was the culprit. But perhaps in time the resemblance between Isfan and his father became impossible to ignore, or perhaps gossip reached her ears and her suspicions grew to the point at which she could not put them aside.

Perhaps she suspected right from the start, though. Maybe her husband's behaviour gave her cause to; maybe it wasn't an isolated incident. In that case, for someone willing to do what she did it feels like suspicion alone would have been enough, so why wait? One thing that comes to mind is infant mortality rates. Maybe she was hoping that the babe wouldn't survive past the first year or so, in which case there would be no need to dirty her hands.

Or perhaps at first it didn't seem to matter — her own son, both legitimate and older, would be heir.

I don't think Shapur's father would have involved himself with Isfan at all (after all, in not wanting to cause trouble with his wife he was content to ignore her actions in consigning a mother and baby to freeze to death) but I know we've both speculated before that Shapur might well have taken an interest in his baby brother even before he rode out to save him.

So was Shapur's behaviour a factor somehow? Was it his acknowledgement of his younger half-brother that changed things? Did his mother, for some reason, start to fret that one day, Isfan might be the one to inherit everything from Shapur rather than a son of his own, a grandchild that would carry her blood? How would she have felt at seeing Isfan accepted by the one other person she had assumed would also see him as a threat?

(Going down this line of reasoning definitely veers into some potential headcanon territory that I can't recall whether I've talked about before, but essentially something I toyed with was that his mother's fears not only stemmed from Shapur's clear affection and bond with the child but also the fact that she had begun to have her suspicions about her son's preference for men, and worried that given his closeness with Isfan he would be content to pass things to him rather than marry and have children of his own.

At this point, Shapur is 16, a year over the age of majority. I wouldn't be surprised if discussions of marriage had come up at this point in terms of potential matches, especially if he is the only legitimate son. Certainly I headcanon that later on, the main reason Shapur doesn't marry is to protect Isfan's status as his named heir and ensure it can't be contested, but before his rescue of Isfan I doubt he was thinking that far ahead; he was simply fond of his younger brother and did his best to look out for him and his mother. He could have easily brushed off talk of marriage without realising why his mother pushed for it.

Still, overall I think the biggest factor was simply that Shapur's mother hoped that if she ignored what she thought of as a problem for long enough, it would go away. And when it didn't, she opted to take matters into her own hands. The cold simplicity of Isfan's mere existence being enough for her to want him and his mother dead speaks to both her own callousness and the problems with Parsian society in the importance it places on bloodlines, so I've always been a bit wary of diluting that.)

Chapters: 2/?

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warnings:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Fandom:

Arslan Senki | Heroic Legend of Arslan

Relationships:

Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan)/Original Character(s), Esfan & Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Arslan & Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Shapur & Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan) & Original Character(s), Gieve & Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan & Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), More tags to be added - Relationship

Characters:

Shapur (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Esfan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Arslan (Heroic Legend of Arslan), Original Characters, Gieve (Heroic Legend of Arslan), more tags to be added - Character

Additional Tags:

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Worldbuilding, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, non-canonical parentage for Arslan, Shapur raises Arslan, Protective Esfan, Shapur is a good parent, eventual redemption for Hilmes

Summary:

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” When Shapur rides up the mountains on a wintry day to rescue his little brother, he meets someone he was not expecting to— And it changes the trajectory of his fate. Shapur, a young lord still green to the world, raises two boys as his own.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAND IT IS UP, FELLAS! HOO! Sure took an ordeal and a half to upload.

Winds of Wolfsong chapter 2 is now up on AO3!

The pinned post is now edited to reflect the chapter count.

Thinking about the Turanian invasion (the one in the canon era, not the one that's looming over the horizon in the fic rn) and Kishward (and Bahman?) imploring lords around the country to omg go and help Team Gorgan PLEASE and thinking about who'd show up... I think Lushan would. He just has that air about him— I wonder if Tus and Zaravant would, and if so, what would prompt them...

Meanwhile Gorgan is chaos.

(also thinking a lot about Ranna and Alfarīd, help me)

Ooh, some logistics at play here! Since this is AU based I'm not sure how much advance warning they have of the Turanian army's approach but from the sounds of it in this scenario the border has already been breeched and Team Gorgan are attempting to hold them up which... I don't envy them the task but it sure sounds like it'll be exciting to read about.

I don't know what Bahman's mental state is like here but if he's troubled by anything like he is in canon then I imagine Kishward may take the lead... However, Bahman still has some steel in him and it's not unbelievable to think that Gorgan's need for reinforcements would galvanise him into action (though perhaps he's more likely to eventually surprise everyone by stepping forward to lead troops to bolster the defences himself rather than taking the lead with initially reaching out to various lords etc, which is a task I imagine would fall to Kishward while Bahman is still beset by apathy and other worries).

I assume they're sending messages to ask for reinforcements? That makes it even harder to apply pressure on reluctant lords, so they're probably aware of who they can likely count on and who they can't (Andragoras may have been able to essentially strong-arm the shahrdaran but many of them, like Hodir, would be content to sit and wait and see how things play out in his absence, especially if their own territory is not under threat.)

It's a tricky one because it's Prince Arslan's presence and proclamations that draw the various lords and their troops to Peshawar. It's hard to say exactly how many would come otherwise. I feel as though Zaravant would, he evidently feels a sense of duty towards his country and would put himself forward to represent Oxus as he does in canon. The fact that the Marzbans in Peshawar are trying to organise further defense of the border and Pars's lands would likely be enough for him. That might be a nice surprise for Kishward and Bahman who may have assumed nobody from Oxus would come. Tus would go too, probably. He has a garrison of men who would be of great help.

Lushan likewise would help if he could, even if he's not shown leading troops on the battlefield himself he's still had a military education and would presumably have troops available to him. One thing to consider though is where everyone is coming from and how much time they have (as in, how fast do they need to get to Peshawar and then on to Gorgan in order to be of real help?). This is a large invasion and the Turanians probably have very good troop mobility, I don't know how long Gorgan could hold them before they break through or bypass their defences and beseige Peshawar itself instead. Some characters might have some debate about whether it's worth leaving their lands or whether it would be better to sit tight and wait, especially as Andragoras's fate is unknown. There's likely no precedent for what to do when the Shah is missing.

I don't know how helpful these ramblings will be since a lot depends on the specifics of your AU! Happy to talk about it more (though I won't be online again now until later or maybe tomorrow).