Caliburn

Oh! I should introduce some more of my OCs from my other setting!!

Those who refuse to live in the metal cities known as bastions for all variety of reasons are left to roam the harsh and toxic environment of what ruined remains lie beyond the city limits. They are known as Abyss Walkers.

Lucy is one such Abyss Walker, a kid who mysteriously fell under pursuit of the ELIAS military during the tail end of the Endless War, and has been on the run ever since, forced to run and survive outside of the fleeting safety the bastions offered. A wild child with no manners and a huge attitude, more akin to one of the creatures of the Abyss he roams.

It's this rowdiness though that hides the fear he constantly harbors. About the people he meets, about his constant pursuit, about the dire straits those of the Abyss have to endure every day... more than anything, he's anxious and scared. And it's that fear that gives way to the creation and hosting of a new VISION... but that's for a different discussion.

...He also carries around this little handheld game console with a racing game on it and he's gotten like stupidly good at it. Which is kinda weird cause every time it dies he has to go scavenge for new batteries for it and those are becoming less and less frequent

Another Abyss Walker, Allison is an ex-military elite who now spends her time occupying an old ELIAS barracks no one would care to search to serve as refuge for all those who pass by to rest a night. She's a kind and soft soul with a thick exterior, constantly haunted by what she did and witnessed years ago, convinced she's beyond forgiveness.

An ace BLADE pilot and capable with a myriad of weaponry and hand to hand combat, Allison knows how to carry herself when it comes to tight situations, if her hulking stature and intimidating act don't scare off most threats. She knows how to pick her fights.

Soon, a twist of fate will lead this gator and a certain rabbit to meet and eventually team up...

An ELIAS ace BLADE pilot, Lilith was silenced at the tail end of the Endless War after speaking out about the atrocities ELIAS was commiting in the name of peace and unity, finally realizing just how merciless the military she served was before being murdered in combat by the only person she thought she could trust.

Two years later, she reemerged under strange circumstances, more than half of her body reconstructed mechanically. The body she walks around in is dead, a poor reconstruction. A papercraft phoenix. And yet, she still carries a purpose.

Justice.

Since her reappearance, she's joined the ELIAS military once more - whether of her own accord or not is unknown - and has since climbed the ranks, sitting firmly in the command chain. And soon enough, she learns her killer is still out there.

cause uh see. "the curse of scales makes you a dragon" and "dragons are pretty much always pretty tubby" are both hard-and-fast rules in my setting, which would- uh- kinda... manage to rob some of the drama of, say, a very tragic OC turning into one at the conclusion of her lowest point...

I think this might have taken some of the sting outta this for Rose.

As evidenced by this and the lore on the Curse of Scales, Rose very much was turned into a dragon as a result of exposure to an absurd amount of raw arcane energy, but this wasn’t so much a burden as it was an unexpected lifting of many other burdens.

Her commitment to the rebellion she had been a part of was twisted by its leaders, she was propped up as a figurehead, a “hero,” someone who would carve a bloody swath through the Coalition that had so betrayed them. Her strong sense of justice, her desire to free her people, these were turned by the manipulations of her leaders into suicidal commitment to ideals that became more and more empty revenge by the day. By the time she and Callie had their fateful collision, both were being pushed along more by the momentum of their orders than by commitment to either of their causes, and while their aerial duel over the burning land below was full of anger and betrayal, when it concluded with both pilots in stricken aircraft, Rose’s going down in flames while Callie ejected, there was nothing left between them. In a way, clarity ensued.

Which is good, because what happened next required clarity on both of their parts. The XFA-09 had ruptured what little containment it had, and awash in arcane energies, Rose succumbed to the Curse of Scales.

But it didn’t kill her- no, with Rose’s undoubtedly fatal wounds otherwise, the influx of raw arcana and transformation into a dragon saved her life.

Of course, it was a shock to Callie, who had rushed to find her crash site, but her presence kept Rose from wholly losing herself- and when the dust settled, both shared a lot of tears- and a vow never to be thrown into pointless conflict by self-serving politicians again. They established Pendragon together, and Rose, now fascinated by the possible applications of the transformative power of raw arcana and developing magical talents in her new form, would lay the foundations of what would become the Revenant project.

Oh! I should introduce some more of my OCs from my other setting!!

Those who refuse to live in the metal cities known as bastions for all variety of reasons are left to roam the harsh and toxic environment of what ruined remains lie beyond the city limits. They are known as Abyss Walkers.

Lucy is one such Abyss Walker, a kid who mysteriously fell under pursuit of the ELIAS military during the tail end of the Endless War, and has been on the run ever since, forced to run and survive outside of the fleeting safety the bastions offered. A wild child with no manners and a huge attitude, more akin to one of the creatures of the Abyss he roams.

It's this rowdiness though that hides the fear he constantly harbors. About the people he meets, about his constant pursuit, about the dire straits those of the Abyss have to endure every day... more than anything, he's anxious and scared. And it's that fear that gives way to the creation and hosting of a new VISION... but that's for a different discussion.

...He also carries around this little handheld game console with a racing game on it and he's gotten like stupidly good at it. Which is kinda weird cause every time it dies he has to go scavenge for new batteries for it and those are becoming less and less frequent

My ‘sona proper is Kenna here, a boisterous, bullheaded, and big-hearted giant wolftaur who loves a good meal with friends as much as she loves getting into trouble without thinking through her actions! She’s a champion of the gods and protector of mortals a la something like a classical greek hero, but that’s just the day job!

I’m gonna make this a thread of all my goobers, with summaries, so buckle up!

One of my oldest OCs, and the one through which my egg cracked, Lena in my setting is kinda a big deal, in that she’s kinda THE god of the realm! Well- she wasn’t always, but when you’re a writer who just happens to be raised to godhood, your books turned into a universe, you fall into the role. She now embodies creativity, generosity, love of all sorts, and change- fitting for a shapeshifting fox!

Lena’s a sweetheart beyond compare, always trying to do best for her charges and her friends, but this makes her a bit of a people pleaser, and that combined with her fear of being too heavyhanded has sorta pushed her out of world affairs over the last few millenia- something she’s sorta grateful for.

Kamila… oh, Kamila. The youngest member of my cast, in her early twenties, Kami is a hotheaded, short-tempered punk who would rather be a troublesome drifter than settle down and lay roots. She has no respect for authority, has a chip on her shoulder the size of a sombrero, and would rather keep being a motorcycle-riding drifter than get involved in other people’s problems.

Unfortunately for Kamila, she’s the shonen anime protagonist of my universe.

See, when the foundations of the world were laid, Lena left something out, didn’t assign a god to watch over something she couldn’t herself confront- death.

As a result, death is… strange… in this world. As time goes on, the imbalance in the natural word only gets worse and worse, and those things tend to… correct themselves.

Even if the god of death doesn’t know it yet.

My newest OC, Hawthorne is a “Revenant,” a recently-dead soldier brought back to life as a biomechanical dragon. (A voluntary process!)

Like other Revenants, Hawthorne works for the “Pendragon” NGO, a group dedicated to cleaning up magical accidents or incidents that government forces and regular, mortal folk can’t. Revenants themselves are immune to magic, even consuming it for energy, and are NOTORIOUSLY hard to kill. Couple that with their ability to use weaponry you’d normally stick on a tank, and well- you see where they get the nickname of “Scalebreakers”

Hawthorne is one of the oldest Revenants, a levelheaded, if gruff, older sister type, who believes very firmly in what she does, and won’t back down from a threat no matter how imposing. She’s a tired old vet, but her moral compass is set in stone.

I can’t separate these two, as their stories are tied intrinsically, both their triumphs and tragedies intertwined.

Plus they’re hella gay.

Rose and Callie met during a war. Rose’s home had fallen into civil war, the ruling elite trying to hold a tyrannical grasp on power with the death of their more moderate king, opposed by rebels- including former nobles like Rose- who fought for the democratic reforms the former ruler was pursuing before his death. As the conflict spread outside the nation’s borders and the loyalist forces began to deploy highly dangerous and illegal mass magitech weaponry, a coalition of neighboring countries intervened on the side of the rebels, trying to contain the out of control conflagration.

Callie and Rose met as allied fighter pilots, their squadrons working together in close concert during the war, and they and their comrades developed a deep bond, one that deepened even more greatly between Rose and Callie.

But war- and politics- don’t like happy stories.

As the loyalist forces were routed, the Coalition refused to recognize the legitimacy of the rebels, having only used them to secure a puppet government they then inserted. Despite Rose and Callie’s bond, Rose couldn’t watch her people be used as pawns in geopolitical games, and Callie couldn’t bring herself to turn against her home. When the rebels turned on the Coalition, using much of the same weapons the loyalists had, Callie and Rose would eventually face each other in an apocalyptic duel as much of the country burned. Callie was the victor, assuming Rose had died in battle, which broke her spirit entirely. She hung up her wings in disgust, feeling both betrayed by her countrymen and sickened by her own cowardice.

Callie would later establish Pendragon as an NGO, hoping to do some good with the fame she had earned, and wanting to prevent disasters like the war had been. Years later, by sheer chance, she would encounter a one-eyed grey wolf who had become a mercenary lord in the last few decades- Rose. The two’s lingering animosity fell away then and there, and they reconciled, both learning what the other had become, and both proud.

Nowadays, Callie is the kindhearted leader of Pendragon, more of a pencil-pusher than a frontline type, who is committed wholeheartedly to doing good without the ambitions of politicians and generals getting in the way- she’s stubbornly committed to this, and Pendragon has fought hard for their recognition as a result.

Rose… is a living legend. A mercenary leader known as the “Red Moon,” she’s a ruthlessly effective fighter and, despite her sharp edges and quick tongue, a dedicated leader of her people, and the de-facto face of her diaspora of refugees and outcasts.

The world is very different for both women, but they have many of the same goals… even if they’re pursued very, very differently.