Bard

So I made space in the Fae ancestries the same way I did the Doomed. (Moved the lycanthrope people: The Marked as a new name for the Beastkin versatile heritage) With this new space I wanted a third people to compliment my insect folk and plant folk, (Arthr and Verdant, respectively) and I settled on a shapechanger people called The Umbra.

Born of the invasion of The Fae, when the light of The Sun hit them, it caused there to simply be a second Fae. A shadow version of the emperor it came from, and in the beginning of the invasion the Umbra were simply part of it. Doing as the Fae willed: desiring life on Gaia just as their masters.

Eventually the invasion was finished and The Fae colonized Gaia with small settlements of their influence, and The Umbra learned to adapt. Developing highly secret magics of transformation, all Umbra possess two forms: their original shadow form, and another form- typically, but not always a hominid- that is cared for just as deeply and lives an entire life outside of the Fae community.

I'll surely have more on The Umbra, soon! Possibly even art! I was thinking some wispy, feminine shadow shape, or like a darkness cast over a nondescript, antlered person, or a mass of brambles in the darkness, with only a hint of recognition peering out from it.

Let me know what the original form of your Umbra character looks like! I think I'll be doing some art of these guys. I like that they bring a lot of Fae feel to my fae folk, a dark Fae feel that is necessary.

Hi! I'm gonna be posting art/description of one of my custom ancestries I made for Gaia tomorrow around noon! I think you'll like her! She wears an ice sculpture as an accessory!

So I've never marketed myself online before. I'm terrified that I'm gonna goof up and have people hate my world before I even get it published.

I've been writing and drawing in this world for about 15 years, and it's taken a lot of shapes in that time. I think I'm finally at a point that I can build hype for this project, and possibly even get paid to do what I love.

I'm having a good feeling about the folk on this site, and that feeling is that this world was made for us. As a queer person in Appalachia I've needed to escape many times to a book, my art, a videogame, or even DND; and I wanted to be the person that gave that opportunity to others. These days, with my ideals becoming more nuanced and grounded, I hope simply to entertain y'all.

If you are a LGBTQIA person who wants a setting that evokes wonder, fear, excitement, and most of all- safety, then Gaia is for you. I've worked a long time to get the courage to put at least a bit into the public, and I desperately hope to leave y'all wanting more.

Thanks for listening to me whine and hope! With immense love and fear,
Bard