#like im kind of going for a lot of merfolk designs to not be particularly visually different from each other

[rxttenfish]

one of the things that particularly pisses me off about art discussions, either in how nowadays everything has to aim for more and more realism in art styles and even live action to be seen as "real art", and in dismissing more abstract styles of artwork as not "real art" and having no inherent worth, is that they explicitly do not consider realism an art style either. to them, realism is just a given of "good" art, not chosen but rather just default. which i hate, because you CAN pick realism as an intentional style and a purposeful choice to suit a narrative, and all this results in is no one noticing or understanding why you made that choice or why that choice works better than any other possible choice to tell the story you want to tell.

#all the care guide says is 'biomass' #like i like realism because i have a heavy focus on anatomy as a theme #on the body as something innately complex and with a lot of feelings to have about it in all its messy ugly states #im interested in all the complex ways the body intersects with its environment and with culture and with other people #as the outside as contrasting the inside or serving as a strange reflection of it #like im kind of going for a lot of merfolk designs to not be particularly visually different from each other #they have incredibly similar silhouettes and thats on purpose #i want all of their differences and visual traits to be things that they would find more prominent #but we would struggle to pick apart without learning about them deeper and committing these to knowledge #because thats so much been my experience with trying to tell different individuals of the same species of wild animal apart #and i want to use that as a lens to then discuss how humans would then interact with an entirely different sapient species #and what happens when you are someone who experiences that #of someone else not recognizing you as individuals like you do each other #of them not even trying to adapt or learn your differences #what damage it does when this happens to you #and how much the world opens up when someone actually does learn these little differences #but of course #no one else recognizes this because everyone just thinks realism is the default #realism cannot be a purposeful choice done for a reason #realism is just What You Are Supposed To Do and Unevocative Of Deeper Meaning

[the-wotog-collection]

current (4/27/2020) list of aus

so! we have one overarching universe (wotog) that almost everything falls under, with the exception of the chromatica crew and the Project 83 kids. and, because we have so many kids and so many ideas, naturally, we’ve come up with (entirely too many) alternate universes to put them in. designated tags for each au are after each description.

this is also gonna be really long so i apologize in advance. everything is under the cut.

pirate: this is actually set somewhere in the beginning-middle of True Canon, after the og crew (minus anne and viren) went around the continent, witherhurst, and decided “yknow what? there’s nothing else to do here, let’s go be pirates i guess” so they proceeded to steal a pirate ship and go be pirates. #pirate au

ccak: cats, coffee, and kink. this is the generic modern au, and i love it so much. to me, this is True Canon but for the modern aus. set in fantasy-modern new york city, it’s basically slice of life as the kids just kinda exist together. #ccak

flowers: ah yes, the soulmate au. [redacted] actually came up with the idea for this one: everyone is born with at least one soul mark. they have one that’s their own, and it takes the shape of their favorite flower somewhere on their body, and is filled in with the actual colors of the flower. but, because this is a soulmate au, most people have more than one mark. okay this is gonna be a little hard to explain so. person A has a rose on the back of their left hand, and that’s their soulmark. they have a romantic soulmate, person B, so they might have a red lily on their right forearm (or wherever it is on person B). they also have a platonic soulmate, person C, so they have a blue daffodil on their leg, and a familial soulmate, so maybe a green peony on their back. and a person doesn’t know what kind of soulmate they’ll have until they meet their soulmate and their marks start to fill in. a person’s personal mark goes gray if they go against destiny and love someone who doesn’t share a mark with them, and their mark fades almost completely when that corresponding soulmate dies. (in addition, fantasy races don’t exist in this one, and if i remember correctly, magic isn’t a thing either.) #flowers

wings: this one is pretty straightforward. everyone has wings (and everyone is human, rather than fantasy races), and it’s great. #wings au

wolf/vamp: so in this one, everyone is human, but can be turned into (or born as, i guess) a werewolf, a vampire, or, in some rare cases, a cross between the two: a vaewolf. this one is kinda grittier to me, but that’s just the impression i personally get from it. #wolf au #vamp au

outbreak: the obligatory zombie apocalypse au, feat. low magic and a very soft magic system. Zombies are made of a mix of magic and disease, so a cure is virtually impossible. Typical gritty ‘everyone’s depressed and just doing their best to survive’ apocalypse shenanigans. #outbreak

hanahaki: self-explanatory. a modern au, i’m imagining it as similar to ccak, but in which the hanahaki disease is a thing and occurs. #hanahaki au

fae-u: a modern-ish au, in which mythical creatures exist! has heavy ties into japanese folklore and myths, with some more western ideas as well. this one is pretty xander-centric. #faeu #fae u

pantheon: the kids are deities! based more on greek mythology, and takes place in ancient greece, if i’m not mistaken. #pantheon

vigilante: heroes and villains are a thing, and where there’s heroes and villains, there’s vigilantes! this one is mostly centered around xander, hatch, and glo. #vigilante #vigilante au  

reaperverse: set in a world where reapers come to collect souls when they die, one stubborn woman (spoilers: it’s eve) simply refuses, and forgets, to die, and shenanigans ensue. #reaperverse

prince and the gardener: based on a tumblr post i'll look for later, the palace gardener falls in love with the prince. they are, of course, none other than hatch and xander. they have therai, palace guard, and eve, reluctant queen, on their side, and life is good. #prince and gardener

warrior cats: the guilty pleasure au. (for me, anyway.) the kids, but set in the warrior cats universe, so they’re all cats. sue us. (actually please don’t, neither of us have any money.) #warrior cats au

dark carnival: Based on the vocaloid song Dark Woods Circus (i lost the link im so sorry), this au is Pippin-centric. Focuses on Pip as they’re dragged to a twisted hell by a demon that goes by the name of Ringmaster (Intem). Everyone in the carnival is a sinner, who was sent to hell for crimes they committed in their lives. Eve and Vik are the twins (Also based off ‘see no evil speak no evil’), Dante’s the deformed diva, and Therai is the blue beast??? He’s the cannibal guy. There’s a happy ending I promise. #dark carnival au

accidental summoning: based on the fic Twine (x) by CrunchyWrites on ao3, hatch is a witch and accidentally summons xander, a demon. they kinda fall in love, but also stuff happens. you’ll see. #accidental summoning

reputations au: ah yes, an au based on an au. this one is based on the fic Reputations (x) by Tromper on ao3. two empires have been at war for the past ten or so years, and it’s been a bloody one. until! each side decides to have their best warriors marry each other as a sort of peace treaty, and it’s a slow burn enemies to husbands to friends to lovers. #reputations au

class swap: basically, we were like “hey what if everyone swapped classes” so! this was born. gotta remember who swapped with who. vik and pippin switched (vik is now a rogue and pippin is a bard), therai and tal switched, i think eve and intem switched, and xander and maybe hatch switched? i think. #class swap

merfolk: everyone is a merfolk! their society is essentially made up of lesserfolk, higherfolk, serpents, and leviathans. anyway it’s life under the sea and it’s great. #merfolk au

pokemon: a pokemon au! we came up with our own region for this one, based on alaska, and it’s actually really good and a lot deeper than i thought it would be! #pokemon au

fairy au: different from FaeU in that everyone is a fairy, instead of mythical creatures. this one is pretty straightforward too. #fairy au

a pirate’s life for me: okay so we were both involved in our school’s production of the musical A Pirate’s Life For Me ([redacted] was cast, i was crew) and after a couple showings we were like “hey new au idea” so. this happened. long story short: eve is a lady, bored of noble life, and decides to go become a pirate to spice things up. her suitor, tal, is heartbroken and says yknow what! if it’s a pirate she wants, it’s a pirate she’ll get! so he goes and becomes a pirate too. eve runs into the notorious Captain Scars (intem) and Captain Vex (vik), and carves a place for herself in infamy as the pirate queen. #pirates life au

warrior princess: [redacted] came up with this one and it’s really cool actually! so, eve is a warrior princess, a role she filled after xander, the kingdom’s warrior prince, mysteriously vanished one day. she fills this role quite well, even if she isn’t particularly happy with her life, until a ~mysterious stranger~ offers to whisk her away to the feywild, so she can be free. (spoilers: she goes with him.) #warrior princess au

the witcher: this has been our hyperfixation for the past couple of weeks (at the time of writing this). marlowe and i decided to watch the witcher netflix series and said “hey new au idea”. i read copious amounts of fics and [redacted] is consuming frankly scary amounts of witcher media, so, this au was born. therai takes the place of geralt, and where would he be without his bard, eve? #witcher au

#gonna tag all the aus here we gooo #pirate au #ccak #flowers #wings au #wolf au #vamp au #outbreak #hanahaki au #faeu #fae u #pantheon #vigilante #vigilante au #reaperverse #prince and gardener #warrior cats au #dark carnival au #accidental summoning #reputations au #reincarnation au #class swap #merfolk au #pokemon au #fairy au #pirates life au #warrior princess au #witcher au #that was entirely too many #mod ash