#it was supposed to be September and then i didn't even get lore until almost October

[essektheylyss]

I hadn't really decided if I was going to even attempt NaNo, let alone what I was gonna write, but I just remembered I have a novella to write that is technically on deadline and I haven't started, and FUCK.

#in fairness the editors have not actually GIVEN me a deadline considering the timeline got fucked lmao #it was supposed to be September and then i didn't even get lore until almost October #and here we are lmao #it's FINE it's cool ive got an outline and that's what matters #megs is writing

[ttte-in-the-sky-au]

Lore dump at 00:08am? Hell yea! Anyway-

TW: Death, blood (represented), mentions of murder and suicide

I've been doing some thinking recently, mainly about the absolute fuckton of spirits around Sodor and how they even exist and stuff. So I decided to do this post about that in the middle of the night!

-So how (or rather why) do spirits exist in this universe?

The answer is rather simple, at least to me: those who die before their time's up for whatever reason (let that be murder, an accident, or """"""science"""""", which is literally the same as murder but felt like I should mention it-) come back to the island as spirits, normally until they were supposed to die of natural causes. Mind you, Wingmen live many times longer than us, regular humans, so this could be centuries, maybe even millenia! When a spirit reaches this set date, they can choose to go on to the afterlife or stay in the mortal world. Most choose to move on, but there are those who stayed.

-What do these spirits look like?

There is no set "look" for a spirit, as their premature death dictates their appearance. For instance, Proteus and Godred (Also Timothy and Rusty's ghost engine, but I haven't drawn them yet lol-)

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, Proteus is literally just a floating head. I won't go too much into detail about his death, as that's a big fat spoiler, but to summarize: he was cut up by someone. This included being decapitated, which is actually what caused his death, therefore, his head is all that's left of him.

He chose to stay on Sodor to help those like him find a place in this strange purgatory of sorts before they can move on to the afterlife.

Another great example of death affecting appearance is Godred, whose whole left side is constantly fading into gold dust, due to his accident absolutely fucking it all up beyond repair, but it wasn't all cut off, which is why the gold dust still somewhat resembles a humanoid figure.

No one knows why he's still on Sodor, as he could've moved on a long, long time ago. But he's still among the living.

General trivia:

-Spirits and the living can and do interact, mainly Edward, Toby, Skarloey and Lady.

-Lady is quite literally god of this universe, responsibile for looking after the many spirits of the island and help them move on to the afterlife. She also has a say in who lives and who dies. Lady herself is immortal.

-Spirits are often found lingering around where they died, trying to get any passerby to help find their remains, hoping this could somehow help them come back to life. (This isn't possible in this AU as of september 16th, 2022, but I'm not completely sure yet. Stay tuned, just in case I change my mind!)

-If you paid attention to the artworks of Proteus and Godred, you might've noticed that their eyes are different! While Proteus' are pure gold, Godred's are black, both oozing gold dust, almost like tears.

This is because a spirit's eyes say a lot about the life they lived and their intent as a spirit.

Proteus lived a good life, even if it was a short one and now wants to do nothing but help others in a situation similar to his own.

Godred, on the other hand, didn't live the best life, to say the least. He was arrogant, boastful, egotistical and selfish. Nowadays, no one know what he exactly wants, but pretty safe to say that he's not on the island for the same reason as Proteus.

-How would suicide affect a spirit's appearance and eyes?

Suicide usually takes form in smaller scars, depending on how one took their own life. Their eyes still work the same way, being pure gold if they lived a good life, being a good person and have good intentions as a spirit, and they're black otherwise.

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Special thanks to @fabianvalencia561, @new-york-central-guy, @trainqueen379 and @ladychandraofthemoone for helping out with some of the concepts explained above! (Mainly the eyes)

#ella's rambles #ella's drawings #ella's aus #art #drawing #ttte #ttte au #ttte humanized #ttte proteus #ttte godred #rws godred #tw blo0d #tw death #tw murder #tw sui implied