#like being immortal but I digress and also think that interpretation is incorrect) could be seen as how he hides his damage from the kingdo

[tongues--and--teeth]

How much pain can you forgive?

What would you do for those you swore to protect?

#something something an eye for an eye but the actual physical scarring can be interpreted as symbolism of Dark Cacao and Choco's characters #bcs Choco's is like on his eye a very defining and public scar like it's one of the first things you see on his character which can be #interpreted as like how it's clear as day that he's not the same “noble prince” he was while Dark Cacao's (possible) scar is not only #never seen in any of his sprites but we never get a scope to how bad the injury was (even though it's possible he was hardly injured due to #like being immortal but I digress and also think that interpretation is incorrect) could be seen as how he hides his damage from the kingdo #and its citizens even though it's eating him up from the inside and eventually spills over into a more physical manifestation (the wall) of #his grief and all that he DOES try his best to hide how much everyone he ever cared about leaving him affects him. #anyway tl;dr Dark Choco's damage from their conflict is incredibly visible which is reflected in his eye scar while you wouldn't be able to #see Dark Cacao's as easily or at all. Anyway you get it. You see the themes. The symbolism. #tw gore #cw gore #Is this body horror???? #probably not???? #I heard somewhere that Dark Cacao's crown was supposed to look like thorns and y'know who ELSE #I'm not a christian but sometimes their symbols and stuff go hard tbh #its called like stigmata or smthing (just about the blood on his face) #crk #teethart #cookie run fanart #dark cacao cookie #dark cacao crk #cookie run kingdom #fanart #my art #artists on tumblr #digital art

[frozenartscapes]

does dragongard have a crest stone?

So, I think this would be a good time to talk about how I’m approaching Crest stones and Relics in this AU (partially because this is a good question and partially because I’m not sure if it will ever come up organically in the story and I hate writing exposition dumps within a story)

Short answer: yes, technically she does have a Crest stone

Long answer: I’ve always interpreted original Crest stones as being the hearts of dragons. The stones in all the Relics, and the one grafted onto Byleth’s heart, were all once the organic, beating hearts of living people. However, when those people died, the magic contained in their bodies rushed into their hearts and the whole organ calcified, trapping the magic within.

So this would have happened to all the Nabateans who became the Relics (we don’t know their names because the weapons crafted from their bones and hearts are named after the humans who possessed the weapons, not the Nabatean themselves). And any Nabatean Rhea was able to lay to rest in the Holy Tomb, assuming their bodies were intact.

We know that TWSITD are able to eventually manufacture artificial Crest stones (and Relics, from the look of it). But they still needed Nabatean blood (it’s implied they only get this technology once they get their hands on Flayn’s blood). So this is partially why, in this AU, they go for turning Edelgard into a Nabatean over just giving her two Crests. It would be far easier if they had a more reliable blood source - since it would seem that they had to figure out how to artificially manufacture blood, too. Finite resources, and such.

So, going back to the question: yes, Edelgard technically has a Crest stone, because her heart is her Crest stone. It won’t look like a traditional stone unless she dies, but it functions very similarly. It grants her additional strength, boosts magical abilities, and allows her to access Nabatean-specific skill sets like turning into a dragon or healing sleep cycles. There is the complication that she is still technically human, so as a result things like age-based immortality have been significantly affected. (As in: she’ll live a long time, far longer than most humans, but not to the extent that someone like Rhea has.) This is also how I interpret the other living Nabateans, like Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, and the other saints. They all have “Crest stones” but until they die the stones are in reality their hearts, their source of life and power.

Ok, now I’m just going to ramble about the Relics for a sec, but I’ll put it under a cut because this post is becoming long

So: the Relics. Imma be real with you guys for a moment: I grew up Catholic, and I minored in Art History (with a heavy lean to Medieval and Renaissance history). So these Relics... Ok, here we go.

Relics in Christianity, and specifically Catholicism, are things not many people know of if they aren’t part of the religion. If you are they are something so weirdly normalized half the time you don’t even think about it. But many things about Catholicism are. (Like Transubstantiation. That is such a fun thing trying to explain and not sound like a lunatic.) But we’re talking about relics, here, because the creative choice to call them Relics in the game was fucking phenomenal.

Catholic relics are basically dead people. There are some that aren’t - the True Cross and the Crown of Thorns are notable, non-dead people relics. But for most relics boasted about by various churches, they are either part of or a whole person. Whether or not that person is the saint they are claimed to be can get rather dubious, but yeah... Dead people. Often displayed in gilded boxes or holders, covered in gold or jewels, surrounded by paintings done up by famous artists. (Also note, too: If they aren’t a person-based relic they still have some morbid connection to how the saint they are connected to died, like, for example the True Cross - an execution device, or St. Paul’s Chains - chains that bound him before his martyrdom). It’s all very morbid and a little creepy but what’s more creepy is how normal it is to walk up to a box with a perfectly preserved saint just eternally sleeping away inside before asking her to shoot you a little prayer before your big test. But I digress.

In Three Houses, the Relics are also dead people. Dead dragons, to be more specific, but the Nabateans were both dragon and human so my statement still stands. The Relics themselves are bones (which are common for a church to hold as a relic of a saint). And in order for a Relic to function properly, it also needs the Crest stone (heart) of the dragon the bones came from. 

We also have seen that the Relics are highly unstable. If someone were to wield a Relic without possessing the Crest that matches it, the weapon can turn them into a Demonic Beast. And even having the Crest might not save you, as we see with Maurice, it’s possible to still be turned into a Demonic Beast through the power of the Relic/stone combination anyway.

So here’s my take on this: In Christianity, relics are meant to be a strong link between the physical world and the saint being represented by the relic. Praying with St. George’s arm present provides a better link to the saint than just praying to him normally. Sort of like, calling his office via an extension rather than using the main office line. The spirit of the Saints are closely linked to their relics, which is partially why they’re venerated so much.*

*I should note, however, that many of these relics are listed as the “real” relic, but in reality are more like a piece of wood or random body part discovered on a Crusade and brought back as a “treasure” from wars that ravaged many parts of the Middle East. They might hold spiritual significance, but just remember that the acquisition of many of these relics was certainly not the Divine miracle people claim - which also conveniently relates back to Three Houses when you realize what the Relics truly are and how they were obtained

So in Three Houses, every Nabatean crafted into a Relic still has their spirit present within the bones and Crest stone. They can’t really interact with anything outside of the Relic, but there is a strong connection between their spirits and their heart/bone/blood. This is why only someone possessing a particular Crest can wield the corresponding Relic. A Crest (the blood) ignites the power in the stone (the heart), which then prompts the body to come alive (the bones of the Relic itself). If any one of those things is missing or incorrect, the spirit behind the weapon will do one of two things: nothing, or react to the error. The angrier the spirit, the more violent the reaction. And I don’t know about you, but if I was ever murdered so my body could be twisted into a grotesque weapon to then be used to kill more of my family, I’d be pretty pissed about it.

If the bodies of the Nabateans are not laid to rest, they cannot be at peace. And the anger they feel about what happened to them and their brethren will continue to burn and fester. For some Nabateans, their anger was stronger than others. Whoever Maurice killed to get his Relic was so furious that it didn’t matter Maurice also had their blood - that rage still turned him into a Beast anyway. (But at the same time, Maurice was also the asshole who did the deed. Marianne, however, is a kind, gentle soul who does not enjoy raising her hand against any living creature. That would be something the spirit of the Nabatean could sense, and it would reflect how they respond to the user of the Relic.)

This is also why, in the canon game, characters with weapons made from artificial stones/bones did not face any issues. It’s implied that Aymr, for example, was created specifically for Edelgard. Despite holding the Crest stone of Maurice, she has no issue using it, because they reconfigured the stone to be attuned to the Crest of Seiros. (It’s also entirely possible that they just created this stone, and the Crest of the Beast was carved on it for ??? But this would effectively make the stone a blank slate to pair with any Crest that was available.) So these artificial weapons would not have a spirit of a Nabatean connected directly to them, and would be safer to use as a result.

(In terms of Crest stones being able to turn people into Demonic Beasts, even without the Relic, I see that more like handling something like a radioactive substance. The sheer amount of raw draconic power contained in a Crest stone would be enough to transform a human into a monster, just through contact alone. Even the artificially created ones still stem from that same magic, so holding one of those without any sort of protection would result in the same thing. That's why I'm starting to headcanon that, rather than just her two Crests activating at the same time, Edelgard just ripped the Crest stone out of Aymr when she turned into the Hegemon. Real or not, holding a Crest stone in your bare hand is a lot like that scene from Chernobyl when a firefighter unknowingly picks up a chunk of the exploded reactor core with his bare hand: You're dead before you even realize what you're holding.)

#nabatean!edelgard #heart of a dragon #au ideas #fanfic #headcanons #sorry i kind of go off on a tangent #i've been thinking a lot about this #world building