Lore Dump

The Holy Ones had been sent down from The Place Above to rebuild the world and to ensure that such destruction never happened again. They deemed humans to be a destructive force and, in order to contain them, built a walled kingdom for them to reside within, seperate from the rest of the world. Over the centuries, with the Holy Ones' help, human society rebuilt itself, as did the natural world beyond the walls.

Some humans begged to be returned to nature, claiming that humanity's purpose was to reside in harmony with the Nature Spirits. But the Holy Ones had seen the destruction that humans had caused centuries before, and denied their request. As a result, these humans rebelled, refuting the Holy Ones and building their own civilization in the undeveloped forests, mountains, and feilds within the Holy Kingdom. These places became known as the Wild Places, and those humans as Barbarians (although they referred to themselve as the Spirits' People).

At this point, the Holy Ones deemed that their work here was done, and they began preparations to return to The Place Above. But before they could leave, they needed people to rule in their place. First, they captured a Nature Spirit from outside the Holy Kingdom and entombed it in the body of a human, creating the Oracle - the only secular entity who could live forever (aging, yes, but never dying) and who could commune directly with the gods. The Nature Spirit hated the Holy Ones for trapping it forever like this, of course, but what could it do but obey?

Then, the Holy Ones split their kingdom amongst themselves, so each was given a section. Seraphim, the eldest Holy One, and the god of life, gained the fields and rivers of the top right section of the kingdom. The people who lived in this region would tend to the earth, growing crops which would sustain the entire kingdom. Cherubim, the goddess of protection, gained the beaches and estuaries of the lower section of the kingdom. The people who lived in this region would be warriors, with the strength to protect the kingdom and to aid its people. And Ophanim, the youngest Holy One, and the god of knowledge, gained the mountains and valleys of the top left section of the kingdom. The people who lived in this region would be scholars, archivists of history and of all the world's knowledge. And in the very center of the kingdom was a garden - always in bloom, teeming with life and death and everything that makes the world a beautiful place to live in - and a temple, devoted to the ones who had made this possible.

And finally, the Holy Ones decided on rulers for each of their regions. Three Champions, hand-picked by the Holy Ones themselves, through the Oracle. The Holy Ones did not commune directly with these rulers, nor could they see the future; they simply chose whoever they deemed best fit for the task. Every ten years, everyone in the Holy Kingdom (besides Barbarians) would come to the temple, congregating around the Oracle to see the old Champion step down from the throne and to see who would become the new one. The Holy Festival.

Setting

Our story takes place in the Cherubim region - specifically, the capital city, which is built on a giant rock slab sticking out of the shore. The slab has been chipped away at a bit to form a sort of seawall. The capital used to be somewhat of an industrial hub, but not anymore - the industrial revolution was sort of cut off midway through due to religious regions, since most people thought the Holy Ones would disapprove (which they did). So there's a lot of old, broken-down factories near the seawall.

The city is very distinctly split between the rich and the poor. The rich - government workers, businessmen, and of course the Champion herself - live on the far end of the city, away from the seawall, in nice, well-developed buildings. The poor live in the shells of old factory buildings, squating in the poorly developed area known as The Slums. This heavy divide causes a deep-seated alienation between the two classes - the poor refer to the rich as "moneybags" and the rich refer to the poor as "ragtags" - the latter being a name that the poor have proudly embraced.

The Slums are not a particularly safe place, of course. There's always the risk of murder, kidnapping, theft. However, there is a very strong sense of kinship between the ragtags. So you're only really in danger if a) you're new or b) your attacker is someone new who doesn't know the Unspoken Rule (that being, we don't hurt or steal from our own).

Additionally, a lot of ragtags also have rather unconventional names, just because of the culture. You don't want to look or sound "moneybag-y," and names are a part of that. So you end up with a lot of very strange names based off of what the person looks like or what they do.

Characters

Lobster was raised in the Slums by an elderly fisherman named Giller (although he was not born there. Where was he born? Um. Cough cough. Don't worry about it). He grew up alongside Giller's partner's daughter, Locke, and the two are like siblings. Lobster's name comes from a pet lobster he kept as a kid - he took it's name after it died as a way to pay respects (idk man, kids are weird). Also he has red hair, so it all works out.

Lobster is really kind, cheerful, and earnest. He's very expressive and although he does have rather low empathy, he puts a lot of effort into being kind and understanding to everybody. However, he is quite naive and he is attached to those he cares about to a fault, spiraling badly and quickly when things go wrong (which surely won't be a problem later).

He doesn't have any particular specialized skills - he isn't good at fighting, and he's only half-decent at pickpocketing. However, he is very agile and flexible, as well as quick-witted and clever. He's also very determined just in general. He often feels inferior to his two companions, so he is always eager to prove that he is useful.

Twig was born to a middle-class moneybag family, and was raised by a single father. When that father was killed in an act of police brutality (a major problem in the Cherubim region), he was orphaned and ended up in the Slums, where he was found by Lobster, who gave him his new name and adopted him into his little group, making them a trio.

Twig is the leader of the group. He's extremely intelligent and a great actor. He's also quite the fake stoic, despite having incredibly high empathy. He has a lot of trauma from witnessing his father's death and is extremely distrusting of new people, especially Enforcers. Additionally, he isn't a great fighter, but what he lacks in physical strength he more than makes up for in wit.

Twig gets scared easily! He tries not to show when he's scared, of course, but he's... not great at hiding it, sometimes, especially around Lobster and Locke. Among the things he is scared of are heights, bugs, the dark (sometimes), and getting sticky. He also gets annoyed easily, especially at Locke, but he'd never hurt a fly (unless, of course, that fly was an Enforcer or was trying to hurt the people he cares about).

Locke was born and raised in the Slums, and she's proud of it, too. Her dad, Hustle, runs the Curiosity Shop and has over half the mercenaries in the Slums under his control. As such, Locke grew up a bit more sheltered than other ragtag kids - her father would never let anyone hurt her. Even so, she managed to convince him to let her out into the world on her own, under the caveat that Lobster be by her side. Locke's name comes from her extraordinary skill at picking locks - she gave the name to herself, though, with her real name being Min (her late other father's name). She doesn't like the name Min at the start of the story, but by the end she'll have grown into it, and eventually she takes a lot of pride in the name.

Locke is hot-heated and independent. She's clever, and an extremely skilled pickpocket. She's not a fake stoic like Twig, but she still does keep up this facade of being constantly annoyed and/or angry, and tries not to show any other emotions as a way to prove that she's not to be treated like a child. But despite her impressive skills, she is a child! She can be very naive (not in the sense that she trusts everyone like Lobster, but in the sense that she never believes that she can really get hurt), and she has a really bad attitude, especially with people who she really should not be giving an attitude to for her own safety. She's also really quick to lose her trust in people, due to her upbringing around mercenaries.

Relationships

Lobster and Locke: Basically siblings. On the surface they pretend to hate each other so much, but in reality they care about each other more than anything, and they'd both do horrible things if they had to in order to keep the other safe.

Locke and Twig: Frenemies. Locke thinks Twig is bossy, and Twig things Locke is immature. But don't be fooled - they do care about each other a lot. It's just that neither of them want to nor know how to show it, other than by having each other's back when they need to.

Lobster and Twig: Whooo boy. Who knows, man. I'd say they're best friends, but they're so much more than that. I'd say they're brothers, but they're way more intimate with one another. I'd say they're lovers, but in all honesty, I don't even think that they know how they feel about each other. Their feelings are messy, complicated, and complex. I don't quite know how to explain their dynamic. They've never kissed, I'll tell you that, but there are feelings there.

The Story

Our story begins a little bit before the Holy Festival, but all of that is just time spent introducing the characters and setting, so I'm going to skip over all that and get to the inciting incident.

Everyone is gathered in the Holy Temple, waiting with bated breath to see who the new Champions of the three regions will be. The Oracle - hundreds of years at this point, and looking like it - slowly removes the crowns from the heads of the previous Champions, taking a moment to thank them before escorting them off of the stage. And then she speaks the names of the new Champions.

"To the throne of the Seraphim region, I welcome Champion Llewella."

"To the throne of the Ophanim region, I welcome Champion Sage."

"And to the throne of the Cherubim region, I welcome Champion Twig."

There is, obviously, quite the commotion about a ragtag child becoming the new Champion. But it was the Holy Ones' decision, so what could be done? Twig became the Champion. He moved into the Champion's Palace, and he didn't come back to the Slums. And Lobster and Locke were left behind.

Locke immediately became sour and spiteful. And Lobster immediately became sad, and in denial. Locke felt that Twig had betrayed them - a feeling only amplified when Twig suddendly decreed that Lobster and Locke were criminals and were to be exiled. But Lobster was certain, absolutely certain, that something was horribly wrong, because Twig would never do that, would he?

In the dead of night, Lobster snuck into the Champion's Palace in an attempt to find Twig and figure out what was wrong. But he got caught, and was almost killed, until a woman named Rowan swooped in to rescue him.

Rowan is a Hero (that's her job title), and she's decided that Twig is Evil and needs to be dethroned. Lobster hates her immediately, of course. Locke, however, is instantly enamoured, and ends up convincing Lobster to let Rowan recruit the two to help her with her mission.

Rowan takes them to the Temple, where the Oracle gives them a Prophecy. Rowan is determined to follow this propecy to a T, dragging Lobster and Locke all over the kingdom, which Lobster is Not Happy About. Eventually, Rowan determines that the last line of the prophecy is instructing them to kill Twig, making Lobster snap and leave Locke and Rowan behind, storming back to the Temple and shattering the Oracle's prophecy orb, which ends up killing the Oracle and freeing the Nature Spirit trapped inside.

As thanks for freeing it, the Nature Spirit gives Lobster the True Prophecy, which tells him that the old Champion, Marie, has secretly been ruling in Twig's place this whole time, sending out her hateful decrees under Twig's name, including the decree that exiled Lobster and Locke. With this knowledge, Lobster returns to the Cherubim region and frees Twig.

I still haven't really decided if Twig dies or not at the end... there's a lot about this story that I haven't figured out yet, as you can probably tell, so I apologize if this doesn't make much sense. I also left out a Whole Major Thing with Locke and the Barbarians, because that would be really difficult and convoluted to explain and I'm tired. So you can just like. Ask me if you're confused. Idk.

Extra Drawings, Color Pallettes, and Other Stuff

This has been Lobster and Twig's song for literally as long as they've ever existed. This is Them. I could give you a whole playlist but that wouldn't sum it up as well as this one song can, it's crazy. One day I plan to make an animatic with this.

Anyway thanks for reading all my deranged ramblings sorry this was like the length of the Constitution and still probably didn't make sense.