@funk_fluff's post on Artfol
tw: death (including child death) and religious trauma
at least one person voted yes so here it is!!! the official motthte backstory lore dump!!! heavy spoilers for my story but that was a given so!! your loss
so let's talk about Mothtte's unnamed parents first. her parents are a male crow and a female heron, and used to live in a small village in a forest with about only 100+ other birdfolk. They didn't have any religion, instead focusing primarily on their tightknit community, where families would help raise eachother, fights never turned lethal, and the overall quality of life was nice and peaceful. Mothtte's parents hadn't found Mothtte at this point, but they did have their own daughter, a toddler hatchling who they- surprise surprise- loved with their entire beings... it's getting too peaceful in here. Cue the crusaders.
Now I'm not sure if I'll make up a religion for the crusaders or just choose one of the premade ones (stares at the cross) but we don't need to have that figured out right now. What matters right now is how The Crusaders reacted to the village's reluctancy to join their religion, as they wanted all members of their community to not feel as if they have to conform to any sort of greater belief seeing as they were happy just the way they were. The Crusaders didn't like that, and left for a few weeks before- suprise surprise!- attacking their "heathen" village, burning their homes and slaughtering their kind. Alongside the evergrowing amount of members being slaughtered before The Mother's very eyes, she had to bear witness to the horror of watching her daughter be impaled by a Crusader's sword and thrown back off into the fiery blaze while she was wailing for her aide, not even having a chance to process the memory as she had to keep running with the others to save her own life. The smell of burning flesh festered the night sky, and the smoke seemed to blur The Heron's mind and heart for years to come.
Everything they had worked for, the community they had built from the ground up, and the world as they knew it had collapsed into the inferno before the few remaining survivor's eyes. And they were not allowed the tine to mourn, as now that they couldn't trust any of the surrounding towns or villages, they had to build their own desolate space all over again, and quickly seeing as the winter was coming.
The embers that once burned with a seething, unwarrented hatred were now simple ashes laid to rest under the sheets of snow that began to lay thicker and thicker with the coming days, burying the evidence from mere weeks ago hastily, so that the folks could bury the massacre of their kind and so the rest of the world would never discover the evidence until the far spring, if ever. All of the villagers efforts were put into building suitable houses, so much so they were neglectful of the food they would bring to said houses. The Heron offered to find food, uncaring of whether she would die or not, feeling as though she barely had anything left to live for anyways. The Crow would go with her as well, as he knew she couldn't be alone when she was still grieving so harshly. And with a newly installed fear within him that every second, any second spent with her may end up being the last.
There was a silence hanging between the two as they foraged, barely able to find any sort of food. But The Heron finally laid her eyes on a medium huckleberry bush, and started digging up the snow to reveal a baby serval laying curled up on top of the foliage. But that wasn't just what shocked The Heron. The tiny wings sprawled out feebly on the ice-glazed leaves. They looked just like... hers. It wasn't just any baby, it was her. It just had to be. She came back for her. And in that moment, the ash and smoke in her heart and brain seemed to settle for just a second. She finally had her baby back.
And this time, she was ready to give everything it took to keep her right by The Mother's side. Even if it cost a few lives.Dec 30, 2023
at least one person voted yes so here it is!!! the official motthte backstory lore dump!!! heavy spoilers for my story but that was a given so!! your loss
so let's talk about Mothtte's unnamed parents first. her parents are a male crow and a female heron, and used to live in a small village in a forest with about only 100+ other birdfolk. They didn't have any religion, instead focusing primarily on their tightknit community, where families would help raise eachother, fights never turned lethal, and the overall quality of life was nice and peaceful. Mothtte's parents hadn't found Mothtte at this point, but they did have their own daughter, a toddler hatchling who they- surprise surprise- loved with their entire beings... it's getting too peaceful in here. Cue the crusaders.
Now I'm not sure if I'll make up a religion for the crusaders or just choose one of the premade ones (stares at the cross) but we don't need to have that figured out right now. What matters right now is how The Crusaders reacted to the village's reluctancy to join their religion, as they wanted all members of their community to not feel as if they have to conform to any sort of greater belief seeing as they were happy just the way they were. The Crusaders didn't like that, and left for a few weeks before- suprise surprise!- attacking their "heathen" village, burning their homes and slaughtering their kind. Alongside the evergrowing amount of members being slaughtered before The Mother's very eyes, she had to bear witness to the horror of watching her daughter be impaled by a Crusader's sword and thrown back off into the fiery blaze while she was wailing for her aide, not even having a chance to process the memory as she had to keep running with the others to save her own life. The smell of burning flesh festered the night sky, and the smoke seemed to blur The Heron's mind and heart for years to come.
Everything they had worked for, the community they had built from the ground up, and the world as they knew it had collapsed into the inferno before the few remaining survivor's eyes. And they were not allowed the tine to mourn, as now that they couldn't trust any of the surrounding towns or villages, they had to build their own desolate space all over again, and quickly seeing as the winter was coming.
The embers that once burned with a seething, unwarrented hatred were now simple ashes laid to rest under the sheets of snow that began to lay thicker and thicker with the coming days, burying the evidence from mere weeks ago hastily, so that the folks could bury the massacre of their kind and so the rest of the world would never discover the evidence until the far spring, if ever. All of the villagers efforts were put into building suitable houses, so much so they were neglectful of the food they would bring to said houses. The Heron offered to find food, uncaring of whether she would die or not, feeling as though she barely had anything left to live for anyways. The Crow would go with her as well, as he knew she couldn't be alone when she was still grieving so harshly. And with a newly installed fear within him that every second, any second spent with her may end up being the last.
There was a silence hanging between the two as they foraged, barely able to find any sort of food. But The Heron finally laid her eyes on a medium huckleberry bush, and started digging up the snow to reveal a baby serval laying curled up on top of the foliage. But that wasn't just what shocked The Heron. The tiny wings sprawled out feebly on the ice-glazed leaves. They looked just like... hers. It wasn't just any baby, it was her. It just had to be. She came back for her. And in that moment, the ash and smoke in her heart and brain seemed to settle for just a second. She finally had her baby back.
And this time, she was ready to give everything it took to keep her right by The Mother's side. Even if it cost a few lives.Dec 30, 2023
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