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Koi's great-grandpapi was a kalona-wind in a kalona purist heard called the Nightwalkers, and left when he chose his kirin mate over his family. his family was outraged because they gave up everything they had (their power, influence, territory) to support his half-blooded butt and this was the loyalty they got in return <_< understandably they decided to do something about it, and this "something" was to erase their shame by killing him and his blood-diluted family, slinking back to the main herd with their tails between their legs, and a "we were wrong, you were right, non-kalonas are bad applies"

turns out they missed a kiddo and fast forward some decades into the future and you have koi!!

on rook's end, he was born in the Nightwalker territory and received weird dreams and what seemed, at times, to be insight that was not his own. he eventually came to the conclusion that he was Roderick reincarnated into the body of a raven (Roderick was the alpha's heir before the alpha and all his heirs died in the Kalona war). he wanted to claim his birthright and take command of the herd but ofc they laughed at him and when he tried to pursue it made it incredibly obvious that he had nothing against these huge beefy kalonas. they kick him out and he stumbles onto koi, who is clearly of the herd’s blood based on the family marking he was born with.

rook begins grooming koi, raising him to be distrustful of his loving family and to obey only rook. rook recruits the help of others (such as the kalona he will eventually be in a relationship with, who serves as koi's replacement mother and trains him in darker kalona arts) to eventually get him into fighting shape and psychologically under rook's control. Once his training is complete, Rook intends to take Koi back to the herd and reclaim it with his help. As to why Rook thinks he has a chance: the nightwalkers have been in turmoil since the kalona war. First off was that they chased off all their neighbors so just historically they have had less and less new blood to go around, and they have to have planned breedings just to ensure their future generations can survive and not be inbred as all getout. Second was that this understandably meant there is a little more openness to one's blood. While they're still into kalona superiority, third is that the Kalona War decimated a lot of their numbers (they did not start the war/were not involved with those that started the war, but they supported the kalona side once it got to the Kawani lands). They're in the middle of a struggle about retaining kalona purity vs. acknowledging that other breeds have their merits and they might need to bring them in just to survive on a future-generations level, and Rook intends to take advantage of this to shoehorn Koi into the pro-Other-breeds side (since he's clearly not pure LMAO)

I was thinking maybe Filda could be involved in this? Where her birthplace + the Nightwalkers are near enough to one another that they have similar spiritual beliefs, and Rook finds her and considers her skilled enough to be a Seer? Rook decides to try and recruit her too, so he can pull the "I've the the support of the GODS" card. Plots would entail:
- Why did Rook get interested in her
- Why would she agree to his plan XD
- How will the Nightwalkers take it because like... Koi has an in in the sense that he's clearly of the herd's blood (he has a small marking on his nose that ties him to the family that kicked his great-grandpapi out, and the family is still there) but she is like 100% an outsider beside her beliefs so they might not accept a union between her and Koi as legitimate
- Because of that in the most likely scenario she'd have to be involved with the herd for some time and they're such baddies idk how much she's willing to put up with?? o(-<

Right now I have it so Flidais was once a part of the Cerynei herd that mahogany sunset started,
and left to continue her wandering in order to connect with the spirits.

She’s a cerynei born in the Kawani lands after her breed's return to their native land. Flidais was raised in a herd by her mother and father, though she knew from an early age that she didn't quite fit in with the herd's beliefs. Flidais questioned things and often asked her mother why the herd chose to do the things it did and her mother did her best to appease the young cerynei's curiosity and keep her quiet. As Flidais grew, however, she became more vocal with her questions, asking the herd's teachers and those that were cast in highly-held positions of leadership and challenging them for answers. Flidais never received direct answers to her inquiries but she did realize over time that the herd she had grown up in was slowly corrupting over time and those that followed the herd leader were either unaware or too afraid to speak up. Realizing that her concerns would never be answered by those that were supposed to teach and protect the herd members, Flidais vocalized her queries to the herd leader directly. She expected anger in response and was hardly shocked when she was banished publicly from the herd for her insolence. She was sad to leave her friends and family behind, but was not sad to leave a group that had no interest in its followers.

Flidais spent several long years on her own, wandering the Kawani lands and finding herself in her travels. She came to find respect for the natural world and thanked it for allowing her survival on her own, for she was never a mare that was intended for fighting. She came to find that she could rely on the natural world to be consistent in its inconsistencies and was glad to find an ebb and flow in her life that gave advantages to no one but those who worked for them. Within these years, Flidais found she had a knack for making ointments and salves from natural herbs and quickly learned which herbs were best for what. After some period of time, her nomadic life came to an end when she found a new herd to follow. She had missed the structure of a herd and was happy to find one that she could be a part of. With the position of story teller, Flidais is happy to tell the tales of her people, of the spirits, and of the past to those who are willing to listen. However there is always an itch, a quiet whisper from the spirits that tickles her ear and calls to her, making her wonder if she could truly ever call just once place home.

oohhh my god, a precious baby that went through so much TuT /holds her

adding to that, an idea i was considering was that as part of her travels and attempts to understand as much about the world as possible, she took apprenticeship under a kalona shaman for a few years and learned some rites from her? and it turns out the kalona had come from the Nightwalkers but had been kicked out for one reason or another?? if she's already familiar with how they work and the specific rituals they follow (as opposed to just the beliefs) and doesn't reveal where she got it from, it could be the foot in the door she needs ? ? she'd probably have to spend extra years with them just fine-tuning what she knows though, since a lot would have changed due to the Kalona War o(-< would you be down for possibly plotting reasons for that too ? ??

Ah I could totally see her doing that! She'd be hella interested in learning whatever she could, especially since her upbringing in her original herd was rather sheltered and heavily censored after the herd got more and more corrupted.

She might be a little uncomfortable with the darker stuff, depending on what it required, but she'd try to understand it and what the purpose of it was/why it required her to the things she need to do in order to perform the rite.

i think most of it would be kinda clean or at least neutral since most religious figures wouldn't necessarily be war-oriented figures, so there would be an understanding that rituals and such are a sacred space that goes above and beyond their early blood-thirsty desires. however some of the stuff that's specifically tied to war (and not just premonition or communing with the gods or anything) could be like catch a victim and mix its blood w/ war paint as good luck in their hunt or whatever o(-<

once rook sees her familiarity w/ some of their rituals he'd probably try to be sly and test her and after she passes he'd try to get her onto his side! what do you think filda would need to get invested in his goals, or at least have a reason to support him?

theyd probably be into ritualistic scarring too but they would see it as a sign of pride (e.g. was strong enough to bear it without crying out / certain marks indicate that they're adults in their herd) and not torture

I feel like if this happened relatively early on in her life post-leaving her family, it wouldn't be hard for Rook to really get her to go with him. I've been wanting a plot or RP where Flidais gets tricked or is just naively kinda convinced to help some rather dark intentioned individuals. If Rook was pretty charismatic and was able to kind of learn about her past, he definitely be able to use the fact that her herd was corrupted and kind of spin it off in comparison to the Nightwalkers. As soon as she herd something even relatively related to trying to prevent "corruption," I think she'd be on his side.

yes, yes, and yes!! Rook learned pretty quick he had nothing in the strength department (compared to Soq--and as he considers himself a Soq in a different body, it's what matters to him) so he made up for it in other ways. he would definitely try to push the "i want my herd to be open to new breeds" for all its worth (while glossing over the fact that it would mean the herd would be more comfortable abducting baskets of all breeds and not just kalona baskets asdjkhskad). she'd likely figure it out just from her time in the herd, but by then would be entrenched ?? we could say the one of the two current shaman's apprentices got killed in the war, and although initially she didn't plan to stay long, she grew to be accepted as the new apprentice (at least amongst the pro-other-breeds side)?

she can have a friendship or rivalry w/ the other appretice hahahaha also i cant spell apprentice
thanks for highlighting it all the time, discord
god i was missing the n
im so dumb LMAO

Ahhhh yessssss. And so she's like "I have a place among them, the stealing baskets thing is rather bad, but maybe they're finding abandoned ones.... Spirits, I hope they're abandoned....." Flidais would get so caught up in it all. She'd want to try and master what they're teaching her and she'd do everything in her power to try and fill the role of the new shaman's apprentice. It'd be hella interesting if the shaman wasn't pro-other-breeds because that'd be such a huge hurdle that I don't think she'd ever be able to really over come. There's not even a bit of Kalona blood in her so it's not like she can claim to even have Kalona heritage

LMFAOOO RIGHT!!! most likely the shaman would have converted to pro-other-species after the war, so Flidais will definitely have a teacher

and yeah!! since her shaman teachings would put her in the "lighter" side of the herd (that is, she doesnt have to be involved with their raids or their fights for power, since she would already have a place as their possibly-new-shaman and the bells and whistles that come with) so it could also be that it takes her longer to really unearth info about the Nightwalkers

i also just realized that you're right about her not having kalona blood and koi barely has any since his great-grandpapi was already a halfbreed and they haven't had a pure kalona in their line since HAHAHA so most likely they were assigned to other pure kalona partners, but they've built enough rapport that they give in to a night of passion which results in mistake babies??

Oh yeah, that would make sense. o: It would probably take a a couple years for her to really get past all of her training and really have time to actually see what the Nightwalkers were doing.

My only question is how do Koi and Flidais even really interact?

( final sidenote, let's say her teacher is REALLY OLD so they dont have the time to search for another appretentice, they just take the first one they can find )

LMAO RIGHT!!!

when she first meets him he'd be really guarded because he has . .. no experience with anyone his "equal"""". he had siblings but he was taken by Rook pretty early, so all his life he's been with people that outranked him

so he'd probably just be really quiet and not know how to talk to her since she's not bossing him around

koi was super messed up too like they first made him care for someone and then forced him to kill them just to reinforce the message that nothing is sacred (but rook and rook's wife) so he would probably be apathetic at first too but she could remind him of the fam he left behind?? ;u;

And Flidais wouldn't know how to act around Koi either. She'd be as sweet as ever though.

Just, very unsure of what to say to him.

he'd be like /ignoreignore, and when he's asked to look after her (so she wont change her mind and run away) he's invested in teaching her and he's all like "you shouldn't be so nice; that'll only get you killed" all high and mighty

lordie tho imagine her inquisitive nature . .. .

cause like he's been groomed to not question his orders and stuff so like when she's treated better (in the sense that he'd often tasked with menial labor but she wouldn't be since they wouldn’t want to discourage her from following them in any way) he wouldn't even bat an eye but if she tried to ask him multiple times he'd be like ??????

She'd be so unimpressed with that sort of line of thinking. "There's nothing wrong with offering others kindness. Individual strength is something to be proud of, sure, but the tree is all the stronger because of its roots. Without them sprawling and reaching, intermingling with others, it would be sure to fall."

Koi would just be intense brooding "The tree is bound by its tethers. /lashes out with a hoof and tears a good chunk off/ It cannot even move to save itself."

"And yet it is known to recover and heal over time. Even when cut down, it can regrow, stronger than ever."

He snorts "Then we tear the roots; we burn it until nothing's left." and then he just leaves because he's more used to concrete thoughts and going into these metaphorical conversations is too much for him LMAO but their convos can get longer and longer over time, and he even comes to enjoy the mental exercise??

probably they can only talk when rook/the others are not there so we can say they're travelling by foot to the herd cause of her lack of wings?

and they have some solidarity as theyre both "outsiders" so if he has concerns during his time in the herd, he knows now that he doesn't have to keep it in and simply obey rook, but that there's someone he can talk to ???

And then poor Koi is going to have to deal with her asking all the questions on their walks.

ALL of them

Family would definitely come up.

LMAOOO SO PURE <3333 at first he'd prob tell her to shut it but over time he's just like !! he wants to talk abt himself!! like he didnt even remember he had siblings until she asked

and then it just expands so that he becomes interested in learning about her too!!

ahhh yessssss

Lmao and then he'd hit a road block and have such a wtf moment because she was asking him all these questions and suddenly he asks about her family or why she wasn't with them, or something, and she'd just be so.... hesitant to tell him? Not because she doesn't want to, but because she's not particularly proud of her past.

aww ;w; he doesnt have social graces so he'd be like why are you shy ? ?? He doesn't know what is and isn't an appropriate topic of conversation, since with Rook he's just silent except to affirm he heard commands or to clarify his orders. so he'd probably just, "oh, did you forget about them too?? no worries, im sure it'll come back to you in time" LMAO

re: her eventually leaving the kalona herd, most likely faking her death in a raid so that the herd doesn't have a reason to pursue her if she abandons them

it can be agonizing to them both because koi would think she's gone, and she would know the truth but she would also know if she went back they'd find out and kill her ?? if necessary their kiddos could be baskets at the time so she can't risk her life by trying a secret meeting, cause she has to get them as far away as possible before theyre born and look after them ?????

(if yes to that plot then depending on the owners, one or more of the baskets could have been left behind)

I was just thinking about that omg ;u;

Faking her death would definitely be the only way out for her. I doubt Rook would let her go.

right XD Rook would likely use it to his advantage too like NOW YOU [Koi] GOTTA BE THE MOST POWERFUL LEADER to ensure no one raids us and takes our herd members again!!

God, how would Koi handle thinking Flidais was dead? Would she have been able to really get past all of his apathy?

i dunno if all, simply cause once theyre in the herd their circles wouldn't overlap that much, especially as they began to advance in their respective fields TuT but he would have genuinely cared for her <333 he'd probably be morose until Rook kicks him back into action

At least he'd have one or two baskets in his care depending on how things worked out???

definitely!! depending on if it had wings or not itd follow in his footsteps or hers i think /chintaps

Though Flidais probably wouldn't be thrilled to have had to leave even one of her children behind. She'd know she wouldn't be able to go back for it, but she'd wish she could.

by follow, do you mean by like becoming the next leader or the next seer??

seer appretentice or fighter *v* i dunno about leader cause like. . that blood is so diluted LMAO the herd will def change but how much ?? id need to plot more with that hahaha

like the babby could def try and win the leadership position but im not sure at what cost it would be haha

also Koi's time with her would make him more used to autonomy so he'd work really hard to raise their kiddo regardless of what Rook tells him. Imagine tho, like what if it grows into a fighter and raids Flida's new herd and comes face to face with its sibbo!! (we can say it has the family birthmark that makes it recognizable) and it tells Koi about it? Koi would feel absolutely abandoned knowing she'd left him but would ultimately mature and come to understand her choice and just be more empathetic overall I think TuT (assuming no plot made him more evil that is XD in which case the siblings can have secret meetings?)

But if one of the siblings ran across the other I can't even imagine how that would go down??? Like Flidais wouldn't have wanted to leave Koi, she'd have cared for him so much, and I'm sure she told her children that, let them know that their father loved them, would love them if they ever met. So the sibbo would definitely recognize the other depending on what traits got passed (then again they'd come out rather distinctive looking I imagine) and they'd probably have such an oddly intense moment??? Like they've never met till now and they meet because one of them is having their home attacked ;o;

AHH RIGHT!! Like one of them was told the other would be loved, and back home Koi probably wouldnt talk about it?? TwT So if the sibbo knew they'd just hear secondhand about how the mom + sibbo died in a raid ahh!!

so it prob wouldnt click for them right away that they're siblings (they might think it was a stray line like Koi) but the other could

Ooh I kinda thought about the sibling that Flidais managed to take away from the Nightwalkers somehow returning to them??

what if they were twins and they tried to switch places ;o;

Oh god
And of course Flidais would know
She'd be able to tell immediately

And like she'd want to get to know her other child, like she's wanted to see them and she feels horrible for leaving them behind, for leaving them and missing all their big moments

and imagine what a different life it would be for the kiddo!! TwT where they arent surrounded in a world of competition and one-upmanship all the time

Meanwhile the sibling who traded is just probably thinking "wtf is happening here"
And they wouldn't even know how to approach Koi??? Especially if Rook was still always with him

right!! their other sibbo would prob give them some pointers on how to blend in tho, since itd be dangerous otherwise with the herd o(-< with their manners they wonder why theyre struggling to get new members

Lolol maybe Flidais should have taught all of them some proper etiquette ;)

What a conversation that would be though. Having to hide who they are just so they can meet their father ;o;

right TwT And like what would koi even be doing ?? would he still be invested in the kiddo or would he try to keep his distance just cause of the memories the kiddo evokes ??

Oh dang I feel like that would just make them really determined to try and like rise through Nightwalker ranks or whatever, try and force Koi to acknowledge them.

ohh man if so maybe they traded places around foal age
if so tho the other sibbo would probably have to make the switch before flida figured it out ??? idk how she'd react

Flidais would be heart broken. She wouldn't be able to get her child back without probably getting killed, so that's kinda out

And she'd be upset. Not at the kids, though, if that makes sense???

yeah!! ahh so many fam drams TwT
oh gosh imagine though
that the one that ends up with koi has to keep it a secret
and live with the fact that their pops is grieving for deaths that never happened ? ?

Oh gosh right? Like telling Koi wouldn't be an option. At least, it probably wouldn't.
And I doubt they could try and switch again

right!!! Tears

would they ever switch back you think?

Ooh! Depends on age and temperament maybe; I think after a while it'd be hard to swallow Koi's herd if you weren't raised with the beliefs LMAO

Ahhh that's true, but like, if they went to the herd as a foal still, it'd give them time to acclimate?

yeah! especially if it aligns with their beliefs (e.g. they were the type that felt they were better than others, and the herd gives them an avenue to foster those feelings) or anything >v<