[Text] un: voidheart

[dreamnailedit]

Hello.

This is The Knight.

I wish to talk about families.

What is your family like? Do you have siblings? I have many siblings. More siblings than there are moonblessed. One of them is here with me. They are also a knight. They were one long before I was, and they are very good at it.

I have a child. They were not born by mating, as humans do, but by a dance with myself and my friend Grimm. It was part of an important ritual.

My Father is a King. My Mother is a Tree. Also a Queen.

That is all of my family. Please tell me about yours.

Comments

un: undyingsoul

[necroyalty]

My mother and father are dead.

I have a younger brother. We share the same mother, but my father was not his. And for this, my father had always resented him.

But my brother is someone I'd gladly kill for.

I had some aunts and uncles, some distant cousins. We've never been too close, and outside of court business, mostly see one another on holidays and other special occasions.

I also have two children. I had hoped for a few more, but I was never so lucky.

[dreamnailedit]

My Father is dead. Mother is still alive, but she is a tree and so cannot do much.

My sister has a different mother. But we do not resent her. My sibling and I love her.

She would kill before we could, though.

Children are good. I did not not know I would like having one before I participated in the ritual with Grimm.

[necroyalty]

Their father died long ago, before they were born. I do wish he could have lived to see his daughters, but if he was meant to die, then perhaps I'm fortunate to have a memento of sorts.

It's bittersweet, really.

[dreamnailedit]

At least you can be with them. And you are not rooted in the gardens somewhere.

And they have each other, yes?

[necroyalty]

They do.

For what it's worth, my brother has stepped up to the role of disastrous uncle most wonderfully.

[From the moment they were born Caspar saw his opportunity to be a terrible influence and ran with it, and for that, Ambrosine is grateful.]

[dreamnailedit]

My sister will be a worthy aunt.

Though she will complain.

[Hornet rarely admits to affection.]

Your children are fond of your brother?

[necroyalty]

He lets them do things I don't normally allow them to, then asks them not to tell me.

I end up finding out about around half of it anyway. Naturally, they're more than fond of him.

Not that I can complain much; I believe that's what an aunt or uncle is supposed to do.

[dreamnailedit]

I believe that sounds like Grimm with my sibling.

Though I do not think they would call him uncle.

Perhaps I am wrong, however.

[necroyalty]

Among the orcs and halflings of my world, and in some distant lands among the race of men, anyone could be an aunt or uncle if they tried hard enough.

[It was one of those "any friend or relative of your parents counts" deals.]

[dreamnailedit]

I do not know if he was trying for that.

I shall ask.

[At least Hallownest is weird enough that they don't think it's weird to think of them being their sibling's uncle when they've had a child with them.

Of course, when you create a child through ritual dance...]

[necroyalty]

Do tell me the results.

My children also have one living grandfather, but I take care that they not speak to him more often than is necessary.

[dreamnailedit]

Your father?

[They're pretty sure they don't actually have grandparents, but they know the idea.]

Mention of abuse and generally toxic people beyond this point

[necroyalty]

No, my own father died before they were born.

Their father's father still lives, however. He could hardly stand to even speak of his own son when he was alive, but now he thinks he can curry favor with me because we share a relation to my daughters.

I often wish my own mother were still alive.

[dreamnailedit]

He believes he can use them against you?

That is cruel.

[necroyalty]

I am well aware.

But I suppose that's how family politics works.

[dreamnailedit]

I hope you find a way around it.

They should have a better family than that.

[necroyalty]

My mother was the one who taught me to use magic. She was one of the most brilliant people I ever knew.

She was a scholar; mostly her interests lay in discovering the secrets of the outer planes. Of the mere possibility of traversing worlds beyond our own... she would have loved knowing about this place.

She's dead, but I often wonder whether she's really gone, considering who she was.

[dreamnailedit]

Was she ever able to reach a place outside of your home?

[necroyalty]

A few times, yes. Layers of the Abyss, places where the only people around for miles were talking cats, planes of shadow...

And she would come back and tell me the stories.

My father was more or less content to stay in the plane he was, but at least trying to venture out more would have probably done wonders for his terrible personality.

[dreamnailedit]

I am familiar with a plane of shadow.

It is the Void.

Me and my siblings are all tied to it.

[necroyalty]

...could you tell me more about the Void?

[dreamnailedit]

The Void is emptiness, linked to everything, part of everything.

Great potential lies within. It can be utilized in countless ways, but it requires great will. Only our Father chose to bind living beings to it. Us.

[necroyalty]

I must ask.

Was the void part of your essence since your birth, or were you bound to it after the fact?

[dreamnailedit]

Only Father knows the process by which he bound me and my siblings.

It may have been after we left our eggs, or before.

[necroyalty]

Not even your mother?