Storyline

 

The House of Karlota

 

The House of Karlota, human-crow descendants of Odin, dwells within the vast, ancient expanse of the Blackcynian Forest. Their palaces, intricately woven high among the treetops, are crafted from an indestructible fibre extracted from the world’s oldest living mycelium. This mycelium, bound to the House in a sacred symbiosis, grants them a rare gift: its fibres vanish in times of danger, rendering the palaces invisible. In return, the House of Karlota safeguards the mycelium from harm. Thanks to this alliance, the House has never fallen in battle. Their hidden fortresses have kept them undefeated for millennia, save for a single intrusion. Cliza, with the help of a traitor from within, once breached the invisible palaces by covering themselves in an ointment made from the mycelium’s extract. This disguise masked them from the mycelium’s defences, allowing them to pass as no threat. Long before these towering palaces stood, the first of the Karlota line endured a brutal winter alone in the forest. It was a fox with an enormous, sweeping tail who saved them, offering warmth through the coldest nights. In gratitude, the House of Karlota welcomed the fox into their home once it was built.

 

Karlota

 

Karlota is the head of the House of Karlota. They are an herbalist healer and secretly own the last known drop of the Mead of Poetry. Karlota has an unbreakable pact with a red peacock, a creature of unusual power. Whenever Karlota is in danger, the peacock appears, fans out its tail, and opens a corridor through space. Karlota uses it to escape, disappearing before harm can reach them. Karlota also secretly possesses the Helm of Echoes, a legendary artifact that grants its wearer the power to read minds. This hidden advantage gives Karlota a decisive edge in high-stakes meetings and negotiations with the other Houses. Karlota was briefly married to Sakura, a human-cat descendant of Kasha, but the marriage was annulled when Sakura found out that Karlota had kept a long-standing relationship with her lover Karsila, a human-owl descendant of Veles. Karlota survives the Rome massacre and returns to their queerdom, but Cliza eventually finds and kills them. However, Karlina, Karlota’s offspring, drinks the last drop of the Mead and learns how to resurrect their progenitor. 

 

Karlina

 

Karlina, born of Karlota and an unknown progenitor, is a master of disguise and a skilled shape-shifter. Together with her lover Orella, united by passion and a shared vision of a more just world, they vow to bring about the downfall of Cliza and dismantle the old orders of power and vengeance. Under the tutelage of a Sylph, Karlina learned to ride the winds with astonishing speed; so fast they can pass unseen. In battle, this gift makes them nearly untouchable; in diplomacy, it makes them unpredictable. Karlina carries with them a titanium necklace set with enchanted jewels, each one pulsing with a different hue of manipulation. This ancient relic, whose origins are lost to time, grants its bearer the power to dominate the will of whoever wears it. Karlina, ever the tactician, never forces it upon their enemies. Instead, they leave it planted like a seed; abandoned on the battlefield, hidden in diplomatic offerings, embedded within the spoils of war, ensuring that it is found and worn. Once the necklace clasps around a neck, Karlina’s influence takes hold. The victim becomes an instrument of Karlina’s will, carrying out orders with eerie devotion. When the task is complete, and their usefulness exhausted, Karlina compels them to end their own life. The necklace then dissolves into vapor, only to reappear, untouched and gleaming, back in Karlina’s possession.​​

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Full storyline