Evolution of Skytes and The Keep

As I work on the end of an upcoming story arc, Remara and the Tiny Man, I wanted to take a moment and trace the history of this particular segment. While Remara herself is a very old character of mine, most of the concepts in this arc are older than her.

Roughly fifteen years ago I saw this piece of art on Deviantart: A young woman in village-peasant type clothes stands in a darkened wood room. Tiny bloody handprints stain the floor, walls, and her apron. She looks terrified.

From this, I started spinning up the idea of a mute woman in the era of the Salem Witch Trials, Goody Fruman, who was framed for the murder of her husband. By fairies.

I froze up because I didn't know enough historical data. I froze up because the plot didn't make sense or work properly.

The next iteration was developed in a fantasy world. Fairies banded together into small communities called Keeps (little safe havens in the forest). These Keeps were each guarded by the anthropomorphic embodiment of their community spirit, a "Guardian." If the Guardian sickened, it was a sign that something was wrong in the relational health of the community. Without a Guardian, the Darkness could enter and torment the fairies. The Darkness was not well defined, just a malevolent black fog or pool that spoke with the voice of children. It could only enter a Keep if the Guardian vanished or if a fairy willingly took the Darkness into their own body to cross back into the Keep. In this world, fairies who lost their wings became insane, flesh-eating creatures called Groundells. Fairy wings were different based on which season of the year they were born into (Spring petals, Summer leaves, Autumn leaves, Winter fanned-out ice-spikes). For some reason, the Keep in this story was about to be convinced to sacrifice a human for the good of the Keep. To this day I'm not sure why I thought this plot point made sense.

In this new arc, the Darkness has shifted into Deathspill, which is slowly accruing concrete details and origin as I move forward in the story. Fairies are called skytes, and their wings are based on bird wings, though painted like an artist's masterpiece. The wings are integral to their culture in ways I probably haven't fully explored. Keeps are still havens in the woods, but there is no Guardian. There are no Groundells, but skytes without wings are objects of horror and confusion to the rest of them. Skytes can "reach past the world" to the unseen energies--light, heat, perhaps even shadow--and weave them into solid objects or coax health and healing into plants and animals, depending on their inherent giftings. Skytes are found as eggs, but no one--not even the skytes--knows where the eggs come from, as they do not procreate.

The main character of the current arc has his roots in the second iteration of this concept, an autumn fairy named Slen who was a renowned acrobatic flyer. Slen, in the unfinished manuscript, was one who felt unappreciated in his Keep and eventually invited the Darkness into himself, tearing off his own wings in front of everyone as he tried to convince them to sacrifice a human.

I've kept some parts of his concept, but many, many things have changed. I also may have pictured the character Arthur from Mystery Skulls Animated while writing him, to get a better handle on his early-story personality. The current iteration is a character I've come to treasure.

I hope to introduce you to Arc Wildspeech and the new Keep soon. No humans were sacrificed in the making of this tale.