Snowflake Challenge #2 - Fandom promo
Jan. 5th, 2023 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uselessliliumChallenge #2
In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for your fave character, ship or fandom.
Taking this opportunity to talk about my favorite series, Ciel: The Last Autumn Story. This manhwa by Rhim Ju-yeon has been a fixture in my mind for over a decade now, and I still reread parts of it regularly.
The setting is a vaguely 19th century England inspired-fantasy world. A teenage girl named Yvienne Magnolia, born to the poorest family in the kingdom’s poorest village, is scouted as having the potential to become a witch. To avoid being pursued by the local lord’s son, she agrees to attend a government-run school for magic users called Lowood. Along the way, she befriends January Lightsphere, a soon-to-be duke attending the same school to escape his family’s abuse, Lariatte Kingdiamond, a sheltered and aloof young lady with a noble heart, and a secretive upperclassman simply called Daughter. The story winds up developing into two main plot lines - Yvienne’s, which revolves around the magical and mythological aspects of the setting, and January’s, which revolves around the more grounded political aspects (though, of course, there’s overlap between them at various points).
Speaking of, the magic system is a very fun one! Magic is performed when the individual opens a ‘field’ around themselves in which they have control over the space, allowing them to cast spells as the cost of using up their life and energy. Each person has a unique field allowing them to perform a very specific type of magic, which can range from ‘teleportation’, to ‘sound control’, to ‘repairing damaged items’, to ‘time travel’. As a general rule, boys capable of magic are ‘sorcerers’, while girls are ‘witches’. Sorcerers have much simpler fields - they can cast spells quickly and at far less personal cost than witches, but are far weaker than them. Witches are inherently stronger, but due to the complex nature of their field, they need another witch to help them close it - if they can’t, the field will remain open until it uses up all their power and they die. This is a bond that can only be made once, making them partners for life once it's forged, and the end of the relationship means the end of their careers and ability to use magic. (Naturally, this makes it a great AU setting for femslash ships-)
The main quartet are all richly developed characters, with Yvienne herself being one of the most personally relatable I’ve ever encountered in fiction, and the cast as a whole feel like people inhabiting the world instead of just accessories to the leads. Rhim Ju-yeon’s writing style is full of mood whiplash, with a sense of humor about poking at cliches, despite the tone of the narrative becoming increasingly ominous. But throughout it, it’s always extremely sincere in how it depicts the characters’ feelings and struggles, and her way of writing romance has resulted in two of my all-time favorite ships. She manages to balance an ‘I’d die for you/kill for you’ intensity with everyday domesticity and giving them time to simply enjoy each others’ company, and even in the toxic relationships, you can at least understand why the characters feel the way they do about each other. Also, there is, in fact, canon queer content!
It isn't a perfect story, and I can offer a rundown of potential triggers in it for anyone who wants them. But it's beautiful and charming, and its themes of the ends of eras, the importance of loving and being loved, and above all, finding reasons and ways to live no matter what happens remain very meaningful to me. I am always hoping one day it's going to get officially licensed, but until then, the fan scanlations are complete and solid! I highly recommend it for my fellow fantasy enjoyers!
In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for your fave character, ship or fandom.
Taking this opportunity to talk about my favorite series, Ciel: The Last Autumn Story. This manhwa by Rhim Ju-yeon has been a fixture in my mind for over a decade now, and I still reread parts of it regularly.
The setting is a vaguely 19th century England inspired-fantasy world. A teenage girl named Yvienne Magnolia, born to the poorest family in the kingdom’s poorest village, is scouted as having the potential to become a witch. To avoid being pursued by the local lord’s son, she agrees to attend a government-run school for magic users called Lowood. Along the way, she befriends January Lightsphere, a soon-to-be duke attending the same school to escape his family’s abuse, Lariatte Kingdiamond, a sheltered and aloof young lady with a noble heart, and a secretive upperclassman simply called Daughter. The story winds up developing into two main plot lines - Yvienne’s, which revolves around the magical and mythological aspects of the setting, and January’s, which revolves around the more grounded political aspects (though, of course, there’s overlap between them at various points).
Speaking of, the magic system is a very fun one! Magic is performed when the individual opens a ‘field’ around themselves in which they have control over the space, allowing them to cast spells as the cost of using up their life and energy. Each person has a unique field allowing them to perform a very specific type of magic, which can range from ‘teleportation’, to ‘sound control’, to ‘repairing damaged items’, to ‘time travel’. As a general rule, boys capable of magic are ‘sorcerers’, while girls are ‘witches’. Sorcerers have much simpler fields - they can cast spells quickly and at far less personal cost than witches, but are far weaker than them. Witches are inherently stronger, but due to the complex nature of their field, they need another witch to help them close it - if they can’t, the field will remain open until it uses up all their power and they die. This is a bond that can only be made once, making them partners for life once it's forged, and the end of the relationship means the end of their careers and ability to use magic. (Naturally, this makes it a great AU setting for femslash ships-)
The main quartet are all richly developed characters, with Yvienne herself being one of the most personally relatable I’ve ever encountered in fiction, and the cast as a whole feel like people inhabiting the world instead of just accessories to the leads. Rhim Ju-yeon’s writing style is full of mood whiplash, with a sense of humor about poking at cliches, despite the tone of the narrative becoming increasingly ominous. But throughout it, it’s always extremely sincere in how it depicts the characters’ feelings and struggles, and her way of writing romance has resulted in two of my all-time favorite ships. She manages to balance an ‘I’d die for you/kill for you’ intensity with everyday domesticity and giving them time to simply enjoy each others’ company, and even in the toxic relationships, you can at least understand why the characters feel the way they do about each other. Also, there is, in fact, canon queer content!
It isn't a perfect story, and I can offer a rundown of potential triggers in it for anyone who wants them. But it's beautiful and charming, and its themes of the ends of eras, the importance of loving and being loved, and above all, finding reasons and ways to live no matter what happens remain very meaningful to me. I am always hoping one day it's going to get officially licensed, but until then, the fan scanlations are complete and solid! I highly recommend it for my fellow fantasy enjoyers!
