Click here for a list of weather descriptions, seasonal festivals, and a real time:site time conversion.
Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
She runs up the hill to the shrine, giggles chiming around her and pink boots crunching in the thin layer of snow. The icy exterior of Deepfrost glitters in the starlight that has finally been freed after months of overcast clouds blocking them out. Nova throws out her arms when she reaches the top, like she might hug the stars as she takes a deep breath and shouts, "HI MOM!"
Opening her eyes, she turns to Caly, grinning wide as she pulls a pair of glittery gloves from the pocket of her oversized maroon coat. The white and lilac gloves have tiny gems falling off them, reminiscent of stars snowflakes alike, obviously made by her hands, meant only to be worn by a goddess.
Setting the offering next to the candles, she waits a moment for her sister to be ready before rocking forward on her toes. "Mom! We ~finished~! And guess what?! Vespy's moving back! So we'll all be in the same region again!" She sounds almost more excited for that than having finished the quest, although she still wears her bracelet with pride, her eyes shining with unparalleled light as she waits for their mother to appear.
Nova and Calypso are turning in their quest from never close enough to upgrade their bracelets!
Never Far Bracelet | A starlight-infused bracelet that, when activated, teleports the wearer to the bracelet's twin. Must be within the same board.
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Action
1. Have a member of the Gilded Market (can be Nova) repair any wear and tear on the bracelets (must be at the guild) make it shine - They cleaned/repaired the bracelets
2. Witness someone using teleportion that lets them travel over an entire region (or more) climbing back from hell - Observed Thalassa using the Eternal Bonfire
3. Get somewhere faster than normal Rainbow road trip! - Sped up the Ark to get to the Greatwood
4. Complete a thread in a board neither has been in trying to gauge how large regions really are (i.e., in the last quest you had to travel across an entire board. This time I won't make you travel across an entire region, but make a thread where they acknowledge how far travelling across a region really is). Mushroom City Skyline - Looked out over the Greatwood from the Ark
suddenly i'm spinning like a ceiling fan, around and 'round we go
She’s nearly dragged behind the excitement her sister has as they dive toward the shrine in the Barrows, reaching the top and feeling a touch accomplished for how long the trek had taken, especially during Deepfrost where the weather was far more unpredictable and cold. On the heels of her sister’s greeting, she looks to the shrine with a sunshine smile. “Hi mom!” She chimes after, looking up to spy her sister as she turns toward her and shows the offering she’d brought.
It was a cute offering, as far as Caly was concerned – nodding her approval, before she’s withdrawing her own for their mother, warmth exuding from her in a duller sense than the vibrant frenetic energy that Nova puts out. Calypso’s own offering is one of a charm to be either cherished or added to a bracelet for her own, a handcrafted golden sun with the moon partially eclipsing it and the speckle of glittering stars that flare outward from it.
Setting it beside Nova’s offering, she retreats back just a little, peering at the shrine as her sister offers all the most important information. “An’ the Sunbean is doin’ well too.” She says warmly, beaming a bright smile at the shrine awaiting their mother.
Bracelet upgrade quest!
Never Far Bracelet | A starlight-infused bracelet that, when activated, teleports the wearer to the bracelet's twin. Must be within the same board.
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Action
Have a member of the Gilded Market (can be Nova) repair any wear and tear on the bracelets (must be at the guild)
– make it shine – Cleaned and repaired their bracelets
Witness someone using teleportion that lets them travel over an entire region (or more)
– climbing back from hell – Watched Thalassa use the Eternal Bonfire
Get somewhere faster than normal
– Rainbow road trip! – Used the Ark to get to the Greatwood and helped scout/speed it up
Complete a thread in a board neither has been in trying to gauge how large regions really are (i.e., in the last quest you had to travel across an entire board. This time I won't make you travel across an entire region, but make a thread where they acknowledge how far travelling across a region really is).
– Mushroom City Skyline – Saw how big the Greatwood was from the Ark from above and how much longer it’d take to cross on foot.
05-07-2026, 06:45 AM (This post was last modified: 05-07-2026, 06:49 AM by Safrin.)
Safrin
The starlight above the Barrows seems first to brighten, then to bend, each silver point drawing a long and luminous breath until the air between the candles grows soft with radiance. Snow catches the glow in a thousand tiny mirrors, and where the offerings sit beside the shrine, the night gathers itself into something lovelier than Deepfrost has any right to be.
"My girls," she says, her smile blooming bright and beautiful as she looks from Nova to Caly, all moonlit pride and maternal warmth as her gaze drops first to the glittering white and lilac gloves, then to the golden charm with its eclipsed sun and scattering of stars. "Oh, look at what you have brought me." Her fingers brush reverently over the offerings, delicate as a kiss against glass, and for a moment the little gems and golden edges flare as though delighted merely to be noticed by her. "How clever your hands are, and how sweetly you think of me."
Then Safrin is moving, the distance between goddess and daughters vanishing beneath the sweep of her presence as she gathers them both into her arms, warm despite the snow, radiant despite the night, holding them close as though Deepfrost itself has no claim on anything that belongs to her. She presses a kiss to Nova’s forehead first, then Caly’s, lingering over each with the fond possessiveness of a mother counting her stars and finding them exactly where she left them.
At Nova’s bright announcement, Safrin’s smile deepens, though there is no surprise in it, only satisfaction glimmering like a constellation settling into its proper shape. "Of course he is," she says smoothly, one hand lifting as if to brush a stray bit of snow or light from Nova’s hair. "Vesper was never meant to be on his own, whatever he tries to say." Her attention turns to Calypso then, and at the mention of the Sunbean, Safrin’s grin turns bright with amusement. "Yes, darling, it certainly seems to be the talk of the town." The words shimmer with laughter, indulgent and knowing, as though she has heard every whisper, every rumour, every dazzled little bit of gossip carried beneath the stars.
Her gaze lowers to their bracelets then, and the softness of her expression shifts into something more deliberate. Starlight spills from her hand in a liquid stream, pale and gleaming as it pours into Caly’s bracelet, threading through its magic until the air around it hums with a wider reach, a brighter promise. The blessing settles like a ring of light beneath the surface, expanding what was already there.
When Safrin looks to Nova’s bracelet, however, the radiance does not follow.
For a moment, the goddess is very still. Not cold, not cruel, but quiet in the way the sky goes quiet before a star falls. Disappointment touches the corners of her mouth, small and devastating on a face made to be adored, and when she lifts her eyes to Nova, there is no anger in them, which somehow makes the softness worse. "Nova," Safrin says gently, raising one elegant brow as she gives her head a small, sorrowful shake. "You did not do as I asked."
Her hand remains where it is, graceful and unmoving, while Nova’s bracelet is left untouched beneath the winter stars.
Caly has completed her quest and her bracelet has been upgraded!
Nova has not completed her quest, as she had previously posted in the board used for the 4th req which had to be in a new board.
Their mom appears exactly as she always remembers her, powerful and resplendent in the glow of starlight. Love and excitement blossom in Nova as she takes in the goddess, smile widening as she barely manages to contain the urge to rush and greet her. Bouncing on her toes, she lets Safrin praise the offerings - always happy to find their gifts welcome. But it's when she's finally in her mom's arms that Nova breathes again, a gasp of anticipation reaching its peak to be followed by a sigh of relief. When she's running around Caido, chasing her siblings, and finding chaos, she never ceases to miss her mom, but the emotion shines brighter in her presence, a rightness that feels like threads of light weaving together in an unbreakable bond.
Holding the goddess a little tighter, she promises of Vesper, "Don't worry! We won't let him!' She hadn't planned to let him before, and she didn't plan to do it now. He was stuck with them no matter where or how far he tried to run. And with the Sunbean thriving, he'll have to accept that King's End is where they'll drag him back to. She shares a grin with her sister, throwing Caly a playful wink for the cafe they've built, the one Caly has worked so hard to make a success.
Nova couldn't be prouder of her sibling, and when their mom reaches for her bracelet first, there's no jealousy in watching the starlight pour into the jewelry. Her eyes are full of unbridled delight, a warm glow to the brightness of her gaze as she meets those of her family, sharing in the loving moment. Excitement swells in her chest as their mom turns to her, ready to finally be able to reach Caly when she needs her, to protect her when -
But the bracelet doesn't glow.
Her eyebrows furrow, confusion tainting the happiness as she starts, "Mom, why - " But as her eyes turn up, the disappointment she sees there is enough to steal her breath, sucking the life from her. The world seems to tilt, the bright tint of it all turning darker than a starless night. She feels cold, broken, shattered by the look on her mother's face. It's one she's never seen before, one she's never wanted to see, one she can't bear to look at.
She steps out of the embrace, tears blurring her vision as she stares down at the dullness of her bracelet.
Realization prickles at her thoughts like tiny knives, a warbled reminder of the tasks, the one she's failed. She has not words or excuses. She failed her mom, she failed her sister, she failed; and that failure marks her in a way that nothing ever has, casting a shadow over her sparkling demeanor so dark it might as well be a void. The color leaches from every pore, leaving her pale and gaunt with devastation, and for the first time in her life, Nova wants to run and hide - to escape the disappointment in her mother's eyes, to cut out the part of her that had fallen short. Like a star hovering before the fall, she trembles, winking out of existence.
suddenly i'm spinning like a ceiling fan, around and 'round we go
Safrin appears in a brilliant show of silver blooming starlight, reflected on the snow and warming her chest as her smile blooms only brighter to see her mother stand before them. “We’re always thinkin’ of you.” Caly hums brightly, the offerings seen and glittering under their mother’s attention. But then, she’s moving toward them to gather them in her arms and she nestles in, wrapping her arms tight around Safrin just as much as the goddess embraces them.
She smells like the stars and ozone and everything from their real home that the attuned misses, and her eyes shut gently with the press of the kiss to her forehead before they’re forced to withdraw. Close enough that the attuned doesn’t mind the distance, at least, snickering slightly to hear her mother explain that Vesper was never meant to be on his own – something she’d had an idea of deep in her heart but never quite fully expressed. As for the Sunbeam, though, the pride that oozes from Calypso is unmatched, her smile cheshire and coy and so very glad that the news of it managed to reach Safrin’s ear.
Then, she watches as her bracelet begins to glimmer and fill with starlight, beaming to feel it buzz through the air in a way that proves to her its expanded the range. And she awaits the same for her sister’s twin bracelet, watching and waiting before their mother grows quite still and her gaze snaps up to her sister’s face, then to her mother’s, still in Safrin’s close proximity and range as her sister steps away, the disappointment clear and palpable between them even if there’s no attuned bond yet while she’s not shifted to prove to her that Nova’s upset. “Hey, you can try again, right mom?” Looking up at her mother she hesitates for a brief moment, like it’s a question that could be answered with a redo. “It’s gonna be okay, Nova.” She can understand the bit of shame that bleeds into her sister, and in any other instance she’d be intensely protective over her sister, but when the disappointment and cause of the upset is their mother, the attuned finds herself torn.
Is it a lesson for Nova to learn, to redo and understand on her own? Or is it something she should reach out to help with? She’s unsure, balancing on that edge between both of them.
Safrin’s frown follows Nova as she steps away, not sharp enough to wound and not soft enough to indulge, the curve of it settling over her mouth like a shadow crossing the moon. The snow continues to glitter around them, the shrine still bathed in the silver radiance of her arrival, but the goddess does not allow the little swell of devastation to become the centre of the sky merely because Nova has tried to make herself small beneath it.
"Nova," she says, and though her voice remains gentle, there is a firmer thread drawn through it now, bright as wire beneath silk. "What are the tears for?" One elegant brow rises as she looks at her daughter, not with cruelty, not with the catastrophic displeasure she might have turned upon anyone else who had come before her with half a task and a trembling lip, but with the particular expectation reserved for something beloved enough to be shaped carefully. Her gaze lowers briefly to the untouched bracelet, then returns to Nova’s face, luminous and unblinking. "You have not been cast from the stars, my darling. You have not been broken beyond mending, nor have I taken one ounce of love away from you." The words are warm, but there is no room inside them for collapse, no little nest of pity into which Nova might tuck herself and disappear. "You failed to do what I asked, and that means your bracelet cannot be altered as Caly's has been. That is all."
Her attention flickers to Caly, then, catching the bright tangle of protectiveness there as easily as starlight catches on snow, and a private smile touches Safrin’s lips, small and pleased despite the moment, because of course her daughters would pull toward one another even when the lesson was not shared between them. Still, she gives a delicate shrug, the movement making the light around her shoulders shimmer.
"I suppose that is all up to Nova." Her voice turns back toward the one in question, patient now in the way the heavens are patient with a star not yet ready to burn as brightly as it might. "She may try again, if she wishes. She may decide that a mistake is a monster and run from it until she has worn herself hollow, or she may lift her chin, remember whose daughter she is, and finish what she began."
Her sister's comfort is like a single star in a sea of darkness, unable to overcome the shame and heartbreak that have consumed her, and when her name pierces that void, Nova shrinks from the heaviness of it. She doesn't look up, can't bear to see anything other than the adoring love she's always known from her mom, can't bear the way it cuts deep into her soul. Desperate arms wrap tight around her midsection as if she can block out the devastation eating at her, like she can suffocate the failure coiling there.
She shakes her head, a wetness dampening her cheeks as she sucks in a breath, grappling with the reality that she's let her mom down, that she's embarrassed the goddess by being unable to follow a simple task, that she's not the perfect daughter. Even Safrin's reassurance that her love remains unfazed by the mistake doesn't change the catastrophic shift in Nova's confidence, unable to join together the concepts of simultaneously loving her and being disappointed. She feels diminished and pathetic, believing herself to be lacking in her mother's eyes and the shadow of failure she'd found there.
No matter how softly or gently it's spoken, that word rings again out damningly loud - 'failed' - like a blemish on her name, a label carved into her, something Safrin has seen and disapproved of. It shoves aside the brightness of her soul, intent to set roots and grow a home for itself where it can cast more shadows across her thoughts and burrow deeper into her very being. Like a disease ready to eat away everything within reach, the beast looks first for the most delicious morsels, reaching for the colorful vibrancy of her identity.
And yet, when the goddess speaks, her words hold power, containing the failure to something small and finite - insignificant. 'That is all.' It limits the power of the blight, placing it into a pot where its roots can't take hold and its growth remains insignificant. For a moment, she feels the relief, the failure loosening its devastating hold on her; but what lies beneath is weak and unstable, struggling to rally or stand against the weight of her mother's disappointment.
Lifting her gaze, she catches the remnants of a warm smile directed at Caly, her heart cracking as she remembers when that same look had been directed at both of them only moments before. Now, she's separate, fracturing and broken, undeserving of that same affection. Fresh tears gather in her eyes, already cresting from the height of her emotions and the clear instructions she hears in Safrin's words. Her throat tightens, chin trembling as her blue eyes find the goddess. "I'll be better." She wishes it were a declaration full of war and determination, a powerful proclamation of improvement and unwavering strength - but it's strained and wanting, warbling as a plea that begs forgiveness for her faults, colored with desperation to be a worthy daughter.
05-11-2026, 11:23 AM (This post was last modified: 05-11-2026, 11:30 AM by Calypso.)
suddenly i'm spinning like a ceiling fan, around and 'round we go
Stuck in the interim between her mother and her sister, to the tears and upset that linger in her sister’s body and the confusion that laces through Caly’s own. It was only a trial, something small that could be rectified. It wasn’t as if it was the end of the world, but based off her sister’s reaction, it might as well be.
Lingering next to Safrin, embracing her light as her mother explains the simplicity of the issue at hand, the agreement that she could rectify it and fix it and get her bracelet in order just as Caly’s own was. And it’s a boon that she nods to as she looks over at Nova, pausing to nibble o her lip to hear her sister’s rough voice say that she’ll be better.
So, nodding, she glances up to Safrin with amber eyes, bright like sun soaked wood with a quiet vow that she’d help her sister where she could, before she takes her bracelet into her hand and slips it around her wrist, comforted by the weight of it there and the lingering shades of the starlight that had filled it. “Thanks mom. We’re gonna miss you.” She says, speaking for the both of them as she snags Nova’s bracelet to give back to her.
Then, reaching up and giving her a warm hug full of everything she has, she turns toward Nova with a hand stretched and the bracelet dangling from her fingertips. “C’mon Nova, let’s get yours done.” The smile she sends her sister is warm and optimistic, confident in her sister that she can fix this.
