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Okay so I tried to look what the name Alfarīd meant but all I could find was it apparently being a boy's name meaning “alone, loneliness” and I was like, huh? That... doesn't sound like a good name to have— Tanaka has a tendency to use names for the opposite gender so I'm not surprised about that but the meaning gives me pause. Maybe it means “alone” as in similarly to “in the heavens two suns cannot shine” type deal? Hmmmm.

Cool panel. Nothing much to add except that Alfarīd is brave. And this can't be her first rodeo— she's gotta have some experience right? Maybe her first was when she came of age (15). Or even before. Haltash doesn't strike me as someone who'd try to shelter his children...

Also, caught the bit where Hilmes called her slippery— I forget whether Narsus was directly called slippery to his face but Hilmes did say he was slippery to Gieve who is also slippery.

Welcome to the slippery slithery club, babygirl.

I mean, Hilmes, combat goes both ways, alright? This is giving me deja vu to when he provoked Daryun and then got mad Daryun's emotional charge made him lose his mask like m'boy what were you fucking expecting.

I will never not find this hilarious (esp considering Alfarīd's later crush on him hhhhh).

If it were Ranna in Narsus' place they'd be like “sure thing honey let's commit murder together :)”

Poor Alfarīd. This must be the worst day of her life— and she's a good kid.

Narsus connecting the dots on the spot!! (Like mentor like student, if I'm being honest, Arslan is a sharp kid) (didn't screencap but Narsus 🤝 Elam in using boulders!!)

Alfarīd makes very good points here and oh my god it's that bad? Not even the free folk have it good, huh... The classism is honestly stunning.

The Zott would understand why the clan doesn't like to go out all that much since they're deathly terrified of being killed or enslaved— (I haven't done the research to see if it's a real thing historically but I've seen a couple stories where bandits kidnap people to sell them into the slave trade, I doubt the Zott do that considering their views though other groups might?)

They're good.

Also, bandits come out in the dark... Ranna and Alfarīd would make a very fine pair indeed.

“There are three conditions to terrify someone: One, the monster can’t speak. Two, the monster has to be unidentifiable. Three, it’s meaningless if the monster can die.” — Aozaki Touko

And Touko was right.

I am in love with this!!!! This is so amazing!!!

Tried my hand at designing a collective sigil for the Marda clan as a whole (because individuals don't have crests) thanks to seeing @importantdestinydefendor 's crest design and being inspired by it.

It's a stylized pine tree flanked by mountains, with phases of the moon up above.

I am not satisfied with this, this was just me testing the waters and my god was this thing fucking stressful to draw. I don't ever wanna do it again.

Arslan's crest in this AU would bear similarities to this, albeit with the borders/circle of Shapur and Isfan's crests, a bird replacing the mountains and pine tree (though maintaining the general silhouette and the details on the pine). I'm not gonna draw it anytime soon, it was really stressful T_T

I am always hyped to see some AU ideas for the ArSen univers and it is always fascinated to see with which ideas everyone is coming up and how much afford is putting into it.

I absolutely love this fact

The Kingdom of Maar

Here is the lore post for Maar i pormised! It is only the history as I did go a bit overboard with literally everything lol. At least have this as I sort out the rest

(We love going overboard for Lore™)

WARNING: long post

HISTORY OF MAAR

What came when

people originated from Maryam

They searched for land in hopes of a better future and life

Water, not Land!

a small land in the Siyabun Sea becomes their new home

very slowly building homes at the coast and trying to grow differnt crops

creating a new faith so the people stick together (also found traces of ancient civilisation which they mix with the pagen religions from Maryam)

trying to resume their normal life with what they have

slowly building an army (ya know, just in case)

Hey, who wants wine?

finding fertile soil higher up

finding grapes and starting to grow them

make wine, discover demand and profit, selling time!

discover small amounts of metal (like iron, gold, copper,etc.) and start mining and smithing

Who the fuck?

tryed conversion/invasion by the Lucitanians

expanding the army into a small navy fleet

using self-made weapons and stopping the invasion

Lucitanians give up

destroied crops and some coastal villages due to the fight

needing to expand further into the mountains and higher up

Even more metal!!

through forced expantion discovered more raw metal in mountains

expantion of mining and usage of metal in every day life

finding more traces of ancient civilisation and starting to use the runic magic system

Come and get some!

establishing international trading and political and diplomatic bonds

great respons

Roundtrip

Eldar visits Pars for diplomatic discussions with Gotarzes

an accident happens

Eldar dies

Moja takes over until Farzin is old enough

Another expantion!

strenthening nayvel forces

expanding wine fields

New era of reign

marrige to Serrilda

Farzin succeeds the throne

new law that everyone can serve in the army

florishing international trade

What, again?

tryed invasion by Lucitania again

after they tried to invaed Maryam and where stoped by Pars

failed again (even worse than before)

Now

sending a small delegation to Pars

offer help against Lucitania

Andragoras refuses and sends them away

under the order of Farzin, they still help in the shadows

Later, form alliance with Arslan, which is even later revoked by Andragoras again

Currently designing Azar's mother in a portrait style, but I can't decide on her family crest 🥲

When I tried to think about what could be on it, I have a void in my head. Even when I use the other's as reference, nothing comes up😭

Can some of you give me inspiration, please???

(This is before she married Azar's father, btw)

OK so after @tired-reader-writerand @importantdestinydefendor have posted your crest for your Arslan fanfiction. I was super hyped and got my started coat of arms out again for my Oc Kayra to finally finish it. I almost completely reworked it but I'm very happy with the result.

Once as information in front away. The coat of arms does not consist of white borders. Unfortunately, since I don't have any digital drawing tools like a tablet or a pen or an app (shame on me), I tried to work on shapes and outlines. Unfortunately, I couldn't color all the outlines in white with this program and the result looked… well, not really nice. That's why the outlines are shown in black here…but you can imagine everything in white on a red background.

So the coat of arms is easily recognizable based on Shapur's coat of arms. I thought I'd go with the canon variant here, where family crests are similar.

So now to the symbolism I used in the coat of arms. I can already anticipate that not all symbols here have their origin in Arabic/Persian. I'll go into more detail on that later. I'm trying not to spoil too much here because I'm not that far into the story or haven't written it yet. However, here is some background information on Ka

The first thing you see at the top of the coat of arms is a dahlia. The dahlia is a popular flower and has a special meaning: in the language of flowers, we can use it to express "forever yours". The symbolism of this summer flower also stands for strength or as a sign of charity and gratitude. But it also stands for renewal and birth.

I found the symbolism here very appropriate as Kayra has gone through a "remake" and healing process throughout the story. This process marks her strength, for which she herself is very grateful. At this point in the process, Kayra's feelings for Shapur have fluctuated, and for a time she even hated him.

This is where the symbolism "forever yours" comes into play. Because after Kayra was reborn in a way, she realized that Shapur was too deep in her heart to simply forget him or not love him at all.

This flower is also equated with the sun in some cultures, which is very fitting because Kayra is also often compared to the sun due to her red hair and her charity. Personally, I realized back then that I always liked comparing Tahamyne to the moon. Maybe I created Kayra as a counterpoint to hers… who knows. The flower grows in many regions, but here it is meant to represent the region of Japan.

This is for the following reason and here comes again @tired-reader-writer in the game. Because Kayra has to leave Pars with the age of 21 and did not return until nine years later.

Originally I had planned to have them travel further east…so probably towards Serica and beyond. But since I'm not familiar with the culture, I changed my mind at the time and wanted to let them travel more north. But somehow I got stuck at a certain point and a lot of things didn't make sense. After me with @tired-reader-writer

I'm going back to my original plan. However, I quickly realized that Kayra was very restless at this point in her journey and would not have stayed in one place for long. I then exchanged views with a friend and she then said why not tell a story like in the novel eat, pray, love. Here, the main character travels through different countries to find himself again and that is why the dahlia is also associated with the country Japan. As a point for Kayra's journey……and that leads us straight to the branches below this flower.

These are sage leaves which represent healing and thus Kayra's ability to heal with her magic and her knowledge of the healing arts and medicinal herbs. She acquired this ability on her first stop on her journey, in a country which will be based on our Nepal (at least according to the plan).

The fox in the middle of the coat of arms stands for Kayra herself. Like the wolf for Isfan, the fox can be equated with Kayra. Not only does the color red play a role here (in relation to Kayra's hair color and the fox's fur), but also adaptability and skill. As a power animal, the fox stands for your own life! Foxes are the symbol of growth and inspiration, but also cleverness, cunning and magic. As a soul animal, the fox shows that it is time to act. Especially the area of magic inspired me in this animal. The fox is also equated with magic in almost every culture. But the aspect of action also stands out here, as Kayra prefers to tackle things directly rather than spend hours discussing them (diplomacy isn't exactly her forte either, maybe that's why she gets along so well with Kubard?.

But the fox also stands for cunning, cunning and deceit. This doesn't mean that Kayra is treacherous, but Narsus already has a hard time playing chess against her. She is also very adaptable and really excellent at hiding and disguise (who do you think Elam got the wig from when he was spying in Ecbatana as a girl).

Another aspect….have you ever heard a fox laugh? No? Should you do it… that's what Kayra's laughter sounds like. At first everyone is surprised, but this laughter is so contagious that you have to laugh along with it.

So finally we have the gladioli at the bottom of the coat of arms. These flowers are very old and were given to victorious gladiators as gifts in ancient times. The name comes from the Latin term "gladius", which stands for a Roman short sword. This flower originally comes from Africa and the Arab countries. Thus, the flower symbolizes strength, victory and pride. This meaning dates back to Roman times where gladiators literally fought for death or gladioli, for the victor of the fight was showered with gladioli. Also, the bulb of the flower is believed by some cultures to possess magical powers. But also the meaning "You pierce my heart" - (Due to its sword-like leaves) the flower was associated with infatuation. The flower can also symbolize love at first sight, sincerity, and remembrance. Which in this context stands for the connection between Shapur and Kayra as lovers.

But this flower can also be seen as a symbol for the family. Blooming in a variety of colors, the gladiolus represents the diversity and uniqueness of each member of the family, yet all are bound by a common bond. The flower also represents sincerity, honesty and integrity, values that are important in building strong and lasting family relationships.

The gladiolus is a powerful reminder of the strength, courage and diversity that exists in families. Since family is incredibly important to Kayra and she lost her parents early, this flower has a very special connection to her. She has found a new family in Shapur and Isfan who loves her more than anything and wants to protect her. However, she also sees in Arslan and the group a family that is not connected by blood but has continued to strengthen their cohesion through their strengths and abilities.

I personally think that the gladiolus reflects Kayra very well.

So I don't think I've ever written such a long post but I'm just so super happy with the end result. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.