Seraphelki

First comment get~ Glad it could pull a laugh!

An invasion of Voidlings (hivemind generic weird monster enemies!) that happens every 18 years. The Descent is the name of this little 'war' period, where cultivators band together and fight them off. Though some mortals also join the defense.

The character image I picked was meant to be a bit more conceptual toward the fact that she can change it between the two colors almost at will. Cultivators in my story in general can affect things like that, but she has practiced the control technique specifically on her hair to a high degree - most pick one they like and keep it, while she goes back and forth almost daily.

Complaints like that are fine! Keeps me honest. I try to hit around my target time in the synopsis, but sometimes life~ Well. Life all the time, but... Yeah!

Oh, if you're expecting the [R18] to happen soon I'm afraid to disappoint. That tag wasn't meant to be a lie, I just ended up writing *way* more about their underage time than I originally expected because I don't know how to pace arcs! But there is teenage-safe spicy fluff as we go along~

If only they knew~ Taught to think girls are weak. Secretly idealizing a 'Brother' that is really a Sister. Lied to directly by their father. They'll need therapy, for real.

Yep, more west overall than east, but with authorial freedom to "culturally appropriate" whenever I feel it fits my story mood~

After trying to work it out a while, I'm gonna say - with ALL the room for this being 'not canon' - that there are like... fifty that are living well at the estate grounds (plus retainers). This would be the elders and the current 'active' cultivators that are receiving direct attention and resources. As well as their married-in wives. Then, since the family is many, *many* generations old, we have a lot of inactive, unsuccessful, and else that are probably branched off at other Yecine holdings with nepotism granted jobs. And married *out* women, who might not fully be considered part of their 'Family' for the sake of counts like this. Altogether, it would amount to *quite* a few hundred? Exponential growth over long time frames make it a worldbuilding math I'd never bothered to consider. Plus how mortality rates cut into the number growth factors... My head hurts~

I know their plan hasn't really been revealed yet, but this 'willing participant' bit hits weird. After she already acted in last chapter like she didn't really know what he was going for?

Physically, Elua would be more than halfway through 13 and Qatrand is 16. The age gap is three years. 'Fortress' is the meaning of the name Qatrand, in 'the old tongue'. The sort of 'Ancient Common Language' that I reference quite vaguely. So she uses it as an endearment a lot.