For Phyrra and Cyrus, I did think of the adept human boy's name.
William Grant Clemency, who prefers just Will. (I am subtle, oh so subtle.) I also fleshed him out a little bit, but not as much as I would prefer. The Thaukama meet him at a bit of a formal gathering; he is a frequent attender to such outings, as minor nobility. 

His parents do end up encouraging him to go see the world, albeit giving him errands to do when adventuring and homework so to speak, where he is to continue his studies. Their justification is more or less that having some real world experience will help him succeed in life using more than just his natural talents by giving him the skills necessary to survive in any environment, rather than just a sheltered one.

They also have enough trust in their son to trust his trust in the Thaukama, in that he knows that he travels with a group which is destined to succeed. Said parents do offer as many resources as their network grants them without being intrusive--it'd get in the way to have servants travel with him and defeat half the point, and they only have influence over a bit of a localized area so can't contact him half-way around the world, but they do what they can to offer assistance and influence, which does aid the Thaukama.

​But other than these details, 90% of which I more or less knew already, didn't really do anything. I still owe you the double-ramble on the perfect RPG and the new webcomic, but I suppose these things can wait.

Specifically, I am talking about Phyrra and Cyrus.

I actually have...well basically. The entire series more or less with a basic plot outline including what is probably the entirety of the Thaukama. I'll start with the trivial and work my way down the list.

For a start, pronunciations. The way Phyrra is meant to be pronounced is a bit unusual--the 'a' at the end can be interpreted most commonly as 'aw' or 'uh'; the latter is the correct one. The double-rs can be thought of as Phy-ra, Phyr-a, or Phyr-ra; it is meant as Phyr-ra. The y can be interpreted as 'ai' or 'e'; the latter is the correct one. Ph can commonly be thought of as 'f' or 'p'...but in this case, it's actually neither, more in-between the two. Much, much, MUCH closer to 'p', but not purely 'p', with the slightest of accents on it which kinda brings in the 'f' sound but not strongly.

The way I like to remember this altogether is to think, Pier-ruh, and then make it P'here-ruh to get the accent more or less right. Myra, on the other hand, has the 'e' sound; it is My-ruh, essentially. Thaumason, as established, is pronounced almost exactly like 'Thompson'. Just, instead of a quick almost-silent p, it's a quick, almost-silent a. 

Most of the other names I've come up with are pretty self-explanatory. Now for the fun part. Outlining the characters.

Last time, I more or less talked about everything there is to know about Ace, but today I figured out his full name: Ace Marcus Samson. As established, he's sixteen years old, a sharpshooter, and wilderness survival expert, with great medical expertise. He is the first human member of the Thaukama to be introduced--within the first 12 episodes, before even Kaze is.

The first Big Bad is defeated in episode 12, but during this conflict, Gora is badly wounded; Kaze comes in at episode 13 as a result.

I'm not sure if it is during this time or during the first 12, but at some point around here, we are introduced to Cedric Thomas Jenkins, a nineteen-year-old prodigy in wielding a very specific form of telekinetic magic: he controls magically-enhanced platinum spheres, which he launches as if bullets. (If you've seen the scene from X Men 2 involving Magneto's jailbreak, think like those.) He knows only that one spell, and it is very specifically only applicable to the platinum spheres he controls; this is noted as being difficult to do.

He is a mercenary, and a bit of a rival, even antagonist, to the Thaumason siblings. However, he does eventually join the Thaukama full-time as a fairly early member.

The next arc after this is a desert kingdom arc, where a demon master has seized control of an empire. (There is enough of a strong resistance led by the legitimate heir to the throne that it can be considered a civil war, but the bad guys are winning...by a LOT.) This is where Myra is summoned and introduced.

Bard Tune Song ("...Really?" "...Unfortunately, yes.") is introduced during this arc. He is a seventeen-year-old street urchin, who looks younger than he is (he looks like a scrawny fifteen-year-old). He actually likes life on the streets. He loves to be a street performer of various different types--yes, including being a traveling musician--but his repertoire also includes being a con artist, a pickpocket, and thief, in that he is skilled at sneaking around and stealing.

However, he is also a being known as a 'Spirit Demon'. This is, essentially, something which is comparable to the mixture of a vampire and a werewolf (so, yes, a werepyre as they are commonly known); neither vampires nor werewolves exist in the setting so this is the closest thing to either which combines traits from both. It also has a bit of a Jekyll/Hyde relationship (or more like Banner/Hulk), in that the Spirit Demon can come out when the individual experiences any form of extreme distress.

This is normally not a problem--normally. In this setting, a Spirit Demon has full control over themselves. Usually. They are ferocious shapeshifting beasts, yes, but they are still lucid, in full control of themselves. Their shapeshifted form is just a super mode of sorts. Said form is also the form where they drain energy from individuals, something which if extreme enough can kill the person, but they are equally as capable of just ripping or tearing a person to shreds were they inclined to.

Spirit Demons aren't easily created, either, but do spread on rare (seen as) unfortunate moments. They need the energy of others to survive, thus their moniker, but they do get many upsides; regeneration, superstrength, endurance, a thick hide, agility, claws, teeth, and the like.

This makes Bard a great combatant, and he'd be all too happy to be a hero...

...But during his introductory arc, he is against his will a slave to said big bad, who as noted is a demon master, and Bard is a spirit demon. Bard, in is HUMAN form, is free...but once he transforms into his spirit demon form, he is enslaved, and worse...he is conscious of his actions, just forced to obey orders he'd really rather not. So he's an antagonist who is all too happy to join the Thaukama once he is actually able to.

Said arc lasts until around episode 20. At this point, there is a mini-arc revolving around traveling to 'The New World', a world where if you are capable of surviving, fame is almost-guaranteed. It is a place far more dangerous, such that it is even hazardous to get there. The Thaukama getting stranded on an island thanks to being shipwrecked by a common storm of the area forces Phyrra in Cyrus's body to summon Hera and learn her water magic. (With her controlling both water and air, she can control the storms and prevent them from decimating the Thaukama on their journey.)

This would conclude the first season, around episode 24.

At this point, in the new world during episode 25, we are introduced to Clara Cleopatra Carson. She is a Paladin--think Magic Knight. Specifically, it is a knight-in-shining-armor, full plate mail, wielding sword-and-shield, and trained to use a very specific type of magic, sun magic. Even though she is a prodigy, Clara is only sixteen, so she's still a trainee; she knows only two spells. Those spells are a spell to essentially make her hand act as a lantern, and a spell which engulfs her sword, greatly increasing the cutting power of it and allowing her to send out the stereotypical anime shockwave with her slashes.

When she combines the two, she can channel them into the five throwing knives she carries to create a straight, long, cavalry blade made of light--yes, a quite literal light saber. She is also a skilled blacksmith, as a prerequisite for becoming a Paladin is to forge your own equipment; this makes her a pragmatic member of the team.

As it just so happens, she is also a childhood friend of the Thaumasons, in that they grew up in the same orphanage. This leads to a number of funny moments when they meet up, including Clara showing off her magic and saying that if they are very lucky, that Phyrra and Cyrus when they are her age might be able to do similar. A quick nonverbal communication occurs between the siblings as Phyrra eyes a "...Should we?", and Cyrus's smile indicates a, "Oh yes."

...So in synch, Phyrra forms a mini-cyclone in one hand and a flowing circle of water in the other; Cyrus forms a rock spike in one hand and a fireball in the other. Poor Clara is left uttering broken insensible words as she blue screens from the sheer shock. (Keep in mind that prodigies, even prodigies of specific types of magic, take until their teens to do it; Clara is an immense prodigy for being so young and having what she does, so it should be impossible for Phyrra and Cyrus to surpass her while they are their age.)

Her luck doesn't improve much. Because Phyrra and Cyrus are, obviously, still in each other's bodies (which they are for the vast majority of the series aside from some specific instances where they go into their rightful bodies; I worked out that they are themselves for the 24 hour cycle of both a full and new moon, so once every other week), Phyrra decides to prank poor Clara even further.

Phyrra acts exactly like Cyrus, with Cyrus acting exactly like Phyrra, a scheme they ask the Thaukama to go along with. However, in some moments, the two will overtly, deliberately, act like themselves, confusing their old friend immensely. Clara does figure it out eventually, but it gives you a fair idea of what the poor girl has to live through.

Despite that, though, she is a serious character; Paladins are immensely talented warriors and even though she is still a trainee, she IS a Paladin, skilled in martial combat and whose smithing skills are of endless use to forging and repairing the Thaukama's equipment. So she fights well and provides services valuable to the team outside of combat.

The next arc is a mini-arc lasting until about episode 30, revolving around an arctic land. When the Thaukama find themselves in need of appropriate winter clothing, they stop by at a tailor shop to obtain the goods they need, and are introduced to the shop owner of Lilian's, Lilian Rose Wolfe, AKA, Lily (her preferred name). She is older than any other human(ish) member of the Thaukama, at 32, and has the life experience to go with it.

She offers to clothe the Thaukama for free, on the condition she is allowed to study Hera's clothes, as she knows that the inspiration she'd receive from having gotten a good look at them would when she made some based off of Hera's clothing (Hera is one of my favorite designed characters aesthetically as I envision her), be worth far more than any fare she would charge the Thaukama; she points out that if anything she'd be ripping them off.

Hera notes that the only reason her clothes are practical are that they are magically crafted as part of her body, more or less, but Lily is quick to point out the vast majority of her customers across all the shop branches she has opened aren't interested in how pragmatic the outfit is, and that aesthetics sell.

Hera is still rather put off at the idea of it, though, because she would essentially be selling herself off to pay for clothing in her eyes, only to have people wear clothing which is a pale imitation of her own, bringing hers down.

Phyrra sways her to take the deal with a rather simple observation:
"Miss Hera, this pretty lady is offering to take your measurements."

Of course, Lily makes a point that taking measurements, while an intimate process, is not a sexual one, and that it is poor professionalism to mix business with pleasure, especially with clients who wouldn't typically assume she's into them. (The implication being that, yes, she does in fact like her ladies, and have a job which gets her intimate with them, yet she avoids taking advantage of her clients.)

With the biggest of knowing smirks, though, she notes, "However, if the deal relies on me being a little less professional than I normally would be...some sacrifices can be made." She also assures Hera, with some flattery, that her work would make everyone be in awe of the original, increasing rather than decreasing the allure of Hera's original.

Lily does end up adventuring with the Thaukama for business-related reasons, though decides to stay with them (she has her apprentice run the shop, something she does often because she has shops in many different towns) after that. She carries the tools of the trade for a tailor, everything from a mallet to knives to pins to needles to ropes and so on and so forth. Beyond that, she also carries survival tools such as a hatchet.

...However.
Though she is a combatant, none of those are what she actually fights with.
She fights with...

...A whip.

...Now, admittedly. It is an enchanted whip. Lily cannot use any sort of magic, but her whip was given some permanent rune enchantments mixed with technology, allowing her to dominate fights with it. Aside from it being able to wrap around things disproportionately well and also unwrap just as easily (think Indiana Jones like usage of a whip, which in real life...doesn't really work that well), her whip can be electrified, shocking anything it comes into contact with.

Additionally, the whip can be engulfed in fire. A third option available to her is essentially VASTLY enhancing the crack-sound of a whip to create a sort of shockwave, essentially allowing her whip to both pierce and cut what she pleases. But the real feature is a rather mundane one: various toxins that she can release from the whip at will, which range in effect from paralysis to confusion to temporary blindness to causing unconsciousness. None are lethal, but all are effects that give her an edge where once the poison takes effect, if the enemy isn't immune, she wins.

Hera, upon witnessing this for the first time, has quite the reaction, noting, "It's been a long time since a human has made me feel this way..."
Phyrra instantly catches on, teasing her: "Does Miss Hera have a crush~?"

She's not alone.

On one of the times where Cyrus has his own body, Hera and Lily go on a trip to a nearby city for that day. As they get ready to depart, Cyrus blurts out, "Are you two going to have lesbisex?"
Hera's reaction is to smack him really hard in the head, and then depart.

When they are a fair distance away, Cyrus further notes, "That wasn't a no~!" (Hera and Lily just smile as they leave.)

Once more as explicitly as the show would allow the implication would be that, yes, these two do end up as a couple, but it wouldn't be something likely to be absolutely confirmed during screentime. 

After the arctic arc, there is one episode which introduces the only member of the Thaukama who I've yet to name, a 12-year-old boy, who is what is known as an 'Adept Human': a human able to see things for what they really are. In other words, he knows all the guardians are spirits instantly and can see Phyrra and Cyrus's body swap.

This gift also gives him a minor form of combat clairvoyance, in that he is very gifted at knowing where enemies are likely to attack and allowing him to dodge almost anything. However, his true talent is that he is a bit of a beastmaster, in that he tames animals; this is a valuable skill for, saaaaaaaaaaaay, obtaining a ride for long-distance travel; having mounts which are suitable for the environment is a vital skill his addition to the Thaukama allows for.

Immediately after this, the Thaukama face down the third big bad, which concludes at episode 36.

Episode 37 introduces the final member of the Thaukama, Alena Mary Woodrow, an 11-year-old girl. She is the girl I mentioned previously, but now I know her name and also her talent--botany, with a side of alchemy. She has an incredible level of empathy, on par with the Adept Human boy, except she's just a normal girl, albeit prodigous in her field with a green thumb.

Episodes 38-48 would then involve the fourth and final big bad for the series.

Now, granted.

Some episodes I have the content mapped out for.

But most of these episodes I very much do not. I have an idea of what I want the general narrative for the story to be, outlined more or less above (albeit with me deliberately hiding some information here and there), and I have the characters more or less pegged down. Yet the vast majority of the series is filled to the brim with gaps in content that I'm not sure what is actually there.

Also, while I have a general timeline in mind, the episodes are a bit fluid. I might end up needing more than 48 total, or I might significantly struggle to fill up the episodes necessary for 48 to make sense. Some arcs might be lengthened or shortened. I don't have any specific idea for how long the desert arc/big bad2 is, just that I want Hera to be introduced at or before the end of the first season, and that she is introduced near the end of a mini-arc that comes after said desert arc/big bad2.

Similarly so for the arctic arc; I didn't have any particular length in mind. Also, the big bad3 being dealt with at 36 in one way actually feels way, way later than it should be and yet in another way feels way, way earlier than it by all rights should be; I feel like this is a big bad who should exist for a long time and yet his effect I want to happen earlier in the series rather than later. (Said effect I know is after Lily's introduction which is after Hera's introduction though, so that gives a pretty specific timeframe.)

One technique I might use to accomplish this: the third big bad might be shown in episodes before his arc, as having ties to both prior big bads, making him seem like the big bad for the entire series even though he's only the penultimate big bad. Given that I have approximately ten episodes to introduce and play around with the final big bad, I'm not concerned about him coming out of nowhere, so I think this works, too.

Is there anything else in my notes?

Hmm...I don't think so. I think that covers both the 18th and today. I don't think I forgot anything so I think I covered basically everything. You more or less have a much better idea what the setting, story, and Thaukama would be like for Phyrra and Cyrus.

If I did my job right, you'll even share my wish that it could be made real.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Last night I believe I got like 5 hours of sleep and yet all of today I've felt like I've been operating on less than half that, utterly exhausted to dangerous degrees. I suspect something interrupted my sleep which I have no recollection of. And/or that I didn't sleep well. Basically that in spite of me having had that amount of sleep in theory, in practice it was only a small amount of that.

Additionally, while my body only needs like six hours of sleep a day, it's still pushing it for me to be getting that amount six days a week and to work the long hours I do every single day. I did the math, I legit am working enough hours between my two jobs to have it considered a full-time job. It kinda sucks!

Basically, I need all the help I can get.

I DO get the six hours I need more often than not.
But some days I get a little less and it adds up fairly rapidly.

Of course.
Hopefully I'm not sick at all.
​But because of the possibility. And because frankly even if I weren't sick I should be going to bed anyway. I'll be going to bed now.

But today was indeed productive, working more on Phyrra and Cyrus, in that I developed a member of the Thaukama.

I'll see if I can talk to you about her tomorrow; she is a great character. I don't have the time now since I had family night celebrating my dad's birthday.

...Since my creative whims are being interrupted by having listened to music in order to drown my dad out. However, that having been said, I still have three very valid things to ramble on. Let's start with the most recent. A couple of days ago, on Thursday, I had a series of dreams, one after another, which were all amazing and awesome dreams filled with adventure. Mostly after I'd waken up, as part of my powernapping.

There was one which stood out above the rest.

It didn't take me very long to dub the story idea...
Phyrra and Cyrus.

Phyrra and Cyrus Thaumason (yes, that is Thompson, and yes it is just about as common a surname for the setting--it's not exactly 'Smith', and while it's not a top-ten surname, it IS a top-15 surname; incredibly common and unremarkable) are prodigal twin siblings. They are considered to be incredibly talented for their age--at 11 years old, both are already accomplished adventurers.

Phyrra is a bit of a Genki girl--she is energetic, enthusiastic, radiates an aura of brightness and happiness, is sweet, naive, and innocent. Additionally, she is incredibly polite, and fairly formal. However, she is also reckless, hotheaded, and a blood knight who loves the thrill of combat. Her specialty is bladed weapons, especially swords. She has blue hair, which is let down. She is also bisexual. (Well, at her age, more like biromantic, butstill.)

Cyrus is everything Phyrra isn't. He is calm, cool, and collected: a thinker, cautious by nature, who prefers to avoid combat when at all possible. He'll use any method to avoid conflict, be it running away or preferably negotiation. However, if a fight is inevitable, his fighting method is to be decisive--whereas Phyrra likes to have fun fighting and thus doesn't think much about winning, Cyrus when he plans a fight plans how to end it as swiftly and effortlessly as possible. He is blunt, unapologetic, rude, cynical, and a bit of a jerk, but he really knows how to use anything.

This is why his preferred weaponry is environmental weaponry. For instance, if surrounded by rocks, using a sling would be a good option; when in a forest, wooden weapons such as a spear would be ideal. When he has to default to a weapon, his choice is the universal staff, a tool versatile, yet pragmatic, and easily carried. He has protagonist-styled spiked red hair. He is demisexual. (Well, at his age, more like demiromantic, butstill.)

The duo sought after the usual things. Fame, fortune, but mostly...respect. A secondary caveat to this was them wanting to be treated as any other person would be, not discriminated against as being children. A tertiary aspect of this was them being self-aware enough that they aren't yet adults, and being frustrated that, yes, their minds still do operate as those of children, albeit incredibly gifted, mature, prodigal children. Though they have the experience and talent of adults, they know all too well their thoughts and critically emotions are those of kids, still.

In the adventure which kicks off the story, the Thaumason Siblings set out after a legendary book, the Book of Endlessness, said to be able to grant the reader(s) limitless abilities, among them age manipulation. Their idea: find the book, and use it to wish to be adults, such that they could so to speak "skip ahead". They were, of course, aware of the risks in doing so, but deemed it worth it because what would be lost from that wouldn't be something they'd miss, as far as they were concerned.

They didn't even think the book was real or if it was what it'd be able to do, but they found a fairly reliable rumor of where it would be if it were, and decided they'd try. 

By the way, this was envisioned as an anime. Western Animation would work, but it'd have to be one of those two. It doesn't really work as any other media. Not live action, not even manga that well (though it'd maybe be possible? I just think the magic would be lost without it as an animation).

So keep that in mind.

The first episode opens up with them entering the dungeon and more or less showing off their base abilities and natural personalities as they progress, filled with the special siblings banter only siblings can manage. (Seriously, I don't know how to explain sibling banter to someone who has none. It's just...something people with siblings kinda get and know and understand. They see sibling banter in fiction and they can often tell if the writer has siblings, sort of thing, in that if you know it you know what's real and what's forced.)

Eventually, they find the book, and begin to read it.

So the full effect of the book is that it unlocks the full magical potential of the reader, who takes on possession of the book as being its "owner". Magic exists in this setting, and it's the type that anyone can learn...but learning it takes years of study, such that the youngest magic users are in their 30s if they started when they were children. It is a dedicated, life-long study, akin to getting a doctorate in a field. You spend basically half your life to learn the beginnings of it, and you still even after learning it are no master.

Understandably, this makes magic users uncommon. And this isn't something where you can be a prodigy and learn it at a disproportional rate. There are magical prodigies who can use it in their 20s, but that's the prodigal level. It is the level of a genius, who not only is a genius, but also has essentially a "sixth sense" for muscle memory to learn the magic, or even eidic muscle memory for the process.

...By which. I mean. Magic is something that the entire body uses. It is something which is physically exerting, because it is using "muscles" of sorts which you have to be trained in how to use. I can say it is effectively equivalent to having a person who has used nothing but their hands their entire life, trying to learn how to use legs they've never used. They might see people walk and get the theory, they might know how it is done, but if they try to stand up, they're going to fall.

This is why even prodigies take into their 20s to get it, and most magic users are in their 30s, and magic is a bit of a rarity. Because it is not something you learn to use overnight...and even if you did. That's just for using the magic at all. You still need to, once you have learned HOW to use magic...learn individual spells. Magic isn't a do-anything power. Now, granted. Spells are near-infinite in number and have many different variants. But knowing how to use magic doesn't mean you can use magic because you also need to learn how to use specific spells.

Learning spells? That you can be a prodigy at, by studying hard and grasping them quickly and rapidly. But to learn a spell, first you must learn magic. It's impossible for people to learn a spell without first learning how to use magic, because without knowing how to use magic, the spell is just words on a page with pictures; they have no frame of reference for what it feels like, basically.

Now, granted. There are workarounds. Some people are magic-users-lite, who have unlocked partial magic casting, which they use for a very limited select set of spells applicable for the bits of magic they are using. This still takes years of training, doable in your teenaged years if a prodigy or in your 20s if you're more average. You can think of this as instead of using two arms, of using one hand (fraction of one arm which is half of two). 

However, even including those, magic's still not too terribly common. It's a thing, which exists, but which people still don't make wide usage of. The rules governing it are seen as an extension of physics--in a world which has always had magic, after all, the rules governing the universe are such that from a scientific point of view people don't differentiate between magic and not-magic. So it is considered a science, well-documented, well-recorded. People understand what it can, and can't, do.

So back to the book. The book? Basically, it instantly allows the owner to become a mage, regardless of how little they had trained their magic before. It does not grant them the knowledge on how to use said magic...but within the pages of the book are the recordings of basically every possible spell that the unlocked magic can use. (And this being limitless potential...that's basically every spell.) With the caveat...it will only show pages the owner is actually in the now capable of casting. 

...Sounds awesome, right?

...Well, the problem is...the book has a self-defense mechanism, and it's not just an easily-bypassed dungeon. In fact, it has more than one, but all of them work on the same principle. The book of endlessness has a defense mechanism which works as a double-reversal, on the principle of "being finite". Normally, when reading the book, the owner will start to find themselves aging rapidly, their time disappearing from being endless to being finite.

If that fails, the walls enclosing the space rapidly progress inward--the endless space becoming finite.

...However. The book's reversal mechanism doesn't quite take into account if two people simultaneously read it to both become the owner. Or rather...it does...and it does the only thing it can: use the reversal in...a very, very different method.

...And it is by this method that the entire rest of the story is set up, because that reversal? A reversal of spirit between the owners. Or in other words. A body swap. Phyrra gets stuck in Cyrus's body; Cyrus gets stuck in Phyrra's body. And it gets worse; they are, for the entire duration of this, now stuck permanently at eleven, never aging. (The opposite, reverse, of what they wanted.)

Yes the series would have plenty of shenanigans where Phyrra (in Cyrus's body) would need to try to pretend to be Cyrus, and vice-versa. And at times, awkwardly enough, the reverse (the two are actually in their correct bodies...but with people who only know Phyrra in Cyrus's body as Phyrra and vice-versa, them needing to try and pretend ANYWAY). You know the like. (So gender stuff would be featured a fair amount.)

...Oh, and the walls start to close in on them anyway.

Fortunately, the book is intricately linked to four other books: the book of wind, the book of earth, the book of fire, and the book of water.

Phyrra, in Cyrus's body, rushes over to the book of wind, activating it. Each book has a defense mechanism of summoning a Guardian. The Guardian's duty is to kill the owner of the book, or failing that, to serve them until such a time as the owner no longer owns the book.

Gora, a rock monster (his design is from a combination of sources, among them being that one rock monster that Kurama faced early on in YuYuHakusho), the Wind Guardian, comes forward...and gets introduced to Phyrra. Guardians, as creatures belonging to the spirit realm, can see beings in their true spiritual form, so has a unique form of double-vision where he can see the body of Cyrus but he can also see that it is actually Phyrra. Phyrra wins him over with her sheepish grin and polite manners.

...It also helps that he is not immune to being crushed in spite of being made of rock, so he starts to panic when he noticed and swiftly teaches Phyrra the 'wings of levitation' spell, which "shuts off traps", and the enclosing walls qualify, thus saving their lives.

Gora notes that they're just children, and can't find himself to do anything other than help them.

...And thus, the story begins, concluding the first episode.

This trio lasts for quite a large amount of time before other members of the Thaukama (Thaumpson + Nakama, it's the best I could come up with for their group name) join. In APPROXIMATE order:

Kaze, the Earth Guardian, is summoned when Gora is badly injured in a way the kids need the aid of the earth book in order to fix, a task that Cyrus (in Phyrra's body) undertakes. Kaze is a homicidal maniac. (His design is directly lifted from Kazekirimaru in Bleach's Zanpaktou Rebellion filler arc.) He is a killing machine who excels at slicing opponents to shreds, and unlike Gora, he is not so easily dissuaded from murdering his book's owner because of him being a child.

Phyrra does combat with him using her wind magic augmenting her blades, a fight which she does respectably well in and Kaze acknowledges her talent, yet notes that no matter her potential and no matter how prodigal she may be she is still inexperienced in the ways of the wind which he has had eons to master, so she is at a disadvantage.

After healing Gora and watching the fight for long enough, Cyrus challenges Kaze, noting that he is to be Kaze's owner, not Phyrra, and that if he is to be worthy of that, then he should be the one who earns Kaze's respect. In spite of using the element which has a disadvantage (the reason Guardians are the opposite element to the book they are guarding is twofold--to kill any would-be expert of the element, and to provide coverage to the expert of the element should they decide to subjugate themselves), Cyrus does in fact manage to prove himself.

Ace, age 16, the first non-Guardian member of the Thaukama, is an expert marksman. Give him any ranged weapon, and he can hit almost any target. He specializes in pistols, but using muskets is still viable. He is a highly competent archer even though he doesn't like to use bows, and he can make do with a crossbow even though he thinks them cumbersome. He can hit with a sling, and can throw darts and the like fairly well.

However, perhaps his most valuable asset is not his combat skills, but rather, the fact that unlike Phyrra and Cyrus, he is trained to survive out in the wild for long durations of time. He knows advanced first aid techniques, such that he is an expert medic, and is a survival expert, knowing what's edible, what's not, what's poisonous, what's not, how to prepare foods which would normally be toxic such that they are edible, where to find things, how to prepare against environmental hazards, and the like.

I haven't given him a last name yet, though he does have a loose appearance. Brown hair, fairly shaggy, wears a cowboy hat, has a trenchcoat, combat pants, and for shoes maybe combat boots. I want an aesthetic which is, overall, something that would say 'pragmatic in most environments'. (I mean obviously he'd need a different getup in a colder environment, but I want something which works reasonably well in the forest, jungle, desert, sea, and the like, while still offering high combat readiness.)

There would be other human members of the Thaukama join before this, but I haven't fleshed them out in much detail.

Myra, Fire Guardian, a Siren (with a Mermaid form and Sea Serpent form), is summoned by Cyrus (in Phyrra's body) when the siblings are entering into an area they anticipate fire magic being useful for. She is equally as lethal as Kaze, loving to eat or drown to death anyone. (None of the Guardians are pleasant individuals; the siblings having 'tamed' them is noted as being an incredibly unusual occurrence because the Guardians are explicitly MONSTERS.)

However, because she is a Siren, immensely beautiful and alluring, Cyrus is basically smitten, addressing her as...
...Mom.

Myra is taken aback, and briefly insulted by the term of endearment, because it'd imply she is seen as an older individual whereas she loves the thought of being seen for her beauty and charm.

Phyrra explains to her, also addressing her formally as Lady Myra, that while she might be looking upon children, her charms are not lost on the children. Cyrus's reaction is as it is because he sees her as absolutely gorgeous, and everything he imagined his mother would look like. Phyrra puts on her own charm so to speak and says that Myra is basically everything she'd hope to be when older, and explains that if they ended up aging in spite of Cyrus being in that body, that Cyrus wouldn't complain too terribly much about turning out that way, either, more or less.

This flattery and sweetness and all-around awe at her flusters Myra quite a bit, and while she is quite adamant she is not their mother, inevitably, she does end up being the Team Mom anyway.

At some later point, the Thaukama get stranded on an island--to get off, they need to make use of the wind and water books in tandem, so Phyrra ends up summoning...
Hera, the Water Guardian, a Phoenix/Dragon who has many of the typical traits of the latter. She loves to hoard money, she loves to eat people, she loves burning things to ashes, and demanding tribute in the form of pretty maidens (that she explicitly-as-can-be-while-still-having-it-as-implied has sex with, so yes she is a lesbian but yes she is also a rapist), but in spite of all these unpleasantries (I repeat. The Guardians are not nice people. They are MONSTERS. They enjoy killing things among other atrocities), she does have a rule--
She will give her blessing to anything which survives the fire. "Reborn through fire" is in fact still part of her design, coming from the phoenix half, and through the ashes of her flame, she will give prosperity to the individuals whom she deems worthy of continued life.

Phyrra willingly undergoes this trial, passing, and earning the fourth and final guardian as a companion.

There would be at least one more human member of the Thaukama to join after this point, a girl about the same age as the Thaumason siblings, but I haven't named her or put much design into her character. (Her presence is more plot-related.)

This took me more or less...like.
Ten minutes to think up.
Literally all that happened in the course of a powernap.

I'm not sure how many episodes there'd be. Quite a number, though. At least 24/26 (depending on whether a season would be 12 or 13), possibly double that (if you count 12/13 as the half-season and 24/26 as a complete season). I don't think it'd run longer than that, though. (In fact, 48 already seems like it might be pushing things.)

The setting is such that I could write an endless amount of material for it, and the series epilogue (I know exactly how things go from the confrontation with the final Big Bad onwards) leaves things rather open-ended both after, during, and before said epilogue in that there is the possibility of writing FAR more material than documented.

But I know what kind of material I have, what kind of material I want, what kind of story I want to tell, and about how long that story would be, and that's not as long as you'd think it'd be. I wish I could make it, but this is miles beyond my league. I don't have the ability to start to finish map out the story, yet alone, line for line the dialog happening such that every single moment is mapped out.

Even if I did have that scriptwriting skill, I don't have the art skills necessary to draw the scenes I know I'd need to.
Even if I did, I don't have the animation skills necessary to make said scenes come to life.
Even if I did, I don't have the audio editing skills (there's names for that but I'm too lazy to bother looking them up) to basically work with the sound.
Even if I did, I would need voice actors for these roles, able to consistently deliver the wide array of things I'd need them to (there is one point which requires an incredibly professional level of performance in order to nail the moment I have in mind and it WOULD be screwed up with sub-par voice acting)...and this is something I can't exactly do myself.

So I would need those voice actors, something I can't get around no matter my ability to get around those other limitations.
And they would need to be high-quality.
And they would need to be able to deliver on a schedule more or less.
...I mean.

...Those services exist.

...But they sure don't exist for free.

You quite literally get what you paid for.
So if you pay nothing, then you find almost no voice actors. The few who bite are likely low-quality, and are going to be working under their own time constraints rather than yours because they are effectively volunteering.

So EVEN IF ALL OTHER FACTORS WERE ACCOUNTED FOR.
I couldn't do this on my own.
...And all other factors aren't accounted for.
I do need the audio editing skills; this is not something I have the software for, nor the training, and I have little in the ability to learn these things and if I did I wouldn't learn them well enough to make use of them to the level they'd need to be at. The only way I get what I want is with someone who's an expert, which means again hiring someone. More money aside from the voice actors.

I do need the animation skills; this is not something I can do. Yadda yadda, more rambling, end result: hiring someone. More money. Oh and as an aside...said person would need the ability to not only closely work with me, but also the audio guy. (Who would need to work well with both the animation guy and the voice actors since the audio guy would know what was needed there.)

Just animating isn't good enough; to animate something, first I need to show what needs to be animated. This is done through a combination of scripts and art. I need help on both because I cannot master both.

I can write the overall narrative.
I can flesh out moments.
But I can't on my own make the script. I'd need writers to help me. I'd outline some things, they'd outline others, collaborating until I got a narrative and product that I was satisfied with. All the while working with artists who'd draw these images to give character reference art and scene reference art.

More money.
More collaboration, even.

...You can see where this is headed.

It's not possible for me to make, because for me to make it I'd require a fully staffed animation studio. Proper hardware, proper software, proper staffing, properly paid.

It's literally one of the best ideas I've ever had, up there with the villain song setting (which I envisioned more as a film or maybe miniseries) in how good it'd be...and yet.

It'll never come to be.

​Ah well.

I'm gonna take a break; when I return, I might ramble about the other things I need to, the perfect RPG stuff and the webcomic idea (which I actually could make because I have the skills necessary, I just never will because 98% of my ideas are never going to see the light of reality thanks to how much time/effort the 2% which do take).

My main contribution today was continuing to work on a song I've been working on for a while.
It's still not finished, though, and I want to post it when it is, so that means waiting until tomorrow.

​I'll try to make posting on here one of the first things I do tomorrow, that way I manage to get everything I need to out of my head.

I promised yesterday that I'd try to generate one, and today, magically, I did! It was coincidental, mind you--even accidental. But I did generate it.

Of course, the bad news is I can't give it to you tonight. It'll take me about an hour to type up, and I'm past my bed time given I have work tomorrow. (I spent time with my girlfriend. I am sorry but girlfriend time > literally anything else to me right now.)

Yes I realize this puts me in danger of not giving the blog entry.
Still have yet to give the rambles on the webcomic I made and the perfect RPG ramble.

But I do need to prioritize life and I do promise I haven't forgotten about them and that I will deliver as many as I can as rapidly as I can.

Just not tonight, because doing so while technically possible would be tremendously stupid and irresponsible of me given my work schedule and the amount of sleep I should get.

So I'll not blog tonight. I'll see if I can make it up to you tomorrow.

You'd THINK that'd be because of the bracelet, but no. It's actually probably because we're coming up on her birthday. March 17th, 2015 was the first mention of what would become Ruby. It was a Tuesday.

March 19th expanded her. And then other entries throughout March further built her into an entity.

I decided last year (or was it 2016?) what her official anniversary was, but I can't recall what and I can't track it down. Still. Her birthday is around this time. I don't know when, exactly, I'm meant to celebrate it...but it is soon.

Today, the subject came up in my mind of characters' parents and to a lesser extent, family.
Ruby's parents are featured albeit as minor characters. She does have siblings, too.

Sally's an orphan since her parents were killed in a vampire attack on the homeless shelter; her older sister died the day Sally's powers awakened.

Gary's parents are millionaires, with the caveat that's lower-millions, sub-$10,000,000, but still technically millionaires, plural. He is an only child.

Hannah, like Sally, is an orphan.

Amy is Ruby's daughter, so her lineage is obvious enough.

Dale, as a vampire who is literally like a thousand years old technically had parents but suffice to say it's not something story-relevant given they are centuries deceased.

...But that's still four members of the Ruby Gang's ten fighters that I didn't have the family of locked down.

Harold/Herald (who's he? I realize it's easy to forget about him given that as the Team Normal his badassery is something not often advertised but he is a member proper of the team who is not a joke and is an actual, serious, real combatant that actually makes up the main muscle of the team) is old enough to be the father of a teenaged child. He's not; he's single, but he has a sibling that has a daughter, and said niece is teenaged in years, so he's around that age.

As a result, it can be safely stated his family's not really that important. His niece is in training to take up the family business. His sibling isn't retired per se but is on an extended vacation for the duration of the time raising their child(ren) to adulthood. His parents are of the age where they easily could be retirees...but since Hunters tend to be spry for their age, most likely, his parents are off being Hunters in British Columbia--somewhere kinda sorta close by, but not really story relevant.

Whitney is slightly older than the other riders, and I just remembered that her family is accounted for since her family owns a bar.

...Still, however.
That left D.D. and Vili unaccounted for when it came to family.

Today I managed to work out a character, who I decided fitted perfectly as being her father.

His name: Thomas, AKA, "Tank". He's a street fighter, and basically immune to anything not explicitly magical/supernatural in that no human has ever managed to actually beat him in a fight; he remains undefeated.

This is because his moniker of Tank is appropriate--people think of Tanks as basically a "moving fortress": something incredibly well-armored such that it is nigh-impregnable, often with heavy weaponry, but which is slow to move and lacks maneuverability.

...He is not that kind of Tank. He is a modern Tank. Which still has the armor to be nigh-impregnable and the heavy firepower to unleash punishment...but also is fast and maneuverable. The TVTropes term for this would be "Lightning Bruiser", and given Vili's element, it seemed an appropriate enough description for her father.

He's also a genius, at least in term of street smarts/combat sense, in that he knows exactly what to do. He is well-trained and uses good technique and recognizes sloppy technique; he is the one who trained Vili how to fight in the first place and still acts as her trainer to this day because he can critique all her numerous imperfections. (Namely, "stop letting your powers do the fighting! I am a skilled fighter even without my build!")

It'd be a little bit of a challenge to draw him though. He's meant to have an impressive girth: to have an outer layer which is filled with fat. This fat weighs him down a lot and acts as a shock absorber allowing him to absorb impacts from blows, but underneath the fat, there is enough muscle such that he isn't encumbered by the fat. He, essentially, quite literally: knows how to throw his weight around. His muscle + fat creates a lot of mass behind his strikes, and he is nimble enough to deliver one after another after another after another.

It's also not possible to throw him off-balance, to tip him over, or anything like that; he is just...built in a way where he is able to hold himself. And yes. He can even jump. And when he lands from the jump, that too carries a disproportionately large impact.

...You would think that someone like this would be impossible, but I'm actually modeling the idea for him off of an actual guy I know from tae kwon do who is often described as essentially "fighting a freight train". If he had the mental faculties (his main weakness is that he hesitates and that he thinks too much more or less, overthinking things which slows him down) to match his physical capabilities, he would dominate literally every fight because no matter what strike or kick I throw at him he isn't phased and he hits with incredible force and I've seen him combo strikes with speed when not dealing with the thought behind it.

...Now admittedly. I am also taking some cues from some fictional fighters, e.g. The Blob (X Men), Po (Kung Fu Panda). But the idea is not as ludicrous as it sounds. You can both be incredibly strong and yet incredibly full of blubber, capable of tanking any blow because you absorb it, and yet dishing it out with both speed and strength of unbelievable amounts in spite of (or rather BECAUSE OF) the fat which people'd expect to be a hindrance.

So I swear. The guy I am envisioning is in fact not something which is too outside the realm of reality; he is someone who very easily could exist and I imagine somewhere in our world actually does. I'm that confident it's possible. To have a build which is basically immune to typical redirection strategies, immune to being knocked off-balance, immune to punches/kicks, and yet is fast and strong. With the mindset of a fighter, such a person would be a force to reckon with.

And this is the guy I picture as being Vili's father. I imagine him as being much the same as her: a combat-loving guy, mostly laid back, but strict when it comes to combat to the point of being almost militaristic, and being incredibly disappointed when his daughter slacks off.

Anyway, I still owe you the rambles I promised over half a week ago, but given that I am past my bedtime already (this ramble took me ten times longer to type than I thought), I should be going to bed.

You know...the zones where everything is just...so difficult.
It is difficult to get out of bed because I want to sleep.

It is difficult to eat because I am having trouble stomaching any sufficiently large quality of food such that it could be labeled a "meal". (I have a theory--I've noted that when I have many different items each in a smaller quantity, I seem to be able to eat more than when I have only a limited number of items in a large quantity. Most of my meals are the latter and I believe my trouble is coming from that.) Also I want to sleep.

It is difficult to do hygiene stuff because I simply don't feel like it.

It is difficult to go to work because I feel exhausted.

It is difficult to actually do work because my mind is zoning out.

It is difficult to do the things I do in my spare time.

It is difficult to do...anything. I'm just. In that zone where everything is more effort than it should by all rights be.

I'm pretty sure this is major depression at its worst, because I just.

I just feel like I'm moving at a fraction of my speed.