Worldbuilding: Home-Bound - The Darned (Patreon)

In my last worldbuilding post I talked about "threads," and what cutting and mending/darning them means. Today I'm talking about The Darned. This is less spoiler-y than the last post, but there are some underneath the image I've provided.

So, like I said: when objects and people are "cut" by Rend and "sewn" by Darn, sometimes they aren't put back quite right. Sometimes this results in small things, like an appearance change or loss/gain of mass. In the most extreme incidents, anomalies are created that defy physics - these anomalies big and small are the root of all magic.

People who have been obviously affected by this are called "The Darned." It's meant to be a play on words, as they are "mended" by Darn but also, in a way, damned. Rarely, like in the case of Tassels, being Darned results in supernatural abilities and no ill side-effects. But more often than not, being Darned can be a curse. For example, Tassels's friend Hitch is also Darned: anything she touches, self included, "floats" and defies gravity. This lets her lift and carry heavy objects, but adversely she is also affected, and without special shoes she wears, she would float away helplessly.

Tassels works for Spindle, a woman revered as a demi-god who has made it her mission to collect all wishing stones to keep wishes from being made that could cause more anomalies and Darned from being created. In doing this, she actually recruits the most talented/adept of the Darned to help her.

There are some who revere the Darned, some who hate them and some who pity them. One of the primary antagonists (who is only an antagonist due to conflicting goals) is aligned with many Darned who want to "cure" themselves, and aids them by inventing devices to counteract the adverse effects of their abilities.

For reference below: Tassels, Hitch and Porrima ( drawing previously shared on twitter).

Spoilers below.

Porrima does not start out Darned, but becomes one. A hazard of being from Remnant Island, and a Remnant herself, is she has scant threads tying her to Earth and its time stream. Her presence on Earth is, unknown to her and many, constantly threatened by her own flimsy tether. This becomes an exploit for her, however, when she realizes she can reach through space to "jump" places: essentially, she teleport. However it is "imperfect" in two ways:

• nothing counteracts the sudden disappearance and then appearance of her mass, which creates a loud vacuum when she "leaves", and a loud bang when she reappears and the air is pushed out of the space she's in. This is not useful for stealth or finesse.
• Due to her lack of threads tethering her to space, time, etc, the universe kind of forgets to put her back right. This results in her appearance changing and having to be repaired, and ultimately leads to her just literally falling apart.

On that last note: Falling apart is what results in her becoming Darned. After using this exploit in a time of need and unraveling, Darn is desperately summoned by another exploit to fix her. Darn's solution is, as usual, not a real fix: she essentially ties a special knot in Porrima's threads, tethering herself to herself that allows her to stay solid... but still doesn't moor her to the Earth. This causes Porrima to retain that exploit as a power that can't hurt her (though it still makes vacuums/explosions), but brings her a new concern to worry about: The Immutables. Who I'll talk about... next time!