[FFXV Rural AU] Lucis Caelum Family + Basic AU Details

I feel it might be fun to share on Patreon (exclusively) details and ideas about my Rural AU story!

The starting premise of this AU is that it is a totally different setting, one that is more based in a small town rather than in a city. The high concept as best to describe the initial vibe I used to kickstart the story is: like Night in the Woods. There are meant to be some supernatural elements as well as a contrived whole secret royal line business. I'm still working on some details but a lot of the in-depth details I have right now are about family relations and individual characters.

If you are not familiar with the FFXV storyline and characters, I'll be honest and say that this AU is practically wholly separate from the canon material. It borders on just becoming an original story altogether, but I like these characters too much to just redesign and change them. You won't need to read up on any original source material, but also know that these characters deviate harshly from their original counterparts so you are getting highly tailored and edited versions of the originals-

In the Rural AU, Mors Lucis Caelum is the father of three boys (from oldest to youngest), Ardyn, Somnus, and Regis. Regis would come to know very little of their mother due to her passing sometime after he was born. The family dynamic between the four of them was strained, Mors differed to Ardyn to look after his younger siblings when unable to as he worked to support them. Over the years, they struggled to keep their heads above the water and furthermore began to develop some animosity, the first chance that Ardyn got to leave home he took it and set off on the road without any destination in mind, which left Somnus and Regis to deal with their father's declining health.

Somnus soon followed after leaving home too, desiring to go to live in the city and try to "make it big". He would become the most estranged from the family after he left as he wouldn't bother to call back or communicate with either of his brothers.

Regis is the only one to stay in that small town and go to college nearby. Through going to college, he meets a girl by the name of Aulea. The two hit it off and start dating.

(reposting sketches I've already posted publicly, but additional context is being provided now because I'm not subject to character limits!)

Things are a little fast and loose between them, Regis truly loves Aulea and finds himself wanting to give her a better life than what she's living. Only things move too fast and Aulea becomes pregnant.

The pregnancy takes a major toll on Aulea's mental health, putting her on a steep and fast decline. Despite it, Regis continues to try, even quickly marrying her so that they don't have the baby out of wedlock. This only seems to exacerbate problems for them though.

They then have a baby girl (who will eventually become Noctis) who receives a rather lukewarm welcome. The only grandparent present is Mors, who is rather distant and cold (never really was too fond of the idea that Regis jumped into this relationship so suddenly as he did).

After a short few months of trying to work things out, they just don't. Aulea is basically a husk of a person, falling hard into post-partum depression. She had quit her job to be a full-time mother, but she doesn't hold up on that as she leaves the home in disarray and will leave the baby to cry.

Regis finally reaches a breaking point as he has tried to be patient with her and give her the space she needed, but at the risk that it is seeming like she is neglecting their child, he doesn't feel it is working out for them anymore.

Aulea loves their child, but she feels overwhelmed and exhausted. She agrees to the divorce and in it, custody rights go to Regis but later down the line, Aulea will become better and be able to watch their child over the weekends and still be a part of [his] life.

In the meantime, for Regis to struggle with Aulea in their relationship, Ardyn has a partner that he lives out of a van with, Savitri. The two of them are like nomadic hippies that don't care where they are as they'll make any place home for themselves.

Though of course, one thing leads to another and Savitri ends up pregnant. The couple didn't exactly plan for it, but they are happy together nonetheless and willing to try.

Details of what happens between them will be discussed later (some are still being developed fully) but the rough outline is that they end up in way over their heads with a baby (Nabi) who becomes very high maintenance for what the couple is properly prepared to handle.

They seek help and get referred to Cor, who is a social worker that has already taken in a child (Prompto). The couple comes to him for help and he lays out options for them, through the discussion they decide on open adoption. Though Cor seeing that this is not so easy to do for them, offers to be the one that adopts their child. Being a friend of the family and showing he cares, they accept and Cor finds himself now with two babies that he did not expect to see in the near future of his.

Ardyn and Savitri visit from time to time, Regis goes on to raise his and Aulea's child primarily on his own, Somnus ghosts the family (until he is in need of mooching a bit off his brothers), and Mors retires and lives out his days with sons who resent him and only one that still makes an effort to try and give his final days some comfort and ease.

Annnnd that's the start of explaining things!

I really lean hard into stories of interpersonal drama and conflict. It can be uncomfortable but I like to see how the characters develop and interact with those kinds of tensions. I have more stuff to share, someday I might actually write out a coherent fanfic for it all, but for now I am just putting all my words here!

Happy first day of November!