OC Spotlight: Saranya // very mildly nsfw

this is the first oc spotlight that takes place in a different setting from the 'gods among us' universe or the desert empire, although it exists in the same world as the latter. it's an underground city in the heart of a huge system of caves, full of lush jungle, fluorescent mushrooms, carved temples, crystals that harbour a strange power, an underground harbour, and refugee monster people who were hunted topside simply for the crime of existing.

this jungle city is kubi's creation, and is in fact the reason them and i got to know each other. they had worked on this setting for months and from the first moment i came across it i thought it was super cool. we started talking, i was invited to join the creative effort, and basically courted them by writing an 18 page calendar about the festivals and holidays of this underground town.

we later created the desert empire as a contrast to the jungle city and in many ways these two underground settings are hugely different, but they still exist in the same universe and have some interesting things in common. we have stories that begin in one town and end in the next, characters who travel to or from one or the other, tales about the overlaps and the conflicts. and this is probably a good time to mention that we're reworking many of the names, so that's why i refer to things as 'the desert empire' and 'the city in the jungle' instead of proper place names.

with that as an introduction, let's talk about saranya.

-----

after the gatekeeper war had ended, all the gods hid their astras - the weapons they had created to defeat their foe - where no-one should be able to find them. the dragon god khuthlya left his in the middle of a jungle deep underground, home only to dangerous beasts, where streams of lava flowed in place of water. he buried it in the maw of a volcano, beneath the earth, in the dark. but he parted from it with great sorrow in his heart, for the astra housed the soul of his beloved firstborn.

but the divine magic contained within the astra did not leave the land around it untouched. perhaps it was beat from the heart of the vhul'a mother, out of which it had been forged; perhaps it was the lingering power of the dragon god who had wielded it; perhaps it was the undying strength of the love between the firstborn and him. perhaps it was all three. in either case, the snakes that nested around the burial place of the astra slithered out of their hollows and became people.

their bodies and minds changed to the pulse of the astra; they grew shoulders and arms and faces, thoughts and feelings and voices to express them with, claws to carve their stories into the rock, tongues to put their words into song. they were the naga, as intelligent and cultured as the people in the city--and every bit as dangerous as any of the other monsters in the jungle. few people ever ventured away from the city, even though the jungle were full of rare resources and ancient, forgotten secrets; if the beasts didn't kill you, the jungle itself would. so what if beautiful poetry spilled from the forked tongues of the naga, if it was their hands that had sculpted the mossy marble figures in the depths of the untamed wilderness, if it was their strange writing on the stone tablets no-one could decipher? so what if they had been born from the heartbeat of something divine? they would still eat you if they got their hands on you. they would swallow you whole and spend days lazing in the sun, as your flesh melt from your bones to nurture their strong coils.

saranya has no memory of ever having any parents, or siblings, or relatives at all. she doesn't know exactly how old she is, or how old the world was when she hatched from her egg. she remember seeing her small hands finally claw through the shell surrounding her, and blinking against the blinding light until it took the form of trees and flowers and rocks. there was no-one else there, and she could not read the words on the walls.

she grew up alone in the jungle, with no-one to defend her from its many dangers. while she was still small and on her own, her childhood was a constant fight for survival, both in simple tasks like finding water and food and moments of crisis, like hiding from predators. but she was wily, clever, and resourceful--and even as children, naga are no joke. there was potent venom in her fangs and strength in her limbs to match that of her long, red tail. as she grew older and bigger she started fighting predators off instead of hiding from them, and instead of foraging and scavenging for food she started hunting. naga are predators--she instinctively knew how to wrap her tail around prey or foe to choke the life out of them, to dig her fangs into another being's flesh until her toxin in their blood made their eyes grow dim.

every year her tail grew longer and longer, and she ventured farther and farther from her cradle, to explore and metaphorically conquer the dangerous jungle. all naga are bigger than humans and similar creatures, but once saranya had grown into adulthood, she was massive. every now and then she'd run into another of her kind, and she towered over all of them, with her tail stretching out far longer than theirs.

and it was only now, after meeting other naga, that she realised they did not all have ten faces and eight arms, like her. in fact, they seemed to revere her for it, and it pleased her. she was a red queen and the jungle was her realm. she used to live in fear, but now she had become the cause of it in others; when they heard her hum a song of her own making they would hide and huddle, and as she slithered by, they would tremble and shiver. there was little left that could threaten her; she was strong, and deadly, and everything and everyone was on her menu.

one day, she happens upon a huge temple, overgrown with centuries of plants and roots. it was ancient but not abandoned, and the priests and pilgrims inside greet her like they would a goddess descending from a divine realm. what else could she be? she was like the spider women who'd weave their webs in the city, with their many hands and eyes; or like the sacred people born with several pairs of arms. even after she devours one of the monks they keep bringing her offerings, bowed down in respect and worship, with all the reverence and fear due something wild and sacred.

she slithers into the depths of the temple, all too pleased with being treated like an actual queen. they dress her in silks dyed a deep red to match her scales, and fasten bracelets and bangles of gold and ruby around her arms. they hang jewels around her neck and waist, twist her hair into a hundred braids, and weave her crowns of fresh flowers. they bring her animals, criminals, and enemies to eat, and ever morning they greet this wild, dangerous snake woman from the jungle as if her presence was the biggest blessing they had ever known.

saranya loves it all--the adoration, the luxury, the love, the fear. she fills the halls of the temple with song such as only she can sing and it makes people stop in their tracks, forget what they're doing, sink to their knees, press their foreheads against the stone. she has one mind but ten voices, each of which as divine as the other.

as the rumour spreads of the red snake in the temple, more pilgrims start braving the dangerous journey, eager to see and meet her. from them she learns of the city of a hundred bazaars, the town dug into the rock and built in layers upon layers to fill a massive cave. it teems with life, they say, with freedom and danger, risk and opportunity, joy and sorrow. there's less blood-thirsty beasts and flesh-eating plants there but in a way it's as dangerous as the jungle, though nobody can agree on whether you have more to fear from the criminal syndicates working the underbelly, the corrupt politicians up top, or simply a random angry fisherman in the docks. and just like the jungle, they say, it has a wild and untamed beauty, with the myriad of colours, the luminescent lights, the sound of thriving markets and oh, saranya would love the opera--in fact, has she thought about singing there herself?

the snake woman simply smiles, and asks "what is this 'opera'?"

a few weeks later, the rich and wealthy of the city of a hundred bazaars have gathered in the opera hall to listen to the debut of a new songstress. a dozen rumours surround her origins, with some saying that she's been blessed by the gods, while others have heard that she's a monstrosity that crawled out of a vulcano.

the curtains part, and a breathless thrill creeps through the audience upon seeing what looks like a gigantic snake coiled up on the stage. but the lights grow brighter and they see how red scales fade into smooth skin where her tail turn into a rounded hip and a belted waist. they watch as four pairs of arms unfold, like the petals of a blossoming flower, and three human pairs of eyes gaze back upon them, framed by the hissing of seven snake tongues.

most of them had only heard of the naga, and those who had seen one considered themselves lucky to be alive. yet here was one in the middle of their city, bigger than any they had known of before, with a sacred amount of arms and a gentle smile on her lips but such a hunger in her eyes. she raises her body high above them on the stage of their opera, as if moments from striking... but instead, she sings.

in the matter of one night, saranya becomes a celebrity.

wealth and luxury follows, and before long the snake woman has taken up residence in a huge mansion in the city, centered upon a large pool that she loves to lounge in. more than gold and jewels she feeds off of worship, whether it's people admiring her singing, her beauty, or actually thinking she's sacred and divine.

she has no desire for political power, but the city in the jungle is ripe with intrigue and power struggles and it's easy to make enemies. you're not really someone unless your rivals and opponents have tried assassinating you at least half a dozen times, you know? but people soon discover there's no need to worry for saranya's safety and little point in sending hired muscle to hurt her--not after the first few times her attendants have found her with a belly full of would-be-murderer, rendered lifeless by her poison and devoured whole. 

even then, a certain enemy of hers decide to give it another shot, and for the job they hire a woman named nuo li.

nuo stealths her way into the naga's palace, and finds saranya lazing around in her pool, water glistening on her scales and skin. her employer doesn't know that nuo has attended virtually every performance saranya has given since appearing in the city, to listen to her lovely voices. she has always loved music, and saranya's song is like nothing else she's ever heard.

many years later, nuo would be one of the most powerful people in the city. she's already a deadly blade and an expert at toxins, but at this point she's still a ways away from the person she's going to become, with many crossroads ahead of her. this is one of them. saranya greets the shadow in the dark and asks her to step into the light. she asks why she's come, even though the smile on her red lips says she already knows.

a few hours later, nuo returns, with her employer's blood on her knife. saranya reaches out to caress the drops of red on her pale cheek, saying what a shame it is that there's such stains on her skin and clothes. come, step into the pool with me. 

saranya's servants soon become used to the glimpses of a dark-haired woman moving about the house to visit their serpentine mistress, coming and going as she pleases no matter the time of day. of course, most of the time they don't notice nuo at all, as she sneaks in to to visit her lover, unseen by all eyes except saranya's many pairs.

it's only later that the two women begin to understand why there was an immediate magnetism between them. saranya and her whole species was born by the residual power of the dragon god's astra--the very same astra that has ended up near nuo li's heart (though how it got there is a story of its own). but if it was that initial attraction that stopped them from killing each other that first night, it's their love for music and beauty that keeps them together.

saranya is an utter diva in terms of how much she thrives off of being worshipped and admired, and in her love for luxurious things. at the same time, though, she's too self-sufficient and self-reliable to be melodramatic. she's calm and confident in her own self, ever a rock to lean on and unperturbed by the complex intrigues of the city. in fact the constant politicking sometimes bores her, and she loves how nuo keeps her luxurious life from getting too tame, too urban. she is a being of the jungle, after all. 

one thing the jungle and the the city do have in common is that neither is a place for rules or laws. the criminal organisations play a big part in the running of the town and works closely with the official council, though nobody would explicitly admit as much. nuo li embarks on becoming the leader of the foremost crime syndicate, weaving her own legend and eventually becoming shrouded in such mystery that many people doubt that nuo li is even real--and yet they shudder to say her name out loud. they call her the white snake, just as they call saranya the red, and rumour has it nuo li is not at all as human as she looks. 

saranya, meanwhile, remains an incredibly public figure, ever gracing the opera and concert halls with her presence. she's a bright, blood red jewel in the jungle city's crown, and her mansion has turned into a veritable temple, full of offerings left by admirers and pilgrims alike. in her case the line between 'songstress' and 'sacred being' remains very fine, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

their story culminates when the city is in grave danger and the astra in nuo li calls on her to protect it. as war rages on the streets, she transforms into a snake-like dragon, with scales as white as the dragon god khuthlya. once the city is safe, she's gone without a trace.

saranya mourns the presumed death of her lover for years, and stops performing. sometimes she disappears for months into the jungle, back to the familiar hunting grounds of her youth. but she always returns to her palace, to fill its halls with hymns of sorrow.

then one night a familiar shadow sneaks into her home. she steps into the light, and at first, the sight fills saranya with fury. she might not have minded that nuo faked her own death, if only she had told her. but it ends just like the first time they met: come, step into the pool with me.

shortly thereafter, saranya returns to the stage, and somehow her song is more beautiful than ever.

-----

if i were to imagine saranya as a character in a tv series, you'd be introduced to her through one of her opera performances. her ten-voiced song is as gorgeous as her, and she meets the overwhelming applause with pleasant smiles, ever exquisite and graceful. but as a huge snake person she's inherently formidable, and she doesn't seem to mind, at all, when her 'worshippers' fear her as much as they admire and respect her.

she's a prima donna who is viewed as sacred, but at the same time she's superbly monstrous and perhaps you'd realise it's not just artistic finesse that shapes her movements--it's the calculated elegance of a born hunter. there would be a scene of an assassin being sent to kill her in the depths of the night, only to be killed and eaten, in a stark contrast to her glittering shows. you would have sort of known already that she has to be dangerous and deadly, but it would still be startling to see this splendid diva kill and devour with such ease.

you'd eventually find out about her background--how this brilliant opera songstress, with all her gold jewellery and sophisticated artistry, is one of the reasons people fear the jungle. you'd learn how her servants still bring her people to eat, or how she regularly slithers into the wilds to hunt. she embodies a horrifying beauty that is, in a way, exemplary of this jungle city, where it somehow makes sense that one of their most beloved high culture artists is also a living nightmare that goes bump in the night.

if you have any questions about saranya, feel free to comment below <3

// art + saranya © me; nuo li © kubi.