KttK and KHR: potentially the best crossover combination I've run into~~~
First of all, I either have the best timing in the world... or the worst. I'm still not quite sure.
I've been following the book series The Keys to the Kingdom since Garth Nix first starting writing this, and even though it's officially taken 8 years for the series to finish (approx. 1 book/year isn't bad at all, especially not when you compare it to Harry Potter's rate) the final book was released officially on March 16 (but somehow may Chapters says March 1...?). Anyway, the general summary of the books is as such (aka no specifics, no spoilers):
Billions of years ago, there was only the Void. From the Void arose a consciousness, and this consciousness found a way to shape the Void into a body for itself. And while the consciousness was pleased with the body it had made, it--now she--was bored. She wanted companionship, wanted something to do. So she continued shaping the Void, made from it all the stars and various types of matter, and then decided to let things develop naturally. But they went too slowly, and so she made herself a companion from her own body, both for companionship and to help her create. He worked independently from her, and she from him, and they kept trying to surprise each other with what they would create. Three times they came together to create further companions--three "sons", later to be known as the Mariner, the Piper, and Lord Sunday. Between them (though mostly being her work) they built a structure which encompassed and connected the rest of the Universe, called it their House, and populated it with peoples ("Denizens") which would work to help organize, monitor and perpetuate the rest of the universe. In essence, the House became the centre of the universe, that which the rest of the universe relied upon to exist.
In time, however, she--known as the Architect by the Denizens and those of the rest of the universe (the "Secondary Realms")--and he--called the Old One, the first immortal of creation--grew angry with each other. The Architect imprisoned the Old One, chained him to the lowest part of the House, and bound him there for eternity. However, with the Old One imprisoned and much of the universe not needing her direct attention, the Architect grew bored, and wondered what was beyond this current existance. She chose seven Denizens of the House, one of which was her son, Lord Sunday, and wrote out a Will, entrusting it to the seven Trustees to see it done. Then she gave herself to the Void, to Nothing, and waited to pass on.
The Trustees, however, did not wish to enact the Will. They divided it into seven pieces, and each was charged with hiding each piece away from the rest of existance. After this, they took control of the House itself. The House was already divided into seven sectors or demenses, with each demense having a Key used to control it. Each Trustee took a Key and with it, dominion of each demense of the House. At first they did their work overseeing the House dilligently, but over time grew corrupted both by their own power and the negative effect caused by the Breaking of the Will. The Lower House fell into chaos due to Mister Monday's sloth; the Far Reaches went dangerously far beyond its borders into Nothing due to Grim Tuesday's greed; the Border Sea was terrorized by the massive whale that Drowned Wednesday had become because of her gluttony; the Great Maze, perpetual training ground of Denizens, became a bloody field due to Sir Thursday's wrath; the Middle House neglected its work in favour of its Denizens helping their mistress, Lady Friday, collect and consume the souls and memories of mortals because of her lust for experiences; the Upper House pawned off all their jobs to other demenses under Superior Saturday's orders, focusing on building a tower that would reach the Incomparable Gardens to allow for Saturday's invasion, as her envy of Sunday demanded; and the Denizens of the Incomparable Gardens remained isolated from the rest of the dealings of the House, as Lord Sunday and his people were too prideful and considered everything else below them (nevermind that everything was literally beneath them).
The pieces of the Will grew more and more frustrated with this, as both the House and the entirety of the Secondary Realms fell into disrepair. The smallest and weakest of pieces, the one sealed by Monday on a dead star and surrounded by clockwork sentinels, was able to escape (Monday was slothy, and therefore his servants were slothy) and attempt to fulfill itself. The major part of the Will decreed that it was the Architect's Will that a mortal would be chosen, trained, and later succeed her as the ruler of the House, the Heir to the Kingdom as it were. And the Architect specified a mortal, specifically, as mortals are apparently far more creative (and therefore more capable of adapting to situations) than even Denizens or the Architect's sons. So the escaped Will (taking on the form of a frog) needed to find a way to an appropriate Secondary Realm, find an appropriate mortal, make them Heir, and put them through their training (which, as the case would be, dealing with the Trustees). And that is where the actual narrative of the story starts.
Basically, the actual story focuses around a twelve year old boy named Arthur Penhaligon. Arthur is the youngest of many children, adopted by Emily and Bob Penhaligon after his parents were killed due to a plague. Emily herself is one of the foremost researchers in the world regarding plagues and such, which explains how she and her husband (a famous musician) heard about and adopted Arthur. Arthur himself suffers from severe asthma attacks, possibly a result of the plague that killed his parents. The entirety of the books revolves around Arthur attempting to first understand what, exactly, it means to be Heir to the Kingdom, the trials that are undergone to prove him worthy of that position, and trying to keep the balance between Arthur-the-mortal and Arthur-the-Denizen. The added issue with the mortal-Denizen paradox, that which prevents Arthur from saying, "Sure, I'll spend the weekdays on Earth and the weekends ruling the House," is that Denizens have a negative effect on mortals. In fact, if a Denizen runs into a mortal outside the House (good luck to mortals getting into the House in the first place), they can cause various illnesses reminiscent of a plague. The House Rule is usually "non-interference" with the Secondary Realms because of this, but due to the chaos and mismanagement of the House in the last 10,000 years.... Well, Emily has so much work because of this chaos.
In other words, Arthur has to become the Heir because if he doesn't the House will fall, and if the House falls than the Secondary Realms (including Earth) will fall--so he's doing this to save his family [and new friends, having just moved into a new town]. On the other hand, to become Heir Arthur must become a full-fledged Denizen, which means he cannot see his family and friends again... and the whole point of saving them is so that he has a home to return to.
Or, to take bits and pieces of the summaries for each book:
Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact, supposed to die an early death. But then his life is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Arthur is safe--but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizzare creates from another realm.... Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house--a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key.... The secret of his own identity. The identity of the Architect. The complete Will of the House. The fulfillment of his fate. Seven days. Seven keys. Seven virtues. Seven sins. Arthur is getting closer and closer to these things.... On Monday, Arthur was just an ordinary boy thrust into an extraordinary situation. From Tuesday to Saturday, he emerged as the Rightful Heir to the Architect who created everything within the House. Now, on Sunday, he will face a choice of remarkable proportions....
The House--which I really kind of love--is usually defined as "the second creation of the Architect and its purpose is to record and acknowledge the events of the Secondary Realms," but the way everyone (mostly Arthur) tends to look at it is as a "strange house that nearly [kills people]--that house that contains a fantastical and sinister realm inside". In other words, it's cool, but if you're not careful it will kill you.
The reason I'm ranting and raving about KttK instead of KHR is because... I just screwed with myself? Like, apparently, everyone else in existence (ohai thar, radish_lily and metisket nice to see you, too!), I wanted to write a piece re: KHR! M-282. Which came out on Wednesday. And at the same time I wanted to write a piece re: the end of Lord Sunday, which I bought and read also on Wednesday. And somewhere along the lines I completely confused myself, and I started writing my ideas for KttK down in the KHR file, and vice versa, because current events are just that similar. ...which sort of gives a lot of Lord Sunday away right there? (Except KttK had the "bad ending" that makeste had been pining for, kind of....)
S-so, um, once I get what happened in KttK seperate from what happened in KHR, there will be reactions! And fics! And potentially crossovers, because HEY, we're talking about the House at the centre of the universe. If there'd be a focus for, or anyone who knows about Phalaenopsis and all the parallel world stuff, it would be the House, its Denizens, and its Architect.
[BTB? Suzy Blue is officially the most awesome female figure ever. EVER. I'm even including Luche, Aria, Uni, Lal Mirch, and Sawada Nana in that assessment, and I never run into anyone that usually even comes close to them. Suzy Turquoise Blue/Suzanna Monday's Tierce/last title that I won't say because that will be SPOILERS: YOU ARE AWESOME. CAN I HAVE YOUR BABIES?]
I've been following the book series The Keys to the Kingdom since Garth Nix first starting writing this, and even though it's officially taken 8 years for the series to finish (approx. 1 book/year isn't bad at all, especially not when you compare it to Harry Potter's rate) the final book was released officially on March 16 (but somehow may Chapters says March 1...?). Anyway, the general summary of the books is as such (aka no specifics, no spoilers):
Billions of years ago, there was only the Void. From the Void arose a consciousness, and this consciousness found a way to shape the Void into a body for itself. And while the consciousness was pleased with the body it had made, it--now she--was bored. She wanted companionship, wanted something to do. So she continued shaping the Void, made from it all the stars and various types of matter, and then decided to let things develop naturally. But they went too slowly, and so she made herself a companion from her own body, both for companionship and to help her create. He worked independently from her, and she from him, and they kept trying to surprise each other with what they would create. Three times they came together to create further companions--three "sons", later to be known as the Mariner, the Piper, and Lord Sunday. Between them (though mostly being her work) they built a structure which encompassed and connected the rest of the Universe, called it their House, and populated it with peoples ("Denizens") which would work to help organize, monitor and perpetuate the rest of the universe. In essence, the House became the centre of the universe, that which the rest of the universe relied upon to exist.
In time, however, she--known as the Architect by the Denizens and those of the rest of the universe (the "Secondary Realms")--and he--called the Old One, the first immortal of creation--grew angry with each other. The Architect imprisoned the Old One, chained him to the lowest part of the House, and bound him there for eternity. However, with the Old One imprisoned and much of the universe not needing her direct attention, the Architect grew bored, and wondered what was beyond this current existance. She chose seven Denizens of the House, one of which was her son, Lord Sunday, and wrote out a Will, entrusting it to the seven Trustees to see it done. Then she gave herself to the Void, to Nothing, and waited to pass on.
The Trustees, however, did not wish to enact the Will. They divided it into seven pieces, and each was charged with hiding each piece away from the rest of existance. After this, they took control of the House itself. The House was already divided into seven sectors or demenses, with each demense having a Key used to control it. Each Trustee took a Key and with it, dominion of each demense of the House. At first they did their work overseeing the House dilligently, but over time grew corrupted both by their own power and the negative effect caused by the Breaking of the Will. The Lower House fell into chaos due to Mister Monday's sloth; the Far Reaches went dangerously far beyond its borders into Nothing due to Grim Tuesday's greed; the Border Sea was terrorized by the massive whale that Drowned Wednesday had become because of her gluttony; the Great Maze, perpetual training ground of Denizens, became a bloody field due to Sir Thursday's wrath; the Middle House neglected its work in favour of its Denizens helping their mistress, Lady Friday, collect and consume the souls and memories of mortals because of her lust for experiences; the Upper House pawned off all their jobs to other demenses under Superior Saturday's orders, focusing on building a tower that would reach the Incomparable Gardens to allow for Saturday's invasion, as her envy of Sunday demanded; and the Denizens of the Incomparable Gardens remained isolated from the rest of the dealings of the House, as Lord Sunday and his people were too prideful and considered everything else below them (nevermind that everything was literally beneath them).
The pieces of the Will grew more and more frustrated with this, as both the House and the entirety of the Secondary Realms fell into disrepair. The smallest and weakest of pieces, the one sealed by Monday on a dead star and surrounded by clockwork sentinels, was able to escape (Monday was slothy, and therefore his servants were slothy) and attempt to fulfill itself. The major part of the Will decreed that it was the Architect's Will that a mortal would be chosen, trained, and later succeed her as the ruler of the House, the Heir to the Kingdom as it were. And the Architect specified a mortal, specifically, as mortals are apparently far more creative (and therefore more capable of adapting to situations) than even Denizens or the Architect's sons. So the escaped Will (taking on the form of a frog) needed to find a way to an appropriate Secondary Realm, find an appropriate mortal, make them Heir, and put them through their training (which, as the case would be, dealing with the Trustees). And that is where the actual narrative of the story starts.
Basically, the actual story focuses around a twelve year old boy named Arthur Penhaligon. Arthur is the youngest of many children, adopted by Emily and Bob Penhaligon after his parents were killed due to a plague. Emily herself is one of the foremost researchers in the world regarding plagues and such, which explains how she and her husband (a famous musician) heard about and adopted Arthur. Arthur himself suffers from severe asthma attacks, possibly a result of the plague that killed his parents. The entirety of the books revolves around Arthur attempting to first understand what, exactly, it means to be Heir to the Kingdom, the trials that are undergone to prove him worthy of that position, and trying to keep the balance between Arthur-the-mortal and Arthur-the-Denizen. The added issue with the mortal-Denizen paradox, that which prevents Arthur from saying, "Sure, I'll spend the weekdays on Earth and the weekends ruling the House," is that Denizens have a negative effect on mortals. In fact, if a Denizen runs into a mortal outside the House (good luck to mortals getting into the House in the first place), they can cause various illnesses reminiscent of a plague. The House Rule is usually "non-interference" with the Secondary Realms because of this, but due to the chaos and mismanagement of the House in the last 10,000 years.... Well, Emily has so much work because of this chaos.
In other words, Arthur has to become the Heir because if he doesn't the House will fall, and if the House falls than the Secondary Realms (including Earth) will fall--so he's doing this to save his family [and new friends, having just moved into a new town]. On the other hand, to become Heir Arthur must become a full-fledged Denizen, which means he cannot see his family and friends again... and the whole point of saving them is so that he has a home to return to.
Or, to take bits and pieces of the summaries for each book:
Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact, supposed to die an early death. But then his life is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Arthur is safe--but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizzare creates from another realm.... Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house--a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key.... The secret of his own identity. The identity of the Architect. The complete Will of the House. The fulfillment of his fate. Seven days. Seven keys. Seven virtues. Seven sins. Arthur is getting closer and closer to these things.... On Monday, Arthur was just an ordinary boy thrust into an extraordinary situation. From Tuesday to Saturday, he emerged as the Rightful Heir to the Architect who created everything within the House. Now, on Sunday, he will face a choice of remarkable proportions....
The House--which I really kind of love--is usually defined as "the second creation of the Architect and its purpose is to record and acknowledge the events of the Secondary Realms," but the way everyone (mostly Arthur) tends to look at it is as a "strange house that nearly [kills people]--that house that contains a fantastical and sinister realm inside". In other words, it's cool, but if you're not careful it will kill you.
The reason I'm ranting and raving about KttK instead of KHR is because... I just screwed with myself? Like, apparently, everyone else in existence (ohai thar, radish_lily and metisket nice to see you, too!), I wanted to write a piece re: KHR! M-282. Which came out on Wednesday. And at the same time I wanted to write a piece re: the end of Lord Sunday, which I bought and read also on Wednesday. And somewhere along the lines I completely confused myself, and I started writing my ideas for KttK down in the KHR file, and vice versa, because current events are just that similar. ...which sort of gives a lot of Lord Sunday away right there? (Except KttK had the "bad ending" that makeste had been pining for, kind of....)
S-so, um, once I get what happened in KttK seperate from what happened in KHR, there will be reactions! And fics! And potentially crossovers, because HEY, we're talking about the House at the centre of the universe. If there'd be a focus for, or anyone who knows about Phalaenopsis and all the parallel world stuff, it would be the House, its Denizens, and its Architect.
[BTB? Suzy Blue is officially the most awesome female figure ever. EVER. I'm even including Luche, Aria, Uni, Lal Mirch, and Sawada Nana in that assessment, and I never run into anyone that usually even comes close to them. Suzy Turquoise Blue/Suzanna Monday's Tierce/last title that I won't say because that will be SPOILERS: YOU ARE AWESOME. CAN I HAVE YOUR BABIES?]