Chaltan - Blog Posts
✨ CHAGHAN THROUGH THE AGES ✨according to my art ages 11-15
Happy Appreciate a Dragon Day!
In honor of my very favorite holiday today, please enjoy some unfinished Chaltan-as-dragons character design sketches from when I was 12 (back when I couldn't draw humans and needed some way to love them, even as dragons.)
Chaghan would have commanded like a demon.
Chaghan would have ✨ s h a t t e r e d m i n d s . ✨
THIS WAS THE TERROR OF A MOTH DRAWN TO THE FLAME
- The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang, page 194
When is a monster not a monster?
Oh, when you love it.
Start by pulling him out of the fire and hoping that he will forget the smell. He was supposed to be an angel but they took him from that light and turned him into something hungry, something that forgets what his hands are for when they aren’t shaking. He will lose so much, and you will watch it all happen because you had him first, and you would let the world break its own neck if it means keeping him. Start by wiping the blood off of his chin and pretending to understand. Repeat to yourself “I won’t leave you, I won’t leave you” until you fall asleep and dream of the place where nothing is red. When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it. Oh, when you used to sing it to sleep. Here are your upturned hands. Give them to him and watch how he prays like he is learning his first words. Start by pulling him out of another fire, and putting him back together with the pieces you find on the floor. There is so much to forgive, but you do not know how to forget. When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you are the reason it has become so mangled. Here is your humble offering, obliterated and broken in the mouth of this abandoned church. He has come back to stop the world from turning itself inside out, and you love him, you do, so you won’t let him. Tell him that you will never know any better. Pretend to understand why that isn’t good enough.
– “Start Here” by Caitlyn Siehl
not that anyone here needs more angst but
here have another chaltan playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zvW7pd7s4bCdat7YDSMcF?si=cb29f3b87e0244ac
The Broken Children - a Chaltan story by TheKendallKathryn
“Everything in Chaghan's native celestial realm had a perfect, beautiful balance. Perhaps it could be true in this false paper world, too.
The sun and storm, the sea and the sky, the whole and the broken. He knew he and Altan had a balance too, disguised beneath the chaos of them. A boy who was trapped in his past, and a boy who chased the future. One who would fight forever to be remembered, one who desperately wished to be forgotten. They were fire and ice: perfect, beautiful rivals.
Every day they tore each other apart, when underneath, it felt like the only thing holding them together.
Finally breaking the trance, Chaghan offered the Speerly a hand. And it might only have been the river water stinging in his human eyes, but for the very first time, Chaghan thought he saw Altan smile.”
⋟⪼⪻⋞
Despite the wisdom he may reap from the future, Chaghan Suren is very bad at confronting the ghosts of his past.
Read on Archive: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28457778
Some quotes that consume my current existence:
- “Chaghan would have commanded like a demon. He would have achieved utter obedience from his underlings, but only because he would have taken away their free will. Chaghan would have shattered minds.”
- “The white-haired Seer tilted his head to the sky, exposing long, jagged scars running down the sides of his pale neck. He uttered a harsh, cackling laugh.”
- “The Seer took his hand. Brought it to his lips and kissed it.”
- “Altan cursed under his breath. ‘Is he hurt? Where is he?’”
- “Chaghan leaned forward. ‘If you ever speak about Altan like that again,’ he said pleasantly, ‘I will have you killed.’”
- “‘Altan is more fragile than you think,’ said Chaghan.”
- “She stood up and slammed her hands on the table. ‘Look, asshole, I don’t need you to tell me what to do.’
‘And yet, as your lieutenant, that is precisely my job.’ Chaghan glanced lazily up at her, and his expression was so smug that Rin trembled from the effort of not smashing his face into the table. ‘Your duty is to obey. My duty is to see that you stop fucking up. So I would suggest you get your shit together, learn to call the damn fire, and give Altan one less thing to worry about. Am I clear?’”
- “‘They say he can do things that Speerlies can’t,’ Nezha said as they pressed on. ‘They say he can read the future. Shatter minds.’”
- “‘But Altan was never allowed to be human,’ Chaghan said, and his voice was uncharacteristically gentle.”
- “‘There are no shamans more powerful than me,’ said Chaghan.”
- “‘Fine,’ he said to his lieutenant. ‘You were right.’
Chaghan hadn’t moved during the entire interrogation.
‘I’m rarely wrong,’ said Chaghan.”
- “Chaghan and Qara may have been linked as anchor twins, but it was Altan whom Chaghan seemed bonded to.”
- “Chaghan navigated the spirit world like he belonged there, as if he were a god himself. The Cike didn’t hesitate to talk back to Altan, but she had never seen any of them dare to so much as contradict Chaghan. Altan commanded their loyalty, but Chaghan enjoyed their fear.”
- “Chaghan grasped Altan by the collar with both hands, pulling him down so that they were face-to-face. Altan was half a foot taller than Chaghan, could have snapped him in half with ease, and yet he did not lift a hand in defense.
Rin stared at them in disbelief. Nobody touched Altan like that.”
- “‘I’m your Seer,’ Chaghan said. ‘I give you counsel, whether you want to hear it or not.’”
- “‘You asked me why I wouldn’t stop him. Now you understand. You can’t stop an avenger. You can’t reason with a madman. You think I am running, and I admit to you that I am afraid. I am afraid of what he might do in his quest for vengeance. And I am afraid he is right.’”
- “‘Fuck,’ Ramsa said quietly. ‘Chaghan’s… someone’s going to have to tell Chaghan.’”
- “Chaghan looked sideways at her. His expression was grim. ‘You are going to paint the world in Altan’s blood, aren’t you?’
‘I’m going to find and kill everyone responsible,’ said Rin. ‘You cannot stop me.’
Chaghan laughed a dry, cutting laugh. ‘Oh, I’m not going to stop you.’”