decadentjackal: shrimpstory

ABOUT

After the harrowing events of his childhood, Osprey once vowed he would never return to his icy home planet. Instead, he'd kept his head down, transferring to the central regions of the Empire to serve as a knight to one of the Empire's upper echelon, a frail youth that he finds himself falling for against his better judgment.

His lord, Lilian, seems determined to spite Osprey along with his own fate. As one of the emperor's many offspring, he might have held a title of some importance, but with his ailing health, has since been disregarded and considered a failure of noble breeding. Despite his low standing and illness, Lilian's will is stronger than his body. With a bit of manipulation, he secures himself a position governing one of the Empire's seemingly useless provinces— Osprey's home world.

The frigid wasteland is not all it seems; beneath the surface runs a network of geothermal channels. In these rich, warm waters live the Rækju. Worshipped as godlike entities by the humans who have settled there for generations, these centuries-old creatures possess powers beyond human understanding. To the desperate and ailing Lilian, they hold promise— for healing, whatever the cost. To Osprey, they bring only painful reminders of the devastation they're capable of.

in development / 2024-current

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CAST

Lilian

Lilian bio

DOB: December || Animal: cat (sphynx); shrimp; fish-cat || Height: ?? || Orientation: gay || Occupation: a lesser lord; honored shrimp-queen || MBTI: INFJ || Sign: ☀️♑︎ /🌙 ♋︎
Colors: lavender, mauve, sunset orange

Likes
novelty, the strange and unfamiliar; multidimensional pleasures; Osprey, despite everything

Dislikes
chronic pain; his own weakness and limitations; The Empire (and most of his blood relatives)

Osprey

Osprey bio

DOB: Late June || Animal: Osprey (lol); big dog (akita) || Height: 5'8" || Orientation: gay (top cursed to bottom) || MBTI: ??? || Sign: ☀️♉︎ /🌙 ♌︎ Colors: silver, brown, white

Likes
what DOES he like

Dislikes
a lot of things, most things even

AUs & Side Stories

✷ The Prince of Nothing & The Lord of Nowhere ✷
{10k words, complete} ✷ {An Omegaverse arranged marriage AU}
Originally written for OMEGATOWN (a free dystopian omegaverse-themed zine)

✷ ✷ ✷
^{Across the great Empire beyond Osprey’s small, ice-bound world, alphas, along with the practice of breeding, have long since been lost to the ages. His own world remains a distant holdout of a bygone era, himself a living relic. Though he is a prince, and his intended a former lord of the Empire, both are seemingly helpless against the shadowed forces that shape Osprey’s forgotten world as much as the pull of their own physical connection.}
✷ ✷ ✷

REFERENCES AND LORE

^{A ref sheet for Lilian (& Osprey) in the time before Lilian's transformation. Click to full view!}

^{The Oaths every knight who serves a lord of the Empire must take...}

GALLERY

✷ The Early Days ✷

^{Lilian and Osprey and their life... Before.

*if gallery images aren't loading, refresh the page and they should show up!*}

✷ In the Interim✷

While Lilian is assumed dead, Lilian's cousin and longtime rival, Betony pulls some strings to reassign Osprey as his knight, and takes every possible advantage of him while reinstating himself as the new governor of the planet.

Lilian, meanwhile, is kept in a palatial prison, where he is given the choice to drink of the Rækju blood and become its mate (a position of honor, he is assured) or death. The process is painful, but Lilian is familiar with pain. As his body changes, he finds his lifelong ailments healed... for the price of carrying the Rækju's offspring.