Koloss17

Yeah my main concern with this particular route instead of just pumping mana into an ability is that it’s yet another resource to keep track of. Like maybe there could be an energy counter type thing going on, with a player getting counters instead of physical tokens, but given that allomancy kind of has to be across all 5 colors, that would probably also get annoying fast. There’s big thing that made blood tokens work, imo, is that only one archetype really used them as a resource, and that they had an outside function. Having all of the archetypes use it seems gratuitous. I mean, maybe energy-style resource management could be a thing, but there’s also a slippery slope with energy being notoriously either incredibly weak or incredibly broken, with very little in between.

Yeah I like the idea of activated abilities because of no. 1, as vial tokens could be sacrificed to essentially cheat on allomantic activations. Basically something like “tap, sac: activate the activated ability of an Allomancer you control without paying its cost”. I am intrigued by no. 2, but I don’t want something like snow mana that is essentially a 6th mana type, as I suspect that would get annoying. Number 3 seems to be a simple one, but I struggle to get a mechanical theme there. Maybe keywords in the set are only tied to allomancy? Or possibly only evergreen keywords? That could provide interesting potential with soulflayer-style Kandra/mistwraiths, but that also leads to a flavorful issue of Kandra specifically not gaining keywords. However, it does make Hemalurgy flavorfully interesting, as it could essentially steal keywords. You could just do the same thing with activated abilities though… hmmmmmm

@SpiritOfWrath, @Speeding Steelrunner, @Ookla the Irreplaceable, @Stormlightsong, @WhiteHairedDrifter, @Wits instant noodles I’m thinking of making the first post for era 8 sometime soon (like in the next few days). Obviously @BridgeBoi and@RoyalBeeMage Will soon hopefully be joining the fray, and so we should have a healthy cast of humans. My recommendation for y’all is to think about what would be in character for your character to be doing, and while my first post will be setting the scene and giving ideas of a plot, remember that this is a FFRP, which means that there is no hard coded plot. The plot is made by you guys, not me or anyone else. I’m here to facilitate and push things along, but y’all decide the direction. So feel free to talk amongst yourselves when it comes to any side plots or character explorations that you will be doing, and start scheming. also @AonEne I do kinda need my character approved to start the next era . I will also be rolling out a second character sometime soon, but having my main character situated would be nice. No rush, but just a gentle poke.

Yeah I mostly proxy now, with the only exceptions being buying draft boosters for sets that I feel deserve it. Which will be continually dwindling, it seems… On the topic of the Mistborn set tho, I’m still slightly unsure how to flavorfully represent allomancy. I like the theory of having it be activated ability oriented (expending resources to get a burst of power), but I also think that could limit some design space, especially when it comes to non allomantic cards and activated abilities. Y’all got ideas on how to convert allomancy into MTG? I am a fan of having some sort of mechanic associated with it, not just a case of flavorful triggered/activated/static abilities interspersed throughout the set. While that would be the easiest option, having some mechanical flavor is fun. previously I tied certain metals to certain colors and tried to incorporate burning AND flaring, but I think that is just way too restrictive. There’s definitely a line to walk between thematically cohesive and mechanically restrictive. A slightly related wondering is that while having coinshots gain flying would be great, I worry that that would be the only flavorful way to give any creatures flying in the set. There’s not really any flying shenanigans past that in era 1. But not having coinshots gain flying also feels like a massive missed opportunity.

God I hate that now they’re saying that half of all magic sets will be universes beyond going forward, and that all of them will be standard legal.

1) UB hate is pretty cool, actually, and 2) what do you build the sets for if not drafting with it? Obviously sets serve a niche beyond drafting, but that’s mostly about exploring how the new cards interact with the greater pool of Magic cards and other formats (standard, modern, etc). Though with custom sets, I don’t see that being put into account all that much. I suppose there are ways to play constructed without draft (as you mentioned, sealed, but that’s generally similar to drafting, with slightly more agency and deck crafting considerations). I’m just interested to know what the other considerations are when building a set (obviously beyond flavor and funky+cohesive mechanics) other than drafting the set when it comes to custom sets. My end goal if I do build the set is to ideally find a way to draft it with my friends, as both a form of playtest and just general fun, but also getting to know the experience of set designing is valuable.

I’m mostly thinking that sets like March of the Machines, Dominaria Remastered (most remastered sets tbh), Innistrad midnight hunt+crimson vow, Lost Caverns, Kaldheim, Duskmourn, MH2 and 3, Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, and nearly all of the recent sets have had 10 two color draft archetypes with signpost uncommons being multicolored for those archetypes. I’ve admittedly mostly drafted more recent sets (exceptions being khans of tarkir, Unstable, and Lorwyn), and so I’m more familiar with that structure. While there are sets like Streets of New Capenna and Strixhaven that deviated from those norms, I felt restricted by having half as many options to draft for, and I felt slightly railroaded. Now, this was admittedly not the case when drafting Lorwyn, but that set had some serious balance issues when it came to archetypes (now, I did make a Lorwyn+Morningtide cube, and adding more copies of some cards and less copies of other cards certainly helped). I take it you’re more familiar with old school sets? All of your example sets are from over 10 years ago, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as there were some real gems of sets, but I am admittedly much less familiar with those styles of sets. Now, it is completely possible that modern set design philosophy starts with a few core archetypes and naturally develop (or shoehorn in) the other archetypes, because I only see the end product, which has the 10 2 color pairs. Now, I do often end up drafting 3 color decks, but that’s usually a melding of two archetypes rather than a secret intended archetype. For set design, one of my all time favorite sets to draft was Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty, as many of the set mechanics were interesting and unique, as well has having flavorful worldbuilding tied to it. There was a thematic balance of tradition vs modernity, which they represented in artifact vs enchantment archetypes, with the WB archetype being a cool mix of the two, caring about having at least one artifact and enchantment on your field. I also ADORED the unique take on artifacts in the RB theme, which was essentially artifact aristocrats, and centered around the Akki and Oni of the plane. I want to emulate that draft environment, with different archetypes, but a similar feel of having a thematic push and pull to the archetypes, while having intricate overlapping synergies (for example, the WU archetype of vehicles synergized in a neat way with WB artifact+enchantments, especially with the rare legendary of greasefang). I want it to be easy to find interlocking synergies between any archetype that shares a color with another one, and have cards that can bridge that gap. Hence why I like the idea of having a cycle of mythic that are 3c legends, as drafting that can lead you to think about the synergies between the two or three archetypes that it’s blending. for reference, these are the archetypes https://www.channelfireball.com/article/The-10-Archetypes-of-Kamigawa-Neon-Dynasty-Limited/0b351422-90bf-48a3-924d-baf405642300/

My main thing is that I’m definitely slapping a bunch of legendaries together, and if I’m doing all three books, I’ll be making multiple legends of the same character, showing their different arcs. A source of inspiration could definitely be the LOTR set, as it was doing similar things. and while I’m not opposed to fewer archetypes (say, 5 archetypes), that begs the question of how would I determine which color pairs I’ll use, which seems more annoying than just going “expect all ten, and find themes that fit the mold”. I also want to encapsulate the whole world of Mistborn, and while I’m not opposed to limiting it to a specific book (like TFE), that leaves the issue of finding art. An average set has roughly 200 or so cards in it, and while I can definitely find 200 or more Mistborn fanart or official art, I would struggle much more if I need to restrict that to just art of one book. So that’s another axis that I’m looking at.

I’m not set on anything yet, I’m just generally interested in a two color full suite. Maybe it’s modern magic rubbing off on me, but not having a full cycle feels incomplete. I am toying around with having one mythic of each 3c combo, as I think that would provide fun building space, but that’s more of an idea than a plan. do you have recommendations on how to figure out what the right amount and pairings of archetypes are? I’m mostly approaching this how I approach making a character in the Alleyverse, funnily enough. Having a template to fill out, in this case expecting a full 10 pair roster, can force creativity and flesh out the design space, enabling me to make a more three dimensional character—I mean custom MTG set.

That’s a question to ask @Stormlightsong on the UFO thread, as I’m not 100% sure.

Mods, please let me know if this is the right forum to post this sort of thing. It’s sort of a fan works thing, but based around adapting Mistborn, soooo…do with that what you will. This post is mostly for Magic players, however, if you want to chip in, the early stages of this project involves properly working in the themes of Mistborn with the mechanics of the set, so establishing those themes is something anybody can help out with! This is going to be a thread I will be revisiting a bunch in the future, as I am planning on working on the set a bunch in the future. I’m trying to make a custom MTG set based around Mistborn. I have tried this in the past, and didn’t really go all that far. However, with renewed vigor, and possibly better knowing what I’m doing, I’m giving this another shot. While I had previously decided to only make a set from TFE, and then make more sets of further books, I am now just biting the bullet and adapting the entire trilogy into one set. This will probably mean multiple cards of the same character, and a smattering of different themes and moods of the cards, but I think it will ne easier than creating a set only off of the first book. This project will be in five main phases: 1. Establish archetypes 2. slap a bunch of cards together 3. think more critically about the set structure and balance 4. Revise and rework 5. playtest At the current moment, I am at the middle phases of step 1. I currently have a rough idea of archetypes, but have not completed the archetypes. For this project, there’s three main components of the archetype. 1. The flavor. What aspect of Mistborn is this trying to encapsulate? 2. The mechanics. How does the gameplay reflect that flavor/how do you gamify the book? 3. The colors. What’s the best/most thematic color pairing for this theme/idea/mechanic? Any and all of these are currently in flux, so if you want to make suggestions on any of those, feel free. Here’s what I got so far. Again, I haven’t actually made any cards with these, as I need to first get an idea of the archetypes. I am not particularly attached to any of these, these are just what I have brainstormed thus far. If you think a color pairing, mechanic, or theme is a better fit, let me know! White+blue: Focused on the monarch mechanic, with the flavor being that of the constant battle for power and knowledge across all three books. If this is to be an archetype, obviously all colors will have some amount of monarch cards, just with white/blue as the center. Kind of like conspiracy: take the crown. White+red: Rebels Typal. This is mostly going to be the flavor of the book 1 rebellion, with some potential additions of the warring factions in book 2. There should probably be a specific mechanic for the rebels, and I’m currently thinking the dethrone mechanic from original conspiracy. Having both conspiracy mechanics has some interesting politicking potential, with rewards for attacking different players (or if someone has both the monarch and the most life, extra incentive to attack them!) Black+Blue: Library manipulation. This is meant to encapsulate the deceit and hidden information of the politics of Mistborn, with manipulation of the top of the library of both you and opponents being at play. I really like the idea of combining the surveil mechanic with the old lorwyn clash mechanic, which can lead to a higher likelihood that the clash will be in your favor. That, combined with looking at and light manipulation of your opponents top card, there is also the fun of knowing what is coming and manipulating it to your favor. Obviously I will need to be careful not to put in too much opponent library meddling, as fateseal is one of the more unfun mechanics in Magic, but I suspect light meddling, so long as it isn’t easily repeatable and too common, has a lot of potential. White+Black: sacrifice. This is meant to encapsulate both the exploitation and resistance of the Skaa as well as the oppression of the steel ministry. Those two used to be separate archetypes, but they seemed so connected that it made sense to make them the same archetype. I’m thinking of using the aptly mentioned exploit mechanic, as well as having death triggers and sacrifice outlets galore. Aristocrats, with a Mistborn flavor. Green+Black: nobles and treasures. This is another typal theme, and the subtheme will be the accumulation and spending of treasures. This seems perfectly in line with the books, and provides fun synergies with the sacrifice theme. This is tentatively in golgari colors, but could really be in pretty much any color pairing. Treasures and opulence are found in almost every color in some form. For the longest time this was in Green+Blue, and it is totally possible that it could live there or elsewhere again. Green+Blue: transformation. I’m thinking of having quite a few flip cards with quite a few methods to flip them. Many characters and people in Mistborn have multiple sides to them, and transformation is a big theme across the series. I like the idea of having a way to cheat these transformations, and possibly having some MDFCs that wouldn’t normally be able to transform. Both gold and Malatium can be cool ways to transform a permanent (seeing their future/past/alternate self), and ideas like marsh’s transformation into an inquisitor, Kelsier’s transformation into a cognitive shadow, and vin battling with two sides of herself in Well of Ascension could all be flip cards, in some capacity. I also like the idea of having a few cards that snap into allomancers or transition from being oppressed to a revolutionary as flavor funsies. As with monarch, if this is to be a mechanic, it would be throughout the set, with a focus in these colors. Flip and transform things can also be focused in pretty much any color pair, so this is another archetype that can move around. Red+Black: artifacts. The idea is that with treasures already about, as well as flavorful ways to interact with artifacts (coinshots and lurchers maybe destroying or gaining control of artifacts), and artifact theme would be pretty synergistic. Additionally, I want to make hemalurgic constructs artifact creatures, so this could also be a home for some Kandra, inquisitors, and Koloss. What exactly would be done with artifacts is still kinda unclear, but a sacrifice or typal theme seems plausible and flavorful. Red+Blue: Allomancer typal+activated abilities. I’m thinking of having allomancy being represented through activated abilities, at least in part. This can also enable cheapening effects of like the mists or something, as well as the potential of creating vial tokens, which could be sacrificed to activate an Allomancer ability without having to pay, which I think would be cool. This is yet another nebulously placed archetype, which could justifiably go anywhere. I originally had the idea of having the five enemy pairs being 5 tribes (rebels, Skaa, steel ministry, nobles, and allomancers), but that kind of fell apart. However, izzet being the most magical color tracks for some reason. I currently don’t have anything for Red/green or White/green. Problem is, green is generally the color of nature, and era 1 Scadrial doesn’t have a lot of that. Green could represented in other ways, but it’s a tricky thing. I was thinking of possibly having Red/green be representative of the battles and warfare of books 2 and 3, with a more even army side of things than the underdog feel of books 1. If y’all have any ideas or suggestions for either new or old themes, that would be great! I’m also currently leaning on a lot of preexisting mechanics in Magic, and creating one or two unique mechanics, that would be nice. Also I don’t mind just card ideas, like how to flavorfully represent a character or event! @Treamayne and @Stormtide_Leviathan I know you guys are magic players, and I believe I contacted ya last time I tried to make a set, so here’s the tag this time!

yeah this looks really good! My main objective with approvals is figuring out if you have a character that will roleplay well with others, and creating a three-dimensional character is a big part of that. I have faith that you will RP well with the character. Approved! FYI the Dark Alleys haven't really been active in a while, as there's currently no characters that are in the DA. However, that seems to be a minor point. Overall, I'm a big fan of the character. I think its quite interesting, and I think you did a good job at balancing the character. My only concern is that your character has a nature that actively avoids RP. While its not a lone wolf character, someone that mostly sticks to one place and struggles to interact with others is difficult to do in an RP environment. That is something that we could make work, but your character would either need to be pushed out of their comfort zone or made to do something uncharacteristic of their normal actions. The whole UFO thing could do that, but it would be something that you would have to plan out or manage. I hesitate to approve a lone wolf character without faith that you'll figure out a way to RP around that fact. Its completely possible that you could pull it off, but given this is your first character in the Alleyverse, I just don't know. So here's my thought. I will approve this character, but I'd sincerely recommend planning ahead with other characters to lay plans for RP potential. I've seen people excited to play a character only to be disconnected from any real plot because they were adhering more to what their character would do, which is avoid all that. Now, I think its imparative that you create a realistic scenario for your character, so that you can be actively RPing and getting involved without acting counter to what would be realistic for the character. Does that make sense? Let me know if you need me to better explain things. Your character is approved, but with a warning. I believe in ya, you just need to put in some extra effort. So is the Eleos that we saw in Era 7 the same Eleos we're seeing now? Did they go through the same events? If you want to retcon it, we can, as Eleos didn't do all that much in Era 7, but if this is the same character that has just gone through a major shift in morals and bond in the past 6 months (as Era 8 is taking place roughly half a year after Era 7), I would need that to be more spelled out. If you want him to be a fully fledged elantrian we can probably make that work, but here's my rationale in more detail. Generally, a character's arc across an Era would end with some sort of power boost. This could be a physical power boost, i.e. swearing a new ideal or getting a new weapon, or it could be a skill increase. While your character arc could lead to your character being weakened (magically cursed or suffering a physical injury), few players actually go that route. If you start with a high powered character, and they just keep getting stronger, that can end up being a problem. Secondly, the stronger the character, the more careful you have to be around godmodding. So if you are facing or even allying with another PC, your disproportionately powerful abilities have greater potential to either physically strip the other person of their agency (like "I teleport your character away and then shoot them before they have a chance to react"), or restrict the percieved options of the person (If a mistborn can take down an army on their own, what use would a random coinshot be on their side?). While a more experienced RPer, especially experienced in the free form DMless RP that the Alleyverse is, this can be carefully avoided and worked around, but with this being your first time RPing in the Alleyverse, having more comparable powers to other characters mitigates that complexity. I think options 1 or 2 for limiting powers both have their own merits, and its your call on where you want to take it, but I would recommend doing something to at least mitigate or create a substantial enough weakness to compensate for the normally extremely powerful abilities.

Is this a retconning of Eleos? I don’t particularly see how this Eleos evolves from the Era 7 Eleos. We can retcon it, even if it would have some weird implications. I would need to know for sure what your thought process on that is before I can further look into the character. Well, whatever backstory and magic you land on, let me know! I think me can make whatever work. The Alleyverse’ atmosphere is going to be kinda like Scadrial’s, so Earth-like. There is a Cognitive and Spiritual realm, but as far as I’m aware no perpendicularity. There is an Alleystorm that only really shows up when it’s relevant to the plot, and there’s a bunch of weird dimensions like the Nowhere and Alleys (which is extra weird as it’s a unique dimension to this RP), but generally Alleyplanet is “normal” by Cosmere standards. @BridgeBoi Overall it’s a vast improvement from the previous character sheet. My main thoughts are these: -You character has a mission to track down someone that is a non-PC, which can complicate things. Obviously your character seems to be the type to go on side quests, but having the ultimate goal being to face an NPC leads to potentially non-interactive RP, as you either have to roleplay Oladan yourself or have someone else roleplay Oladan, which might lead to you feeling that they didn’t do the character justice. This is something we can make work, and maybe the character arc is that they don’t have to seek revenge, but it’s definitely a more complex dynamic than you’d expect. -Experienced elantrians are really strong. With proper flaws and nerfs, they can be balanced, but on its own, an Elantrian that knows what they’re doing is probably mistborn levels of strength. Given that we’re in a plot where there will be mistings and even non-powered folk running around, this could lead to a weird power imbalance coming into play. That said, sometimes that’s a good thing. For example, my main character last Era was very strong, and while not Mistborn levels strong, was definitely above the curve. However, that was kind of the point. He was the villain of the era, and his strength invited other characters to group up against them. This era, we have a secret organization that is made to deal with folks with high investiture reliance, but it is a tricky thing. I would have to talk with some other folks on how they would feel about having a fully fledged Elantrian with very few downsides in the plot, but I would hazard you against playing it as your first Alleyverse character. This is not to say you can’t play the character, just that you might need some flaws to balance out the strength of the Elantrian powers. Maybe there’s some sort of mental or physical weakness that they have to play around. Maybe they have a moral code that restricts their ability to use their magic in specific circumstances. Maybe they have some sort of magical interference with their abilities, acting as a sort of curse. These are just ideas, but adding something like that can help mitigate the power problem as well as create interesting hurdles for your character to overcome.

So UFO is kinda doing its own thing. The plot will mostly be in new Hallandren, and UFO will mostly being doing things there. Perses will probably make a showing, and obviously UFO doesn’t like Perses, but UFO has plans other than to deal with Perses. What plans? Well, they’re a secret organization, and they got secret plans. The start of the era is going to involve some sort of leak going out that UFO exists, and that they are planning something in New Hallandren, but nobody knows what to expect. though @Stormlightsong is kinda the ringleader for UFO stuff, so they would know best.

this feels like an outline of a character. I can help you flesh it out, but I need some info first. -what purpose does this character fulfill for you? -what is interesting about this character? What do you want to highlight? Currently, this character is just Some Guy. However, there's always something interesting story or character-wise, and I'm currently not seeing it. -Very basic character fleshing out question: What does your character want but cannot have? Not every character will have something that they want but cannot have, but its a simple way to build towards a more fleshed out and interesting character. Another way to ask this question is what are the character's ambitions? Where do they imagine themselves in a year? five? a decade? Creating a powerless character is tricky, mostly because they don't have that basic nudge of "how does their powers affect their personality?" In this case, you can sort of replace that question with "how does their profession affect their personality?" but a profession is more an expression of personality, so it's kinda working backwards. Expanding on a backstory also does a similar thing, with the question of "how does this person's lived experiences affect their personality?" but with this particular form of roleplay, backstory often is written after a character concept and personality is made, but in this case, if you want, fleshing out a backstory could then give you a better concept of a character. If you have questions or want help, DMs or the character thread are a great place to do it, and I am more than willing to help you out. However, this forum is more a place for me to see the final or close to final work, and I don't want to fill this thread with back and forths about building a character.

overall, I'm really impressed with the backstory! This looks fairly well thought out, and I think the character feels three-dimensional. However, keeping in mind that your character's history and personality is more than just a single event is important. Perhaps delving a bit into what Mordyial did after that moment (how he traveled the cosmere, where he traveled, what he did, how he got to the Alleyverse, for example) could be a good way to do that. The main thing keeping me from approving this though is the aetherbound-ness. It's likely to be okay, but given that we know very little about aetherbound, that gets in the way of my possible approval. I'm also not particularly well versed in what we know about true aethers (I have a decent idea about Lumar's spores, but that's decently different). Do you think you can either link or explain your rationale for the power set? I'm mostly unclear on whether being an aetherbound is a born or given ability, and I am curious as to how you define the powerset (I assume its a mixing of Lumar's crimson spores and what we see of aetherbound in TLM, but I'm curious as to how you mix them). Speculative magics are perfectly allowed, I just want to know how you define it and how you got there.

Alright, character time! Updated Perses, who is now an OP character I will be posting another character soon, but wow is Perses a lot. @Voidus, but more likely @AonEne can either of you give the character a look-through?

I mean, I’ll be posting Perses’ updated character sheet, but he’s currently viewing himself as above most people (I’ve labeled him as now an OP character). I think he would be fine with your character working for him, but he would probably find your services in a partnership lacking. Currently his work partner is essentially a demon, so you’re in tough competition. We’ll talk more once I have my character sheet down, since then we’ll be operating on the same knowledge.

Approved and approved! fyi for folks: I’m planning on having the next era start early-mid January, so getting characters in before then and beginning to plan the first steps your character would take in their arc is probably a good idea. tagging @SpiritOfWrath, @Speeding Steelrunner, @BridgeBoi (who still needs to revise mostly their backstory and respond to my TLM question to get closer to being approved), and @Ookla the Irreplaceable. @Wits instant noodles, @UltimateArchivist, and @ruler of the mists: I noticed you folks have posted characters before, but not posted here for the new era. If you’re still interested (I’m aware it’s been a hot second for some of you), posting a character for approval here would be awesome!

This is mostly just a way for me to get info on how folks got here. I’m interested in expanding the reach of the Alleyverse, and am currently brainstorming how to do that, but knowing how people got here is a good first step. If you could, filling out this brief poll would be great!

Perses, 5 days later. Perses walked down the streets of Mistkeep. He had rarely traveled here, but it was nice to breathe in fresh air. He was disguised, with glasses and his old mistcoat on. He didn’t know why he decided to visit this place. Very little of his life was spent here, with very few memories made. He walked, aimlessly wandering, until he stopped, reaching the destination that he didn’t know he was going to. A giant manor on Wickwillow street. Though the air was clean, he still smelled a darkness emanating from it. Burning bronze, its power smashed into him, drowning out its other senses. There was something evil here, and he knew it well. Welcome back, Perses. The voice echoed throughout the street, bouncing off of the other houses, long abandoned. The voice was calm, collected. Booming, yet intimate. “Who are you? What do you want from me?” Perses yelled, remembering himself in this same scenario multiple times. Yet this time, the thing answered him. I am Belias, your master. I have been guiding you for some time, and you have done well. I gave you your freedom, your strength, your life. I have reforged you, and we are far from finished. Memories flooded Perses. Ones he had repressed, and ones that he hadn’t remembered. The terrible days spent in the House, with constant fear. Helplessness, weakness. A voice, striking a deal. Freedom. Perses fell to his knees. You are exactly what I have been searching for, Perses. Someone with ambition, and great potential. Someone not afraid to do what is needed to get ahead. Cunning, yet ruthless. Your hope to get a foothold in this city is commendable, but together, we can do so much more. Under my guidance, you will get the respect you deserve. Rise Perses, Prince of the Alleys. Embrace your place in Alleycity. Perses rose, heart racing. He walked, stumbling, into the mansion that haunted his nightmares. The prison that kept him under its thumb for so long. As he entered, something changed. He felt a power over it, one that he had never felt. He walked the halls, feeling the house morph to his will. He knew these halls well, and now he could walk them with ease. The power of the Alleys, guiding him. To a single room, buried in the heart of the house. At its center, a writhing void of madness greeted him. Tendrils of darkness rooted itself here, with a fierceness to take hold of this reality. A pocket of the Alleys, seeping into the city. Take it, Perses. It is yours to control. Perses entered the Alleys, knowing he pulled the reigns.

Yeah the transfem allegory is Masaka from Yumi.

What rep we got so far in the books? from my count we got -gay men -trans men -nonbinary (ish, as I don’t think there is actual nonbinary humans) -bisexuality (ish) -trans women (not really tho, just big allegory) -asexual (I don’t think aro tho) -lesbian

Have you read The Lost Metal? It seems to offer a pretty clean solution to the Elantrian problem.