Sisters of the Flame is really cool!

I love that they're sharing the fire.

Thank you! I didn't know that card existed Though I have to admit the original title was Sisters of the Fire, to play on the significance that exact word has for both of them, and for some reason it ended up as "Flame". Which title do you think is better?

Fortunately Beryl is coming to terms with her problems, and I can only hope Sharaka will too. I also think they would have interesting interactions! Once Sharaka stops hitting on Beryl and Aloise both, I mean.

These are super cool, Huey! Thanks for sharing!

The one at the middle bottom melts my heart.

I really like the Salt Cliffs one in the middle, too. It reminds me of Nessie.

An idea for Pride Month who kept sliding down my schedule; the rather old markers I used for the originals weren't satisfactory so I had to remedy with my astonishing Photoshop skills
-As one can read in Healing Path, Sharaka's gender is... complicated; she isn't considered fully female by the standards of the Burnspine Viashino, but their definitions of genders are not very adherent to ours. Elphimas is more clearly nonbinary/agender, so the genderqueer flag was just easier to put in their hands.
-Pansexuality and bisexuality are labels that cover similar orientations; I chose the pan flag for Sharaka because, as I said, genders in her upbringing had different meanings so I think it's more correct she's attracted to any gender rather than both genders.

A particularly interesting find from said expedition was an incomplete deck of Aubedore cards. Despite the humble materials, its composition hints to a care for the imagery similar to modern decks, where designer and illustrators work together to infuse their vision of Aubedore - and through that, their vision of Fate itself - in the cards.

It's only appropriate to start their analysis from the first rank of the Academy realm, The Ancient One. This card's most basic meanings are related to experience and the knowledge and wisdom that come with age, but this deck's - as of yet unnamed - creators introduced a number of symbols that allow a veritable multitude of readings.

-As for the other cards, the rank and realm of the card is illustrated at the corners. The book representing the Academy realm, interestingly, seem to flow from a skull. This reinforces the concept of knowledge earned though age (and thus physical decay) or study of the past, but may also hint to necromantic studies, or knowledge gained through the death of others, giving a darker edge to this card than more recent interpretations.

-The titular elder is thin, long-bearded and hunchbacked, all common traits found in this card through the ages. Less common is the almost raptor-like grip with which the Ancient One holds the Hourglass (drawing a direct tie between the two cards), suggesting a possessive grasp of time and a refusal to let time pass, leading to a stagnation reinforced by the sand in the lower half of the Hourglass whirling instead of just reaching the bottom. The figure of the elder also breaks through the card's frame, which seem to represent a personality willing and able to shatter rules and bonds for his ends, and the fact the cloak ends in impalpable wisps indicates an essence that transcends the material world, ideas which gets even darker if tied with the hints to necromancy scattered in the image. These could just be a metaphor for the oppressive presence of past giants in modern academic endeavors, or might represent an elder master shaping the future according to his whims.

-A crowned topped by a star/sun symbol flows (or is melted) into a goblet sporting a winged circle under an angular 8 shape. The interpretation of the symbols on the goblet colors this whole part of the figure: wings are symbols of ascension and freedom, the circle represents both unity and closed-mindedness, the 8 shape points towards the infinite and endless cycles. Just these simple alternatives trace a map of 8 possible meanings, that have to be combined with the dripping crown. Is the crown being melted (and thus destroyed) to obtain the contents of the goblet, or it's just being "milked"?

-A reversed owl's skull. While it could be innocently read as wisdom coming from the past sages, its inverted position hints to a higher relevance in the inverted reading of the card, where it might symbolize dead wisdom as in lost knowledge, or information that is deadly to its bearer.

-A multitude of eyes fill each interstice. Symbols of vision and discovery, the eyes in the image are nonetheless unsettling in their omnipresence, making me think of a hidden cabal watching from the darkness. An eye even takes form from one of the crown's drops, linking the two elements. The empty eyesockets of the two portrayed skulls form a contrast with these eyes, adding the haunting possibility of dead eyes observing the present. Notably, the elder's eyes are also hidden.

I usually think of the Ancient One as a female figure, just because, well, Thorneau