Empiretale: Starlight Speedway

Empiretale: Starlight Speedway (shortened to ETSS for convenience purposes, as well as adopting the simple name "Empire Tale") is one of Mana's stories. The story focuses on (another) war between two empires, Firesun and Watermoon, as Princess Lux of Firesun escapes in the midst of a battle and seeks to fix the future as a result of her family's past mistakes. The story focuses heavily on morals and how the younger generations are the ones who pave the future when the past is torn apart by mistakes.

The story is the first of Mana's stories to have a direct sequel, taking place ten years after the first series. However, the sequel has no official separate title and is either referred to as "the sequel" or "Arcs 6-7". In complete order, the arcs of ETSS are Windstar, EarthEclipse, SpiritSky, Firesun, Watermoon, LightNova, and Darkvoid.

Symbol
ETSS's story symbol is an apple, typically drawn with a four-pointed star on it.

Magical apples play a large role in ETSS, both being used for healing and destruction. The star symbol in the apple represents their space-themed empires.

Chris
The Chris of ETSS is known as Janus Zaffreblaze. He is number 15 in Firesun's soldier ranks and the only soldier to leave Firesun with Lux as her caretaker.

Unlike other Chrises, Janus has white hair with slate colored tips. Originally his hair was planned to be white with the iconic cobalt-colored tips, but an opacity issue with the blue color made Mana keep it as a slate color. Janus' usual outfit consists of his Firesun soldier uniform, colored in blue due to being a blueflame. He wears gauntlets as a minor reference to Chrises with metal prosthetic arms such as Cobalt Zaffre in DOTS:DD and Agent Blue from MAR. Janus' surname "Zaffreblaze" mildly references Cobalt Zaffre, as Mana wanted Janus' name to reference the color blue while also including a fire-related word in it. Mana also chose the name Zaffreblaze because she thought a shield with the letter Z on it would look cool, though it is unknown if Janus will ever gain one like it.

Janus is stoic and disciplined as a soldier, and is a powerful one due to holding the rank of number 15 in Firesun. He is very loyal to the royals (as well as being Lux's cousin and Caelus' nephew), staying by Lux's side no matter what and semi-regretting not defending the king himself during the initial raid on Firesun leading to their escape. He is Lux's personal guard as per order from King Caelus to keep watch over his daughter rather than himself like the other 14 guards.

Extra Chrises?
Due to arcs 6-7 having self indulgent references to Mana's two other main stories, the DOTSverse and Aurumgentum, two other Chrises have been added (however, Mana sees them as uncanon variations of preexisting Chrises, thus making them variations of an individual Chris rather than the Chris concept).

The first is Azureus, blue legionnaire of Lightnova. He alludes to Cobalt Zaffre from DOTS: Danger Days, however instead of a gladiator-style fighter he acts as royal guard to Queen Violacea. He also shares a name with the original Blue Paladin of the DOTSverse.

The second is Tempestas, a prisoner of Darkvoid and Azureus' partner. He alludes to Ventus Fulmen from AuAg, both sharing a similar character arc but in differing time periods. He is also part court jester and acts as a spy for Lightnova in order to gain respect after being saved by Azureus. His name comes from work-in-progress names for Ventus, meaning "storm" in Latin.

Arcs 1-5
Four intergalactic empires have colonized rogue planets together, with the two oldest ones being EarthEclispe and WindStar, and the newer FireSun and WaterMoon. However, its royalty after establishing all four empires have not been at peace for the past few decades due to a war between Firesun and Watermoon. Young Princess Lux escapes from her home of Firesun as a result of a raid by Watermoon with a single soldier, Janus/Fifteen, and decides to help all four nations in order to pave the way for a better future while finding out the history of the war between Firesun and Watermoon.

Arcs 6-7
Ten years after Lux becomes Queen of Firesun and ends the decades-long war between Firesun and Watermoon, the empires witness the impossibly rare discovery of two new empires, Lightnova and Darkvoid. However, the two empires are on the verge of warring and tensions are high as the initial four empires quarrel over the dangers that could and will come with the new empires. Lux attempts to help solve these tensions, wondering who to really trust, all in guilt-fueled hopes to prevent another cycle of wartime suffering in the empires. In the meantime, the other empire kids (now empire adults, technically) attempt to recover from the horrors and events from ten years prior.

ETSS Arcs 1-5
Lux Rainbowflare

Janus Zaffreblaze

Nex Dimgale (full name Nexus)

Nox Stormpyre

Nix Frostshard

Argento Riverspear

Fides Ashstrike

Diem Zephyrdust

Gloria Mistralheart

Bellona Stormpyre

Caelus Rainbowflare

Euclio Zephyrdust

Venus Ardorocean

Creo Zephyrblaze

Deleo Waterfall

Virtus Valianthearth

Cladis Rosethorn

Serenum Rosethorn

Elysium Soulhaven

Aurifera Rainbowflare

Cassius Riverspear

Nivalis Frostshard

Hiemo Frostshard

ETSS Arcs 6-7 (Above Characters Included)
Violacea Lightvale

Coccinus Lightvale

Azureus Lucidkris

Tempestas Somberkris

Discordia Dustgloom

Caligo Dustgloom

Umbra Dustgloom

Artorius "Artie" Dimgale

Margarita "Peggy" Dimgale

Rosacea Rosebush de Dimgale

Spes Hopeessent

General Iris

Lux Lightvale

Vepris Mistyglare

Trivia

 * The story of ETSS was initially inspired by an Underverse AU, Empireverse, by lunnar-chan on Tumblr. It had also inspired the character design aesthetic of ETSS.
 * However, Mana also alludes to The Scarlet Letter, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Romeo x Juliet, The Legend Trilogy, and especially Hamilton as her main inspirations for ETSS.
 * The earliest concept of ETSS was known as "Empiretale: Black Suns" and was about two royal brothers of a Sun Empire and Moon Empire being pitted against each other in a war, as their young age made two older rival brothers rule their empires for them, leading their respective empires to war.
 * This was somewhat reused for ETSS Arcs 6-7, as Caligo and Umbra resemble the two young royal brothers.
 * The title comes from Empire + tale, plus the title of a song "Starlight Speedway", as the empires are connected through roads made out of magical starlight and spacedust.
 * Mana has said the song "Starlight Speedway" fits well for the relationship between Lux and Nex.
 * Originally, ETSS was going to stop at 5 arcs representing each empire (Windstar, EarthEclipse, SpiritSky, FireSun, then WaterMoon), however Mana saw potential in a Light and Dark empire, with fitting names LightNova and DarkVoid (subtly named after black holes). The two new empires were inspired by Mana's other, previous main story, the DOTSverse.
 * Both the DOTSverse and the Light/Dark empires have rainbow colored light heroes led by a child of a rainbow goddess and a light god.
 * The main characters are referred to as "Empire Kids". This includes Lux, Nex, Nix, Nox, Argento, Diem, Fides, and Gloria.
 * Originally Nex was related to Lux, but this was changed to make the Rainbowflare/Stormpyre family smaller and have an alternative story arc for Lux and Nex's friendship. This unused concept was initially meant to have one Rainbowflare/Stormpyre family member representing each empire, with Lux as Firesun, Nox as Watermoon, Pax as EarthEclipse, and Nex as Windstar.
 * Nox's name is reminiscent of this concept, as Bellona's citizenship from Watermoon could have influenced her to give him a Watermoon name. Nox is "night" in Latin.
 * Each main empire kid corresponds to a lyric from "This Is War" by 30 Seconds to Mars, as Mana believes the song is extremely fitting for the story.
 * Nox is the soldier, Fides is the civilian, Nix is the martyr, Gloria is the victim, Argento is the leader, Nex is the pariah, Diem is the victor, and Lux is the messiah. This is war5.png
 * ETSS's naming system includes a Latin/Roman first name and a "magical" sounding surname based on the empire they hail from, much like some character names in My Little Pony or surnames in the game Wizard101.
 * Originally the empire kids were going to all have a three letter name ending with a letter X. This was changed as Mana was running out of cool options and character names were beginning to sound too similar.
 * Gloria's original name was going to be Vix before the change, and Nex's real name was switched to Nexus, going by Nex for short. The mistake in character names sounding similar was the unfortunate coincidence that Nex, Nox, and Nix all have the same name but with a switched vowel.
 * Mana has realized that Lux alludes to her first OC, Queen Mana. Both are young and feminine royal protagonists with special amulets and flame-like powers with a purple color scheme. They are also related to a fellow golden-haired kid, as Lux is friends with Nex and Mana had initially an "other half" who was all powerful and had golden hair (however, this "other half" resembles Aurum in SOTGC in name and design but Aurifera in ETSS as they are both all-powerful royalty).
 * Aurifera had the title "The Golden Queen" as a placeholder name, but the title may be used in the story as Aurifera is seen as a curse to the Rainbowflare family.
 * The Firesun family name "Rainbowflare" is in reference to how each generation of royalty goes in a rainbow order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
 * As a concept for the ending for ETSS, Mana has thought up making Lux's heir a pinkflame to symbolize a new era of hope for the empires.
 * Bellona is based off of Storm Gray from DraDes, as the two are both members of the royal guard with a forbidden romance with royalty. Bellona also has minor references to Storm, as her last name "Stormpyre" references him and they both have similar slicked hair part on top.


 * The rivalry between Lux and Nix does not follow the red vs blue coloring from other stories such as DOTS:DD or ROP. While this is to break out of the color scheme trope, it is also symbolic for their rivalry not being balanced in which at least one party doesn't approve of their rivalry and instead tries their best to redeem the other. Their purple and blue coloring could also represent that they are not so different after all, and could become allies if they tried.


 * Nix is the only member of the Winter Boys, Mana's favorite "whumpee" characters, who is not a Chris.
 * However, Nix was initially mistaken for a Chris by a friend.
 * Ironically enough, ETSS technically features all the Winter Boys in one place due to the appearance of Ventus as Tempestas Somberkris and Cobalt as Azureus Lucidkris. This does also technically make ETSS the only story with three Chris variations (Janus, Tempestas, and Azureus), though Mana considers Tempestas and Azureus as variations of Ventus and Cobalt rather than Chris himself.


 * For fun, Mana has plotted the empire's choice of cuisine.
 * While Firesun and Windstar have access to a lot of food due to being the most wealthy and powerful empires, Firesun's cuisine typically consists of a lot of meat dishes and roasted vegetables, as Sols of Firesun like to savor the flavor of flames.
 * EarthEclipse, as its citizens' elemental powers include the growth of plants, include a lot of vegetable dishes or possibly vegan dishes, as they could easily grow various fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods.
 * Watermoon typically eat a lot of sea food as a result of the empire being mostly surrounded by water. Their meals could also include various soup dishes due to the surplus of water in the empire.