In Freedom Planet 2, Verse is an NPC who can be found in Shang Tu, and Adventure Square, who will let you play any vinyls that you've found during your game. She has purple fur, long red hair, a blue guitar, and an eye patch. She was designed by Leilani Wilson, who contributed heavily to the OSTs from Both Freedom Planet games.
But what if I told you that Verse isn't actually native to Avalice at all? And that she is actually the protagonist from an epic fantasy novel/ concept album series?
Lets take a look at Verse from the stories, some other characters, and the world of the Elancia Chronicles

The 'Elancia Chronicles' series follows Verse on her journey through a hostile world. Expect to find plenty of exhilarating action, passionate romance, and intriguing, ominous mysteries which will have you stuck turning those pages for hours on end! The books have a focus on great, and tastefully done LGBT+ representation, and feature intricate world building, and deep, lovable characters. There are three novels out now, each with an accompanying music album. They are:
'Symphony of Shifting Tides' (2019)
'Symphony of Hunted Truths' (2020)
'Symphony of Awakened Gods' (2021)
'Symphony of The Frontier' (TBA)

Shifting Tides starts with Verse- a confused, amnesiac, and apathetic pirate, along with her friend Xan Gryphon getting stranded on a foreign continent, and then getting roped into a savage war whilst trying to find an escape, where they begrudgingly meet new friends, embark on daring missions, and get tied up in divine conspiracies.



As for the sequels? Well you'll just have to read them to find out...

"Yeah, no. I’m a piece of sh*t,” “and I’m willing to prove that.”
-Verse

Theme song: Crafty Smile[soundcloud.com]

Versearrun "Verse" Erin McDowell is an amnesiac, apathetic, awkward, and cowardly Fox-Kin pirate. She wants nothing more than an easy life, solitude, and to wake up with a body that matches her gender. After losing her parents, childhood friend, and most of her memories, then having her fur mysteriously turn purple, Nothing ever seems to go right for poor Verse. But after a disaster at sea that leaves her stranded in a war-zone, everything is about to get so much worse...
Her only escapes from her traumatic reality are cigarettes, alcohol, corny romance novels, playing her guitar, and lucid dreams in which Verse takes on a feminine form, gets visited by her imaginary older sister, and can freely be her truest self.
Verse's weapon of choice is an ornate revolver called the "Man-Ender"- a rare, high-caliber weapon, which features a sharp bayonet for grizzly close-quarters-combat.


What happened to Verse's eye?
Why is she being hunted down by assassins?
What happened to all of Verse's memories?
Why is her fur purple?
Why is Verse a male in the real world and a female whilst dreaming?
And what is the significance of her imaginary sister?
All those questions and more can only be answered by reading the books!

---

While Verse is the main character, Elancia features a wide cast of lovable characters with deep personalities. Below, you will find short bios of a few of the other characters Verse meets on her journey.

"Y’all gotta let me go! Otherwise, I’mma go all Xan on this place."
-Xan

Theme Song: Effervescent Green[soundcloud.com]

A short, stocky, green rabbit-kin who is too cool to wear both sleeves, Xan Gryphon is a brave & fierce pirate, talented sword-fighter and the only person who will tolerate Verse. After years of pirate raids together, Verse and Xan make a formidable team! But after spending weeks surviving in a war-torn continent and witnessing the horrors of war, Xan decides that something needs to change. Determined to bring peace back to the world, Xan joins in the fight himself. Verse however, wants nothing more than to escape to safety, and is faced with a troubling decision that has no good outcomes.
Beneath his valiant exterior, Xan seems to have a troubled past. He claims that he was raised by the warrior tribes of Brobragaria, but his accent isn't quite right...

Will Xan ever open up about the truth of his past?
Will Verse be able to keep her one friend? or will they be cruelly torn apart by the war?
only one way to find out...

“Don’t tell me what to do! I’m a robber-murderer now!”
-Cecelia

Theme Song:Pleasant and Cantankerous[soundcloud.com]

A strange Bat-Kin girl, Cecelia started following Verse and Xan after the two saved her ill grandfather's life from some mysterious assassins. Despite their protestations, she stubbornly insists on tagging along with these handsome rogues, dreaming of a life of adventure, like in her favourite books. Although she is always desperate to help in combat, her magic often causes more problems than it solves.
While Cecelia is an absolute savant when it comes to magic, she has great difficulty in social contaxts, due to her lack of hygeine, loud voice, lack of social skills, and narrow-minded obsessions. She lives a lonely life due to her special interest- magic being banned by the dominant religion of her home.

Will Verse and Xan ever be able to rid themselves of this annoying burden?
Or will she prove to be more useful & lovable than she appears?

"Either way, I’m a social drinker; I just happen to be very social."
-Basil

Theme Song: The Drunken Knight[soundcloud.com]

Praised by many as "The Chosen One", Basil is the youngest in a bloodline of divine Celestionese knights who serve the goddess Elia. Having an important legacy to inherit, Basil was never allowed to have a normal childhood. Yet now as an adult, who hasn't had an opportunity to prove himself as a warrior worthy of his name, Basil spends most of his time drowning his sorrows with alcohol. To make things worse, the people of Celestion are getting impatient for him to have a heir to continue his holy bloodline, yet Basil has no feelings toward women, preferring to dream of men.
Having a life sheltered from outside influences, he has no idea how to relate to others. His only companion is a quiet Dog-kin knight named Karina, who serves as his guardian, and keeps him out of trouble when he drinks himself stupid.
After a few chance encounters with Verse & Xan, and a failed mission, the group are sent on an errand to stop Basil from further disgracing his name's holy reputation.

Will Basil be able to pull himself together and prove himself?
Will he be able to escape the downward spiral of alcoholism?
Will he ever learn how to make meaningful friendships?
And how can he reconcile his disinterest in women with his sacred duty to continue his bloodline?

“Well, stop posing as if someone was painting you and get your arse
moving. People’s lives are at stake.”
-Karina

Theme Song:Fierce Arbiter[soundcloud.com]

Karina is a Dog-Kin knight and Basil's protector. Quiet, stoic, and loyal, she is skilled in combat with many weapons, and excellent at stealth despite her imposing size. After getting a lifelong disease that caused her to grow abnormally large, and losing her disgraced family at a young age, she has become a very strict, cold person. While Verses antics often annoy Karina, the little fox represents to her a life of freedom- something Karina knows is unattainable with her lot in life. Not to mention, Verse's accent and smell reminds Karina of her childhood home...

Can she learn to let herself be happy and free?
Will she ever find love with her intimidating figure?
and why is Verse's sister from her dreams so insistent about keeping her safe?

“It isn’t like I’d hate having a little brother,” “but that wasn’t you. You keep pretending to be someone else. I know it’s hurting you. It’s been hurting you for years.”
-Lyrikos

Theme Song:Dream Sea[soundcloud.com]

When Verse goes to sleep, sometimes she'll find herself at her childhood home of Quaimusu Island, off the shore of Kerlynzia. Here, she is visited by Lyrikos: A mysterious, but very kind older vixen who cooks delicious food for Verse, plays music on her violin, gives advice, and lets Verse dress however she wants & be her most genuine self. Lyrikos also claims to be Verse's older sister, but being an only child, Verse knows that this can't be true, as much as she wishes otherwise. Is it possible that Lyrikos may somehow be real? After all, how can a figment of your imagination teach you how to fight? And no other fox besides Verse has purple fur, right?

---

Verse's Mother and Father. They used to live a quaint, but happy life together, but at some point, something happened that Verse Can't remember. Cliff disappeared, and Cadence returned home one day as a Shark-Kin. What happened to them? And why did Verse run away?

Theme Song: General Charlemagne's Theme[soundcloud.com]
A Hyena-Kin, and one of the Elian Holy Army's most respected officers, Chaz & her legion of soldiers is sent over to Basker to aid the Celestionese war effort against Dascillia & the Aegiys Guard. After Verse & Xan are taken prisoner by the Holy Army, they are meant to be executed! But Chaz sees use for their talents & hires them to escort Basil on an important mission. What does she see in the two? And how can an Elian warlord be so forgiving?

Theme Song (Sir Patchmore): Illusionist[soundcloud.com]
Theme Song (The Patchmore Players): The Fantastic Patchmore Players[soundcloud.com]
A charming Cheetah-kin who lives on the road with his nomadic band of travelling musicians, fighters, acrobats and freaks: The Fantastic Patchmore Players. A master of disguise, & armed with as many alter-egos as there are tricks up his sleeve, Sir Patchmore & his gang's unique talents will certainly come in handy!

Verse's Wolf-Kin Ex-Girlfriend, & Former pirate aboard the 'She Wolf'. After Verse & Xan escaped her ship due to a falling-out between her & Verse, they thought she was nothing but a memory, but unfortunately, they've crossed paths once again in Celestion, and she wants the same thing they do: an escape from Basker. Being gifted in Stone magic, having a healthy supply of of Dynamite, and knowing many embarrassing secrets about Verse, Stella will get what she wants by any means necessary! If only she knew how to control her tongue...


Not long after Verse & Xan get stranded in Celestion, Verse overhears a shocking conversation between two ominous figures: A Ferret-Kin named Saytor, and a human named Rellin Sarboza. They are a pair of Dascillian assassins who are on a disturbing mission: Capture Verse, and Kill Xan! Why do a pair of assassins (who Neither Verse nor Xan recognise,) want to do this? And who would hire them to do such a hideous thing?

Theme Song: On The Wing[soundcloud.com]
A formidable Kerlynzian Dragon-Kin Gunslinger, who is wanted for many crimes, and rides a giant feral Dragon named Narg. Unfortunately for Verse, Fiend has something that's precious to her, and Verse will risk both life & limb to get it back. Yet despite Fiend's fearsome exterior, there's something "different" about him. What secrets does he hide? And why does Narg seem so hesitant to kill Verse?

The Elancia series contains some wonderfully intricate lore, spanning several continents, religions, and magic! The technology level of the series' current timeline resembles the mid 19th-century era of Earth, with trains, factories, steamboats, and revolvers (the first book takes place in 1876 of the Elian calendar). The world is dominated by several different "races":
* Humans,
* Beast-Kin- who are hybrids between animals and humans. for example: Verse is considered a 'Fox-Kin', while a regular fox is considered a "Non-Sent(ient)" fox.
* Fantasy races- such as Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, which have become rare after centuries of warfare
* And lastly: Gods- mysterious beings with immense magical power who each control a natural force. Some say that they created the world, while others insist that they're not even real

Shifting Tides mainly takes place in two countries: Celestion, and Dascillia. Both on the Basker continent. Celestion is an old-fashioned Medieval-Europe styled nation with ancient cities, under-developed technology, castles, rolling green hills, and an enchanted forest. Celestion worships the goddess Elia, who preaches humility, forbids the use of magic, demands utmost devotion, and insists that Beast-Kin reject their animal instincts to act more human. She has her will carried out by the Holy Army. Basil and Karina are loyal to Elianism, and as such, the main characters all end up working for her, whether they like it or not. Her worshippers consider her the one true god of everything, but some say she is actually the Goddess of Death...

"When we grew too far from nature thousands of years ago,
She gave many of us the souls of animals, and transformed our bodies.
Only those who did not stray remained human. This, along with the creation
of Her monsters, was our punishment, known as The Great Collapse. Those
of us descended from those cursed must do more to prove our goodness, and
worth."
-Elian bible: 1876 edition

Dascillia is a nation with several biomes: Grasslands, Desert, and snowy mountains. They worship a wide pantheon of gods under a religion called "Aegiys". They support the use of magic, and developing technology. An alliance between the Dascillian Army, and the Aegiys Guard are waging war on Celestion to gain fertile land to end a famine. They are developing an ominous super-weapon called the 'Aegiys Cannon', made from strange technology that fell from the sky, which, when completed, will allow them to strike anywhere in Basker with immense destructive magical force.

While the series was originally published by Goal Publications between 2019-2021, that business has gone bankrupt, and the remaining copies have all been sold.
However, there has been an exciting new development regarding the series' publishing.
Elancia has been picked up by Transcendent Fiction Publishing[bsky.app]!
Leilani has taken advantage of this to bring us a newly improved version of the first three books, with tightened pacing, adjustments to the story for better continuity, re-done covers, AND a selection of newly re-made tracks from the soundtrack!
You can purchase each book as they come out: Here[www.tfpublishing.com.au]!

You can find the Soundtracks for each book on Leilani Wilson's Soundcloud page[soundcloud.com].
We also have a Discord server[discord.gg]! (note: you must be over 18 to join.)


CONTENT WARNING: the series contains:
Frequent Coarse language
Sexual references & themes
Fantasy violence
Self harm & Suicide
Reader discretion is strongly advised!

Elancia Chronicles was originally envisioned as a JRPG style game all the way back in 2008.

The full soundtrack for Symphony of Shifting Tides is over eight hours long! That would require at least 7 CDs, or around 21 sides of a LP record to hold all of that music!

In 2019, Shifting Tides won a "Leo Literary Award[furrybookreview.com]" for best Novel, and was nominated for a Coyotl Award[coyotlawards.com]. Hunted Truths was also nominated for a Leo the next year.

In Freedom Planet 2, Verse has an unused walk-cycle:

Having recently finished reading the three Elancia Chronicles novels that are out, I thought it would be fun to make a guide explaining Verse's cameo in Freedom Planet 2 to spread the word about my new favourite story! After I spent so much time writing & re-writing each section, I hope you enjoyed reading my info-dump as much as I did making it, and that it piqued your interest in Leilani Wilson's novels! If you've read & enjoyed them, be sure to comment down below!
Thank you for reading!

Book cover illustrator (& Verse art in thumbnail): NightlineZ[www.furaffinity.net]
Book interior illustrator (most pics featured in this guide, map background used in thumbnail): Renz
Elancia Chronicles series written & composed by: Leilani Rae Wilson
Quotes from character profiles taken from 'Symphony of Shifting Tides'
Thumbnail text made with Font Meme[fontmeme.com]

Special thanks to the YouTuber Jamie from "Stuff We Play" for briefly explaining Verse's cameo in her review of Freedom Planet 2. I may not have found this incredible series if it wasn't for you!
And to GalaxyTrail for making this wonderful game, and being kind enough to put Verse in!

And a VERY big shout-out to Kit the Goddess for her phenomenal videos on the series!!