#the great Redwall feast

[redwalltournaments]

This is now my blog for any Redwall themed tournaments I feel like doing or that anyone else may suggest. Best Villain and Most Tragic Death have been done elsewhere but anything else is fair game.

Same mod as @incorrectredwallquotes

Starting out simple with best Redwall book. In order to make the math pretty I’ve included The Great Redwall Feast and A Redwall Winters Tale, additionally the semi-finals will feature triple contestants. Polls will last a week to get some traction.

Match Ups Round 1:

Redwall vs. Eualia Winner: Redwall

Lord Brocktree vs. Marlfox Winner: Marlfox

The Long Patrol vs. Mariel of Redwall Winner: Mariel of Redwall

Rakkety Tam vs. Martin the Warrior Winner: Martin the Warrior

Triss vs. A Redwall Winters Tale Winner: Triss

Mattimeo vs. Outcast of Redwall Winner: Mattimeo

Salamandastron vs. High Rhulain Winner: Salamandastron

Pearls of Lutra vs. Doomwyte Winner: Pearls of Lutra

The Bellmaker vs. Mossflower Winner: Mossflower

The Great Redwall Feast vs. The Sable Quean Winner: The Sable Quean

Loamhedge vs. The Taggerung Winner: The Taggerung

Legend of Luke vs. The Rogue Crew Winner: Legend of Luke

Match Ups Round 2:

Redwall vs. Marlfox Winner: Redwall

Mariel of Redwall vs. Martin the Warrior Winner: Martin the Warrior

Triss vs. Mattimeo Winner: Mattimeo

Salamandastron vs. Pearls of Lutra Winner: Pearls of Lutra

Mossflower vs. The Sable Quean Winner: Mossflower

The Taggerung vs. Legend of Luke Winner: The Taggerung

Match Ups Round 3:

For this round only one contestant will be eliminated, the remaining two contestants will swap competitors and move onto the semi-finals.

Redwall vs. Martin the Warrior vs. Mattimeo Eliminated: Mattimeo

Pearls of Lutra vs. Mossflower vs. The Taggerung Eliminated: Pearls of Lutra

Match Ups Semi-Finals

Contestants have swapped competitors to avoid going against the same book as the previous round.

Martin the Warrior vs. The Taggerung

Redwall vs. Mossflower

Finals

Martin the Warrior vs. Mossflower

#Redwall #Redwall tournament #round 1 #brian jacques #Mattimeo #Mossflower #martin the warrior #mariel of redwall #the Bellmaker #the rogue crew #eualia #Salamandastron #the sable Quean #lord Brocktree #legend of Luke #outcast of Redwall #the Taggerung #pearls of Lutra #marlfox #the great Redwall feast #a Redwall winters tale #the long patrol #Triss #rakkety tam #doomwyte #loamhedge

[sjbattleangel]

From The Great Redwall Feast and A Redwall Winter's Tale written by Brian Jacques, illustrated by Christopher Denise.

#autumn colors #autumn #warm #warm colors #cosy #redwall #brian jacques #christopher denise #book illustration #cosycore #cozycore #warmcore #storybookcore

[starsaroundsaturn]

why do we accept the way that men (and yes, women too) act towards their partners in the romantic genre?

in this post, I'll be discussing sarah j maas, colleen hoover, the pretty little liars franchise, twilight, the vampire diaries, and many more.

many of these I happened upon as a teenager. even as a teenager, I saw some of these as overdramatic and even problematic, but I could see the appeal.

the love interests, all men in these instances, were obsessed with their partners. they were distracted about them.

regardless of the novel, the protagonist can be the stand in for the reader--I am almost certainly not the only one who imagined myself fighting the white witch in Narnia, eating at the Redwall feasts with my companions, dancing with a special someone at a ball, or saving the world with the spy kids. protagonists are made to be relatable, to be appealing, to be somebody we'd love to be or at least like to listen to throughout the story.

and in these romances, the main character is super special. she is the obsession, the person who drives others distracted, she is so, so wonderful that the love interest cannot resist her.

we all want to be that kind of special. we all want to be seen and known and loved and admired. it's not just human, it's human instinct. we want to be accepted, we want to be loved, because that's family, and family means we survive. we need people.

so this is a really attractive premise. this person who we can see ourselves in--she or he is irresistible.

I think that's where we fell into this pit. he can't resist her. he wants her so much he loses control over himself.

it sounded super romantic.

till it didn't anymore.

she is so special and irresistible that he ignores it when she says no (hoover). he's lost control so much that he obsesses over her and watches her when she sleeps and stalks her, because he wants to be with her all the time (twilight). she's so special to him that she's his (soul)mate, and he can't help it if he acts possessively over her all the time and can't bear men looking at her, because she's just that important and irreplaceable (maas). she might be his student, but that doesn't mean they don't belong together! (pretty little liars).

yeah.

when you say it like that.

but the thing is, if you don't think about it too hard--like a smaller me might not have--it sounds exactly like the dream. it sounds like Mr Darcy falling in love with Elizabeth against his better judgement--but then, when she doesn't want him, he leaves her alone, takes the advice she gives, helps her family when it's needed because he wants to take accountability for his mistakes. only when she initiates does he tentatively bring up his interest in her again. when he's accepted, he's overjoyed, and grateful for her love for him.

huh. crazy.

the fact is, I think we've gotten to be so used to the idea that love is madness that we don't realize when it really is unstable, unhealthy--and awful.

we want people to do great things for us. we want demonstrations of love that often we've lacked in our lives. we want somebody to be willing to drop everything to help us and make it better when we're lost. we want a pair of solid arms around us (and I include myself, uninterested in romantic relationships, in that population). (there's a reason I'm obsessed with friendships and father figures and siblings).

we want passion and adventure and excitement.

and I think romance novels, and those who still romanticize these relationships, look in the wrong direction. they take the phrases madly in love and irresistible in the direction of unstable, passionate desperation rather than steadfast care and devotion.

I loved the phrase madly in love when I was a kid. not so much anymore.

#romance #love story #meta

[canmom]

Wait is ratfic not fiction about rats???

I can talk about fiction about rats too! Let's talk about some British childrens' book series! And one American comic book.

The four relevant works for our discussion would be the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, the Welkin Weasels series by Garry Kilworth, the Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis, and the Mouse Guard series by David Petersen. All these works portray a world inhabited by semi-anthropomorphic animals that are at the scale of real world animals. And indeed all of them include rats, albeit mostly as antagonists.

Redwall is perhaps the one that has most penetrated internet pop culture, thanks to articles like this one on SomethingAwful which mocked some of the series's recurring elements while painting Brian Jacques as a bit of a nazi. I ate those books up as a kid, but in retrospect I truthfully can remember only snatches: the shrews' battle cry of 'logalogalogalog!', the pages of elaborate descriptions of feasts.

Redwall is a big sufferer from the 'evil races' problem. A certain arbitrary set of species (e.g. rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets) are ontologically evil, and various other species are standins for various stereotypical British social classes (e.g. iirc moles are always working class). As unfortunately tends to be the case, it even makes the strange decision to double down on this - I believe in one of the books, a member of one of the evil species is raised in the Abbey, but inevitably his evil nature comes out when the good rodents and mustelids are once again threatened by an army of bad rodents and mustelids.

Nevertheless, as repetitive and ethically dubious as these books are, they do conjour a very specific flavour which makes them memorable. The author's enthusiasm for food as child of the Blitz shines through, as does his evident love for the idyllic Redwall Abbey. There's a lot of really charming elements like the 'logalogalog' thing. Having these read out to me as kid was great, it had a bit of a panto feel, where I could join in with the expected beats.

The first Redwall book implies that humans exist in this world, but this is subsequently quietly retconned to an only-animals fantasy world.

The Welkin Weasels series is a lot shorter at six books, and you may well bounce off the author's enthusiasm to insert puns and references all over the place (I recall one book managing to set up "badgers? we don't need no stinkin' badgers"), but from what I remember of them they benefit from having more explicit horror elements which makes the stakes much more engaging. I recall the weasels trying to weasel their way into a crypt full of horrible pitfalls and finding it very tense as a kid.

There is once again a sympathetic-unsympathetic species divide - weasels are our plucky heroes, while stoats tend to be aristocratic and cruel. However, it does play out a little differently: the first three books are in a medieval fantasy setting with explicit magic, but over the course of the novels, the mustelids manage to rediscover humans, leading to a timeskip forward into a more steampunk setting where the animals and humans have built a joint society together.

Honestly, I would quite like to reread these books! They may well not hold up today, but it would be fun to revisit them.

The Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis - author of Deathscent, a highly memorable novel in which Elizabethans have been transported by aliens into a space archipelago where all the animals are robots which run on the four humours - is a pretty fun one, although my memory is very foggy. It's set in our world, in London, and as I recall the first book involves an evil cat wizard attempting to resurrect the Bubonic Plague from the plague pits. I recall a scene in which rats dig up the plague pit and have their paws melted by the lime coating it. Beyond that I can recall very little but I definitely think it merits inclusion in this list of rat fic.

Once again we have the good rodent/evil rodent problem. Mice and rats are almost identical creatures, so it's weird that the sympathetic/unsympathetic divide falls so consistently.

Mouse Guard is an American comic series about mice with little cloaks and swords. Making it be a comic is kind of a great idea because you get to see how cute they are at every turn. The mouse guard are responsible for defending the other mice from threats such as snakes. They have a pretty high mortality rate.

I'm... actually not super familiar with the comics, but they inspired a roleplaying game by the creators of Burning Wheel, using similar mechanics - e.g. its beliefs system, the simultaneous-resolution combat system. That got a lot of buzz around the late 2010s. So if you want a game to play as an rat at the tabletop, it's probably a good one to check out!

We might also at this juncture mention the wildly popular novel Watership Down, which imagines an elaborate rabbit society complete with a substantially fleshed out rabbit religion. I wrote about the animated film for Animation Night a couple years back - it's quite a memorable one.

Sadly, this is mostly mousefic (with a bit of weaselfic). I don't know of any true ratfic - centred on rats as protagonists. Perhaps this is an opportunity for someone out there to write ratfic ratfic to correct this imbalance.

edit: omfg i forgot the rats of NIMH. thanks to both the people who reminded me of that one

#fiction #novels

[spookwarfare]

The Great Redwall Feast by Christopher Denise

#redwall #christopher denise

[snotsloth]

So, I got into a discussion with someone on the NaNo forums about pacing in a novel and what I learned about it during my English degree. Being a normal person who knows how to write a reasonable response to a simple question, I wrote this whole ass essay about how to speed up or slow down the pacing in a story. Then I realized what I had written was actually pretty decent advice, so now y'all also have to put up with me rambling about narrative pacing. You're welcome/I'm sorry.

Slowing down a Plot

Easiest way to slow down a story? Have your characters slow down. Take a breather. Maybe someone is injured. Maybe they have to wait on something else to happen before they take action. Maybe they just need a cup of coffee. Giving your characters a moment to step away from the plot and reflect can give your readers a bit of breathing space as well.

A great example of this comes to mind from Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth goes on vacation with some relatives. It gets her away from the chaos of her family and all the drama and she has a chance to really think about everything that’s gone on with Mr. Darcy. This of course ultimately leads to her relatives asking if she would like to tour his estate, not knowing that this was the wealthy man whose proposal she had recently rejected. But the beginning of the trip feels like a little intermission where she has a chance to breathe and recenter herself.

On a smaller scale, elements like setting descriptions, inner monologues, exposition, or dialogue that is more focused on characters’ feelings vs. the mechanics of the plot can also slow down your story and give it room to breathe. I think back fondly to those long overwrought descriptions of feasts in the Redwall books from when I was a kid. They didn’t have much if anything to do with the plot usually, but they were fun, loving descriptions of food, merriment, and characters having a little time to show their lighter sides. But boy howdy did they go on forever and slow the pace of the story down!

Another more highbrow example of slowing the pacing would be soliloquies in Shakespearean drama. I’m thinking of Hamlet in particular. In the middle of all the chaos, political machinations, and personal strife, it’s easy to lose the thread of the plot if you’re not careful. You find yourself wondering, what on earth is this all for, what is going on in this man’s head? And then he steps out on stage alone and just tells you exactly what is going through his head (or is he?). Either way, Hamlet’s soliloquies throughout the play function as way-points, slowing everything down and giving both Hamlet and us a few minutes to think about what’s going on and why. Your characters’ inner monologues or conversations with others can be used to similar effect.

Speeding Up a Plot

Honestly, I still find this harder to do than the reverse, especially in a first draft like most of us are working on this month. However, there are also some basics you can think through if you feel like your story is dragging.

The first rule for speeding up a plot is the oft repeated -and oft hated- adage, “Murder your darlings.” Speeding up a plot often requires cutting the parts of your manuscript that you spent the most time on; backstory, world-building, extraneous dialogue about feelings that doesn’t move the plot forward, etc. Get rid of any passages that are standing between your reader and the plot that aren’t necessary to understanding said plot. I remember reading somewhere that, “Your readers don’t care about the coinage system in your fantasy world, but they do care that your characters don’t have enough money to bribe the guards to get into the city.” Or something to that effect. Basically, only explain what you need to and move on.

Along those lines, I’ll repeat another writing advice cliche, “Show. Don’t tell.” If there’s a way to explain something through the action of your story, do it that way. For example, I could write, “Amelia felt sad because she missed her dog.” Or I could write, “No click of claws across the tile greeted Amelia as she walked through the door.” Even though the second sentence is technically longer, it demonstrates Amelia’s feelings through the action of the story. This keeps the pace up and active, instead of passive and turned inward.

When all else fails, especially in a first draft, just skip over sections that are not integral to the plot. Just stick a note in brackets or something else that says, “idk they went and had dinner then came back.” Maybe you’ll write a dinner scene later if you decide it feels right, or you may just mention they had dinner and then get right back to whatever is more important to the story.

When to Focus on Pacing

Ultimately, pacing can be hard to get right on a first pass, so don’t get discouraged if it feels like your novel is dragging or if it’s moving too swiftly this early in the process. You can always circle back later. Plus, you won’t get a good feel for the overall pacing of your story until you have an entire first draft in front of you.

However there is one thing to be careful of while writing a first draft, and that is letting yourself get too bogged down in the details and losing interest in your own story. If that starts to happen, take a break from the current passage you’re writing and just go write a scene later in the story that excites you more. You can always figure out the connective tissue later.

Pacing can be a really subjective thing and hard to get a feel for, but reading a wide variety of books, trying different types of native styles, and doing multiple drafts of your own story will help you get a feel for what works best for you. The most important thing is to keep working at it and keep trying new things until you find something that works for you. Thank you for reading this giant spontaneous essay, and best of luck this month!

#writing advice #writing #nanowrimo #nano 2023 #yay i used my degree for something!

[kitterary]

Book Review: Mattimeo by Brian Jacques

The third addition to the beloved Redwall series takes place during the summer of the Golden Plain. Preparation for a great feast are underway at Redwall Abbey, and the young mouse Mattimeo is contributing his share of the labors. But Mattimeo is the son of Matthias, the guardian of Redwall Abbey, and it is this fact that makes him the target of a fiendish kidnapping plot contrived by the vicious fox, Slagar the Cruel. When Matthias and his brave followers abandon their homes and face enslavement for the return of their children, the captive Mattimeo stands to prove his worth--and an unexpected hero is born.

And again, Brian Jacques writes his characters in a way that makes them feel incredibly unique from each other and still within the realms of reality for the world. Mattimeo, son of Matthias and Cornflower, is a known troublemaker in the abbey. He feels so completely unique, moreso even than Martin to Matthias shown between Mossflower and Redwall. And despite being a troublemaker and being a bit full of himself, Mattimeo still feels likeable. The returning cast of the first book felt completely welcomed except for one: Slagar, previously Chickenhound. Slagar feels like a completely different character between the two books, and I feel like he just should have been. His insistence on exacting revenge on Redwall really would not not change if he was just another fox gathering young woodlanders as slaves. Slagar just in general was a lot less interesting of a villain than both Cluny in the first book and Tsarmina in the second in my opinion.

SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD:

The deaths of both Warbeak and Log-A-Log hit HARD. It helped that I already had an attachment to these characters, but moreso both of them died in ways that felt like perfect situations for them. Warbeak fought to protect her friend Matthias, putting her own safety aside; Log-A-Log died with a smile on his face because he followed through with his promise to help find the woodland children.

The reveal of the cult-ish activities in Loamhedge was interesting, and I would love to have gotten more information about it all. Unfortunately, that entire part of the book just felt kind of thrown in and not really expanded upon; however I know there are still 19 books in this series to read and things are constantly being expanded upon in those stories.

Mattimeo makes a point to Slagar that he will kill him, and this is the turning point for Mattimeo as a character. He goes from just troublemaking childhood antics to rage and becomes a leader to the other woodlander children enslaved with him, becoming more of an adult. However: Slagar dies in a very anti-climactic way, robbing Mattimeo of his chance to really prove himself as a warrior and exact the revenge I felt he rightfully deserved. The end of the book makes it clear that Mattimeo does in fact become the next warrior of Redwall, but I feel like that would be more deserved if he were given the chance to actually prove himself. This is the first time where I felt like the main villain's death was disappointing within the series.

Despite all of this: I still hold this book up as an example of a near-perfect story. My ratings are less so about removing points for plot issues and more on how much I enjoyed it, and I absolutely loved Mattimeo and will absolutely be re-reading it again someday.

Final rating: ★★★★★

#redwall #mattimeo #book review

[incalculablepower]

not NOT happy. I need to know about the emphasis in your title.

so this is an old idea based on trying to kind of debunk the idea that harry is a great "wingman" for ron and hermione, or that he would be over the moon happy for them once they got together. in canon he's often ambivalent to confused about the matchup. he doesn't seem to care whether or not they're involved, just that they get along enough to not disrupt harry's needs. (he is their child 🥺) I wanted to start with a scene from the horcux hunt where Harry is wearing the locket to get his most uncharitable perspective on the two of them.

Occasionally he wondered if something would break with them, and they’d run off from him together. On the occasions they weren’t squabbling they seemed to keep their heads close together, their voices low, and they’d spring away when they noticed Harry looking their way. 

With an odd emptiness in the pit of his stomach, he thought about where they would be if they weren’t his friends, and didn’t accompany him on his mad journey. Perhaps they’d be safely tucked away at the Burrow enjoying Molly’s cooking. Maybe Hermione would have traveled to Australia, escaping with her parents and their intact memories. He was struck with a vision of the two of them happily sunning on a generic beach: Hermione with her massive hair tied up, Ron with sunblock on his nose. The frustration and annoyance he had been feeling gave way to a familiar lonely guilt.

also this paragraph kills me because i clearly wanted to evoke my favourite twitter (@RedwallFeasts) but not enough to actually think up any specific food.

They’d stuffed themselves on [early spring/summer pasta] and [roast meat] and cheese after dinner, with a wild strawberry pie. [redwall feast shit]

[theredwallrecorder]

I'll tell you a story, you'll see it unfold. I can still recall it, though I'm old. 'Tis an ancient tale, related in rhyme, which happened, once upon a time.

from The Great Redwall Feast

#my kind of invitation #The Great Redwall Feast #Brian Jacques #text #quote #quotes #I'M GONNA FINALLY CLEAN OUT MY DRAFTS TODAY

[chloecorvid]

FOR REDWALL

#REDWALL ON NETFLIX VIA OVER THE GARDEN WALL CREATOR???? FINALLY SOME DELICIOUS FEASTS????!!! #for those unaware—the entire original series from pbs and nelvana is ON youtube #if you like woodland creators but also want medieval dramas... there you go its redwall #IM SO EXCITED THIS IS GREAT NEWS AFTER THE DEPRESSING BLUE SKY THING YESTERDAY

[bonkusdonkus]

I like bunny people! I grew up on series like Redwall, so woodland creature people have always had a special place in my heart. So when when rabbitfolk were announced as an official race, I was thrilled!

And I think WotC did a decent job, they’ve got some cool abilities, but they didn’t really give them any background or lore, or… Really anything, to be honest. If I recall correctly, the official flavor text more or less boiled down to “they’re bunny people from the Feywild who like freedom.” And that was basically it. Which is… Not particularly flavorful.

Still, I think the Harengon/Rabbitfolk have a lot of potential, so here’s a bunch of headcanons, ideas, and homebrews that I’ve got floating around my brain! Feel free to steal any you like for your own games, if ya wanna! Or don’t! It’s your call!

(Also, just a fair warning, I will probably be using Harengon and Rabbitfolk interchangeably, just so you know. They mean the same thing, just figured I’d say so so that people don’t think I’m sliding in a random sub race or something.)

Everybody knows that the Harengon have sharp hearing, those floppy ears aren’t just for show, but a lot of people fail to realize exactly how sharp. Most Rabbitfolk can easily hear through walls, pick out individual voices in a crowd, and hear the heartbeats of other beings. Some can even identify people by their individual heartbeats and breathing patterns, if they know the person well enough.

Harengon are native to the Feywild, and while many of them have left for more mundane places for one reason or another, a little bit of Fey weirdness tends to follow them wherever they go. Maybe they plant a rose, and then when it grows up it turns purple, maybe all the stray cats in their neighborhood are unusually friendly towards them, maybe when they hum a tune, if you listen closely you might hear someone playing along with a flute. Just, minor, harmless, magical weirdness. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it, it just happens sometimes.

Rabbitfolk live for hugs. They love hugging and being hugged. If you are friends with a Harengon, you will be hugged, sometimes with great force. Because these guys hop and jump everywhere, and sometimes they see a friend in need of hugging, and decide that the fastest way to achieve that goal is by jumping at them. So yeah, flying tackle hugs are very much on the table.

Much like Elves, who also originated from the Feywild, Harengon have an extended lifespan, about 500 years or so on average.

Despite being rabbit shaped, Rabbitfolk are not herbivores. Or at least, not completely. They have no problem eating animal products, like milk or eggs, and they have no problems with fish either, but red meat like beef or pork makes them very ill, and poultry isn’t much better. Weirdly enough though, they have no issues with reptile meat, and in fact even crave it. Lizard and turtle are beloved staples at many a Harengon table, and snakes? Oh, they LOVE snake! Grilled Python steak is considered a delicacy among Rabbitfolk, and deep-fried Adder meat is a must have treat at county fairs and festivals. Scholars have been scratching their heads for centuries over this bizarre biological phenomenon, but as is the case with many oddities from the Feywild, the best they can do is shrug and say “Eh, it’s fairy stuff, don’t question it.”(Side note, many Harengon call snake meat ‘sneef.’ I couldn’t think of anywhere else to say that, but I had to say it, so there you go.)

Speaking of food, Rabbitfolk have a high metabolism, so they tend to eat a lot more than most folk. Which might be a major reason why food is so important to their culture. For starters, the Harengon are always on the lookout for an excuse to throw a feast, even if it’s only with friends or family. Birthday? Feast! Just finished finals? Get the good silverware out, it’s time to eat! Just got back from a dangerous quest with your party? Celebrate still being alive by stuffing your face! Basically any excuse is a good excuse to eat a lot and have fun. Another big role food plays in their society is a display of trust and friendship. Buying/making someone a drink or a meal without payment or recompense of some kind is a big deal among Rabbitfolk. It’s a statement, both to the recipient and anyone who happens to be watching. It basically means: “This person is important to me, I care about their well being, and anyone who wants to get to them, will have to deal with me too.”

While they are exceptionally cute, the big floppy ears of the Rabbitfolk can be a bit bothersome during strenuous activity, flopping around and getting in the way. So a lot of folks tie them back with something like a hair tie or scrunchie when they’re out and about. Some Rabbitfolk with a bit more coin to sling around might have custom made hats, hoods, or veils to do the job and look a bit fancier while doing it.

Rabbitfolk culture takes things like oaths, promises, and commitments very seriously. Most scholars believe it’s a hold-over from their Feywild origins, where words have a frightening amount of power, and one slip of the tongue or misjudged phrase could spell disaster. Regardless of why, Harengon are raised to weigh every big commitment heavily before making a choice, examining every angle and detail, and when they finally make a decision, they are committed. When Harengon marry, it’s for life! If they sign a contract, they will carry it out the letter if it’s the last thing they do! If they promise to be your friend till the end, they aren’t being hyperbolic, they are by your side hell or high water, ride or die! So yeah, these are some very dedicated hippity hops. Mind you, they aren’t throwing around these promises all over the place, like I said, they’re very careful about it, and will call out anybody trying to swindle them.

Because of their sharp hearing, Rabbitfolk tend to be very in tune to the people around them. They aren’t full on empaths, but their generally pretty good at reading people’s emotions by paying attention to their breathing, heart rate, posture, etc.

Unsurprisingly, given their advanced hearing, Rabbitfolk love music. Since they can hear on a level that most humanoids couldn’t even imagine, it’s an almost euphoric experience for them. Imagine being able to see additional colors in a painting that no one else can, or see a beautiful sculpture in 4D. It’s a bit hard to describe, but I think you get the gist of it. Musicians are highly prized in their culture, and a lot of Harengon become Bards because of it.

Generally speaking, most Harengon don’t mind being called cute. They consider it a complement, really. But sometimes people assume ‘cute’ means ‘not worth taking seriously’ and that Rabbitfolk do take offense to, very much so. They especially hate being treated like dumb children, or even worse, baby talk. There is no phrase in all the planes that pisses off a Rabbitfolk faster than “Wittle Bunny Wabbit.” Some get so harassed, that they develop a little bit of a Napoleon Complex.

#harengon #rabbitfolk #d&d 5e #dnd homebrew #dnd headcanon #dnd races #d&d worldbuilding

[redwalltournaments]

#Redwall #brian jacques #the great Redwall feast #the sable Quean #Redwall tournament #best Redwall book #round 1

[agardenandlibrary]

@mostlyghostie I hope you don't mind but I wanted to make a standalone post for this question because I love any excuse to talk about the Redwall books.

Short answer: Yes and I recommend reading them in publication order.

Redwall books are what they are: children's books about mice and other woodland creatures working together to defeat evil, usually in the form of rats/vermin attempting to conquer the abbey where the woodlanders live together in peace and harmony.

There are riddles, feasts, scavenger hunts, battles. Someone always ends up becoming a Warrior to help defend the abbey. I'm going to steal a line from my podcast episode about the Redwall books:

What’s important in these books is not fighting or being the strongest - what’s most important is what you’re fighting for. Being a warrior in Redwall is not about being great with a sword. It’s about protecting the ones you love. Jacques is here to write about good overcoming evil. And the work of opposing evil is never done.

This is about peace loving creatures coming together to help each other in times of crisis! The books always end with a triumphant return to the peace of the Abbey because that’s what the Redwallers fought for: the chance to live out their lives in peace.

Also, if you like audiobooks and can find them, the Redwall audiobooks are so fun because there's a full cast and Jacques is the narrator!

#redwall #brian jacques #also his son always voices one of the heroes

[jones-friend]

So I’ve been playing some BOARD GAMES and have some RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE

Everdell is a worker placement game where you and your opponents compete over seasons to build the best town of woodland creatures. I can totally see Armello and Redwall fans loving this one, the art is an absolute joy. Everdell’s a great intro to the worker-placement genre. All your resources are generated by how you place your workers and the points game is played in card synergy. You have a hand and a meadow shared by all players giving you lots of good choices. Its worth noting the game’s presentation is a delight from the rubber berries to the tree standee. I highly recommend Everdell, the base alone has provided a number of satisfying games.

Wingspan! This is a game that’s been popular since its release and for good reason. Wingspan is accessible enough for people who enjoy the art and want a laid back birdwatching game and in depth enough for engine crunchers to have fun tooling their plays each turn and really get into it. Like Everdell A++ presentation, the birdhouse dice tower and wooden dice are wonderful. Of the two expansions I recommend playing out the base for a while, then adding the oceania expansion first. Nectar and the new playmat abilities make acquiring birds much faster so you get to so more. The european expansion is good but mostly adds More to your game, nothing drastic just new birds, goals, etc. If you’ve been debating Wingspan pick it up. I highly recommend it, jts such a different pace.

Castles of Burgundy is a city planning game. By building different tiles you get access to different abilities. You roll both dice and take actions based on what’s rolled using Workers to tweak your rolls increasing or decreasing them. These rolls give you access to add different tiles to your supply, move tiles from supply to map, or sell off goods acquired with boat tiles. It reminds me of a more complicated Alhambra, if you ever wanted more out of the building aspect give this one a look.

Feast of Odin is one of the more in depth games I’ve played, a brain burner for sure. In Feast of Odin each player rules a viking settlement placing workers across different costed columns to farm, fish, hunt, raid, pillage, forge, mine, woodcut, go to market, go on long voyages, any number of viking esque activities that give you tiles. These tiles are used in your board like an inventory management sim, tetris-ing odd shapes to fill out your board, seal away negative points, and unlock bonuses. The game has so many options to play like building storehouses or discovering islands that give new areas to fill in, sending vikings out to new offshore settlements that reduce the number fed each feasting cycle, this game is dense but worth it. Watching your plan come together in the late game is satisfying and the limited number of spaces for worker placement adds stakes. If you’re looking for a good 3-4hr first experience kind of game this is a good one.

#Tabletop #board games #Wingspan #everdell #castles of burgundy #Feast of odin

[lostmidnightwriter]

Redwallers: *enjoy a great big feast to celebrate like a month of peace, or something*

The next day:

#redwall #redwall series #brian jacques #little did they know #the feasts are what attract the warlords #that's why they're attacked all the time #the rats smell the f o o d

[lostmousemaid]

The Redwall Cookbook is much more adorable than I thought it would be. It's not just a cookbook, it's also a young children's storybook in the style of The Great Redwall Feast and A Redwall Winter's Tale. The little stories take place between Redwall and Mattimeo and it's frankly precious.

A no-longer-silent Sam is referred to multiple times as Noisy Sam.

I mean, just read this. Omg. This will never not make me smile.

And look at his little face!

#the redwall cookbook #sam squirrel #brian jacques