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bamf-jaskier · 2 years

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Who the Fuck is Margarita?

Margarita Laux-Antille was a sorceress, a member of the Lodge, and the Rectoress of Aretuza and appeared in Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, and Lady of the Lake.

If you want to chat some more about Rita, or just the books in general I made a discord server just for Witcher Books content that you can find here.

With that, Hi! I’m Aaliyah and this is Part 8 of my WTF Series - a crash course in subjects from The Witcher books.

Spoilers (duh)

The first time we meet Margarita (known as Rita by her friends) is in Time on Contempt when Rita and Tissaia come across Ciri and Tissaia mistakes her for an Aretuza novice:

“Why aren’t you in school, novice?’ Tissaia asked in a cold, resonant voice, eyeing Ciri with a penetrating gaze.

‘Wait, Tissaia,’ said the other woman, who was younger, tall and fair-haired, and wore a green dress with a plunging neckline. ‘I don’t know her. I don’t think she’s—’

‘Yes, she is,’ interrupted the dark-haired woman. ‘I’m certain she’s one of your girls, Rita. You can’t know them all. She’s one of the ones who sneaked out of Loxia during the confusion when we were moving dormitories. And she’ll admit as much in a moment. Well, novice, I’m waiting.”

This is ironic because Yennefer brought Ciri to meet with them so she could join Aretuza. This misunderstanding is cleared up and Ciri and Yennefer are invited back with Tissaia and Rita:

“Yennefer, it turned out, knew Tissaia and Margarita very well. The enchantresses invited her to the Silver Heron, the best and most expensive inn in Gors Velen, where Tissaia de Vries was staying, delaying her trip to the island for reasons known only to herself. Margarita Laux-Antille, who, it turned out, was the rectoress of Aretuza, had accepted the older enchantress’s invitation and was temporarily sharing the apartment with her.”

HOW MANY BEDS IN THAT APARTMENT RITA? HOW MANY?

Rita is also described as being very beautiful ---

“Margarita Laux-Antille emerged from the pool with a splash, spraying water everywhere. Ciri couldn’t stop herself looking. She had seen Yennefer naked on several occasions and hadn’t imagined anyone could have a more shapely figure. She was wrong. Even marble statues of goddesses and nymphs would have blushed at the sight of Margarita Laux-Antille undressed.”

She is shown to be extremely magically powerful as well (from Baptism of Fire):

“Philippa Eilhart’s tightly closed eyelids twitched, Triss Merigold panted and there were beads of sweat on Keira Metz’s high forehead. Only on Margarita Laux-Antille’s face was there no sign of fatigue.”

Now Rita ends up not going to Thanedd (if you don’t know what that is you can read about it here). She doesn’t go because, as Tissaia puts it:

“Don’t listen to her, Yennefer,’ said Tissaia coldly. ‘She’s bitter and full of regrets. Do you know why she’s not going to the banquet at Aretuza? Because she’s ashamed to show up alone, without the man she’s been involved with for four years. The man people envied her for. Who she lost because she was unable to value his love.”

Rita is not involved in the ensuing coup but we see her once more in Baptism of Fire as she becomes a part of The Lodge. She believes in their core tenet of female supremacy in magic:

“That’s right,’ Margarita Laux-Antille admitted calmly. ‘I often compare the results of the novices from Aretuza with those of the boys from the school in Ban Ard, and the comparisons are invariably to the girls’ credit. Magic requires patience, delicacy, intelligence, prudence, and perseverance, not to mention the humble, but calm, endurance of defeat and failure. Ambition is the undoing of men. They always want what they know to be impossible and unattainable. And they are unaware of the attainable.”

Now, her highest motivation is always seen as protecting her students and being invested in her school -- Aretuza.

“Politics don’t interest me,’ Margarita Laux-Antille, the rectoress of the academy of magic, announced loudly. ‘I simply do not wish my girls, whose education I’ve dedicated myself to, to be used as mercenaries, pulling the wool over their eyes with slogans about love for one’s homeland. The homeland of those girls is magic; that’s what I teach them. If someone involves my girls in a war, stands them on a new Sodden Hill, they will be lost, irrespective of the result on that battlefield. I understand your reservations, Enid, but we’re here to discuss the future of magic, not issues of race.”

However, Rita is also shown to be politically neutral, with an implied bias for humans.

“I am politically neutral,’ Margarita Laux-Antille chimed in, lifting her head, ‘and my school is politically neutral. I have in mind every type, kind and class of politics which exists!”

This implied bias comes from how she doesn’t empathize with Francesca who she is talking to in the quote above. And in Time of Contempt she sees the Elves as the more violent side of the war:

“There’s a war on, Yennefer. Rayla must have seen her comrades-in-arms falling, alive, into the Squirrels’ clutches many times. Then hung by their arms from trees as target practice. Blinded, castrated, with their feet burnt in campfires. Falka herself wouldn’t have been ashamed of the atrocities committed by the Scoia’tael.”

Magarita goes along with the Lodge’s plans -- including the plan to put Ciri on the throne of Kovir by having him marry her. Then in Lady of the Lake when Yennefer and Ciri are put on “trial” by the Lodge we meet Margarita again.

She is described as dignified and serious. This is an important note because in a scene set in the future, we find out that only two portraits of members of The Lodge survived and one of them being Sile de Tancarville and the other Margarita.

At the “trial” where Ciri technically joins the Lodge and officially declares herself Yennefer’s daughter, Rita is very friendly and open to Ciri. She has no bad blood with Ciri or Yennefer and is generally pleasant to them. Granted, she never goes out of her way to help them like Fringilla did in Baptism of Fire but she was kinder then most.

Rita votes for Ciri, citing Tissaia’s memory:

“I also vote for her,” Margarita said with a smile. “You may wonder at my motivations, ladies, but I do it for Tissaia de Vries. If Tissaia was among us she would not agree that in order to maintain the unity of the Lodge it is necessary to use coercive methods or restriction of personal freedom.”

Overall, Margarita Laux-Antille is a woman who loves her school and her students. She treats Ciri as another student within seconds of meeting her and is sympathetic towards her and Yennefer. Rita was a close friend of Tissaia and a member of the Lodge. We don’t know exactly what happens to her post-canon but she likely met the same fate as the other members of The Lodge. Chased down in the Witcher Hunts.

Hopefully this is helpful @thence-we-came-forth I’m doing the next one soon!!!

#I love Rita a lot she's amazing 10/10 hopefully this helps more people enjoy the character #the witcher #margarita laux-antille #rita #the witcher books #time of contempt #the lodge #baptism of fire #lady of the lake #myposts #meta

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witch-and-her-witcher · 2 years

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Trying to hurry up and finish one plot intensive story so I can get to my next plot intensive story: Ciri and Keira working together to solve the kidnappings of Aretuza/Ban Ard drop outs turned megascope cam girls/boys isn't going to write itself, brain.

#my writing

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limerental · 2 years

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Witcher Femslash February hosted by @witcherladiesamirite

day two - Transformation

Yennefer/Triss - A freshly-transformed Yennefer spends the night with Triss after her Ascension.

content warning for underage (Triss 17/Yennefer 18). Triss is a year below Yennefer in school.

A noise rouses Triss from sleep, and she lies still in the darkness of her room, trying to place it.

Usually if she's woken at this hour, it's to one or two of her girls trying to sneak out of the dorms and go off to do who knows what. Smoke some herb they pilfered from their botany lessons or meet a Ban Ard boy for a snog. With summer recess only a few days away, she doesn't quite understand the urge to risk punishment sneaking off.

She sighs.

Triss would much rather stay beneath the warmth of her enveloping blankets, but she takes her job as an Aretuza prefect, keeping a watchful eye on the younger girls, very seriously. The others her age have their own apartments elsewhere on Thanned Island or in neighboring Gors Velen, but Triss still sleeps in the dorms, feeling older and older by the day.

She sighs again.

Given the past evening's Ascension banquet, Triss will technically be among the oldest students at Aretuza by morning, the class above her gone off to prepare for their assignments in the real world. Younger students were not invited to intend the initiation into the Brotherhood or banquet afterward. Her girls had tittered and gossiped all week about it. Assignments and transformations and at last, the banquet dancing and dining with royalty well into the night.

The idea of it fills Triss with dread instead of excitement. Both for the reminder of her own approaching graduation only a brief year from now, and for a pang of longing over what she will lose tonight.

Has already lost.

There are new noises in the hallway, and Triss flings back her blankets to sit up in bed, ready to catch the roaming girl. She is sorry for the likely harshness of the impending scolding, her nerves far too frayed for patience.

Before she can rise from bed, her door creaks open, and a strange woman steps through. Triss squeaks and only resists shouting in alarm when the woman whispers in a familiar voice, holding out her hands.

"Triss! Triss, it's me!"

"Yenna?" asks Triss, as the woman steps into a stream of moonlight. The older girl has slipped into her rooms past curfew more times than Triss can count, but this is different. She looks nothing like Yenna at all. The strange woman is eerily beautiful and humming with chaos, wearing a dark evening gown that hugs her perfect figure, her hair falling in waves across her shoulders. She is barefoot, her heels dangling from her hand.

Her eyes are violet, washed paler in the moonlight. It really is Yenna, though her features and body are entirely alien. She no longer walks with a limp, hunched by the twist of her spine, and her jawline is smooth, even her hair softer in its texture.

"Do you like it?" the woman asks, turning this way and that, the dress swishing against her ankles.

"I thought you wanted--" She stalls, unsure how to ask with the appropriate sensitivity. When she and Yennefer had spoken about transformations, she had always been sure of herself. She wanted power and not beauty. Enough of a change to ease the pain of her twisted spine but not so much that she was smoothed into a perfect, boring beauty. Let those who doubted her or mocked her or abused her look at her and never forget who she had become in spite of them.

"Did something happen?"

Yenna snorts a laugh, just the same laugh as she has always had, disarming and strange now that her body is so different.

"Only the usual," says Yenna as she steps close enough to snug an arm around Triss' waist, dropping her heels to the floor.

More disarming still, she sways forward, revealing her tipsiness, and draws Triss in for a kiss. Triss forgets to kiss back for a moment, the shape of Yenna's mouth so unfamiliar. The taste of her is the same. Sweet and warm. The way the kiss pools low in her belly is the same. They have been doing this for years now, fooling around, nothing serious, and it never fails to make Triss feel like burning up every time.

Even so changed, this is the same. Yenna still does not know how much these moments mean to Triss, how much they ache.

Triss has yet to tell her of the depth of her feeling. She thinks maybe she won't ever tell her. Yenna has so many grand plans and ideas for her future, and Triss is only an afterthought, a footnote.

"Typical Aretuza bullshit. I nearly was assigned to Nilfgaard. Nilfgaard! Can you fucking imagine?"

"Oh Yenna, I thought--"

"Aedirn was a sure thing? It was. Until it wasn't."

"So wait, you--"

"I didn't lie down and accept it, obviously. I made King Virufel see me. I made all of them see me."

Yenna kisses her again. She always has made these things that perplex and worry Triss seem so easy, kissing and touching and apparently, swaying kings in her favor. It was Yenna who first taught her how to kiss and how to do other, more adult things in this very dorm as a sheltered first year. Triss has never grown tired of it but never stopped being nervous, never known how to make the first move. Yenna always knows just what to do, and Triss feels desperately lost, giving to the sway of her demands.

The kiss is heated and insistent, as most kisses with Yenna are. But now, Triss can feel a rising sting of fresh chaos alongside the other girl's elation.

"You should have seen it," says Yennefer, grinning against Triss' mouth. Even her smile feels different. They are of a height now, Triss so used to ducking slightly to kiss her that she cannot quite adjust to the new angle. "The looks on their faces when I walked into that banquet hall. I was stunning. I was the most beautiful thing any of them had ever seen."

You already were, Triss thinks and does not say. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

The burn of tears catches her off guard as grief wells up in her chest.

"Oh, I'm happy for you, Yenna," she says, kissing a smooth cheek. The skin is hot beneath her lips. "You're going to be wonderful."

"I know," says Yenna, laughing as she pushes Triss back against her narrow bed with clear intention. Triss wonders why she's here of all places, why she has chosen her bed to celebrate in. Triss is not Yenna's only lover or even her most frequent. She's maybe the most uncomplicated, the least needy or demanding. Triss takes whatever she can get of Yenna and gives her all that she can. "After tonight, none of them will ever forget me. They'll remember this night for ages."

I will remember you for ages. I will never forget, thinks Triss. In the dark as Yenna straddles her thighs to cradle her body in a sensual press of their hips together, she can pretend that nothing has changed. Yenna is still as she was, crooked and beautiful and stubborn and proud, and she is not leaving Triss behind.

She can pretend they can have a hundred more quiet, intimate moments like this. It is not the last. Never meaning anything and yet meaning everything in the world.

#femslash february #the witcher #yentriss #trissefer #yennefer #triss #yennefer x triss

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bloededhoine · 3 years

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world building cause twn doesn't part 9: mages

you probably know a lot about mages on account of them being fucking awesome and super sexy, so let's dive into what exactly makes them that way.

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

what are mages?

put simply, mages are anyone skilled and educated in the use of magic. but, most mages are also incredibly adept in politics, science, and religion

the vast majority of mages serve on royal courts, but others are teachers, researchers, or just kinda hobos

anyone can use basic magic (ie witcher signs), but it takes both natural talent and extensive training to be an actual mage

also important to note that while druids and priests can and do use magic, they aren't usually considered mages since they're not as involved in politics and science

education

mages go to school! a lot! powerful mages tend to track down young potential students and bring them to a school to receive formal training

well, "bring them" is a bit reductive, it's more like kidnapping.

there are quite a few important schools, so let's go!

aretuza is definitely the one you are the most familiar with, mostly because it's just the best. aretuza is an all girls academy located in temeria, a northern kingdom known for its powerful mages

aretuza is led by a rectoress, an incredibly powerful sorceress responsible for training the young adepts. i think there's only been 4 ever, first klara larissa de winter (also the founder), then leticia charbonneau, then tissaia de vries (the milf right there, and rectoress as of twn), and finally margarita laux antille

ban ard is the boys version of aretuza, located in kaedwen. the magicians from ban ard are notably... unskilled? they're just kind of clowns. the rector of ban ard was gerhart of aelle, also known as hen gedymdeith, because there's nothing like a nonsensical pseudonym to up your credibility. gerhart was literally the oldest mage alive until his heart died. after him, dorregary of vole took over as rector

mages in the north are pretty much exclusively trained at either aretuza or ban ard, but nilfgaard has a magical academy too!

the imperial magic academy is a co-ed school in loc grim, one of nilfgaard's two capitals. the emperors of nilfgaard tend to hire mages directly from this school

types of mages

most mages tend to specialize in a certain area of magic, such as illusions, alchemy, divination, polymorphy, weaponry, or spycraft

this is extra useful when assembling a team. not that anyone in particular is assembling a team, it's just good to know.

the brotherhood of sorcerers

the brotherhood is the main organization of mages in the witcher. they basically set the rules of magic for all the mages in the north, which are that demonology, necromancy, and artifact compression are strictly not allowed. the punishment was exclusion from the brotherhood and being locked in dimeritium (mage kryptonite) for centuries, but practically no one followed the rules or was punished

the brotherhood exists on a hierarchy, with most mages in the north making up the lower level, the council of wizards in the middle, and the chapter of the gift and the art at the top

the council is made up of a small group of mages that hold influence over the brotherhood but still need to answer to the chapter, as of twn the members are yennefer of vengerberg, philippa eilhart, radcliffe, carduin, and fercart. sheala de tancarville was part of it too, but she left

the chapter has the highest influence of magic in the north (and possibly the continent). it was founded by herbert stammelford, aurora henson, ivo richert, agnes of glanville, geoffrey monk, and radmir of tor carnedd. by twn, all of them had died or left, so the chapter was made of tissaia de vries, enid an gleanna, gerhart of aelle, vilgefortz of roggeveen, and artaud terranova. narses de la roche was the grandmaster of the chapter in 1245, but wasn't that involved much after.

politics

after mages graduate, the brotherhood usually places them on the court of a king/queen as an advisor. they're supposed to help strategize, conduct research, and just heighten the magical abilities of a kingdom

do they do this? nope

most mages are meant to clean up their king's messes, but usually get fed up and rule the entire kingdom from behind the scenes to fit their own agendas

can mages have babies?

short answer: yeah! although magic can make it harder to have babies, lots of sorceresses would take extra care to make sure they were as unaffected as possible. the forced sterilization was tissaia de vries' idea, and since she trained the vast majority of sorceresses we meet, most of them can't have babies

and yes, it's irreversible. sorry yen

geralt's mum, visenna, was trained as a druid, so she was still able to have geralt while practicing magic

who are they?

we meet a Lot of mages, so let's get to know a couple, starting with the ladies!

let's start with the lovely lovely yennefer. she was trained at aretuza under tissaia de vries, who became a mother figure to her. yen was also the youngest member of the council, as of twn she's 90. yes, that's very young to have a position of that caliber, especially since yen wasn't even an official advisor to aedirn's king

we all know and love hate triss merigold. she's one of the youngest sorceresses we meet, at the first season of twn she's 40 (book canon, she's made older in the show). triss also studied at aretuza and is currently one of king foltest of temeria's court mages

sabrina glevissig. slutty sabrina (affectionate) was yennefer's classmate at aretuza and became advisor to king henselt of her native kaedwen.

fringilla vigo is supposedly yen and sabrina's classmate from aretuza, but she is actually quite a bit younger than both of them and went to the imperial academy in her home country nilfgaard. fringilla specializes in illusion magic and (in book canon) is really not evil. she's a little slutty and stupid, but so is sabrina and dandelion and about half the people we meet!

we see skelliger sorceress lytta neyd, aka coral, aka astrid lyttneyd ásgeirrfinnbjornsdottir, at the battle of sodden hill where she unfortunately dies. coral was also very fond of breaking the brotherhood's rule against article compression (magically turning a person into a jade figurine, a wholly unpleasant experience)

temerian sorceress keira metz is one of the youngest mages we meet, she's around the same age as triss, whom she serves on foltest's court alongside

i mentioned philippa eilhart as a member of the council, and i'll mention her again as the love of my life. philippa is old. like, over 300. she's also one of the only mages to master polymorphism, and spends a solid portion of her time as an owl. philippa is redanian king vizimir's official advisor, but she, along with trusted?? associate lover sigismund dijkstra, really rules the entire country with vizimir as a puppet

sheala de tancarville is yen and phil's colleague from the council, but she left because it got too realpolitik for her tastes. sheala's from creyden (same place as renfri), but very rarely served her country's interests in favour of researching magic and being a reclusive bookworm. i'm serious. her nickname is literally the recluse of kovir

tissaia de vries. easily one of the most powerful and respected mages on the continent, member of the chapter, current rectoress of aretuza, and general badass. like most scholars, she wasn't involved in politics and doesn't even have a known nationality.

francesca findabair, also known as enid an gleanna, is an elven sorceress and member of the chapter. by twn she's easily 150 and very well established, although a sufferer of chronic backstabber syndrome.

assire var anahid is one of fringilla's nilfgaardian besties, although neither are actually nilfgaardian. assire is our good friend cahir's great-aunt, a military expert, and mom to her cat merlin

onto the gents!

let's start with the worst, istredd! i for incel, s for stupid, t for testicle-less (once i find him), r for racist, e for ew, d for dead (again, once i find him), and d for dipshit. in twn he's in cahoots with equally disgusting sorcerer...

stregobor! *vomits* you remember him as the koviri sorcerer who loves tracking down and murdering young girls, many of which have been exiled from their homes and tortured. he's just a lovely guy.

vilgefortz of roggeveen is sort of a walking spoiler, so i won't go too much in depth about him, but we can know he was raised by druids and, when offered a magical education, refused. he then became a mercenary, then a spy, then a wanted man, and finally trained to become a mage. despite his unusual backstory and late start, vilgefortz was insanely talented and, at less than a century old, became a member of the most powerful group of mages on the continent.

i mentioned gerhart of aelle aka hen gedymdeithe, as the oldest mage alive. he's at least 500. and then some. he's also a member of the chapter, but this position is more of a courtesy than a meaningful addition to the brotherhood.

finishing up the chapter, we have artaud terranova. he's not important yet, but will probably be in season two. all you need to know is he's short and a little mean and trusted by vilgefortz

fercart of cidaris is the third (but only male and non-temerian) member of foltest's royal council, and fairly unimportant member of the council of wizards

carduin of lan exeter was advisor to koviri king esterad thyssen and member of the council. he was also one of radovid's advisors, which didn't go over too well as radovid's other advisor, philippa eilhart, doesn't share too well

last and sort of least, we have radcliffe of oxenfurt. he was advisor to demavend of aedirn, from whom he probably met yennefer.

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acemoppet · 3 years

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16 Yengilla 🥺

Hey Aaliyah!! Sorry this is so late btw- I got way too involved by Yen and Fringilla bonding over lack of accomodations for schoolwork, but c’est la vie I guess.

16.) One person pouting, only to have it removed by a kiss from the other person.

———

“It’s not fair!” Fringilla says, scowling when her potion doesn’t bubble like it’s supposed to. “How are you so good at this?”

“Practice,” Yennefer says, sing-songing in the way she knows Fringilla just hates. She can’t help but annoy the girl- Fringilla’s always been so good at everything she does at Aretuza.

Probably because her great-uncle is a mage, Yennefer had thought bitterly many a time. So it’s gratifying now to see something she’s not good at.

...or it would be, had it not been Yennefer’s job to make sure her potion skills were up to par. Honestly, between this and the tutoring Tissaia has her do, you’d think she was trying to make Yennefer Aretuza’s next professor or something!

“Alright,” Yennefer says finally, trying to keep the sigh out of her voice. “Show me your process.”

Fringilla blinks. “You want me to make this potion again?”

Yennefer understands her disbelief- under ideal conditions, the potion takes about an hour to make, and Fringilla’s already spent nearly two trying to make this failed batch. Still…

“It’ll be the fastest way to help you,” Yennefer says, briskly snapping on a pair of potion gloves. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste.”

Between the two of them, they manage to divvy up reagent preparation quite nicely. Occasionally, Yennefer looks over to where Fringilla is grinding her petals, but she’s doing it correctly- perfectly textbook, even!

Strange, Yennefer thinks as she cuts and guts the necessary stems. Problems as big as the ones Fringilla’s been having usually stem from faulty reagent prep, but if she’s doing that correctly, then what-

And then they get to the portion where Fringilla has to lift her small cauldron over the fire, and it all snaps into place.

“You can’t lift your cauldron into position properly, can you?” Yennefer says, eyes fixed on Fringilla’s good hand where she’s clutching the cauldron for dear life. Her other hand, the one she’d withered on their first day here, hangs limply at her side. “Why didn’t you ever ask for help?”

As soon as the words fall from Yennefer’s mouth, she knows she’s made a mistake. The seldom-seen anger on Fringilla’s face just underlines that fact.

“I did,” she spits, slowly lowering her cauldron to the ground with a shaky hand. “And Tissaia never did anything- just said I had to work hard and catch up because this level of quality was ‘unacceptable’.”

Yennefer blinks in shock, but then she remembers her own struggles to get the help she needed- her back didn’t allow her to perform the more difficult physical tasks, and she’d lobbied for ages trying to get the accommodations she’d needed for the classes. She’d finally gotten them when she’d told Tissaia it looked like the Rectoress had wanted her to fail, calling her teaching skills into question- she’s quite touchy about those, Yennefer’s found.

Fringilla is… scared of Tissaia. All the students in their year know this. None of them are quite sure why, but it’s evident in the way she often goes rigid around the Rectoress, in the way her eyes go wide and white, darting from wall to wall as she tries to look away. No wonder she’d not been able to get accommodations from Tissaia.

Yennefer’s not one for pity- she’s tasted enough of it from others to know she hates it. What she does next is not pity- it’s simple empathy.

“Stay here,” she says, walking towards the door. She takes a quick look into the hall- good, no one’s around- before shutting the door closed and locking it tight.

“What are you doing?” Fringilla says, eyes darting over to the closed door. “Yenna, what-”

“Try it now,” Yennefer says. “But use the lifting spell we learned last year.”

Fringilla gapes. “Tissaia��s told us not to use that!” she exclaims, eyes wide in shock. “She said it interfered with the potions!”

“She lied,” Yennefer says simply. “It’s just to force us to do it the hard way- something about how that builds character supposedly.”

“No,” Fringilla frowns. “She wouldn’t do that… would she?”

Yennefer huffs and goes to sit on a stool. Gods, her back is killing her. “Believe me or not, there’s no way either you or I can lift that cauldron without the spell.”

She’s about to crack, Yennefer can just feel it. Still… “How do you know she’s lying?”

Yennefer looks at her dead on. “Because she told me.”

As her words pass over Fringilla, the girl thins her lips and her eyes go sad. For a moment, Yennefer is filled with pity- Yennefer’s not trusted an adult for years now, but Fringilla’s not like her. The girl actually does trust adults- or most of them, anyways- despite all the ones at Aretuza continuously showing that they’d rather throw the students into the fire to see them rise or die.

If she closes her eyes, she can still taste the ozone in the air from the lake of eels underneath this wretched place.

“Alright.”

Yennefer jolts back to the present. “Hm?”

“I said, ‘alright’,” Fringilla says, voice loud and defiant. She flinches at the echoes and quiets down her next sentence. “I’ll do the spell. You told me to.”

I’m trusting you, Yenna, Yennefer catches from her thoughts, baffling but wondrous before she turns away and casts the spell.

Chaos parts- it’s always a thrill to see the silver threads of the world bending and shifting. They shine against the tan of Fringilla’s palm, the brown of her fingers. What would those fingers look like, Yennefer wonders, next to mine?

“What next?”

Yennefer jumps. For some reason, heat rises in her face- Fringilla doesn’t seem to notice, too focused on the textbook next to her.

She breathes in, shaking the thoughts from her head. “Get the reagents ready. We’ll need to…”

The next hour goes by fast- it’s mostly a lot of stirring, with an occasional flick of their fingers to keep the flame alive. They should be using their fire tools, but Yennefer manages to make a very good case- “what’s a little more magic?”- and Fringilla seems to come around. At the very least, she doesn’t protest when Yennefer turns up the flame again.

Finally, they have their potion- a smooth, pearlescent concoction which is supposed to temporarily smooth away wrinkles and facial blemishes. The potion is something they’ll sell to court ladies and lords, to keep them from looking weak and old. It’s not that useful for them- they’re too young for wrinkles, and they’ll never get them once they Ascend.

...They do have blemishes though.

“Shall I try it, then?” Yennefer says, wafting the potion.

“Shouldn’t I try it?” Fringilla says. “I mean, it is my potion after all.”

“You?” Yennefer snorts. “We couldn’t test it on you, what would you need it for?”

Fringilla frowns- no, pouts. “Don’t be mean, Yennefer,” she says curtly.

Yennefer gapes. “I’m not trying to be mean!” she protests. “Your face is flawless, Fringilla!”

“Not flawless enough to land a Ban Ard boy,” Fringilla scoffs.

...Wait, what?

“Fringilla,” Yennefer starts slowly, trying to put the pieces together. “Are you- do you like Istredd?”

“What- no!”

“Then?”

“I just-” Fringilla blows out her cheeks and frowns- no, pouts. “I just… want to be wanted,” she says softly, like she doesn’t really want Yennefer to hear.

But Yennefer does, and she is baffled.

“Wanted?” she repeats, utterly confused, and a little irritated, actually. With the exception of Tissaia, Fringilla is the teacher’s pet of their year- why the fuck would she think she’s not wanted?

Fringilla ducks her head and- is she- is she blushing? “You have Istredd,” she mumbles. “And Sabrina has… well, just about everyone she wants. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”

That’s… certainly not untrue. All of the girls their year have had some form of lover at one point during their time here- all except for Fringilla. But Yennefer had always thought that was by choice, because really, who wouldn’t want to step out with Fringilla?

Fringilla, who’s near the top of their class, who’s perhaps the smartest in their year. Fringilla, who knocked over at least one Ban Ard boy when she smiled at him, and possibly one of their Aretuza juniors as well. Fringilla, whose sense of humor is hidden most of the time, but has made her and Sabrina devolve into stitches on the rare occasion she does break it out.

...Fringilla, who Yennefer’s just realizing she might have a crush on. Fuck.

“You’re wanted, Fringilla,” Yennefer says belatedly, but even as she says it, she knows it’ll fall on deaf ears.

Fringilla’s pout deepens. “Don’t pity me,” she says, turning away.

“I’m not,” Yennefer protests. “I- here, let me show you.”

And before she can overthink it, she takes Fringilla’s face in her hands and kisses her.

It’s soft at first, and a bit dry. Both of their lips are chapped from spending the entire day down in the cold potions room, but then Yennefer tilts her head and their mouths slot together, and it’s good, it’s good, it’s good-

Fringilla pushes her off.

“What the hell, Yennefer?” she spits, face twisted in anger. Fuck, but it only makes her prettier. “What was that?”

Yennefer blinks, taken aback. “I- sorry, did you not want that?”

“No!” Fringilla says, growling. “Why the- why the fuck would you try to kiss me?”

Yennefer inhales, trying to keep the weird, shocky ache in her ribs contained. “I’m sorry,” she says again, not knowing what else to say.

Fringilla huffs. “You should be.”

Silence falls over the room. There’s a steady drip-drip-drip from one of the faucets- they need to shut it off before they leave, Yennefer thinks hazily, doing her best to swallow around the ache that’s slowly grabbed a hold of her lungs and throat.

“You need to tell Istredd.”

Yennefer blinks. “What?”

Fringilla glares at her, eyes suspiciously shiny. “You need to tell Istredd,” she repeats, teeth gritted. “You’re going to tell him you- you cheated. If you don’t, I will.”

...Wait, what?

“Fringilla,” Yennefer says, “You’ve got the wrong idea- I didn’t cheat.”

“Like hell you didn’t!” And oh, Fringilla must be mad to her gills if she’s cursing this much- normally, you can’t even get her to say ‘shit’. “You just fucking kissed me- are you going to pretend that’s not cheating?”

Ah. Well, Yennefer can’t really blame her- in a usual relationship, that would be considered cheating. In her and Istredd’s though…

“We talked it over a while back,” Yennefer explains. “We’re each other’s main partners, and probably always will be, but we’re ok with each other taking other partners if we wish.”

Fringilla blinks. “That- really?”

“...Does that bother you?” She’s not going to lie, it’s going to hurt if it does bother Fringilla. Not because she apparently likes her either, but because Fringilla’s been her friend for years, and to have her judge her…

“No!” Fringilla says. “I just. I never knew that was possible. Liking more than one person, I mean.”

Yennefer can certainly understand where that’s coming from. “Well,” she says, unapologetic. “It is.”

Fringilla nods. “Right.”

They lapse into silence then, and it’s so awkward that Yennefer wants to crawl out of her skin. She almost says something, anything to break the weird atmosphere, but Fringilla’s just… contemplating quietly. Yennefer doesn’t quite know what it is, but something tells her that the wait will be worth it.

And it is worth it, because Fringilla looks at her again, then leans in and says, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Oh?” Yennefer says, just made a little bit breathless by the curve of Fringilla’s eyelashes, “Mind repeating it?”

Fringilla smiles, soft and maybe a little bit shy- it’s one of the cutest things Yennefer’s ever seen, and fuck if it doesn’t make her weak. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Because I wanted to,” Yennefer says immediately, startled by how raw her voice sounds. Because I want you, she doesn’t say.

Luckily, Fringilla seems satisfied by that answer, since her smile gets wider. “Do you… do you still…?”

To that, Yennefer just tugs her in again.

#yennefer of vengerberg #fringilla vigo #yengilla #yennefer x fringilla #kiss prompts #fluff #angst #yenstredd #kiss #first kiss #witcher netflix #the witcher netflix #the witcher #witcher #ace writes

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uiuishii · 3 years

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That’s a fact. I often compare the results of novice from Aretuza and those of the boys from the school of Ban Ard, and the comparaisons are invariably to the girls’ credit. -Margarita Laux-Antille

Boys from Ban Ard:

#the witcher #gwent #new cards #margarita laux antille #love this card #more #Ban Ard #please #young and dumb sorcerers #even with magic #they remain regular teenagers #I wonder how was young Vilgefortz

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thirstyforred · 3 years

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drop the alzur meta king

ok I'm getting drunk while writing this and also i haven't read Season of Storms and all I know about it is that there are in that book some descriptions of Rissberg, so I guess also some throwaway lines about Alzur

and also we're still like in the middle of his Journey, i doubt by the end there will be anything that's gonna prove me wrong, but still

so my take is based on what i knew when his Journey started, after reading Witcher's Journal and going wild while writing Self-similarity [i mean it is connected, in a way]

so Alzur is that semi-mystical figure, the most amazing sorcerer that walked the Continent, Bekker who? And he wasn't just good at shooting lightning bolts, he was the scientist.

I really love how magic in the Witcher isn't just this high fantasy thing that works only on intent and feel, but it's borderline scientific. Show me a meeting of Capitua and the NASA center and I wouldn't find a difference - nerds all around. That's why Alzur's project are so interesting - he created new spells, some kinda basic, but still powerful, like his shield, some just straight-up crazy, jak Double Cross, which we still don't know what it does exactly. Is it some sort of jrpg greater summon? why the hell anyone would need to summon Godzilla?

but he also did that whole genetically advanced insectoids project, again, why the hell you need a big worm, man...

and ofc the Witchers.

and i will say it, the idea to have spec ops to deal with monsters all around the countryside is cool. the execution? working, but i think we all have some notes on that.

so alzur traveled all around the continent looking for orphans or just buying kids, who cares anyway, and then taking them to Rissberg to experiment on them. and yeah, it's not like news, everyone knows about the Trial of Grass, but that's the guy who literally tortured kids, boys and girl, age 10, and we know it from Erland's account, and the thing is, Alzur essentially didn't know if or how it's all gonna work. like yeah, he believed he's gonna succeed eventually, but he was just throwing stuff at a wall and observing what's gonna stick. it's a fucking miracle that from that first batch he got 5 survivors.

but considering that literally 3/4 of test subject died nobles or whoever who sponsored his whole deal backed down, but you see Alzur, and that's like a big part of his whole characterization, Alzur doesn't give a fuck. he's right, he's genius, fucking force incarnated, he's gonna do whatever he wants. so he took everything that wasn't nailed, and whoever wanted to work with him, and moved to some other ruined castle where he simply kept doing his thing. and again, the idea of witchers? cool af, but maybe add some therapy for young mutants? because then we end up with weird stuff like vipers going full Sparta or just Erland in general

and the thing is, that pisses me off the most here, but also fine whatever, what else could he have done, it's not like he was supposed to stay and oversee the making of witchers forever, and instead he fucked off and got himself killed in Maribor, good fucking riddance, but I'm projecting and it really feels like he just didn't care. he came, he did, he fucked off. but the thing is that he killed and traumatized a bunch of people, and got out without even a slap on the wrist, he even died in an unrelated thing.

but no! "what he did was controversial and he was essentially renegade, but at the end of the day it was also pretty fucking cool" istredd wrote that, well not exactly, and it's a way bigger quote but the magical nerds never had ethics classes in aretuza or ban ard, or even just basic feeling of empathy. i sound like radovid lol, but that's a thing, remember that almost every mage seeing geralt or other witchers immediately goes "hey can i cut you open and rearrange your guts?"

fuck the casualties mentality all around that globe

but anyway let get back to substance, because if Alzur is shitty, then you know that Jacques de Aldersberg is worse

tho not really, because Salamandra didn't turn kids into mutants, as far as we know, and also like, JdA had actually reason for that, other than "i just think i can pull it off", yeah, he was just as full of himself, the self-proclaimed messiah, but at least he was partially right about the White Frost being a giant ass problem

unsurprisingly I'm Jacques apologizer, huh

#alzur #the witcher #jacques de aldersberg #thirsty vs dziki zgon #Anonymous

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egosweetheart · 3 years

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Hey, it's totally up to you to decide what you want for your AU but I thought you'd like to know that Aretuza only takes girls and boys go to Ban Ard Academy

i said what i said. jaskier is trans in this au and he’s damn proud of it. thats kind of what i meant by “the process that changes sorcresses appearance after graduating acting as his transition”.

i mean as a trans dude, honestly? womb removal is the goal, so the rest of it (minus the pain) is just gravy in terms of aiding transition. think of it as magical top/bottom surgery but all at once and also now your eyes sparkle.

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yennefxr · 4 years

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forget the main witcher trio, these are the minor character plot lines i’m excited for in season two:

iconic comedy duo zoltan chivay and field marshal windbag

✭・.・political drama・.・✭ with dijkstra

phillipa eilhart’s owl fursona

mother nenneke being done and rightfully so ft. the nuns and awkward scribe jarre at melitele’s temple

the return of yarpen zigrin

emhyr var emreis

make up tutorials with triss

ban ard bad boy rience (@netflix don’t cast him hot, please,my morals)

cahir discovering consequences after sodden

lovely witcher coen

fringilla! sabrina!! keira metz!!!

shani in oxenfurt, get that degree girl

istredd and lydia van bredevoort, because if they aren’t scampering off together exploring dark and cursed monoliths then what pray tell, is the point?

stregobor and artorious’s supremacy at aretuza being torn away from them

tissaia trying to cope with her world being turned upside down and seeking comfort in the wrong person

vilgefortz’s reign beginning

the tension between filivandrel and francesca re: the scoia’tael aiding nilfgaard

i want to see the continent through as many eyes as possible, all the politics, the cultures, the magic, the war, the history!!

#the witcher #the witcher season 2 #more witcher lore please #more world building #the continent is vast and I want to see it #category: things three people care about 😂

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iamtaran · 4 years

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Tissaia de Vries and Yennefer of Vengerberg: Episode 2

Headcanons and thoughts:

(**one off before we start: Istredd isn’t meant to be down there in the crypt of Aretuza, is he? A voice whispers when Yennefer accidentally portals in “we shouldn’t be here” or something of the like. Then he seems flustered when he mentions her portal painted a target on her back. And where is her back currently? Right there with him. He’s a Ban Ard boy, not one of Tissaia’s students. They never run with this little throw away bit but I am so. curious. If he’s not meant to be down there, does it change then his intentions in immediately untracably portally Yennefer home AKA the fuck away from him? As well as his immediate speed to assure her, almost clumsily, in a rush, “You can trust me!”? HMMMM.) +Tissaia de Vries is quite capable of being casually cruel. But for Yennefer, it looks a bit different. Yennefer is the one who does’t get a name, but “Piglet”. Right away, from the moment she wakes up after attempting to end her life. Rewatching the episode, my first thought was this: that Tissaia doesn’t do it because she scorns Yennefer, but because she actually likes her and that is dangerous. The Rectoress of Aretuza can’t play favourites. She has to be impartial and judge who is able to keep the control and balance of a sorceress. but by golly Tissaia does have a favourite. “and some (mages) like us are controlled by (our emotions).” She knows exactly what she is giving Yennefer in this moment, after all of Yennefer’s failures to control. It is no surprise, the immediate hunger and almost worship in Yennefer’s eyes when she repeats, “Like us?” with wretched hope. Yeah, that’s manipulative, but like... Tissaia is showing all kinds of signs that she is not emotionally disconnected from the situation. She can’t actually control her emotions around this lil punk, not completely. Does she see her younger self in Yennefer? I’m gonna say a strong yeah, probably. Do I think she likes her spunk and fight, from that first moment when Yennefer refuses to come with a, “You can’t have me! I won’t go.”? Why yes I do. Tissaia can’t let herself get too attached. The cruel nickname is a (misguided) attempt not only to motivate Yennefer; is not only a way to test and press on her emotional control issue to try and train her out of her gut reaction of lashing out. its a way for Tissaia to distance herself emotionally because she has to. +In that first scene about balance and control, the flower and the stone, the way Tissaia steps in when Yennefer is becoming frustrated and quietly says, “You lost a lot of blood, piglet;” kindness and cruelty in the same breath. She says it with such an underlying softness, yeah, she is really not succeeding in not growing horrendously attached to this kid, mean nickname or no. (how many times can I say cruelty in this? let’s find out.) +Tissaia really is shockingly tiny huh? Even before Yennefer is able to straighten to her full height post-transformation, she just... she’s so much taller. I had to pause to check what I was seeing, so... I see you Yennefer/Tissaia shippers, I see what you’re peddling. I Understand You Now. +Tissaia was probably the Yennefer of her training class. And from what the series has shown us of sorcerers and sorceresses, they’ve got the whole weird cruel culture of coldness and pettiness down pat. Which is to say, Tissaia probably was treated to the same callowness and cruelty as she shovels Yennefer, and knows it is what awaits her in her centuries-long life if she succeeds. Does she believe that all this is necessary? That it is what shaped her, made her strong enough and thick skinned enough to become so powerful, both literally and socially amongst the Brotherhood? If so, her doing so to Yennefer is, in her mind, for her own good. It will do her well in the long run, toughen her up, give her a fighting chance to be more than an eel in a pool. She’s helping Yennefer, in her mind, for all we are audience (or at least I) spend a lot of time going stop *clap* abusing *clap* Yennefer *clap* goddammit *CLAP* +Tissaia 100% intended Yennefer to follow and peek on the Turning Strangely Tractable Girls Into Eels ritual. She was open that Yennefer retrieving the flower from Istredd was a test. But this, really, was the final test. Yennefer proved she could control her emotions and make them a pointed tool to get what she wanted from a boy she liked and had been dallying with. Sure. But could Yennefer watch her one friend, perhaps her only friend without ulterior motives, be turned into nothing more than a battery for Aretuza? Could Yennefer push her into the pool herself? If controlling one’s emotions and, in fact, being able to stand by systemic cruelty in the name of power is what Tissaia considers necessary for a sorceress to survive and ascend to the Brotherhood, then Yennefer must prove herself here. And she does. She comes to understand the nature of Aretuza and the girls as “conduits”. She understands, and still she pushes her friend into the pool. +Tissaia’s smile when Yennefer looks back at her after. Her smile twitches, wavers between acceptable distance and something else. It is for a moment so glowingly proud and trying to hide it. So fond. She may be trying to control her emotions, but I wouldn’t say she has quite managed it with Yennefer. She wanted so badly for Yennefer to be strong enough, tough enough, to pass the tests, and she did.

#taran talks meta #yennefer of vengerberg #tissaia de vries #the witcher #1x02 #i'm probably just saying what everyone already knows #and probably i've missed a ton of shit #but my feverish brain is chugging along and losing it #like that nerdy guy in front of the red strings and photos board

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oxenfurt-archives · 4 years

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Ban Ard III

“ Ban Ard is set in the foothills of the Blue Mountains southeast of Ard Carraigh. The city’s main industry is mining, but it is best known as being the home of the Ban Ard Academy, the school for training boys in magecraft. At one time there was a healthy rivalry between the boys’ school and the girls’ school. Generally the girls won due to the greater discipline and confinement of Aretuza. The boys of Ban Ard are not confined, much to the disappointment of the townspeople. "

Brandon of Oxenfurt

The Witcher Lore (68/∞)

#ban ard #kaedwen #the witcher #the witcher trpg #witcher lore #witcheredit #the witcher netflix

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astralalmighty · 3 years

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So like, someone mentioned a trans Yennefer, and it gave me thoughts about the whole transgender thing in the Witcher in general.

I’ve never read the books or played the games, so my knowledge is limited to the Netflix show and what people tell me. But I read a fanfic where Yennefer found a spell that could change a male body into a female body, and she wanted to try and use it to recreate her body and heal what she’d lost. It had little effect on the plot, but it got me thinking, because obviously, transgender people have always existed, but it would be an amazing thing to consider these spells canon in the Witcher.

Can you imagine a young boy coming to Ban Ard and training there, but feeling like something’s wrong? Realizing over time that he isn’t a boy, she’s a girl, and she’s stuck here, and she can’t get out? Maybe she trys to talk to her teacher or her peers, but she’s ridiculed and told she’s wrong, she’s not a girl. She feels awful.

But imagine Tissaia visiting Ban Ard, and meeting this girl, and seeing how sad and lost she is. So Tissaia arranges her to come to Aretuza, where she can be happy and comfortable.

And she wears her new uniform and gets to be with the other girls, and she feels happy and safe and valid. She learns magic and deals with her body and maybe she keeps it a secret and maybe she doesn’t.

But when her ascension comes, Tissaia arranges it so that it isn’t just a makeover, it will be an entire sex change. It would come with sacrifice and would take unfathomable amounts of power, but it would work, and this girl is ecstatic.

And she ascends. It’s painful, it’s excruciating, it’s everything and nothing and it fucking hurts. It fucking hurts so much.

But then she’s there, lying in her blood, just trying to catch her breath. She shifts, and she sees her reflection in the mirror, and everything’s different. She’s sitting up now and looking directly into that mirror.

It’s disorienting to see herself like this, her head isn’t used to it, but after a few minutes or a few hours or a few days, she’s looking in that mirror and crying tears of joy. It’s what she wants, it’s what she’s wanted for so long, and now she has it. She has what she wanted and it means everything.

Now she goes and becomes a mage. She casts spells and plays around and is able to be the person she wants to be. Maybe she’s Yennefer, or is like Yennefer, and she abandons her post and goes searching for a cure. Maybe she goes searching for adventure. Maybe she finds a good post, where she’s respected and immortalized. Maybe she gets a lover, and they live together and have a family. Maybe she goes back to Aretuza to help teach. Maybe she goes back to thank Tissaia. Maybe she goes back to to Ban Ard to spit in her teacher’s face (I would certainly hope so). Maybe she’s Triss, or is like Triss, and dedicates her life to helping and healing others. Maybe she meets Geralt, maybe she fucks him. Maybe she’s lesbian and fucks Yennefer or Triss. Maybe she’s sad, but I hope not. Maybe she’s the happiest she’s ever been, and she knows that, and she remembers Ban Ard and her peers and her life and she smiles, because of how far she’s come. She’s the person she wants to be, and that’s what matters.

#the witcher #transgender #this started out as a hmmm what if and now im crying a little #oc #my oc #aretuza #mama tissaia #ban ard

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limerental · 3 years

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Yenralt Valentine’s - Day 5

I got a bit enthusiastic for this event hosted by @stuffedunicorns and have 7 little fics ready to go for y'all that I will be publishing each day for the next week. Fair warning that none of them follow the prompts even a little and some have explicit sex.

day 5 - where the others gave you scars

When Yennefer was young, she opened herself up to vulnerability and her subsequent mortification forced her to close herself off from certain sex acts in favor of others that gave her more control. But Geralt is different, and she opens to him.

content warning for teenaged fumbling and aborted cunnilingus between istredd/yen (they are 16/17), past body hair shaming/dislike and struggle with body image in that sense, istredd negative but he’s a teenaged boy so, and eventually, explicit old married couple sex ft. tenderness and vulnerability, also yen does huff geralt's balls but it's like... tender and romantic

The first time anyone took her to bed, there was no approximation of a bed, only a knit blanket laid out in a hollow of stone, and she was not taken so much as led with gentle hands and whispering kisses. She would follow this boy anywhere, Yennefer thought.

Istredd had academic leave to roam normally forbidden areas of Thanned, and his excuses to allow her here seemed so obvious and ridiculous to her at first, saying yes, I need Yennefer’s assistance with a project, yes, yes, it has to be Yennefer. She has the neatest hand-writing. Which was a lie that made her wheeze with laughter when he told her. Yennefer had not known how to read or write when she arrived at Aretuza, and her handwriting still resembled a young child's.

But it was a time-honored and respected tradition, he told her as they lay together in the quiet caverns that twisted below Tor Lara. Boys from Ban Ard whisking away girls from the other schools for romantic excursions under academic pretenses. As long as her classwork did not suffer for it, no harm done.

“Romantic?” Yennefer asked, and he laughed and kissed her until she squirmed.

He looked at her with no pity, nothing but admiration, and her fingers shook as she touched his short-cropped curls haloed in torchlight. He was a marvel, bright-eyed and so very gentle, and Yennefer wished to give him everything.

They had kissed in all manner of ways, touched each other above the clothes in increasingly heated but tender displays, but tonight, the hope was for more, as much as could be shared between a man and a woman, though she knew both of them fell far shy of either. Istredd was not a man. He was so much softer and more understanding, nothing like any man that had been in her life. Men were creatures of cruelty and brutality, looking aside as she suffered or endeavoring to worsen it.

Istredd would never hurt her.

read on ao3

#yenralt #yennefer #yenraltvalentine #stuffedunicorns #yennefer x geralt #geralt x yennefer #my fic

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siimplewolf · 6 years

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So you want to write an OC for the Witcher franchise? Want to write a verse? I have a couple of tips and pointers for you that might be of help!

disclaimer/credits:

This post COMPLETELY ignores the Polish TV series since they’re a joke and should not be taken into consideration when working on a Witcher verse/OC.

Credit goes to @snarkomancy and@vanbredevoort for all the help and tips about mages and some about witchers that I had forgotten.

Lore:

The books and the games are your friends, and so is the wiki. Haven’t you read the books or played the games? (What are you waiting for?????) It doesn’t matter, the wiki articles are a life saver. And if there is something you don’t understand about them, you can always ask your local Witcher buff. Try not to stray too far from the lore, nor make your character interfere with canon things that happened. (I’m talking mostly book-wise, since game wise, the lore can be quite malleable.)

Book!Triss and Yennefer:

Yennefer has the curliest hair to ever curl, is tiny as heck and will do anything/everything to save those she loves.

Triss has chestnut hair and blue eyes, as well as a massive scar on her chest that prevents her from wearing revealing outfits. She’s also selfish and a coward.

Witchers:

-The oldest witchers, at the time of the year 1275 (the time of Blood and Wine), can be up to 325 years, give or take.

-The youngest a witcher can be is around 80-90 years old.

Ages can vary, but you will not find a 30-year-old witcher in the year 1275. For several reasons, the different schools (Griffin, Wolf, Cat, etc) stopped creating witchers. Some of those reasons are: Monsters are dwindling, therefore witchers are no longer required. People learn how to live with some of those monsters, the sentient ones that can be reasoned with.

In the particular case of the Cat school, it was disbanded by unhappy yet powerful people. Those witchers had become assassins and sellswords, something that a witcher was never supposed to become.

In the particular case of the Wolf school, a mob attacked the keep way before the events of The Witcher 1 and everyone within that keep died with the exception of a young Vesemir. But since Vesemir was only a fencing instructor, there was no possible way he’d be able to resume with the Trials for he didn’t have the knowledge.

There are NOT female witchers. Female witchers ARE NOT a thing. Speaking of the fantasy world, it could be a sexist thing, or it could be a merely biological thing. Only 3 out of 10 males survived the Trials, and no female survived. The alchemical formulae for the Trials and mutations, had the same base that changed a little with each school, gearing towards what that school wanted from their witchers. But those formulae were never meant for females and the sorcerers involved in those mutations and formulae were never interested in turning females. “But what about Ciri?” You ask me, and I tell you that Ciri never ever went through the mutations. The Wolf Witchers merely fed her mushrooms and infusions that helped her metabolism, but there was no Trial involved. She was merely trained in sword fighting and theory and practice by the witchers. Nothing else. HOWEVER. It IS possible for a female to be trained by witchers, just like Ciri was. If the witcher allows this, they will train a female in the art of sword fighting and share their knowledge on monsters, ancient and not so much. And given that females trained by witchers did not undergo the mutations, they do not have yellow eyes or any other characteristic of a witcher that comes after the Trials.

On that note, after the trials, witchers are, like sorcerers, INFERTILE. And their eyes are ALWAYS amber eyes. Feline amber eyes, because that way they can see in the dark. Witchers ONLY have amber eyes, they cannot have some other colour.

Witchers do most, if not all things for coin. They need the coin to eat, to buy supplies, pay the blacksmith, feed their horses and many more things. The job for a witcher is scarce, a witcher will not work for free or be there to advise you on your life. You hire the witcher and after the job is done the witcher is more than gone from that village/city/town.

Like I said, jobs for witchers are scarce, therefore there can’t be a rich witcher. Witchers can barely live on what they do. They scrape for coins. They are poor and they DO NOT REMEMBER THEIR FAMILIES. They might have a little something that resembles a memory, but that’s about it.

Witchers were abandoned children, or children picked up from the Law of Surprise, ripped from their families. But they do not remember said families or if they ever had one, to begin with.

Witcher elixirs wear off after some time, and they cause impotence soon after it wears off. They need some time for that to be over.

Witchers are able to cast magic, but their signs are basic at best. Mages make fun of them for this.

It is not said, but there is a general guess that a witcher finishes his ‘studies’ and earns his medallion in his late teens, early twenties. Which is when they go out to the Path for the first time. At this time, while they are powerful and have all the knowledge needed to fight a monster, they lack the street smarts. The smarts that they gain with years of being constantly around people other than their instructors or friends. So a young witcher in his early twenties will be clumsy, will probably die due to a stupid mistake. And from then on he’ll only gain scars from mistakes. A witcher starts to actually get a feel for his job around his 50s or 60s.

A witcher will not win a fight against a magician. The only possible way for a witcher to have a fair fight with a magician is if the magician is not well versed in the art of hand to hand combat or sword fighting and chooses not to use magic, or if the magician in question already used magic enough to drain them of their energy. Otherwise, the fight will be won by the magician, no exceptions.

Witchers are very well versed in many monsters, and they will always try everything before fighting. Fighting a creature is the last choice for a witcher, or at least that’s what it’s taught to them.

A witcher is supposedly stripped from all of his feelings with the mutations, this is so that they do not feel pity or regret for those monsters that they kill. “But what about Geralt?” You ask me, and I say that Geralt was a special case, he suffered from Main Character Syndrome, and since he was able to endure the basic mutations very well, magicians put him through even more mutations, giving him the white colour of his hair. Supposedly those mutations failed which is why he got to keep his feelings, or at least most of them. Now here’s where you can play around, to some degree, with what your muse, as a witcher, can or can’t feel. But remember that your witcher will not and cannot be overly sensitive, cannot and will not be over emotional. They don’t feel much. What a regular human feels as mild emotion, is a strong emotion for a witcher.

Magicians:

Boys: Ban Ard in Kaedwen Girls: Aretuza in the island of Thanedd POLITICS. LOTS OF POLITICS.

Magicians are more powerful than witchers, that is for certain, as I stated before. They use elemental energy (never fire, for it is very unstable) and they are the conduit for it. They do not run out of power but they get very tired because shaping and directing that energy the right way is hard and painful.

It is said that women are better for magic than men.

Jewellery is not for aesthetic purposes only, it channels power, therefore they cannot remove it.

There are places of power in the world, and a mage can identify them by feeling a tugging or pulling sensation or merely observing cats, for they are sensitive to that and like to sit on them.

Ban Ard and Aretuza are boarding schools and students ARE NOT allowed to leave until they don’t finish their studies. It is not known for how long they remain within the schools.

Magicians are most certainly ‘ugly’ before they are taken in into the schools, where they are fixed with magic.

Magicians are not powerful when they are young and just left the school they come from. They, like witchers, gain experience over the year. It is said that they start gaining political power around the age of 70.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS. IF YOU WANT SOME HELP YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO POKE ME OR @vanbredevoort FOR MORE LORE GOODNESS <3

#the witcher rp #witcher rp #dearindies #rph #i tried and therefore no one should criticise me; my stuff #B))))#i canna be bothered with doin the image again so have it all kinda pixelated tbh im sorry bout dat XDDDD

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siimplewolf-archive2-blog · 7 years

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So you want to write an OC for the Witcher franchise? Want to write a verse? I have a couple of tips and pointers for you that might be of help!

DISCLAIMER/CREDITS:

This post COMPLETELY ignores the Polish TV series since they're a joke and should not be taken into consideration when working on a Witcher verse/OC.

Credit goes to @snarkomancy and @vanbredevoort for all the help and tips about mages and some about witchers that I had forgotten.

Lore:

The books and the games are your friends, and so is the wiki. Haven't you read the books or played the games? (What are you waiting for?????) It doesn’t matter, the wiki articles are a life saver. And if there is something you don’t understand about them, you can always ask your local Witcher buff. Try not to stray too far from the lore, nor make your character interfere with canon things that happened. (I’m talking mostly book wise, since game wise, the lore can be quite malleable.)

Book!Triss and Yennefer:

Yennefer has the curliest hair to ever curl, is tiny as heck and will do anything/everything to save those she loves. Triss has chestnut hair and blue eyes, as well as a massive scar on her chest that prevents her from wearing revealing outfits.

Witchers:

While witchers are powerful, they are not almighty. They learn from experience which is why many of them die in the field. They age slowly but no one knows just for how long they can live since no one ever heard of a witcher dying of old age. -The oldest witchers, at the time of the year 1275 (the time of Blood and Wine), can be up to 325 years, give or take. -The youngest a witcher can be is around 80-90 years old. Ages can vary, but you will not find a 30-year-old witcher in the year 1275. For several reasons, the different schools (Griffin, Wolf, Cat, etc) stopped creating witchers. Some of those reasons are: Monsters are dwindling, therefore witchers are no longer required. People learn how to live with some of those monsters, the sentient ones that can be reasoned with. In the particular case of the Cat school, it was disbanded by unhappy yet powerful people. Those witchers had become assassins and sell swords, something that a witcher was never supposed to become. In the particular case of the Wolf school, a mob attacked the keep way before the events of The Witcher 1 and everyone within that keep died with the exception of a young Vesemir. But since Vesemir was only a fencing instructor, there was no possible way he’d be able to resume with the Trials for he didn’t have the knowledge.

There are NOT female witchers. Female witchers ARE NOT a thing. Speaking within the fantasy world, it could be a sexist thing, or it could be a merely biological thing. Only 3 out of 10 males survived the Trials, and no female survived. The alchemical formulae for the Trials and mutations, had the same base that changed a little with each school, gearing towards what that school wanted from their witchers. But those formulae were never meant for females and the sorcerers involved in those mutations and formulae were never interested in turning females. “But what about Ciri?” You ask me, and I tell you that Ciri never ever went through the mutations. The Wolf Witchers merely fed her mushrooms and infusions that helped her metabolism, but there was no Trial involved. She was merely trained in sword fighting and theory and practice by the witchers. Nothing else. HOWEVER. It IS possible for a female to be trained by witchers, just like Ciri was. If the witcher allows this, they will train a female in the art of sword fighting and share their knowledge on monsters, ancient and not so much. And given that females trained by witchers did not undergo the mutations, they do not have yellow eyes or any other characteristic of a witcher that comes after the Trials.

Witchers were abandoned children, or children picked up from the Law of Surprise, ripped from their families. But they do not remember said families or if they ever had one, to begin with.

Witcher elixirs wear off after some time, and they cause impotence soon after it wears off. They need some time for that to be over.

Witchers are able to cast magic, but their signs are basic at best. Mages make fun of them for this.

Magicians:

Boys: Ban Ard in Kaedwen Girls: Aretuza in the island of Thanedd POLITICS. LOTS OF POLITICS.

It is said that women are better for magic than men.

Jewellery is not for aesthetic purposes only, it channels power, therefore they cannot remove it.

There are places of power in the world, and a mage can identify them by feeling a tugging or pulling sensation or merely observing cats, for they are sensitive to that and like to sit on them.

Ban Ard and Aretuza are boarding schools and students ARE NOT allowed to leave until they don’t finish their studies. It is not known for how long they remain within the schools.

Magicians are most certainly ‘ugly’ before they are taken in into the schools, where they are fixed with magic.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS. IF YOU WANT SOME HELP YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO POKE ME OR @vanbredevoort FOR MORE LORE GOODNESS <3

#rph #dearindies #the witcher rp #witcher rp #I wish I was as smooth as him; OOC #Valuable Loot; Save #quq

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